I am so frustrated and disappointed with my espressos. I have used 1kg of 4 different kinds of FRESH beans from hasbean and the taste of the espresso is overly sour/bitter.
I read tons and tons of posts and articles on this forums.
I have a brand new BZ10, purchased 3 weeks ago, set at 1.2bar, and during the extraction the extraction pressure is at 12 bars, factory set.
My grinder is an Ascaso I2.
I use this filter basket http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/synesso-doub...asket/p326 and I also tried the one that came with the machine.
I am using a digital scale to measure my coffee after grinding them to be consistent with the dose. I use a bathroom scale in order to tamp at 15Kg every time.
I tried doses from 14-18gr, adjusting the grind so I will be in the recommended guidelines of 30ml in 25 sec.
I am using the WDT method
I tried stopping the extraction before blonding, at blonding and way after blonding.
I tried different flushing techniques read on this forum and other forums.
Whatever I do the espresso comes out harsh overly sour/bitter. Nothing changes in taste.
The only time that I noticed some change is when I extracted by volume.
I used 17gr of coffee and extracted 34gr of espresso liquid. a 50% dry/liquid ratio. In this case the espresso was bitter.

I really dont know what to try next. I am clueless on what I am doing wrong.
Is it soooo hard for a newbie to extract a decent drinkable espresso?

I will post some extraction videos later today.

Grind and dose are easy adjustments to make, and you've explored the range, but you haven't looked at other variables, specifically pressure and temp. I'd drop the pressure to 9 bar or so, and measure the temps at the group head.

Also, refer to Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste

But adjusting grind/dose won't help if your pressure/temps are off.

Refer to
http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-gu...tions.html

Grind finer, use lower doses, and get slower pours.

Have you had any espresso you consider great to which you can compare your shots?

allon wrote:Grind and dose are easy adjustments to make, and you've explored the range, but you haven't looked at other variables, specifically pressure and temp. I'd drop the pressure to 9 bar or so, and measure the temps at the group head.

Also, refer to Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste

But adjusting grind/dose won't help if your pressure/temps are off.

Refer to
http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-gu...tions.html

I dont really want to mess with the pressure just yet. I have read some posts that say that with vibe bumps it doesnt make a lot of difference.

I tried some temp surfing using different methods read specificaly for the BZ07. I got hot, medium and cold espresso but still the same taste

another_jim wrote:Grind finer, use lower doses, and get slower pours.

Have you had any espresso you consider great to which you can compare your shots?

I tried that too, I read your article "Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste". I will give it another shot

No I havent had any great espresso. For the time being I am trying to extract some drinkable espresso.
All espresso I extracted are not drinkable.


I am thinking that there is something wrong with my technique or my extractions. I will post some videos this afternoon, after work.

I'm not asking if you've made any great espresso; but if you've had any great espresso made by someone who knows how.

Espresso is always intense, since the coffee to water ratio is about ten times that of ordinary coffee; good espresso is also balanced, so that the added intensity is rewarding, not punishing. But the intensity itself, good or bad, requires some habituation. If you've had nothing but milk drinks and brewed coffee, you need to give your taste buds time to adjust.

http://www.bellabarista.co.uk/pdf/compa...erlook.pdf is a review of grinders including the Ascaso i1 and the Ascaso i2, amongst others. While the i1 comes out smelling of roses, the i2 is written off. Of course the i2 as sold in the states got a much better reception. I'm drawing your attention to this to suggest that maybe your grinder is part of the problem. This is not meant as a criticism but a possible means to a solution.

Bitter and sour doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Bitter or sour makes more.

Is the problem that your shots go one way or the other, and you can never seem to hit the sweet spot?

Whether or not you want to adjust the pressure yet, 12 BAR is too much. More than likely, it's at least part of your problem, and it's a good idea to start setting up your machine properly before getting into the subtleties of brewing. Adjust the pump pressure down to 9.

Assuming reasonable skills, bitter/sour problems are usually fixed grind or temp. Otherwise, we might be dealing with under or over extraction.

You said you can get your machine to do hot, medium and cold. Which temp creates a more bitter shot, which more sour? I wonder if your scale is skewed too hot or too cold, generally. If your problems are principally a matter of temps, we ought to be able to find a balance.

We may want to take a look at playing with boiler pressure by adjusting the p-stat. 1.2 BAR is not too much or too little for some machines, but I don't know about yours.

BDL

As BDL says, describing an espresso as bitter and sour makes little sense as they are at the opposite extremes of extraction (generally). Try pulling shots into a coffee cup and filling the remainder of space with hot water to make an "Americano." It makes the beverage easier to drink and easier to distinguish flavors, particularly for those with overly-sensitive taste receptors and those new to espresso.

Randy G. wrote:As BDL says, describing an espresso as bitter and sour makes little sense as they are at the opposite extremes of extraction (generally).

Is it not the case that you can get both with too high a temp and too coarse a grind? I'm sure I read something by Jim Shulman that indicated you could get both, but I'm damned if I can remember where I saw it.

A shot has components that taste bitter, sour, sweet and add buffers. It's certainly possible for a shot to be insufficiently sweet or buffered, especially for someone who isn't accustomed to straight shots.

For somebody starting out with espresso, the classic Italian route of comfort food blends ground very fine, dosed very low, pulled on a cool machine, at very ristretto brew ratios, may be just the ticket. That is the shot I would automatically pull for someone who hasn't had a lot of straight shots and asked me what good espresso taste like.

This has nothing to do with the person's taste, or even whether they will ultimately like espresso: I like both oolong tea and espresso; but I'd hate to be blindfolded, told to taste an oolong, and be handed an espresso. Some things you just have to be prepared for.