So my i have a Breville Barista Express with built in grinder, they say it's second best on the market as Breville brand. It's been giving me outstanding crema for a few weeks, but today it's let me down. It does not want to deliver outstanding crema any more. We are gonna talk about this like Air Crash investigators, so what I can hear is new noises during the extraction i can hear this fissing noise, like the pressure is escaping during the extraction of the coffee and don't tell me my machine is decided to take a break because I have had it for just 3 weeks.

So I used a dual wall(double) basket because I found out it really gives out a rich crema as I experienced in my previous experiences. So back on topic, yes the hissing and fissing noise which i can hear during the extraction, starts off with dark, moves on to dark golden and the final seconds I can see the white. When I look at the crema inside the cup, it looks very bubbly and today I had to physically get a spoon and get rid of the bubbles like when you are steaming the milk. What I have inside the hopper is the last beans from the 1KG bag I keep in the freezer and of course sealed away. I have, well had these beans that said were wood oven fire roasted for a rich smooth flavor which is indeed true.

Other notes....the machine keeps stealing my basket each time I try to take it out of the head. That's another thing I wanted to ask for opinions and tips on. Overall I keep the espresso machine clean, top it up with water or beans when need it but now I have not got a clue what should I do next.

Gabe

I've had that issue where the basket sticks to the top of the machine sometimes on my old Saeco Via Veneto machine, I think it happened when I overfilled the basket, try dosing a bit lighter, leave room so it doesn't expand and hit the dispersion screen where the water comes out of. When I started doing that I found the coffee actually tasted stronger, using a lower dosage...I guess it was being obstructed and not getting a good even extraction.

Greetings,

Thanks for these handy tip, strangely I was not aware that there was too much in the basket each time. When I used the dual wall baskets for the first time I was soo impressed on how much difference is in the extraction from the single wall baskets. After I used the dual wall(double) basket and added the steamed milk I created a cup of coffee that I even gave a name "Supernova" that's how much it helped me keep my eyes open for a good part of the day. But back on topic, will definitely look into how much is in there, will post the results back on here

Gabe

Golden_Gabe wrote:When I used the dual wall baskets for the first time I was soo impressed on how much difference is in the extraction from the single wall baskets.

Dual wall baskets, also known as pressurized portafilters, essentially aerate the coffee like a spray can valve, producing a foam that looks like crema, but doesn't have the same velvety texture of crema produced by a proper extraction. Alan Frew said it best:

Alan Frew wrote:Pressurized portafilters and pressurized filter baskets come in many guises, but they basically have a single purpose: to allow the customer to get the appearance of acceptable crema from stale, poorly ground supermarket coffee.

To use an analogy, espresso produced from a pressurized portafilter is like Reddi-Whip: Easy to prepare and serve, but lacks the flavors and textures of freshly whipped cream. On the other hand, real espresso is more demanding; it requires fresh coffee, a good grinder, and barista skills. Whether the difference is worth the trouble is a personal matter. Given the choice between an espresso from a pressurized portafilter and pourover, I'd choose the latter every time. To be fair, that wasn't always true, as I confessed in the Hall of Shame.

As promised, I used up the last of the beans found in the hopper. And I believe you are right, still plenty of practice but this is a good theory, I could barely see the bubbly crema now. If I get a chance I will take a shot of the "Illusion" of the million dollar cup and will post it on this topic. The Dual has fooled me, but now it seems like that dark golden crema is not being poured. Once again I could be getting too comfortable with my skills, my naughty habit when making coffee. Now the bad news is I ran out of coffee beans but there has been an improvement in crema appearance

Update: So as mentioned, If anyone has this problem with the crema, please make sure you check your quantity of ground beans in the basket, make sure your basket is pretty much full to the top with only about 0.2 mm of space left. I did an experiment and my thoughts were correct, more coffee in the basket are need it.