Just took delivery of the Duetto III and Vario on Friday. Was wondering if this might be a pressure problem?

I'd say I've run about 2-3 lbs of beans through the machine

No matter how fast or slow the pull it comes out very dark and seemingly over extracted but with a lot of acid/burnt flavor. Never really have a golden stream or a legitimate crema. Have only played with the temperature(mostly 200f) a little so not sure if it could be that. I ran through a couple old bags of beans to get things going and thought it had to do with that... Today I used some fresh stuff from whole foods and getting barely better tasting results but still way off on the extraction. Going to go grab a bag of some freshly roasted verve coffee tomorrow and try that as well. My gut says old beans but I figure.

Any thoughts?

Too old, and the espresso will come out exactly as you've described. Too fresh, and you'll have channelled, messy sink shots too, since the beans haven't outgassed enough yet and will, the moment water hits, expand and disturb the puck. You'll get zones of highly over extracted coffee and a majority of completely unextracted coffee.

Choose an roast that is between 6 and no more than 9 days off roast to be safe. There's no reason you can't get good shots with the gear you mentioned. It's not a temperature problem.

Yea, I had a feeling it was the stale beans. Just wanted to make sure my new baby was working right...

Where the "fresh stuff from whole foods" roast dated at least 3 or 4 days rested and less than 3 weeks ideally couple weeks max? If not it wasn't fresh stuff just freshly purchased. Definitely sounds like stale beans. GIGO!

Never bought from whole foods before, usually just buy from Local roasters. At least the sign said it was roasted on 4/2.... Maybe they meant 4/2/14... Hah

swanny338 wrote:Just took delivery of the Duetto III and Vario on Friday. Was wondering if this might be a pressure problem?

I'd say I've run about 2-3 lbs of beans through the machine

No matter how fast or slow the pull it comes out very dark and seemingly over extracted but with a lot of acid/burnt flavor. Never really have a golden stream or a legitimate crema. Have only played with the temperature(mostly 200f) a little so not sure if it could be that. I ran through a couple old bags of beans to get things going and thought it had to do with that... Today I used some fresh stuff from whole foods and getting barely better tasting results but still way off on the extraction. Going to go grab a bag of some freshly roasted verve coffee tomorrow and try that as well. My gut says old beans but I figure.

Any thoughts?

Regarding the pressure problem theory - what does the pressure gauge say while you pull the shot?

If the Whole Foods beans you got where from "Allegro" they are very lackluster, I've never had anything good from them.. it's sold in Whole Foods, and well it's just that; a super market coffee. Most of it's roasted much too dark, something evidently pleasing for the "standard american coffee drinker" which for some reason prefers the baked charbunks kind of beans.. I think the whole dark roasted thing is a marketing gimmick. Basically what I'm saying is most super market coffee isn't designed to be sold to home baristas who know there is more to coffee flavor than coffee, it's sold to the average joe with a keurig who can't tell the difference (or so they say).

Just a little rant..

Also a little personal espresso prep experience/background would be helpful for those trying to help you diagnose your problem:

Are you experienced in grinding & pulling shots or is this your first foray with espresso equipment?

Weighing the beans?

Dose weight, duration of pull (# of seconds from first drop to ~blonding point) and end weight of the espresso?

boxerboxer wrote:Regarding the pressure problem theory - what does the pressure gauge say while you pull the shot?

Any update, swanny? How about the pressure during the shot?

In response to boxerboxer... Pressure is reading on the gauge at 8.5 to just under 10 bar. So I think I am all good when it comes to pressure.

Luke: The wholefoods beans, which I only bought 5oz of was utter crap.

spressomon. Just a few months with a breville 870xl, but very picky and have a lot of free time on my hands to read and practice. The problem with the Breville is it was too automated and created bad habits. The last month or so with it I had been focusing on manual functions of it and realized just how limiting it was. So frustrating to do the same exact things 4 times in a row and have extremely different outcomes.

Been weighing single doses and timing, but not weighing the end shot. I also have been weighing my tamps. I have been exploring between 15-20g but mainly sticking to 17g. I think this has been my main problem.... These big doses have been keeping my grind to coarse.

Just tonight I started going through the calibration guide with fresh beans from a place I like called Funnel Mill. I bought two types. Their go to espresso roast and one that my gut thought would taste the way I like it. Low and behold, their espresso roast is too dark for my liking though I bet it will make a very nice cappuccino. The latter is right up my ally.

Just pulled an excellent double with a very fine 12g dose, finally some real flavor. I think I will try a 14g dose, coarser of course, tomorrow morning. I have a feeling it's going to be good.

I also pulled a pretty decent 16g double with coffee I roasted yesterday in oven/on the stove. Definitely needs a couple more days to de-gas. I bought a 10lbs bag of green beans mainly to have something cost effective to practice technique and get a sense of minute adjustments. Plus its fun to learn about though I am not focusing too much energy on that quite yet.

I am getting the hang of things, just took a lot of beans. I must have pulled at least 50+ shots by now with mostly trash beans. Glad I waited to buy the good stuff until today.