Hi,

Just bought an Espresso machine and the filter design looks a bit strange but I don't know if this design is normal? On the top its looks "normal" but in the bottom there is only one hole for the espresso to go through.

Have you seen this before?


Top:


Bottom:

This is a pressurized basket with a two level bottom, a screen and a pinhole. It doesn't look like the Solis basket, but many 53 mm home machine baskets are interchangeable. The Saeco basket is regular (their pinhole is in the PF) and holds the most coffee.

The pinhole design can get a fake crema from stale coffee, and a proper extraction time from too coarsely ground coffee; however, it creates a thinner bodied and weaker flavored shot than a regular basket when the coffee is fresh and ground correctly.

Mine has a pressurized basket too. It's the worst idea ever, because it always clogs when the grind is fine enough to produce a proper extraction time - amongst all of the other issues that come with Krups machines or others of their ilk. If you grind the coffee coarse enough to allow it not to jam every other time, the machine produces an entirely blonde 1.25 oz double in 14 seconds. If the grind is fine enough to extract properly, it jams either at the beginning of the shot, or during the next shot, and it takes a minute or two to unclog. The best method is a rather awkward form of CPR, whereby you suck at the bottom hole until the particle of espresso comes loose, and then blow down through the top to force water through. A few thumps with a finger helps too.

I've contemplated trying to buy a non-pressurized basket, but considering the machine won't ever maintain a proper temperature anyway, I doubt it would fix the real problem, which is that the espresso (no matter how good otherwise) is universally sour.

Good luck trying to get yours to work. If you need any advice, email me; I've been fussing with one for months.

Michael Salk wrote:If you grind the coffee coarse enough to allow it not to jam every other time, the machine produces an entirely blonde 1.25 oz double in 14 seconds. If the grind is fine enough to extract properly, it jams either at the beginning of the shot, or during the next shot

Best summary of a pressurized basket/portafilter, ever! Must remember that one!

Though how come the coffee shop i had a double in, yesterday, managed a blonde, watery, 14 second shot, with a 'real' basket and Elektra 2-group?

out of curiosity.. has anyone ever made a naked pressurized basket. i am talking about either drill out the tiny hole or completely removing that bottom second layer of the basket? seems like an easy modification.

maybe im missing something?

jon

That would turn it into a regular, non-pressurized basket. This has been tried, but some people noted "blowouts" as the basket is then not strong enough to withstand the pressure.

Yes, I've seen that before. It looks like the pressurized basket that come on my Breville.