My wife bought me a new Astra Pro for our 10th anniversary! So...I have some questions. I'm used to my old Expobar Pulser, which I have been using for 6 years or so. It brewed too hot, at too high pressure. I knew how to play that thing well, I've pulled thousands of shots through there.

So, the Astra, totally different beast (and she IS a beast). Second day I had it, I was pulling shots, same coffee, same grind. I pulled 2 awesome shots, then the third, it was as if the pump lost pressure. Water barely came through. I went coarser and coarser on the grind, it didn't matter. I tried the Expobar, had it dialed in in two shots.

I took it to Astra, they checked it out, and said it was vapor lock. They checked brew pressure, and said I was good to go.

So I've been playing around with the grind, tamp, etc, and it really seems like brew pressure is low. I am using a naked PF with double basket, grounds are not contacting the grouphead, but it's extracting...oddly. It's extracting slowly, but the end result is a bit watery, not syrupy or over-extracted. It actually tastes really good, but the consistency is almost like from a moka pot, if that makes sense, it lacks viscosity. Crema is also thin; crema was never an issue on the Pulser, and it would last long, but this is on the thin side, and dissipates rather quickly. Oddly, coffee that extracted this way on the expobar would've tasted like ass, but again, this tastes good, just not quite 'espresso'. Normally I'd tighten up the grind, based on the wateriness, but that just chokes her.

The puck is soft, btw. When I knock it out on the counter, there are more grounds adhering to the sides of the basket than I'm used to, I'm used to knocking the puck out, and a pretty clean basket. The puck it dry, but soft-ish. It comes out in one piece, and stays together, though.

Otherwise, she's beautiful, steam is ridiculous, and overall build quality seems insanely good. So what's the problem?

Ah, yes, it's a super jolly with good burrs, and beans I've roasted (obviously fresh). But if you read my post, I pulled some excellent shots with the same grinder and beans, and went on to pull excellent shots with the expobar and the same beans, so I'm not sure how that helps you.

No one, huh?

To test the brew pressure, make yourself a portafilter pressure gauge.

Building a Portafilter Pressure Gauge

Thanks, I'll try that.

Scratch that, I didn't try it. :p I took it to Astra, Richard jumped on it, and found a faulty vacuum breaker valve, it wasn't closing fully. Nice thing about British fittings (or whatever they're called), it's quick and easy. Brew pressure was low, so he adjusted it, checked everything out, and sent me on my way. Awesome service, super nice guy.

Comparing the internals on the Pro vs Pulser....geez, the Pro is a completely different standard. Really clean layout.

I had two family and friend get together's over the weekend, and finally got to pull a bunch of shots back-to-back. I'm finally getting used to non-anemic steam; it's a totally different skill, doing microfoam with commercial amounts of dry steam. It's less than half the time for any given amount of milk, more like 1/4-1/3. Recovery after steaming is FAST.

It's MUCH more forgiving than the Expobar when pulling shots. Shots taste better, less astringent, more separation of flavors. It takes much less water to do the water dance, so reservoir refills are less frequent, and fewer trips to empty the drip tray.

It certainly is a gorgeous machine, and really compact, given the boiler size and commercial grade components. I'm very pleased!

hey poison,
did your machine have the self tamping feature i've heard of on the astra?

thanks

Yes. My wife bought it and picked it up, and didn't know about that, so I got to play with it for a couple days. I can deal with it, but not ideal, so I took it back and had em switch it out. It takes 30 seconds to switch.