Rancilio Silvia problems with preground coffee

Need help with equipment usage or want to share your latest discovery?
craigm
Posts: 1
Joined: 12 years ago

#1: Post by craigm »

Hi,

Brand new to this site and espresso making so please bear with me if my issues seem trivial or naive !

Been using the fool proof but boring Nespresso system for our coffee for the last 5 years and finally thought it time to invest in a proper machine using proper espresso making techniques.

After much research on the net i decided to go for the Rancilio Silvia and my shiny new machine arrived just this morning.

Read every article and watched every video on Youtube that i could on espresso and Americano making techniques that i could get my hands on and thought that with a little practice i'll soon be making the best coffee we've ever had - how wrong was i ????

I didn't invest in a grinder for now as i thought i'd use pre-ground until i'd got my technique down. I realised i'd compromise a little on flavour but have now tried 3 different brands with no noticeable difference.

The problem is bitterness, a lack of overall flavour and a rather undesirable odour to the coffee in general.

I've kept the brew to a a maximum of 25secs, tried tamping very hard down to very soft (and everything in between) and as mention used 3 different coffees (Illy, illy Dark and a freshly ground from a local high end supplier).

I should mention at this point that my efforts have so far been concentrated on producing a long black coffee which is our usual drink of choice.

I'm filling the double basket and tamping to the line on the inside (which is approx one and a half of the plastic scoops that is provided with the machine), two thirds filling the cup with hot water, producing an espresso and tipping this into the hot water and still finding that the long coffee is nowhere near the quality of my old espresso machine (in fact, the majority produced coffee that wasn't even drinkable).

Hoping that some of you can shed some light on where i'm going wrong as i'm running out of things to try next.

Many thanks

Alan Frew
Posts: 659
Joined: 16 years ago

#2: Post by Alan Frew »

Buy a decent grinder.

Alan

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HB
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#3: Post by HB »

Short answer: Alan's right. Longer answer follows...
craigm wrote:I didn't invest in a grinder for now as i thought i'd use pre-ground until i'd got my technique down.
That won't work. From Preground coffees from the supermarket and similar threads:
HB wrote:Better to have freshly ground coffee to make French press than stale coffee for espresso. To elaborate, I am taking the lazy way out and excerpting my response several years ago from Use preground coffee while saving for an espresso grinder?:

Preground coffee = stale coffee. The oils that make up the crema are volatile; as they evaporate, so does the potential crema. And to make matters worse, the grind fineness changes as they evaporate (finer and finer). The only machines that can readily produce a non-gusher with preground coffee are those with "pressurized portafilters," but the result is lifeless, dull, black bitter brew.

Unfortunately I speak from experience, as documented in Hall of Shame: ''What I did when I was a newbie...'' :oops:
It also doesn't help that like many others, you picked one of the most finicky entry level espresso machines available. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you simply must have a good grinder and fresh coffee for good espresso.
Dan Kehn

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allon
Posts: 1639
Joined: 13 years ago

#4: Post by allon »

If you're on a budget, there are a number of hand grinders, such as the Skerton or similar which will do for now and are of modest cost, but you'll be wanting to save up for a better one.
There are also a ton of grinders (hand and electric) which are completely unsuitable.
Time to do some research.
LMWDP #331