I was surprised at how fine the grind was...a lot finer than I'd been expecting. It also seemed a lot closer to what I thought was my zero point on the Macap M4...like maybe half a number instead of 1.5. It could be I'm misremembering the zero point, though (I need to make some dots next time I figure it out).
I'm not one who has drank much straight espresso, and I haven't had any in years. I tried this and it was good, but bitter. Kind of like what I remember espresso being like when I'd order it.
So then I broke out the Black Cat, tried the same grind, and wow! First of all, just the smell of the ground coffee was wild. The smell from the bag was actually rather mild, but the grind really did have hints of all kinds of things-- chocolate being the one most prominent for me.
After a 2-3 attempts, I got this:
Crema! It was just beautiful coming out of the spout. However, it was a bit low in volume and also a bit short on time. I was stopping the shot based on looking for when it turns tan and kind of thin looking. That was running around 21 sec. So I went a little finer, and got:
This ran 22 sec, and if I'm remembering my reading of this site correctly, I went a little too far. This is also running around 1.5 to 1.75 oz. I'm actually a little confused on which way to go next. The Espresso Guide says:
Try to get into the middle of the acceptable range: 1.5 to 1.75 ounces in 25 to 30 seconds. If the shot takes longer, or delivers less volume, grind coarser; if it delivers more volume or happens in less time, grind finer.
But I'm getting less volume and less time, which seem conflicting. I'm thinking I should go coarser so that it lasts a little longer? I'm also using the little plastic tamp that came with the machine (I have a Lava on order, should be here Friday). So I expect some of this variation could be the tamp too. When it's that fine, it seems like it can tamp really far. Anyway, the puck is also a little wet looking, in case that helps:
But aside from all that, how about the taste? Oh my...it was just fascinating. The texture was syrupy and smooth---not like espresso I've bought before. It really does have hints of chocolate. This is so different from my cafe latte's... I wouldn't drink this all the time but it is so so good. A lot less bitter.
It really was amazing how much difference the fresh beans made, as well as the grind.
Thanks to everyone for the help in getting this far. I don't even know what I'd do without this site. I guess I'd have been stuck with the Gaggia manual, which really doesn't give me much of anything.
