Prototype La Marzocco GS3 - A Pro's Perspective - Page 6

[miKe mcKoffee]

You're all SICK! (and I'm infected and hence one tomorrow's cast of "characters" )

[terryz]

ps... malachi... how do you get your pours so thin and and uninterrupted...

I moved to the mountains to hone my ninja barista craft, carrying full bags of green coffee through waist deep snow, learning to feel coffee until finally the day came where I no longer needed the machine or the coffee to know if the shot was good.

Grin.

This is a funny man............

[jasonmolinari]

So, who is going to buy the M3 machine and do a head to head with the GS3?

[bolojm]

So, who is going to buy the M3 machine and do a head to head with the GS3?

My vote would be for Mark Prince!

[MOSFET]

An inverter converts DC power to AC.

10-15 amps@120volts = 100-150 amps@12volts. You've got a big alternator, right? It sure is gonna cut down on your gas mileage.

You're correct. Better wait for the newer 42V batteries.

Keith

[malachi]

So, who is going to buy the M3 machine and do a head to head with the GS3?

Different purposes, different audiences. Would make no more sense than comparing the GS3 to a 3-grp Idrocompresso.

The "proper" comparisons are going to be:
- GS3 vs 110v Synesso
- GS3 vs Speedster

[Abe Carmeli]

The "proper" comparisons are going to be:
- GS3 vs 110v Synesso

Oh, you are so right!

[malachi]

Day 8:

Sharing this machine with others is just too fun. In a good way, 'cause people are so excited, 'cause it's fun and wonderful and amazing. And at the same time in a bad way, where you see "gear lust" start shining in their eyes. The fever, the fever.

This was fun. I couldn't stop smiling.

Anyway... I started off the morning rounding up all the supplies I needed. A trip to the grocery store for milk and San Pelligrino and then stack up all the needed coffees and supplies.



And then folks started to arrive. First Joel. And then soon afterward Phuong. And then in rapid succession Eric and Mike. And Tom even managed to make it (sneaking a break from work).

After some quick shots of espresso to "whet the appetite" the experimentation began.

We started off pulling shots of Hairbender and comparing them to our memories of shots from commercial machines. Concensus was that the espresso was "cleaner" and "more defined" but had a slightly lighter body than what you'd get from a Stumptown cafe.

A quick change to the brew temp and we moved on to the Artigiano Espresso. This was less sweet and floral than the Hairbender with a sort of "rustic chocolate" note. Phuong whipped out a couple of total rockstar cappuccinos for us using this blend - and we all agreed the coffee was magic in milk.

At first Phuong was not enthralled by the lack of articulation on the steam wand - but with some practice she learned how to compensate and was pouring lovely rosettas.

Mike stepped up and pulled a quick shot... lovely reddish brown ristretto shot first try.
Remember that "gear lust" statement... heh.



Another change to the brew temp and a swap to the triple basket and in went the Caffe Fresco Daterra Reserve.
Time to blow some minds.

I took the temp down to 199.1F. Down-dosed in the triple basket.
Taste in the cup? Bright, sweet, fruity... a sort of classic "unbalanced" single origin shot. Tasty, but more interesting than wonderful.
The shots got passed around, discussed... there was agreement.

I took the temp up to 200F. Same dose, same grind, same extraction.
Passed the shots around.
The lightbulbs went on.
It tasted like a totally different coffee. Big, rounded, chocolate rich and intense on the palate. All of sudden it tasted like what you expect from a blend. Complete, integrated... balanced.

Yes - a 0.9F change in brew temp makes a huge difference.
Now keep in mind that you'll see that sort of change not only between two shots on your average machine - but on most machines you'll see that within a single shot. With this machine... each shot was the same. One after another. The only limitation is your own skill and the strength of the coffee.

Unh-hunh.



More cappuccinos.
More espressos.
People started getting more and more excited.

"Wait... you mean you don't have to flush to get it stable?"

We're banging out shots, pouring latte art.

"It's so clean!!!"



I guess the best thing to do now is wait and see what the others have to say. But I think I know what we'll hear...

Thanks to all who came, thanks to Mike for the biscotti, thanks to all the roasters who provided coffee and most of all thanks to Bill Crossland, Jacob and John and Kent. You've created a monster.

[bolojm]

I got excited just reading the thread.

Now...the GS3 went from "how can I afford this" to "next year's bonus should almost cover the cost!"

All I can say is, "wow!"

I'm going to be up in the Rochester, NY area over X-mas...I'll beg and plead to see if AndyS will do an open house around that time!!

[miKe mcKoffee]

First here's a duplicate of my CG post when I got home:

I knew checking out the GS3 would be a mistake. Sure enough, BIG mistake! That is one truly awesome machine. Who knew a 0.9f degree shot temp change could make such a difference in a shot. It can and does. And that beast can do the change in seconds and knock 'em out repeatably within 0.15f inter & intrashot! Damn. Have been waiting for Chris's Quick Mill double boiler to compare to Brewtus before upgrading. Guess upgrading will be a little longer away now because I know I'd never be satisfied with something less than GS3 performance.

Thanks for inviting us over Chris!

It's not that I can't get some pretty tasty shots with PID'd & pressure mod'd Silvia. It's not that with said PID Silvia can't somewhat control shot temp, you can the first couple before she starts overheating. And never with anything approaching the finite 0.15f control of the GS3 of course! I don't do a lot of milk steaming for just Debi & I. But I've hosted some major gatherings of advanced coffee aficionados and Silvia just isn't up to even 6 back to back straight shots with any semblance to temp stability. Sure making one or two cap's no problem. But four caps is a PITA. So the inevitable thoughts of upgrading, that have now been majorly heightened. Simply the BEST machine I've ever seen that would reasonably fit in someone's kitchen. Such a high grade rotary pump machine and doesn't even require direct plumbing, though it would be of course. (Silvia even water auto-filled so hole already drilled in the counter )

BTW, man is Silvia noisy after that GS3!

[miKe mcKoffee]

I got excited just reading the thread.

Now...the GS3 went from "how can I afford this" to "next year's bonus should almost cover the cost!"

All I can say is, "wow!"

I'm going to be up in the Rochester, NY area over X-mas...I'll beg and plead to see if AndyS will do an open house around that time!!

You might want to try and make the trip sooner. Chris mentioned (with mucho sorrow) he has to return his test GS3 in about a week...

[malachi]

BTW, man is Silvia noisy after that GS3!

It really is freakishly quiet.

[malachi]

So...

Now that Andy and Greg both have their machines as well... time to post up there boys!!!
What do you think?

[malachi]

You know...
I've gotten away from the coffee.
Time to refocus and pay more attention.

[AndyS]

So...

Now that Andy and Greg both have their machines as well... time to post up there boys!!!
What do you think?

Damn...you have to be really quick around here...so far I have it set up and I've pulled maybe six shots...is it really time to "post up?"

So soon?

All things considered, it was surprising how good those first shots were.

More later.

[malachi]

I'm expecting a full report from you tomorrow!!!

Heh.

[peon]

Hi just joined your forums. Great reviews!

Can you say anything about how the MM and the M3 compare when used with the GS3?

[terryz]

Calling Mr. Andy S.

Your first day post is due

[miKe mcKoffee]

Calling Mr. Andy S.

Your first day post is due

Hey, let's be fair with the jibes. Doesn't Greg have his GS3 too! And were's mine Though I will say Silvia made a quite respectable Kona cap I be drinkin'. Oh sure remind me the crema was sitting there dying waiting for Silvia to come up to steam temp... (At least I set the pre-heated before pull cup on top of Silvia after the pull so it didn't cool off toooooo much waiting for steam )

[malachi]

Day 9:

For the most part today has been focused on understanding implications of small changes in brew temp.
I've stuck to just using the [url=http://www.stumptowncoffee.com/]Stumptown Hairbender and my traditional dose/extraction for this coffee.

I started at 197F. Pulled a couple shots, tasted all of them and considered the flavour.
I then proceeded to increase the brew temp in 0.3F increments and repeated the tasting all the way to 200F.

The idea was not really to evaluate the GS3 or the Hairbender or even to try and determine a "sweet spot" for the coffee but rather to start the process of really understanding the changes in the cup that changes to brew temp bring.

This is going to be a long process - and I really need a couple more people to work with me and discuss and consider these perceptions. But I'm starting to see some emerging patterns and implications. Some of these are intuitive to me (brighter fruit and citrus notes become more dominant at lower temps) and some are more unexpected (chocolate tones suddenly become dominated by anise and white pepper at higher temps).

Once I do this a few more times with the Hairbender, I'm going to repeat the process with other coffees.
I'm hoping to begin to discover some commonalities and some general guidelines.

With luck, this will enable me to not only better understand espresso - it will also allow me to more accurately diagnose temp-related and temp-created flavour "issues."


While, as noted, the goal was not to evaluate the GS3 - I have to say that I've never really had the ability to do this sort of experiment before. I've never had the opportunity to work on a machine where I could easily, accurately and consistently control the brew temp to this degree. As a result, I was never truly able to isolate brew temp as a variable and really know that I was tasting the results of these changes in brew temp.


Finally... on an unrelated note, this morning I swapped out the stock acorn tip that came with the GS3 for an old, brass LM acorn tip. The improvement in my milk steaming has been dramatic. It's far, far easier to get the milk to roll, I don't have to fiddle as much with the pitcher angle and the milk is, as a result, far better textured. With this tip the GS3 is suddenly on par with a Linea for milk texturing.