First, the more I read the FAQ's - the more I get confused

A few questions:

1. Is "crema" the end-all-say-all of a good pull? Can you have a good pull with minimal to no-crema? Heard of some beans producing more crema - but are there bean variety that produces little to no crema?

2. Recently bought a Vario after having the grocery grind all my beans the past 7 years Just learned that "Grinder > Machine" whilst researching to buy a new machine. Using the same espresso machine, will the grind setting for one bean be vastly different from another bean? I noticed that a bean variety I bought from Joe Coffee is dialed in at 2-A and another bean I bought from Fairway (Grocery) chokes the machine at that setting......I have to dial it all the way to 2-W (which is the coarsest setting on the Micro-adjustment) to get a proper pull. Is that normal?

3. I see canned coffee beans sold in the grocery - Illy, Lavazza, Brooklyn Roasters with expiration date of 2017. How good are these beans for espresso? Are they fresh or am I better off buying them newly roasted?

4. Any recommendation for a low-acid coffee variety?

Thanks!

I am also new to espresso. It's been a year but that still makes me a newbie.
So as such I offer what I was taught
Fresh beans,only. You will want to purchase beans with roasting date on the bags. I will gladly stand corrected but my I don't want beans more than two weeks old which I store in my freezer.
Old beans will affect cream ; little or none

Can you share what espresso appliance you are using?
What type of beans do you prefer? Are you purchasing espresso blends or using single origin beans?

No. Crema is actually not a great flavor on its own. It tastes good only as a balance to the other flavors. You can have a great tasting shot that has a thin crema. You can have a great tasting shot that has a very thick and mottled crema. There is no one alive that can tell you how the shot will taste by visually inspecting the crema. Unless they have brewed a bunch of shots with that bean and know exactly what to look for. The bean and the roast have more to do with the crema than the pull. That said, you can often get some visual feedback on shot quality by inspecting the crema over a range of shots. In other words, you can use it to gauge your consistency opposed to a visual indicator of quality. If you pull 10 shots that you like and you see nice crema with fleks in it and the 11th shot is different, that is just an indicator that shot is probably going to taste different.

Grind settings are going to change bean to bean and grinder's do not have consistent burr distances to compare. You use what works for your machine and the bean. You have to be dynamic with this and there is no one answer. The most important thing about a grinder is the consistency and results it produces. A good grinder does not automatically increase the quality of your espresso but it removes some of the variables that make it easy to make great espresso more often.

No. Find a local roaster or order online. Do NOT ever pay attention to expiration dates and ONLY observe "roasted on" dates. Do not use coffee you do not know the roast date of. Of all the components of coffee, machine, grinder, or technique, bean freshness and quality trumps all.

@Barb - Noted on the "fresh" beans. My favorite flavor is called "Indonesian Sumatra Blend" - this is how they label it in Fairway (Grocery in NYC). Unfortunately, they don't put roast date They have them all in the open on BIG burlap sacks and they get weighed by the lbs when you order. I bought 2 freshly roasted bags from Joe Coffee but I did not love the flavor - too acidy/lemony. I will post photos of my crema/extractions if I can. Currently using a Baratza Vario and La Pavoni (which in itself is an inconsistent espresso machine).

@mike guy - Thanks for clarifying a LOT of my questions. I guess this will come down to experimentation until I find a local roaster and a bean that I like and stick to that.

The quest continues - I'm having fun amidst a lot of frustrations! Too many variable at this point.

Step 1 Find a good local roaster that has roast dates and not open in a bin and espresso you like from them.

Step 2, finesse the grind until you get a good 20-30 second pull.

Caveat, don't over heat the Pavoni. Plenty of threads here on how to master the Pavoni.

Crema depends on the roast, grind and tamp, I have had someone tamp the same grind I had and he got no crema and I got buckets of crema. Minimize your changes, start with grind, get temp strips and you can make sure you are not over heating.

Do a search on La Pavoni in the lever forum.