Hi there:
Welcome. Lemme see if I can help.
Baskets come in lots of sizes and shapes. In my experience, different baskets work better (or worse) with different coffees. If you like the result from your single basket, then I would go back to using your single basket for now. See how you like the coffee. You mention that the basket is a "triple basket". I'm guessing that you should be using something smaller than the triple, but bigger than a single. Some good shoices to try would be Rancilio's double basket (holds around 14 g of coffee). There is a straight-sided double basket sold by Espresso Parts Northwest (in this country) that has no retaining spring groove. This basket holds 18 g max and would be a good choice for doubles. I think it's sold as La Marzocco ridgeless double basket. Anyhow, there ain't nuthin magical about them and they're pretty cheap - a couple Euros each. They do make a difference.
Regarding temperature of coffee in the cup - In the traditional scheme with spouts, the relatively cool spouts cool the coffee, as you've observed. There ain't no spouts to cool the coffee with a bottomless portafilter (pf). It's hard to influence the heat of coffee in the bottomless pf case. The heat flow path from the brass pf to brew basket to the coffee in the bottomless case is very poor - much less efficient than hot coffee landing on cold spouts. FWIW some folks claim that there are temperature-dependent effects that change the taste of coffee that is quickly cooled vs coffee from the bottomless pf. Effects have been demonstrated to me, but I can't tell you specifically what the reaction is. Some think that the high temperature of the coffee produced from a bottomless pf promotes the quick production of carbonic acid if very newly roasted coffee is used. Again I ain't a chemist.
The temperature of the water when it percolates thru the coffee has a big effect on the taste. This brewing temperature is not influenced by the downstream components, so its the same regardless of whether your pf has spouts or is bottomless. Given your equipement I'd think that the brewing temperature is prolly OK for the first crack at this.
I'd like to know more about the coffee that you are using. What is the origin of the coffee? Is it a blend? When was it roasted? Do droplets of oil appear on the surface of the coffee? When you brew an espresso are you getting lots of crema (1 cm thick layer after settling) or is it only 1 or 2 mm thick? Does the crema disappear quickly or does it stay on top of the coffee for many minutes?
Can you tell us the volume of your shots, and the elapsed time for brewing them?
Not knowing any better, my guess is that a good deal of your troubles will be related to the coffee itself, and / or brewing fundamentals. Once you've got that sorted, you should play with different baskets until you find a combination that works for your coffee. There is a taste difference between the bottomless pf and one with spouts. These days I prefer to use spouts. I use a bottomless pf on my machine at work, where cleanup is a bigger pain in the ass. I also use bottomless pfs whenever I need to look at my brewing process because the way in which the coffee flows from the bottomless pf gives good information regarding dose, distribution, grind, tamp.
-Greg
faberic wrote:hello everybody, I'm a weird guy from the Netherlands, on this website referred to as part of the Benelux countries (I feel so small right now), and I'm weird because, when you don't want to pay for a cappuccino that has cocoa on it AND is very bitterish because the milk is heated to insane temperatures, here people find you a crazy guy.
But anyway I kind of like espresso and cappuccino and I like this forum, so let's start.
A month ago I got my bottomless portafilter, I thought it would be nice to have because everyone here likes it so much. The problem I now have is that with the basket that came along with it, the coffee is way to bitterish. It's a triple basket (to make doubles I think). If I use the single basket the espresso is much better. The espresso is also way too hot, even if I heat the portafilter just enough to get rid of the cold metal feeling. With the single basket that is, again, much better. The normal double portafilter (to make 2 espressos at once) produces great coffee, even when heated to group head temperatures. I use fresh beans from the local coffee store.
My equipment:
- Isomac Itala, nobody knows this thing but I think it's the European version of the Isomac Zaffiro, it looks exactly the same except for some buttons, and the specs are equivalent as far as I know my own.
- Gaggia MDF grinder, well the grinder couldn't be too expensive, I live with my parents (i'm still young) and they're very dutch so they make 6 ounce "espresso" (You guys work with ounces right? That sucks pretty bad but ok i'll adapt for this one) with pre-grinded coffee that is so bad.. However, when I give them good espresso they like it but the volume is too small for them. I'm the only one that knows what the machine is built for.
My question is: what can cause the extremely bad taste of the double espresso. Is it the temperature? I don't think it can be the pressure because with the normal portafilter it's just fine.
The extraction is not perfect though (I get the famous doughnut shape in the beginning of the extraction), but that still doesn't explain why the normal portafilter produces nice shots.
I hope you guys can help me out.
