When, referring to taste...such as the brew head type of Elektra...where the espresso profile is clear...I understand that means the flavors have good separation and can be identified distinctly. But what is meant by more body taste wise? And how does this contrast taste clarity? For example, the E61 grouphead.

I've always thought of body is the way the espresso literally feels on the palate. Thin, thick or creamy or what have you. Its more a physical descriptor.

Really good body is when an espresso has foam like a milkshake and the liquid like syrup -- "gloppy."

Some machines are better at this than others. The LMs have always been standouts; E61 is pretty good, as is the Silvia. The Elektra and Bezzera machines are more comfortable with lighter shots. The LM and E61 are also quite good on clarity, while the Silvia less so, and the Bezzera/Elektra style group is very good on clarity.

This is my opinion, with a good deal, but by no means conclusive blind testing, and no science at all, to back it up.

In home leverese, my La Peppina is great at clarity and my Gaggia Factory is great at body.

another_jim wrote:Really good body is when an espresso has foam like a milkshake and the liquid like syrup -- "gloppy."

Some machines are better at this than others. The LMs have always been standouts; E61 is pretty good, as is the Silvia. The Elektra and Bezzera machines are more comfortable with lighter shots. The LM and E61 are also quite good on clarity, while the Silvia less so, and the Bezzera/Elektra style group is very good on clarity.

Jim, an enthusiastic +1 on your post (though I have never tasted nectar from Bezzera or Elektra). That was really refreshing for me to read. I have been observing the textural/body differences between these machines for 2 years. And the clarity differences as well. Thanks for contributing to my thread on these matters:
From Silvia to e-61 and back: the effects of pressure profile on texture?

Your conclusions between LM, E61, and Silvia are the conclusions I have come to also. Silvia does seem to lack clarity, but produces a texture like a syrup injected with micro air bubbles, and I am really addicted to this. I feel that the E61 group has much greater clarity, but produces a more gelatinous, denser texture I am not as partial to. I recently had a shot from a Synesso that echoed the mouthfeel of an E61. For me, LMs are so great because the texture and clarity come together in a way I really like: not as light as Silvia, not as dense as E61, a nice in between with great clarity. Lately, I try to do the accounting for how I am going to afford a GS/3. Always comes up as not possible at this point. I lay awake at night, reworking the numbers.

These shots with differences in clarity, can these also be found in Americanos and Milk drinks? Or only detected in straight shots? Obviousley, body would not.