Leo- Jack( peacecup) uses a spring lever -he can make it sing!

Leo- try pulling into a shot glass. You'll be able to get something that looks very much like PC's video, I'll bet.

I like the low-volume (1-1.5 oz) shots I get with the 45-mm Ponte Vecchio. It is a spring lever, btw, but the group is smaller diameter. Some say this increases pressure, but I'm not sure if it does, or by how much. The PV baskets are quite deep, however, and its no strain to get ~15 grams in there. With the double basket I always take two pulls of the lever, sometimes three, and occasionally four. In the video thread I posted above, there is one two-pull and one three-pull shot. The shot glass has a line at the 1-oz mark.

I find that three 15-g doppios a day are within my caffeine tolerance zone. If I were to pull three 15-g, 2-oz shots with a pump machine I'd be over-caffeinated, at least until I increased my tolerance. With the PV I can even sneak in an after-dinner solo without noticable effects on sleep.

For anyone interested in getting the most from an Elektra I highly recommend karlschneider's posts here on H-B.

PC

so youre doing multiple pulls with an overdosed basket. i guess the grind isnt too fine, otherwise it would be really bitter, right? how long do you preinfuse?

ill have to play around... so far, fine grind, not too full of a basket, and 2 pumps for a 1.25oz shot.. minimal (as compared to hx) crema though. my mouth is getting used to the flavor, definitely more true to the bean!

By rule, I like to fill the basket to leave just enough headroom to engage the PF, plus about a dime's thickness of space. In practice this varies a little, which is ok, because then I get to see how less dose effects the results. In general, I find the fuller dose more to my liking, and very seldom bitter. To the contrary, I find when I leave a lot of headroom the shot blonds too soon and/or runs too fast, and these tend to be bitter.

I think the conventional wisdom with pump machines is that too great of a dose leads to underextraction and less sweetness. With the PV I'm usually in the 30-40 sec range for a 15 gram shot, so I don't think underextraction is an issue. In fact, I've basically thrown out the whole 30-sec rule - I just pour them based on the flow rate, i.e. just a steady, syrupy stream, and don't bother at all about the time.

Also, temperature will effect crema and bitterness. I nearly always brew from a cold start, wait till the machine gets up to temperature, and just run one blank shot though the group until its very warm (but not too hot to touch), then brew. If I let the group get too hot I don't like the results - to me these shots seem too bitter/acidic, with less crema.

I grind very fine - sometimes fine enough to choke the spring down to just a drip drip drip. If this happens I can assist the spring on the PV by leaning over the machine and pushing down on the piston via the cotter pin on the lever - not recommended, but it can be done. I'll then back off on the grind on the next shot just enough to speed the flow to that syrupy optimum.


I might also mention that I'm often using a relatively light, northern Italian-style espresso blend, Heritage Roaster's Cafe Espresso (Juneau AK), so most of my observations are based on this. Darker roasts are great, but I don't have ready access to fresh beans. I have learned that darker roasts require a finer grind and typically produce less crema.

PC

My shot video. I had both the original eagle and a blue murano glass ball- replaced both with a wooden drawer pull to not burn my fingers.

Yep, Rocky choked, that hardly ever happens! I don't usually have to beat him like that.

This was a really slow extraction but I did use more coffee than I normally do, left with maybe half the headspace, so no, I don't usually do anywhere near 1-minute pulls (though to be fair, this was a double-pull). Beans are Big Mountain Organic Espresso (Calgary, Alberta) and are maybe 2 weeks old. The shot was, as you might expect, absolutely delicious.