I don't drink a tonne of milk-based espressos. When I do, though, I want them to taste strong and dirty, like campfire. Is that weird? I think it's a habit that I picked up by over-extracting with an E61 unit. Now that I have a spring lever (Bez Strega), I find myself chasing that high without much success. The delicate flavour that makes the straight shots so desirable seems to get lost with the addition of milk. I usually pull a double shot into an 8 oz cup so it's kind of surprising that it tastes more like milk than coffee.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can draw out some burnt character? Is it just a matter of using uber-dark roast beans? Am I extracting badly, altogether?

Get a darker roast. No better way to get a burnt flavor than using burnt beans. I don't know what you're using, but a switch from Counter Culture Rustico to Toscano holds up better in a cap. If you want some awful stuff you can order some italian robusta which can tastes like burnt tires. Anything that a roaster recommends for standing up to milk will simply be a darker roast.

You can try extracting at full pump pressure and not use the lever. The HX on the strega should cause it to rise in temp. I'd go with the beans though.

I also tried drinking macchiatos/cortados. I find a 1-1 ratio of milk to espresso can be quite nice with a balanced shot.

Yeah, thanks, I think you're giving good advice. I wonder if there's also a way to adjust grind or dose to accommodate my needs.

You may have been overheating shots with the E61; something that is impossible on the Strega. If that is the case, only a very dark roast will hit the spot. before gong there, you can try grinding coarser and dosing higher. It's actually underextracted shots that do better in milk.

as has been said: Try darker roast blend with some robusta in it. Try different levels of Robusta between 5 and 25%- depending on the bean you don't need much to make a difference... You will soon discover those dark and dirty tastes. Robusta has a very bad rap amongst espresso connoisseurs but when tamed that 'burnt tyre' taste can be just the ticket- with extra caffeine oomph! Also adds more crema to the blend. Finally it is more sustainable: Robusta trees are more productive, disease resistant and can be grown over a wider range. The way coffee is taking off in Asia, in years to come I can only see the price of Arabica coffee going up, up and UP...

another_jim wrote:It's actually underextracted shots that do better in milk.

I couldn't agree with this statement more. As a Bezzera Strega owner myself I've had the same experience, and when I dose up and make the grinder coarser while still manually controlling the shot, I get much better lattes.

It won't ever be 100%, but the clarity and unique texture in standalone shots more than makes up for it. Also, experiment with different brands/types of milk, it too can make a difference.

I can see some change with different roasts. And I'm going to play with the grind and dose a bit more, too. However, the shots may be a tiny bit too delicate for me. I'm kind of a brute and think I like it when my shots are brutish, too - more of a Shiraz guy, than a Pinot Noir guy... actually, more of a whiskey guy than a wine guy.

I'm wondering (a bit bashfully, since I'm being honest) if another machine would have been a better fit for me. It's only been a week since I bought this one but, unfortunately, I only have a few more days to return it if I want a full refund. The hilarious part is that I'm usually roaring at full-throttle with all of the caffeine I've consumed when I'm on the spot to make decisions about whether or not this is the right piece of equipment for me - it does a lot to cloud rational thought.

You could try doing slower pulls to see if that reaches the level of punch that you want in your drinks.

How are you loading your basket?
How many grams and which basket?
What is your dose ratio to espresso? (You should weigh your espresso when practicing once in a while.)

I generally pull singles.
- Load the stock single basket to 13g, which is a level sweep on the basket. (Okay, that's a classic double in size, but it fits the single basket barely.)
- Tamp.
- Lock and load the PF - it can be a little tight if not ground fine enough.
- Pull down the Strega lever and wait until you get a couple drips before releasing the lever and letting the spring do all the work.
(If the pump didn't get really quiet before you saw drips you are grinding too coarse. Full pump pressure reaches 11-12 Bars max, and the spring will only sustain 9BAR down to about 6BAR at the tail of the pull. Bezzera claims the 11-12BAR starting pressure is a feature that gives great espresso.)
- My dose target is 13g in and around 20g out. I don't time generally, but a 40 second 20g pull is quite flavorful.
One single will carry a cappuccino quite well, but for a latte I find this too little coffee although wife likes it this way.

I think you got some Daterra Farms Yellow beans? If that's what you are pulling I found them to be very mellow. Was a great blending bean, but might be too mellow for your wants?

Hope that helps. We love our Strega here, and the wife is a pure milk based espresso drinker.

Normally I use the double, with a naked PF. I was measuring grounds at the beginning but as frenetic energy started catch up I just started eyeballing it.

I dialed in my grinder with some Ethiopian from *$. I could taste fire on it. It actually got me to raise up my eyebrows and say, "holy crap." I was expecting it to be harsh and bitter, to taste as oily as it looked, but its rough edges were bashed off. Most of the few shots I actually pulled with that coffee were thrown down the sink. I was just using it to clean out the piston and baskets.

With the Daterra Yellow, which I blew threw in a couple of days, I was running 18 g in the double basket and never weighed a shot after I pulled. It tasted good to me but *very* mild. I don't have a taster's vocabulary so I can't elaborate at a useful level but it was a light and airy taste. I tried a capo with it but wasn't thrilled by it. The pulls took... some amount of time. I varied it depending on colour of the stream and usually stopped as the blonde-ness appeared not to go away.

Next was some green Ethiopian Yirgacheffe I had lying around. I roasted it to a point where oil was just starting to pop up. I'm not a very seasoned roaster and I'm not using professional gear. The weight on was 18 g and the result was uninspiring. Again, not a strong enough flavor to satisfy me in a capo.

I should be clear, too. I don't necessarily require a milk drink to taste burnt. What I do like is when the crema gets all in the foam on top and makes it taste like a yummy, creamy, hyper-coffee invitation to get down into the elixir sitting below it. That's the goal I have and I was able to achieve with the E61 I was babysitting for a couple of months.

Most recently, today and yesterday, I've been using Fazenda Cachoeira Da Grama Natural from Sense Appeal Roasters in Toronto. It's three days post-roast. I've been dosing high, but I haven't been weighing it a lot. As I said, there's a lot of frenetic energy informing my decisions these days. I started screwing around with grind a little bit so it's hard to describe with any consistency the sorts of shots I've been getting. The flavour profile written on the side of the bag suggests that I should expect "big body, chocolate, almond, and cherry." Those qualities got me thinking I was on the right track. Perhaps I have a remedial-level mouth but I thought it tasted a bit winy without much of any of those distinct flavors screaming out in the foreground.

I just tried a single pull, one of very few, and ended up with something reasonably good. I had drops forming after around 8 seconds, at which point I released the lever), and a pretty thin stream formed pretty soon after. The full shot probably took 40 seconds. That was the first shot where I weighed the result - 13 g in and 30 g out.

I'm more than willing to accept that my barista skills are non-existent. If I can find a way to make this thing do what I like, then I'd be thrilled to keep it. I'm just concerned about never feeling completely satisfied by it - which would make my wallet very sad and the space in my kitchen that I had to modify to make it fit would be sad, too.

Yeah, I understand wanting to get your joy out of the big purchase that is a Strega. Buyers remorse plays tricks with your mind!

Have you tried a slow infusion for your shots? A few times those have given me a more "bitey" shot that really tingled my tongue.
Pull the lever down until the pump engages and just as it starts to quiet down move the lever so the pump is disengaged. Hold the lever in that position, keeping most of the pressure off of the springs and puck. When you begin to drip let up the lever carefully, it will likely go up quite far, and see how that works for you.

Lately, at the suggestion of Bezzera I have been pulling most shots at full pressure, but lower pressure shots are nice too. As noted in earlier posts a slightly under-extracted espresso has just enough acid to sing in the cup with milk.