I recently purchased a long-lusted-after Pavoni Professional machine, but am having trouble getting quality espresso from it. Despite using the finest grind on my coffee grinder, and tamping so hard my arms hurt, i simply get no resistance from the lever when i push it down... it's very frustrating. I've been trying to about a week now, and this is basically how it goes every time:

Water's almost full, the pressure gauge is at about 0.8 - 0.9 (in the green), I grind the beans as finely as the machine will let me, i tamp HARD, i slot it into the machine, pull the lever up (sometimes when i pull up quite a LOT of fairly thin-looking coffee comes out at this point, which is not great, but assuming this doesn't happen...) and a small amount of decent, dark coffee comes dribbles out, i hold the lever up for 5 - 8 second, then push down. When i do, there is basically no resistance at all. From everything i read, this is not exactly the ideal scenario!

I can't work out why this is. Any ideas would be very, very welcome!

Many thanks,

Sam

Hi Sam,

Almost certainly, the problem is that your grinder is not able to grind fine enough. What grinder are you using? As you alluded to, the only thing that offers resistance is the puck. And if it's not fine enough or well tamped across it's whole face, badness follows.

On each of the 5 or so Pavonis I've used, I've *always* been able to choke the machine with a fine enough grind.

Another potential problem is that you're having side channeling. What kind of tamper are you using? It should match well to the diameter of the portafilter basket. For instance, if you're using the plastic tamper that comes with the machine, it isn't wide enough to tamp all of the coffee, and you'd get a rush of thin nasty stuff on raising the lever. (this isn't the only problem with the tamper...)

My setup is a LP europiccola, a rocky doserless grinder (typically 4 or 5 clicks above burrs touching), and a compressore tamper from EPNW (the LMWDP variety). I also have a Reg Barber tamper that works perfectly as well.

Keep after it...I'm far from an authority, but there are many on this site who can chime in.

-Derek

p.s. don't forget about good, freshly roasted beans, ground just before extraction....

Hi Sam

This site is a wealth of information regarding your exact question. Just a week ago there was a thread dealing with your question with a Pavoni.

http://www.home-barista.com/forum...r-crema-t6038.html

Take some time to read through previous posts and you will find the answers you need. Use the search feature to help you find the information you need. If that fails, then post your questions and people will be glad to help.

Thanks all - I will check out the other thread. And buy a new grinder.

Not necessarily in that order