Hi all,

I am new to these forums, managed to find this site through Google.

I have recently had a Gaggia Classic past onto me due to my new found interest in coffee. An issue I am having is creating a crema for an espresso. I have been reading these forums as well as watching videos however I am unable to master the art.

I have noticed at the start of the esspresso, the coffee runs dark like filter coffee and then only runs more light and "froffy" a couple seconds later. This is causing the crema to be very thin. The overall time of creating the espresso is less than 25 second which I have heard is the average? Also, am I have seen that leaving the machine for 6 minutes is required however the light on the coffee button comes on much sooner that this. Should I leave it longer regardless?

I am applying what I believe to be 30 pounds pressure and am using ground espresso coffee. Do you have any advice on how I can better my crema?

Many thanks,

Monty,

Among the many variables (i.e. temperature, type of bean, roasting profile, etc.) affecting crema is the freshness of the coffee you're using. You don't say if you are buying and grinding your own espresso or if you are using pre-ground. If you're buying pre-ground espresso, you results will generally be less than pleasing because the pre-ground espresso is stale. Stale espresso equals no or little crema and not so good taste.

To achieve optimum results, I would recommend buying and grinding your beans as you need them, but the beans must be freshly roasted (within 1 week or so at a minimum). Please try to find a good, local, and reputable roaster -- they will be able to tell exactly when the espresso was roasted. If you don't have a grinder, please seriously consider buying a good burr grinder. If not, you will want to buy extremely small batches, and you will need to accept that the resulting espresso will most likely be sub-par.

As for your other questions, yes, you should leave your machine on longer than 6 minutes. The water in the boiler is up to temperature, but the rest of the machine is not. If you don't give the entire machine a chance to warm up, as the water flows though the various pipes, it will cool resulting too low of a water temperature with it hits the ground espresso. I'd give it between 25 and 35 minutes to warm-up.

The timing of the espresso is directly linked to your beans and the grind. Without some of the information above, it's hard to help here. One comment though: please don't hold 25 seconds as a rigid rule. It's more of a guideline to get you in the ballpark.

Finally, I would recommend that you look at the various threads in the "How To", "Resources" and "Faqs" sections. There is a great wealth of information there that will help you as you start.

Go to this website: http://www.espressomyespresso.com/
Look at #12 in the "How to" pages.

Lots of good advice. I have found that to make a decent espresso the following are the most important:

1. Fresh Coffee!! The coffee should be no more than 2 weeks from the ROAST DATE.

2. Fresh ground. By yourself using a high quality espresso grinder. You won't get consistent results until you do this.

3. Your technique: Including dosing, distribution, and tamping.

Fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh coffee beans.That is the problem. Buying pre-ground is forbidden for the quality you want. Supermarket coffees is just a zero. You need to go at the local coffee shop or roaster and get fresh grounded coffee UNTIL you get your own grinder. After that begin to master your technique, before that is worthless. Its a common mistake . There is a wide variety of grinders out there and we are here to help you on choosing. So get grinder and fresh beans and come back.

2 Monty:
- buy a good grinder (research here, within your financial parameters)
- buy only freshly roasted beans (3-6 days old) and use them within 10 days (adjust the purchased amount for that). Find a local roastery, avoid buying prepackaged supermarket beans, no prepackaged Lavazza, Illy etc with a best before date.
- grind per dose
- let the machine sit for at least 20-30 minutes
- read through this forum for more tips

And good luck with the espresso journey