Crema disappears quickly

#1: Post by **nikola_bb** » February 5th, 2011, 1:32 pm

Hi there in the past i used preground coffee for my Gaggia coffee deluxe(with added OPV). With the preground coffee the coffee was fine, but now i got a Brasilia rr45 grinder after some trials i manage to get extraction in between 25-30 seconds. Now the coffee tastes more intense it is better, but:
I get more crema on the top but it seems to disappear very fast, while i brew coffee i see good amount of crema coming out of the machine but that crema disappears quick which was not the case with the preground coffee (than the crema stayed on the top). What am i doing wrong?

#2: Post by **plamberti** » February 5th, 2011, 3:45 pm

Are you using fresh coffee? Fresh coffee makes the difference.
You can try also to grind a bit coarser.

Pierluigi

#3: Post by HB » February 5th, 2011, 5:09 pm

nikola_bb wrote:...i see good amount of crema coming out of the machine but that crema disappears quick which was not the case with the preground coffee. What am i doing wrong?

Coffee that's too fresh can pour thin, with a dull, baking soda like flavor. Most blends peak around days 4 to 7. Why coffee needs to ''rest'' before making espresso presents a good discussion of this topic, but be forewarned that not everyone agrees that allowing coffee to rest is any different than allowing it to stale. My guess is the preground coffee contains Robusta, which is known for copious amounts of stable crema.

February 5th, 2011, 7:23 pm

it may be because of the robusta it is 50-50 arabica-robusta blend....
but i don't understand why this same blend of coffee but pregrounded(when i did not have the grinder) did not made any problem with the crema, maybe the crema was little blond but it was consistent

#5: Post by HB » February 5th, 2011, 8:13 pm

Are you using a pressurized portafilter basket?

From Emergency! Spurting Gaggia Classic - pressurized basket on left, normal basket on right

For background information, see What is a pressurized portafilter? and Why crema enhancing filters. These types of baskets "aerate" the coffee, similar to the orifice on a can of spray paint, producing a crema-like mousse in appearance, but not in texture. Or, as one poster put it:

Alan Frew wrote:Pressurized portafilters and pressurized filter baskets come in many guises, but they basically have a single purpose: to allow the customer to get the appearance of acceptable crema from stale, poorly ground supermarket coffee.

February 6th, 2011, 8:54 am

I am using normal basket

February 9th, 2011, 9:31 am

Today the crema disappeared very quick and i could hear the crema making noise like schhhh...

February 12th, 2011, 9:33 am

UPDATE:
Problem solved, it was made by the water. Now with other water the crema is exactly as it should be

#9: Post by HB » February 12th, 2011, 9:52 am

Thanks for the update, sounds like the same answer as Shallow crema.