Hey guys, i'm trying to figure out where the error in my coffee making is.

My father and I use the same beans, we generally split bags to keep things fresh.

When making espresso at his house it comes out beautifully, nearly the entire cup is crema and if you let it sit the crema stays there forever.

When I try using the same beans it's not quite the same. Taste is very good and closely resembles when made at his house but the crema is not nice and thick. If you let the coffee sit for a minute the crema disappears.

Now he has some older equipment, a baby gaggia with a matching gaggia bean grinder. He is a set it and forget it type of guy, he has not adjusted the grinder since he bought it 10+ years ago. He is also old school, doesn't clean the equipment (backflush, decalcify, clean grinder, etc.), simply rinses the portafilter and head after use.

I myself have a baratza vario grinder and a lelit pl041 machine (place I purchased it from no longer sells lelit, that kind of scares me). Now I don't know if my problem is having so much control with the vario but I have tried so many combinations of grind size and coffee amount.
I currently have it set to almost the absolute finest setting and use a grind time of 8.5 seconds.

One thing i've noticed is that when starting the coffee comes out perfectly for the first half and suddenly picks up steam and starts coming out much too quickly for the remainder which I think is passing too much water into the cup.

And one last thing also, I find that as soon as the second stage of the espresso making kicks in (when it starts pouring out much too quickly), i'll get drips on the outside of the portafilter. I know I don't have too many beans since the handle can easily twist all the way around with a nice snug fit. I've tried coarser grinds, more/less beans, light/heavy pressure tamps and still get the same problem.

Like I mentioned, right now it is pretty good but still not perfect like my pops.

Any suggestions?

Recalibrate your vario with the allen key that come with the grinder and you should be fine

hmm I should probably adjust it to grind more fine right?

I had noticed that even on the second finest macro setting the coffee was really coarse, always thought that it didn't give much room for adjustment in the espresso department. Guess that answers that. I'll give it a shot and see if a finer grind helps.

See this thread;

Recalibrating the Baratza Vario [photos]

Robbbby,
The espresso leaking from the sides of your Portafilter leads me to believe that your Group Head gasket needs to be replaced, and a leaking Group Head gasket will effect your Espresso quality.

I think the gasket is ok. After doing a bit more research and reading I realized I was tamping much too hard. I've switched to a very soft tamp with slightly more coffee and the coffee comes out much nicer now. It comes out nice and slow for the entire duration now and has a much nicer colour. Crema however still starts to disappear after a short amount of time. I'm going to readjust my grinder like somebody already mentioned and see if an even finer grind helps out.

Thanks a million guys, played with the setscrew on my baratza what a world of difference. I guess the first time I turned it too much because even at the lowest mirco setting with what I believe to be a normal amount of coffee and a very soft tamp the coffee just dripped out taking about 1 minute to make a short espresso (tasted very good though, I figured it would taste burnt). Turned it back a bit and now the grind is much better at the mid micro setting. Still have a bit of experimenting with grind amount/time and exact grind setting but the coffee is much better now. I think i'm going to end my experimenting for today though, I just had about 8 short espressos.

Thanks again guys!

differences in water hardness, mineral content, pump pressure, different machines, different grinders, different techniques will all make a difference in the cup. If the coffee is good but the crema dissipates over 2 minutes, just drink faster.