For those who are interested, Jim elaborates on Adrian's point in the Home Barista's Guide to Espresso under Taking Advantage of the 'Rule of Thirds'.

Hi Simon
Where in the south bay are you?

I live in Brentwood, but work down in El Segundo. I could loan you a temperature meter with a thermocouple some time, so you could measure temps. Since you don't have a PID, at least that would help you to figure out how to temp surf.

I have a pressure gauge built into a portafilter, but it's for a gaggia, so I'm not sure if it will work with your machine. And knowing the pressure won't help if you can't adjust the pressure. In the near future, this gauge will be installed in my classic, but right now I have my classic set to 9 bar, and the gauge is just sitting around.

BTW, who is the local roaster you buy from? I have been roasting my own, but I was in OC today, and stopped at Keans and bought a bag of their espresso beans, and had an espresso there. I also bought a bag from Intelligentsia in Venice a few weeks ago.

I am on vacation the rest of this week, and next week, so I won't be in El Segundo till the following week. I'm pretty much a newbie at espresso, so I won't give you advice on technique, you can get much better advice from other people here.

Randy

Hi Randy,
Thanks for your offers. I'm in Torrance.
I went to Pasadena, a place called Jones Coffee Roasters. I even went there for a class to learn how to make espresso. Check it out.

BTw, does anyone have suggestion on the type of scale I should purchase? 0.1 g vs. 1/3 fraction scale?
thanks.
Oh, Randy PM me perhaps we can exchange numbers. Thanks again.

Hey, jsut a thought, but maybe you and I both could try this. Instead of just stopping the shot early, we could pull the first ounce in one cup, then switch mid stream and pull the second one in the second cup. Then we could test various ratios by changing the switch of cups and determine at which point our shots are going bad, but still not totally waste the coffee by stopping early. Does that make sense?

Get the 0.1gram scale.

If you ever get up in the Venice area, go check out Intelligentsia, it's on Abbot Kinney
http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/locations/view/Venice+Coffeebar

You order from the barista, so you can talk with him/her while they are making your espresso, see what coffee they are using, etc. They also have a couple Clovers, I am going to try a coffee from a Clover the next time I visit there. Of course, you can buy beans there, last time I was there I bought a bag that was roasted the day before. I was a little disappointed in Keans yesterday, some of the stuff they had for sale was roasted before Christmas. But, I did have a nice cup of espresso there.

Urth is another place I want to try, have not made it there yet
http://www.urthcaffe.com/locations.html

Randy

Randy S
I tried both places. As matter of fact, I went to both places on the same day just to test out there coffee/espresso. Lets just say I was pretty wired.

My opinion of Intelligentsia is that they are beginning to be like chain-store. On that day, I waited 20min in line for my espresso, macchiato, and latte for my wife. Certainly, there was no time for the barista to chat for any length of time...b/c the line continue to form for the next 30min that I was there.

While Urth Cafe is ok for a all around place. Another word, good to have a sandwich/salad with your cup of Joe, but I feel their prices is high and place are so superficial. I think it will be great hang out place if you are inspired actors seeking an companion on the Sunday afternoon.

Both places coffee taste better than *bucks for sure, but nothing really to talk about the experience of tasting/ cupping. My wife and I preferred the latte at Urth. While, I like the sample of the macchiato over at Intelligentsia.

Anyway, that is just my 2cents coming from a newbie experience.

PS- Beside Jones Coffee Roasters. I would also highly recommend you to try Naples Gourmet Grocer in Long Beach. Awesome & Sweet espresso...in fact you can do a search and see few other peoples comments.
Cheers.

So today I did some experiments as some of you've suggested.
I took some photos to better communicate with you folks and hoping to get few pointers.

Here is the first puck using Pressurized Portafiliter.


Photo2 with the NPP and the same double basket


Sideview.. trying to show that I was lighter in dose (didn't get the scale yet, store closed)

Side by side


I didn't take any photos of the espresso with the first two shots but on the third which I did the same thing as the 2nd shots [NPP and lower dose and same tamp] I got this result:
I separated the first 8seconds espresso from the rest. Those shot glasses are not standard espresso glass. There are approx 2.5oz glass.


So, the taste was about the same when I tested with PP and NPP use on the same beans. They are not fresh beans, about 2wks old.
Questions:
Did I dose too much on both shots? [Judging from the pucks]
On the 2nd attempt, are those channeling effects at the center of the puck?

By this wkend I will definitely get myself a scale. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciate.

**Drdna:
May I ask you a favor to either PM or explain on here the steps of using a mason jars to store your beans?
I read the old post but I'm still missing the steps.
e.g. how do you chase out the air/oxygen from the jar while you have the beans inside?[a low-tech way if possible]
What size of jar do you prefer to use? I know you prefer not to store in a freezer. Can I store mine under kitchen cabinet liked area with little changes in temperature?
Thank you once again to you all..
Happy New Year .

SimonSoCal wrote:Did I dose too much on both shots? [Judging from the pucks]

As demonstrated in Sharing a pull, critiquing the pour through a bottomless portafilter can identify gross errors in technique. Puck examination, in sharp contrast, is largely devoid of useful information (for prior discussions of this point, search on "puckology").

SimonSoCal wrote:So, the taste was about the same when I tested with PP and NPP use on the same beans.... Any other suggestions are greatly appreciate.

You haven't described the taste, but judging from the looks, it has that stale coffee look; not two weeks, more like two months. I haven't reviewed this thread to see if you mentioned the age of the Super Jolly grinder, but if it's used, I would check if the burrs are worn.

Dan,
You're right about the burrs. I haven't change the burrs yet.
I thought it was still pretty good based on the other website photos I sent out.
Anyway, what give you the idea of the burrs issue based on the look of the shots?

Btw, where would be a good place to buy those burrs?
Cafeparts.com
or ebay i.e. cmccoffeeguy http://cgi.ebay.com/Replacement-Burrs-M...53dc2632bb

Thank you.
I also read the duranium burrs are real good. Are they worth the extra $ and where can I find them?
Thanks