Pulled a shot couple hours ago. I think I may have let it go about 5-7 sec too long. Please let me know what you think and how to improve, thanks.

Edit: Very interested in knowing if anything can be said (positive or negative) about the look of the finished product, i.e. does the shiny/glossy coating mean anything?

Coffee: G Howell terroir daterra n. Italian (brazil), purchased and roasted locally, date of roast: 24 July
Direct link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm-3m5R-EgU

How did it taste? It's hard to judge by the video, but the final volume looked like a lungo. Have you read How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste?

Well all I can say is that it is a much smoother taste than the other coffee beans I've tried prior to the Terroir coffee. Almost every other bean I've tried before usually resulted in bitter underextracted shots that 'gushed' out. There's a small coffee shop about 10 miles from me that uses Terroir coffee as well so I plan to stop there soon to compare tastes, so that way I can tell for sure how dialed in I am.

And yes this was about a 33 second shot which is why I think I could have stopped it about 5-7 sec earlier... what do you think about the finish on the crema - does that glossy/shiny look mean anything? Any red flags that you could see from the extraction?

Thanks

Like what Dan has said, things look fine from here. Hard to tell if there are any significant flaws you can't make out without a bottomless PF. I'd say that if most of your pours look like this, you're ready to adjust things to taste now. Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste

Looks great to me. HB is right tho. Looked more like 2 2.5-3oz shot. IMO not a big deal if theres no blonding. Didn't see any in the video. Crema and pour looked great! The 870XL is a pretty machine too. I Honestly didn't think the internal grinder could grind well enough for this. I be wrong.

bostonbuzz wrote:Like what Dan has said, things look fine from here. Hard to tell if there are any significant flaws you can't make out without a bottomless PF. I'd say that if most of your pours look like this, you're ready to adjust things to taste now. Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste

Thanks. I can't find a 54mm bottomless PF from Breville, or I would certainly invest in one. They only make a 58mm version for their dual boiler machine. As for reading the Espresso 101, the problem there is still having a baseline to compare the ideal taste to, so that's why I plan on heading over to the coffee shop about 10mi away that uses Terroir coffee to get a feel for the proper taste (that's assuming they can do it right ).

Grind finer and tamp only once to avoid channeling.

looks yummy!
do you find you get a consistent tamp with the breville tamper? on my bes900, the stock tamper always felt too short and was a little too snug on the sides of the basket...felt like i was pulling a suction cup off of glass every time i pulled the sucker out after tamping.

For the most part I've had no complaints about the tamper itself. But I've noticed that the coffee bean (dry vs oily, or fresh vs not so fresh) makes a big difference in how consistent I'm able to get the tamp (example is Illy beans vs Terroir).

That's normal, Because the grounds in a darker roast are damp from the bean surface oil it solidifies the puck making it harder for the water to pass through.. I usually have to dial back about 3 notches on my Macap for the same flow restriction as a lighter roast.