DC wrote:Wow... I've never been served/been able to make espresso that has that deep a red-brown colour to the flow or with crema even close to being the colour of that one from the illy pic. Looks like hot chocolate!

DC

Spend time learning from the good people and the resources on this site and you will!

k7qz wrote:Spend time learning from the good people and the resources on this site and you will!

..and remembering that Professore Ernesto has two terminal doctorates aimed specifically at making coffee will help your self esteem in the meanwhile.

Time has taught me that the best indicator (aside taste) of espresso quality is visual. There comes a time when you can watch an extraction and look at the cup and anticipate what you are going to get. Based on the flow and crema you know when it will be bitter, sour, burnt, flat etc...

I believe Jim put it best when someone asked a similar question. His reply was essentially, If you stop the extraction and are left with a pale dot in the crema from the streams, you went just a little to long.


Good


Couple seconds too long, light crema dots

It is possible to hack the PF of your Saeco to non-pressurized status. My friend did this with his without cutting or breaking anything (in other words, it is reversible). However, after tasting his results, he plans to cut the plastic and make it a more permanent state. Here in the Great White North, Saeco's non-pressurized PF is about $60, which seems to be a bit of a rip-off. By the way, have you ever removed the 3 screws holding the plastic handle and spout and taken a look at all the accumulated oil and coffee grunge that the espresso pours through before reaching your cup? Those PFs should be unscrewed and cleaned daily.

right... time to see some photos before I go about depressurising my filter basket.

Dogshot, I don't know about Saeco, but with Krups, the filter baskets themselves are pressurized. the filter-holder is not.

So, this is it!.
This is as best I have been able to achieve so far.


The one on the right is an under-extracted shot, poured in 16 seconds.
Mind you 16 seconds, is an achievement with a pressurized filter-basket..... normally they pour in 8 seconds!

The one on the left poured 80% for 18 seconds and then just stopped. I didn't see any drops for next 5 seconds, so I turned off the machine (not to damage the pump), and after some kind of release of pressure (or possibly contraction of the brew-head rubber and expansion of the coffee) I got the last drops of espresso filling the glass up a bit beyond the one ounce line. (another_jim, how do u like this is an attempt for destructing the machine? lol)


So, this is a typical good shot that I try to get more than often. It goes over an ounce quite often, but I try to get the 22 seconds extraction time at least. And occasionally it does happen that after the 18th second the pump just stops (i don't know why! can the coffee still expand at that stage?)


As you can see, I have to get the grind very fine to be able to block the machines flow and pressure.... Almost always I have coffee fines in my shot glass or coffee. I'm ok with it though.


This is the kind of pack you end-up with. I have to always up-dose the coffee, otherwise the coffee expands too much and channeling occurs.

So, any comments? i'll try to get some photos after depressurising the filter baskets as well, so we can compare.

jovial wrote:right... time to see some photos before I go about depressurising my filter basket.

Dogshot, I don't know about Saeco, but with Krups, the filter baskets themselves are pressurized. the filter-holder is not.

So, this is it!.
This is as best I have been able to achieve so far.

Hey, I think that if you match the color from the second photo, the original might have actually looked a bit more natural. If I may, did they look a bit more like this when they were in you kitchen?

another_jim wrote:3. Grind fine enough so the above two techniques have the machine dancing on the edge of self-destruction when pulling the shots. According to the Bassett stories, this is quite essential. In any case, the sooner this machine self-destructs, the sooner you can get a proper one.

not very nice for the machine...but

Hi Jovial

In my opinion, the event that has marked the 2nd biggest improvement in my espresso making thus far was ditching my pressurised filter baskets (the biggest being grinder/fresh roasted beans of course). After a few initial problems were ironed out I went from making shots that looked like yours to making shots with thick real crema that's closer to being the right colour than before (more importantly, the shots tasted better). You just can't do that with the pressurised baskets because as another_jim says, you don't have the same control over the shot as with non-pressurised baskets.

Also, the shots look like your machine is running a little cool, I don't know if you do this already but I switch on the steam wand for about 20seconds, then run ~2oz of water through the grouphead before pulling the shot.

One other minor thing - those Whittards glasses you are using... I used to think that line was a 1 oz mark but it's not, it actually marks 0.75oz (23ml). The real 1 oz (30ml) line is shown by the black pen mark on this image:



I know its only a minor detail but every little helps eh?

DC