Newbie getting very sour espresso - Page 2

Beginner and pro baristas share tips and tricks for making espresso.
BenKeith
Posts: 309
Joined: 10 years ago

#11: Post by BenKeith »

Don't let them beat you up too bad. I live in a little red neck hick town in GA and knew nothing about what I was getting into when I decided I would buy my wife and espresso machine for Christmas about 14 years ago. I went in one of the department stores like Penny's or something and bought me one of those $100 things off the shelf and a $30 burr grinder. Back then you could find them for $50 but I figured I would go ahead and get a good one so I bought one of the more expensive ones :lol: It took a few hours of total frustration before both of those went back for a refund. Then I decided maybe I had better learn a little more about what I was trying to do, but back then, there was no where near the helpful info on the net as there is now. I did some reading up on the different machines and it seemed most of the popular home machines had to be heated up to steam the milk and then cooled down to do an espresso. Wanting to make cappuccinos, I was not too excited about that idea. That lead me to what was suppose to be a good machine for it's time, the Pasquini Livia 90. A little more than my original $100 idea but hey, it was for the wife so no matter. When I order it, I had read also about how I needed a good grinder so I order the Solis, does a great job on coffee, but didn't do espresso worth a crap. During all this is when I also learned about espresso beans. Now, I understood the machine, I understood the beans, I started roasting my own for fix that problem, and I thought I had a grinder, but still didn't have a drinkable cappuccino. More research led me to yet another grinder, the Rocky, so my little $25 grinder went to over $100 and then almost $300. With the bean roasting equipment, the machine, the grinders, the 100 gallons of milk I went through learning to froth it, the beans I wasted and other stuff, needless to say, my initial $125 idea had gotten pretty dam expensive. And the cost keeps climbing. Just upgraded my espresso grinder again, and now I've gotten more into the coffee side of things.

So, when you finally get totally frustrated like I did and go ahead and commit to getting what it takes to make a real espresso, the learning curve will get a lot easier and you will have something you can drink.

Oh, and by the way, the wife has yet to ever even flip the power switch on her Christmas present, and gives me that go-to-hell look when I even mention her trying to learn.

NZTim (original poster)
Posts: 4
Joined: 10 years ago

#12: Post by NZTim (original poster) »

Well I didn't realise the situation was quite that dire! But I'm glad I know...I'll have to re-evaluate and consider different equipment.
Thank you very much for the helpful and interesting replies, I really appreciate your assistance.

Espresso_Monkey
Posts: 260
Joined: 12 years ago

#13: Post by Espresso_Monkey »

Hi Tim
I checked and your machine is a thermoblock like my old Breville.

Before rushing out:
Depends on what you drink mostly.
I started primarily with milk based drinks on my Breville. I was happy for years. Having said that I never used the steam, I used a microwave :oops: (forget trying to steam to a nice microform that you get at your local cafe -not gonna happen).

But in retrospect I could probably make just as good a latte / cappuccino / flat white with a mokka pot, grinder and good beans.

Then when I started trying to taste and explore espresso....well the rest is history and I went through a pretty typical upgrade path to HX then double boiler.

Fortunately there is a strong coffee culture in NZ and Trademe always has many listings. You might pick up a decently priced Rancilio Silvia. (Then learn about temp surfing etc).

NZTim (original poster)
Posts: 4
Joined: 10 years ago

#14: Post by NZTim (original poster) »

Thanks and yes there are quite a few machines on TradeMe, I'm going to keep an eye out and try to get something halfway decent. At present I'm only looking to make straight espresso, no milk drinks.

Temp surfing sounds like fun, I'll have to Google it to find out how! :mrgreen:

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