As a newbie, I grind to suit pull speed and don't vary tamp pressure too much between. I experiment and do have to vary grind by age of bean/humidity etc. but you get a feel for it all pretty quickly.

I used Ray's video's as a start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sqeti421QQ He's obviously sorted all this out with his temp'd and spiff'd up pavoni. The gram stuff is too much additional structure in my life.

Beans are going to matter most to flavor, once you get the technique close.

-Charlie

Progress report: 2 months in and a deep love of the Pavoni has developed. I wrestle it around in the morning and the afternoon and the best single word for it may sound old fashioned, but it is "delightful". I adore it's simplicity, economy and the quality of what it produces.

While I think I had great success initially working with a just a scoop (thanks to this site) and 1 or 2 beans, I've gone off the edge with roasting and now have 15 varieties of green beans in the cupboard. A scale and temp gauge became necessities to deal with the new variables. Beans vary so much in density and character that the scale is a real help. (If you stick to a couple of familiar beans, I don't thing it's as necessary.) Going from a monster kona to tiny peaberry is a lot easier. The single filter (MCAL) works more consistently with scale measurement, though I seem to get sweeter pulls from the 2x. I'll settle down to some favorite beans, someday.

In the middle of this, I had a long business trip to Europe (a comparo to the Pavoni!) and where I was very disappointed with the beans of the 'street' caffe. Fabulous Cimbali, Wega, Faema machines are being fed pretty poor beans in all the Roman and Parisian bars I sampled (many!). The 'artisan' scene is probably similar to the States, but it is easier for me to get an excellent fresh roasted quality-bean caffe normale here in the NYC area than in Rome. Paris was worse. Quite a surprise!

The equipment is great, though. A new Faema Emblema A is quite a spectacle - it just needs some good beans.

The next big step was taken - a Pharos.

For all those wondering the difference in flavor from a Zassenhaus to a Pharos, it's an order of magnitude.

I love the little Zass. It punches above it's weight and provides what you need to get started. You can class it as good 'beginner' or travel equipment and novices will be happy as I have been, learning. You can beat most any coffee found in a shop with it. I highly recommend it.

But, if you can swing the $245, catch one on the OE site for sale, and don't mind the fussiness of manual grinding, you will not have buyer's remorse.

All the "multi-dimensional flavors" you read about on the board, hinted but not separated by the Zass, are accessed. A baboon would notice. I am floored.

Even the feel of the 'pull' is different; smoother and the flow is striped and more 'organized'. It is beautiful.

Thank you Doug and Barb at OE!