Cremina and Rocky. Finally working together!

A haven dedicated to manual espresso machine aficionados.
Christo
Posts: 48
Joined: 10 years ago

#1: Post by Christo »

It's been a journey that took a year and I can say I've gotten to a point where I can say it's working. I'm finally getting shots with good, thick crema. I bought a Cremina two years ago and let it sit on the counter for a year. Then I bought a Rancilio Rocky. Couldn't get a good shot. Thin, no crema, bitter. Tried lots of different beans, grind settings, amounts of coffee, pull techniques.... Nothing. Anger, aggravation, despair, hopelessness, renewed determination, then; Breakthrough! The breakthrough came with three things:

I disassembled the group head on the Cremina, installed new gaskets, lubed it, and cleaned the screen. Wow! So much more efficient and better dispersion. I was grinding my coffee way too coarse to make up for the inefficient machine.

I bought a 100/gram scale and ditched my 1-gram-increment scale. Much better control

I use a plastic cup in the basket, overfill and stir the ground coffee to break up clumps before tamping then level.

So, if anyone else is out there with an old lever machine, zero experience, and nothing but Home-Barista as a guide, have faith. Crema can be yours!

Thanks everyone for all your posts (and especially the help when I installed my gaskets upside down!) and I hope to be able to give back now.
Chris
LMWDP #476