I will say that one unanswered question I have about the Bianca or any flow controlled e61 machine doing a "blooming" extraction is "how does the basket temp behave?" E61s have a "hump" shaped temperature profile, perfectly repeatable by most measures, but temperature does increase inside the basket as the shot goes on, rather than flat lining like a saturated group might. During a blooming shot, does that hump become more pronounced i.e. does the temperature continue to climb while puck resistance remains high? I've toyed with buying an Eric S. thermometer just to test it, or a scace.

I haven't read any convincing evidence one way or the other around temperature profiling. So far, there isn't a production machine out there that can do the kind of controlled study you'd need. There are a handful of prototypes in the wild, but I don't think any of the owners have explored temperature profiling in depth.

Good feedback everyone! One thing i didn't realize is that the flow control kits come with a pressure gauge as well. So it looks like the Profitec Pro 600 for example has the primary features of the Bianca at a reduced cost. And of course that opens up many more E61 options. Although, it does seem like once you get into plummable machines, you're back to Bianca pricing, but it's good to know there are kind of equally capable machines out there for a few hundred less. Will have to dig in a bit more to some of these E61s and see if there's anything that really stands out in the lower price category.

Jeff wrote:I haven't read any convincing evidence one way or the other around temperature profiling. So far, there isn't a production machine out there that can do the kind of controlled study you'd need. There are a handful of prototypes in the wild, but I don't think any of the owners have explored temperature profiling in depth.

Completely anecdotally, I find that shots I brew @202 for ~35s vs shots I brew @202 for 60+s taste very different, the latter tasting...empty with very little acidity. To get anything close to enjoyable for a long brewing shot, I have to lower my PID to ~195, but honestly I never find it to be better than the shots in the 35-50s range. Never had the luxury of tasting an expertly made blooming shot with appropriately roasted coffee though, so I might be messing it up or just not have the palate for it.