First video on post #6 shows some programing process for flow control setup.

Mine too. But if you want to be doing something else, while the machine does say, 10 seconds at 2 bar, ramp up to 9 fast, then drop gradually to three over 15 seconds, you need to be able to program it. The point is that the question is not about the machine, but about how it is going to be used.

If the OP doesn't really know how he will use the machine, he should flip a coin, and by the time he buys his next one, he will know.

I haven't tried any espresso machines with flow profile controller so I'm wondering, when dialing in the coffee grounds, should it be done with full 9 bar pressure (or standard default setting)? Then once that is dialed in, use flow profile to manipulate, no?

Capuchin Monk wrote:I'm wondering, when dialing in the coffee grounds, should it be done with full 9 bar pressure (or standard default setting)? Then once that is dialed in, use flow profile to manipulate, no?

I can only comment on my approach.

For my conical grinder, choice of light-roast coffees, and tastes, I pretty much know that a "9-bar, flat" profile is going to be far from optimal. Dialing in with that almost always would do little more than confirm that I've wasted 3 of the 14 shots I can get out of a 250 g bag. I start dialing in with my best guess as to grind, dose, and profile from the first shot. For me, on most coffees, that is a profiled extraction that is far from 9-bar, flat.

If someone tends more toward medium-dark or darker roasts that end up with something close to a classic, pump-driven profile, then their starting point seems like it would be close to "just flip the switch". I makes sense to me that if they've decided that a declining-pressure ("lever-like") extraction is generally their preference, to start with that.

DaveC wrote:So all I can say is, I personally prefer the Bianca.

Any details on why?