RyanJE wrote:Still think you need a benchmark of what IS Good. We've talked about what you don't like. But, what espresso have you had at cafes that you DO like? Any near to your home?

To add to this - taste is a variable too. And sometimes our palets can change. E.g. Medication, illness, allergies could all effect taste ).

Find a cafe that pulls a shot you really like. Then take those exact beans home to play with.

In the past I've had many great espressos at different coffee bars which got me into wanting to do it at home, well, that and my wife wanting me to make her starbucks espresso based drinks at home too

When I first got the machine, I was making them fine with Lavazza and Illy. Then I had mentioned to my wife that I wanted to start trying fresh beans so she got me a mistobox. I've gotten a few freshly roasted bags from them and that's when my trouble started. So I went back to my Lavazza bag and it was tasting bad now too. That's when I ordered another fresh bag (49th Parallel - Epic Espresso) and that turned out bad too. I've got a bag on the way of Red Bird and I've got a local place I may run to this weekend who does their own roasting.

I'm not sure how often your switching beans, but it kinda sounds like your jumping from bean to bean which can really be challenging. Remember that bar some outliers if your getting beans from places with strong reputations that know what they're doing, the problem is probably on your end and not the coffee so it would be in your best interest for self-education to stick with that bean for awhile and figure out what your doing wrong.

Not sure how much you buy at a time, but 12oz bags at a time and then switching is not effective, it can take a whole bag worth of shots or more, especially if your having trouble to really nail the recipe and iron out. Just my 2 cents, to try to stick with a bean for a couple weeks at a time.

Thanks. I was only changing because I was thinking maybe it was the beans.

If you really want to rule out the beans, order in from some of the really well known places. Counter Culture Coffee, Blue Bottle, 4 Barrel, Verve, Stumptown, Intelligentsia, Handsome, Madcap, just to name a few.

Just try an espresso at a place where you've been before and see if that also went bad....in my case of persistently sour espresso doing that showed me that it was quitting smoking that caused the taste perversion....

I was finally able to get something that was drinkable with Red Bird. One doing an 18g dose with 1:2 ratio and one with a 15g dose with a 1:3. The 18g dose had a better taste but was a bit "thick". Both pucks were pretty sloppy too. Came out leaving a pretty dirty basket.

Don't worry about what the puck looks like. That can vary greatly depending on the coffee. Focus on what the shot tastes like. Puck condition is nearly meaningless.

Marcelnl wrote:Just try an espresso at a place where you've been before and see if that also went bad....in my case of persistently sour espresso doing that showed me that it was quitting smoking that caused the taste perversion....

This is exactly what I wanted to add. Me quitting smoking (now two years ago) changed my palat for sure, it was most noticeable with fruit juice, coffee and my favorite brand of beer.