La Marzocco Linea Mini User Experience - Page 97

#961: Post by **mathof** » November 9th, 2019, 3:23 pm

nuketopia wrote:So which coffee?

Why is this so hard?

What do you mean, which coffee? I don't know. I've said that I don't buy or roast super-light coffees. The question is whether pre-infusion (perhaps combined with pressure and temperature profiling) could yield tastes not available to your Linea Mini. Presumably, any high-quality, very lightly roasted coffee could serve for such a comparison, but you need to do the test. Making an espresso on your own does not tell you what you might be missing.

November 9th, 2019, 4:00 pm

nuketopia wrote:So which coffee?

Why is this so hard?

You're fishing pretty hard, mate. But nobody's biting.

It's pretty clear from your previous posts that your barista skills and knowledge are upper echelon. You appear to have a pretty firm grasp on the fundamentals of what barista skills to bring to bear to compensate for a machine that lacks pre in fusion and flow control. Thus it's also pretty clear that you know the kinds of coffee we are talking about, and from your own claims, have tried them. Maybe that's why nobody is rising to your bait?

For the benefit of everyone else, you said this:

nuketopia wrote: I have access to such machinery.

I've certainly pulled some amazingly light roasted coffees, including very light Nordic/Scandinavian roasts. Sometimes it takes different techniques to get the most from a bean, like very soft water, dose-grind-time adjustments, temperature, etc.

I do have the tools to measure extraction yields, so the objective side is there. I'm pretty demanding as far as flavors go.

This is a great post that establishes your credentials as a barista. But there are other savvy baristas here, who understand the compromises that go along with bringing "compensatory barista skills" to bear, to compensate for a machine that lacks pre infusion and flow control. One of them is a fellow HB member and world renowned authority. He says this:

Question: I can vary the grind, dose, and shot timing on my conventional espresso machine; so what does a profiling machine get me that a regular espresso machine doesn't?

Changing dose and grind on a regular espresso machine lets you vary the extraction yields enough to optimize the flavor for different kinds of roasts. But it is necessary to lower the dose when making the grind finer and raise the dose when making it coarser. This puts limits on the kinds of grinds that can be used. For instance, if I wanted to use a Turkish grnd on a non-profiling machine, I'd need to dose at about 8 to 10 grams in a conventional basket; and I don't have the skills to pull that off. Using soft preinfusions, that is a long pasue with the pressure at about 2 to 3 bar, the puck can be softened and expanded. This means that you can use any grind at reasonable dose levels. This makes managing the shots a lot easier.

Another factor is brew ratios. It has become SOP to go with very lungo shots, i.e.e low brew ratios, with light roasts ,in order to maximize extraction yields. But the point of espresso is concentration. With competent profiling machines, it is possible to throttle the flow sufficiently to get high extraction yields with very high brew ratios. It simply requires making very long shots indeed, around 90 seconds to 2 minutes.

These are words that IMHO, every potential buyer of an espresso machine needs to consider. And that clearly, LM themselves have considered visa vis, the LMLM, and the rest of their product line.

-Peter

#963: Post by **mr2andy** » November 9th, 2019, 5:55 pm

nuketopia wrote:So which coffee?

Why is this so hard?

Any coffee... I dont think we are saying that every coffee will taste better with PI and flow profiling.. but again, it is proven that PI and flow profiling allow a certain extraction which you cant achieve without them, liking it or not, its personal.

Why is it so hard?

Again.. LMLM is a good machine.

#964: Post by **slybarman** » November 10th, 2019, 8:15 am

pcrussell50 wrote: TWOJ (third wave orange juice),

This really made me laugh and has been stuck in my head since reading it. Very accurate.

#965: Post by **DJL** » November 10th, 2019, 10:16 am

Looks like a very high quality machine which you'd expect for >$4k. Saturated group, nice! Seems oriented to small cafe rather than home use IMHO. Out-of-curiosity I just checked the price here in kanada...$7k (with tax). That's insane, I could buy a small car this.

Cool barista lights(?) though, I guess LM's R&D showed that a majority of home users pull shots in the dark.

not liking the boxy styling. Not overly large water reservoir either, and still needs 30 minutes warm up time? I'll stick with my lowly but shiny QM E61, HX machine with 3l reservoir unless I'm missing something.

November 10th, 2019, 12:53 pm

The need for the lights are obvious..due to the design where the shots are being pulled under a overhang, overhead lighting doesn't Illuminate on the drip tray very well.

November 10th, 2019, 1:35 pm

Makes sense. Gorgeous machine!!

#968: Post by **sambuist** » November 10th, 2019, 2:23 pm

BladeAndStone wrote:Any ideas on how to determine if my machine has the wrong heating element?

Yes , if it takes longer than 15minutes to get full steam from a cold machine have an issues.

You could also use a volt meter to test the resistance across you steam boiler element, but I would do the previous test first.

#969: Post by **nuketopia** » November 11th, 2019, 4:05 pm

pcrussell50 wrote:You're fishing pretty hard, mate. But nobody's biting.

So there's this need for pre-infusion that's been claimed, "... with very light acidic roasts..."

I just asked, name the coffee. I'll buy some and see what I can do with it.

So which coffee do I try to see if I'm somehow limited by my LMLM?

I got friends with expensive PI machines, Slayer's and Vesuvius and a friend with a whole collection of levers. All fun stuff.

Name the coffee, I'll go try it.

#970: Post by **RyanP** » November 11th, 2019, 4:36 pm

nuketopia wrote: So there's this need for pre-infusion that's been claimed, "... with very light acidic roasts..."

I just asked, name the coffee. I'll buy some and see what I can do with it.

So which coffee do I try to see if I'm somehow limited by my LMLM?

I got friends with expensive PI machines, Slayer's and Vesuvius and a friend with a whole collection of levers. All fun stuff.

Name the coffee, I'll go try it.

You like all the espresso you make with your LMLM. That's great. Why isn't that enough for you?