What are some general light roast guidelines with the Bambino? I.e. dose, output, pre-infusion, shot time, and so on. I have the IMS 14-18g basket and have been unable to get rid of sour notes. Not sink shot level, but not pleasant either. I don't think it's the beans either as I can get a fairly balanced shot from my Robot, though granted I am generally extracting at ~6 bars there. I have most of the other upgrades too, WDT, TWW water, etc etc. Using a Niche Zero grinder as well.

Understanding every setup/situation/coffee/preference is different, general guidelines include finer grinding, lower dosing, hotter brew temp, longer pre-infusion, and longer brew time.

With manual mode on the Bambino (Plus), you can control the pre-infusion and brew times. Temp control isn't available so the best you can do is pre-heat grouphead, portafilter, and diffuser (if used) with a blank shot. Using a paper filter under the puck might allow you to grind even finer but it will affect the texture of your shot if that is important to you.

Bradyvil wrote: I bought the Bambino retail, currently applied 0 mods to the machine itself.
I picked up a $30 bottomless portafilter on Amazon
I picked up the 18-22 IMS basket from Amazon
I am using the very common 3D printed WDT tool with acupuncture needles
I picked up a magnetic dosing funnel for the basket (turns out the IMS basket nor my portafilter are magnetic though HEH.)

The short of it: I am VERY happy with what kind of espresso this thing can produce. I am not an espresso expert by trade, nor have I had long-term experience with a "high-end" setup.

Have you tried comparing each of these upgrades with the stock component? How would you rank their impact? I have a friend who is using a Bambino Plus with a 1Zpresso J-Max manual grinder and is overall very happy with this combo, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind upgrading a thing or two if it makes a significant difference.

I recently picked up a Bambino and have gradually made a few upgrades:

• Normcore bottomless portafilter - this was far and away the biggest single upgrade for me especially since my Bambino only came with pressurized baskets. As expected this immediately let me grind a lot finer and get much higher extraction, producing far better tasting shots. The other note is that the Normcore is much heavier than the included portafilter and retains heat much better. The Bambino doesn't have heated grouphead so I like to run a shot through the empty portafilter before dosing to warm it up; the Breville portafilter is too light and cools down too quickly for this to make much of a difference. I couldn't find specs on the basket included with the Normcore but it fits 18 grams nicely.
• MATOW dosing funnel - mostly a convenience, though it certainly makes it easier to work with larger doses. I think it's especially nice for the 54mm Breville stuff since a lot of grinders and accessories are designed around 58mm portafilters; it's a real pain to transfer coffee from a 58mm dosing cup to a smaller portafilter without a dosing ring.
• Luxhaus calibrated tamper - feels much nicer to use than the included plastic tamper but I don't think the calibration makes too much of a difference and the fit isn't amazing with the Normcore portafilter. I'm considering switching to a self-levelling tamper to make keep things more consistent, and I probably would have been just as happy with a flat tamper that's nicer than the included plastic one.
• IMS shower screen - honestly don't think this makes much of a difference. Maaaybe reduces chanelling a tiny bit but puck prep and grind have vastly greater impact.

I want to get the 18-22g IMS basket but no one seems to have it in stock at the moment. I've also heard that the 4 hole steam wand tip from the Bambino plus produces drier steam so I'm looking to switch that out as well. Been pretty happy with what I've been pulling with the Bambino so far; I'm definitely limited more by my skills than by the machine. The quick start up time is very nice, and it's really fast switching between pulling a shot and steaming.

Thank yall for posting your updates/experiences in this thread, agreed that it's been hard to find reviews of the Bambino Plus from anyone in between the extremes of total beginners or experts with higher budgets who have already outgrown this machine, so this is very helpful. I'm a barista with a few years of pro experience who is currently waiting on a Bambino Plus to ship this week - it was a Christmas gift and I've considered exchanging for another model, but I'm currently planning on keeping it given the good things I've heard about the milk steaming and overall balance of quality and ease of use. Probably a very similar use case to you in that I care about the process of making good espresso, use high quality beans, but am not overly picky and (for now) don't really require the tradeoff of investing thousands of dollars and hours into my home setup vs the savings and convenience of why I want a home setup in the first place. (If I want strictly top-notch espresso, I can just go in to my job and pull a perfectly dialed-in shot on our Slayer, lol.) I'm planning to get a non-pressurized bottomless portafilter and a good tamper and distributor, same as you, but don't have plans to mod the Bambino beyond that, because if I end up wanting significant upgrades I'll probably just save up for a new machine in a few years. I honestly think I'll be happy with it until then, though. I'll update you when it comes in and let you know how I like it and if I have any tips!

The Bambino Plus brew temperature just isn't quite hot enough for light roasts.

So I've been upgrading and experimenting with my bambino Plus for over a year now, so far I have the
-crema bottomless portafilter
- ims basket 16-18 (24mm)
- IMS Basket 18-22 (28mm)
- ims shower screen
and as some others have stated, out of those upgrades the basket definitely makes a bigger difference, the shower screen is probably a marginal upgrade, if at all. I have been using a Baratza Forte with alicorn alignment. Now, without a doubt, the biggest improvement that I have seen has been with my brand new 1zpresso J-Max that I just received today, and went nuts pulling shots.
I know the bambino is limited in its ability, I've seen this because the forte is an excellent espresso grinder, but for some reason the bambino just cannot produce good shots with it and the ims basket. I actually got better shots using the stock basket with the forte. Maybe the shape of particles that flat burrs create and the lower temp and pressure of the bambino aren't a good match? I'm not sure.

Anyways, the J-Max on setting 137 produced one of the best shots I've ever pulled from this machine, with a typical espresso roast blend. I think I've all but given up on light roasts with the bambino is too much of a struggle for only mediocre shots at best. I will now start experimenting with both 24 and 28mm omw basket's as well as different amounts of coffee and ratios and find the best this machine has to offer, at least until I can afford a Breville dual boiler or better.

Oh and I've also stopped wdt, that seemed to only stall the shots even more, maybe a result of the fines falling to the bottom and plugging the holes, I don't know. But these grinders are both capable of grinding without clumps anyways.

We picked up one of these to replace our "milk steamer" aging Delonghi that started leaking. Though I mostly use our Cafelat Robot for straight shots, I've been playing with the Bambino and have been entirely doing my wife's morning latte on the Bambino to figure it out.

There's a bit of a harsh note that I'm guessing might be higher pressure brew related - just thinking this out loud, but the dimmer mod should certainly give us the flexibility to drop flow (and thus pressure) to see if that helps - right?

(Looking to folks who've done the dimmer mod)

When steaming or purging the wand - I'm assuming you probably want to return the dimmer to full power, yeah?

rainy_coffee wrote:just thinking this out loud, but the dimmer mod should certainly give us the flexibility to drop flow (and thus pressure) to see if that helps - right?

(Looking to folks who've done the dimmer mod)

When steaming or purging the wand - I'm assuming you probably want to return the dimmer to full power, yeah?

Correct on both points

One more dimmer question: have folks had success getting good control with a single pole dimmer, i.e. smooth control from no flow to low flow to full flow?

Deep down the rabbit hole on forum threads where folks were discussing Ulka pumps on Gaggias, there was some mention of having to do extra things like throw a resistor in parallel with the pump to get full dimmer control. Was curious if anyone had to do that with the Bambino dimmer mods.

I suppose another dimmer mod question is how long anyone's been using the dimmer mod, to answer questions of longevity

Dak, what dimmer switch / box is that if you don't mind linking to where you got it? Looks clean in the little box. Love the grinder pairing.