New La Marzocco Linea Mini, total change in espresso flavor - Page 2

March 17th, 2019, 9:28 pm

linuxAndJavaScript wrote:I have a Silvia and I do enjoy the fruity punch it has. I was thinking of upgrading to a Mini some day but I would be disappointed if I would lose that fruity punch I enjoy so much on the Silvia.

Curious, have you resolved this issue or still working on it?

It's a work in progress. I've been getting some of it back, trying to get the flavor I want out of it. Part of my issue is I always make milk drinks, and the steam power is so much more intense on the LM that it's been hard to adjust and get the correct temperature, so that's an added variable to the equation. It's going to take some time to learn this new machine.

I've been playing around with time and temperature. My experiment is probably drawing to a hold soon with these beans, so I ended up picking up a new roast from a cafe/roaster I visited this weekend. I'm sure I'll make my way back to the Klatch beans someday.

#12: Post by **lagoon** » March 17th, 2019, 9:41 pm

cronus10 wrote:It's a work in progress. I've been getting some of it back, trying to get the flavor I want out of it. Part of my issue is I always make milk drinks, and the steam power is so much more intense on the.

You mention you always make milk drinks, but are you periodically tasting your straight shots?

That's a very helpful thing to do when you're trying to troubleshoot flavour issues. Just like a chef tastes their sauce before conbining it into a dish.

#13: Post by **JonF** » March 18th, 2019, 1:51 pm

Your thread also highlights an interesting phenomenon. At some point in changing machines, there is a point where the change is not better or worse, but clearly different. My initial upgrades were clearly improvements, but going from a Livia 90 HE to a Vivaldi II DB was my first experience at different rather than clearly better. I had to remember that I had years of experience in the Livia and the Vivaldi was new. [Now I am in the same position again--I replaced my Vivaldi with a DE1.1 Pro. Again, I had 9 years of optimizing my technique for the Vivaldi, and now it's starting over.]

#14: Post by **Mrboots2u** » March 18th, 2019, 2:29 pm

If the machine is impacting at all not the taste then it is likely to be the temp, presume you have them at same ball par temp. One machine does not have a fruit punch as opposed to another.
These machines will both do 9 bar. Neither has any real pre infusion . So changes in taste would more likely be from grinder , and brew ratio and techniques than the machine . Again you may need to adjust your recipe away from your old one used with your grinder. I'd expect the new grinder to be extracting a bit more than the mini.

#15: Post by **Mrboots2u** » March 18th, 2019, 2:33 pm

March 18th, 2019, 3:41 pm

lagoon wrote:You mention you always make milk drinks, but are you periodically tasting your straight shots?

That's a very helpful thing to do when you're trying to troubleshoot flavour issues. Just like a chef tastes their sauce before conbining it into a dish.

You're absolutely right. Honestly I just haven't taken the proper time on a weekend to spend experimenting with just straight shots, but that's where I should be concentrating.

#17: Post by **rg60614** » March 21st, 2019, 1:03 am

I'm curious what temperature you have the linea mini set to. I'm a new linea mini owner as well as trying to dial it to a few different beans.