A little background, I have a B-Vario and a Gaggia Classic, OPV adjusted and PID. My usual go-to is Redbird either the RedBird Espresso or the Blue Jaguar. I can choke the machine though with either blend in the Coarse: 2 range. For reference the range is roughly Coarse:2 Fine: F-M depending.

I have been getting espresso at a cafe near me and have liked their drinks enough that I decided to get a bag of what they are pulling. It is the La Colombe Origins Seasonal Blend. I was lucky to find the beans have a 'roasted on' date of 8/30 and I bought them on 9/2.

I simply cannot even come close to choking the machine with the La Colombe beans, I set the vario finer than I have ever gone before to where I am noticeably hearing the burrs rubbing in the Coarse: 1 range. I don't want to leave the setting there for long and risk damage. Are the beans too fresh? If I switch back to Red Bird I know the machine will instantly choke. This is puzzling and I've never experienced such a dramatic difference except for one other time where I got some extremely old Lavazza Super Crema but even then I could choke the machine.

Variables I have changes: Espresso Parts 14g basket and Gaggia Double basket...both gush, adjust grind, adjust tamp,

Variables I have not changed: 18g shot

This morning I changed up the dosage, went from 18-19g in the 14g espresso parts basket. First pull nearly choked the machine so a much better result. Backed off the grind fineness 4 notches and second shot was back to a gusher. I have a feeling this coffee is just extremely finicky to pull and I need to extra diligent in basket prep

I've found that lighter roasts require a finer grind setting. You may need to recalibrate your vario to grind finer. But as you've found updosing works as well if you have room in your basket.

southillsbrewguy wrote:This morning I changed up the dosage, went from 18-19g in the 14g espresso parts basket. First pull nearly choked the machine so a much better result. Backed off the grind fineness 4 notches and second shot was back to a gusher. I have a feeling this coffee is just extremely finicky to pull and I need to extra diligent in basket prep

Sounds reasonable. Not sure on that exact blend you got but La Columbe tends to be really dark roasts. I haven't had good luck with their coffee at home and while I enjoy their shops a lot, I've stopped buying bags from them.

Fwiw - I think their iced coffees are some of the best in the city, but their espresso drinks tend to just be OK. As a roaster I haven't seen much out of of them that's better than OK. Packaging is really nice though. YMMV of course!

southillsbrewguy wrote:This morning I changed up the dosage, went from 18-19g in the 14g espresso parts basket. First pull nearly choked the machine so a much better result. Backed off the grind fineness 4 notches and second shot was back to a gusher. I have a feeling this coffee is just extremely finicky to pull and I need to extra diligent in basket prep

The espresso parts 14 basket is actually an 18g or so basket. Not sure why they still call it 14g. It's basically the same size as an 18g VST.

If you want lower doses look into a 15g VST. I use a 15g VST for my light and SOE and an 18g VST for darker and blends.

I somehow have the same problem, but on some very lightly roasted beans.

Long story short - bought some COE beans by a roaster in South Africa.
Went back home, and every shot was a gusher.
Adjusted my Va rio with the screw, up to the point the burrs were touching. Went almost 2 full screw tightens.

Went to Lowest setting, still gushing.

Swapped back to some normal beans - choked it at setting Macro 3, and Micro 10.

I'm quite certain it's not the grinder. What's wrong with these beans?
Roaster is giving me some attitude on this issue. (Swears by his beans, claims given to judging panel and they loved it etc).

Sigh

All sounds like potentially stale beans which is weird? Or so fresh they are not extracting but that's weird days post roast...

I bought them on the day they were roasted.

Tried grinding them about 6-7 days post roast.

Roaster keeps blaming my setup or my grind.... insists his beans are good.

Not sure if it's the va rio or not, but then again if I can choke on other beans at Macro 3.... I doubt so?

I would focus on the grinder - clean it thoroughly with a vacuum, inspect it, etc. we just had a thread on this a few days ago - same model of grinder.

Suddenly espresso shots gushing after 3 seconds no matter grind setting

Beans from a commercial roaster will choke if ground fine enough.

Just thought of something else...are you aware of the grind setting overlap on the vario? Maybe what you are thinking is a finer setting is actually not! On the vario the fine setting overlaps and is equal to 2 macro clicks. Meaning 1m is equal to 2a and 1z is equal to 2m..