MrMaps wrote:Does anyone else enjoy drinking the leftover 'americano' after you pull your shot? I was just dumping it out at first, but sometimes they can be quite tasty depending on what kind of dosage and ratio you're using.

I'll admit that I've never tried it. But I would think if you're left with anything worth drinking, its a sign you didn't get good extraction in the initial shot. In which case it might actually be a valuable learning tool to taste it. Suppose I may give it a try tomorrow morning, why not.

MrMaps wrote:Does anyone else enjoy drinking the leftover 'americano' after you pull your shot? I was just dumping it out at first, but sometimes they can be quite tasty depending on what kind of dosage and ratio you're using.

I've tried a sip once or twice. Wasn't terrible, but not great either. Anyway, I decided to do a more careful test:

Ritual 'Best Friends Winter 2020' blend
16.3g in
32.6g out
Slow ramp up to 6 bar
45 seconds total
Double-pour preheating

Ended up a pretty nice shot, maybe the best I've had from Best Friends blend. What came out as leftovers was weak and watery, though. Didn't taste bad, just not much taste at all.

Random wrote:After inspecting the robot, I saw that the screw in the piston was loose and sticking out. After tightening it, I started getting good shot pours again!

The screw is tightened in the picture, I finally started getting good shots again and didn't want to mess anything up by unscrewing to show in the picture.

I wonder what is the main reason for that. Glad you are back at getting great shots again.

My Robot flat whites are improving. While a bit contrarian to advice on here, I am now tamping hard. My wife, a huge fan of the flat whites that I am making, has nonetheless commented that they do not have the mouth feel that we get from La Marzocco drinks at a local shop. I have switched to standing over my Robot to bring my full weight and strength into the pull. I can no longer see the pressure gauge on my Barista model, but I am getting good purchase on those arms. A small mirror lets me monitor a long, low-pressure preinfusion until black espresso is dripping out over the entire basket surface, a good 10+ seconds. Then I do a smooth transition into everything I got. (I am not so strong.) With the tight tamp, I am getting a thick espresso stream and wonderful crema with fresh roasted V-Coffee Primo beans. (Great choice here in Shanghai.) The flavour is spectacular and the mouth feel gap has significantly narrowed. There is no reason to go out unless we want a change of scene; we are making great flat whites at home with the Robot!

Now I am returning to my long-term project, i.e. optimizing pre-heating so the the first flat white is consistently as good as the second, but that is for another post...

Thanks for the suggestions.

I am already using 18 grams of coffee so there is not much room to updose.

You make a good point of not over-stressing the Robot. So I just pulled a shot as I have been doing, while my wife monitored the gauge. I am shy of 10, about 9.5 bars. Like I said I am not so strong. However, that is a substantial increase in pressure over the 6-7 bars that I was achieving when I was pulling in a seated position from in front of the Robot while monitoring the gauge. From what Paul Pratt has posted, the Robot can handle the stress that I am now applying.

I think that key to a hard tamp and strong pull bringing good results (and being safe for the Robot) is the long preinfusion and smooth transitions. I ramp slowly into the soft preinfusion and register maybe 1 bar for the 10+ second process. Then when the coffee is fully saturated as demonstrated by drops all over the basket's bottom, I do a slow smooth transition to maximum bars. The shot itself is fast, maybe 20 seconds, but I might play around with my grind size again now that I have a process that is working to see what tastes best.

newbie Canadian here, just got my blue Robot today (about $510 all in).
Everything seems to be in order, just one problem though...
Ha, no, I've never poured a f***ing espresso in my life, and today using the bare bones Cafelat I crouched down in front of it and watched in wonder as a single stream of the good stuff poured into my glass! I used 14gm of the Italian blend I always buy for my mokas and ground it at the same level, about 1.5 turns back from fully closed on my Helor 101 using the stainless burrs (got a set of the others coming).
Thank you so much to Paul and associates for bringing this beauty to market.


Now back to page 101 to catch up on all the reading.

Almost perfectly fits into the basket, a thinner band with a lip would be ideal. Hmm

Wow. Have had numerous Pavonis, Cimbalis, Elektras over the decades. The ease and smoothness of using the Robot (just received the superior cream colored one this week) is outstanding. Still have an outer donut during initial pre-infusion, but the extractions are perfect. And cleanup is so dang quick. Simply beautiful design.

doug wrote:Still have an outer donut during initial pre-infusion, but the extractions are perfect.

If you WDT, then try finishing in the middle.