Kinukcafe wrote:He said machine is machine and he can make wonderful Americano with Aeropress.

That's true in one sense. But the coffees, while potentially good, will be different. My standard cup is 5-6oz at around 2% strength. I used to make that in a moka pot. Then for years I used an Aeropress. Then a French press. Then a Brikka. Now a Robot. All the same cups, superficially, but each brewing method produces a different result. If they were the same I'd have never bought an espresso machine. An Aeropress is way less expensive and easier and faster to use. But the coffee is not the same. I greatly prefer the diluted espresso shots. I've done head to head comparisons between espresso and Aeropress and Brikka and it's just no contest in my mind. I still use my Aeropress for travel but my trusty Brikka that I enjoyed for years is now a paperweight.

Baked chicken, pan fried, deep fried, boiled, barbecued, sous vide -- all potentially good ways to cook chicken, all different. I prefer BBQ!

Kinukcafe wrote:Maybe a bit off topic but still related to the journey of discovering good coffee with robot.

So I visited a nearby cafe today. The barista made me a really nice espresso. It was the best in life with my extremely limited experience. I started to understand all the taste people describe here like sweetness, balanced, .... And the pleasant bitterness and sourness (I hated both before). The best thing is now I know the definition of good. The espresso I made was simply unbalanced and watery. (So, I am gonna grind finner from now on I guess)

Great, now you have something to aim for, and believe it or not, one day you will make better espresso than that on your robot. Espresso is a skill that takes time. I was out in a town yesterday that has a bunch of good coffee shops. I had two espressos from two of the shops as that is all I could handle. They had very nice machines and grinders. Last night I made a shot that was "much better" than the shots from the cafes, much better! One shop I just did not like the coffee, the other was a good.

Kinukcafe wrote: I almost bought a bag of beans from there but there is no brew date on it and he said it is normally 12days old from brew. He also kindly offer to grind it for me with a professional commercial custom grinder.

You did good not buying the bag of beans. There is no way he could know what normal is, nor how many times that bag may have survived the rotations. Big red flag to me was that he wanted to grind the beans for you!!! He should know that would not work for good espresso!

Kinukcafe wrote:With the comment of "machine is machine", I think believe The robot can achieve something similar and I like the work though even with the manual grind. But I still thinking to get a machine. For those robot owners who also owns or thinking to buy a machine, do you think it is worthwhile to do so (money and counter space) given your robot can produce similar coffee?

As I said above, making espresso is not easy, and takes time to develop. I can guarantee that no matter what machine you get it will not be easy at this stage. Your robot is very capable, take the time to learn to make espresso with it.

Best thing to do is to go to a few more shops, find one that has fresh roasted beans with dates, have them make an espresso for you and if you like it make sure you buy a bag of the same beans that are in their hopper. Go home and make some shots to compare with the shot you liked. Be aware that maybe you are making acceptable espresso, but just don't like that beans! Start off with beans that you know you like.

Have fun in learning, keep it fun for your wife too , You will get there. And... after you get there, just realize that not every shot will be the same as the one before,

Jonk wrote:No. I sold my other machines after using the Robot for a while and I don't miss them. The only reason for me to keep another machine around is to be able to steam milk, unless you've got a specific device for that.

Good to know robot can be an end game. Interesting, I enjoy the workflow on Robot. It is fun to work with. You may argue that because it is new and I may get bored. But I don't like working with aeropress/ V60/ moka at all.

For milk steaming, I have the bellman. Although I still can make some silky milk to float on the canvass, I don't think it is the problem of the bellman. If not for taste, I think i get the machine for the look and curiosity on how it works. But does it worth for the money and counter space for that.

bringyoutomyhell wrote:There are multiple reports of the Robot (or the Flair 58) producing better coffee than other more costly machines, even commercial. So if you do get one do it for the workflow, but not for the quality of the shots.

I don't like americano or coffee done with espresso beans. But I'll take a pourover made with ultra light roast beans over an espresso any day. Fruit, sweetness, total absence of bitterness, heavenly

I probably kill my interest in pour over with my poor skill and terrible beans. Maybe something to revisit once I become competent on Robot.

Ken5 wrote:believe it or not, one day you will make better espresso than that on your robot.

...

Have fun in learning, keep it fun for your wife too , You will get there. And... after you get there, just realize that not every shot will be the same as the one before,

I wish you are right. That will be my end game if I can pull out something similar to the shot I had today. Let's see how my espresso looks like in six months.

Wife lets me to play with the robot all the time as I am more passionate in pulling, observing the flow etc. All unsuccessful espresso will be turned into latte with failed art for her. She thinks espresso is too strong for her. So there will be no wastage and we are doing fine )

Hey guys, I just got a Robot to begin my journey into home espresso, and I had a question about the build. Also brand new to this site, so let me know if there is a better place to post this.

Basically, how much play should there be in arms? Mine are able to move a decent amount in the direction perpendicular to the Robot. Took a video but it is hard to capture the movement well (also the colors are washed out for some reason).

https://i.imgur.com/bRz9tZL.mp4

I've tightened the "head" screw as much as I could, but that screw still slides in the unit and the arms are able to move forwards and back as shown in the video.

Unfortunately I believe my grinder is in need of repair so I haven't gotten a chance to attempt my first espresso pull yet. I don't think this arm movement would affect the functionality, but it just does not feel all that sturdy.

Thanks!

Everything is normal. The top screw is meant to slide back and forth, some slide more than others.

Sounds good, thanks Paul! Was worried that I could cause some damage by applying pressure if this wasn't intended, but feel much better now.

I've been using my OE leveling tool and my OE leveling screen tamper for a bit now.

I have to say, I'm really enjoying using them. Both make for a great workflow and really keep things consistent yet simple. So much so that I'm traveling with the robot, leveling tool, and OE tamper back and forth to work daily. Toss the robot in my work bag along with the two oe tools. I keep my Pharos at home and my Lido 3 at work.

I notice a little clumping after using the leveling tool with darker roasted coffees, less so with lighter coffees. After watching doug demonstrate the tools on the OE YouTube channel I added a little shake and a couple taps. Voila, a nicely groomed level bed. Toss the screen on, a quick tamp, and done.

I purchased a couple travel pouches for the OE tools which some of you might appreciate.

This holds the tamper perfectly - https://a.co/d/48E1z1a

This holds the level tool just fine as well. It's an inch or two bigger than necessary but works perfectly for me and could even store some spare needles if need be. https://a.co/d/dRWBKiF