In regard to question 2 there should be no concern with the raised centre section of the screen. There is a recess in the piston to accommodate this.

However, there are minimum and maximum dose recommendations. As stated in the manual, "minimum dose is probably around 10g,....it is important not to dose less than 10g otherwise the dispersion screen will not sit correctly and may get damaged." This is because the bottom of the basket is tapered and if the dose does not keep the screen above the tapered area it would be damaged when forced into that area.

The manual also states that the maximum dose is somewhere around 21g. Doses greater than this would raise the screen so high that it would come into contact with the piston and be susceptible to damage.

There is no concern with the hissing sound as the last water is expelled through the puck. This is actually beneficial as it dries the puck and improves its removal. The only concern with hissing would arise if the recommended dosing limits are not followed.

hercdeisel wrote: Overall, I would say that the absolute best shot I've pulled with this coffee is on my pump machine but the worst shots I've pulled on the robot are middle of the pack shots on the pump machine. Really looking forward to working with some darker beans that are supposed to be more in the wheelhouse for the machine.

Some questions:

2. I start to get a little nervous as I get to the end of pulling a shot that I'll somehow run the piston into the top of the dispersion screen (the little knob that sticks out of the top of the screen so you can hold the screen easily). Is there any real danger there? I fill the basket to within a few millimeters of the top of the basket each time. If I accidentally pulled a shot that got to the 'hissing' sound you get when clearing the chamber into a waste cup after brewing would that already risk damaging the piston? Or am I okay as long as I stop the moment i heard that hissing sound (I don't plan on pulling that far, I'm just more curious about going too far by accident and damaging the machine).

That's what I really like about the Robot (after a couple of months in) - it's incredibly forgiving. It's pretty hard to make something undrinkable in my experience (and I've used some super light roasts in there).


For your question 2:
The piston has a hole in it for the dispersion screen knob to go into. I think you'd have to have a very wonky tamp for them not to align properly.

The hissing sound is fine, it's just pushing air through the puck. When filling the waste cup I like to pass all the air through the puck at the end as it "sucks" the drops of water out of the tube for the pressure gauge.

Remember the robot is a simple device that has high build quality, there is not much that can really "break" on it.

Just received my robot! For those who asked, here is how it looks with the armoured tubing in the polished aluminium version, its incredible what a gorgeous eye catcher it is. I am also positively surprised how small it is, definitely very user friendly as a travel espresso maker, just pop it in your backpack and off you go! I have never made espresso in my life so very curious how my learning curve will go (actually started drinking coffee only a few months ago):

cherrystonelover wrote:I have never made espresso in my life so very curious how my learning curve will go (actually started drinking coffee only a few months ago):

There's a lot of experienced wisdom in this thread, and fortunately you're working with what should be a very competent grinder to pair with your Robot (which among other things is a forgiving and therefore a good learning machine). My advice is to find some coffee beans you like and change one variable at a time (e.g., constant 18g in and then just change the grind until you get the extraction time/volume that's best for flavor). Then you should find it becomes stupid easy to pull great shot after great shot. And you'll have the technique down to enable exploring further. Hope this helps!

First time posting but I've been browsing the boards, and in particular this thread, for a few months.

I've been making coffee with a moka pot daily for over 10 years and have wanted to get an espresso machine for ages, but due to space restrictions (Korean apartment kitchens aren't huge) have not been able to convince my wife it was necessary. Luckily, the small footprint of the Robot tipped the balance and I'm so happy to finally have real espresso at home now! I prepare a latte for my wife every morning, and she also agrees the taste is a big improvement over the moka pot version she's used to (not that it was bad, mind you...).

Anyway, this thread was a really useful source of information before purchasing. I'd also been eyeing up the Brewista smart scale for a while, but saw someone mention it was too big to fit between the Robot's legs - saved me some disappointment there. Managed to find a small 0.1g scale with timer that, while not as fancy as the Brewista, does the job well enough.

So far I've really enjoyed playing with the Robot and learning to dial in the grind. First attempt wasn't successful - went far too fine with the grind and blocked the basket, even managing to pull a muscle in my neck pressing down on the levers to no avail. Lesson learned! Thankfully the subsequent attempts were much better and I'm consistently getting good shots now.

I've already ordered some extra baskets to allow me to pull back-to-back shots faster. Currently using the portafilter with the spouts permanently attached as I switch between the pro/pressurized baskets (pressurized is good for weekday mornings when I'm up before everyone and can't grind - the Lido is quiet, but still enough to wake up our baby!). Hoping that portafilters will be available for purchase separately in the future as I'd like to keep one to use bottomless without the spouts attached - far too lazy to switch it out every time.


Would like to say I was allowed this much space just for coffee stuff.. in reality the toaster was moved out the way for the pic.

Small, but perfectly adequate! It's made by Joefrex, if anyone is interested.

Best results so far with these particular beans have been 18g in, 38g out. After pre-infusion, actual pull time was about 30s.

Definitely need to practice pouring! Doesn't look good, but tasted nice.

solesaram wrote:
Managed to find a small 0.1g scale with timer that, while not as fancy as the Brewista, does the job well enough.

Where did you find a small scale with timer? Link please???

TIA,

baristainzmking wrote:Where did you find a small scale with timer? Link please???

I'm in Korea and bought it locally, but found the same model on some European sites:

UK: https://www.bellabarista.co.uk/brands/j ... cales.html
DE: http://www.allvendo.de/joe-frex-espress ... -mit-timer

This is a different name, but appears to be the same thing re-branded:

US: https://sproparts.com/en/product/4309-d ... of-e-1000t

Hi , does anyone has any idea on shower screen ?

I found IMS shower screen on Cafelat shop , maybe it could set on ROBOT ? Or others similar size ?

https://www.cafelatstore.com/products/ims-screen

If your machine has an e61 grouphead, I just bought these three products.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWBv37o4Q4w

I still need to tamp even by having a leveler to my naked portafilter, but these work fine foe me but have not really tried anything else since I am very new to grinding and extracting coffee.