All in the title.

These times I struggle to product anything decent from my flair (must be some misaligned planets ). Tried ristretto shots with darker roast than usual with some (sometimes, .. Ok : rarely) success.

So, could be a good time to open my ears to you guys !

RV

You need to specify your grinder, water temps, how you are preheating, etc.

Also brand of coffee and the flavours you get vs what you want.

Otherwise there's not enough info.

Also how you pull a shot. Do you use a scale? i.e. measure grams of coffee used, then pull a multiple of that measured with a scale under the cup?

I can't ever get anything I really want to drink out of my Flair either...I stuck it back in its box a year ago and haven't touched it since.

Hi !

Opening this subject, I had in mind that people used to ristretto shots with Flair would share their method. I'm more in the mood to start from scratch than tweaking my previous attempts.

But just for sharing : I use a Flair classic with pressure gauge - Z-Presso Jx Pro - medium roast from my local brewer (single origin from Colombie, water processed, no more detail but should have be roasted not too long ago.). Also I'm making tryouts by brewing myself the same beans but little darker in a ceramic pot with lot agitation, at the beginning of second crack. There are resting right now until this weekend.

I stick with 14g in the basket, grinding finer than usual to prolong the extraction time for ~1.0 / 1.5 ratio (in about 40sec including preinfusion). I steam boil my cylinder/metal piston AND showerscreen and mesured my brew temp before plugging the pressure gauge at 93C (sorry, I'm not used to F). Something like 1 on 10 was at my taste. Hard to describe others.. Like acid and bitter at the same time.

Thanks !

Decaf is always a challenge. As I understand it, the processing changes the structure of the beans, resulting in a faster increasing rate of flow during the shot. I've never had much luck with decaf from SWP or older methods and only moderate luck with EA Colombian coffees. "Luck" was chosen intentionally.

Thanks Jeff. Sorry, I meant washed coffee, not decaf, my bad.

rv03 wrote:Hi !

Opening this subject, I had in mind that people used to ristretto shots with Flair would share their method. I'm more in the mood to start from scratch than tweaking my previous attempts.

But just for sharing : I use a Flair classic with pressure gauge - Z-Presso Jx Pro - medium roast from my local brewer (single origin from Colombie, water processed, no more detail but should have be roasted not too long ago.). Also I'm making tryouts by brewing myself the same beans but little darker in a ceramic pot with lot agitation, at the beginning of second crack. There are resting right now until this weekend.

I stick with 14g in the basket, grinding finer than usual to prolong the extraction time for ~1.0 / 1.5 ratio (in about 40sec including preinfusion). I steam boil my cylinder/metal piston AND showerscreen and mesured my brew temp before plugging the pressure gauge at 93C (sorry, I'm not used to F). Something like 1 on 10 was at my taste. Hard to describe others.. Like acid and bitter at the same time.

Thanks !

Acid + bitter to me sounds like could be over extracted (shot too long and/or grind too fine causing butter) with water not hot enough causing acid. If you dilute the shot with water for tasting purposes you might be able to process the experience more easily.

If I make some ristrettos I'll followup.

mborkow wrote:I can't ever get anything I really want to drink out of my Flair either...I stuck it back in its box a year ago and haven't touched it since.

Please gift it to someone who can appreciate it. I stopped using my semi auto after getting a Flair years ago. The Foair solved all my espresso making frustrations,

Thanks ! I'll try to dilute for tasting. Also my darker beans will be ready this week end !

Can't wait to know your results also.

I'm not a fan of darker roasts, as most of them have a bit of too much "roasted" taste for my liking (at least on Flair classic / Kinu combination)

Recently I had some good results with somewhat darker roast using lower pressure (2-3 bar) and longer extraction - around 2 min for 1:1 ratio. Those shots almost didn't have crema, but the taste was better (less bitter) than with normal pressure and also had better body. You can try yourself to see what you get. It was after I made it that way with Cafflano Kompresso which I got as a gift (together with a bag of coffee) and the 1st coffee from that "machine" was much better than expected ...

Thanks Vit !

Will try long brew time. For now I have considerably reduced my coffee consumption these days, due to some gastrointestinal virus imported at home from the daycare...

Just before this little concern, I have tried my "darker roast than usual" : like the lower acidity but leaves an aftertaste I don't like. I won't stick with second crack.