Hi guys,

This is my first post here, hope you are all well and enjoying your coffees!

My friend gave me his 1984 La Pavoni Europiccola, I'm.still fine tuning and really learning how to use it but it's current status, it makes a great coffee, I also have an automatic machine that I haven't used since getting gifted this fine piece of machinery

Question 1 - when I raise the lever arm to the full upright position after about 10 seconds I get the extracted coffee coming out, is this supposed to happen? When the basket isn't in if I pull up on the lever it completely purges ALL the water untill I press the arm back down?

Question 2 - what is the 2 heat settings about, is it ok to press when the boiler is turned down to 1?

Other videos I've seen the extracted coffee doesn't come out untill pressure is applied down to the lever?

With this occurring I don't seem to be having any problems with the taste or the coffee being too watery but just wondered if was a problem and what I needed to do?

/Edit - I just did a 12 gram basket fill and got 60 grams of extract, this is too much isn't it? - not sure what's happening with the machine?

Thank you all in advance, and greetings from New Zealand.

Nick

Hi Nick,

Welcome to Home Barista.

It sounds like either you're not grinding fine enough or your coffee is not fresh enough. Are you using a grinder and grinding your coffee before pulling the shot? For best results, you do need freshly roasted coffee (roasted <2 weeks) and a capable grinder. The result will be worth it (heaps better than what you get with any automatic machine)!

Heya Sam,

Yes this is true I'm currently espresso ground coffee as my wife brought it by mistake instead of beans (my automatic machine takes beans).

I do have a grinder, last night I experimented grinding some corse ground coffee to a finer grind, it was very strong - may have been to strong.

If I'm using espresso grind for now I should still.be getting less extraction from 12grams? Still wonder if the machine is at fault here.

Thanks for the reply.

Hey Nick,

By the sound of it, the machine is working perfectly fine. Espresso machine requires accurately ground coffee that is output by grinders that are capable of precisely controlling the grind size (minimum would be a Breville Smart Grinder). The notion of 'espresso' grind can be quite vague as every machine requires a different grind setting - some takes coarser grind, some takes finer grind and the difference is so minute that we can't possibly tell by eyes.

You want to calibrate your grind setting so that it takes about 25-30 sec (with pressure applied) to pull through 40-60ml liquid. It is slightly more demanding than an automatic machine but once you got it right, you'll never want to go back. Having the right grinder and freshly roasted coffee will take you there easily.

Nick,

Welcome to HB and to learning to use a capable lever espresso machine. You can think of the coffee cake as the brakes for your machine. The fineness of the grind and the amount of grounds determine how quickly water will pass through. If the shot is too strong you may want to grind finer and load the filter basket with less weight. For your Europiccola you may also want to add a temperature strip to the group, because brewing at the right temperature that is tuned to a particular coffee will help you extract the best flavors. You may find it helpful to view some of the new user information to get you oriented to dial in dose, grind and temperature. Here are some good starting points:

Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste

Espresso 101: Newbie Introduction to Espresso [videos]

i've also have the same problem but its way worse .. when I raise the lever arm to the full upright position it starts suddenly extract coffee to my cup without adding any pressure to the lever ? whats happening ?

What grinder or beans are you using? Usually a really coarse (or inconsistent) grind or really stale beans will be the issue.

Can you tell us your beans roast date and what grinder you are using?

the beans were roasted last week .. i dont know any further details as i buy the coffee from a local shop.. they grind the beans on 3 they say ! as you may noticed im a total rookie on coffee

Preground coffee won't b up to task. You need own grinder and freshly ground coffee, otherwise coffee gets stale quite fast, in a matter of hour. Maybe some robusta based blend would be ok for the next day maximum. Even if you get it grounded finer, taste won't be good. For espresso, you really need freshly ground coffee from relatively fresh beans. It's different than with tukish coffee which most people drink preground (on Balkans at least) ...

any sugestions for a decent grinder that wont brake the bank ?