Hi all,

Please give me some feedback on my shot technique. Grinds were 15g.

Thanks!!!

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That is a pretty machine!

I do a later lockin, I start the portafilter in the grove then slowly lift the handle until it starts to fill and then I lock. You have to be careful or you could send hot water everywhere. Or you can pump more at the top to get it to firm up. I usually do the latter with my Cremina.

I dose 17 grams in a Richard Penny Portafilter and elektra basket.

Your shot looked nice. How did it taste? Do you want more volume?

Thanks Mike.

I will try to lock later. Shot tasted pretty good actually. I'm not a pro at taste, but I had some that were much more bitter or sour and this one was pretty balanced (or smooth comparatively). I wouldn't mind a bit more volume. I do a lot of Americanos as well, so volume there wouldn't hurt.

Hi Ian,

Nice couple on your counter . I use Elektra double basket also and dose 18,5g. Shot volume fluctuates between 36-42g. I let preinfuse the coffee puck with the boiler pressure only (for 8-12 seconds). I start the pull very slowly till the first drops in the cup. I lift the lever back (slow again) and make a full pull.

For better temp control I use a temp strip on the group. I couldn't make a decent espresso without anymore .

I don't see any problems. As long as it tastes good you're doing it right

Now, goes without saying if you alter your technique you can get different results, for better or worse.
I find that slowing the flow down towards the end reduces blonding and leads to a better shot. Try it.

Other variables you can play with with ease on such a wonderful machine. But the key to experimentation is doing so with one tweak at a time.

I'm fortunate enough to have owned and operate two Creminas on my counter. Having a second machine really expands your knowledge on how changes affect shots by pulling and tasting shots side by side.

Thanks guys.

Name is actually Irfan. Sorry about that. I don't know what happened there, plus I had entered the location and equipment and it didn't show up. I think it's fixed now.

Anyway, I'm mostly an Americano drinker so when I drink straight espressos it's hard for me to tell if they are decent or not. A little of my backstory. Back in 2001 I bought a Isomac Tea but it arrived with a ding in the side. It was sent back to get the panel replaced and then arrived with a scraped up group head. I had enough and returned it. Ended up going to the local coffee shops and then buying a semi-automatic. Suffice to say that the coffee I was drinking was like an emotional roller coaster. You never knew what you'd get. I actually wanted a Cremina back then, after reading quite a bit about it. I think the distributor/seller didn't have any in stock though. Not sure if that was 1st Line at the time. Anyway, fast forward to now, I was in the market again. I ended up splurging quite a bit more because of a few main reasons: Ease of maintenance, ease of shot pulling, quality of the product, and resale value. Of course I also love the look. The other contenders were the Mitica and the Londinium with a Mahlkönig. I think for me if anything went wrong it would have been much more work to troubleshoot those machines. But in the end, it's what I always wanted anyway that won me over.

I thought about the temperature strip, but I just don't want to stick anything on the machine. My shot this morning was only about 1oz for 15g of coffee. I might see about doing more of a lengthy Fellini move to get at least 2oz. Although, this shot tastes quite good in my Americano.

I also have the latest Cremina. A typical pull takes 15g of coffee and extracts about 1 oz or slightly less (no Fellini move for me). Although it's hard to tell from a photograph, my shots are probably a little hotter- the surface is darker and shows more flecking, which provides nice caramelized flavors. I usually do several half flushes until I get the temperature of the group to about 175-180F. I've given up trying to extract larger volumes since my shots are already a little thinner than what I might get a shop.

Yeah. I think I need to let the group get a bit hotter. Flush water through it as you state.

I would not recommend empty flushing for preheating the group.

1. You can't get homogenous group temperature this way. Much better to circulate the water above the piston with half pulls.

2. You waste water

naked-portfilter wrote:I would not recommend empty flushing for preheating the group.

1. You can't get homogenous group temperature this way. Much better to circulate the water above the piston with half pulls.

2. You waste water

1. I always flush before placing portafilter to clean the screen and surrounding area (once, then run a pallo brush around the inside edges, then flush again and wipe dry). Also to lubricate piston before pulling first shot. Flushing consistently will still leave temperature predictable. IMO too much flushing will only become a problem if you're pulling many shots at one time and don't take steps to cool the machine down. But for just a shot or two I'd rather have a clean machine given we don't have built in backflushing to help us. And I still do the "half pulls" especially if I want to increase volume.

2. You don't have to waste the flush water, you can use it to preheat your cup or reuse it in some other way.