Breville/Sage Bambino - Sour coffee no matter what I try and do (newbie) - Page 3

#21: Post by **bullet08** » June 18th, 2023, 1:23 am

Acid.. Lemon.. Sounds like light roast. If that's not your thing, stick with Italian beans. I have Breville Barista Pro. I'm new to pulling my own shot. Using built in grinder, Italian brands like Lavazza, Illy, and so on give very balanced shots. Wouldn't worry too much about time. Finer grind, and higher does gives longer time. If it tastes good to you, it's good.

#22: Post by **MJ147** » August 2nd, 2023, 12:36 pm

I had similar issue with Sage Bambino and Sage Dose Control at the beginning. In this grinder there is option to change precision of grinding directly on a burr, when I changed it from default 6 to 4 and I adjusted grinding size, the coffee improved a lot.

#23: Post by **jmc999** » August 9th, 2023, 12:59 am

Jonas27de wrote:I have now properly (i think) dialed in my coffee. I use 20g in and tried 40g and 50g out in about 36-46 sec. I found the best taste with:
20g in; 45g out in about 42 sec. Is this fine or do I have to worry? about the kinda long extraction time. My local roaster sait to keep it around 30 sec and 1:2, I now get the "perfect" shot with 1:2,25 in 42 sec. Is this fine and just something that is what it is?
My espresso tastes pretty similar to the shot my roaster pulled me when I picket up the coffe, I think I did the dialing in right? The coffe tasted a little sour with 1:2 but also a little bitter with 1:2,5. Seems fine now with 1:2,25

Please tell me your opinions on this.

I have a Bambino plus and generally use a 16g dose. I think a lot of times, people are recommending 18-20g doses, and those are just too intense for me. Also, those dose recommendations are aimed at 58mm portafilters, and the Bambino uses a 54 mm portafilter -- this is 14% less surface area, and I'd argue that you'd want to consider using 14% less coffee to maintain the same puck depth for a recommended recipe.

At the end of the day, your coffee is good if you enjoy it. If there's something you wish was different, then maybe someone will have a good suggestion otherwise.

#24: Post by **DaleSavage** » August 21st, 2023, 9:14 pm

I think there's a simple fix here mentioned in last comment. I get why temperature was mentioned but dose is way too high for a Bambino causing it to be under extracted. Think of less coffee grinds more extraction, so if you are at 19/20g the Bambino is going to struggle to extract. Make sure you have a 16/18g basket and dose at 17g, was the sweet spot on the Bambino I found. Simple change will correct that under extraction issue imo.

Dark roasts are more forgiving, that's why you thought the new beans were an improvement.