I would say that making 2 double latte's is probably well under 10 minutes although sometimes I need to make a fresh batch of whipped cream. My wife insists on whip cream on every coffee drink. But I often weave making coffee with breakfast, although lately, because the GS3 is so fast at steaming, I've actually put coffee making at the end of my breakfast routine and steam each latte seperately to get better microfoam. The microfoam is so good that I don't think whip cream is really needed.

Even though I have a double boiler, I still find myself wanting to watch the espresso come out and stop it at exactly the time I think it needs to stop. And I like to focus on steaming milk to get good microfoam. If I try to do both at the same time, I think one of them is going to suffer not because of the machine, but because of my mistakes.

Ciao Chris & Dan,

Grazie mille for the tips -- as a beginner I always appreciate the help. I can see already how the urge to upgrade takes hold -- though I myself am not into milk drinks anymore, when one is entertaining guests, it must be gratifying to be able to pull shots & steam milk simultaneously. (And temperature surfing... oy, don't get me started.)

Happy Brewing,
Wayne

IF You include warm-up time, then my morning routine takes about 30 minutes, BUT, as I dump and refill the Factory, power it up, THEN head for the shower. When I finish the shower, I stop back and bleed off the false pressure and get my tumbler warming. THEN I head back and get dressed. Once that's done I build the first shot, dump the finished shot into the nice warm tumbler and build the second shot. That finished, dump into tumbler, fill a pitcher with filtered water and steam that to 160-165 degrees and dump into the tumbler to finish my americano. THEN I turn off the machine, clean up any mess and head out to the office. ACTUAL brewing time is probably less than 10 minutes including cleanup, but I said 15 to be safe...

30 minutes plus.

In the morning I work under a number of deficits which result in my fumbling and bumbling - I'm very sleepy without coffee, I require at least 3 doubles to come up to speed, and I'm *very* new to espresso and my routines are ... suspect.

Sometimes I chicken out completely and brew a pot of drip on the Technivorm! I can do that in my sleep, literally!

Based on the current results I'm real slow. When using the Ponte Vecchio Lusso, 3 to 5 double ristrettos that get consumed. Couple SO and couple blends are a normal morning. When using the Elektra Micro Casa a Leva, couple single origin (SO)double ristretto and a SO Americano. Some mornings a chunk of time is spent tweaking & cleaning the grinders.

About five minutes, give or take.

And that's taking my time.

I gave really longer time than most here. Original query assumed production of two drinks? I like to fuss w the machines a little. Wipe here, check tightness of that valve. Did I empty drip tray (yecch)? Is the grinder really what it wants to be? No real urgency here: I don't need the kick anymore, the initial brewed cup o' the morning having taken the edge from that need. The first drink gets savored --I'm not hyper enough to be a proper Italian commuter-- and the second cup gets contemplated while I review and plan for the sins of the day. All of this goes on before that second cup ever gets pulled...

malachi wrote:Wow.

I'm a pretty fast barista (as many here know) but it still takes me at least 20 minutes.

1 - seasoning shot (also used to dial in the grind).
1.a - if needed, second shot to further dial in the grind.
2 - steam milk for first drink.
3 - pull first shot.
4 - build first drink.
5 - rinse milk pitcher.
6 - steam milk for second drink.
7 - pull second shot.
8 - build second drink.
9 - drink second drink.
10 - backflush machine with detergent.
11 - scrub and rinse group gasket.
12 - cleanwater backflush.
13 - soak wand in water/cleanser mix.
14 - scrub inside of portafilter with green scrubby square.
15 - clean and wipe basket and portafilter.
16 - wipe and flush wand.
17 - Clean drip-tray.
18 - re-assemble machine and shut down.
19 - clean milk pitcher and cups.
20 - wiped down counter.

Wow, you do all that every morning?!

brad

DigMe wrote:Wow, you do all that every morning?! :lol:

brad

Yup.

Next time you're about to pull some shots... run water through the group and portafilter (empty) into a demi. Taste it. Mmm... mmm... good. Right? That's what your coffee is made of.

Yeah, I clean my machine every day. For good reason.

HB wrote:Chris is right, you can "revive" microfoam that's sat awhile, but there's no hope for faded crema. I demonstrated the thunk and swirl recovery technique in the video Latte Art Challenge(d). The milk start out with a bad case of "cottonball" and finished smooth. No comment on the pour itself...

This is true, but gets much more difficult the lower you drop the fat content in the milk so (all those strange) people who like semi or skimmed should steam second if they want to pour pretty pictures.

My shot making routine is pretty similar to malachi's, except the milk steaming but including the obsessive cleaning. I find the dirt taste so overpowering and distracting and ulitimately destructive to the cup that it must go.

Also once my grind is dialed in and I have had a good shot I tend to mess with the recipe for a couple more to see where else I should be looking with a particular coffee. For this reason espresso is now confined to the bar at the roastery and all I have at home is a Zassenhaus, a Chemex and a press pot.