Chexxchexx wrote:For sure, thanks. She just called and they're within the bounds of reason. If I heard correctly, the Intelligentsia was roasted earlier this month so that's a winner. The Allegro was best by October (hoping that bodes well). Not sure about the Stumptown because that was a last minute addition but she's keeping an eye out. Fingers crossed.

You really want to be buying beans that were roasted about a week ago if you plan on using them right away. 1 week to about 3 weeks after roasting date are the ideal scenario for the absolute best results in my experience. I throw anything that goes over a month since roasting away personally (I try my best to minimize this kind of waste). Try buying from specialty roasters instead of these mass producers that are stocked by large chains. If you're going to spend the money on a La Marzocco, put some decent coffee in it. Verve and Onyx are a couple of my personal favorites.

While I think you might get lucky with the stuff from Whole Foods, best bet is to order a couple bags from a fun roaster (I've been drinking Atomic of late). Stuff is so fresh it's usually not quite ready when it arrives.

Jeff wrote:Hmmm, are you saying that there is a noticeable amount of grinds in your cup? I wouldn't expect more than just a few from a reasonable grinder. and the 1ZPresso K-series is a good grinder. It is possible that you're too fine, but hard to say without being there or at least seeing a pour. I'd recommend sticking with the 17-18 g basket unless the 15 g basket is tapered. The thinner the puck, often the more challenging it is to work with.

I agree with Ira's concern. Stumptown and Intelli are good-quality roasters, but if the roast is more than 3-4 week ago, you may have challenges with "stale" beans. On "Best by October" one can hope that it isn't any more than a six-month period.

So there were no grinds of note, but I heard Lance mention it in a video about sour shots and figured I'd give it a shot when I was grasping at straws. As you can imagine, there was no perceptible difference.

Interesting that you mention the thickness of the puck. I'd reverted back to the 14g basket (in order to get more attempts per bag), but will re-revert to the 17g and go with the approach I'd been using which was to increase the dose amount to the point just before the screw dents the tamped puck.

I guess I'm going to have to start visiting local roasters and, where that's not practical, figuring out which of their retail shops predictably carry fresh bags. The one I got from the Rook shop (a central NJ roaster focused entirely on iced coffee and pour-over, but I presumed if I liked the pour-over it could work for espressso) was a month off of the grind so that was pretty annoying. I could stop at a Stumptown on the way to the office, if necessary. Alternatively, I could subscribe to a proper roaster committed to delivering shortly after the roast, but for some reason the thought of adding $8 or so for shipping annoys me. Guess I'll just have to suck it up if it comes to that.

After a handful of arguably lesser failures, but failures all the same, with the Intelligentsia, I'm starting to question whether it could be the one thing I'd discounted: puck prep. I really don't think so because I haven't seen any channeling, just pretty ribbons that coalesce in the center and stay in a single stream until I end the shot. For what it's worth, my process has consistently been as follows:

1. After grinding the beans, I've been putting the inverted portafilter over the grind cup from the K Ultra
   Flip them over so the grinds settle in the portafilter
2. Carefully rattle the grind cup against the portafilter to dislodge any grinds
3. Check that there are no material grinds in the grind cup and set it aside
4. As necessary, with the portafilter in my left hand, tap the sides with fewer grinds with the heel of my right hand to do some early distribution
5. Set the portafilter down and attach the dosing funnel (Matow 58mm)
6. Using the WDT (nine .4mm needles, if my memory serves me) and, working in small-ish circles in an orbital fashion from the bottom up in 3-4 levels, fluff the grinds leaving them level within the basket from all sides. Remove the dosing funnel
7. Grab the Force Tamper, set it in the portafilter leveled, ensure it's seated to the basket all the way around, depress the handle until it releases, and withdraw. For what it's worth, it feels as if it's set to the right release point
8. Ensure there are no divots or other obvious defects with the surface of the puck
9. Seat the portafilter in the grouphead
10. Align a Kruve Propel glass on the Acaia Lunar scale set to Auto-tare Mode (square only)
11. Wait for auto-tare
12. Flip brew lever at the same time I start the stopwatch on my iPhone
13. If targeting an output gram weight, flip brew lever off when the scale shows approximately 1.5g short of target. Coast to within +/- .5g of target
14. Stir with espresso spoon and "cup" the espresso from it
15. Make disgusted face and wonder whether what I just tasted was sour or bitter
16. Question whether I'm cut out for this
17. Remind myself that I love hot chocolate and seem to be good at steaming milk so at least the LMLu won't go to waste
18. Recall the cappuccinos from Florence, Bellagio, Milan, and Rome (Venice was disappointing)
19. Resolve to push forward

As you can tell, this has been a truly humbling experience. I've learned a tremendous amount since early April and stacked the cards massively in my favor, gear-wise, so it's inexperience and possibly the raw materials that are exposing me as a duh-rista.

Really appreciate the support. You guys are keeping me sane.

ira wrote:If I was buying coffee at whole foods, I'd go for the most recent roast dates and ignore most everything else and I'd stay away from anything with a good till as you've no idea whether they consider that 3 months, 6 months or 2 years. Once you've sorted it down, then pick what seems the most promising. I walked into the local Intelligentsia café to buy some Black Cat and the counter people could not tell me the roast date nor did they know what the use by date meant.

I'll definitely keep that in mind next time. Thank you. The reason Whole Foods entered into the picture is that I ran through what I purchased from a local roaster (like everything else, apparently already stale...live and learn) yesterday and wanted to take full advantage of the long weekend so that's where we landed in a pinch. Ironically, the Intelligentsia Black Cat has a roasted on date, but it's 9-Apr so I'm already playing from behind the 8 ball. For what it's worth, their best by date is three months from the roasted on date.

matthewh133 wrote:You really want to be buying beans that were roasted about a week ago if you plan on using them right away. 1 week to about 3 weeks after roasting date are the ideal scenario for the absolute best results in my experience. I throw anything that goes over a month since roasting away personally (I try my best to minimize this kind of waste). Try buying from specialty roasters instead of these mass producers that are stocked by large chains. If you're going to spend the money on a La Marzocco, put some decent coffee in it. Verve and Onyx are a couple of my personal favorites.

Noted about Verve and Onyx! I spent so much time on the equipment and learning the process and variables that I barely considered the raw materials. Epic fail, but one that can be remedied one recently roasted bag (and, regrettably, $8 or so dollars in shipping) at a time. I have to just start thinking of bags as $25-30. If it was "free" shipping, it wouldn't bother me nearly as much..just the way my brain works. Routine shipping charges of 30-50% of total cost really chap my butt, but I'll just have to consider it a cost of doing business.

NewCoffeeGuy1 wrote:While I think you might get lucky with the stuff from Whole Foods, best bet is to order a couple bags from a fun roaster (I've been drinking Atomic of late). Stuff is so fresh it's usually not quite ready when it arrives.

Just ordered Rocketeer and Intensi from Atomic. Thank you!

Atomic Cafe Intensi 17 g in and 36 grams out in 25 to 30 seconds at 200F
On my Micra make a wonderful Espresso, Cortado and cappuccino
Your beans must be within 4 and 14 days post roast
Atomic ships on day of roast at very reasonable cost

Wanted to chime in and give props on the epic amount of detail in your posts. Your process sounds solid. Wishing you tasty extractions in the future!

massjava wrote:Atomic Cafe Intensi 17 g in and 36 grams out in 25 to 30 seconds at 200F
On my Micra make a wonderful Espresso, Cortado and cappuccino
Your beans must be within 4 and 14 days post roast
Atomic ships on day of roast at very reasonable cost

Thank you so much. It'll be good to have this cheat sheet. I'm in such a weird place because I can dial-in to where I need to be, but I've never seen it have the result it's supposed to. Hopefully fresh beans will be the cure. Depending on when the Atomic order ships and how fresh off the roast they are, I should know by this time next week. In the meantime, I've located another local roaster and will be trying today to see if I can pickup some beans that are a few days old. Otherwise, I'll need to wait them out, as well, but at least I'll have my answer sooner as there won't be the shipping delay. Hate to waste so much coffee as there's seemingly no way I could drink all of it while it's fresh, but I'm treating this as part of the learning and calibration process. I'll put it to good use, even if that's just cupping after playing with the finer variables such as pre-brew and temp.