I'm Italian, so I'm new to espresso because in my country it's easy to find a good one. But since two years my wife bought me a Napolitana from La Pavoni because she was seeing me too home sick. At first I got some Lavazza Crema e Gusto and after a 2-month trial and error process with grinding and tampering and dosing I got to a decent espresso.

But then a friend who likes roasting his coffee offered his instead -- and then the trouble begun. It took me another month to get to a decent espresso. And then the coffee ran out.

I then started over with the Lavazza but no crema this time! I decided I needed some more freshly roasted coffee so I started experimenting with it. I bought some Sumatra Mandheling at Zombie Runner in Palo Alto and then a bulk one "Espresso Sierra" at WholeFoods. Same result: the espresso comes with oily stains on top and no crema. See picture.

So my broader question is -- why is this happening to me? Is it the machine? Is it my not maintaining it well (beside cleaning every accessible part I don't know what to do -- des along?)? And then -- more granular question is -- why do I get those oily stains and no crema?

Thank you so much for your help, gentlemen!

Hi, it sounds like your grind is too fine or you're using too much coffee. Is it taking a long time to extract your coffee? Are you grinding your coffee fresh at home?

Nothing at my whole foods has a roast date.

I'd find some fresh roasted from somewhere local. My guess is the whole foods is dated, lavazza, the same.

I would say old beans and possibly grind.

forbeskm wrote:I would say old beans and possibly grind.

Possibly. Thank you.

Dpablo wrote:Hi, it sounds like your grind is too fine or you're using too much coffee. Is it taking a long time to extract your coffee?

It does, 10 seconds to start and 40-ish to finish

Dpablo wrote:Are you grinding your coffee fresh at home?

I grind it at home with the machine's grinder. Thank you

Dpablo wrote:Hi, it sounds like your grind is too fine or you're using too much coffee. Is it taking a long time to extract your coffee? Are you grinding your coffee fresh at home?

+1

So, definitely loosen the grind to point where you're getting at least an ounce over thirty seconds. I would suggest getting a scale which will allow you to better compare your dose of coffee to your output espresso. This will also allow you to determine how much coffee you're using each time, a must for consistency.

This is 100% no doubt a cause of stale coffee.

Indeed stale coffee. Buy freshly roasted coffee.

These beans should be more than half year my guess

You should be getting crema from Lavazza or other espresso blends that contain robusta even if they are old. Even though its not my preferred Italian blend it just so happens that I have some Lavazza Qualità Oro right now; it is at least a few months old but still produces crema. You do need to preserve them well after you open the bag or they will stale quickly however. I open a bag and split the coffee into glass jar portions, seal them, and put them in the freezer. This keeps them fresher longer. When I pull a jar out of the freezer I leave it out overnight to thaw so moisture doesn't get to the coffee when I open it the next day.

What you are seeing there looks like coffee that was ground very very fine (seeing coffee grounds in your cup can be a sign of this), extracted very very hot, or both.

What dose are you using? I have found that while American blends tend to taste better at higher doses, Italian blends usually taste best at about 7g, or 14g for a double.

In bocca al lupo.