Any Espresso Junkies?

[GSPHUNTER]

$8 buys a pound of green coffee beans. I can roast that pound in under 30 minutes. No foamy milk for me either.

I see roasting coffee and home brewing beer (another hobby of mine) as similar to hand loading ammo. Probably not necessary but you did get exactly what you want.

I'm not a coffee or beer snob. I can pound a thermos of truck stop coffee on a long road trip or even a good instant when camping but Folgers just does not agree with me.

I do the same thing, eight O'clock coffee. I seldom get it at a coffee shop, when I do, it's not Starbucks.

 

[HighUintas]

I usually make a quad shot Americano in the morning and like to have a milk drink in the evening. I can't remember the name but it's a shot with whole milk (equal parts by volume) steamed heavily so that it's mostly foam I'm pouring in the shot

 

[parshal]

I can't remember the name but it's a shot with whole milk (equal parts by volume) steamed heavily so that it's mostly foam I'm pouring in the shot

Cappuccino I believe.

 

[LostArra]

I've never made espresso but I've brewed coffee every way possible other than Turkish coffee. Does espresso require a darker roast? Is "espresso roast" simply marketing?

 

[HighUintas]

I've never made espresso but I've brewed coffee every way possible other than Turkish coffee. Does espresso require a darker roast? Is "espresso roast" simply marketing?

Yes, espresso roast is just a marketing thing. You can make it with very light or very dark roasts.

 

[BBob]

I've never made espresso but I've brewed coffee every way possible other than Turkish coffee. Does espresso require a darker roast? Is "espresso roast" simply marketing?

You tend to use darker roasts for milk containing drinks but you don't have to. I trend towards the lighter roasts for my straight shots which has become common. I prefer a "ristretto", restricted in Italian. Basically it's a more concentrated shot (~2x the ground coffee per the normal amount of water).

 

[Boarmaster]

I enjoy an expresso but I wouldn't say I’m a junkie or even a expert.

 

[HighUintas]

This setup is working well. Roasts 4oz to just passed 1st crack at about 6.5min. the mason jar bottom cuts nicely when wrapping jute around it, soak w acetone, burn, and dunk in ice water just before it goes out. Then sand it a little. The nylon mesh bag came from my beer brewing gear.... I think it's nylon. It catches all the chaff very well. I roasted this last week. I'll be drinking it tomorrow or the next day.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

Never roasted but do enjoy good coffee.

At home I have a breville which I love.

Traveling I take a grinder, nanopresso, and a jetboil. I absolutely love the quality of the espresso out of the nanopresso.


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[HighUintas]

@renagde , do you ever screw around with the pre infusion time and start/stop feature of the Bambino?

I almost always make an Americano in the morning. With some of my home roasted coffee, it kept coming out too sour. I tried changing grind, dose, and running a higher volume shot, but nothing worked. I always run it in manual mode to stretch the pre infusion as long as possible.

I decided to try multiple pre infusions since the machine only allows you to go to 10s. I'd run it in manual and stop the machine at 9s pre infusion, then immediately repeat. I repeated until I got first drops and then let it ramp up pressure. I think it was about 20s or so of pre infusion. Ran it to 32-33g, shut it off, and let it continue to depressurize until it hit 40g and pulled it.

Holy moly what a difference. My Americano was perfect. No sourness, no bitterness, only sweetness.

After learning a bit about the mechanics of the machine, you can do a whole lot more types of manual shots with it than most people realize. Hopefully I don't break it haha

 

[renagde]

@renagde , do you ever screw around with the pre infusion time and start/stop feature of the Bambino?

I almost always make an Americano in the morning. With some of my home roasted coffee, it kept coming out too sour. I tried changing grind, dose, and running a higher volume shot, but nothing worked. I always run it in manual mode to stretch the pre infusion as long as possible.

I decided to try multiple pre infusions since the machine only allows you to go to 10s. I'd run it in manual and stop the machine at 9s pre infusion, then immediately repeat. I repeated until I got first drops and then let it ramp up pressure. I think it was about 20s or so of pre infusion. Ran it to 32-33g, shut it off, and let it continue to depressurize until it hit 40g and pulled it.

Holy moly what a difference. My Americano was perfect. No sourness, no bitterness, only sweetness.

After learning a bit about the mechanics of the machine, you can do a whole lot more types of manual shots with it than most people realize. Hopefully I don't break it haha

Yeah I have done some of that. Generally a sour shot means you're getting too little extraction. One way to increase extraction is to use preinfusion. I've done multiple rounds of preinfusion on my Bambino just like you've described.

On my current machine, I run a 10 second pre-infusion at about 3 bar of pressure. Then I turn my pump on but I turn down the pressure using flow control. I run it at lower pressure for another 10 seconds then hit it at full pressure. This usually takes around 45-50 seconds total. It would be similar to a "Slayer" style shot.

The problem I always had with the Bambino was I would pull a "god" shot where it was absolutely perfect but then I could never replicate it. I spent so much time dialing in a shot but then once it was perfect I could never repeat it. Now I can pull shot after shot of perfect, repeatable shots.

 

[Actionsqueak]

I had a coffee snob phase and got super into bean varieties and extraction methods for a while. Now I just buy big bags of organic beans from Costco and use my aeropress for a decent, cheap, and consistent cup.

 

[HighUintas]

Yeah I have done some of that. Generally a sour shot means you're getting too little extraction. One way to increase extraction is to use preinfusion. I've done multiple rounds of preinfusion on my Bambino just like you've described.

On my current machine, I run a 10 second pre-infusion at about 3 bar of pressure. Then I turn my pump on but I turn down the pressure using flow control. I run it at lower pressure for another 10 seconds then hit it at full pressure. This usually takes around 45-50 seconds total. It would be similar to a "Slayer" style shot.

The problem I always had with the Bambino was I would pull a "god" shot where it was absolutely perfect but then I could never replicate it. I spent so much time dialing in a shot but then once it was perfect I could never repeat it. Now I can pull shot after shot of perfect, repeatable shots.

What machine are you using now?

I have been thinking I am going to get one of those df54 grinders. They sound like a good bang for the buck. I'm sure it's lightyears ahead of my old Knock.

 

[HighUintas]

I had a coffee snob phase and got super into bean varieties and extraction methods for a while. Now I just buy big bags of organic beans from Costco and use my aeropress for a decent, cheap, and consistent cup.

I've got a small old mr coffee on my counter for those mornings I dont have time to go through the whole process. A Mr coffee and any medium/light roast will satisfy me

 

[renagde]

What machine are you using now?

I have been thinking I am going to get one of those df54 grinders. They sound like a good bang for the buck. I'm sure it's lightyears ahead of my old Knock.

I have a ECM Synchronika with a Mazzer Philos grinder. My brother in law just got a DF54. It's an alright little grinder, goes good with his Breville machine.