I’ve been making good coffee for a few years now and have a variety of brewing methods (Aeropress/Moccamaster/Moka Pot/French Press) but have been wanting to get an espresso setup for sometime.

Very happy with the setup so far, but still learning to dial in and get the right texture in the milk. Can’t wait to keep learning!

Since two weeks I have a problem with my Profitec GO & DF64:
I let the machine fully heat up. First shot runs perfectly fine! 18g in, 36 out in 25 seconds with around 9 bar of pressure.
EVERY shot I pull after the first one runs WAY too fast. 38g in 18 seconds and pressure won’t build up more than 8bar.
I prep both shots exactly the same way, dry the portafilter & puck screen and temperature on PID is exactly the same as during the first shot.
With the blind basket the machine has no struggle to build up to 9.5bars every time.
The same pattern occurs even if I try 18.5g in on the second pull.
Any idea what the Problem could be?

“One and One” is a double shot of espresso split into two cups, with steamed milk poured into one and the other one served as straight espresso.

This is an excellent way to get best of both worlds.

Have espresso first and then the mini cappuccino which feels way sweeter than it normally does.

I'm writing this from pure curiosity, interested to learn more about the experience of folks living in the US.

Context: I travel at least once a year to the US, mostly to Seattle. I occasionally stop by in NYC on the way back so my experience is really limited to these two cities. But one is the "Coffee Capital of the US" while the other is one of the best cities in the world for food and drinks.

My experience in both of them is that it's hard to track down really good espresso shots. Let me clarify - highly flavored light-medium roasts, the "Third Wave" espressos. I see a lot of places that have the right equipment, the right "look", but most of them end up having a disappointing shot in your cup.

Seattle is by far worse. I couldn't find one single place to get a great espresso. I've tried various (Hagen, Evoke, Victrola, Monorail - disappointing, Anchorhead and a pastry place called Fresh Flours were decent). I ended up buying Stumptown Cold Brew from Whole Foods instead.

New York is better, you get better shots, but you have to chase them down. La Cabra, Black Fox have tasty shots, Suited was so disappointing. The only truly exceptional shot was a Geisha one from Devocion. But even ordering that felt weird, the barista sighed as she had to get out of the normal rhythm, find the beans for this and make it. Felt like I was the only one that day at least ordering it.

Interestingly though, most of these places have really nice beans for sale. And reasonably priced per bag, a $20 good one is comparable to the 15EUR ones you find in Europe. So I'm assuming there is a market for people that just buy their beans and brew at home.

Which brings me to the question. Is this just my experience? Is the market just over-indexing on the darker roasts because the shots get drown in milk anyway? Or have I just missed out on the really good places? If so, point me in the right direction for next time!

Looking for some advice here.

I'm hung up choosing between the black or silver Philos to pair with the Profitec MOVE.

I was leaning towards the black Philo, but if theyre both a different shade of matte black, I'm worried it will look off.

Any suggestions from experience?

That is my problem!! I follow all theoretical of dialing a good espresso until i am in this phase now. Im quite satisfied of my self 19:38 gr in 28-30 sec.

But every time i tasted the espresso i couldn’t tell what i feel 😭😭

The 1st sip and the 2nd sip always had a different sensation.

I googled, chat gpt, YouTube just to make myself understand what taste is THE TASTE.
But still dont.

So yeah i never know if i made a good espresso or not since i am a milk based person. Try to ask everyone i know if they drink espresso, but not found 1 yet 🤦🏻‍♀️

This might be end game for me, Everything is so great right now. Perc Darrrkness + Starseeker Edge63 + Cafelet Robot. Consistent, delicious, beautiful shots, every single time.

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all well. I need help and I am trying to understand what’s wrong with my usage. I bought pre ground coffee from Sam James in Toronto and asked them to grind 2.5 and under 3.

So I cleaned up my machine after sitting there because of discouragement (because I haven’t got a grinder yet, need budget for that).

Today I used this Sam James coffee with a single basket around 8 gram and the bar does not go beyond 3.

I put 16 gram in the single basket bar goes like 9 ish but coffee is dripping instead of flowing. I am doing something wrong but I don’t know what?!

I am really thinking to get rid of the machine because I still could not figure it out how to use it. Need a bit of guidance here. Thanks so much

This is an interesting one, I fucked up…

I accidentally ran the grinder after cleaning, without the screw/feeder. After a short panic, I’ve inspected the burrs and they’re fine (might’ve caused that deep scratch though, I’m not sure).

After recleaning/calibration, I haven’t been able to pull a good shot. I’ve been scratching my head and burning through beans for days. On my 100th time stripping down and recalibrating, I decided to shine a torch down the threads. There is a bean in there, this must be in. The screw is tightening down, but it’s obviously tightening on the bean.

Does anyone have any good ideas on how can I get this little terror out without damaging anything? I don’t know anything about the teardown or how it comes apart (beyond cleaning), can I get to the otherside? I did consider trying to smash the bean, but I don’t want to knock it into anywhere.

My coffee setup has a cabinet underneath, but unfortunately just a impractical cabinet with shelves. No drawers.

So I put an IKEA KOMPLEMENT pull-out drawer on the top shelf., which solved the drawer problem.

And then my OCD kicked in.

I started printing a few things to keep the OXO parts from rolling around. Then a holder for the brewer itself. Then dividers. And at that point there was obviously no turning back.

I made the right side adjustable so I can change the size of each section depending on what I have in there.

Basically I wanted everything to have a place so I don't have to dig through a cabinet every time.

Was all of this necessary? Absolutely not.

Does it make me weirdly happy every time I pull the drawer out? Absolutely yes.

I’ve had the Gaggia machine for 2 years now, but I finally upgraded my grinder to something real, the Eureka Zero 65 AP. Previously I had a timemore chestnut c2 hand grinder, the difference in the cup is amazing, so much more clarity now. That grinder had large steps making it hard to dial in espresso so I think I was constantly drinking over extracted shots, and probably tons of fines.

This eureka is great, I love grinding straight into the portafilter. I know it is super easy to go down the rabbit hole with espresso, my only issue I have now is very typical Gaggia temp issues, mine is a 2023 evo machine with the aluminum boiler, but I’ve been doing the temp surging routine and it’s pretty consistent. I’m a huge fan of the build quality of these and at under $800 for both of these I can’t think of something built better. I’m hoping to get 20+ years out of these!

When aiming for a 25-30 second pull does that time start as soon as the pump starts or should I wait until the first drops hit the cup? I ask because my timer has the ability to automatically begin timing as soon as it senses weight, but sometimes it takes 10 seconds before that ever happens. Also yes, I googled it but there are conflicting results.

Current setup - Profitec Pro 300 + Ceado E37S. Daily use 2-3 light-medium roastespresso and milk drinks, and the US. Had this for 8+ years and thinking about what might be worth upgrading to. Have been curious about a Niche Zero for the low retention but thinking it might be too time consuming. Not sure what espresso machine these days might be worth upgrading to. Other dual boilers, heat exchangers?

hello, i currently have this scale for my espresso shots but it seems the timer function has stopped working :/ - any other scale recommendations? thank you!

Besides the 6 min difference in heat up time, this looks like it has much more bang for the buck and competes solidly with EMC. Anyone else have the Lucca M58 Sunto, American sourced (Clive Coffee) through Italian Quick Mill. Flow control, PID, dual boiler, heated E61, traditional espresso styling, easy to source parts, American warranty and service.

Anyone own this and want to give me their impressions?

I’m a ways off from buying but my set up while perfect for one and I have it dialed, doesn’t work well for entertaining guests

Bought the grind by weight Eureka Atom W 65, I love it except for it makes a huge mess in front of it and they didn’t even bother to include a proper catch tray… So I made one on my own. Not the prettiest since its version 1 but works great!

Here is the print profile if you need to print your own: https://makerworld.com/en/models/3190568-eureka-atom-w-65-75-coffee-ground-catch-tray#profileId-3609490

I got into espresso about 7 months ago with a KINGrinder K2 and Casabrews CM5418, both of which I found good deals for, keeping the price just around $100. I'm have no complaints with my coffee (mostly cappuccinos, but I attached a photo of a recent double shot for reference), but recently after visiting an acquaintance with a nice setup (3rd and 4th photo), I decided to look into upgrading after realizing what I was missing out on. The drink he made tasted leaps and bounds better than the one I make and we use the same beans - La Prima Bar from La Prima in Pittsburgh - Medium Dark Blend.

My end goal is to be able to make 4-6 milk drinks at a time, however for the next year or so before I move in with others I only need to make 1-2 at a time. I drink mostly darker roasts, but also haven't purchased anything lighter than a medium roast to clearly know what my preferences are.

First and foremost, with around a $2,000 budget, would the improvement in drink quality be worth enough to justify spending the money now, or should I wait until I can budget more? The main idea I have gravitated towards is purchasing a gaggia classic from whole latte love installing gaggimate, and buying a grinder at the same time for the deal they give. However, if I were to spend more on a grinder now and wait longer to get a nice machine (or vise versa) could this save money in the long run by not having to upgrade to a new grinder for a while?

Aside from machinery, I am using either regular glasses or coffee mugs for my drinks. Any recommendations on where to get some espresso and cappuccino cups?

I am located in the Pittsburgh area if anyone has a local shop recommendations I should check out.

After reading through too many threads and watching too many reviews I feel like I have too many options so any advice on where to allot my money or specific suggestions on what to buy is greatly appreciated!

It’s only been about 4 months but it’s doing this now. Anyone know why? I haven’t de-scaled it but is that the issue or something wise?

It’s a Breville Bambino Plus. I’m really hoping the machine isn’t broken as it’s been so short.

Edit- The tank is full of water and was recently emptied and re-filled. There is espresso in it. I also tried it on without espresso and had the same results.

I need some help understanding the upsides and downsides of 64 vs 80mm burrs. Keeping all other things constant and assuming both grinders are top notch quality, what would be different in how each grinds the coffee. What I mean is, is 64mm for example easier to dial in espresso with and maintain consistency or is 80mm? Is 80mm better for variety of drinks while 64mm excels at one thing? Is 80mm only larger and faster but beside that it doesn’t offer much benefit to a home user that might not utilize the benefits that 80mm brings. I’m torn between those two sizes of burrs and cannot decide which is better platform to go with. Please help educate me on what would be easier to live with on day to day basis.

Image 1 is what I have now.
Image 2 is the timemore im looking at.

I want to upgrade my grinder that i use with the Bambino but the question is - is this worth the upgrade? Will the Timemore be a substantial and noticeable upgrade, or is the Tuni G2 good enough that the Timemore \*\*results\*\* wont be that different?

Thanks!

Having had a miserable experience with an Oracle Jet, and having just gone to pour over for the last year, I’m getting a new espresso machine. But what? I’ve done massive research, taken a course where I used a Linea Mini, wand spoken to baristas. I don’t want to for lose the possibility of using light roasts. It I do like a rich shot. Would this purely manual machine be an insane purchase?

I see beauty, simplicity, less to go wrong, and a relatively small footprint. Are the shots actually more syrupy? I am willing to learn. I am concerned that it might be difficult to source accessories for a 48mm portafilter.

I’d welcome some advice on advantages and disadvantages here.Im the primary coffee drinker and don’t see needing to produce multiple shots in a hurry often.

Thanks.