Espresso Enthusiasts

[Shrink]

I imagine the DHL person was a bit surprised to see this when the door opened...

If only I were that smooth!

 

[S.B.G]

Awesome! Looks absolutely beautiful! Hopefully when you stop shaking (from excitement I'm sure) you can take more stable photos - but not before making an espresso or three!

 

[mobilehaathi]

If only I were that smooth!

More like this then?

 

[Shrink]

Awesome! Looks absolutely beautiful! Hopefully when you stop shaking (from excitement I'm sure) you can take more stable photos - but not before making an espresso or three!

Thanks, Mate. It is a beautiful piece of machinery.

Getting used to the silence is strange. When I pulled my first shot I didn't look down to see the coffee going into the cup for several seconds because it didn't sound like anything was happening.

More like this then?

Gracious...hidden camera!

I am a dancin' fool...ain't I?

If I could only remember that young lady...there were so many in my past.

 

[DeSnousa]

Very nice machine, I love the wooden touches

 

[Shrink]

Very nice machine, I love the wooden touches

Thanks...

I have a wooden handle for my tamper...I might make the switch just for aesthetic reason.

 

[Kurwenal]

Well, my new baby arrived, and after some assembly (it comes in two boxes), I pulled my first shot.

Beautiful. Warmest congratulations, friend. I hope it brings you many years of joy.

(which is done automatically on electric machines)

On a lot of semi-auto's you can adjust the pre-infusion time, but I think most owners never do that. On some older machines, you have to get into the back and literally adjust a little valve or knob, physically. On some newer machines, especially those with PID-controllers, you can adjust the time electronically. For example, on my Rocket, the pre-infusion time comes set at 6 seconds, and I have never had a reason to futz with it, which you can do from the control pad (the same way you adjust infusion pressure, brewing temp, etc.).

Is this one of those machines where you pull up to pre-infuse and then down to pull the shot? I always thought that process looked really cool.

 

[Shrink]

Beautiful. Warmest congratulations, friend. I hope it brings you many years of joy.



On a lot of semi-auto's you can adjust the pre-infusion time, but I think most owners never do that. On some older machines, you have to get into the back and literally adjust a little valve or knob, physically. On some newer machines, especially those with PID-controllers, you can adjust the time electronically. For example, on my Rocket, the pre-infusion time comes set at 6 seconds, and I have never had a reason to futz with it, which you can do from the control pad (the same way you adjust infusion pressure, brewing temp, etc.).

Is this one of those machines where you pull up to pre-infuse and then down to pull the shot? I always thought that process looked really cool.

BTW: You can tell wether a machine is direct lever or spring lever by the position of the lever when at rest. With a direct lever, it's down...with a spring lever, it's up.

First, thanks for the kind words, Mate!

To do the pre-infusion, you pull the lever all the way down (just below 90º), and it locks during pre-infusion. I counted off 6 seconds, and the you lift the lever to unlock it, release the lever, and the extraction starts. (As I mentioned...it's really weird having no sound at all). I was just in contact with Reiss Gunson, the designer and owner of Londinium Espresso, and he explained that all lever machines are made for one shot per pull. So after the pre-infusion, and the release of the leaver to extract rat the first shot, you then pull the lever a second time (without the pre-infusion lock) for the second shot.

I'm using a Strada double shot basket, with a bit more than the recommended 14-16gm dose...more like 17 gms.

You can adjust the water temp by adjusting the p-stat. It's reaching the desired 1.3 BAR boiler pressure, so I have no desire to mess with it. The spring/piston produces 9 Bars at the shower head.

I can't walk into the kitchen without smiling!

BTW: You can tell a spring lever from a direct lever by the position of the lever at rest. A spring lever, the lever is in the up position, with a direct lever, the position is down. Direct lever is just too damn hard to use for me. It takes years, I've read, to get so you can pull shots with any consistency at all.

 

[Kurwenal]

To do the pre-infusion, you pull the lever all the way down (just below 90º), and it locks during pre-infusion. I counted off 6 seconds, and the you lift the lever to unlock it, release the lever, and the extraction starts.

Ah, very interesting. Can't wait for you to post a video of you pulling a shot......(hint hint).

I have seen some machines where you can pull the lever half-way down, which will engage the line pressure (assuming the machine is plumbed) but not the pump, and you can sort of nurse along the pre-infusion using the line pressure, basically for as long as you want I guess. But, obviously, that's not this, and I will be interested to hear your reports on how a longer or shorter pre-infusion time impacts the taste. I know that has been a subject of spirited debate on some of the coffee forums.

Again, congrats.

 

[Shrink]

Ah, very interesting. Can't wait for you to post a video of you pulling a shot......(hint hint).

I have seen some machines where you can pull the lever half-way down, which will engage the line pressure (assuming the machine is plumbed) but not the pump, and you can sort of nurse along the pre-infusion using the line pressure, basically for as long as you want I guess. But, obviously, that's not this, and I will be interested to hear your reports on how a longer or shorter pre-infusion time impacts the taste. I know that has been a subject of spirited debate on some of the coffee forums.

Again, congrats.

When the lever on my machine is in the lock, pre-infusion mode, you can leave it there as long as you want, as with the machine you described. Right now I'm trying to hold as many variables constant as possible, so I'm going to stay with a 6 second count, uniform tamping pressure, and dosage (17 gms) while I diddle with the grind for this roast. When I get it dialed in as best I can, then I'll play with the pre-infusion time for this blend and roast. The problem is, each roast is only 240 gms so when it runs out and I switch to a new blend and roast...it starts all over.

More fun than any man should have!

 

[Kurwenal]

240 gms

Oh, yah. Years ago, I switched to 227g batches, to more easily allow sampling 1 pound (~454g) bags. The standard batch in the Hot Top is 255g, but I am stuck by habit with my smaller batches (which sometimes do not last the weekend).

Anyway, congrats again. Time to go drink some wine.

 

[mobilehaathi]

More fun than any man should have playing with his lever!

I hope you've roasted up several large batches of beans! I suspect you'll be flying through shots as you perfect your technique...

 

[Shrink]

I hope you've roasted up several large batches of beans! I suspect you'll be flying through shots as you perfect your technique...

From your lips....

Perfection, actually mediocrity, is not in sight yet...or for a long time. But practice makes perfect, and I will be doing another roast so I have about 1 ½ pounds available.

 

[mobilehaathi]

From your lips....

Perfection, actually mediocrity, is not in sight yet...or for a long time. But practice makes perfect, and I will be doing another roast so I have about 1 ½ pounds available.

Perfection is a process never to be completed, but therein lies the challenge.

 

[Shrink]

Perfection is a process never to be completed, but therein lies the challenge.

Well, if that's the case, I'll just aim for mediocrity!

I figure I can be, with much effort, completely mediocre.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Well, if that's the case, I'll just aim for mediocrity!

I figure I can be, with much effort, completely mediocre.

Sounds like a full time job.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

What an absolutely magnificent machine - quite exquisite looking. My warm congratulations. May you have many happy years of making espressos out of it; likewise, may you equally enjoy the doubtless fascinating learning curve that acquiring complete mastery over such a piece of technological perfection will demand.

Thoroughly enjoying the posts - mobilehaathi's were especially clever, and witty.

 

[VideoFreek]

I've been doing some reading, and there seems to be some question whether the Bialetti makes "real" espresso...whatever that might be. The argument goes that although the moka pot does produce coffee by forcing water through the grinds under pressure, and does produce some crema...it only produces 1.5 - 2.0 BARS, while the International Super Expresso Guys , or whatever the organization is called (it's in the second quote below), says it ain't really espresso unless the pressure is a minimum of 9 BARS.

Along with my hand grinder, it is a bit like going back in time, to virtually purely mechanical devices. The grinder makes only the sound of the beans being crushed by the burrs, a natural, not electrified, sound. And the machine makes no sound at all as the coffee is being dispensed into the cup. No motors whining, no pumps making noise...it’s a little strange, but delightful.

A stunningly beautiful machine, congratulations!!! And speaking of going back in time, your new purchase, as well as the foregoing discussion of moka pots, reminded me of some interesting bits of coffee history I ran across recently.

The lovely little moka pot is in fact the direct technological descendent of the steam-powered café-espress machines introduced at the dawn of the 20th century to produce made-to-order coffee quickly. There is some debate about the etymology, but it appears that the term espresso was used to convey both senses of "pressed-out" and "made quickly, expressly for you" coffee. These machines operated at relatively low pressure (about 1 bar). In the 1940s, Gaggia introduced the first lever-operated machine capable of producing 9 bars pressure (of which your new baby is a direct technological descendent). The resulting beverage was first touted as caffé crema, apparently as a marketing ploy to overcome customers' initial skittishness about the "scum" (crema) floating on the surface of their cup, but eventually supplanted the former version to become the "true" espresso we know today.

The lever-operated machines, constrained as they were by the strength of a typical person, could only produce a shot of 1 oz or so at the requisite 9 bar pressure. In 1961, however, when Faema introduced the first electric pump powered machine (featuring the now-ubiquitous E61 brew group), that constraint was removed, and espresso coffee could have become a much larger beverage. However, ...

... by the time the newer electric pump models came out, espresso had become its own drink category, and people had developed a taste for the "little cup." The only change to espresso created by electric pump machines is the introduction of the double espresso—double the water and double the coffee for a drink with the identical concentration and taste.

I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!

http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-guide-short-history.html

 

[mobilehaathi]

A stunningly beautiful machine, congratulations!!! And speaking of going back in time, your new purchase, as well as the foregoing discussion of moka pots, reminded me of some interesting bits of coffee history I ran across recently.

The lovely little moka pot is in fact the direct technological descendent of the steam-powered café-espress machines introduced at the dawn of the 20th century to produce made-to-order coffee quickly. There is some debate about the etymology, but it appears that the term espresso was used to convey both senses of "pressed-out" and "made quickly, expressly for you" coffee. These machines operated at relatively low pressure (about 1 bar). In the 1940s, Gaggia introduced the first lever-operated machine capable of producing 9 bars pressure (of which your new baby is a direct technological descendent). The resulting beverage was first touted as caffé crema, apparently as a marketing ploy to overcome customers' initial skittishness about the "scum" (crema) floating on the surface of their cup, but eventually supplanted the former version to become the "true" espresso we know today.

The lever-operated machines, constrained as they were by the strength of a typical person, could only produce a shot of 1 oz or so at the requisite 9 bar pressure. In 1961, however, when Faema introduced the first electric pump powered machine (featuring the now-ubiquitous E61 brew group), that constraint was removed, and espresso coffee could have become a much larger beverage. However, ...



I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!

http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-guide-short-history.html

Really cool bit of history! Thanks a lot for sharing, and I had been wondering of the etymology of 'espresso.' What an excellent story behind the word.

 

[Kurwenal]

Well, if that's the case, I'll just aim for mediocrity!

I predict, with all seriousness, that you will report pulling a God Shot, not later than February 26. Really.

Sounds like a full time job.

And here I thought we have been talking about coffee.

I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!

Agree 100%. Thank you for posting the link. Somehow I have never seen that on that site before.

Really cool bit of history! Thanks a lot for sharing, and I had been wondering of the etymology of 'espresso.' What an excellent story behind the word.

If you ever get the chance, hit up the coffee museum in Milan. In addition to many wonderful machines, it has what is claimed to be the original of one of the two competing original espresso patents.

 

[Shrink]

A stunningly beautiful machine, congratulations!!! And speaking of going back in time, your new purchase, as well as the foregoing discussion of moka pots, reminded me of some interesting bits of coffee history I ran across recently.

The lovely little moka pot is in fact the direct technological descendent of the steam-powered café-espress machines introduced at the dawn of the 20th century to produce made-to-order coffee quickly. There is some debate about the etymology, but it appears that the term espresso was used to convey both senses of "pressed-out" and "made quickly, expressly for you" coffee. These machines operated at relatively low pressure (about 1 bar). In the 1940s, Gaggia introduced the first lever-operated machine capable of producing 9 bars pressure (of which your new baby is a direct technological descendent). The resulting beverage was first touted as caffé crema, apparently as a marketing ploy to overcome customers' initial skittishness about the "scum" (crema) floating on the surface of their cup, but eventually supplanted the former version to become the "true" espresso we know today.

The lever-operated machines, constrained as they were by the strength of a typical person, could only produce a shot of 1 oz or so at the requisite 9 bar pressure. In 1961, however, when Faema introduced the first electric pump powered machine (featuring the now-ubiquitous E61 brew group), that constraint was removed, and espresso coffee could have become a much larger beverage. However, ...



I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!

http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-guide-short-history.html

Thanks for the congrats...

Wonderful piece of information...thanks for posting it.

It explains why my lever machine, as all lever machines, produces one shot (~1 ounce) per pull. Since I prefer double shots, it requires two pulls per cup. When I spoke the the machine's designer he said that the are those who feel that pulling twice damages the puck, producing a poor shot on the second pull, and that it is often recommended that one have two portafilters loaded and ready to go if one wants to make that second pull. However, I found that doing two pulls has no deleterious effect on the puck, which is a beautiful, dry disc which pops out in one piece when hit on the knock box. Unless the are invisible micro fissures in the puck, I seem to be getting away with two pulls per filter basket load.

I predict, with all seriousness, that you will report pulling a God Shot, not later than February 26. Really.

Thanks...

My guess is more like February 29!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A stunningly beautiful machine, congratulations!!! And speaking of going back in time, your new purchase, as well as the foregoing discussion of moka pots, reminded me of some interesting bits of coffee history I ran across recently.

The lovely little moka pot is in fact the direct technological descendent of the steam-powered café-espress machines introduced at the dawn of the 20th century to produce made-to-order coffee quickly. There is some debate about the etymology, but it appears that the term espresso was used to convey both senses of "pressed-out" and "made quickly, expressly for you" coffee. These machines operated at relatively low pressure (about 1 bar). In the 1940s, Gaggia introduced the first lever-operated machine capable of producing 9 bars pressure (of which your new baby is a direct technological descendent). The resulting beverage was first touted as caffé crema, apparently as a marketing ploy to overcome customers' initial skittishness about the "scum" (crema) floating on the surface of their cup, but eventually supplanted the former version to become the "true" espresso we know today.

The lever-operated machines, constrained as they were by the strength of a typical person, could only produce a shot of 1 oz or so at the requisite 9 bar pressure. In 1961, however, when Faema introduced the first electric pump powered machine (featuring the now-ubiquitous E61 brew group), that constraint was removed, and espresso coffee could have become a much larger beverage. However, ...



I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!

http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-guide-short-history.html

What a lovely, charming, interesting and informative post. As the happy owner of a moka pot, (and as a student of history and language) obviously, I find such stuff fascinating. Thank you for taking the trouble (and time) to post all of this.

 

[Kurwenal]

My guess is more like February 29!

It will happen. Be confident. Since I bought my first machine (in, *cough*, 1983, when I was two years old, I swear.......), I have pulled seven God Shots. According to my journal, four of those came within sixty days of buying a new machine, on the new machine.

It is a karmic law of espresso: the universe will grant the gods and muses leave to allow you an early God Shot, and you will then spend the next five years as Sisyphus trying to replicate it.....but that taste, that aroma, that experience will be enough, with all of the other shots.

I predict it will be on Liquid Amber.

Or, you will pull ten God Shots in a row......either is ok.

 

[Shrink]

It will happen. Be confident. Since I bought my first machine (in, *cough*, 1983, when I was two years old, I swear.......), I have pulled seven God Shots. According to my journal, four of those came within sixty days of buying a new machine, on the new machine.

It is a karmic law of espresso: the universe will grant the gods and muses leave to allow you an early God Shot, and you will then spend the next five years as Sisyphus trying to replicate it.....but that taste, that aroma, that experience will be enough, with all of the other shots.

I predict it will be on Liquid Amber.

Or, you will pull ten God Shots in a row......either is ok.

First, thanks for the encouragement. You know I will keep at it.

To be honest, I don't think I would know a God Shot if I drank it. I had a couple of super terrific shots with my old machine...perfect timing, wonderful aroma, superb taste and aftertaste. I've had a few of those with all the blends I use.

Aside from the subjective "Ahhh, that is REALLY a good one", are there any other criteria for a God Shot?

 

[mobilehaathi]

If you ever get the chance, hit up the coffee museum in Milan. In addition to many wonderful machines, it has what is claimed to be the original of one of the two competing original espresso patents.

I will keep this in mind! Thanks