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comment by cgod
cgod  ·  2387 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: September 13, 2017

No idea, I've used Astoria espresso machines my whole life and know almost nothing about other machines. Mazer makes good grinders, shouldn't be a grind problem.





snoodog  ·  2387 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Do you dial settings in with a bottomless portafilter? Can you pretty easily get no spray? Or is it pretty finicky and needs perfect dosing and good distribution techniques?

cgod  ·  2387 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think that bottomless portafilters are a gimmick to reward people for neurosis.

I get a new espresso I pour a shot and adjust tamp and grind until I get a 2.5-3 oz extraction in about 22 seconds. I taste it. If it tastes like shit I try a shorter and longer pulls and try tamping it different. I can usually find a grind that pulls in 22 seconds that tastes decent. I've had espressos that I never did get a pull I was happy with and others that are so forgiving I could pull a five ounce shot in 40 seconds and drink it straight.

If you like your espresso than enjoy it and don't worry that everything about the pull isn't exactly like the snob in the video pulls.

I've had shots pulled from guys that paid big money to go to espresso school that were undrinkable. They weighed that shit, tamped it with a pressure regulated pull arm tamper, got a beautiful zebra strip in the crema, decanted into graduated cylinders for the perfect quantity timed out with a stopwatch and it tasted foul.

You can go by the book or by taste. I think taste is the way to go. People get way to caught up in the details. The details are good, they give you some bounds to work in but in the end are you making a product that you enjoy or are you enjoying torturing yourself?

The owner of one of the more respected shops in town has a $2000 grinder in his kitchen. He grinds that shit up every morning and extracts in a $20 Mr. Coffee machine he bought at the supermarket. It's a fine way to make coffee. I don't really like his coffee because he is into blends but he likes it. I'm sure he gets a lot of pleasure out of the bazillion dollar espresso machine he has in his shop but I think that thing is half for show because the machine at his roastery is nothing special.

I'd assume that most home machines are going to be fussier than a big ass espresso machine that cost a few grand at the low end. My machine is old and HOT. It's not optimal but with a bit of care I can generally pull a pretty decent shot. I've got a roaster that knows my equipment and is roasting with it's problems in mind, I think it probably helps.