Coffee experience at airport lounge in Ethiopia.

I witnessed the perfect puck prep process:
- keep your ground coffee in a big bucket
- fill the portafilter with a large spoon
- the spoon also serves as tamper, but just lightly press
- insert the portafilter into the espresso machine

Leaves a weird sensation on the teeth. The rest is as expected

It feels super premium for 430€ grinder. Everything is magnetic and toolless except adjusting indicator for grind size (it has two screws that hold grind size indicator ring)

Just used it for first time today and it has basically zero retention, still dieling it in but it feels great so far

My stock Gemilai Owl 🦉 was a pressure nightmare. I swapped out the plastic safety valve with a proper Vibiemme OPV and now it’s actually making proper espresso. Night and day difference. If I knew it would have made this much of a difference I would have changed it out before I pulled even one shot.

We took the plunge and purchased a black SAGE Bambino paired with a DF54 grinder after using a Moka pot for a few years.

If you have this machine, any tips are welcome!

Today I have tried a new espresso bean I recently purchased. It is a mix of columbian castillo and pink bourbon. The castillo provides chocolate and nutty notes and a good body and the pink bourbon is a coferment with hopp and ipa yeast.

I am really pleasantly surprised about this coffe. The hopp notes comes through very clear, has a very nice floral, citrus notes. The after taste is almost like drinking beer.
Very enjoyable!

Drink is a regular cappuccino but with a double shot

I had this spare handle kinking around in the garage for years, don't even remember why but I knew I wanted to use it in a silly way. I finally realized what it was the perfect size for. For the coffee people that don't know tools Snap-on is basically the Gucci of tools (absurdly priced but great quality, usually) and for the tools tool people who don't know coffee this is the filter for making espresso and in six years I'll have it paid off lol

I like to make something called a Biscoff cappuccino.

You basically make a normal cappuccino and place two Biscoff cookies on the side.

I like to scoop the foam off the cappuccino with the cookies and it compliments the coffee wonderfully.

I thought others may also be interested in this. The article discusses processing used coffee grounds and adding them to concrete results in the concrete being 29% stronger.

Setup is a breville bambino + breville smart grinder pro (outer setting 3 inner burr at 4, default inner burr is 6) im using a medium roast bean, Rancho Arriba coffee which is a single-origin Dominican coffee.

Im getting 36G in about 30 seconds (counting from press of button to start shot) out of 18g in so technically im the ok zone, but not sure if the flow looks right or should look slower.

Im sure puck prep is dialed, WDT, distribution, even tamper etc.

Should i be after that “honey like” consistency?

Picked up a free Nuova Simonelli Oscar II today, and it needed some serious TLC. The wand was working but the grouphead was so backed up so I ordered some new parts. Also needed a new tube since one bursted, see last pic. Luckily there is practically zero corrosion on the boiler.

Decided to paint the plastic panels a different color, hopefully I get the grouphead working and start using this as my daily!

Anyone have experience with this machine and have any tips to improving its longevity besides regular maintenance? Thanks

Whenever I pull shots of this espresso blend, the streams of coffee never merge into one stream. It’s also never coming out of the center. I use WDT and I have a self leveling tamper. My espresso ratios are also hitting the numbers. Getting about 40g in 30 seconds. Any thoughts?

The coffee is on the lighter end of medium roast-wise.

Apenas estoy aprendiendo a hacer una buena extracción, todavía no doy con el punto de molido exacto, siento que esta extracción fue muy rápida el cafe sabía un poco amargo

Hey all,

I've been in the market for an espresso grinder ~$300 CAD, and have heard a fair amount of good things about the DF54. That being said, the Opus 2 was also recently released, and purports to solve many of the issues of the first generation. I haven't been able to find many comparisons of the two online, so I'd love to hear people's thoughts on which is a better choice for someone who almost exclusively drinks espresso. Any advice or other recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for a 54mm espresso accessories kit and came across this one on Amazon by chance. Does anyone have any thoughts on this one, or any general recommendations for a good kit?

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a new Dedica EC885, about 4 days ago. I’ve only used it three times and ran half a reservoir through it for the initial out-of-the-box cleaning/flushing cycle.

I noticed that water drips from the steam wand whenever I pull a shot, even a blank shot through an empty pressurized basket just to pre-heat the group head.

Is this minor dripping normal behavior for the 885, or is my unit faulty, and I should return it?

I recently invested in a profitec ride with flow control and have been playing around with different profiles. Have used the 5 from whole latte love article along with mimicking what I have on my gaggimate (now my office machine).

Just curious what y’all’s favorite profiles are? Just finished a bag of hi-five and really enjoyed it with the Cremina lever style.

Anyways, here’s a pull just to get looks.

Hey. Does anyone has a nice printable where I can add the instructions for different coffee preparations.

For example double espresso, X beans, grinder setting, beans weight

Maybe with options for pour over too.

My parents are visiting, and I need printed instructions.

Can anyone find the 63mm conical red titanium burrs?

I needed to replace mine because I had the luck to have a little rock mixed with coffee beans and destroyed the burrs. Luckly the seller had a broken DC63 and swap the burrs from that one.

I searched the entire internet and found no info. The manufacturer (AVX) said that they will be available on their website in 3 months (is been more than 3 months).

Any ideas? I do a cappuccino daily, ready to mix it up

Minimum character count why

Ok short story about cappuccino’s until I’m able to post. Once there was a coffee oh nice character count hit

Hey all, trying to make a smart first purchase and would love some real-world input.

My situation: I'm in Morocco, where the local market is basically De'Longhi/Severin/Taurus/Krups/Elexia.. only — no Gaggia, Rancilio, Breville etc. available in stores (would have to import with no local warranty/support).

De'Longhi has an official local site/retail presence, so parts and accessories are actually reachable here.

My plan: Buy an unpressurized basket (already found some on Aliexpress for cheap) + a Timemore C3 ESP hand grinder, and actually learn proper technique — dialing in, WDT, the whole thing. I don't care about built-in grinders, I want to grind separately.

The dilemma: Both machines are ~230-240 USD equivalent here.

Linea Classic EM450: has a built-in pressure gauge (manometer) — seems useful for learning/diagnosing shots.

Dedica EC685: way more popular worldwide, huge mod community (Normcore/IMS/Capfei accessories made specifically for it, documented manometer mods too), but no gauge stock and smaller footprint.

I care about: reliability/durability long-term, high quality coffee potential, actually progressing as a home barista, and having a platform I can upgrade/mod down the line since "real" machines aren't locally available.

Anyone have hands-on experience with either as a learning platform? Is the gauge worth it, or does Dedica's ecosystem/community support make it the smarter pick even without one stock? Any regrets either way?

Thanks!

Hello! I’m looking for a midrange $500-700 new or used machine. I’m looking for temp stability, performance consistency, maybe pressure control. I’m currently using a Casabrews Cm5418 with an opus 2 grinder and have a few good roasters nearby for fresh beans. Just wondering how much I’m leaving on the table sticking with a beginner machine. I was looking at a Gaggia E24 (probably would get the standard level mods for pressure control), Lelita Anna, Turin Legato, etc that range of machines. I know I’d have to get a 58mm bottomless portafilter, puck screen and self leveling spring loaded tamper.

Thank you!