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

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?

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

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

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

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!

Just got their e64 grinder. It’s a solid grinder but it seems like the burrs is producing quite a bit of fines. Is this normal?

As for the the e64 grinder itself is solid and well made. Very quiet and grinds fasts.

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.

Is leaving the water chamber empty if you don’t make espresso often good or bad?

I make an espresso maybe once a week sometime once every two weeks.

Trying to figure out the best way to manage the water and what not to make sure the machine doesn’t get gross.

Should I leave the chamber empty without water? Or do I need to be replacing water daily and running a shot without actual coffee in it (unsure if this damages the machine or puts extra ware and tear on it)?

UPDATE : i ended up getting the Specialita which was on sale for 650$ CAD

Hi,

My grinder has been struggling with grinding fine enough for espresso so I been mainly drinking coffee using my aeropress of v60!

But I don't want my Bambino to keep collecting dust and I would love to keep enjoying espresso on the weekends (instead of spending 6$ for a cortado every time i crave one).

Budget is around 500-800$ CAD

I was eyeing the Eureka Mignon Specialita (lots of offers currently) but also the Zero 55s.

In all honesty I love dialling my espresso, I've worked in multiple cafe so I have experience with good espresso. But i'm definitely not a 'dial my espresso to a 0.1g and spending all my time obsession over a flavour profile'.

Since the Zero 55s is newer I'm more hesitant. And the screen display on the Specialita concerns me because what if that part breaks but mechanically the rest is fine? Are both modele made in Italy?

I'm leaning towards the Specialita anyways because once I buy a bag I'd just leave it in the hopper and have it sit there or host coffee afternoon hangouts for my friends and not bother single dosing everytime.

Any other models to keep in mind?

I want this to be a grinder i buy now and keep for 20 years.

The day my bambino breaks I will upgrade my espresso machine but the heart of the espresso is the grinder so that's my priority.

Thanks :-)

Hi everyone, I found this Compak K6 grinder on Facebook Marketplace for $50. Do you think it’s worth buying at this price? Is it a good grinder for home use, and is there anything specific I should check before buying it? I’m also wondering if replacement burrs and other parts are easy to find. Thanks!

As the title says, I have for example a Delonghi EC155 and I want to add a solenoid valve to it, along with further upgrades in the future. As I understand solenoid valves, I believe it’ll need some sort of relay that’s triggered by the pump switch being turned off? I have very rusty electronics knowledge so please let me know how possible this would in theory. I know space may be a limitation but am I oversimplifying the circuit?

Thanks!

I know there are lots of posts on this. It’s all a bit overwhelming when you spend some time reviewing. Exciting, but a lot.
I’ve been brewing pourover for the past 6 years. It’s been a great rabbit hole but I’m looking to dive into espresso. I’d like a setup that both pulls solid shots and is capable with milk drinks. I’m thinking DF64 for a grinder, but an open to other options. I’d like electric, as a neck injury/surgery makes manual grinding a challenge.
I’ve been eyeing the Apex V2, Gaggia Classic Pro E24, Rancilio Silva, Bambino plus, and Profitec Go.
The Apex looks great, but I’ve read some complaints on the steaming wand with too much water flowing into the milk.
The Gaggia seems solid with a great reputation. I’m not the biggest tinkerer so this might not be the best option.
The Bambino is definitely best price-wise. I’d love some clarity if there is a big jump in quality from that to these other machines. I’d pay more for quality (to a point haha).
Profitec Go looks great but at double the price, is it much better for quality drinks/workflow.

If anyone has some experience with these options or additional suggestions, I’d really appreciate any advice. Budget is somewhat flexible

TLDR: grind rpm changes extraction time and should be controlled to prevent an additional variable while dialing in a new coffee, or experimenting with other different parameters.

Longer version:

I've been using a 1zpresso J-Max grinder with 48 mm burrs for several years. Recently I started experimenting with grind rpm and angle separately to see what would happen. My curiosity was due to claims that slow feeding or single feeding with electric grinders produced a benefit, and I was curious to see what may happen with my manual grinder.

My baseline technique is to hold the grinder vertically and turn the handle relatively quickly at about 120 rpm, trying to hold rpm as consistent as possible. I rotate both hands about each other, with the grinder making small circles inside larger diameter movement of the handle.

As background I had noticed on random occasions if I slowed rpm the handle became progressively more difficult to turn, to the point where my grip on the grinder body because limiting and would slip. This seemed to be evidence a slow grind rpm was out of design spec, because it became so difficult to use without more grip or leverage on the grinder body. I expect some people with weaker hands would not be able to manage this at all.

I first tried changing grinder angle, by maintaining same technique and rpm but tilting the grinder body at about 45 degrees. When angled I could immediately tell the feed rate was reduced because grind force at same rpm was reduced. To my surprise my first puck choked up and total extraction time went from 30 to 60 seconds. I added about 10 clicks to grind coarser and bring the extraction time back around 30.

Later I tried slowing the grind rpm to about 60-80 while holding the grinder vertically and observed the same general effect as the angled grind above where a coarser grind setting was needed to avoid choking the shot and maintain extraction times around 30 seconds. However an additional challenge is it was very difficult to maintain constant rpm, as the grinder would become momentarily "stuck" requiring transient higher force to compensate and push through, leading to more irregularity in the grind rate. Ultimately I wouldn't recommend this technique as it was borderline too difficult to grind given required grip force on the grinder body, and the difficultly maintaining a consistent rpm likely contributes unnecessary variability in the resulting grounds.

Conclusions:

I'm not yet sure whether the quality of my shots is improved or reduced with either of these changes, but in both cases, changes in grinding technique had a large effect on extraction time. Maintaining consistent hand-grinding technique is an important variable affecting my shot equation that was previously unknown, to me at least. If not compensated for in other ways, such changes can at least partially explain difficulties in producing consistent shots.

For now I'm back to my baseline, but I may consider trying angled grinding again in the future.

I'm curious to know what other think and whether my findings are consistent with what others have found with hand grinders and technique. Possibly this is specific to my 1zpresso J-Max, or my specific baseline method.