Coming to a roaster near you: Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Coffee Beans
Maybe try Antithesis next time, that has the most “classic espresso” profile.So, dialing in a new grinder and two new beans has been a hilariously predictable and amateurish mistake with an expected outcome.
Haven’t had much luck with destroyer. It’s got a ton of acidity (brightness as ya’ll who actually have palates would say I believe), but haven’t had much luck pulling much else out regardless of tweaks. There were a few that raised eyebrows and made people say there was something different about it they couldn’t put their finger on. Closest I got from them in describing it was a full taste. I have no idea what that means, but I also described a coffee as smelling ‘blue’ so I can’t judge. Suspecting there may not be much else in there, since nothing really stood out about it when cupping. Gotten the same general acidity with shot times running from 20 seconds to around 60 seconds (9barista so it behaves a touch differently than traditional machines).
Mass appeal however has been both frustrating and very interesting. Even to someone who thinks shallots are just an onion that got a massage from some garlic cloves, so that’s saying something. None of the sugar cookie and other notes they talk about, but a pretty surprising amount of sweetness when cupped. I had one shot that was almost perfect from it (tasted like there was a solid tsp of sugar added to the cup and it lasted for at least a few minutes after the last sip. Did not expect that at all from a coffee), but I made some tweaks to try and reduce the acidity on the next shot and was unfortunately 7 shots into testing so my notes were a mite disorganized. Considering ordering it again to try and recreate that flash in the pan.
Maybe ya’ll were right about coffee. I still think roasters should be required to list coffee as the main flavor though because I was HYPED for a creamsicle flavored one and incredibly disappointed by the results.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’m sure I’ll circle back to ceremony again eventually; I’ll grab some antithesis when I do. For now, trying to try as many different places as possible to figure out what exists and I like. Got some daterra Peabody from flight coffee co landing this week. Seen folks talking about it tasting peanutty which sounded like it could be funMaybe try Antithesis next time, that has the most “classic espresso” profile.
The problem I have with the Robot is channeling and spritzing. I don't have my lever machine set up as it has to be plumbed in. I'm loading approx 16g into the portafilter and grind quite fine so as not to need a lot of force to get the extraction. Tamper medium pressure ie max with finger tips and I use the tool supplied with the Kafatek to break up clumps. Preinfusion approx 6 secs. Happens with fresh and older beans. Quite frustrating. Can't figure out if its the proprietory basket or the grinder. Careful attention to maintaining temps.Hope you have the schematic and ability to work with lethal voltages, other than that...there is nothing more than you need in a machine than a Pavoni other than creature comforts such as less overheating or a larger boiler. The majority of fancy espresso machines try to mimick a lever with tremendous amounts of gear and break down frequently as a result.
My little cafelat Robot does as well as my Urania, and sometimes even better..
I see little or no spritzers, but I'm usually doing 'old school' 14 g in shots using my own roast.The problem I have with the Robot is channeling and spritzing. I don't have my lever machine set up as it has to be plumbed in. I'm loading approx 16g into the portafilter and grind quite fine so as not to need a lot of force to get the extraction. Tamper medium pressure ie max with finger tips and I use the tool supplied with the Kafatek to break up clumps. Preinfusion approx 6 secs. Happens with fresh and older beans. Quite frustrating. Can't figure out if its the proprietory basket or the grinder. Careful attention to maintaining temps.
Whats your experience been like? The shots still taste great but I feel they could be better.
Replacing this wiring harness is pretty straight forward. And we have measly 120 over here, not nearly as scary as when I do anything, even very simple things, with our 480 ovens at work for instance. But you'r'e concern is well placed and appreciated, because I'm going a few steps further here.Hope you have the schematic and ability to work with lethal voltages, other than that..
Some of these creature comforts are what I am shooting for. I'm adding a PID along with a few other modifications as I go through resurrecting this unit. Im the only hot-coffee drinker in the household and would almost never pull more than 5 or 6 shots back to back, so the boiler capacity of this Professional is ample for my needs. Hoping to finish everything up Saturday and will report back!there is nothing more than you need in a machine than a Pavoni other than creature comforts such as less overheating or a larger boiler.
I'd love a modern hybrid spring-lever like the Leva X, Spiritello, or Nurri, but regardless I'm firmly in the lever gang. I visited a roaster managed by a friend of a friend a awhile back when I was first getting into home espresso and got to play with a range of equipment. Lo and behold all the shots I liked the most were brewed emulating the pressure profile of a lever or with a lever proper.The majority of fancy espresso machines try to mimick a lever with tremendous amounts of gear and break down frequently as a result.
Proposed experiment: load 18g into the 16g basket, does it touch the shower screen? If not that might fix the channeling.The problem I have with the Robot is channeling and spritzing. I don't have my lever machine set up as it has to be plumbed in. I'm loading approx 16g into the portafilter and grind quite fine so as not to need a lot of force to get the extraction.
te Cafelat Robot does not have a showerscreen, it does have a 'floating' top screen. It's a manually filled not heated lever.Proposed experiment: load 18g into the 16g basket, does it touch the shower screen? If not that might fix the channeling.
Baskets pretend to go by weight but ultimately go by volume.
I'd love a modern hybrid spring-lever like the Leva X, Spiritello, or Nurri, but regardless I'm firmly in the lever gang. I visited a roaster managed by a friend of a friend a awhile back when I was first getting into home espresso and got to play with a range of equipment. Lo and behold all the shots I liked the most were brewed emulating the pressure profile of a lever or with a lever proper.
Oh. Wow. I know nothing, Jon Snow.te Cafelat Robot does not have a showerscreen, it does have a 'floating' top screen. It's a manually filled not heated lever.
I bet I could fill the basket with 50g and not hit the shower screen ;-)
View attachment 317232
I choose to look at the tasting notes as the flavors beyond coffee. I just mentally add coffee as the first note and then these as the extras. Except sometimes I get something that tastes not like coffee first, but that is less common. Expensive beans, but if you really want to see how fruity and sweet coffee can get, try this:i taste hints of orange with the peel or grapefruit and i hate that you all were kinda right about coffee not being 100% coffee flavor
creamsicle remains a wildly optimistic way to describe it. even if I could coax sweetness out without losing the citrus it’d just be a sweet orange with no vanilla. (And it’s still mostly coffee)
I haven't, but I also subscribe to the idea that over-tamping is not a concern - I just press very firmly down compacting as much as manageable without throwing my full body weight into it.Also have you tried tamping on a kitchen scale to see how much force you’re applying? I ended up getting one of the self leveling tampers with a spring that compresses at a known weight so I know I’m hitting a minimum. With the completely manual tamp I found I often wasn’t applying enough pressure to actually fully compress the puck
Agreed, that was an area of concern. The SSR is quite a bit overspeed for the draw placed upon it, but also I used thermal paste between it and the metal base of the machine so hoping the machine itself can function somewhat as a heat sink. Plan to take regular temp readings of that area with my infrared at startup.just make sure that SSR is cooled properly, with a PID that switches in high frequency they can get hot and fail pretty soon (especially when not overdimensioned)
Ive sanity checked my wiring dozens of times and asked a couple real experts to review it also - still nervous as hell to plug it in for the first time hahaif you did all that it should be fine!
That metal base ought to be enough of a heatsinkt when coupled by thermal paste!
Keep it simple. Don't use any silly tools and focus on the basics like grind, dose and extraction time.The problem I have with the Robot is channeling and spritzing. I don't have my lever machine set up as it has to be plumbed in. I'm loading approx 16g into the portafilter and grind quite fine so as not to need a lot of force to get the extraction. Tamper medium pressure ie max with finger tips and I use the tool supplied with the Kafatek to break up clumps. Preinfusion approx 6 secs. Happens with fresh and older beans. Quite frustrating. Can't figure out if its the proprietory basket or the grinder. Careful attention to maintaining temps.
Whats your experience been like? The shots still taste great but I feel they could be better.
So what is it that you did here? I understand the individual components but not the outcome.Just like me to take something simple and make it much more complicated. Should get to pulling shots by tomorrow.
View attachment 317682
Having not turned it on, right now I've accomplished nothing.So what is it that you did here? I understand the individual components but not the outcome.
this probably need a questionnaire more complicated than knife questionnaire, but my best advice is to buy something popular and easy to resell. a budget and the max footprint plus the max warm up time you can tolerate would be important to know.Erm, so - hypothetically - if I were to want to have a play with espresso using some kind of approach that isn’t going to involve a permanent fixture on my kitchen counter…
Would anyone recommend a specific lever/steamer combo set up that can grow with my nerdery if I decide I like it?
Erm, so - hypothetically - if I were to want to have a play with espresso using some kind of approach that isn’t going to involve a permanent fixture on my kitchen counter…
Would anyone recommend a specific lever/steamer combo set up that can grow with my nerdery if I decide I like it?
Enter your email address to join: