Coffee Appreciation

Yep, I've changed the seals multiple times and have swapped heating elements over, just got a bit distracted and lazy recently, so left this one remain broken. I might fix the La Pavoni - you've given me inspiration (here goes the praying hands emoticon ;-)

All aboard the pavoni rebuild inspo!

This week, subject to parts arriving I'll be fitting

New element & seal
Switch
Wiring (internal gaggia coffee deluxe wiring FTW)
Wooden handles
Steam tap shaft

May swap out the power cable for some iron flex if I can get the right spec.

Jeez - a proper sleeper!

Looks very similar to my Mazzer, so I’d assume it would be similarly straightforward to remove the doser and fit a funnel for single dosing like I did.

£30 is a literal steal.

https://christopherferan.com/2021/12/25/kenya-and-the-decline-of-the-worlds-greatest-coffee/

Used to use a Nuova Simonelli grinder like this (MDX) but you'll need a lot more than just a funnel to single dose - it'll clump, be staticky, and generally retains about 1-2g of grounds give or take. If you're happy living with that (I used a brush to sweep out retained grounds/used a camera lens hood as a bellows) then it does what it needs to do! Ended up selling it and paying a bit more for a proper single doser when funds allowed. DF54 isn't too far from 150squids and the sette can be had for that secondhand..

I’ve had no problems with static (couple drops of water on the beans), and just blow it out with a lens blower, no clumping or retention issues at all really. Still use a WDT to be sure, but does the job.

I've had terrible clogging when spraying water on beans prior to grinding... Maybe just my bad experience, but from memory. -the grinder jammed

Dip finger in water, wiggle it in beans, job done. Obviously YMMV.

Maybe too much water? I imagine it’s a fine line. I’ve also clogged my grinder doing this.

Essentially when I looked around it seemed the best hand grinders from people's opinions are the C40 and the ZP6. However, those seem to be to give you a specific flavour profile for light roasts and they're like £200+.

As I didn't want to spend as much as that I looked at Kingrinder and the models that had external adjustment which I wanted and the K6 gets reviewed as something that probably gets you 85% of the value of a C40 for under 50% of the price. I paid £75 delivered.

Perfect, thanks for replying!

Have a question for any milk-drinking enthusiasts who also happen to be massive nerds (and hopefully in the area of fluid dynamics in particular). I'm convinced that a multi-directional steam tip (like the one on the GS3) incorporates air into milk better than a single-directional one (like, say, the one on the Breville), from which I can get workable but not homogenous microfoam - it always separates into a head at the top pretty quickly. I have gone and gotten a three-hole tip to replace my stock tip (which has two holes which are pretty much vertically oriented), but am completely struggling to figure out what angle of insertion works best for steaming. This
seems to be quite true to my experience (my two-hole tip behaves like his single-hole one) but can't for the life of me figure out the 3 hole angle, which doesn't create the same 'vortex' that I'm used to from single-directional steam tips.

Ex-friend, right? Right? 🤣

Sounds like you need a mid-heat hole switcher. I'm imagining a desktop miscroscope arrangment where you can spin the head of the steam wand and switch from 1-2-3-4 hole tips.

I'm convinced that a multi-directional steam tip (like the one on the GS3) incorporates air into milk better than a single-directional one

Just practice more with your single hole. If you can't get a good microfoam it's almost certainly you that isn't working properly, not your machine. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear.

Just practice more with your single hole.

There’s a reason the better machine has three holes… along with all commercial machines. I don’t want to completely contradict Jonny69 but as long as the pressure is good, the angle and direction doesn’t really matter too much; as long as you get a good hiss on the surface to introduce enough air, then dip it slightly under the surface to come to the right temp. No need for the magical vortex but it’s quite pleasing.

I had to switch my Europiccola from a 3-hole to a 1-hole as I didn't find it to provide enough pressure. But I can honestly say that I can get microfoam from my Europiccola at a quality that I could get with any of the commercial machines I've worked with.

Never had any issues with 3-hole tips (aside from the fact that they were what I was using when first using a coffee machine, so there's always a learning period there). Normally tried to hold it roughly at a tangent to the pitcher (but not so close to the edge that the steam is just hitting it directly). Angle of the pitcher is more for ergonomics that optimising movement of the milk for me.

Steaming milk is a process and single hole is ample to fulfil this process.

I have to disagree (respectfully) here ;-)
I've got experience with 1,2 and 3. Europiccola was crap at frothing and I improved a bit by blocking 2 holes (with tootpicks, of course).

The Izzo Pompei has 1 hole and is a professional 2 grouphead machine and the performance is much better than La Pavoni ... but

This Bezzera Strega has 2 holes and is a frothing monster! So, there's more to it than the number of orifices...

Yes it's practice either way, but I do want to figure out what is going on with the offset nozzles. My starting assumption is that the technique is different for each type of nozzle; I've found I've hit a rough ceiling of technique when I use one type, and in chasing very marginal gains I would like to try another to see if I can get a better hang of it.

@hangedup commercial machines usually have larger boilers with more volume of steam so there's less of a pressure (and hence velocity) drop from wands with more holes - smaller boilers can't maintain pressure for too long so they compensate by decreasing volume of steam that comes out of the wand by reducing the number of holes.

My issue is usually the mixing of the air in the bubbles at the surface into the rest of the liquid milk underneath it - without the right angle you're heating the milk without actually incorporating the air and breaking up the larger bubbles. I struggle particularly with avoiding inadvertent incorporation of more air halfway through the process as the surface of the milk starts moving up and down more; if I go the other way I inadvertently overcompensate by putting the tip too low below the surface and I get foam at the top and liquid at the bottom.

Ah that makes sense about the pressure and number of holes. I have to admit I’ve never used a home machine! I guess you need a steeper angle with just one hole.
If it’s taking you more than about 30 seconds to steam one flat white, you might not have enough oomph to get super smooth microfoam.
You do want froth at the top and milk underneath though, to an extent. You need all the air to go in at the beginning, then as it stretches it comes up of its own accord and submerges the tip as much as you need.
Give it a swirl, tap it on the counter, pour it into another jug (down the inside wall of the jug to smooth it out and kill the big bubbles), keep it moving, then pour as soon as you can.

My steaming is over in 10s (machine is small but powerful) so no issues there with steam volume or pressure. And isn't the point of microfoam that your froth should be constantly mixed into the milk underneath (and the process of incorporation breaks down the size of the bubbles each time)? So ideally the less 'pure' liquid the better, though I am well aware the froth separates over time and fairly quickly.

Is the pouring into another jug necessary/contributes to incorporation of microfoam?

Whilst we are on the subject of steaming, have any Classic owners installed this Shades Supersteam mod? Is it any good?
Currently when steaming the pressure drops half way through and I need to stop and wait till it gets up to temp again. This mod sounds like it fixes that issue?

https://www.shadesofcoffee.co.uk/post-2018/shades-supersteam-kit---classic-pro-evo---steam-power-upgrade