Coffee Appreciation

A few questions.

I had a bag of ACS coffee that was ground for a stove-top pot in April. I bought quite a bit of it and haven't finished it yet so I used that. Result: no crema, blonding after only a few seconds.

I then, last night, bought a red label pot of Illy coffee from Tesco. Result: crema but still blonding after about 20 seconds.

I've got a very rubbish tamper so I think I'll get a nicer one (any suggestions) but what are the opinions with the grind? I thought that the red label Illy stuff would be a good grind but it still seems a bit coarse.

Another question. Is there any benefit in taking off the group head and cleaning it?

And, what dosage should I use? I'm just guessing really.

I'd say the ACS is stale by now, hence no crema and rapid blonding.

I would say the rapid blonding with your fresher Illy may be due to you not tamping the coffee hard enough?

I use a plastic (!) tamper and manage to get crema most of the time without much blonding.

As for dosage, it is for taste really. Too much and you'll know about it (sweats and etc) too little and there is no 'kick'

Keep trying!