Coffee Appreciation

Ah you have one! Cool. With the pressure gauge?

@DethBeard - Yes! I suspect you likely need to build up more pressure. Have you tried pre-pumping? It really helps. With pre-pumping, I get a lovely thick crema. Without, I get a crema that is pretty watery and almost non existent.

1. 17.5 gram dose for me. Tamp. Have full basket
   
2. Pour boiling water about 2cm from the top
   
3. Let coffee pre-infuse for 12 seconds
   
4. Pre-pump five times. That is to say - try pumping the levers as if you were about to pull a shot but then pull them back up and repeat. The increased pressure is absolutely noticeable.
   
5. Pull 35 gram shot (2:1 ratio) in about 30 seconds total
   
   

Give that a go and lemme know how you get on. This is assuming you're using good, freshly ground coffee.

Maybe not as thick as some shots I’ve pulled, but this is a relatively recent photo using that technique.

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Nope, mean and clean.
As a dark roast aficionado I find it’s extremely forgiving of my ‘technique’.

Interesting. I only like burnt to black roast.

Bit gutted, bought this today as I walked past the roasters. Admittedly it’s exactly as described, earthy etc. It just doesn’t actually have any interesting notes (perhaps to my untrained palette). It bloomed like a motherfucker. Worth leaving for another week?

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Possibly leave it for a while but tbh I've never found MM to taste anything but muddy and earthy. (That said I much prefer light and fruity roasts). How are you brewing it?

never found MM to taste anything but muddy and earthy.

+1 this.

(That said I much prefer light and fruity roasts).

Also this.

Have you tried pre-pumping?

Like dry humping?

So this is the coffee station in the new house - which in general is nice but the height of the cupboard above means that accessing the water reservoir for the Silvia is a ball ache. I’m thinking to cut a hole in the shelf above in order to pour water in from above - is that stupid? We will be replacing the kitchen at some point so probably a 18m-2y solution...

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Yeah, shit choice on my part. Lesson learned!

The state of your grinder and tamping mat is giving me anxiety... 🐖🤯😂

Funnel?

Who builds cupboards the same depth as benches anyway? That's so dumb

Siphon water in from some tupperware or similar? Pouring water in from above seems like frequent spillage waiting to happen.

Why not just plumb the bastard in?

Yeah, I'd go with some combination of secondary container and tubing. Less hassle and probably easier to use than a hole in the shelf.

Do you clean it after every coffee? I do it after my last grind of the day which is usually filter after lunch. Sorry for triggering you bro :(

Maybe it's silly but I was going to get a replacement reservoir and place that over the hole and slot into existing reservoir and then put lid over the top of the one in the cupboard.

Or something like this

Over engineered much?

Do you mean don't use the supplied reservoir in the back and put pipes into something else?

I didn't think you could.

Although maybe the answer is buy a new machine that I can plumb in...

I'm sure there's a way but it might be more work than drilling holes or adding funnels or syphons.

Only joking! I didn't used to be such a neat freak but I'm normally cleaning up after my OH these days...

I found it much easier to be tidy when I stopped grinding coffee straight into my Vario's portafilter and started using the bin... To think I almost threw it away!

I got one of those Hario Air Kettles and used it for the first time today. I'm pretty impressed with it. I've used but not owned a pouring kettle before because I've always made do with a normal kettle, trying not to accumulate too much "coffee stuff". I'm pretty impressed, it pours really nicely, the lack of lid and watching steam escape feels a bit wrong but also the lack of lid means it fits better in the cupboard.

I was thinking just fill it by opening the existing reservoir lid just enough to pop a tube in, fill a bit of tupperware with the water, pop the other end of the tube in the water and lift it above the coffee machine to siphon it in.

Though after thinking about it, if I were in your position I'd probably end up getting a tupperware container, drilling a hole in it to fit a little tap (like these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0746CFNNP). Then run a hose from the tap, through a hole in the bottom of the cupboard, into the reservoir.

The heat loss would definitely be my main issue with those. Though I go a bit far the other way in that I boil water, pour it into my gooseneck kettle, then pop that on the hob to get the water back to boiling to ensure there's no thermal loss to the kettle itself. Then again, I guess the plastic doesn't soak that much heat.