Coffee Appreciation

Start by getting as much bodywork off as you can, that will give you good access to the innards, then just start dismantling everything. You’ll probably find it’s all clogged with limescale. Metal parts you can boil in a pan with citric acid to dissolve it.

Avoid taking wiring apart if you can, hopefully it all just unplugs easily.

Thank you. Couple of rusted and stripped screws at the bottom have prevented me from getting inside, giving them a WD40 soaking and hoping I can get them off with some pliers later. Shower screen took a bit of persuasion to get off and it was, well, minging.

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Crikey. That might be your lack of flow just with the shower screen crud. Give it another try once you e cleaned that and if it works you can just do a regular in-operation descale without tearing the whole thing down.

I've always struggled with my shots on my Bambino Plus, just read this:

Lots of beginner home baristas are picking up the Bambino Plus because of the great features vs the low cost, and it really is a stonking machine for the dosh, but there's a recurring theme among bambino plus users, and that is sour shots.

This is just an issue with lighter roasted beans.

If you're using a more traditional darker roasted espresso blend with the Bambino Plus, its factory pre-set brew temp (which you can't change) should be about right, and you should be able to pull some great shots for enjoying neat or as the base for milkies, or Americano.

If you're using lighter roasted beans, though, you're probably going to need to up the brew temperature to pull out more of the sweetness, and the inability to do this with the Bambino Plus is likely to lead to sour shots.

My personal opinion is that if you're planning on using lighter roasted coffee beans rather than the more traditional darker roasted espresso blends, the Bambino Plus probably isn't the best machine for you.

Is that correct, that 93°C is too low temp. for a light roast?

This makes sense but how light are the beans you're using? Do you also struggle with sourness on medium/dark beans?

This makes sense and Iv've heard it before with regards to the Bambino but how light are the beans you're using? Do you also struggle with sourness on medium/dark beans?

I feel like I struggle with sourness on 90% of my shots. But it's really hard to compare without a second machine. I'm generally using 3rd wave fancy stuff in a range of roasts, but nothing that is like Italian-style dark which is maybe what I should be using.

I need to go to some cafes that do a definitely good espresso I guess to compare

Edit: mostly I'm doing milk drinks though which means I'm not too bothered about a suboptimal espresso

Nice find! Sage machines are very much designed to try and dissuade you from opening them up - I got to >30 screws before giving up on my Barista Express.
It does sound like scale is the issue (mine did this when it wasn’t descaled frequently enough). As others have said if you persist and take it apart to descale that way ideal, otherwise it will probably require multiple rounds of descaling, and then a descaling cycle every month if you live in a hard water area. The Sage machines in general are very user friendly and the user guides are worth looking up as they get you to making serviceable espresso / milk drinks without too much hassle.
Finally, do you have a grinder? If not I’ve got some pressurised 54mm baskets that I don’t use for my machine so if they would be of use (they’re what you need to use for pre-ground coffee in espresso machines) I’d be very happy to pop them in the post for you.

Temp v sour shots - light roasts are less soluble so all else being equal light roasted coffees will give up less of their sugary compounds than darker roasts.

Increasing brew temperature is one way to achieve more extraction, so is grinding finer, reducing dose, increasing contact time by grinding finer for the same dose or reducing pump pressure.

Basically if it’s convenient to increase brew temp then do so but you can increase extraction by several methods.

If you’re struggling to get sweetness from most of your shots then it’s probably worth looking for a roaster that goes a bit fuller on the roast colour. The baby gets thrown out with the bath water quite regularly in pursuit of preserving flavour purity in espresso. It’s meant to be enjoyable not a challenge.

Thank you, that's a very kind offer and I may take you up on it if I get it to stage where I think it may work as I don't have a grinder at the moment. Life has got in the way so not managed to make much progress. I ran it after cleaning the shower screen,etc. and it makes all the right noises but doesn't emit water at all, I think something is probably loose or broken inside and water is seeping, hence the massive amounts of rust in the screws at the base.

Will update if/when I hopefully make progress!

Finally got my Timemore 078s tracking details. How are people getting on with there's?

Got this coffee from Paradox Coffee at the weekend as wanted to try something different for espresso. It slaps and so I can only assume the roasters is great. Obadiah based up in Edinburgh

Also think Paradox is probably up there as best coffee in London

Very very happy with mine. Espresso and filter is a big leap from the Niche.

I did season it with 4kg of dark roast Italian beans (£25 from Amazon) which has made a difference - the espresso was a bit inconsistent before that.

Definitely feels like I'm getting more out of each coffee, which is nice considering how much we all spend on beans these days.

Wow, interesting to hear it’s a noticeable improvement on the niche. How much did you pay? Looks like it’s £600 to buy now.

so is grinding finer, reducing dose, increasing contact time by grinding finer for the same dose or reducing pump pressure.

Hmm, thanks. I've always found this quite a difficult process. The pump pressure is fixed as well as temperature so I'm only working with dose and grind. And I feel like I'm generally skirting between clogging the machine and producing some over-extracted sludge, or something sour. At the middle point between the two with a 30s extraction it also seems to be sour.

Will have to experiment with a dark roast and see what happens

Doesn’t need to be a dark roast, just dark-er.

Given that you only have grind and dose to play with, aim for a 40 or 45 second shot. I find that’s a way to balance acidic coffee whilst still getting some body and crema.

If you get darker coffee and find it a bit roasty tasting then you want to do the opposite and under-extract the coffee. Go for the biggest dose you can squeeze in and aim for a 25 second shot.

£400 early bird Kickstarter

Boom. Sounds like a mega deal (fortune favours the bold and all that).

also very happy with mine - I have only seasoned with 500g of beans so far and its already noticeably better than the Super Jolly I had before.

Haven't tried using it wide open for filter yet as I have a Comandante for that.

Overall seems quite well built

In the market for an entry level electric burr grinder. Looking at Wilfa Svert Aroma, Sage Dose Control Pro - anything else to consider? Mainly for pour over and the odd espresso (using a basic domestic machine).

For what it’s worth you can basically get new sage stuff for free atm between the current discounts on offer in combination with their cash back offer if you buy beans through their subscription service.

Hi, new to the thread.

I drink quite a bit of coffee, but wouldn't go as far as saying I'm an aficionado. I got a Gaggia Viva Delux for Christmas a couple years ago, which I appreciate is at the lower end of machines, but also use a V60 dripper. For the last year or so, i've been using Pact to get pre-ground coffee. What are people's thoughts on Pact?

Bearing in mind the struggle i have in the mornings just making a coffee as it is (2 young kids), would i get much improvement from switching to beans and grinding myself?

The short answer is yes there would be an improvement, but rather than just ending it there, I think it's better to try and qualify how you would perceive an improvement?

Do you want to make coffee more quickly, more easily, do you want it to taste better? Do you prefer the Gaggia brewed coffee or the V60?

Yes, you'll get an improvement with grinding the coffee but I'd also recommend switching the v60 for a clever dripper. I also have 2 young kids (2 and 3 year-olds) and v60s were becoming a pain in the morning with 2 toddlers causing carnage. You can just throw everything in the clever dripper and forget about, completely kid proof!

A filter machine on a timer would improve your mornings no end, pre ground or not.