• Beans

  • Lack of crema, a problem?

Wasn’t limescale with my machine, we have soft water here, it was a small jet (jicleur) that was blocked.

I bought beans from a few different roasters at the time and all of the beans were poor through my machine, one of the roasters actually sent me free beans after I contacted him thinking it was his beans that were off but of course it wasn’t.

https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/u/Twotone2

      Twotone2 but you did a descale right, didn’t see the mention of gicleur in the thread but i was skimming so I might have missed it.

      @skylark with the note that your Elizabeth is using integrated group head and it’s different from E61, it is still a good idea to measure how much water you get out of it in 60 seconds.

      also if you have a instant read thermometer, the water that is out of the group head should be at least 80*C

          skylark Give C C a ring and speak to Richard, explain what is happening and ask his advice .

            delta76 also if you have a instant read thermometer, the water that is out of the group head should be at least 80*C

            Measured the water coming out of the Elizabeth group with a k-type temperature probe available with a multimeter and a pre-heated polystyrene cup: I got 87C. I didn’t repeat the test or anything like that. But thought I’d share it. Machine target temp was set at 93C and has been idling for a good half hour.

                MediumRoastSteam Interesting. So maybe a quick flush, which on my machine seems to add a few degrees until its again stabilises at 93c, should be a regular occurrence. What i did notice was that any second shot pulled a couple of minutes after the first takes slightly longer to develop which i’m attributing to the drop in steam pressure affecting preinfusion pressure. So, lacking around half a bar of steam pressure compared to the first shot. Make sense?

                    skylark I have no idea. I just take as it comes to be honest. These machines, grinders and the human behind them are not highly precision devices. There’s a lot going on.

                    I used to have an E61 and he second shot was always quicker than the first one. Go figure.

                    My advice to you is, unless you are unhappy with your machine, take the time to get to know it and enjoy it. Key in all the settings from DavecUK, and then stop using any of the features: no pressure-infusion, no this and no that. Just a straight shot. Do that for a couple of weeks. Adjust the temperature up by 5 degrees, than lower by 5 degrees and see if there’s a difference. See what you like the best, adjust the temp accordingly.

                    Then go about and enable all the features, one at a time.

                    If you are unhappy with it overall, which at think you are, then just sell it and buy what you want.

                    As for the lack of crema, all I can say is that pretty much anything from CoffeeCompass will produce a lot of crema. They are roasted on the darker side too. If you are not getting the crema you want, then please share a video of you pulling that shot into a espresso glass or cup, and show what do you mean by the lack of it.

                    Good luck.

                    Edit: for reference:

                    From Foundry. You won’t get tons of crema with this coffee, as it’s a medium/light roast. That was 18.5g in, 45g out in 36 seconds. Temperature set at 94C, 10s bloom pre-infusion.

                      Adding more pictures to @MediumRoastSteam post, I have used beans medium roasted three months ago (commercial bag from the North of Italy, the best so far has been a month old beans) and the crema has never been different, thick and stable for a couple of hours if I forgot the coffee).
                      This shot was 18 g/ca. 35 ml in 40 sec inclusive of 10 sec pre-infusion at 2 bars.
                      My personal experience is that sometimes with a lesser machine (yours is top notch) one can get a shot lacking crema but I suspect with time you would get used to the quirks of your Elizabeth @skylark (pun intended 😉) and you will enjoy it.

                      Current setup: ACS Vesuvius, Nuova Simonelli Mythos One. Past experience, Nuova Simonelli Apia 1 gr., San Remo Capri 1 gr., Bezzera BZ 35e, Fracino Heavenly. Anfim Super Lusso.

                      Contact me at: john_yossarian11@yahoo.com

                      I’ve used beans roasted six months ago and still got crema….how does the coffee taste?

                        Rob1 The coffee tastes good. Interestingly I have not experienced poor crema irrespective of the age of coffee beans. I believe this is down to a great extent to the the grind and temperature, but I will stand corrected if wrong.

                        Current setup: ACS Vesuvius, Nuova Simonelli Mythos One. Past experience, Nuova Simonelli Apia 1 gr., San Remo Capri 1 gr., Bezzera BZ 35e, Fracino Heavenly. Anfim Super Lusso.

                        Contact me at: john_yossarian11@yahoo.com

                          This one, decaf from Foundry. Has been in the freezer vac packed, individual dose. 1 month old, and it’s excellent. (I’m not known for praising decaf coffee either!)

                          18g in, 40g out in 40 seconds, including 10s bloom pre-infusion. Ground on the Niche Zero.

                          Did you ever film a vid?

                          Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                            Cuprajake - me? No. Not for this. I’m just posting it here for reference. To be honest it was an afterthought, and thought it would be useful for the OP to compare with his shots.

                              Waiting for new beans from CC. Giving them a second chance. Just going to use them when I get them and not ‘rest’ at all. Should see good crema immediately if the info required roasting dates can be trusted.

                                12 days later