Decided to start a little thread, documenting my journey and the vertical learning curve i seam to have been on. Like most, i got furloughed when covid kicked off and got bored so decided to get more into coffee. One thing after another with lots of reading on various forums, YouTube tutorials and what not,i bought a gaggia classic. [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/ATQnfMS.jpeg] Along with that i decided to get a 1zpresso for my grinding as i have a wilfa svart for all my pour overs etc. Well after wasting a good 500g of beans on the gaggia, i decided it wasn't for me, and promptly sold it. Decided on the sage duo temp pro which i was initially going to buy in the first place,quick look and £249 later john lewis delivered my shiney new machine [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/TWUem7I.jpeg] Now as much as i loved the 1zpresso, my shoulder didin't so, that got sold in favour of an eureka mignon from [@Black Cat Coffee](https://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/members/16888/) Next up the upgraditus got a hold of me as i wanted a fancy looking machine, and i got a bit of a dark horse off ebay A la macatec elba one, e61 grouphead. [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/Pg6PmPa.jpeg] I had long lusted over a dual boiler, mainly the lelit Elizabeth, with its pre infusion, quick heat up times it really is a fantastic machine, but id also noted the acs minima, another machine along the more traditional looks, and the looks along with the bigger boilers swayed it for me. [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/uxgb5uM.jpeg] So in the never ending revolving door of grinders with me, after having a eureak zenith 65, a niche and another mignon i saw a lightly used 2019 mazzer major on ebay, i added a Daniel wong doserless kit at the time, since gone to a funnel, even added ssp redspeed burrs [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/4P2ynGd.jpeg] I was going to used bottled water, either ashbeck or longhill, but then i spoke to a few in the know and did a bit of digging and settled on using ro water, remineralised with potassium bicarbonate, this will never scale the machine and makes for a tastey espresso to. After only having the minima for a short while a lever machine caught my eye, a 2014 londinium l1 - that was it i was in love, i sold the minima to fund the l1 and that was me set, the londinium moved home with me. [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/NF46adN.jpeg] i had a stunning set of handles turned by nick, they really sent the machine to another level, and i was happy in my own little coffee world, id been toying with med/lighter stuff but always found then too bright, to acidic to my taste, then one day the pressure relief valve blew on the l1, scared me to death, and that set about a refurb of the machine, but id lost all confidence, and decided now we had a bit of equity, that i would buy my first propper new machine, i lusted over the top spec londiniums but at £3500 ish they were just too much. the next machine came from bella barista, a crem one profiler, very capable machine, but arrived faulty, so had to go back, i have an amazing wife who said just get the machine you want, so i did, an lr24 stunner it was too, but sadly again came with issues and i returned the machine, :( after a little search i settled upon the lelit bianca- id always fancied a vesuvius profilong machine, but they too were expensive, so the lelit was the machine of choice, (2months later the ves dropped in price!!) [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/xOGfGUS.jpeg] and there a sat, happy as a pig in mud, the lelit a fabulos machine, quiet rotary pump, flow control, great heat stability, tbh it was almost boring as it just did its job, i still longed for another lever machine, once there in your blood they stick, they just look amazing. and what should pop up but an acs leva…a machine id been quite skeptical about, any lever seems to be quite polarising, just seems to be that way. id heard rumors read stuff saying how the machine was a miss match of parts, no good etc. but they still looked amazing, id followed the machine for a while and at the price it came up, prompted by a life even i thought stuff it! we're here once, get it! and that leads me to now. [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/ErMqxfw.jpeg] its been an up and down journey, ive jumped on fads bought stuff that i totally didnt need, learnt less is definately more, when it comes to coffee, ive noticed that each step ive taken up the ladder, ive inproved my coffee, each machine has been better than the last, starting would i imagined id of spent so much for a coffee - hell no, am i glad i did - yes jake

@"Cuprajake"#p12617 That’s quite a quite a journey Jake! It’s amazing how much you persevered. A classic example for some one to learn and understand what it takes to keep the passion for coffee alive. The best part is your wife firmly supporting so that you get what you desire. Enjoy making coffee with Evo. She offers plenty of possibilities to keep you busy. Hope she stays with you for ever!

Unlike Jake, we mostly stayed pour overs - mainly the Indian filter for a good part of our life with occasional £100-£150 machines. When the last machine died on us in late 2020, we kept moving the goal post from Gaggia to Minima to Evo. The 150 quids to £2500 is indeed a massive upgrade. Sure, she is our end game machine.

Jake’s corner was great reading during the pandemic

Fabulous post @"Cuprajake"#144 most interesting. It's terrific to have that pictorial guide to your journey. Thanks for taking the time to share.

@"Cuprajake"#p12617 Great post, shows the journey for many of us. Some go there in one big jump, others take the longer road, which is probably more fun..

id of saved a small fortune going big first, but i dont think id of learnt or appreciated the subtle changes. ive had some fabulous products half not pictured haha

So with a great machine comes great responsibility 🤣 i mean gadgets and we all love new stuff True to form ive ordered a funnel, doesn't fit, ive ordered a ims basket, and a normcore 58.5mm push tamper, with a plan to machine it down to fit the basket, for a mrs safe tamp🤣 Few internal pic [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/8Yb02jB.jpeg] Then an arty one [upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/E2J62vo.jpeg]

Great journey to finally end up where you are today. Best way to learn what you do a don’t like regarding machines and your coffee.

Really enjoyed reading about the journey! That’s quite a few machines! Some very nice looking machines too! I love the turned handles on the first lever machine.

nick didnt, they were a very hard thing to make, had to design and make special mandrels due to the way the londinium handles are made,

My Coffee Journey

Cuprajake

Had family round this weekend, Evo performed flawlessly

Made around 12-15 drinks through the day, usually in groups of 3 drinks.

DavecUK

Cuprajake At the exhibition an Evo, or 1 group Vostok (essentially the same thing) can often make 100+ coffees in a day…without breaking a sweat. The brew boiler has reheated the water sufficiently faster than you can really pull a shot and prep the next one ready to go..

Cuprajake

So had a little time to mess this morning, and play with the refractometer

I repeat the same process every time Inc calibration but I’m well aware this is a guide

I use this site for the calculations

https://www.orea.uk/coffee-extraction-calculator

This is the result for the black cat chocolate point

And this is the result for the dog and hat supplied milk and beans- beans

Ims comp basket,

It’s nice to know I’m there or there abouts, but more importantly they taste nice

I plan tonight if I get chance to change a shot by going longer in the infusion, so I’ll go a step finer to get a 10s infusion and see what results if any that has in the cup.

pipedreams86

Cuprajake I probably missed it but what refractometer do you use?

Cuprajake

Just a cheap one

pipedreams86

Cuprajake nice! Are you enjoying the process with the refractometer? I have one on it’s way, haven’t tried them before

tompoland

They looks like quite impressive results @Cuprajake and I am slowly coming around to the benefits of using a refractometer. The main point that swayed me was the idea not seeing the refractometer as an isolated tool but rather to use if as means to objectively validate taste preferences and to make improve the capacity for repeatability/consistency.

Will you go so far as to keep a log of variables and tasting notes?

Cuprajake

tompoland

When I get a new bean I log them for dial-in, but after that I don’t write much

It’s a good tool to help trouble shoot, but it’s not something I want to rely on as its a bit of a faff.

But if I had a dodgy roast it would help for sure, so far the bags I’ve had from dog and hat have hit the roasting notes in term of flavours

DenisS

The machine is really capable, much above others in terms of extraction.

This is gardelli washed hard beans with niche.

You can see the numbers in the pics: 17.1g in/ 43.5 g out with 9.2 tds

23.4% extraction in a normal 25 sec shot, no papers or such. On the Decent I had even with vst I would either need a bloom or something to extract this much. A 9 bar shot would never extract this much on it.

Amberale

DenisS

What machine are you using now Denis?
I thought you sold your EVO.

Cuprajake

Made a tighter shot this morning, one notch finer,

Shot has gone from around 25s to 50 odd,

17g in 50g out so little longer than I’d of liked, but pulled around the 7 bar again.

Letting it cool and will check tonight

mobius

Cuprajake This is really interesting to read, as I’ve been thinking about getting one purely to help troubleshoot all my problems (although I see a machine upgrade in my near future as well - Bambino is becoming very frustrating in a few ways) and to double-check what I think I’m tasting regarding extraction being over/under.

The shot time doubling on one-notch finer is something I’ve seen quite a bit with anything ‘specialty’. My Vario+ is usually fairly consistent (from what I can tell) but some beans really seem to ‘test’ the limits. I do intend to clean/calibrate it soon, to check nothing is amiss.

Really enjoying reading this thread @Cuprajake

Cuprajake

Amberale

hes a filter man now, he actually roasts and sells fancy beans :)

Cuprajake

So got home and calibrated the refractometer.

This shot was a longer shot, same 17g in, 51.5g out 50s shot.

This for me is something I’d drink but you get a really over extracted taste.

Results

This is why I like quicker shots on the Evo esp

I can only imagine what the billet baskets used properly on the Evo would extract🤯

Doesn anyone know the cut off of % you can extract??

LMSC

Cuprajake Doesn anyone know the cut off of % you can extract??

No offence to many knowledgeable members, @MWJB IMHO! :-)

Cuprajake

And this is the Tate coffee

mobius

Cuprajake The crema on that ! I don’t think I’ve ever had that much crema on a pour - I’m obviously doing something wrong !

Petre

mobius try with some beans roasted the day before. spoiler alert, you won’t like the taste.

DavecUK

If I can’t stand on my crema and have it feel like a layer of memory foam, I know I’m doing something wrong.

Cuprajake

yeah, im not using it to often, but i have a history with marine fish and coral keeping so testing is second nature to me

Bagpu55

Cuprajake Now thats a hobby and a half. Espresso is a walk in the park compared to the maintenance of a reef tank.

mobius

Petre I realise that the CO2 before off-gassed will generate a lot more crema, but I presumed that most people here are drinking beans that are rested ?

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