# Getting the best out of my Dualit



## Mr Guy Ho (Sep 7, 2011)

Hello everyone,

My name is Guy, and I've been reading the site with interest, trying to glean what I can, thinking about how I can make better coffee at home. I have a Dualit Espressivo and a Hario hand grinder, and lately I've been buying beans from Nude Espresso.

While I enjoy what I've been making for the last couple of years, I'd like to know how I could get closer to the really rich, syrupy espresso that I've come to love from places like Nude, and Prufrock, with the equipment that I have. I appreciate the fact that I have no training, and that my machine is comparatively cheap, but I'm wondering if anyone else has a similar set-up, and if so, how they use it to get what they want.

Thanks,

Guy


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi Guy. Can you guide us through how you make your espresso and then we can chip in with suggestions?


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

Hi Guy, I spent a good while using a delonghi treviso (£40 machine) and have managed to get a reasonable espresso out of it a few times.

First thing I would say, check whether your basket is pressurised. If it is, it will probably have one hole for the espresso to exit from where you put the ground coffee in, and if it isn't there should be lots of small holes. If it's the one hole, you should investigate getting a proper unpressurised basket, as it's pretty much impossible to get a truly good espresso from the pressurised ones.

If you have a proper basket, fresh beans and a hand grinder you're almost there! Really you also need a tamper. Measure the diameter of the basket and buy one that fits snug. From there, I'd be tempted to grind around 15g at a very fine grind and tamp with a few kilos of pressure. Don't worry about choking the machine, if you do, turn it off, give it 5 minutes or so then slowly take the portafilter out. I found that with the delonghi and its little pump, it would go very quiet and sound like it was choked, only for drips of thick espresso to start coming out a few seconds later. If you choke it, adjust your hario 1-2 clicks coarser and try again. Once you're in the ballpark of 40-60ml in 25 seconds ish, you can start adjusting the variables, but aim for that for starters.


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## Mr Guy Ho (Sep 7, 2011)

The basket has one small hole in it, and I've noticed that gets blocked occasionally, so I'm pretty careful to keep it clear. I de-scaled the machine again yesterday. There's nothing quite like opening the basket and having wet coffee explode all over the shop. I'll investigate finding a basket that's not pressurised.

I was reading about tampers the other day, and I was thinking that it was probably a small thing in comparison to the machine that I'm working with, in the sense that it might make more sense to save up for a better second-hand machine one day, rather that blow £15 on a tamper, when the limits are probably more likely caused by the machine. I'll definitely investigate though, as I think I now have an idea of how important tamping is.

As far as the process I use, I tend to switch the machine on as far in advance as I can to let it get good and warm; I use around 1 and 2/3 scoops of beans, grind them as fine as I can with the Hario, and as fine as I can without choking the machine; I've tried making smaller and larger amounts of coffee, without measuring it, and I've also tried timing, to see what works best. At the moment I have a pretty flexible approach I guess, and it would help to time and measure to see what happens when I experiment.

Thanks folks.


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

The blow back when you realise the PF is down to pressure. I've had this in my old delonghi and usually it blows out dry coffee. It's because you are grinding too fine and/or tamping too hard. With a pressurised filter you don't have much play in it and I believe the dualit is around 52mm PF similar to the delonghi. Therefore stick with the crappy plastic tamper that comes with it, don't waste the money.

I am actually tempted to get a pressurised basket for my classic. My better half doesn't have the same OCD most of us share with her espresso and is put off by the hassle in getting it spot on, a pressurised filter would be spot on for her. If anyone has a pressurised basked for a classic that they are willing to give up for cost of postage, please let me know


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

Attached is a video that I made on my delonghi (which has an unpressurised basket). It isn't perfect, but considering I was really inexperienced and was using the plastic tamper that doesn't fit it seemed ok.






If you have a pressurised basket, you need to be careful with how fine you're grinding and if you're tamping. The idea is that having a small hole will build up the pressure in the basket to 9 bar or so without using the coffee to do it. If you grind fine and tamp, you're very quickly getting above 9-10 bar, which will choke it with the little pump these guys have.


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## Mr Guy Ho (Sep 7, 2011)

I just called Happy Donkey; it looks as if it's going to be next to impossible to get a replacement basket for the portafilter, given the number of tiny variables, so I'm going to give Dualit a shout to see if they have anything that I could use in place of the pressurised basket.


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## Mr Guy Ho (Sep 7, 2011)

Dualit don't appear to have anything that would serve as an unpressurised basket. Instead I solved the problem by getting a new job and celebrating by buying a Gaggia Classic. Wahey!


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

Awesome news, congrats on the new job! The classic is a lovely machine, however you may still need to buy a replacement basket as I believe the newer ones come with a pressurised basket. Happy donkey do an unpressurised one for a few pounds though, plus a 58mm basket is easy to find a tamper for. Cream supplies do a 58mm motta tamper for around £15 iirc.


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

Mr Guy Ho said:


> Dualit don't appear to have anything that would serve as an unpressurised basket. Instead I solved the problem by getting a new job and celebrating by buying a Gaggia Classic. Wahey!


 Nice! Best way round it in my opinion... I'm a little bit in love with my classic!


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## Mr Guy Ho (Sep 7, 2011)

Ok, probably gone overboard given the fact that I'm now going to be working full-time, but still for charity, so I've ordered a couple of baskets, a blank for backflushing, more Puly powder, a brush, a tamper, and some domfilters. It feels like it used to feel when I got into cycling, and used to geek out over accessories with that! Yow!


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## Dunbrewing (Jan 3, 2012)

Dualit Tamp size is around 50,5mm, I purchaced a 52mm as advised by Dualit, They didnt know the exact size,

so i ran the tamp into my local Engineering company to mill it down to the correct size.


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## wastedhours (Jan 2, 2012)

I just got my Espressivo for Xmas, and am pretty impressed as I've just stepped up from a Treviso myself. Much easier to choke the machine on finer grinds, as I found on the Treviso it would still flow on the finest grinds and the pressure in the basket would drop after 30 seconds and slowly twisting the portafilter would ensure it wouldn't explode, and the puck could be knocked out.

The Espressivo is a different beast, after pulling a shot and frothing milk, there's still a layer of water on top of the puck and it doesn't knock out - just tamping too much or do I need to whack the grinder back even more?

I'm really rather impressed with it though, nice thick crema as I like it, slightly cooler end drink than the DeLonghi, but a much nicer mouth feel and it certainly feels like a good step up. Once I get more consistent results I might whack some videos up as there don't seem to be many about it on YouTube.


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## wastedhours (Jan 2, 2012)

Also, has anyone found an unpressurised basket for the Espressivo?


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

From what I understood, the espressivo only generates the required amount of pressure for brewing espresso by use of the pressurised basket.

A standard basket wouldn't have sufficient pressure applied to it to properly brew espresso.

I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll find a standard basket.

One of the advantages of a cheap or even second hand Gaggia is that the majority of the baskets are 58mm which means a wide variety of aftermarket accessories are available to you.

I'm not really sure tamping matters too much on a pressurised basket but you may want to play around with how much coffee you dose into the basket.


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## Outlaw333 (Dec 13, 2011)

You know what guy's I have done the impossible and after seriously extensive research, reading up on other forums, reading up on other manufacturers equivelent machines, talking to the girth of saturn, I have proven the world wrong and found an unpressurized basket for this exact machine.(I only went to the hasstle as I had the use of one of these for a while and actually came to the conclusion that (other than the Pressurised basket and lack of OPV(being the biggest issue with it) It is probably the best sub-£200 thermoblock machine ever!) you do however really have to develop some cheats and tricks with it to get it to perform. For instance I was given permission to drill out the pressurizing secondary wall of the basket with a 12mm hole-saw which while not perfect, it was infinately better. With it being a thermoblock aswell you do have to master quite a method for both brewing and steaming, + ignore any claims that it is ready to use in 40secs or something, yes the block will be ready but none of its componants will be and overall temp stability will be terrible, switch on at least 20mins before use and when it is ready, the portafilter will be nice and hot as an indicator. I found though to my surprize, the dualit, for a 'Block' machine has really impressive steam power! providing the right technique is adopted.

Anybody who wants some tips on getting the best out of this machine just let me know.

Anyhoooo. Back on point, this is a link for the basket, I know it doesn't say 'for dualit' but I have don't alot of research and it will be a perfect match.

http://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/Breville-Non-Pressurized-Basket-Upgrade-p/scg10301-60.htm#ReviewHeader


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## wastedhours (Jan 2, 2012)

You are a star. Seeing that, I remembered that Dualit machines are Breville ones rebranded (or vice versa) - just the ticket. Next pay day and hopefully I can get it.

Yeah, I had a DeLonghi Treviso before this, so always leave it on for a good 30 minutes before use (not to mention it takes that long before the cup warmer begins to take effect), no matter what the booklet might say. I think the machine is a great little performer, but considering my Treviso had an unpressurised basket, I'm used to doing things that way and having that control (as well as having a dry puck after pulling the shot so it can be knocked out).

I knew there must be something like this out there!

Edit: obviously it's out of stock at the minute, but there is/was supply, which is great.


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## Outlaw333 (Dec 13, 2011)

I have e-mailed Kat who said they are currently being revised/developed to make them even better, she can't be totally sure when they will be back in stock but not too long. Also they have a funny international policy which currently means that they aren't available to international customers, not to worry though as she told me that as soon as they come back into stock they will be being added to that policy.


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## wastedhours (Jan 2, 2012)

Awesome - they do look to be in-stock on the Breville USA site, but you can only order them in the USA. Might drop them an email and see.


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## Outlaw333 (Dec 13, 2011)

Oh, one more thing,

If you really wanted to pimp your Dualit I found this on my cyber travels aswell

http://www.brevilleusa.com/portafilter-bes820xl.html

This would replace to flimsy thing that Dualit provide

Then if you really really wanted to pimp it, when you have the decent basket, you could either do it yourself if you are savy or get somebody who is handy with a hole-saw to cut out the bottom of the breville PF and make it naked.


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## Outlaw333 (Dec 13, 2011)

wastedhours said:


> Awesome - they do look to be in-stock on the Breville USA site, but you can only order them in the USA. Might drop them an email and see.


I checked that one out for you already, the one breville offers is for the next machine up and is the wrong shape, being more of a traditional shaped basket, the rim wouldn't lock in to the group gasket, Seattle coffee gear are the only ones on the planet who do the right one, by actually developing and manufacturing it themselves.


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## wastedhours (Jan 2, 2012)

Ok, thanks a lot! Will probably be a while until I can buy anyway, so don't mind waiting until they become available again (would like to order from SCG anyway, mainly due to their awesome videos).


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## Outlaw333 (Dec 13, 2011)

Yeah, I love Kat and Gail too! I follow them religiously, to the point where they have become like family! I wonder if we are ever going to get a revealing of Kat, or will she just continue to be the Stig of the coffee world?!


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## Brad (Mar 25, 2012)

Hi everyone, I'm brand new to the forum, and pretty new to espresso making, so hello!

I have Dualit "Coffee System" which I understand to be the Espressivo in a new casing, and I'm actually very happy with my initial results, but it's certainly a steep learning curve!

I've taken a flier on a Krups 51mm non-pressurized filter, to see if that can work, and like a previous poster, I'm not too keen on the slightly flimsy filter holder/handle on the machine, and would like to upgrade that too.

The $90 Breville one linked is a bit pricey (and is in America), and when in John Lewis, I found that the DeLonghi EC820/850 holder fits into the Dualit, That one seems a much more solid bit of kit and is available in the UK as a spare part. Obviously I haven't been able to run the machine with the other holder in it, so does anyone know if it will seal and work ok in the Dualit, and if so it it worth the upgrade (it seems to be about £27 for the part)?

Very many thanks,

Brad


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## ocalld (Jan 28, 2013)

Outlaw333 said:


> You know what guy's I have done the impossible and after seriously extensive research, reading up on other forums, reading up on other manufacturers equivelent machines, talking to the girth of saturn, I have proven the world wrong and found an unpressurized basket for this exact machine.(I only went to the hasstle as I had the use of one of these for a while and actually came to the conclusion that (other than the Pressurised basket and lack of OPV(being the biggest issue with it) It is probably the best sub-£200 thermoblock machine ever!) you do however really have to develop some cheats and tricks with it to get it to perform. For instance I was given permission to drill out the pressurizing secondary wall of the basket with a 12mm hole-saw which while not perfect, it was infinately better. With it being a thermoblock aswell you do have to master quite a method for both brewing and steaming, + ignore any claims that it is ready to use in 40secs or something, yes the block will be ready but none of its componants will be and overall temp stability will be terrible, switch on at least 20mins before use and when it is ready, the portafilter will be nice and hot as an indicator. I found though to my surprize, the dualit, for a 'Block' machine has really impressive steam power! providing the right technique is adopted.
> 
> Anybody who wants some tips on getting the best out of this machine just let me know.
> 
> ...


A bit late to this thread but....

If you look on their web site you'll see that the breville also fits DeLonghi models and it names the models.

you can buy DeLonghi parts in GB

http://tinyurl.com/aerfsjq

On the model it fits tab, if you input one of the models quoted in the seatlecoffeegear.com link (i.e. BAR32 ) you'll find this fits.

At £2.99, it's worth a try.


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

Jumping in on this thread as I've got an Espressivo as well. Has anyone found any more info in changing the pressurised portafilter? We have a big John Lewis just opened recently near us so might be worth having a look to see if they have any compatible baskets etc. - at least for reference anyway.

Coming from an engineering family I'm pretty sure we might have a few hole saws knocking around (though I guess I'd need to remove the central mandrill and drill lol)


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