# Delonghi ESAM bean to cup(4200)



## j0nathon (Jun 26, 2016)

Hi, hoping somebody here may have a similar machine to this, although I know from a previous post that these Bean to Cup machines are not common here. I have an ESAM 4200 but I imagine many of the ESAM range are similar.

I am simply struggling to get it setup to make remotely acceptable espresso. When I bought the machine (June 2016) and used some Tesco beans, the shots were far too quick, and this improved with fresh beans from Rave. However, the taste is still off. Here are my settings:

Coffee Strength: Max.

Grinder Setting: 1 (Most fine setting)

Water: A tiny fraction above minimum

Cups (button): 2

This grinds about 12g of coffee (I have to guess based on the weight of beans I put in and what's left), and extracts in about 12seconds with 60ml of resulting espresso. The espresso tastes pretty bitter and isn't drinkable alone, but will be fine in a heavy milk drink. The beans are 15 days old from the printed roast date, and a dark roast.

If I use 1 cup button without adjusting the water, I get even less coffee ground, and extraction takes about 4-6s into about 20ml of espresso.

Am I totally missing something? One interesting point is the manual is full of tips on what to do if you only get a drip out the machine: with max strength and finest grind, I've never once made it just drip with any beans, including beans 4 days old. It makes me think perhaps the grinder isn't grinding fine enough at all.


----------



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

The volumes for weight and times sound way off from what would produce something drinkable? The Melitta Varianza BTC is way different from those figures and produces acceptable "espresso", or what they call espresso.


----------



## mmmatron (Jun 28, 2014)

I had one of these machines for a few years and never got a decent espresso out of it, even with good quality beans.

I tended to set the grind as fine as it would go, strength to max and set the water volume to max then manually stop the shot by pressing the 2 cup button again. You could check the chute from the grinder isn't blocked as mine was prone to doing. It also used to spray grounds everywhere so it needed a lot of cleaning. Suffice to say I don't miss it!


----------



## j0nathon (Jun 26, 2016)

mmmatron said:


> I had one of these machines for a few years and never got a decent espresso out of it, even with good quality beans.
> 
> I tended to set the grind as fine as it would go, strength to max and set the water volume to max then manually stop the shot by pressing the 2 cup button again. You could check the chute from the grinder isn't blocked as mine was prone to doing. It also used to spray grounds everywhere so it needed a lot of cleaning. Suffice to say I don't miss it!


I am also finding dry grounds all over the inside. As well as the occasional wet (and sometimes mouldy) grinds not where they should be.


----------



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

j0nathon said:


> I am also finding dry grounds all over the inside. As well as the occasional wet (and sometimes mouldy) grinds not where they should be.


Oh your going to love my video additions to the melitta varianza review when I finally publish them!


----------



## mmmatron (Jun 28, 2014)

j0nathon said:


> I am also finding dry grounds all over the inside. As well as the occasional wet (and sometimes mouldy) grinds not where they should be.


Yep, been there. It's a ridiculously difficult machine to keep clean.


----------



## j0nathon (Jun 26, 2016)

Now this to me is bizarre:

Since June, I've had the grinder setting on 1, Max strength and never had this "drip drip drip" I read about. I've used Tesco Beans, stale Rave beans, and Fresh rave beans at all points of freshness from a few days after receiving up until the last bean being used. All dark roasts.

I ran out of beans yesterday so I got some "Union Revelation" from Waitrose (Roasted 21st August). The first two espressos from those beans the same tiny extraction time. Today's extraction, no changes to any settings = drip, drip drip such the extraction took over 35s (before I stopped it manually).

I don't understand why the first two were any different to the third. I had cleared the hopper of all the old Rave beans by running a 2 cup and letting the grinder grind everything up until it was empty so all 3 espressos were 100% the Union beans, same water, same settings!

And the Espresso is far more drinkable on this 3rd cup - all bitterness gone.

Edit: 4th cup of same beans is back to somewhere in the middle. I might contact Amazon this thing just seems faulty to me.


----------



## j0nathon (Jun 26, 2016)

I think this is due to the design of the hopper. If you pile the beans up towards the front right of the hopper, it will grind more and finer than if they're more spread! I realised this my mistake, but every time I do this I get the drip drip drip (which I can now correct by adjusting the grinder).

I guess the expectation is you fill the hopper to the brim with beans; as it's not airtight I don't do this, I keep my beans in an airtight jar and usually pour sufficient in for that day. Feel a bit stupid really.


----------



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

j0nathon said:


> I think this is due to the design of the hopper. If you pile the beans up towards the front right of the hopper, it will grind more and finer than if they're more spread! I realised this my mistake, but every time I do this I get the drip drip drip (which I can now correct by adjusting the grinder).
> 
> I guess the expectation is you fill the hopper to the brim with beans; as it's not airtight I don't do this, I keep my beans in an airtight jar and usually pour sufficient in for that day. Feel a bit stupid really.


It's actually because it doesn't portion the beans and then fully grind them out. Unfortunately even the most expensive machines can work like this. It was one of the things I liked so much about the Melitta Varianza, it portions the beans and grinds them out each shot, so the weight of beans in the hopper, or their position has no effect. If you select a strong/weak cup, it portions appropriately. The grinding out for each shot also prevents 20-25% stale grinds being in shots done later.

That little bean to cup does so many things well, especially when compared to expensive bigger brand names at almost twice the price.

P.S. Oh the little flap which closes of course doesn't make the hopper airtight, but compared to other bean to cups, it's much better sealed up.


----------

