# All beans starting to taste the same



## Aamz23 (Aug 20, 2018)

I have a sage barista express ive had it for longer than a year now. Lately it seems like any coffee I but and make is starting to taste the same. Have been using different beans from different roasters, uses after 7 days from roast date and then put in coffee gator canister. If i bulk buy Ill normally put it in an airtight container and in a freezer. Then open for use.

Im measuring 18g of coffee, the extraction seems to be fine, making milk based drinks mainly. Grinder setting set on 6/7. Timing seems to be around 30-40secs depending. What am i missing? I used to get great flavours before from a few cups from roasters like northstar, foundry etc. I regularly descale the machine, I am from yorkshire so have been using tap water. I normally run 2 shots to warm up before i make a coffee. does the temp of the milk affect it that much? I normally stop when the pitcher gets too hot to touch.

a bit frustrated atm. Help needed


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

When was the last time you backflushed/cleaned the grouphead, dropped the shower screen for a scrub?


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## Aamz23 (Aug 20, 2018)

Backflush everytime the clean me light comes on. Never scrubbed the shower screen. I may try that do i have to unscrew?


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## Aamz23 (Aug 20, 2018)

Just cleaned the shower head however it wasn't that dirty.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Using a portafilter with spouts, does it need cleaning too?

Grinder might need cleaning.

Otherwise maybe your airtight container is failing to form a proper seal now.


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## Aamz23 (Aug 20, 2018)

Airtight container is brand new. How do you clean grinder? I vac inside the grinder to get fid of excess grounds. How do you clean spouts i just run it under tap, is there something im missing?


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## Aamz23 (Aug 20, 2018)

Just made a coffee and it took over a minute for extraction and yet tasted better haha.

how does the grinder number inside the grinder affect the grind setting on the outside? Im a littlE bit confused by this


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Aamz23 said:


> Just made a coffee and it took over a minute for extraction and yet tasted better haha.
> 
> how does the grinder number inside the grinder affect the grind setting on the outside? Im a littlE bit confused by this


 How often do you descale? What's your water hardness? I live in Leeds and descale every month as a minimum. 
The water round my end is very prone to scale and the performance of your machine such as heat pressure and flow will alter significantly with scale build up because of the systems sage use.

What I mean by this is thermocoil, thermojet type systems often rapidly heat water up on demand, with only a small amount of scale build up this is inhibited. The temp will drop (on my sage DTP it was around 10 degrees in the end!).

What you then end up with is under-extracted coffee, which will all taste the same.

I have a new sage barista pro and the difference is huge.

BTW before the duo temp pro went back to lakeland for low temp I did an uber descale using Kilrock (lactic acid) 
Temp at the spouts jumped from 80C to 90C. (previously I'd been descaling with citric acid which was clearly not doing the job)


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## Aamz23 (Aug 20, 2018)

TomHughes said:


> How often do you descale? What's your water hardness? I live in Leeds and descale every month as a minimum.
> The water round my end is very prone to scale and the performance of your machine such as heat pressure and flow will alter significantly with scale build up because of the systems sage use.
> 
> What I mean by this is thermocoil, thermojet type systems often rapidly heat water up on demand, with only a small amount of scale build up this is inhibited. The temp will drop (on my sage DTP it was around 10 degrees in the end!).
> ...


 Thanks ill have to give that a go when I have some time. I descale every few months, I probably will do it more frequently.


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Aamz23 said:


> Thanks ill have to give that a go when I have some time. I descale every few months, I probably will do it more frequently.


 where in Yorkshire do you live?


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## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

maybe it's the Yorkshire water ?


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## Aamz23 (Aug 20, 2018)

I live in Dewsbury. Might be the yorkshire water whats a cheap alternative to tap water


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## Aamz23 (Aug 20, 2018)

Could it be the sage filter inside the water tank?


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