# Issues with bitter coffee with a bean to cup



## hannakournikova

Hi folks, glad i stumbled upon this forum, wealth of knowledge is super.

I own a DeLonghi ESAM5500 bean to cup machine, which i have been using successfully for the past 5 or so months.

A few week ago i noticed the taste go downhill. When i say downhill, it was bitter to taste and almost tasted burnt.

So i turned the temp on the unit to medium.

we have always used a supermarket or ikea (yes i know) bean.

Local coffee shop has opened up so we got chatting to the owner and after a few coffees she gave us a bag of beans that had been roasted 5-6 weeks. she didnt want to sell them so gave them free - bonus.

This tasted the same as any other we have used to date but a little tangier.

fast forward to today. had a up this morning with no milk - not good.

Have gave the machine a clean, descaled, flushed, adjusted the grind and amount of water passed through.

No joy.

I miss nice coffee!

any ideas?


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## froggystyle

5-6 weeks roasted beans is not ideal, the same kind of beans your gonna get from Ikea or any supermarket.

First thing i would suggest is buying some freshly roasted beans, you say you know a raster, who is it?

Try some freshly roasted beans from them first, then see how it tastes!


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## froggystyle

Oh yeah, if you do get freshly roasted beans, let them settle for a few days, and you may need to tweak the grind on your machine....


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## hannakournikova

i have some beans that were roasted 2-3 weeks ago. Just put them in...

after 3 cups i cant see a significant change.

its strange as the beans we were using were ok, i could easily drink, but now its so bitter its not pleasent to do so.

Unfortunately with the BTC there isnt a great deal of personalisation.


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## froggystyle

Ok, you need to go back to basics, first port of call is beans, get fresh, and i mean freshly roasted in the last 7 days.

If still not right then your next step is grind, if your going from old beans to fresh beans then your gonna need to change the grind on the machine.

Then comes water temp, you need to be about the 95c mark at the group head.

I dont know much about the machine, but maybe some else on here has one?


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## Mrboots2u

Bitter equals over extracted

Or too high a temp but its a b2cup? So u can't do much with that.

Beans 3 weeks past roast should still be OK stored correctly.

Try the beans you have but coarsen the grind a little on the b2c machine.

Are you following the manuals cleaning instructions?/


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## flibble

Don't know if this adds anything, but it does sound like either temperature or a need for cleaning. When I had a delonghi (not bean to cup) the showerscreen would get really filthy and had to be taken off and scrubbed regularly.

Have you got any means of measuring temperature on it?


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## hannakournikova

folks thats for the thoughts.

I cleaned the machine thoroughly after i posted yesterday as i had drawn a blank.

As far as cleaning goes on these things:

Descale

soak the brew unit in warm water and rinse

have asked the mrs what she thinks of the coffee...... "yea its nice"

need to get a thermometer, have turned the temp to mediume

Edit - cleaning for brew unit / infuser -






and grind setting at 3


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## Glenn

Try turning the heat up again with the new beans

Sounds like more of a deep clean is required.


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## espressotechno

With B2C machines it's essential to clean them regularly, using the "clean" function WITH a cleaning tablet (eg Pulycaff).

Then, if in doubt, I always advise a client " clean it again ! "

Most B2C machines, being made primarily for the Continental market, also need to have the brew temperature set to "high" to perform wellfor the UK.


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## hannakournikova

Glenn said:


> Try turning the heat up again with the new beans
> 
> Sounds like more of a deep clean is required.


Glenn there doesn't seem to be any more methods for cleaning. Descale solution has been ran through it and infuser/brew unit cleaned thoroughly.

Not a great deal of support for delonghi online



espressotechno said:


> With B2C machines it's essential to clean them regularly, using the "clean" function WITH a cleaning tablet (eg Pulycaff).
> 
> Then, if in doubt, I always advise a client " clean it again ! "
> 
> Most B2C machines, being made primarily for the Continental market, also need to have the brew temperature set to "high" to perform wellfor the UK.


As said above techno. This model doesn't seem to have a clean button.

Will try turning temp up again when I get some new beans


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## Rjones

Hey bud,

any resolution on this issue?

our machine (3 years old and regularly cleaned with descaled when prompted) changed tone as grinding last week, not despite any grind or setting we now have bitter coffee.

We're about to send it off for repair.

Cheers

Ross


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## Rapid

This is a candidate for best resurrection ever thread 😃

There's a common fault in some of the delonghi B2C's where a plastic component breaks when grinding. Have you inspected your machine so random small pieces of plastic?


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## Adele

Did you solve the problem? My machine is doing the same, coffee tastes awful!


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