# Espresso noob aggravated, stressed and in dire need of some coffee pouring advice!



## Eddzz!! (Jun 29, 2012)

Hey everyone! I was recently given a coffee machine as a gift for my 21st birthday. I'd always looked at getting myself one, but living life as a student meant that what I wanted was just a bit beyond my reach! The coffee machine I unwrapped was a Delonghi Icona EC310. Initial impression were good. It wasn't perhaps the coffee machine I would have chosen myself, but I wasn't about to be ungrateful so thought I'd give it a shot! Now, I've worked in cafes for all of my professional life, so am fairly adept at pouring a coffee. That said, I've always used large, heavy duty barrista machines so there was perhaps a little more room for error (I'm not claiming to be an expert!)

Now my main problems with my machine (and my own coffee making skills) are as follows. How fine should I be grinding my coffee? I bought myself a Krups electronic burr grinder at the weekend. It has coarseness levels and a measurement for the amount of coffee required. How much coffee should I use at any one time? I have two measurement pods, a single and a double. How much should I tamper the ground coffee? One significant problem I'm running into is that following the pouring of the coffee, inside the pod often remains a very wet lump of coffee. From what I'm used to, the coffee dregs should come out dry and compact in a rounded cake form and not fall to pieces when I dispose of them in the bin! Finally, what coffee beans would y'all recommend? I initially started with some Starbucks junk that was gifted along with the machine. Quite frankly, I've never liked Starbucks coffee and when I ground and poured these beans I found they tasted bitter and had a distinctly burnt taste about them. Since then, I invested in a tin of medium-roast Illy following some favourable reviews online. This produced a very nice creama, but to me tasted a little weak. Again, the coffee dregs were very loose and wet following the pouring, so I shall lay some of the blame on my technique.

Any help and advice would be much appreciated! I'm a big fan of coffee (when it's done properly!)

Cheers,

Eddy

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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

Espresso requires a very fine grind. Your machine most likely has a pressurised portafilter which renders it able to produce a shot of espresso through an ESE pod, or coffee ground too coarse. This'll be why it's so wet in the basket after the pour - the coarse grind and water just make a slurry. You can vary the amount of coffee you put it, I use 14-18g of coffee for a double espresso. There are lots of roasters you can order from online, my favourites are Has Bean and Square Mile, best to try as much as possible and see what you like.


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## Eddzz!! (Jun 29, 2012)

Earlepap said:


> Espresso requires a very fine grind. Your machine most likely has a pressurised portafilter which renders it able to produce a shot of espresso through an ESE pod, or coffee ground too coarse. This'll be why it's so wet in the basket after the pour - the coarse grind and water just make a slurry. You can vary the amount of coffee you put it, I use 14-18g of coffee for a double espresso. There are lots of roasters you can order from online, my favourites are Has Bean and Square Mile, best to try as much as possible and see what you like.


Hey there, thanks for your reply. What can I do to avoid the slurry then? I can't grind much finer than I already am doing! The machine itself uses 15barrs of pressure. Is this adequate to produce a good espresso? I wouldnt particularly like to return the machine as it seems to display potential. I just fear that I am using it incorrectly!

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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

Hey. It might be unavoidable. It's not a fault though, no need to return the machine. Do the shots taste any good? What sort of body do they have?


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## JohnnieWalker (Aug 24, 2011)

Unfortunately your situation is one that most 'espresso noobs' find themselves in.

I think there needs to be some better information on espresso machines in the shops, and maybe a brief guide as to what other equipment will be required, maybe even a grading system, such as entry level, enthusiast and professional for espresso machines.

Of course that will never happen, as shops don't want to lose sales and don't really care if someone spend £150 on a coffee machine & never makes a decent drink.

Machines that have pressurised baskets should be clearly labeled, but at the moment the opposite is true, manufacturers try and disguise the fact, and design the portafilter to look like a proper one.

If I'm honest, if i knew then what i know now, I probably would have spent my first entire budget on just a great grinder, and used that with my cafetiere and Bialetti Brikka, and then maybe looked at spending between £500-£1k in a better machine.

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## Eddzz!! (Jun 29, 2012)

Argh, damn. Well I shall just keep trying until I get some better results. Don't like wasting precious beans though! The shots generally taste quite good and I always get some form of creama swimming on top. The 'coffee slurry' is a nuisance though - it can sometimes he like a damn swimming pool in the basket following pouring!

The Illy coffee I may be a little disappointed with as I expected a fuller flavour, but perhaps I had my coffee to water ratio a little off. I shall try again and report back.

Eddy

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## CoffeeJohnny (Feb 28, 2011)

Would need to know what model krups you have, I'm guessing though it can't grind fine enough, unfortunately there's no getting round having to shell out a good chunk of money on an espresso grinder.

If your machine is producing acceptable shots for now, try using it to reacquaint yourself with espresso making, simply nothing will substitute the feel of a shop machine unless you shell out again a considerable amount of money on what are commonly referred to as 'prosumer' machines.

But for now I'd suggest practice all you can with what you have, identify the issues you have and attempt to rectify them. And then do what most of us do save and upgrade over time.


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