# Nauseating Walnutty taste in my espresso?



## burfordorion133 (8 d ago)

Every time I have a coffee at home I get this nauseating bitter walnut taste and I can't figure out what's causing it, this never happens at coffee shops only at home on my machine, the espresso isn't over extracted ( 19g in 38ml out in 30 seconds ), the beans are freshly roasted. portafilter, basket, group head and such are kept very clean, I'm not caffeine intolerant because I have no problem anywhere else so what could be causing it?? BTW the same taste is present in every and all beans I have tried so far, the best way to describe the taste would be like stale ground coffee, the burrs are kept clean too. I will also add it's been like this ever since I got my espresso machine.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

What is the machine ? Have you cleaned / disinfected the water tank /lines. Could it be a plasticy taste ?


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

What grinder and what beans - a link to those may help as well.


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## Inspector (Feb 23, 2017)

And what water do you use?


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## burfordorion133 (8 d ago)

El carajillo said:


> What is the machine ? Have you cleaned / disinfected the water tank /lines. Could it be a plasticy taste ?


It's the breville barista express, I have cleaned the water tank, it's not really a plasticy taste, it's a bitter stale taste



Inspector said:


> And what water do you use?


Either still bottled water or tap water, the water in my area is quite soft so limescale isn't a problem



ajohn said:


> What grinder and what beans - a link to those may help as well.


The grinder is built into the espresso machine, I know, not really ideal, it's the breville barista express and I'm using Red brick roasted by square mile coffee roasters



ajohn said:


> What grinder and what beans - a link to those may help as well.


Here's the link to the beans Red Brick


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## Shultz (26 d ago)

Have you tried cleaning the grinder part out using rice or grindz as maybe an old bean(s) are stuck also possibly back flushing and descaling the machine with citric acid to make sure its fresh throughout the machine?


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

It's not a good idea to clean out a Sage grinder too often. In fact when beans are changed it's easier to accept that there may be some carry over on the next 1 or 2 shots.

 One more question how long have you had the machine was it new etc? Some idea of the amount of use.


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## jackspro (2 mo ago)

Strange, off the beaten track tastes/flavours to me generally point in the direction of cleanliness of the the machine and equipment rather than an extraction problem. I suppose the fact you taste this taste regardless of coffee would further point that direction. Have you had the machine from new? Do you keep the grouphead, in around the gasket too, well cleaned? Backflushed the machine with espresso cleaner?


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## burfordorion133 (8 d ago)

[QUOTE/]


jackspro said:


> Strange, off the beaten track tastes/flavours to me generally point in the direction of cleanliness of the the machine and equipment rather than an extraction problem. I suppose the fact you taste this taste regardless of coffee would further point that direction. Have you had the machine from new? Do you keep the grouphead, in around the gasket too, well cleaned? Backflushed the machine with espresso cleaner?


Yes to all of those, I got the machine from breville brand new July last year



ajohn said:


> It's not a good idea to clean out a Sage grinder too often. In fact when beans are changed it's easier to accept that there may be some carry over on the next 1 or 2 shots.
> 
> One more question how long have you had the machine was it new etc? Some idea of the amount of use.


I got it brand new from sage July last year


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## jackspro (2 mo ago)

Odd. What temperature is the machine running at?


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## burfordorion133 (8 d ago)

jackspro said:


> Odd. What temperature is the machine running at?


The water is set to 94°c


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Sort thing you may not have done is cleaning behind the shower screen. It's why the machine comes with a hex key to remove it. Grinds collect behind it and can be wiped off. Shower screen and seal rinsed, If there are coffee stains Puly do a cleaner the will remove it, same with baskets and portafilter *if they get stained*, I don't think Sage machines indicate back flushing often enough. Say monthly, shower screen too. Puly tablets and descaler are fine,

The tastes on the beans web page relate to cupping notes. If you are drinking milk based you may be better off with a different bean where that is mentioned. Try running a little steam before pulling the shot. Just a puff even wet.

What to do to tune a bean is the next aspect.  if you drink americano maybe even espresso I may be able to help with that. Milk based changes taste too much.


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## jackspro (2 mo ago)

Have you tried using a different water?


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## longhardgrind (Mar 17, 2017)

Backflush a couple of times and descale the same, it sounds like oils from the beans to me. I've had it on my Barista express once and on one of my previous, and not so eay to clean machies, and cleaning cleaning cleaning is the only way to get rid of it.


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## burfordorion133 (8 d ago)

ajohn said:


> Sort thing you may not have done is cleaning behind the shower screen. It's why the machine comes with a hex key to remove it. Grinds collect behind it and can be wiped off. Shower screen and seal rinsed, If there are coffee stains Puly do a cleaner the will remove it, same with baskets and portafilter *if they get stained*, I don't think Sage machines indicate back flushing often enough. Say monthly, shower screen too. Puly tablets and descaler are fine,
> 
> The tastes on the beans web page relate to cupping notes. If you are drinking milk based you may be better off with a different bean where that is mentioned. Try running a little steam before pulling the shot. Just a puff even wet.
> 
> What to do to tune a bean is the next aspect.  if you drink americano maybe even espresso I may be able to help with that. Milk based changes taste too much.


I took of the shower screen and it was completely clean, I gave it a clean anyways but it was near spotless


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Grinds usually collect on the surface behind the screen. That area can get in a mess if not cleaned often enough.
Have you checked the dose of grinds with the razor tool? A second way of doing it is signs of the shower screen imprinted in the used puck but there is an off chance that 3 way action to dry the puck may lift it.

Often when bitter is mentioned some might suggest grinding a bit finer. If the dose of grinds are being compressed when they expand that will limit how fine you can grind for some ratio or the other.

As it's BE where does the pressure gauge needle finish up when brewing? The manual suggests at 12 o clock but I doubt of many take notice of that as higher is likely to be needed, Remaining in the sector shown around that can enable the volumetrics to work, Much past it, higher and a more consistent preparation is needed.

The manual also suggests something else that the web often knocks on the head. A double is 60ml or grams yet the double basket holds 18g. Also mentions higher extraction efficiency compared with the single basket. I'd suggest you try ratios of ~2, ~2.5 and ~3 and see what those do to taste. Stick to ~30sec but don't allow that to vary too much.  I just pulled a duff shot while adjusting a grinder and it needed another 6secs. I see that as too much.

There is a more advanced view of brewing here. Something people should really take notice of but don't.


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## jackspro (2 mo ago)

In my experience, if there's a particular taste, a strain of something, a mono tone running through a variety of different coffee's made on said machine it usually points in the direction of something to do with the machine. It's nothing that hasn't already been mentioned but the culprits are usually cleanliness and temperature. 

How are you storing your coffee? What are you grinding on?


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## funkmuncha (22 d ago)

I was getting a nasty salty taste using new beans the other day, the recipe and the pull all looked good but it tasted awful. I tried all sorts of adjustments and couldnt get rid of this sometimes sour always salty taste that fronted every sip.

Someone suggested cupping the coffee so I did that and the same sour taste hit me straight away, but without the saltiness. Once the cup cooled a bit that sourness was gone and the sweet fruity tastes afterwards were amazing and made me wonder why I dont actually just make coffee this way. 

From all of this I guessed that I was under extracting, I set the grind a fair bit finer and boom a lovely sweet espresso. I think the cupping did two things, it gave me an idea of what to expect and it also helped me recognise the sourness as acidity and appreciate the sweetness it carried. 

Have you tried cupping a coffee you have at home?


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## burfordorion133 (8 d ago)

ajohn said:


> Grinds usually collect on the surface behind the screen. That area can get in a mess if not cleaned often enough.
> Have you checked the dose of grinds with the razor tool? A second way of doing it is signs of the shower screen imprinted in the used puck but there is an off chance that 3 way action to dry the puck may lift it.
> 
> Often when bitter is mentioned some might suggest grinding a bit finer. If the dose of grinds are being compressed when they expand that will limit how fine you can grind for some ratio or the other.
> ...


Just Halloween of last year i fixed my Barista express after finding out that my OPV was set up to something like 14 or so bars, so my dial doesn't go up so high it only goes up to what the manual suggests is 9 bars which is 10 - 11 o'clock



jackspro said:


> In my experience, if there's a particular taste, a strain of something, a mono tone running through a variety of different coffee's made on said machine it usually points in the direction of something to do with the machine. It's nothing that hasn't already been mentioned but the culprits are usually cleanliness and temperature.
> 
> How are you storing your coffee? What are you grinding on?


Im using my machines built in grinder which is why I bought it, it has one built in to cut the costs of buying a completely separate grinder as well as the machine and it does the job perfectly.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

burfordorion133 said:


> Just Halloween of last year i fixed my Barista express after finding out that my OPV was set up to something like 14 or so bars, so my dial doesn't go up so high it only goes up to what the manual suggests is 9 bars which is 10 - 11 o'clock


I left mine as is but was careful to not go much past the sector on the dial into the area where the OPV opens. A bit ok and the drip tray doesn't fill so quickly. This also allowed the volumetrics to work as they should and no point in weighing out but if the OPV is open and only a little grinds prep needs to be very consistent,

Taste having used different machines - I'd be inclined to say not much in it. May just need a different ratio to what I used on my DB now. I'd be inclined to say a bit higher. The higher pressure does seem to produce more crema.

I mostly drink origin beans rather then blends and feel the quality of the bean used and how well it's been roasted is more important,

 I've just had an evil smell and taste from a new bean supply. Not sure why but going on today I may have started using them too soon. However i had been overfilling the basket. The grinds expand and compress more against the shower screen which slows the flow down. Reducing the quantity of grinds means a finer grind for the same flow rates and the result can be vary different.

Your walnut comment reminded me of some supermarket arabica blends not intended to be used in an espresso machine - ones that do grind without any problems,


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