# Born again



## Andmoreagain (Oct 11, 2019)

Hi, Just dropping in as I am just stepping back into the coffee world. I previously had an unmodified Gaggia Classic about 15 years ago. I treated it badly and my coffee education was limited and this foray died a death about 10 years ago. Limescale, rust, and neglect saw off most components of the Gaggia. This bad man stored his machine in such a way that 50% of bolts needed drilling out.

A recent trip to Naples restored my desire to make Espresso and I've been reading up and confusing myself. Before I used to grind x tablespoons of beans and output y volume of espresso (by eye). It was never great drunk as espresso but got by in the long black or as a cappuccino.

Now I am starting again, I am understanding I should be dosing with x grammes of beans, to produce y grammes of espresson in z seconds of time. I have a new machine / grinder and have been practising using 18g coffee beans, producing 36g espresso in 30 seconds (it took a while 'dialling' this in).

I'm not that enamoured by the espresso so far. I have very little sense of smell, and poor taste buds but coffee is one of the few things I enjoy. The shots so far are a little sour to my knackered pallet.

What I'd be interested in is attempting to replicate the typical espresso's I was drinking in Naples from grand coffee houses such as Gambrinus, to the back street Kimbo seller.

If anyone can give me some starters, then I'm interested in bean types / brands to try, dose rate, brew ratio etc for the typical italian espresso .

My set up is Niche Grinder, Lelit Mara, Naked Portofilter to get my distribution / tamping nailed and have currently been using Bella Barista Roastery Furnace & Flue (which I liked), and currently Milk Buster which is the one I'm finding a bit sour

So thats pretty much where I am starting this second dip in the water.

Good weekend all.

Andrew


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

Welcome to the forum.

Most of the bars in Naples use lever machines which might have a bearing on the result. They probably pull a little on feel rather than sticking rigidly to ratio. Might be worth trying your shots anywhere from 1:1 to 1:3 to see how that changes things? Go by taste.

Generally shots are 7g/14g single/double.

I'm not sure where you would get fresh Italian roast beans. I think the typical Italian beans you get here have a 3 year shelf life. I enjoy Italian espresso when on holiday but it is not really my preference. Hopefully someone else can help you more.

BTW there is a discussion about Neapolitan coffee in the "coffee" subsection of the Home Barista forum which you might find interesting. I think that the OP also posts on here also.


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## Fez (Dec 31, 2018)

1:2 in 30 seconds is a good starting point but not the magic recipe.

If you're finding it sour try going for a longer ratio or finer grind


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## Andmoreagain (Oct 11, 2019)

Step21 said:


> Welcome to the forum.
> 
> Most of the bars in Naples use lever machines which might have a bearing on the result. They probably pull a little on feel rather than sticking rigidly to ratio. Might be worth trying your shots anywhere from 1:1 to 1:3 to see how that changes things? Go by taste.
> 
> ...


 Thanks for the info. Yes, I just checked some youtube videos and saw one of the Cafes with the lever machines in action. I think I was seduced as much by the surroundings and the 1Euro cost as much as the quality!



Fez said:


> 1:2 in 30 seconds is a good starting point but not the magic recipe.
> 
> If you're finding it sour try going for a longer ratio or finer grind


 Thanks Fez. I've just about got a grip on the things I control and will start to play a bit as you say and focus on taste.


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## Andmoreagain (Oct 11, 2019)

An improvement going 1:2.5 however I did get hung up with it being produced in 30s so slightly reduced the grind. I discounted a finer grind as I thought it would lead to a long extraction time. I seem to have fallen into a trap of extraction time dominating my thinking.

Rather than play with too many variables at this point, I really think I need to restart by going through the newbie notes and videos on here and BH and make sure I nail the basics this time around before I can run.


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## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

A lot of the Italian coffee shops use Illy, Kimbo etc and they aren't particularly fresh. I tried Kimbo Superiore (1kg from Stafco) and it was exactly as I remembered the espressos to be. Use 14 to 15g it doesn't seem to like any more than this. Extract just under 1:2 so 28g for a 15g dose using a cheap 14g basket. I had a lot of fun and guests lapped it up!!


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## gilbodavid (Oct 25, 2019)

The Italian cappuccino is my destiny... Looks like a lever machine..


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