New Espresso Machine

As luck would have it, my Jura/Capresso machine bit the dust just before Christmas, so my wife asked me what I wanted with which to replace it. I seriously considered the Rancilio Silvia, but mixed reviews online and reports on how finicky that machine can be, plus lack of PID temperature control, pushed me towards this slightly lower priced Breville BES840XL instead:
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For some this is probably not serious enough a machine, but hopefully it hits the sweet spot for me. I like the pressure gauge, which, after my first pull this morning, barely ticked the proper range for espresso. I was using the 2nd finest setting on my grinder, so Iā€™ll try finer as well as tamping a little harder. Even so, my first shot blew away what Iā€™d been getting from my Capresso which was probably a little tired.

breville has single-handily reinvented the home espresso market and left traditional companies in the dust from a price and feature standpoint. their customer service is also excellent.

i strongly recommend replacing your grinder with something better. itā€™s a small investment that will result in better espresso than you can imagine. seriously.

Thanks for chiming in Yaacov. Youā€™ve confirmed the impression I reached in my research of the Breville.

Can you explain whatā€™s wrong with my grinder? Other than Itā€™s been with me for a couple decades, maybe the burrs are dull, but it grinds. What more can I expect? If ā€œquieterā€ is possible, the purchase would definitely be wife-approved! And I admit looking at this pic Iā€™m already thinking how pretty a stainless Breville grinder would be sitting next to my new baby.

FWIW I switched to the finest grind today, tamped really hard, and the pressure gauge shot instantly into the ā€œover extractedā€ range, and tasted that way too. Hopefully tomorrow is Goldilocks!

Yaccov got me going the right direction this time last year.

I have a few suggestions after a year of pulling shots. First if one step went from runny to not dripping you need a better grinder. There are other variables to consider such as dose, and tamp.

Those of course you can play with, with no investment.

I would start by finding out how many grams your basket is designed for and then weighing your doses. Mir you are keeping your dose and tamp strength constant, then itā€™s all in the grind.

Buying very fresh beans is also a real key. As the beans age, I can never dial in my shots. I find i like my beans from that 3-15 day window after roasting.

Find a local roaster that time stamps his beans.

Also one other little trick. Find a yogurt cup or sour cream cup and cut the bottom out and then cut it again about an inch and a half high. It makes a nice cone to put in your basket to help collect the grounds from the grinder. You can also take a something and stir them to reduce clumping and to evenly distribute the grinds. With the cone still installed try bumping the pb down onto the counter (( I have a rubber mat to hit). And tamping that way a few times, then remove the cone and hit it once more. Then do your traditional tamp. I would also recommend oscillating the handle around the perimeter of the basket a few times to even out your grinds, then doing your final perpendicular tamp.

All this sounds like a lot, but actually only takes seconds once you get use to it, and it will really help you get a handle on your pulls.

mark nailed it on the technique (i feel like a proud pappa), but i fear that nothing will overcome the limitations of that grinder.

folks tend to focus on the machine, beans, etc., but the weakest and most important link always tends to be the grinder (as far as equipment is concerned - the barista is the actual weak link but that just requires practice). the better the machine, the better the potential espresso, but that potential is mostly locked up in the grind.

your machine is now very much in the more-than-good-enough camp and unfortunately, a krups grinder will never allow you to achieve what the espresso machine is capable of.

also unfortunately, a good-enough grinder isnā€™t cheap and typically can be as much as the espresso machine. this is a reality that cannot be overcome.

you should seriously consider the baratza vario. itā€™s a great machine and a QPR hero. they are good people, very responsive and provide great customer service. they also sell them refurbed for a great price.

http://www.baratza.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=885R

Thanks Mark and Yaacov.

Youā€™re preaching to the choir regarding fresh beans and fine grind, etc. I crossed that bridge when I first started making espresso at home, about 25 years ago.

So, I know grind is important, but not exactly sure exactly what a new one can do that my Krups canā€™t. Itā€™s a burr grinder with a pretty precise control over the grind. Whatā€™s the criteria Iā€™m looking for besides that?

Edited to add: I watched the Whole Latte Love video for the Baratza Vario on youtube and went ahead and ordered oneā€¦

yeah, youā€™re good now.

Should have an updated photo by the new year champagne.gif

Thanks again!

I had one of these. I ended up replacing it with a Nespresso. I found the clean up and constant plugging of the screen a pain which resulted in less frequent use. The Nepresso is soooo easy to use and I can vary the flavor easily. I sold the Breville on eBay. Youā€™ll thank me in a year.

the goal is great espresso, not ease of use.

I know. I sought that too. Go try a Nespresso. I was shocked. It matched anything I got in Italy.

And any mention of ā€˜nespressoā€™ in a coffee thread is pretty much a non-starter for the serious coffee folksā€¦ [smileyvault-ban.gif]

Clean up, and the occasional minor at-home maintenance such as cleaning your screens, lines, etc. is pretty much par for the course.

The best ā€˜no fussā€™ machine that Iā€™ve had decent espresso out of is a Gaggia Brera, and Iā€™m sure some of the higher-priced super-autos can deliver similar quality. But the ritual; prepping the machine, grinding, weighing, tamping, pulling a shot and then savoring it makes any extra time and effort worthwhile.

Donā€™t believe me. Go try it yourself, Mr Non-starter [snort.gif]
I love espresso. Nespresso is a game changer, a killer app, if you will. It blows anything I got from my Breville out of the water. I would not have said that a year ago until I tried it.

Michaelā€¦humā€¦believe that if you want, but trust me, there is no comparison to what I can pull out of my machine vs my nespresso.

No comparison.

None.


Zero.

Well, you get my point.

Yaccov can probably tell you all the fancy names for those techniques I mentioned and link you some videosā€¦after a year, I just remeber how to do themā€¦but it does help to see them.


I always find it funny that people on the west coast buy from vendors in New York and not from Seattle coffee gear.

I will admit on my large purchases I buy from Chris coffee, but I just trust them for some reason.

Weā€™ll agree to disagree. All I know is I love my Nespresso way more than my Breville.

I can definitely understand the ease-of-use perspective. I have a Nespresso, and we use it quite a lot - but never for espresso, only when Iā€™m going to add milk for a latte. There is absolutely no chance a Nespresso can come close to the best espresso pulls from a real machine. I found I couldnā€™t do it at home (though probably didnā€™t try hard enough). When I want a real espresso or macchiato, I head to my nearby coffee house, where they do it all day and have it fine tuned. They even taste whatā€™s coming out pretty regularly, adjust temperature, grind, pressure, etc. to get it right. Iā€™m not sufficiently dedicated to do that at home.

Nespresso is 90 point espresso. It works perfectly for me but thereā€™s a lot of room above it and I get why people want more.

If you spent any time on coffee geek forums you will quickly find most there do not have respect for ā€œmostā€ local coffee shops.

It took me months to dial in my shots, and tons of wasted beans, but you can do it. I can say that on average I agree with the geeks, in that most shops i visit has some unskilled kid calling themselves a barista.

When you learn to watch timing of the pulls and amount in the cup, you can easily spot who knows what they are doing and who does not.

From a wine perspective, if you are in healdsburg, drop by the barnā€¦they know coffee.

and start roasting your own beans!