After a lot of reading on CS about the B800ES, I decided to take the plunge and accept one for fathers day. Mrs willyroo snaffled one with the grinder from GG Mt Gravatt for $288 :0
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I bought a bag of Di Bella coffee from Espresso Lab in Annerley - good coffee (and coffee shop) btw.
First brew - an OK coffee. Plenty of experimentation, always just OK to sometimes good. So back to CS, more reading, and a vague mention of a Krups basket.
Next steps - contact the great team @ Pullman Tampers for a Krups unpressurised basket, and a strong recommendation for a tamper as well. That was the key...Krups basket + good tamp.
The BGC450 needs to be set at the finest grind setting (Turkish), and you need a very good tamper to make a quite firm tamp when using an unpressurised basket.
Oh and I bought a decent frothing jug.
The key to good coffee with this combo is:
This combo gives a good 25 second extraction, and a shot to rival many coffee shops.
Cons:
The 800ES is hard to master frothing - however you do get it in the end. Need to start steaming in a separate cup until the water runs through and converts to steam.
The BGC450 is a b@st@rd to clean!!
So if you are thinking about the 800ES, you can get good to very good coffee with care and the right - simple - modifications.
.I bought a bag of Di Bella coffee from Espresso Lab in Annerley - good coffee (and coffee shop) btw.
First brew - an OK coffee. Plenty of experimentation, always just OK to sometimes good. So back to CS, more reading, and a vague mention of a Krups basket.
Next steps - contact the great team @ Pullman Tampers for a Krups unpressurised basket, and a strong recommendation for a tamper as well. That was the key...Krups basket + good tamp.
The BGC450 needs to be set at the finest grind setting (Turkish), and you need a very good tamper to make a quite firm tamp when using an unpressurised basket.
Oh and I bought a decent frothing jug.
The key to good coffee with this combo is:
- Krups unpressurised basket
- Pullman Home Tamper
- Good beans (the PNG Wahgi AA is very nice)
- BGC450 on finest grind setting
This combo gives a good 25 second extraction, and a shot to rival many coffee shops.
Cons:
The 800ES is hard to master frothing - however you do get it in the end. Need to start steaming in a separate cup until the water runs through and converts to steam.
The BGC450 is a b@st@rd to clean!!
So if you are thinking about the 800ES, you can get good to very good coffee with care and the right - simple - modifications.

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