Well, I had been waivering over a Silvia, or even extending to a entry HX, such as the Expobar Office. But, having checked out the twin TB machine in the flesh, it looked like a good bit of kit. Add $527 for the machine, which includes a half decent tamp and a half litre stainless jug, AND a Bang Bang knock box well...too tempting to pass up.
Ok. I have moved from a crema enhancing little boiler machine to a real espresso machine...so bit of experimenting. I used my Delonghi (Solis 166) grinder to get the grind right. I have tweaked the grinder inside by 2 notches. On the third notch using the hopper it used to well and truly stall my other machine. This time that setting is about right.
What I am finding however is that with the SINGLE basket fully loaded - about 14 grams of coffee! (without tamping down and filling futher!) and only a very light finishing/smoothing tamp (couple of pounds) is that it takes a few seconds to start up and then a few drops and then later (15-20 secs later) real flow but develops colour nicely - BUT even at 55 seconds she is still flowing quite good colour out!!! So I stop it at 55 seconds and tast the short black. It tasts good - quite sweet and plenty of flavour - much better than other grinds; much better than the previous machine (in fact no comparrison - it used to force out crema and was fine with milk - soy in particular because its sweet - but had a bitter short black); and for that matter better than a number of good caffs in the area.
My question is - should I do an Alan Frew and replace these huge baskets with smaller ones to achieve a 25-30 second shot? Does the time really matter that much - ie if im willing to put up with extra coffee use and the exta caffeine (!) then provided the colour is high colour, the crema is good and the shot tastes sweet and complex does the extraction time really matter? Surely the high extraction time with good colour to the end is as a result of the amount of the coffee in the huge basket.
The machine is solid. It steams nicely - I am still playin gwith that but it stretches the milk quickly enough for me - much better than the last machine.
Alan Frews review was excellent, but that was a year ago - I understand that the machines have been changed since that time. Mines red and stainless which is attractive. The water res is large and easily readable (with light when low). The catch tray is large with a pop up indicator. It has a built in calcium filter replacable after a year. It has a psuedo back fluch system of putting a rubber washing in a basket followed by a cleaning tablet and a 10 minute automated cleaning cycle for the group head. It has a conventional domestic flush through for the remainder.
I am impressed by the wieght of the portafilter - I dont know how yet to extract the plastic shield in the bottom, as Alan Frew did.
So far I am wrapped. The reason that I opted for this over the Silvia was twofold - first the Silvia would probably have required and expensive grinder update - to a Rocky and second, and probably most importantly, my wife loves making coffees and she doesnt want, or need, the haslte of learning the machine with its alleged temp surfing issues and bleeding of the boiler etc. This thing is really simple - it also goes into standby after an hour (sleeps - keeps the group head warm though) and turns itself off after another 26 hours. It seems fairly foolproof in terms of burning it out.
It seems that the thermoblock has finally been largely perfected...that will raise some eyebrows im sure.
Cheers all
Ok. I have moved from a crema enhancing little boiler machine to a real espresso machine...so bit of experimenting. I used my Delonghi (Solis 166) grinder to get the grind right. I have tweaked the grinder inside by 2 notches. On the third notch using the hopper it used to well and truly stall my other machine. This time that setting is about right.
What I am finding however is that with the SINGLE basket fully loaded - about 14 grams of coffee! (without tamping down and filling futher!) and only a very light finishing/smoothing tamp (couple of pounds) is that it takes a few seconds to start up and then a few drops and then later (15-20 secs later) real flow but develops colour nicely - BUT even at 55 seconds she is still flowing quite good colour out!!! So I stop it at 55 seconds and tast the short black. It tasts good - quite sweet and plenty of flavour - much better than other grinds; much better than the previous machine (in fact no comparrison - it used to force out crema and was fine with milk - soy in particular because its sweet - but had a bitter short black); and for that matter better than a number of good caffs in the area.
My question is - should I do an Alan Frew and replace these huge baskets with smaller ones to achieve a 25-30 second shot? Does the time really matter that much - ie if im willing to put up with extra coffee use and the exta caffeine (!) then provided the colour is high colour, the crema is good and the shot tastes sweet and complex does the extraction time really matter? Surely the high extraction time with good colour to the end is as a result of the amount of the coffee in the huge basket.
The machine is solid. It steams nicely - I am still playin gwith that but it stretches the milk quickly enough for me - much better than the last machine.
Alan Frews review was excellent, but that was a year ago - I understand that the machines have been changed since that time. Mines red and stainless which is attractive. The water res is large and easily readable (with light when low). The catch tray is large with a pop up indicator. It has a built in calcium filter replacable after a year. It has a psuedo back fluch system of putting a rubber washing in a basket followed by a cleaning tablet and a 10 minute automated cleaning cycle for the group head. It has a conventional domestic flush through for the remainder.
I am impressed by the wieght of the portafilter - I dont know how yet to extract the plastic shield in the bottom, as Alan Frew did.
So far I am wrapped. The reason that I opted for this over the Silvia was twofold - first the Silvia would probably have required and expensive grinder update - to a Rocky and second, and probably most importantly, my wife loves making coffees and she doesnt want, or need, the haslte of learning the machine with its alleged temp surfing issues and bleeding of the boiler etc. This thing is really simple - it also goes into standby after an hour (sleeps - keeps the group head warm though) and turns itself off after another 26 hours. It seems fairly foolproof in terms of burning it out.
It seems that the thermoblock has finally been largely perfected...that will raise some eyebrows im sure.
Cheers all



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