Coffee - do you and how do you consume it?

[ryanosaur]

Hmm, my machine came with a thing called "the razor" which is supposedly to trim the puck down to the correct level. After tamping, the level of the coffee is alway well below the reach of the razor.

You are probably right that it is too much coffee and that it expands during infusion.

The combination of the two points above must mean that I'm tamping with too much force. The infusion pressure does get pretty high to be fair.

So, I'll try a bit less coffee, maybe a slightly finer grind and lower tamping force.

Lots of parameters to tweak - I can see the parallel with hifi!

My first machine was a Delonghi and I would have that happen to me too. In some ways, it could be a matter of the design of the basket.
Currently, my puck does not touch the shower screen until after extraction: it does not stick however.

How much are you dosing? Is there any instruction about max dose for your basket?

 

[-Matt-]

How much are you dosing? Is there any instruction about max dose for your basket?

Probably way too much! The ground coffee is piled up like a volcano. About as much as can possibly balance in the basket without spilling.

 

[ryanosaur]

Probably way too much! The ground coffee is piled up like a volcano. About as much as can possibly balance in the basket without spilling.

Before leveling and tamping, the grind will always pile up. If you don't have one, a scale is a nice and inexpensive way to help refine your approach. Something that you can zero out the portafilter, dose, check the weight, etc. I like to weigh my extraction to stay consistent, too.

I don't remember what dose I had to use for my old machine, but it was difficult to get the final results I wanted, That Delonghi had a weird little pressure valve built into the portafilter rather than a traditional basket. It was a good first machine, but upgrading was a no brainer.

Definitely check your weights when you get the chance, this will help you eliminate variables and start getting more consistent results!

 

[Count Arthur]

Also, how are you tamping?

Are you using a proper tamper and giving a good firm press, or just using the thing on the machine?:

If you're using that thing on the machine, I suggest you get a separate tamper, something like this:

You can get flashy, expensive ones, or fairly cheap ones on Ebay, just make sure you get one the right size for your portafilter basket, if the Sage machine doesn't use a standard 58mm size.

As I understand it, you can't really over-tamp, but you can under-tamp and I imagine it will be difficult to press hard enough with the one fixed to the machine:

 

[mansr]

Are you using a proper tamper and giving a good firm press, or just using the thing on the machine?:

If you're using that thing on the machine, [...]

As I understand it, you can't really over-tamp, but you can under-tamp and I imagine it will be difficult to press hard enough with the one fixed to the machine:

It's not fixed. That's is just a convenient spot with a magnet holding the tamper when not in use.

 

[dfuller]

A question for the pros... (I'm new to this, just got a Sage Barista Express).

I'm finding that the puck of ground coffee is sometimes getting stuck on the shower head when I remove the portafilter; only to drop down a few seconds later and make a ruddy mess. So far it hasn't dropped into my cup but it is only a matter of time. What am I doing wrong?

Either your're over-dosing the basket, or (possibly) it just happens. When I owned a Breville Dual Boiler the suction from the 3-way valve releasing was far stronger than any other machine I've ever had - even not overdosing the basket (an 18g VST, with 18g of grounds). Something about Breville machines does that. Luckily, getting it to release is easy - just pulse the water for a short period (like, a second or 2, just to get the water through the group) after you've pulled your shot to get it to release.

It's not fixed. That's is just a convenient spot with a magnet holding the tamper when not in use.

It is, however, not a great tamper. The best newbie-friendly tamper is this Normcore self-leveling tamper. It aligns itself on the rim of the basket, so it's always pressing straight down. You'd want the 53.3mm size for the 54mm Breville size.

I'd also recommend picking up a WDT tool (a bunch of thin needles, ideally 0.3-0.4mm, in a handle, designed to distribute grounds evenly through the portafilter and break up clumps - generally easy mode for consistent shots) and a dosing funnel (for less coffee grounds everywhere).

 

[QuadDiffusor]

My morning routine: filling my 16oz 480ml Hydroflask with the following centrifuged coffee + five fats (1/2 tablespoons each), and shaking it up violently for a delectable and delicious proprietary blend of "bulletproof" keto beverage:

- Nescafe Vertuo Melozio 150ml pod
- olive oil
- coconut oil
- coconut cream
- ghee (clarified butter)
- red palm oil (unrefined)

 

[Doodski]

My morning routine: filling my 16oz 480ml Hydroflask with the following centrifuged coffee + five fats (1/2 tablespoons each), and shaking it up violently for a delectable and delicious proprietary blend of "bulletproof" keto beverage:

- Nescafe Vertuo Melozio 150ml pod
- olive oil
- coconut oil
- coconut cream
- ghee (clarified butter)
- red palm oil (unrefined)

What does all that oil mixture do for you? It reads as pretty oily.

 

[QuadDiffusor]

It's part of my ketogenic diet, a dietary modification/tilt which I'm assuming most people are familiar with nowadays. Essentially, avoiding carbs and sugars (particularly fructose) mitigates the risk of insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction which are the primary causes of chronic diseases. Here are links to my favorite YouTube content providers who explain these key health and wellness concepts superbly:

https://www.youtube.com/c/drekberg

https://www.youtube.com/c/lowcarbdownunder/videos

https://www.youtube.com/c/IvorCumminsScience

 

[Doodski]

It's part of my ketogenic diet, a dietary modification/tilt which I'm assuming most people are familiar with nowadays. Essentially, avoiding carbs and sugars (particularly fructose) mitigates the risk of insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction which are the primary causes of chronic diseases. Here are links to my favorite YouTube content providers who explain these key health and wellness concepts superbly:

https://www.youtube.com/c/drekberg

https://www.youtube.com/c/lowcarbdownunder/videos

https://www.youtube.com/c/IvorCumminsScience

Hmmmz... I eat everything I can find in the grocer aisles... I used to eat 1 large meal and maybe a 2nd light meal / day and that served me well and now I snack and eat ravenously... I can't stop!. garoowLZZzzz...

 

[-Matt-]

A picture tells a thousand words...

Before tamping...

After tamping, showing that the grounds are below the razor.

After infusion, grounds have expanded and contacted the shower head.

...I know, I didn't clean the edges very well.

I have a new theory...
The puck might be more likely to get stuck if I don't remover the portafilter straight away. I wonder if things are cooling down and contracting behind the shower head, generating suction.

 

[dfuller]

A picture tells a thousand words...

Before tamping...
View attachment 216879

After tamping, showing that the grounds are below the razor.
View attachment 216880

After infusion, grounds have expanded and contacted the shower head.
View attachment 216881

...I know, I didn't clean the edges very well.

I have a new theory...
The puck might be more likely to get stuck if I don't remover the portafilter straight away. I wonder if things are cooling down and contracting behind the shower head, generating suction.

The "razor" is useless, skip it.

As to your second point, no. There is a 3-way solenoid valve that releases the pressure in the brew group after the shot stops, and that can suck the puck up and cause it to stick to the shower screen.

 

[ryanosaur]

@-Matt- your first photo is quite normal.

I got in the habit (on that old delonghi) of lightly pulling my portafilter across the group head once I released it. That pretty much always caught the stuck puck.
Allow yourself to get in the habit of always removing the portafilter straight away. Certainly, enjoy your shot when fresh, but then remove the filter and run some water through the group head to help clean it out.
If you leave the filter attached for too long, the puck will actually start to bake onto the shower screen. This is just bad for any number of reasons.
Cheers!

 

[Newman]

My morning routine: filling my 16oz 480ml Hydroflask with the following centrifuged coffee + five fats (1/2 tablespoons each), and shaking it up violently for a delectable and delicious proprietary blend of "bulletproof" keto beverage:
- Nescafe Vertuo Melozio 150ml pod
- olive oil
- coconut oil
- coconut cream
- ghee (clarified butter)
- red palm oil (unrefined)

O…….M….…G…….

Please take care my friend.

BTW keto diets are a very dangerous fad. Don’t believe the fake science that proponents spout (remember, fake science always has some truth mixed in to make it palatable (pun)). If you want to avoid insulin dysfunction, which is wise, then enjoy fresh whole plant foods and avoid refined sugars and white breads and rices.

Back to coffee, I use an Aeropress to make machine-free coffee with freshly-ground beans from my conical-burr grinder. Easy-peasy, super-tasty.

Cheers

 

[Count Arthur]

BTW keto diets are a very dangerous fad.

A three year fad so far for me. I'm considerably lighter and have never felt better than before I started.

 

[Newman]

That’s what makes it very dangerous…if it didn’t cause weight loss it would have zero adherents other than the angry-bacon-lovers cohort. But I don’t want to divert the thread any more than I already have. Please PM me if you want links to unbiased high quality research on the topic.

 

[SDC]

I swallow a spoon of instant coffee powder like medicine... Keeps me going in the afternoon.

I do have Saeco automatic, good for guests but not my cup of tea(coffee, shall I say).

Beans, they are mixed ones bought online, kind of sweet roasts with little acid like taste. (Not fan of fruity acidic taste.)

And before morning exercise, coffee powder with sugar instead of breakfast. I eat once a day. (If spoon full of sugar is not considered a meal.)


So to wrap it up, coffee is more of a power up medicine than treat to me. Drinking takes time, swallowing with a gulp of water, easy and quick.

 

[deniall83]

I have an Aeropress and a 2 cup V60. My grinder is a 1zpresso JX-Pro. We're surrounded by wonderful coffee in Melbourne so I'm spoilt for choice when it comes to beans.

 

[ryanosaur]

Bought a new scale for my coffee habit:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B4CB7C1?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

My old scale didn't do .1 g increments and rounding at every .5g was providing wildly different extractions at times. Got tired of guessing how many "extra" beans I was dropping into the cup to try to hit the mark.

So far, pretty solid.

 

[ryanosaur]

I swallow a spoon of instant coffee powder

Wasn't that a YT Challenge?