Earlier quoted context omitted.
Man I’d love to get this semi-affordably in Europe. Such a cool product. I use a Cafelat Robot for my morning brew and it’s consistently the highlight of my day. Manual espresso rules
I don't really see the advantage compared to your Cafelat Robot, or a Flair.
DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
221–230 of 292 posts
Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#222Why E61 though? Strictly the most annoying type of group especially for home use.
Was just going to comment on this. Sure it’s “the standard”, but it has so many downsides for home usage. Just stick with the standard 58mm portafilter but ditch the ancient e61.
Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you know of any resources to help learn bicycles? I wish I could tune my own bicycle but can't seem to figure it out. I can build my own computer, change the oil in my car, paint a house, etc. but my bicycle always befuddles me.
Can anyone explain how this is still a valid question in 2024 with all of the resources we have at our disposal? Google, Youtube, books, ChatGPT.
Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't know what I am calling a good coffee. I appreciate some people don't like particularly sour coffee because it's unusual for them but you can do a lot better than nespresso in the realm of that style of darker roast coffee too. It's really simple, people are happy with it because actually good coffee is so rare that they have nothing to compare against. I also doubt most of these people have ever drank a wel…
> I appreciate some people don't like particularly sour coffee Is that normal in 'good' espresso? I've had some coffee from shops with a particularly sour taste and I don't like it. It's not really because it's 'unusual' to me, I just really don't like it. PS: I don't drink it with milk nor sugar. Just plain espresso with nothing (just in the morning I do like it americano with water). I like the strong taste and I h…
Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#225Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#226I’m not an enthusiast. I just want a high quality espresso machine that makes consistently good espresso shots. I’m never going to be someone who wants to spend 15-30 minutes on creating a shot of espresso.
I’m bewildered that a machine that makes hot water push at high pressure through a puck of grounds costs more than a high-end computer.
What do people buy who don’t decant the smell of their own farts who just want an espresso machine?
What’s the ATH-M50 or the IBM Model M of espresso machines?
Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#227You can get a similar machine (Quick Mill Carola) for the same price, assembled. To scratch the hacker itch, you can get a much cheaper machine (Gaggia Classic Pro, Rancillio Silvia) and install a PID (a computer to control most of the brewing parameters). I understand the appeal to "hackers", but if you just want coffee, there are more, proven reliable, less expensive, options.
Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
Was just going to comment on this. Sure it’s “the standard”, but it has so many downsides for home usage. Just stick with the standard 58mm portafilter but ditch the ancient e61.
What are the downsides? I had one for about a decade (a heat exchanger machine) and never had any issue with it. I've been thinking about getting back into espresso and an e61 would be something I look for mostly because I'm comfortable with it.
The E61 grouphead is meant for commercial usage. It's heavy, tons of thermal mass, and has a tendency to overheat if it isn't flushed regularly (or, in the case of a commercial setting, just used... which typically isn't a problem in a commercial setting).
For most home usages of E61 machines you need to perform "temperature surfing" to get a great shot from an E61. More modern groupheads don't have such a large thermal mass and tend to be somewhat isolated from the boiler or thermoblock, so you can just heat them directly from a previously pulled shot and be just fine.
Again, not to say you can't make good espresso from them. I think there's also some E61 constructions and mitigate some of these issues, but they're not standard in the industry.
Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The advice though on the market is that if you want a good cup of coffee you need to do more than buy the machine. The advice from anyone trying to sell you fancy tools and from anyone trying to justify to themselves that they bought fancy tools will always be that you need to buy fancy tools in order to enjoy the product. It is, of course, an obvious fabrication to anyone not inside this loop, and a form of cruelt…
> And a moka costs $20 and lasts through a nuclear war. Good luck finding quality coffee beans after the war, unless your bunker has a coffee plantation attached.
Re: DiyPresso: DIY Espresso Machine
#230The more I think about the more I feel that this is the wrong solution to the problem. Disclaimer: I'm doing a small open source espresso controller project, check it out if you're interested, but it's not ready for prime time yet: https://github.com/variegated-coffee . My thinking is that this machine appeals mostly to people who already has an espresso machine. It's not particularly technologically advanced. It's a…