You say you use fresh roasted beans (are you roasting yourselve so you are really sure..? If not, and you happen to buy from Levelt or Brandmeester, I can tell you those beans are only fresh when you are lucky. I know 'from a salesmen at Levelt' that the beans can be as old as 10/14 day's or more...).
I only ever bought one pack from Levelt... It was ok, but even I could tell it was old. I now have 3 sources of beans. One is an independant coffee house on the Neiuwezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam called "The Coffee Connection". They do a good job (The owner is from Seattle). The also have a Kiwi on board who came second in last years national Barista comp (Not sure if that says much, but since he is a Kiwi I will give him the benefit of the doubt). Anyway I spent some time speaking to Leigh, the owner, and she is obviously dedicated to fine coffee. She said that I could ask anyone in the shop at any time when the bean was delivered (the have one blend only) and I should add three days for delivery and degassing. I try and get the bean either the day it comes in or the next.
You have fresh roasted beans for sure! (thanks for the tip about the coffee Connection (I am not familiar with them...). A friend of mine who is living in Amsterdam can bring me some of their beans... I'm curious about their blend... So thanks.).
I also went to Brandmeesters and I was skeptical when I saw where they keep the beans, BUT they assured me that if I bought one of the fast movers then it was 99% sure to be under 7 days... They roast in haarlem.
Brandmeesters is better than Levelt... but still: nothing beats home-roast... And 7 days..: If I have any leftovers after 5 day's (which happened only two times... I throw it in the trash...- but this has something to do with me wanting a new taste/flavour to experience - more than the beans itselve I guess...)
The third source I have is my own. I bought a couple of kg's of Malabar Gold and an ait popper from Danny McNulty, but since I know nothing about roasting, and would hate to spoil what most agree as a decent blend, I have not tried this yet. I'm trying to source some cheap garbage to practice roasting on (listening & watching).... Any ideas?
I'm not familiar with the air popper from McNulty, but I would try anyway... Buy some greens at Brandmeesters (their Cuba is excellent btw (although not more than 20% in a blend)... in fact I receive (if everything goes as planned) 2 kg tomorrow again from a friend visiting tomorrow... Roast it to just before second crack though, otherwise it loses the taste of chocolate...) and they (at Brandmeesters) can advise you on which beans are good for espresso (out of my memory: their Ethiopia Harrar, India Mysore, Sumatra mandheling and Papua Sigri can have a dark roast... (if you want to know more about home-roasting... are you familiar with sweetmaria's info pages at:
http://www.sweetmarias.com/instructions.html ?)
Another method to make a cup less bitter (besides lowering the temp... as your temp should be just fine) is grinding coarser... and maybe even tamping less hard (since I have used SNIP!!
That's an interesting paragraph... Since I am a complete newb, I dont even know if my grind is dialed in right.. I will go way off center (towards coarse) tomorrow and see where it goes... I seem to remember going coarse enough that the coffee actually gushed out... Way to fast...
Not 'way' of center... Bit off center will be enough...(the Mazzer is a stepless grinder, isnt'it? So you have to dial a bit rougher than on a grinder with 'steady-points...'. And besides the gushing out is good... (what is way to fast..? 10/15 sec is perfect for a fresh-roast...) Gushing without chanelling (when the stream is turning like a twister...) though, is always good! Gushing/quivering/wobbly is what I'm looking for in a perfect cup!
It looks *best* to me when it's smooth and comes out in one piece. Is this right? Also, I fill to the top of the double basket, level off with a beer leveller (don't laugh, it was 50cents
and tamp...
I did laught at your leveller... although I think it's probably the best (why didn't I think of it...)
And yes, it's best when it comes out in one piece... (see also:
http://www.lucidcafe.com/cafeforum/schomer1.html) and the stream of coffee is like syrup! without lightening up or chanelling...
On the other hand: why do you use the double-basket all the time... Give your wife a rest... You can have great espresso with the single basket of your Isomac (presuming it's about the same as my Giotto-basket) and in that way you don't have to disturbe your wife (my wife has frothed milk for her own cappa yesterday... and you know what? Since Giotto, she is also into the coffee... and made her own second cappa today!) who does like one, two, maybe three drinks... but not more...I make (with new Giotto in the house) about 17 shots a day... most of them are single shots and most of them are very good (although I think - as my experience on Silvia pointed out - that with the Marzocco baskets they will be even better...)
The grounds do not touch the screen, when the PF goes in but the do expand enough to *just* touch during brewing (there is no screw in the screen). I have tried using less, but then it does not extract well at all.
(have you cleaned already behind the screen..?)
It's normal to me when the grounds touch the screen while expanding... so I wouldn't use less grounds...
You say you see nothing for 10 sec when you pull a shot... Grind coarser, definately! Keep tamping with 15 kg though (as you don't want to handle more than one variable...) Or leave the grind the same and tamp with only 2 kg....
I have not thought to try this as everything I have read about the ISOMAC e61 machines is that 10 secs is normal... I'll try it...
10 sec seems a lot to me... (Giotto delivers in 5 sec. but when you adjust the grind coarser... you may end up less than 10 too I guess...)
How are the LM baskets different to the normal ECM ones?
I can't really explain, they just are. They have straight walls, so you can tamp all the way to the bottom (this is especially important with the single-basket, as this basket sometimes seduce you to an unbalance-tamp. Furthermore there is some sort of basket hanging under the basket itselve... So all the water has to pass these grounds...). They contain more coffee (especially important with the single again). The holes are better... don't know why though... It's just the perfect basket imho!
(You can buy them at
www.ongebrand.nl, Ivo vd Putten is a coffee-trader who sells also green beans and HWP and Alpenrost roasters...; or at the Dutch importer of La Marzocco:
www.coffeetogo.nl)
-D
p.s. Sorry for the essay,.... Wife is away so I have a lot of time on my hands to respond
[/quote]Danny,
My wife is asleep already as the children will be early up tomorrow... (Sinterklaas is in the country...) and I have to work tomorrow (but still sleeping longer than she is...) So I have time to write too and there are no excuses necessary...
Michel