by Joris » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:42 am
How about the ground coffee which is not used up during the day, is it left in the doser untill next day and then used again ? That will definitly affect taste of the cup in a bad way. The grinder should be cleaned on a regular interval. Grinding per cup is the way to go if you want get the most out of the beans (quality wise that is).
Shot time is a bit on the short side in my opinion. 24 / 26sec is generally seen as good shot-times.
What I learned from the DVD and book of mr. Schomer....
- After each shot, run some water through the head, use a brush to wipe the grouphead and gasket.
- After use of steamwand clean it and blow some steam through it to clear the tip-holes
- The showerscreen should be scrubbed every hour or so in a café, both sides. Remove it to get it clean.
- Backflushing with clear water, again every hour
- Evening maintenance is doing all of the above and then backflushing with detergent.
[/quote="BeanyGirl"]I think it depends on your volume... but most "high-quality" cafes will use detergent clean AT LEAST nightly. For extremely high volume places, this probably happens 4x a day as a minimum. [/quote]
According to mr. Schomer the less use a machine has, the shorter the time between cleaning, although cleaning it once an hour is minimum. Using detergent every hour or every 2 hours would be a pain in the ... ehm... head... takes too long. Removing the showerscreen and scrubbing that both sides is quicker.
But this is all book-wisdom, I don't work as a barista. However, about the need for cleaning the grinder and ways to clean the machine (and a lot of other great info) you should get the book "Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques" by David Schomer. That should convince your boss.
Veni, Vidi, Imbibi Coffea !
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