Breville or other Espresso machine (NOT superautomatic) Owners Thread

[thorsten139]

Throwing curveball here.

Most of the sub $800 espresso machines are CRAP.

1. Most don't have a 58mm portafilter
- Totally different without it
- High chance for over-extraction
- Alot come with pressurized portafilters which will give you bad shots

2. Unable to vary pressure
- Usually 15 bar which is too high (sweet spot is around 9 bar for a good shot)
- You cannot adjust grind size for the pressure you want, since pressure is fixed. Your shots are basically determined 100% by this set pressure, nothing you can do about it.
- Anything that has pressure control will set you back > 2k SGD typically




The solution

Flair 58.
1. 58mm Portafilter
2. Ability to vary grind size with varying pressure
3. ZERO maintenance required (Basically will never spoil because its just a few components)
4. Heater integrated (3 dial PID)
5. LEARN TO ACTUALLY MAKE ESPRESSO
- high degree of playability means you actually get to understand the fundementals of making your own espresso and dialing in.

Cons
1. No milk
- Some people buy a cheap ass 2nd hand Delonghi just for the steam wand usage
- Some use subminimal

Most people on long term coffee journey will start with a stupid $300 Delonghi. Quickly realize the limitations of it then maybe graduate to a Gaggia like machine at about $700. Then realize also no pressure variation, then stuck already. The next step up is easily > $2000. I realize the best thing is really this Flair thing. $800 and it's the end game of coffee already. It can do everything and avoid most issues of cheaper machines (Eg over pressuring)

 

[thorsten139]

Nope. African beans are supposed to have higher acidity than Brazil, and I’m trying to get as low acidity as possible.

The acidity comes through because of roast profile.

if you chao ta everything, it's just bitter.

usually nice african beans they do a lighter roast, so the acidity comes through.

low acidity then just, everything medium or dark roast loh. nothing wrong but its a one dimensional taste, nutty earthy.

personally i prefer dark roasts for lattes, and light roasts for filter coffee

 

[jumpthepig]

Thought it’d be a good idea to have a dedicated thread for those of us who own an espresso machine, i.e. the ones where you use a portafilter, to discuss machine related stuff and beans.

Whether yours comes with an integrated grinder, you have a standalone grinder, or you buy pre-ground, you’re welcome to this group.

As a continuation from @Apparatus ‘ thread, my machine:

After all my issues with my same-OEM-as-the-Smeg superautomatic, I finally took the plunge and got this.

I fell for the Normcore hype Normcore tamper, Normcore WDT, Normcore steam handle, Normcore bottomless portafilter, Normcore coffee scale … even the Normcore glass tubes to store 18g of beans per tube

Around the time just before I retired the superautomatic, I bought a bag of Soji Brazil Sul De Minas beans … I actually like this more than Zero’s Sul De Minas, although it was not a fair comparison of Zero on the supermatic and Soji on the Breville … I then tried a 200g bag of Soji’s Brazil Maritaca Santos beans and this became my favourite … only problem is Soji seems to have deliberately set the Santos to sold out for the 500g and 1kg options, and limited the stock of 200g to 1 bag in an order.

12.12 I bought back a bag of Zero Sul De Minas, but after the 2 bags of Soji that I started off with on the Breville I can’t seem to dial the Zero in right … on the Normcore bottomless portafilter I get a 40something g shot in like 25 seconds, and on the stock Breville portafilter using single-wall basket I get a 30-31 g shot in like 40something seconds … same grind size for both.

And I still can’t get latte-art consistency with my frother … it’s always super-frothy capuccino consistency or not micro-foam-y enough, never in between

Any other Breville or other espresso machine owners care to share your experiences? @Jurong640 @randyap @menthol28 @rrr2015 @dxdx999

Mine - Breville 920 Dual Boiler Coffee Machine bought from Orchard Tangs. Almost 10 years old now, still going strong. Very durable.

 

[Jurong640]

My guesstimate has been pretty spot-on so far, and just exploring within the regions in Brazil already can feel 1 region’s beans higher acidity than other … I’m not that adventurous (read between the lines: not that rich ) to explore around the world to junk that bag of lousy Penang beans already heart pain as it is

From everything I’d read, Yunnan is basically same as Colombia just less the South American taste profile … and I already cannot tahan Colombia acidity, so I’ll pass.

Yunnan not that expensive though. I got 1kg of beans (500g x2) for $25-ish, including shipping.

 

[CCCustom]

The acidity comes through because of roast profile.

if you chao ta everything, it's just bitter.

usually nice african beans they do a lighter roast, so the acidity comes through.

low acidity then just, everything medium or dark roast loh. nothing wrong but its a one dimensional taste, nutty earthy.

personally i prefer dark roasts for lattes, and light roasts for filter coffee

I pretty much only do latte cappuccino with my Breville (cappuccino because I can’t do latte art foam if my life depends on it … always ends up thick cappuccino foam consistency ) … I don’t do filter coffee.

 

[CCCustom]

Yunnan not that expensive though. I got 1kg of beans (500g x2) for $25-ish, including shipping.

I’m not adventurous End up bey gam still need to pump and clean out the grinder on top of dumping the bag of beans … The Other Half jjww I spend too much time making coffee as it is

 

[KwayChup]

Been trying to find an answer, I’ve seen hawker using this kind of machine to make Teh C…. What do I need or lookout for if I would like to get one for home use?

tried google but to no avail

 

[Jurong640]

I’m not adventurous End up bey gam still need to pump and clean out the grinder on top of dumping the bag of beans … The Other Half jjww I spend too much time making coffee as it is

should be okay la, the Yunnan Beans i bought from, is a shop with thousands of reviews. I already bought 6kgs liao. you can buy small packet one too. Fresh roasted

 

[CCCustom]

Day #3, 6th cup I think? review …

Interestingly, there is improvement … I have a feeling the roaster give advice bey zhun 1 … say no need to rest the beans can straight use, but the beans actually could use the resting … the waxy acidity layer is still there, still more obvious than Brazil Santos beans … but feels like it is becoming milder … just a bit, but still milder.

With these Cerrado beans I can use my Normcore tamper again With that previous bag of garbage Penang beans I only use the stock Breville tamper and tamp just until the edge of the metal of the Breville tamper just touches the edge of the basket’s perimeter, and even tamp this light still can end up with 20something g of espresso shots. Seems once beans are of least decent quality, you tamp how hard also can get 30something g output.

Been having issue with my frother.

I have the Breville Temp Control milk jug which has the thermometer strip at the bottom … I usually run the steam until the temperature strip reaches max i.e. 75degs - you’re actually supposed to steam until “ideal temperature” of between 55degs to 65 degs though, but I find that if not at the max, my coffee is not hot enough

In the past 2 weeks or so the frother will overheat beep-beep-beep and stop steaming, halfway through. I’d just done frother cleaning with a Rinza tablet last week, so should not be because clogged no? But this morning it was bad, about 1/3 of the temperature strip i.e. around 55degs already overheat and stop steaming. I pek chek do another round of frother cleaning with a Rinza tablet … then this afternoon’s coffee somehow managed to hit max 75degs without overheating.

I don’t know if it’s that last week’s frother cleaning not clean or what … looks like need to monitor further

1/2-bag review … I’ll say that, after it has had some time to mellow, this Cerrado is growing on me. I don’t feel a waxy layer in my mouth anymore … the acidity aftertaste is not gone though, just that it is still slightly more noticeable than Penang Winnie @ Cup O’ Joe’s Brazil Santos. My understanding is that this waxy layer has to do with the coffee oils brought out to the surface from the roasting, which is supposed to fade gradually over the time you rest the beans, so … yeah, no such thing as no need to rest the beans.

Follow-up on my frother … it seems it really was just that it was clogged This 2nd cleaning with a Rinza tablet seems managed to clear it when the Rinza done a week before didn’t … it seems that a bit of milk actually gets sucked into the wand at some point of the frothing process.

I unscrewed the tip, put it in the milk jug with hot water and the Rinza tablet, then submerged all the metal of the wand in the water, and ran the steamer awhile … seems doing it this way it also sucked some of the Rinza into the wand to clean the inside of the wand, then let that soak for > 15min and then steam again before end the cleaning, replace with just clean water and steam again.

After this 2nd cleaning, can really hear the difference in the power of the steam output … the temperature strip on the Breville Temp Control milk jug also hit max much faster.

 

[CCCustom]

Did some research into all the different Brazil beans …

If a roaster just lists their beans from “Minas Gerais”, it is very vague, because Cerrado is west Minas Gerais and Sul de Minas is south Minas Gerais.

Carmo de Minas is an area in Sul de Minas, so Carmo de Minas beans are basically Sul de Minas beans.

Santos is in Sao Paolo, the neighbouring state to the south of Minas Gerais, and is where the port is … mentioned before, all beans will pass through Santos port, so to some, Brazil Santos beans just means beans from Brazil. Some roasters list their Brazil Santos beans as from Cerrado, or from Minas Gerais which again could mean anything from Cerrado to Sul de Minas.

There are, however, farms in Sao Paolo itself. And to complicate things further, “Maritaca Santos” beans can mean anything from Sao Paolo all the way up to south Minas Gerais (which technically would be Sul de Minas)

I’m probably going to seek out beans from Sao Paolo for my next bag

As I mentioned …

Using stock pic because they write my name on the bags

3.3 hoot a bit more atas brand Their Brazil Santos supposedly comes from a farm in Sao Paolo, so this is the legit Santos, not the as-long-as-come-from-Brazil-can-call-it-Santos

2 x 250g bags, because they only sell in 250g or 1kg bags Gonna let them rest till the remaining Cerrado beans are used up, probably good through this weekend then open 1.

 

[hannorhannor]

Hello all, lelit bianca gold and df64 grinder owner here. Nice to meet u all.

 

[hannorhannor]

As I mentioned …

Using stock pic because they write my name on the bags

3.3 hoot a bit more atas brand Their Brazil Santos supposedly comes from a farm in Sao Paolo, so this is the legit Santos, not the as-long-as-come-from-Brazil-can-call-it-Santos

2 x 250g bags, because they only sell in 250g or 1kg bags Gonna let them rest till the remaining Cerrado beans are used up, probably good through this weekend then open 1.

Highly recommend their blue mountain coffee beans if you feeling abit atas. The taste is really super smooth and milk chocolatey. The only downside is that the blue mountain coffee beans will lao hong very fast as compared to brazil santos (Brazil Santos in airtight container can store ~ 1 month with little calibration while Blue Mountain need to recalibrate from 3 days later), so you will need to keep calibrating once every few days if you drink not fast enough.

 

[hannorhannor]

Thought it’d be a good idea to have a dedicated thread for those of us who own an espresso machine, i.e. the ones where you use a portafilter, to discuss machine related stuff and beans.

Whether yours comes with an integrated grinder, you have a standalone grinder, or you buy pre-ground, you’re welcome to this group.

As a continuation from @Apparatus ‘ thread, my machine:

After all my issues with my same-OEM-as-the-Smeg superautomatic, I finally took the plunge and got this.

I fell for the Normcore hype Normcore tamper, Normcore WDT, Normcore steam handle, Normcore bottomless portafilter, Normcore coffee scale … even the Normcore glass tubes to store 18g of beans per tube

Around the time just before I retired the superautomatic, I bought a bag of Soji Brazil Sul De Minas beans … I actually like this more than Zero’s Sul De Minas, although it was not a fair comparison of Zero on the supermatic and Soji on the Breville … I then tried a 200g bag of Soji’s Brazil Maritaca Santos beans and this became my favourite … only problem is Soji seems to have deliberately set the Santos to sold out for the 500g and 1kg options, and limited the stock of 200g to 1 bag in an order.

12.12 I bought back a bag of Zero Sul De Minas, but after the 2 bags of Soji that I started off with on the Breville I can’t seem to dial the Zero in right … on the Normcore bottomless portafilter I get a 40something g shot in like 25 seconds, and on the stock Breville portafilter using single-wall basket I get a 30-31 g shot in like 40something seconds … same grind size for both.

And I still can’t get latte-art consistency with my frother … it’s always super-frothy capuccino consistency or not micro-foam-y enough, never in between

Any other Breville or other espresso machine owners care to share your experiences? @Jurong640 @randyap @menthol28 @rrr2015 @dxdx999

My first espresso machine is this exact model. The reason why your milk is frothy is because too much air is introduced. After 3 seconds of introducing air, you should stick your wand deeper and let it create the vortex to froth the milk. You will hear a difference in the sound. When wand is near the surface, milk will sound like it is screaming.

 

[hannorhannor]

hearsay ppl prefer the espresso machine and grinder to be separate machine.

It can be inside the same machine but you cannot unload all your beans inside unless you brew more than 20 cups a day.

Beans will lao hong fast and it affects the taste. So always take out what's needed from an airtight container.

 

[CCCustom]

Highly recommend their blue mountain coffee beans if you feeling abit atas. The taste is really super smooth and milk chocolatey. The only downside is that the blue mountain coffee beans will lao hong very fast as compared to brazil santos (Brazil Santos in airtight container can store ~ 1 month with little calibration while Blue Mountain need to recalibrate from 3 days later), so you will need to keep calibrating once every few days if you drink not fast enough.

I trust the rule of thumb of, the higher the altitude the higher the acidity … most Brazil beans grow at altitude of up to 1,200 with Cerrado slightly higher up to 1,300 … Blue Mountain goes up to like 1,700 And Africa beans general consensus the highest acidity, can be growing at like >2,000 in places like Ethiopia. As mentioned earlier in the discussion, even Colombia is already high for me.

 

[Geylang Prawn Seller]

i use hibrew brewer

got PID, got preinfusion, heats up practically instantly

its like a BYD. china. inexpensive. does the job well at a price point. but certainly not the best