1 Ghz
Arch-Supremacy Member
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- Jan 1, 2000
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Hey folks, I'm glad to see there's a huge thread on espresso; still reading through page 200 or so till I catch up with the latest posts. 
Anyway, just a short intro, I started getting into espresso ~6 months back with the Delonghi EC155 and Breville Smart Grinder Pro, and immediately removed the bottom half of the pressurized portafilter and went bottomless. The almost useless panarello wand was replaced shortly with a Rancilio Silvia v1 wand which created a screeching sound no matter how hard I tried to froth the milk. I then swapped the steam tip with a Gaggia Latte Art wand which finally allowed me to produce some microfoam. In short, I wasted money on the Silvia wand, but at least milk didn't bake into this plastic wand.
BTW, I would recommend this Latte Art wand for users who want to stick with appliance grade machines like Delonghi or Saeco; at the very least it extends the length of the steam wand which becomes too short after the Pannarello is detached.
Two months after that, I got tired of the small boiler in the EC155 and bought a Lelit PL60PLUST (I'm based in the US; it's probably unavailable in SG). The steam was so much more powerful; creating microfoam was now much easier even without adjustable steam pressure but I noticed that my previous grind settings on the EC155 was causing channeling on the Lelit.
Most recently, I've moved on to single shots and found out how difficult the stock single basket was to use even with the finest grind setting. I switched to a La Marzocco single basket, applied nutation (which allowed me to grind coarser) and managed to get decent shots with just 7g of beans.
Last month I tried 100% Robusta cappucinos (Kaapi Royale) and it was pretty good. My newest beans are Haiti Blue. The seller sells beans in 1lb bags, so I've to drink 2x single shots per day to finish the beans in a month before they go too stale.
After learning to make my own coffee, I don't think I can go back to kopitiam coffee or starbucks; they taste burnt to me, plus the feeling of drinking coffee with microfoam and latte art on top is addictive.
Anyway, just a short intro, I started getting into espresso ~6 months back with the Delonghi EC155 and Breville Smart Grinder Pro, and immediately removed the bottom half of the pressurized portafilter and went bottomless. The almost useless panarello wand was replaced shortly with a Rancilio Silvia v1 wand which created a screeching sound no matter how hard I tried to froth the milk. I then swapped the steam tip with a Gaggia Latte Art wand which finally allowed me to produce some microfoam. In short, I wasted money on the Silvia wand, but at least milk didn't bake into this plastic wand.
BTW, I would recommend this Latte Art wand for users who want to stick with appliance grade machines like Delonghi or Saeco; at the very least it extends the length of the steam wand which becomes too short after the Pannarello is detached.
Two months after that, I got tired of the small boiler in the EC155 and bought a Lelit PL60PLUST (I'm based in the US; it's probably unavailable in SG). The steam was so much more powerful; creating microfoam was now much easier even without adjustable steam pressure but I noticed that my previous grind settings on the EC155 was causing channeling on the Lelit.
Most recently, I've moved on to single shots and found out how difficult the stock single basket was to use even with the finest grind setting. I switched to a La Marzocco single basket, applied nutation (which allowed me to grind coarser) and managed to get decent shots with just 7g of beans.
Last month I tried 100% Robusta cappucinos (Kaapi Royale) and it was pretty good. My newest beans are Haiti Blue. The seller sells beans in 1lb bags, so I've to drink 2x single shots per day to finish the beans in a month before they go too stale.
After learning to make my own coffee, I don't think I can go back to kopitiam coffee or starbucks; they taste burnt to me, plus the feeling of drinking coffee with microfoam and latte art on top is addictive.
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