Bitter Coffee

Lacehim

Welcome to The Coffee Forum Taihara 🙂 Well we have all been there so we totally understand. When I got my first machine I remember nearly throwing it out the window! lol. I went though 2kg and then found out my grinder was to blame. Grrrr. The Smart grinder is pretty easy to use though. I love mine (and it's not messy). Have you thought about training? Someone to show you in your home on your machine some techniques? It worked for me when I was just starting out. I would personally start out with a 5cent piece test to make sure you got the dose right. Just place one on your tamped coffee and lock it in. You should end up with a feint impression on the coffee puck. Take not of how that looks with your tamper on top so you can do it that way over and over. Tamp pressure isn't all that critical just as long as it's level, and your consistent in my opinion. As DB said about you can grind finer to compensate. What ever feels comfortable, there's no point aiming for 15kg tamp if it's hurting your arm. 🙂 Are you using the double basket? It's going to take you a few bags of coffee to get it down pat, but once you do you'll look back and think what was I worrying about. Post up a few photos of videos if you want. We are all here to help 🙂

Taihara

Again thanks all for your kind suggestions and comments. Just to clarify, I'm now using about 12 Kgs tamping pressure, because as some of you have suggested, 15 - 20 Kgs may be a little excessive... and possibly would require gym membership... But prior to that I'd estimate I may have been at the 5 Kgs level. Anyway, the difference has been worth the results. As for the suggestion of sugar, I do sugar my expresso shots, but not when I drink milk based beverages. I'm also gong to try the 5 cent piece suggestion on my next series of "experiments". They won't be today though... I estimate I pulled about 40 shots yesterday and though I only had a sip of each, I was still buzzing at 2.00AM this morning... So having a rest day today. 🙂 Thankyou all for your many "Welcomes".

Dry_bean

Taihara wrote:

Again thanks all for your kind suggestions and comments. Just to clarify, I'm now using about 12 Kgs tamping pressure, because as some of you have suggested, 15 - 20 Kgs may be a little excessive... and possibly would require gym membership... But prior to that I'd estimate I may have been at the 5 Kgs level. Anyway, the difference has been worth the results. As for the suggestion of sugar, I do sugar my expresso shots, but not when I drink milk based beverages. I'm also gong to try the 5 cent piece suggestion on my next series of "experiments". They won't be today though... I estimate I pulled about 40 shots yesterday and though I only had a sip of each, I was still buzzing at 2.00AM this morning... So having a rest day today. 🙂 Thankyou all for your many "Welcomes".

Sounds like your well on the road mate, keep us informed.

Moon

Dry bean. wrote:

Sounds like your well on the road mate

Crikey Db .. if he keeps up practicing at the 40 a day rate .. blokes on a mission .. as we all are 😉

Dry_bean

My mission is to enjoy the fruits of my labour.

Moon

My mission is to have good quality coffees available to enjoy 24/7 .. 365 days of the year. Hanging out on this forum for a while ensures this mission is accomplished

Brett_H

How are we going Taihara? Any news yet?

askthecoffeeguy

my advice would be to go to the supermarket and buy a kg or 2 of the most rubbish beans that you can find - and to put these through your grinder but with no intention of drinking them with new grinders you need to take the edge off the blades with a bit of use - to wear them in a little, this will help with consistency with the grind, otherwise you're constantly adjusting the grind to compensate for the newness of the blades just a thought cheers, P

Brett_H

And a good one Pat! All of my grinder have been wildly inconsistent after burr changes from Lux all the way up to the 83mm A8!

SyniTh

Hi guys, my coffee is bitter too. I'm also a newbie when it comes to semi automatics. Im using the barista express from breville. Should I be programming it to 25 sec?

Brett_H

Hi mate and welcome! Semi-autos are a bit different. Il wait for an experienced member to help out here before chiming in with advice that is academic but possibly misleading!