I cannot overstate my appreciation that the "but HOW do you know that you have the right BEANS for you?" segment didn't have ANY kind of sponsored plug for any specific website. We need more Jameses in the world.
You may or may not know but James is the co-founder and director of a London coffee company which he never mentions on his channel. You see the occasional "side on" glimpse of a bag of their coffee (like in this video) which you would only recognise if you already buy their coffee.
To all avid watchers of James's videos all this won't be news but really like the flowchart thinking which is a nice ordered way to exclude variables until you find what is at fault. You can easily apply it to other ways of making coffee. A really practical and logical way to think about it as a process. I can imagine many people starting out will find it helpful.
As someone early in my own home espresso journey (got started last year) one beginner-plus tip I'd give is don't stop drinking espresso in shops (if you're lucky enough to live in or regularly travel to a place where good espresso in shops is an option). When I was first getting going I found myself getting in to a "we have espresso at home" mentality but about a month in realized I missed the coffee shop experience, and when I started getting espresso from shops time to time I found having that baseline really helpful to QCing what I was making at home, intially because it pushed me to keep improving past an “I guess this is fine” plateau then later because in that never-ending quest for "that next bit better" I hadn't realized that I was actually getting to that "better than the shop down the street" point mentioned at the end of the video!
Love this insight! Something I learned too late is that personal taste is crucial. Humans experience bitterness differently (genetically some are less able to tolerate bitterness), and we develop our taste buds from birth and on. A pro might say they've brewed the perfect cup, but if I don't like how it tastes - well it doesn't mean I'm a plebe, lol. The lack of snooty judgement in James' videos is refreshing and has helped me feel less "judged" for liking what I like. James provides tips for achieving what we all prefer. ☺️
@@kg-Whatthehelliseventhat Not regularly, I'm blessed to live in a place where the trap water is pretty close to what you'd want on a lot of variables, and while I've fiddled with some minor tweaks nothing seems to make enough of a difference to be worth bothering at this point in my journey
Changing grinders made all the difference in the world. I was using the OXO grinder and have since upgraded to the Niche Zero and the Commandante C40. My espressos are now delicious. When I first started, I had no idea how important the grinder was, but then, I watched your video for beginners about the importance of uniformity of the grind. Thank you for that.
Same here! I started off with a cheap ceramic burr handgrinder, which was only good enough for pressurized baskets. Upgraded to an electric burr grinder, but it didn't have fine enough settings to really dial in (close but never *amazing*). Upgraded finally to a Eureka Mignon Specialita and it massively improved my espresso. Grinder is soooo important.
I suspect my taste buds are not up to the job. But I am overjoyed for all of you. Just because I know my world view is censored and that I can't experience the world you do, I am still over joyed that you get to get such pleasure. I have no idea how your tools compare to a Gaggia Bean to Cup, but I am currently often to Ill to get even that. So I drink Douwe Egberts Gold and love it! I suspect James is right they are using Vanilla as mask for bitterness or flavour enhancer. I don't care it works, I have drunk from Truck stops in the middle of night in Germany to converations with friends 40 years gone and everytime its good. Having said that I hear that bubblegum ice cream flavour makes coffee taste like liquid suffering according to this Guy I know, mind you it replaced coffee ice cream as his favorite food. And Coffee is definitely my favorite flavour of ice cream, So I have got to try buttergum flavour ice cream. I normally make ice cream with egg yolks & cream & an emulsifier to help to keep the air in. Can you guys suggest a good, strong, medium or light roast? It has to be strong as freezing tends to reduce flavour transport in the mouth and I am not using sugar only fat to create the mouthfeal. Any ideas (and no, not other sweetners)?
You are a blessing to the coffee world James, thank you for all the dedication and helping people out. Been brewing for 20 years now (of course still haven't mastered the craft of perfect espresso, who has?) and would love to have had this video in the start :)
When this guy inevitably starts a kind of university I'll be the first to sign up. Everything is explained in clarity and made easy and fun to understand and follow. Love it!
This is like saying I want Bill Nye to start a college, he's the guy that inspires you to go learn from real experts! (ie people who don't make content online for a job)
A biological note for the end of the flowchart: "Problems with the equipment" can include the user's wetware! Peculiarities around olfaction and the perception of flavor can be hints toward all kinds of fun conditions like pregnancy, being a supertaster, certain cancers, epilepsy, or Long COVID. In my experience, this is particularly true for the more complex flavor chemistry you'll find in beautiful coffees and wines. If the entire flowchart is in perfect order but something still seems off, it's always worth checking in with any new signals your body is giving you, and possibly having a chat with a healthcare provider. Source: a wine career, personal experience with taste changes during thyroid cancer and Long COVID Good health and good coffee to everyone in the comments! James, thank you for showing us so many new things to love about being alive. May you never experience problems between your keyboard and your chair.
Thank you James! You inspired me to get a Gaggia Classic Evo Pro (refurb). Making my wife lattes daily and our marriage has never been stronger. Still sorting out workflow and troubleshooting so this is perfect
Relatively inexpensive and worthwhile upgrades for the Gaggia Classic are a less stiff overpressure valve (OPV) spring, and a silicone gasket for the group head. A bottomless portafilter basket is nice too but more $ and looks, less necessary. Unless the Evo Pro changed the Gaggia Classics ship with a 15 bar OPV which is too high.
I just got a clearance machine for $35, a budget grinder and upgraded from the pressurized basket my machine came with to a bottomless basket and am just now working on really dialing in my settings. This video is immensely helpful!
Thank you James.. haven’t used mine in years and this refresher course is helpful to this old girl with a brain injury. Most of us are just everyday people not baristas🤗
Having recently refurbed my uncles' old gaggia classic from 1999 and paired it with a Barazza Encore, I'm grateful for this to refine what I'm doing with them. Results generally acceptable but definitely noticed the difference when my office colleague brought in supermarket beans. She's complained that I'm making her a weird coffee person though as before we started working together she'd never weigh coffee or consider buying Specialty grade. Sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm surreptitiously spreading the Good Word of Good Coffee.
This is such a great guide! I would LOVE to have something similar for pourover, I have several family members who are just getting into it and the pourover equivalent to this video would be a TREMENDOUS resource for them!
I purchased a Sage (Breville) Barista Express and spent what must be in total, 2 days straight watching videos, yours included, for “dialing in coffee”, I quickly learned not to drink the whole cup when testing after a sleepless night 😂. So, after buying beans from a local roaster and using them within 3 weeks of the roast date, I thought “what could go wrong”. Well, everything. I used medium roast, single origin beans from Papua New Guinea AND the DR of Congo (separate bags of course), I weighed 18g, used the integrated grinder on the machine, managed to get the grind ok after 3 attempts, but the coffee tasted awful even after getting the flow right, the time right and the 1:2 ratio right. I stood there tweaking the weight, the grind, water temperature, you name it, I tweaked it. After using my two bags of beans and still not getting it right, I used beans I had been bought for Christmas which are Lofbergs single origin Brazil coffee beans. Without much hope, I weighed, grind and brewed. Without little expectation I tasted. Wow! Amazing! It wasn’t “perfect”, but very drinkable. My conclusion is to avoid beans from Papua New Guinea and the DR of Congo as clearly those beans are not my taste 🤢😬😬 I’m still on a steep learning curve and scurrying around the espresso rabbit hole, but now I know I can brew drinkable coffee, I won’t be disheartened and will try Brazilian beans from my local roaster. Keep up the good work o weird coffee person 😊
The universe must love me, just got my first espresso machine last night. I got the new Profitec Move and DF83V grinder, they are amazing. I've been watching many of your videos over the years and was able to pull pretty good espresso shots on my first try. Now to dial in the perfection! Thank you for the perfectly timed and helpful video!
The whole intro is SUCH an important topic that no one ever mentions or talks about to new people in the espresso world. I have had friends that legit bought a new machine , and have been making espresso on it with older, pre ground coffee from grocery store. No wonder they told me they didn’t really like espresso, but felt they needed to drink it because they bought this fancy machine! lol I introduced them to a few shots I made at home, and they were blown away how “better “ it was. I mean, imagine drinking sour and bitter espresso every day, and not even knowing it’s bad? lol
@@vsjonas14 So... I have a Gaggia Classic. I was also struggling with shots that were often unbearably sour. I don't know if you have the same issue as me, but in my case it was "temperature too low" kind of problem, and it's not exactly straightforward to get temperature consistency with stock Gaggia Classic/Pro. Ultimately, I resolved it by installing the PID kit from Shades of Coffee, but you might be able to achieve good results by just getting into a consistent "ritual" when pulling shots. Try googling "gaggia temperature surfing".
@@vsjonas14 If you're struggling with sour shots but don't want to grind finer, try extending the ratio (so 2.5:1 instead of 2:1 for example). It's a great way of increasing extraction without always grinding finer.
I have that combo and found that a GOOD basket made a huge difference to the consistency and taste of the coffee out. A VST basket is a cheap upgrade that gets good results (and a bottomless portafilter) will be rewarding in how it improves your coffee!
Gaggia is always a great choice! Had mine for 5 years now, completely modded it with pre infusion, pressure gauge and PID. Genuinely get better coffee at home than any coffee shop
your videos have helped me visualize my own "journey" through the world of espresso, and your insight is very helpful. approaching something like espresso workflow with the openness to learn and experiment has been a game changer. while it is frustrating at times it is incredibly rewarding to pull good shots of espresso.
I appreciated the puzzled gestures towards the Sage/Breville Bambino. I had many of those moments learning to dial in my espresso early on with that machine. Still getting there with this process nearly 18 months into my espresso journey so don't forget that this is a journey and not an instant result. Enjoy it, the results are well worth it.
Bitterness and sourness is also linked to over and under extraction. The same coffee could taste sour or bitter depending on how much it has been extracted.
I think he didn’t talk about extraction in the sour/bitter step because the recipe step before already should catch this - if you’re pulling a shot in 15 or 50 seconds, or you’re not getting the right liquid weight out, then you have an extraction problem there to solve for without even tasting it
Omgg!! This video is a gift! I've just got my first espresso machine, and I needed help on perfecting or getting the espresso taste right! Thank you so much, James!!
I was proud to know a lot of this already and put that squarely down to the knowledge you've imparted in previous videos. You're the best resource for this wonderful hobby and passion!
This would have been so useful about 12 months ago when I got my first machine! Thankfully I managed to piece all of this together from various sources, but this is an excellent summary.
Thank you for another informative and interesting episode. You are very pleasing to listen to and learn. Relevance and sense is what keeps me tuning in to you for years. Keep up the good work and greetings from Singapore.
Hey James, just wanted to drop some praise on the look and feel of the video: really nice in terms of lighting, exposure and set. Now get yourself a little rim light and it's perfect ;)
This is literally me opening up a Profitec Pro 600 and spendi g all last night trying to dial in my espresso and getting discouraged. I really appreciate your videos!
This video was made for me, specifically me! Very happy with my new little DeLonghi. Santa also brought me an extremely delicious local roast blend. I still need a decently accurate scales and a proper grinder but for now, I'm thoroughly enjoying my espressos and cappuccinos!
If you use a pressurised basket as many Delonghi machines do, make sure to skip the tampering part. Pressurised baskets make up their own pressure (hence the name), so tampering the coffee will ruin your drink. I struggled with that longer than I would admit while I was still using my Dedica.
Just got myself a Gaggia Classic Pro and on the lead up to receiving it earlier this week have been deeply immersed in the madhouse that is the world of coffee and all the rabbit holes that come with it. Been watching James’s videos for years regarding other coffee making methods and have to say I wish I went straight to this video as a starting point.
I had no idea that distilled and purified water could be bad in an espresso machine. It's all I've been using to avoid the frequent descaling maintenance. I'll be exploring other options now. Thanks James.
Yes, if the water PPM is sufficiently low it can corrode the inside of the machine. You can buy kits from companies like Third Wave Water to remineralise it to ideal levels.
Distilled water has so little in the way of dissolved minerals that it can leach them out of the softer components inside the machine - think hoses, valves, seals etc. This means that instead of calcium ions and other relatively harmless minerals, you'll actually be getting various plasticisers which aren't great for you and shortening the lifetime of those components (they'll tend towards going brittle faster)
When I bought my machine (Lelit) I had a super cheap grinder that allowed me to reach only 2 bars of pressure (!!!). I was so discouraged, I thought I had made a mistake. Then I bought a good grinder and my Life changed ☺️
Brew temperature makes such a big difference. I almost threw away my entire bag of Rwanda single origin coffee. Until I increased the brew temp and made some of my best espresso ever!
Mr. Hoffmann, thank you! This is an ideal overview/starting point video which I can recommend to others for the start of the espresso journey AND your links to the more in-depth topics.
James, your talk about brown flavor coffees perfectly describe why I chose what I chose for my french press. Coffee is expensive, too, so I don't feel like exploring any further, I struck gold on my 3rd attempt and I'm fine
I’ve learned so much from this channel and absolutely love it! As someone who hasn’t ventured into the espresso world yet, I’d really appreciate more videos on brewing amazing drip coffee. Thank you! 😊
I'm at a strange, but fun phase of the journey. I don't have a real espresso machine, but a Tassimo with some recently bought reusable pods and a new K6 Kingrinder. The grinder came a whole 30 days after the pods, so I was "guess-grinding" the beans in a stupid Bullet processor. I didn't know what consistency to target and most of the time made poor shots with hardly any liquid because the grounds were too fine and choked out the machine. When I got the K6, the problem was instantly solved using the recommended espresso settings on the dial, which were more coarse than my awful Bullet coffee grounds. Despite watching endless amounts of videos over months and learning what I might buy for a real espresso machine, the espresso I make in my ridiculous Tassimo is so enjoyable that I'm not inclined to buy a real machine yet. Nevertheless, I love these videos with extra tips I can catalog and learn from for future purchases, which is the reason I got a decent handgrinder in the first place. I'll also be avoiding pressurized baskets if I ever buy a real machine. There are some decent budget machines that come with them, but I've also learned that bottomless porta filters can be bought separately to replace them. The Casabrews machines seem decent for a beginner like me.
I cheated as well, buying a second hand gaggia bean to cup machine but the output has been fabulous everytime. OK I buy ¿Ille? Coffee. But its way better than Tassimo, Nespresso, etc
When I bought my coffee machine years ago. I went through a lot of the Illy beans, and then Lavaza. They were nice, but then I looked on Amazon and found Pelican Rogue. I’ve gone through kgs of that brand of coffee. Now I’m really happy with Austrian brand Der Franz. Especially the Espresso and their Caramel beans. Nice video as always James.👍🏻
I took me about 6 months of experimenting with all the variables to learn that channeling was the main culprit. My two fixes were: - Grind directly into the portafilter so that the majority of the fines were at the top of the puck. - Use a distribution device I made from a wine cork, 6 acupuncture needles, and 2 tie wraps. (cost = $0)
I'm getting deep into matcha tea, and weirdly enough, I think this channel has sparked it. Yes, I know this channel only talks about Coffee. It's espresso basically, just with that extra boost you'd usually do a double espresso for
Hilariously I’ve been trying to step my my espresso game and didn’t realize how bad the pressure baskets are and I just ordered a new porta filter. This video came at literally the perfect time to up my espresso game
This was great. I've never made espresso at home or even wanted to because it just seems so complicated (and I really enjoy filter coffee so much), however this video makes it a bit more approachable.
Worked a job near a commercial coffee roaster. They packaged coffee for hotel room coffee makers. I stopped one day and asked if I could buy some green beans. The reply was, “We have COFFEE not green beans!” There was two people in that office, the one further away knew exactly what I wanted. She looked me in the eye, threw her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter and rapidly exited the office. I was at first stunned by the answer but after the stifled exit I was nearly ROFLOL. But instead, with a supreme effort, I thanked the nice person and turned to exit. I sat in my truck laughing to tears…. I can only imagine the conversation in the office!
Hi James, great video and a great way of 'debugging' bad coffee. I went trough this process with a couple friends of mine who got into this fantastic rabbit hole. I really liked the part with the correct description of sour and bitter. Drawing comparisons with juice or chocolate is very helpful. What I have also experienced twice is that I went through the process with my friend and was even able to convince them to get good water, but the coffee still wasn't good or wasn't consistently good. In two cases, it was ultimately the reduction of the brewing pressure from 12 to 9 bar that helped. You made this clear back then in a comparison video of espresso machines and unfortunately this still seems to be a problem. I wanted to emphasize this as an additional parameter to consider.
Bought my espresso machine in 2021 during a despresso moment (study phase) and never got around to figuring out why the espresso shots are sour... ended up making flat whites all the time to mask the taste, but now I'm gonna fix it for good🤓
I really like my flat whites. Bought a coffee advent calendar from one of the decaf experiment roasters and I get a new taste every 2-3 days. I can taste a lot of diversity between every coffee, I try, so I think I'm not prepping bad espressos. Though I don't feel like they are objectively repulsive, I find them a bit too intense-tasting. I like dark chocolate, but it's like I'm tasting a whole bar of expensive dark chocolate (you know like those with bits of cherry and orange in them) in a sip. If you remember this comment down the line, do tell whether you've switched over to espressos after figuring it out and who was the culprit!
Thanks for the video. If I knew this a year ago I'd have saved myself weeks of grief. I finally learned I like super dark roasts to the point of the oil on the beans. I kept mistaking too sour for too bitter and went lighter and lighter. Now I know I managed to get a coffee recipe that tastes good for me. I also had to ditch the ceramic burr grinder for a good one just to start.
I believe there should be more discussion about coffee roast styles and taste preferences. It took me years to realize this, but it was a significant step forward in my home brewing.
Hey James, thanks so much for this video. I've just gotten a Flair Classic, and a 1zpresso J-ultra, and I'm really enjoying myself. Thanks for giving me all the info I needed to get started without any extra fluff
This was a fabulous informative video, thank you! I would love for you to do a full home set up video showing a decent machine, a decent grinder etc I am about to have a change of lifestyle and want to get some good advice before I spend a fortune on the wrong stuff! I am after a machine that can do great espresso as well as milk drinks for my family 🤞🏻👍🏻
I don't brew espresso, I do coffee press. But, something I've run into recently is teaching myself the ins and outs of a burr grinder. I had a very low-tech grinder for years, Black & Decker, $12 CAD, but I could always jerry-rig it and with my experimentation, I knew to grind for 1/16th of a second. For Christmas though, my mom got me a very nice Cuisinart burr grinder and the first few times I brewed, it came out viscous and was 3x stronger than normal. I'm slowly experimenting, trying to find my ideal grind setting. It's a new challenge I'm kind of excited about.
I've learned so much from my Flair espresso maker by making too sour or too bitter shots. Inadvertantly of course, and by drinking "bad" coffee I've learned what I like in an espresso.
All I've got is a french press but I still watched this on my lunch break 😅 He makes everything sound so interesting, it's exciting to learn about something completely new to me.
you are super knowledgable, very easy to listen to and make amazing content for espresso dinkers, but as a non-espresso drinker i'd love to see more filter coffee content
6:55 a useful puckprep tip : make sure your basket is clean and dry. If you use a dirty and wet basket, you're going to have variable (and infuriatingly confusing) results.
Hi James - this is a badly needed video! I think most Sage barista owners, like me, have struggled with sour espresso. The only thing I haven’t tried on your list is the water….fingers crossed! Maybe a suggestion for future videos is to engage some viewers and actually solve their sour espresso making for real (either invite them to your set, or film on location!), maybe viewers with popular machines like the sage barista range? The flow diagram is great but I think seeing it work in a real setting will help people massively. I for one feel I’ve done everything (except the water) and am getting pretty peeved with sour espresso! I don’t think I’m alone….. happy to volunteer to be your first sour espresso SOS!
Hey James, I'm a big fan of your videos from which I've learned a lot and keep on a regular playlist. I would like to sugest you take a look at something that casually happened to me and you might find interesting. Lately I've started to roast small batches of coffee at home, for my own consumption, some of it I've stored in bags with valvs and some vacuum sealed, if I though it took longer to open the bag. I've noticed a batch I had forgot, vacuum sealed, on the back of the cabinet and it had maintained vacuum (or negative pressure), for the two months I forgot it. This made me question the amount of CO2 released, as it seems to be very little, but the big thing was that the taste had massively improved. It's like it had aged, but in a very good way, which I'm hypothisising is due to the lack of O2. I'm now on the process of trying to repeat this. Though you wold like to give it a go too. Cheers!
James. I cheated and bought a Gaggia Bean to Cup second hand off ebay. I bought a Gaggia because you worked for them and I have seen Gaggia's wherever I have been on this planet. It arrived filthy, so, because I have Chronic Exhaustion it got left for months, till a kind friend downloaded the manual, worked out how to clean it. And as a result various instant cup machines got sold on Ebay. The coffee is great, everytime, we decided we wanted to have a decaff available so we looked on ebay for another Gaggia like our existing one and now we have decaff. I just wish we had something like a multifeed for a 3D printer so we could feed multiple beans to the cup so we could buy types of beans & roasts. But thnk you James for working for Gaggia and thankyou Gaggia for such precision engineering. Best Wishes
This is why I bought a KINGrinder K6 hand grinder: 1. If I and/or a hopeful future S.O. get into espresso, I have a GOOD, ADJUSTABLE grinder with an appropriate ground shape that will cover it. 2. I have an electric grinder at the office that's frequently used for standard coffee, and now I have a grinder at home for very occasional use or guests.
The pressure is a thing that also might cause unpleasant bitterness. Even tough it may be impossible or hard to adjust, I thing it is with to mention. Why I'm writing comment about that? Because I faced this problem with quite expensive machine that you may expect to be adjusted right straight from the box. Anyway, appreciate your videos, you learned me a lot!
Great video! Since you asked perhaps the only thing not spoken on this video is culturally per country what is considered a good tasting espresso. The taste palete in USA, Italy, Cuba, Middle East, UK, Brazil is different and it varies by population and culture. The other subject would be coffee beans by country/region, similar to wine a Malbec from Mendoza Argentina may taste better than a Malbec from Cahors France. Many could argue that is not true, however coffee is no different except is not in a bottle and we are in control of that great liquid shot called espresso!
I just got an older model De'Longhi machine for free (non working), that was $800 back in the day, and seem (time will tell re longevity) to have gotten it working with two hours of cleaning and descaling. Quite excited to get into espresso. The machine (ESAM3300) seems to be well liked and reliable, although it is automatic, so there's only so much tweaking I can do. But free beats spending a bunch of money on something I might or might not like, so I have absolutely zero complaints. Plan to play around with espresso, milk drinks, and espresso cocktails. Heck yeah!
Thank you very much for your expertise, James! I'm still at the dialing in my coffee grind and proper puck prep stages, but I'm getting a pretty good cuppa! I may rewatch this again for times and flow rates, but I'm getting there. I haven't had to throw anything away yet which is promising. I hope you're doing well!
This comes JUST at the right time, as my first espresso machine is about to be delivered tomorrow. In theory I think I know a thing or two about making espresso on a machine (thanks to RUclips), I LOVE the espresso I get out of my Flair. So I guess it‘s about time to take that step further 🤗
Im fortunate enough to have very good coffee roasters with a cafe local. I never was a fan of sweet/sour coffees and hedged towards chocolate/malt flavours. But these guys do excellent spicey, floral, herbal flavours, and a particularly nice strawberry Mexican single origin. After getting their blends right at home I tried the Mexico Nayarita. I couldn’t get it right. Always a touch sour compared to in house. But that depends of barista. The day I went in for my next batch, this time a chocolate Colombia Timana, they had the Mexican on and the barista, or work flow volume, resulted in a coffee closer to my at home attempts😂. Enjoy the experience ❤
I remember when I purchased my Sage (Breville) Oracle Touch some years back and being frustrated for a couple days with terrible coffee. Ended up realizing my "fancy / gourmet" coffee beans from Waitrose were the culprit. I can't stress enough how important it is to have fresh roasted beans! You can have the best coffee beans in the world, but if they were roasted months ago and has since sat on the shelf at a store, you're not going to have a pleasant experience. Found a small UK roaster that roasted to order and typically shipped the day of roasting. Solved all of my problems! The only downside of owning this quality machine is it has ruined having espresso drinks away from home. I find 80% of the time I can make better at home vs most high street coffee shops.
I work as a wine educator (sparkling wine) and I see a lot of parallels. Every change is interconnected. I run my water through a Zero Water filter or use distilled and add Third Wave Water (recommended by La Marzocco) for balance. The Gaggia rep in the US offers Zoom presentations to dial in. Five shots later (and a bit caffeinated) I understood how to dial in.
Pro tip: Be sure to look for coffees that have been air fried in beef tallow
" Wake Me Up Beef -fore you Go Go ! "
That should be their slogan.
Is that actually a thing?
I hope that's not common because that sounds disgusting
@@Cimone90 James recently did a video about that, and it's pretty hilarious
@Wellan38 amazing. Ill watch it.
I cannot overstate my appreciation that the "but HOW do you know that you have the right BEANS for you?" segment didn't have ANY kind of sponsored plug for any specific website. We need more Jameses in the world.
You may or may not know but James is the co-founder and director of a London coffee company which he never mentions on his channel. You see the occasional "side on" glimpse of a bag of their coffee (like in this video) which you would only recognise if you already buy their coffee.
@@OriginalgEd Isn't he the owner of Prufrock Coffee in London as well?
@@Angel_EU34 I don't personally know if he's the "owner" but certainly a director, yes
Yep, he's the proud owner of Hoffee
Which manufacturer is he referring to that built their own website to get people good coffee?
I said it before and I’ll say it again, the people who work on sound for your videos do an incredible job!
Okay, now I gotta wonder where all my clipping is coming from... you aren't getting any?
@@daxtheducknotaffiliated I didn't notice any
Agreed!
But how can it be any good without a large black Rode microphone on a swivel arm dominating 50% of the frame?
@Mark-m6j8g 🤣🤣
I don't even order espresso in cafes, let alone want to make it myself, and I'm still going to watch this avidly...
i dont even drink coffee and still watch every video he makes lol
What’s coffee? I just like his glasses
So you've never ordered a latte even? Because they have espresso in them
I actively despise coffee
Yet these videos are addictive
@classica1fungus I have, but I don't if there's a pour over option
He posts this shortly after i finally got an espresso machine. Bless you james.
To all avid watchers of James's videos all this won't be news but really like the flowchart thinking which is a nice ordered way to exclude variables until you find what is at fault. You can easily apply it to other ways of making coffee. A really practical and logical way to think about it as a process. I can imagine many people starting out will find it helpful.
I'd love to have this as a poster
Totally agree!!
@@PiTech314 Yes!!
As someone early in my own home espresso journey (got started last year) one beginner-plus tip I'd give is don't stop drinking espresso in shops (if you're lucky enough to live in or regularly travel to a place where good espresso in shops is an option). When I was first getting going I found myself getting in to a "we have espresso at home" mentality but about a month in realized I missed the coffee shop experience, and when I started getting espresso from shops time to time I found having that baseline really helpful to QCing what I was making at home, intially because it pushed me to keep improving past an “I guess this is fine” plateau then later because in that never-ending quest for "that next bit better" I hadn't realized that I was actually getting to that "better than the shop down the street" point mentioned at the end of the video!
Love this insight! Something I learned too late is that personal taste is crucial. Humans experience bitterness differently (genetically some are less able to tolerate bitterness), and we develop our taste buds from birth and on. A pro might say they've brewed the perfect cup, but if I don't like how it tastes - well it doesn't mean I'm a plebe, lol. The lack of snooty judgement in James' videos is refreshing and has helped me feel less "judged" for liking what I like. James provides tips for achieving what we all prefer. ☺️
Do you make up brew specific water?
@@kg-Whatthehelliseventhat Not regularly, I'm blessed to live in a place where the trap water is pretty close to what you'd want on a lot of variables, and while I've fiddled with some minor tweaks nothing seems to make enough of a difference to be worth bothering at this point in my journey
I just know I can make a better coffee than almost any coffee shop haha
James also mentioned in another video to also occasionally appreciate bad coffee. It gives you the contrast for really good coffee.
Changing grinders made all the difference in the world. I was using the OXO grinder and have since upgraded to the Niche Zero and the Commandante C40. My espressos are now delicious. When I first started, I had no idea how important the grinder was, but then, I watched your video for beginners about the importance of uniformity of the grind. Thank you for that.
@@Konarcoffee Ahahaha.
Same here! I started off with a cheap ceramic burr handgrinder, which was only good enough for pressurized baskets. Upgraded to an electric burr grinder, but it didn't have fine enough settings to really dial in (close but never *amazing*). Upgraded finally to a Eureka Mignon Specialita and it massively improved my espresso. Grinder is soooo important.
I’ve got the exact same two! Commandante C40 was my first decent grinder and the step up to filter coffee was huge
@ When I don’t have the time and energy, I use the Niche, but the Commandante is my favorite.
I suspect my taste buds are not up to the job. But I am overjoyed for all of you. Just because I know my world view is censored and that I can't experience the world you do, I am still over joyed that you get to get such pleasure.
I have no idea how your tools compare to a Gaggia Bean to Cup, but I am currently often to Ill to get even that. So I drink Douwe Egberts Gold and love it! I suspect James is right they are using Vanilla as mask for bitterness or flavour enhancer. I don't care it works, I have drunk from Truck stops in the middle of night in Germany to converations with friends 40 years gone and everytime its good.
Having said that I hear that bubblegum ice cream flavour makes coffee taste like liquid suffering according to this Guy I know, mind you it replaced coffee ice cream as his favorite food. And Coffee is definitely my favorite flavour of ice cream, So I have got to try buttergum flavour ice cream.
I normally make ice cream with egg yolks & cream & an emulsifier to help to keep the air in.
Can you guys suggest a good, strong, medium or light roast? It has to be strong as freezing tends to reduce flavour transport in the mouth and I am not using sugar only fat to create the mouthfeal.
Any ideas (and no, not other sweetners)?
James showing his British heritage by starting off the taste discussion with the dominant flavour of British cuisine! Brown.
50 nuances of brown and beige
A cuisine so brown they conquered the world in search of colour and flavour.
Humour so dated I might take it down to the lab for carbon testing...
Coffee, chocolate, gravy, bovril, tea, marmite. All the best food and drinks are brown!
Ok maybe not the last one...
You are a blessing to the coffee world James, thank you for all the dedication and helping people out. Been brewing for 20 years now (of course still haven't mastered the craft of perfect espresso, who has?) and would love to have had this video in the start :)
When this guy inevitably starts a kind of university I'll be the first to sign up. Everything is explained in clarity and made easy and fun to understand and follow. Love it!
He does have a book! It's called "How to Make the Best Coffee at Home."
This is like saying I want Bill Nye to start a college, he's the guy that inspires you to go learn from real experts! (ie people who don't make content online for a job)
His book is outstanding.
A biological note for the end of the flowchart: "Problems with the equipment" can include the user's wetware!
Peculiarities around olfaction and the perception of flavor can be hints toward all kinds of fun conditions like pregnancy, being a supertaster, certain cancers, epilepsy, or Long COVID. In my experience, this is particularly true for the more complex flavor chemistry you'll find in beautiful coffees and wines.
If the entire flowchart is in perfect order but something still seems off, it's always worth checking in with any new signals your body is giving you, and possibly having a chat with a healthcare provider.
Source: a wine career, personal experience with taste changes during thyroid cancer and Long COVID
Good health and good coffee to everyone in the comments! James, thank you for showing us so many new things to love about being alive. May you never experience problems between your keyboard and your chair.
Thank you James! You inspired me to get a Gaggia Classic Evo Pro (refurb). Making my wife lattes daily and our marriage has never been stronger. Still sorting out workflow and troubleshooting so this is perfect
Stick to the coffee, she'll master the workflow and trouble shooting, trust me.
@@ellenriknah my wife got hooked to lattes and I got her a 3200 and I have a Gaggia Pro aint nobody got time for that 😂
😅.. our marriage has never been stronger...
My wife hates coffee. I'm glad you and yours can enjoy it together.
Relatively inexpensive and worthwhile upgrades for the Gaggia Classic are a less stiff overpressure valve (OPV) spring, and a silicone gasket for the group head. A bottomless portafilter basket is nice too but more $ and looks, less necessary.
Unless the Evo Pro changed the Gaggia Classics ship with a 15 bar OPV which is too high.
I just got a clearance machine for $35, a budget grinder and upgraded from the pressurized basket my machine came with to a bottomless basket and am just now working on really dialing in my settings. This video is immensely helpful!
Was it a cooks essentials by any chance? 20:22
Thank you James.. haven’t used mine in years and this refresher course is helpful to this old girl with a brain injury. Most of us are just everyday people not baristas🤗
Literally got mine 3 days ago.. timing could NOT be more perfect! Thank you!!!
The clarification of sour vs bitter just made a huge difference of the quality of espresso I’m now enjoying. Thanks James 🙏🏼
Thank you for not forgetting the ones who need to be taught about basics.
Having recently refurbed my uncles' old gaggia classic from 1999 and paired it with a Barazza Encore, I'm grateful for this to refine what I'm doing with them. Results generally acceptable but definitely noticed the difference when my office colleague brought in supermarket beans. She's complained that I'm making her a weird coffee person though as before we started working together she'd never weigh coffee or consider buying Specialty grade. Sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm surreptitiously spreading the Good Word of Good Coffee.
These overview videos are James reminding us of why he’s the coffee GOAT. Every tip is essential 💪
This is such a great guide! I would LOVE to have something similar for pourover, I have several family members who are just getting into it and the pourover equivalent to this video would be a TREMENDOUS resource for them!
I purchased a Sage (Breville) Barista Express and spent what must be in total, 2 days straight watching videos, yours included, for “dialing in coffee”, I quickly learned not to drink the whole cup when testing after a sleepless night 😂.
So, after buying beans from a local roaster and using them within 3 weeks of the roast date, I thought “what could go wrong”. Well, everything. I used medium roast, single origin beans from Papua New Guinea AND the DR of Congo (separate bags of course), I weighed 18g, used the integrated grinder on the machine, managed to get the grind ok after 3 attempts, but the coffee tasted awful even after getting the flow right, the time right and the 1:2 ratio right. I stood there tweaking the weight, the grind, water temperature, you name it, I tweaked it. After using my two bags of beans and still not getting it right, I used beans I had been bought for Christmas which are Lofbergs single origin Brazil coffee beans. Without much hope, I weighed, grind and brewed. Without little expectation I tasted. Wow! Amazing! It wasn’t “perfect”, but very drinkable.
My conclusion is to avoid beans from Papua New Guinea and the DR of Congo as clearly those beans are not my taste 🤢😬😬
I’m still on a steep learning curve and scurrying around the espresso rabbit hole, but now I know I can brew drinkable coffee, I won’t be disheartened and will try Brazilian beans from my local roaster.
Keep up the good work o weird coffee person 😊
The universe must love me, just got my first espresso machine last night. I got the new Profitec Move and DF83V grinder, they are amazing. I've been watching many of your videos over the years and was able to pull pretty good espresso shots on my first try. Now to dial in the perfection! Thank you for the perfectly timed and helpful video!
Very nice setup, let alone as a first setup! Lots of fun ahead!
The whole intro is SUCH an important topic that no one ever mentions or talks about to new people in the espresso world. I have had friends that legit bought a new machine , and have been making espresso on it with older, pre ground coffee from grocery store. No wonder they told me they didn’t really like espresso, but felt they needed to drink it because they bought this fancy machine! lol
I introduced them to a few shots I made at home, and they were blown away how “better “ it was. I mean, imagine drinking sour and bitter espresso every day, and not even knowing it’s bad? lol
Just got my first machine less than a week ago. Perfect timing! Quite excited to dial in.
Just bought a gaggia classic and a DF64 a few months ago. Still learning how to improve the taste and this is just perfect!!!
With some practise you'll be able to make great espresso with that combo.
I bought the same setup recently. How is it working out? I am struggling with sour shots
@@vsjonas14 So... I have a Gaggia Classic. I was also struggling with shots that were often unbearably sour. I don't know if you have the same issue as me, but in my case it was "temperature too low" kind of problem, and it's not exactly straightforward to get temperature consistency with stock Gaggia Classic/Pro. Ultimately, I resolved it by installing the PID kit from Shades of Coffee, but you might be able to achieve good results by just getting into a consistent "ritual" when pulling shots. Try googling "gaggia temperature surfing".
@@vsjonas14 If you're struggling with sour shots but don't want to grind finer, try extending the ratio (so 2.5:1 instead of 2:1 for example). It's a great way of increasing extraction without always grinding finer.
I have that combo and found that a GOOD basket made a huge difference to the consistency and taste of the coffee out. A VST basket is a cheap upgrade that gets good results (and a bottomless portafilter) will be rewarding in how it improves your coffee!
This couldn't have come at a better time. Just got my first espresso machine and grinder. Been struggling the past few days.
Do you like your type/brand/roast of coffee when it's not espresso ?
Gaggia is always a great choice! Had mine for 5 years now, completely modded it with pre infusion, pressure gauge and PID.
Genuinely get better coffee at home than any coffee shop
your videos have helped me visualize my own "journey" through the world of espresso, and your insight is very helpful. approaching something like espresso workflow with the openness to learn and experiment has been a game changer. while it is frustrating at times it is incredibly rewarding to pull good shots of espresso.
I appreciated the puzzled gestures towards the Sage/Breville Bambino. I had many of those moments learning to dial in my espresso early on with that machine. Still getting there with this process nearly 18 months into my espresso journey so don't forget that this is a journey and not an instant result. Enjoy it, the results are well worth it.
Bitterness and sourness is also linked to over and under extraction. The same coffee could taste sour or bitter depending on how much it has been extracted.
I was surprised he didn’t mention this as he does cover it in his book.
I think he didn’t talk about extraction in the sour/bitter step because the recipe step before already should catch this - if you’re pulling a shot in 15 or 50 seconds, or you’re not getting the right liquid weight out, then you have an extraction problem there to solve for without even tasting it
Omgg!! This video is a gift! I've just got my first espresso machine, and I needed help on perfecting or getting the espresso taste right!
Thank you so much, James!!
A brief 20 min overview is just what we expect from this channel 😅! Sending love and thanks for your hard work!
I was proud to know a lot of this already and put that squarely down to the knowledge you've imparted in previous videos. You're the best resource for this wonderful hobby and passion!
This would have been so useful about 12 months ago when I got my first machine! Thankfully I managed to piece all of this together from various sources, but this is an excellent summary.
Just bought a gcp yesterday after many weeks of watching your videos! This video came out perfectly on time. Thank you!
Thank you for another informative and interesting episode. You are very pleasing to listen to and learn. Relevance and sense is what keeps me tuning in to you for years. Keep up the good work and greetings from Singapore.
Hey James,
just wanted to drop some praise on the look and feel of the video: really nice in terms of lighting, exposure and set. Now get yourself a little rim light and it's perfect ;)
This is literally me opening up a Profitec Pro 600 and spendi g all last night trying to dial in my espresso and getting discouraged. I really appreciate your videos!
This video was made for me, specifically me!
Very happy with my new little DeLonghi. Santa also brought me an extremely delicious local roast blend. I still need a decently accurate scales and a proper grinder but for now, I'm thoroughly enjoying my espressos and cappuccinos!
If you use a pressurised basket as many Delonghi machines do, make sure to skip the tampering part.
Pressurised baskets make up their own pressure (hence the name), so tampering the coffee will ruin your drink.
I struggled with that longer than I would admit while I was still using my Dedica.
@@JMsurYT Wait, what? Do you mean I shouldn't press down the grounded coffee on the basket?
@@FotisAthanasopoulos Yep. It's counterproductive if you have a pressurised basket.
Just got myself a Gaggia Classic Pro and on the lead up to receiving it earlier this week have been deeply immersed in the madhouse that is the world of coffee and all the rabbit holes that come with it. Been watching James’s videos for years regarding other coffee making methods and have to say I wish I went straight to this video as a starting point.
I had no idea that distilled and purified water could be bad in an espresso machine. It's all I've been using to avoid the frequent descaling maintenance. I'll be exploring other options now. Thanks James.
Yes, if the water PPM is sufficiently low it can corrode the inside of the machine. You can buy kits from companies like Third Wave Water to remineralise it to ideal levels.
Distilled water has so little in the way of dissolved minerals that it can leach them out of the softer components inside the machine - think hoses, valves, seals etc. This means that instead of calcium ions and other relatively harmless minerals, you'll actually be getting various plasticisers which aren't great for you and shortening the lifetime of those components (they'll tend towards going brittle faster)
thanks for that info. It was exactly what I was looking for.
When I bought my machine (Lelit) I had a super cheap grinder that allowed me to reach only 2 bars of pressure (!!!). I was so discouraged, I thought I had made a mistake. Then I bought a good grinder and my Life changed ☺️
Brew temperature makes such a big difference. I almost threw away my entire bag of Rwanda single origin coffee. Until I increased the brew temp and made some of my best espresso ever!
Mr. Hoffmann, thank you! This is an ideal overview/starting point video which I can recommend to others for the start of the espresso journey AND your links to the more in-depth topics.
Clear, concise, friendly, very informative. . .This should stand as a classic example of proper presentation.
James, your talk about brown flavor coffees perfectly describe why I chose what I chose for my french press. Coffee is expensive, too, so I don't feel like exploring any further, I struck gold on my 3rd attempt and I'm fine
I’ve learned so much from this channel and absolutely love it! As someone who hasn’t ventured into the espresso world yet, I’d really appreciate more videos on brewing amazing drip coffee. Thank you! 😊
I'm at a strange, but fun phase of the journey. I don't have a real espresso machine, but a Tassimo with some recently bought reusable pods and a new K6 Kingrinder. The grinder came a whole 30 days after the pods, so I was "guess-grinding" the beans in a stupid Bullet processor. I didn't know what consistency to target and most of the time made poor shots with hardly any liquid because the grounds were too fine and choked out the machine. When I got the K6, the problem was instantly solved using the recommended espresso settings on the dial, which were more coarse than my awful Bullet coffee grounds. Despite watching endless amounts of videos over months and learning what I might buy for a real espresso machine, the espresso I make in my ridiculous Tassimo is so enjoyable that I'm not inclined to buy a real machine yet. Nevertheless, I love these videos with extra tips I can catalog and learn from for future purchases, which is the reason I got a decent handgrinder in the first place. I'll also be avoiding pressurized baskets if I ever buy a real machine. There are some decent budget machines that come with them, but I've also learned that bottomless porta filters can be bought separately to replace them. The Casabrews machines seem decent for a beginner like me.
I cheated as well, buying a second hand gaggia bean to cup machine but the output has been fabulous everytime. OK I buy ¿Ille? Coffee. But its way better than Tassimo, Nespresso, etc
@annakissed3226 From what I've seen, Gaggia puts out some good budget espresso machines.
When I bought my coffee machine years ago. I went through a lot of the Illy beans, and then Lavaza. They were nice, but then I looked on Amazon and found Pelican Rogue. I’ve gone through kgs of that brand of coffee. Now I’m really happy with Austrian brand Der Franz. Especially the Espresso and their Caramel beans. Nice video as always James.👍🏻
I took me about 6 months of experimenting with all the variables to learn that channeling was the main culprit. My two fixes were:
- Grind directly into the portafilter so that the majority of the fines were at the top of the puck.
- Use a distribution device I made from a wine cork, 6 acupuncture needles, and 2 tie wraps. (cost = $0)
I'm getting deep into matcha tea, and weirdly enough, I think this channel has sparked it. Yes, I know this channel only talks about Coffee. It's espresso basically, just with that extra boost you'd usually do a double espresso for
Hilariously I’ve been trying to step my my espresso game and didn’t realize how bad the pressure baskets are and I just ordered a new porta filter. This video came at literally the perfect time to up my espresso game
This was great. I've never made espresso at home or even wanted to because it just seems so complicated (and I really enjoy filter coffee so much), however this video makes it a bit more approachable.
Worked a job near a commercial coffee roaster. They packaged coffee for hotel room coffee makers. I stopped one day and asked if I could buy some green beans. The reply was, “We have COFFEE not green beans!” There was two people in that office, the one further away knew exactly what I wanted. She looked me in the eye, threw her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter and rapidly exited the office. I was at first stunned by the answer but after the stifled exit I was nearly ROFLOL. But instead, with a supreme effort, I thanked the nice person and turned to exit. I sat in my truck laughing to tears…. I can only imagine the conversation in the office!
Hi James, great video and a great way of 'debugging' bad coffee. I went trough this process with a couple friends of mine who got into this fantastic rabbit hole. I really liked the part with the correct description of sour and bitter. Drawing comparisons with juice or chocolate is very helpful. What I have also experienced twice is that I went through the process with my friend and was even able to convince them to get good water, but the coffee still wasn't good or wasn't consistently good. In two cases, it was ultimately the reduction of the brewing pressure from 12 to 9 bar that helped. You made this clear back then in a comparison video of espresso machines and unfortunately this still seems to be a problem.
I wanted to emphasize this as an additional parameter to consider.
Bought my espresso machine in 2021 during a despresso moment (study phase) and never got around to figuring out why the espresso shots are sour... ended up making flat whites all the time to mask the taste, but now I'm gonna fix it for good🤓
I really like my flat whites. Bought a coffee advent calendar from one of the decaf experiment roasters and I get a new taste every 2-3 days. I can taste a lot of diversity between every coffee, I try, so I think I'm not prepping bad espressos.
Though I don't feel like they are objectively repulsive, I find them a bit too intense-tasting. I like dark chocolate, but it's like I'm tasting a whole bar of expensive dark chocolate (you know like those with bits of cherry and orange in them) in a sip.
If you remember this comment down the line, do tell whether you've switched over to espressos after figuring it out and who was the culprit!
Lovely encyclopedic review of coffee diagnostic. Every one of those steps has been a part of my life at time or another.
Definitely your best version on getting started with dialing in your espresso.
Been using mine for months. Still watching haha. Always a chance to learn something new!
Love your videos I’m a coffee lover not an expert.
Watching this is better than watching the news😀
I highly recommend a metal mesh screen to put on top of the Puck before brewing. I haven't had a bad brew since.
Thanks for the video. If I knew this a year ago I'd have saved myself weeks of grief. I finally learned I like super dark roasts to the point of the oil on the beans. I kept mistaking too sour for too bitter and went lighter and lighter. Now I know I managed to get a coffee recipe that tastes good for me. I also had to ditch the ceramic burr grinder for a good one just to start.
Didn’t get a machine for Christmas, but did happen to just buy a gaggia and yes… I’m struggling with it 😂 so amazing timing.
Wow I just got my first machine and this video is out just in time. Thanks!
I believe there should be more discussion about coffee roast styles and taste preferences. It took me years to realize this, but it was a significant step forward in my home brewing.
Timing is fantastic - got my lovely Cafelat Robot coffee chap earlier this week!
Hey James, thanks so much for this video. I've just gotten a Flair Classic, and a 1zpresso J-ultra, and I'm really enjoying myself. Thanks for giving me all the info I needed to get started without any extra fluff
This is super informative, thanks James, also hair is looking on point today ❤
This was a fabulous informative video, thank you! I would love for you to do a full home set up video showing a decent machine, a decent grinder etc I am about to have a change of lifestyle and want to get some good advice before I spend a fortune on the wrong stuff! I am after a machine that can do great espresso as well as milk drinks for my family 🤞🏻👍🏻
I don't brew espresso, I do coffee press. But, something I've run into recently is teaching myself the ins and outs of a burr grinder. I had a very low-tech grinder for years, Black & Decker, $12 CAD, but I could always jerry-rig it and with my experimentation, I knew to grind for 1/16th of a second. For Christmas though, my mom got me a very nice Cuisinart burr grinder and the first few times I brewed, it came out viscous and was 3x stronger than normal. I'm slowly experimenting, trying to find my ideal grind setting.
It's a new challenge I'm kind of excited about.
Excellent timing! My espresso machine arrives tomorrow.
I've learned so much from my Flair espresso maker by making too sour or too bitter shots. Inadvertantly of course, and by drinking "bad" coffee I've learned what I like in an espresso.
The timing of this video could not be any better
Thanks, coffee dad! The video side by side comparison of too coarse, right, and too thin is EXACTLY what I needed!!!
A very well-made, detailed, and comprehensive explanation. Thanks James!
Thank so much for sharing your coffee troubleshooting tips in a simple and easy to follow manner.
All I've got is a french press but I still watched this on my lunch break 😅 He makes everything sound so interesting, it's exciting to learn about something completely new to me.
A French press remains one the top ways to make excellent coffee. Have you watched James's video on getting the best out of it?
@Matt_The_Hugenot Yes! Very straightforward and helpful.
I will be getting a Gaggia next month, thanks for this video
James is simply the coffee guru....keep making them vids I love them all
You call customer service and James Hoffman is answering ! 😂 (manage to have time!)
you are super knowledgable, very easy to listen to and make amazing content for espresso dinkers, but as a non-espresso drinker i'd love to see more filter coffee content
6:55 a useful puckprep tip : make sure your basket is clean and dry.
If you use a dirty and wet basket, you're going to have variable (and infuriatingly confusing) results.
15:01 The severity in his voice. It’s like the protagonist being told of the coffee apocalypse at the end of an RPG lol
Seeing you here in a non-Genshin video is like seeing your teacher at the supermarket.
Hi James - this is a badly needed video! I think most Sage barista owners, like me, have struggled with sour espresso. The only thing I haven’t tried on your list is the water….fingers crossed! Maybe a suggestion for future videos is to engage some viewers and actually solve their sour espresso making for real (either invite them to your set, or film on location!), maybe viewers with popular machines like the sage barista range? The flow diagram is great but I think seeing it work in a real setting will help people massively. I for one feel I’ve done everything (except the water) and am getting pretty peeved with sour espresso! I don’t think I’m alone….. happy to volunteer to be your first sour espresso SOS!
Hey James, I'm a big fan of your videos from which I've learned a lot and keep on a regular playlist. I would like to sugest you take a look at something that casually happened to me and you might find interesting. Lately I've started to roast small batches of coffee at home, for my own consumption, some of it I've stored in bags with valvs and some vacuum sealed, if I though it took longer to open the bag. I've noticed a batch I had forgot, vacuum sealed, on the back of the cabinet and it had maintained vacuum (or negative pressure), for the two months I forgot it. This made me question the amount of CO2 released, as it seems to be very little, but the big thing was that the taste had massively improved. It's like it had aged, but in a very good way, which I'm hypothisising is due to the lack of O2. I'm now on the process of trying to repeat this. Though you wold like to give it a go too. Cheers!
James. I cheated and bought a Gaggia Bean to Cup second hand off ebay. I bought a Gaggia because you worked for them and I have seen Gaggia's wherever I have been on this planet.
It arrived filthy, so, because I have Chronic Exhaustion it got left for months, till a kind friend downloaded the manual, worked out how to clean it. And as a result various instant cup machines got sold on Ebay. The coffee is great, everytime, we decided we wanted to have a decaff available so we looked on ebay for another Gaggia like our existing one and now we have decaff. I just wish we had something like a multifeed for a 3D printer so we could feed multiple beans to the cup so we could buy types of beans & roasts.
But thnk you James for working for Gaggia and thankyou Gaggia for such precision engineering.
Best Wishes
This is why I bought a KINGrinder K6 hand grinder:
1. If I and/or a hopeful future S.O. get into espresso, I have a GOOD, ADJUSTABLE grinder with an appropriate ground shape that will cover it.
2. I have an electric grinder at the office that's frequently used for standard coffee, and now I have a grinder at home for very occasional use or guests.
The pressure is a thing that also might cause unpleasant bitterness. Even tough it may be impossible or hard to adjust, I thing it is with to mention. Why I'm writing comment about that? Because I faced this problem with quite expensive machine that you may expect to be adjusted right straight from the box. Anyway, appreciate your videos, you learned me a lot!
Just received my first Electric coffee machine monday ! It's the CM5418 anecdotally. I come from the ROK
Great video! Since you asked perhaps the only thing not spoken on this video is culturally per country what is considered a good tasting espresso. The taste palete in USA, Italy, Cuba, Middle East, UK, Brazil is different and it varies by population and culture. The other subject would be coffee beans by country/region, similar to wine a Malbec from Mendoza Argentina may taste better than a Malbec from Cahors France. Many could argue that is not true, however coffee is no different except is not in a bottle and we are in control of that great liquid shot called espresso!
Just got a Gaggia Classic Evo and discovered your Channel, what a Perfect time for this Video. 🙂↕️
Fantastic video! My on personal rule is roasted coffee (beans) are at their best 6-7 days after the roast, after that it's a slow decline.
I just got an older model De'Longhi machine for free (non working), that was $800 back in the day, and seem (time will tell re longevity) to have gotten it working with two hours of cleaning and descaling. Quite excited to get into espresso. The machine (ESAM3300) seems to be well liked and reliable, although it is automatic, so there's only so much tweaking I can do. But free beats spending a bunch of money on something I might or might not like, so I have absolutely zero complaints. Plan to play around with espresso, milk drinks, and espresso cocktails. Heck yeah!
Thank you very much for your expertise, James! I'm still at the dialing in my coffee grind and proper puck prep stages, but I'm getting a pretty good cuppa! I may rewatch this again for times and flow rates, but I'm getting there. I haven't had to throw anything away yet which is promising. I hope you're doing well!
This comes JUST at the right time, as my first espresso machine is about to be delivered tomorrow. In theory I think I know a thing or two about making espresso on a machine (thanks to RUclips), I LOVE the espresso I get out of my Flair. So I guess it‘s about time to take that step further 🤗
Im fortunate enough to have very good coffee roasters with a cafe local. I never was a fan of sweet/sour coffees and hedged towards chocolate/malt flavours. But these guys do excellent spicey, floral, herbal flavours, and a particularly nice strawberry Mexican single origin. After getting their blends right at home I tried the Mexico Nayarita. I couldn’t get it right. Always a touch sour compared to in house. But that depends of barista. The day I went in for my next batch, this time a chocolate Colombia Timana, they had the Mexican on and the barista, or work flow volume, resulted in a coffee closer to my at home attempts😂. Enjoy the experience ❤
I love this video! Just got my first espresso machine for christmas so you've timed it perfectly for the likes of me ❤
I remember when I purchased my Sage (Breville) Oracle Touch some years back and being frustrated for a couple days with terrible coffee. Ended up realizing my "fancy / gourmet" coffee beans from Waitrose were the culprit. I can't stress enough how important it is to have fresh roasted beans! You can have the best coffee beans in the world, but if they were roasted months ago and has since sat on the shelf at a store, you're not going to have a pleasant experience. Found a small UK roaster that roasted to order and typically shipped the day of roasting. Solved all of my problems! The only downside of owning this quality machine is it has ruined having espresso drinks away from home. I find 80% of the time I can make better at home vs most high street coffee shops.
I work as a wine educator (sparkling wine) and I see a lot of parallels. Every change is interconnected. I run my water through a Zero Water filter or use distilled and add Third Wave Water (recommended by La Marzocco) for balance. The Gaggia rep in the US offers Zoom presentations to dial in. Five shots later (and a bit caffeinated) I understood how to dial in.