Your videos make me reminisce my old Silvia a lot, great machine really aside from the need to temp surf which was the main reason I finally succumbed and upgraded my machine. What worked for me in the past though was to do puck prep first and then focus solely on temp surfing, and once the heat up light turns on, I turn on the stopwatch on my phone. Much more time consuming, but worth it for a good cup of coffee haha.
that's true hahah! we are now starting to get into temperature surfing and really wish we had a machine with temperature control and dual boiler function. Can't wait for the day we decide to upgrade hahah - Jon
Haha. Happy that you found out the part about whacking the dosing cup vertically on the portafilter. I think going faster is not about trying to rush for customers but more for my personal satisfaction. Right now, I can pull a shot in under 5 minutes once my water is boiled (Robot user here if your other viewers are reading). It gives me so much fulfilment because I know it takes next to nothing in the morning and I wake up motivated to do it as the first step before cooking breakfast. When I was slower, I used to carve out special hobby time for espresso. I enjoyed the learning and experimentation but I also did not like the way I have to portion my free time like performing a magic ritual. With speed, I use the 5 minutes as “thinking espresso”, like I don’t know what to do for the day so I just need 5 minutes to plan the day. I am loving the auto-pilot mode that comes with familiarity of the routine. 😊
yeah, it may seem like a long time to make a cup of coffee (compared to instant coffee) but it's somehow a therapeutic way to start the day. Giving the brain some time to wake up hahah - Jon
Hey, thank you! We do have some RUclips Shorts videos about the tools we have when we first started but some of it has changed since. Maybe we will do a video 1 day about it but it seems like we are still getting new things and trying them out hahah - Jon
When I run the water I like to have the portafilter and puck screen in so I can warm them up as well as the cup I’m using, I find this helps with keeping things hot which means I can grind a little finer which I find for my beans makes them taste better, really like the videos I’m still learning myself.
Hey Lee, thanks for the suggestion! We did do that initially, however, if we were to run the water too early, it will trigger the machine to heat up which would then cool down too much by the time we are done with the puck prep. Hence, we are trying to cut down the time by cleaning the portafilter first before running the water. We might even be trying running the water halfway through puck prep to prevent the temperature from dropping too much. I do understand where you're coming from though, will keep them in mind if we decide to switch things up! Thanks! - Jon
It's actually not too bad for us. Others complained about the grind dial moving when grinding, but I guess we were fortunate enough not to see that happen to us. Overall, we don't really have any problems with it so far :) - Jon
Your milk actually looks really good, but I think to create even nicer latte art be a bit more confident and tilt the milk jug more towards the cup Just my 2 cents :)
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thank you for swirling the espresso :) I'm impressed that you can swirl both cup and pitcher at the same time
hahah I was surprised too! The cup probably made it easier to swirl - Jon
Really relaxing and enjoyable workflow Jon! Great to see you venturing out with the Latte art too :))
Thank you! yeah, just playing around with it hahah :) - Jon
Your videos make me reminisce my old Silvia a lot, great machine really aside from the need to temp surf which was the main reason I finally succumbed and upgraded my machine. What worked for me in the past though was to do puck prep first and then focus solely on temp surfing, and once the heat up light turns on, I turn on the stopwatch on my phone. Much more time consuming, but worth it for a good cup of coffee haha.
that's true hahah! we are now starting to get into temperature surfing and really wish we had a machine with temperature control and dual boiler function. Can't wait for the day we decide to upgrade hahah - Jon
That cup is very beautiful.
Yes it is, thank you! :) - Jon
Haha. Happy that you found out the part about whacking the dosing cup vertically on the portafilter.
I think going faster is not about trying to rush for customers but more for my personal satisfaction.
Right now, I can pull a shot in under 5 minutes once my water is boiled (Robot user here if your other viewers are reading). It gives me so much fulfilment because I know it takes next to nothing in the morning and I wake up motivated to do it as the first step before cooking breakfast.
When I was slower, I used to carve out special hobby time for espresso. I enjoyed the learning and experimentation but I also did not like the way I have to portion my free time like performing a magic ritual.
With speed, I use the 5 minutes as “thinking espresso”, like I don’t know what to do for the day so I just need 5 minutes to plan the day. I am loving the auto-pilot mode that comes with familiarity of the routine. 😊
yeah, it may seem like a long time to make a cup of coffee (compared to instant coffee) but it's somehow a therapeutic way to start the day. Giving the brain some time to wake up hahah - Jon
another great upload, thanks for sharing! youve got me looking at ordering a setup like this. do you have a video talking about what you use?
Hey, thank you! We do have some RUclips Shorts videos about the tools we have when we first started but some of it has changed since. Maybe we will do a video 1 day about it but it seems like we are still getting new things and trying them out hahah - Jon
Good job "pushing" the latte art into the cup. With practice comes consistency!
hahah just a very weak attempt at it but yes, practicing is the only way to get better! - Jon
When I run the water I like to have the portafilter and puck screen in so I can warm them up as well as the cup I’m using, I find this helps with keeping things hot which means I can grind a little finer which I find for my beans makes them taste better, really like the videos I’m still learning myself.
Hey Lee, thanks for the suggestion! We did do that initially, however, if we were to run the water too early, it will trigger the machine to heat up which would then cool down too much by the time we are done with the puck prep. Hence, we are trying to cut down the time by cleaning the portafilter first before running the water. We might even be trying running the water halfway through puck prep to prevent the temperature from dropping too much. I do understand where you're coming from though, will keep them in mind if we decide to switch things up! Thanks! - Jon
Thoughts on the Varia after using it for some time now?
It's actually not too bad for us. Others complained about the grind dial moving when grinding, but I guess we were fortunate enough not to see that happen to us. Overall, we don't really have any problems with it so far :) - Jon
Your milk actually looks really good, but I think to create even nicer latte art be a bit more confident and tilt the milk jug more towards the cup
Just my 2 cents :)
Thanks for that! Hahah I guess it just takes a bit of time to build that confidence! - Jon