I have a technique of packing a “mountain” of grounds…
…into the portafilter so that it’s flat, and 1/8in. (.32cm) or less from the top. Pretty firm pack.
I pack it with the lid of an empty Trader Joe’s sea salt jar which is a perfect fit (I filled mine with coffee beans so it stays near the espresso maker).
Then I mount the portafilter.
The next step is awesome for extracting: wet the grounds before the pull.
Manually pulse the pumper by alternately turning it on/off in the following pattern:
On for 1 second
Off for 1 second
On for 1 second
Off for 1 second
On for 1 second
Off… for 3 seconds
Then On for a complete pull.
Nice crema, though this one is a bit “blond…”
I got the pulsing idea from watching my friends’ automated Breville machine (below), and it does pretty much that on/off thing by program. But it’s $600
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