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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/01/07 10:31Hi again! I made good double just not screwing up the portafiler to the group very hard and it didn't hurt the surface of the coffee. Today in the morning I made a single byt it brewed faster, so even it is light tamping it still requires practice! Colin, thank you very much again Your advice changed my life (not just the coffee Cheers Pawel
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colin
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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/01/07 12:18Wow. My pleasure. It is my aim to change a few lives. Cheers,Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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Pawel
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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/04/22 15:24Hi again! Some time have passed and I have some more experience with my coffee. I have a very good tamper from esspressovivace and I learnt to press the coffee properly. So coming back to the pressurized portafilter: In the very beginning, when water starts, the pressure in the portafilter is certainly kept high, but just when the coffee stream starts, if the coffee isn't pressed hard, there's no high pressure anymore! Won't it produce a better result to press the coffee hard? Then the pressure would be kept high all the way through brewing time. Regards, Pawel
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colin
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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/04/23 09:20In the last few years I have totally become the advocate for the "light-tamp".
Let the grind do the work I always say.
Use light tamping help you fine tune your grind.
Tamping beyond 30 pounds merely chokes off your machine.
And for you ton-tamper obsessives: They hardly tamp coffee in Europe. Manic tamping is yet another product of western living...
Cheers!Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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Pawel
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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/06/24 14:29Colin,
I hope you don't mind that I keep this thread alive posting from time to time. I'm enthusiastic to do the wisdom searching in a way on my own...
So about the depressurizing of the portafilter: Esentially what it's all about is to keep the valve open from the very beginning of brewing. No need to remove anything; it's enough to open the valve by pressing it lightly with your finger and then screw up the portafilter (with the coffee) not by the handle, but by the screws, or, if your finger are weak, by using a kind of handle attached to the screws. Pawel
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colin
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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/06/24 16:16Well - there is more than one type of pressurized p-filter. The simplest (like the SOLIS SL70 and SL90 standard P-Filters) just use a pinhole gasket below the filter cup. And there isn't really a quick way around this one -- Solis offers an unpressurized p-filter.
We should all keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with using a pressurized p-filter for, at least part of, your coffee career. The upside of the p-p-filter is that you get more action out of beans that are past their best-before date and the grind is not as critical.
Slightly off-topic: Today I brewed my first espresso in about 4 monthes or so; with a Gaggia Classic that I have been cleaning and tuning up for a friend. The Classic is very fussy about tamp, grind, coffee, coffee-quality... heck, it's fussy about everything. Would a p-p-filter be better with this unit? Maybe - but it would not be half as much fun!Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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dave
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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/06/24 19:40colin wrote: The Classic is very fussy about tamp, grind, coffee, coffee-quality... heck, it's fussy about everything. Would a p-p-filter be better with this unit? [edit: please note I am only jabbing at Colin here, and not commenting on Pawel's contributions to this thread] Now that's just lazy talk. The answer to the question is a resounding no. Even when faced with inconsistent and poorly ground coffee, the bare portafilter fared much better than testing with the pinhole crema disc that comes with the Gaggia. To be honest, I haven't given it many trials with better coffee and better grind -- I did try it once with disastrous results, but would probably need to back off the grind more to compensate for the disc.
As for fussiness, well that sort of disappears when you have a bit of experience and a capable grinder. You develop a sort of intuition about many things.
fresh coffee proper dosing good distribution proper grind done
-DDave is an Ottawa resident and Coffee Expert
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Pawel
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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/07/29 12:07Yes, that's true that using pressurized portafilter makes things easier. After number of brewings I know it pretty well
I have a related question: dosing. I noticed (quite long ago) that when I put two full dosing spoons of beans to the basket, the surface gets hurt during upscrewing of the portafilter, so I started dosing less. Is it the problem only with Saeco? And is it because the spoon is too big or because the basket is too small? Pawel
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Pawel
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Re:question about pressurized portafilter - 2007/11/15 13:09Colin, Hereis a some kind of conclusion of our discussion. Thanks
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I am going with the Saeco Aroma. I just can't foresee the Silvia and a great grinder being in my budget before the summer :(
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Great review!
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