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Good question as most people don't bother using single (1 cup) baskets. Most singles are designed to hold 7-9 grams and double baskets average 16-18 grams. Single baskets have much more of a taper and can be difficult to distribute the grounds and tamp level to achieve even puck thickness...

That is one of the many reasons I started home roasting. Can save 30-40% on cost depending on source of greens, have fresh coffee when I want it and can roast to the flavor profile I like instead of being stuck with 5# of something not 100% appealing. Currently I can do a 19 gram double shot for...

Have you weighed the dose being dispensed? Are you using a pressurized or standard basket as Breville usually includes both types for single and double size?

The OP might want to give a bit more info... what coffee (how fresh), grinder, etc. is being used. If they plan to stick with milk based drinks then an upgrade might not justify the cost. I say that as milk tends to mask most defects in espresso. I personally think it's a waste for people to...

To an extent yes, but past a certain point not really. Higher end machines primarily offer better build quality/longevity, temperature management and thermal stability giving you more consistency with less effort. Higher end machines also offer more ease/speed of use when steaming milk without...

Good to hear... QM makes some good machines. That appears to have a thermo coil/block heating system instead of a boiler. Yeah the first thing I do with a used machine is a good descale/cleaning as you just never know how something was maintained.

A few thoughts... what grinder are you using? Normally a single is a bit more difficult to master and based on what little experience I have with them usually require a finer grind than a double. Does the double run fast, slow, blonde early, etc? Could possibly be that the pump just doesn't have...

Wife and I did operate a mobile setup for about 2.5 years, more for fun/hobby due to my health issues. I have no experience with a propane fired espresso machine, but have had lots of feedback from a few guys using them in a mobile setup and they didn't seem ideal for a fast paced environment...

Well several things can cause this... grind not fine enough, dose not high enough, coffee not fresh enough, grounds not distributed properly leading to channeling... All of which affect resistance in the puck. Personally I wouldn't rely on the gauge as it could be out of calibration. How was...

I'm a fan of hand grinders, but they aren't for everybody. Some people lack the strength and agility to hand grind, especially when grinding for espresso with an aggressive burr set. There are workarounds such as using a cordless screwdriver or drill to motorize the grinder. This will give you...

Even though I haven't encountered such an issue with either of the FF machines I have, it sounds as if it could be a control board issue. If you like the machine and intend to keep it, you should be able to find a good used board from a parts machine, eBay seller, etc.

That sucks for lack of a better word. Did this happen as a result of water seeping up from the boiler and shorting out the element electrodes? If so, there is a possibility that all the scale/gunk in the boiler was temporarily filling a void and the descaling/flushing simply unplugged the void...

Yes it's normal as that is an indication steam is being consumed and more is needed. Don't try to steam a large volume of milk at once though as most small boiler machines aren't designed to handle more than maybe 4-6 oz of milk at a time. Once you switch the steam off be sure to run the pump...

Best thing to do is when you first kick it into steam mode purge any water from the wand and once it maxes out at steam temp you should have fairly dry steam. If you have lots of water the boiler may not be getting hot enough to vaporize. Does the machine seem to heat to steam level properly...

The only complaint I have with the FF machines is the heating element design. Over time the seal between the element electrodes/insulator sleeves will break down from heat/pressure. This will let water seep up from the boiler and eventually cause a short, which is what happened with my X5. Guess...

Durgol is a good descaler, just costly for what it does. Basic citric acid powder mixed with water does great. If that is an early X1 (judging by the date it is) it may have an aluminum boiler as they upgraded them to brass over time. The white/black grime you're seeing could just be oxidized...

Yeah my take on the organic coffee thing is that it's right inline with all the whining about organic food/milk, gluten, etc. LAME, as regardless of what we consume/breathe you will never get away from all the contaminants that exist in modern life. There is NO WAY possible that one can claim an...

Depends... I've seen used LPGs sell for as little as $100. No offense, but I think most coffee nerds have commercial equipment at home to make things easier/more consistent as they lack the skill set to make use of lower end equipment. Of course this can be argumentative, but just the way I see...

Best time for me is any time I am craving espresso. May start as early as 3:00 a.m. and end as late as 6:00 p.m. I can consume as much as 1,000 mg of caffeine daily with no real change in energy, no jittery behavior, etc. Ever since I started home roasting I now crave espresso even more as...

I wouldn't say ANY grinder as commercial grade coarse grinders do that and do it well. Not many years ago I had a BUNN LPG with 80+mm flat burrs and that thing was superb at coarse grinding, which is what it was designed to do. Same with Mahlkonig, Ditting, etc... Granted most people wouldn't...

Never used a Pavoni, but did own a Cremina manual lever for quite awhile and the procedure is quite similar. When filling the boiler, always leave a bit of room at the top for expansion. After it's ON and heating a few mins, bleed false pressure from the steam wand. Just open it a few turns...

Yeah you will have some saying the grinder is most important yadda yadda yadda... Yes the grinder is rather important, but so is fresh coffee, skill and the espresso machine. Not everybody has tons of money to throw into a setup and must make do with what is affordable and practical. Once you...

Actually some grinders won't grind coarse enough for a good press grind. Also, many that will grind coarse enough often are very inconsistent, having too many fines.

Really depends on your intended use/budget. Gaggia makes good machines, but can tell you from experience the smallish boiler they use can be a limiting factor to an extent. They do recover fast, but they also deplete quickly during an extraction. The NS Oscar is a heat exchange machine and will...

To determine whether or not it has a 3-way you can take the lid off the top and look inside and/or look for an overflow tube that should lead to the drip tray as it does with the Classic. If you want to take a few pics of the machine that would be most helpful. For steaming issue, you could...

Yeah I can definitely relate to that as I have never had a lot of $ to spend on equipment, but made due with what I have had. One thing I've seen done to minimize static is a few drops of water added to the coffee before grinding. Not like saturating them, but just a couple of drops.

Would also like to add that I built the roaster for less than $200 as I carefully sourced the parts I needed and found the heat gun barely used on eBay for half price of what a new one costs. Even though I snapped that pic indoors I do keep the roaster on a rolling kitchen utility cart and take...

I decided to start home roasting for espresso awhile back. I have been involved in coffee long enough to know exactly what I'm looking for in an espresso roast range and it is a great way to have fresh coffee when I want it and save a bit of $ as well. Tried a few popcorn roasters, which work...

That is a fantastic grinder and the micrometric adjustment is the stand out feature for sure. Instead of raising/lowering the upper burr as most grinders do via a threaded collar, the MDX adjustment knob actually raises/lowers the motor/lower burr. I owned/used one on a commercial level for a...

For an automatic type drip machine I HIGHLY recommend the Bunn Phase Brew. Picked mine up at Lowe's for $99 (glass carafe model) and there is a thermal carafe model for a bit more $. It is unique for a drip machine as it is basically an automatic manual pourover if that makes sense. Instead of...

Totally agree with the Cuisinart being total garbage. Been there, done that! Just a handful of variables that cause static are inferior materials being used for the grinder, burr design/material/speed, roast level of coffee, lack of humidity... Best electric grinder I have used for lack of...

There are different types of descalers available, but simple citric acid works great and is quite cheap. I've used 1 TBSP dissolved in 1 qt of warm water with good/safe results. Just rinse well as you would after descaling. To answer your question on it being too late after 3 yrs of use...

I agree with CCafe on this as simple/reliable is best. Gets old going into some higher end coffeeshops and watching the "badass" barista trying to wow people with the mega bucks machine/grinder that practically runs itself. Personally I NEVER used the volumetric dosing on the Aurelia I had and...

I would want adjustability as not all coffees are gonna be at their best around the 9 bar range. Commercially I ran my Aurelia around 8-8.25 bars of pressure for the coffee I used most of the time. People get hung up on the "it has to be 9 bars of pressure, 200 degrees, for 30 seconds" blah blah...

I totally agree with this, with the exception of the $50 Cuisinart lasting or you tolerating it up to 4 years. The cheaper grinders are nothing more than steel plates with a few nubs that spin at high speed and pulverize the coffee into shreds with lots of particle inconsistency. I've had the...

Now you're talking my language. I 'grind' for espresso by using a 2# framing hammer and a Ziploc bag. Then utilize my handy dandy flux capacitor synthesized spectrometer to ensure particle consistency within .5~ microns. :decaf:

Read the "Steam Operation" segment in this review. There may be some videos online as well. Great microfoam texture can be achieved with these machines/factory steam wand, but it does take some trial and error. http://coffeegeek.com/proreviews/detailed/francisfrancisx3/operation

Yeah I agree on the wand being short. More of an issue for me is that it has very little articulation. Surely it could be swapped out for something better, but it's not a deal breaker for me. Still a great compact machine. Don't know what routine you follow for steaming, but once you switch to...

Citric acid is quite harmless... think dehydrated lemon juice. Vinegar is a joke for descaling as it's very weak and takes quite a bit of rinsing to get rid of the taste/smell. You may be able to determine what machine you have based on the nameplate number. Not sure if you can tell externally...

The first run of X1 machines didn't seem to have much going for them as they had an aluminum boiler and had poor temperature control based on what I've read. Later versions of the X1 and the rest of the X line that followed have very solid brass boilers and excellent temperature control. I...

Not sure about aluminum boiler units, but most FF machines use a mushroom shaped rubber seal and spring to seal boiler pressure. Francis x1 X2 x3 x4 x5 Espresso Boiler Grouphead Rubber Stopper to Stop Leaks | eBay

I once thought dual wall baskets/pressurized portafilters were OK training aids for beginners, but really they are nothing but crutches. Most of what is learned through the use of those items is tossed out the window when using a standard non-pressurized setup and it's almost like starting over.

Coffee freshness is often the most overlooked variable in the equation. Even coffee sitting in a hopper overnight won't extract anything like it would when just poured into the hopper. I would say toss the lame double wall baskets aside and tweak your variables with the standard baskets. Keep in...

Or HX (heat exchange) commercial quality machine. Get something that can be left ON all day, is plumbed in and can recover for back/back drinks. A decent barista could use a one group machine and make it happen, but a 2 group would be more desirable if you have the space, budget, etc. It's...

I don't bother with milk based drinks often, but when I do I always extract the spro first, then texture the milk. Some think espresso degrades much too quickly and must be consumed within seconds of being extracted, but that is B.S. all in their mind(s). Good espresso will be good whether...

Yeah lousy customer service for sure. When we operated a mobile coffee business it was nice not having to answer to anybody and the customer sure as hell isn't always right as you hear too often, BUT the customers are what ultimately keep the bills paid. Of the thousands we served in a short...

I've been using my Phase Brew for well over 1 year now without a single hiccup. I average 3 brew cycles at a time at least 3 times weekly to brew black tea. Brew temperature and flow rate is spot on every single time. Haven't even seen the need to descale yet as I use filtered/balanced water and...

I like manual grinding and that Zassenhaus offering is probably well worth the price. In the past I wouldn't have bought a Zassenhaus unless it was the cylindrical "Turkish" style because not only do they have the proper burr set, but also a stepless adjustment which gives the spinning burr good...

I hope people realize I was kidding about the chocolate in my grinder, lmao. OTOH one could use chocolate shavings and do a Cuban style extraction in which you would grind/dose half of your coffee in the basket, lay down a bed of chocolate shavings and top with remaining ground coffee. Then tamp...

Yeah I will tell you how I make mine... I dump a handful of Hershey kisses into my grinder along with my favorite SO espresso blend and grind away. Dose, tamp and extract like usual and watch out. Coffee is water based, but I've extracted some ristrettos so tight that I got quite a bit of oil...

Good question as levers have been in high demand for some time. Not too many years ago a good used lever could be had for a few hundred $. That was definitely the case with the mighty Olympia Cremina. For years they were affordable to obtain, now if you can find one under $1,000 it'd be a good...

The basket may be sticking to the screen from not having enough head space due to overdosing. Even though the group gasket apparently corrected your leak, another issue could be overdosing the basket which can cause an improper seal because the puck is being forced into the shower screen...

To each his own... guess you would use the same rationale to explain why the Rocky has remained unchanged for quite some time, while staying up in price for what it is. They won't even make the thing stepless to at least try to keep pace with what other grinder manufacturers are doing.

I have to challenge Nuova Simonelli in that case. I pulled thousands of doubles out of a 2 group Aurelia and while the soft infusion system has its merit some level of puck compactness was needed for a decent extraction. Otherwise you end up with serious channeling once pressure ramps up.

I "cut my teeth" on a Capresso BAR351 dual function machine and it worked better than I initially expected. Downsides to them is the size and the inability to use both functions at the same time due to the electrical current consumed. Most machines like this will have thermo coil or thermo block...

Bean origin/roast level/freshness are the most important factors to look for in coffee for espresso. The term "espresso bean" really is overused and ridiculous as any coffee can be used for any brew method. Just that some bean origins/roast levels are better suited for espresso. I personally...

I have found the actual tamp pressure to be less important than simply being consistent with your tamping. Try to keep all variables as consistent as possible and make changes with the grinder and/or dose. I will tamp less if I can feel the coffee is a bit too fine, but if too coarse no amount...

PR you are indeed correct on some machines doing all the work. Below I have listed how each machine type is viewed in the industry. Semi-auto - A machine that requires the user to control the water flow by activating/stopping the pump manually. Auto - A machine that allows the user to control...

Yes you were referring to blade units, but I would never consider them grinders in any form. I tend to challenge what all people say. Horrified by my remarks initially? Most people are, lmao.

StarCoffee, I'm a fan of hand mills, but you really should study electric grinder function/design a bit more before dogging them in such a manner. Apparently you have never used a quality flat burr grinder as you sure won't get "saw dust" from a decent grinder. Do us all a favor and stop...