What is a very good Espresso machine

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by germantown rob

...Can a moka pot come close to a true espresso? NO, not even close...

I was thinking more along these lines. "Once your sink two ounces of good moka, good espresso or good AeroPress under 4-10 ounces of milk that has been steamed, stretched and frothed - and then, optionally, add a teaspoon or two or sugar - it all tastes like a pretty darn good cappuccino. Different, but decent." Concur or disagree?

Good luck with microfoam. The Oscar steamer scared the snork out of me for about a week. A couple of gallons later things come together like the hot kiss at the end of a wet fist - small pitcher half full, 10-15 seconds, smooth like silk, do it with your eyes closed.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

I was thinking more along these lines. "Once your sink two ounces of good moka, good espresso or good AeroPress under 4-10 ounces of milk that has been steamed, stretched and frothed - and then, optionally, add a teaspoon or two or sugar - it all tastes like a pretty darn good cappuccino. Different, but decent." Concur or disagree?

Good luck with microfoam. The Oscar steamer scared the snork out of me for about a week. A couple of gallons later things come together like the hot kiss at the end of a wet fist - small pitcher half full, 10-15 seconds, smooth like silk, do it with your eyes closed.

Now that I am not vibrating with 10 double shots I can calmly say I concur. Tomorrow morning I will fire up the 4 cupper moka you gave to me add some foam and a tid bit of the milk. To be honest I never made a cap with the moka. I really just fire up a couple of pots of the 6 cupper and pour it down my throat, the only side effect is the strange places hair grows on me.

Oscar and steam, wow, what a beast. Here is what the first few attempts of steaming 5oz of milk went like.

turn knob to flush wand, ouch, that's gonna leave a mark, turn steam off.
insert tip in pitcher, turn steam on, hold on for dear life, 6 seconds pass, ouch this is hot, drop pitcher, 175 f milk everywhere, steam from wand hitting me while trying to get pitcher, ouch as I grab the wand on the non protected metal, turn steam off. Drink double shot and try and get 2 year old to stop repeating the string of words she just heard. Start over while listening to the little angle screams profanities at the top of her lungs in the backyard. The only improvement was not dropping the pitcher the rest stayed the same till I ran out of milk. By the second gallon I wasn't burning myself at all and the hot milk didn't have skin on top. Still can't do 4 ozs but can do 6 pretty darn well and the burns have healed nicely.

[floydpink]

I still have periodic explosions from turning the steam wand on too strong and have to duck from the plastic piece or hot milk. Tricky business and messy cleanup that microfoam is, and there is no sound quite like the plastic piece shooting off into the metal pitcher and the scream that comes from hot milk in your eyes.

The main things I have learned are:

1. Keep everything perfectly clean and descale monthly.
2. Leave the fancy latte art to the barristas.
3. Practice makes perfect.
4. If you steam the milk first, then pull the shots. the milk settles down into a nice foam.
5. Keep a rag close to the operation.
6. Don't take it personally if your wife and kids laugh at you.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by floydpink

1. Keep everything perfectly clean and descale monthly.

Really? Is your water that hard that you need to do this?
I choose not to use bottled water but with a brita filter that gets used only for 3 weeks before going to just drinking water my water comes down to where I should need to only descale 1 a year. A true descale cleaning is a PIA so if I had to do it 1 a month I would switch to buying softer water.

[floydpink]

Florida water.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by floydpink

Florida water.

So are you just running citric acid through the water reservoir till the boiler fills, flushing till you get it through the system,then letting it sit, then flushing till clean?
or
Tricking the boiler to overfill with water and citric acid and draining the boiler after it sat hot for awhile then flushing group head and wand and guts with more citric acid?

The problem with hard water and scale build up in the boiler is the scale collects above the water line so it doesn't get removed with first procedure.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by germantown rob

...By the second gallon I wasn't burning myself at all and the hot milk didn't have skin... ...the burns have healed nicely.

Hot cappa milk has YOUR skin on top? Keep a tube of aloe vera in the kitchen.

Oscar steam gets easy with practice. I recall removing cooked-on spatters of boiled scalded milk from the machine, floor, counter, clothes, walls, stove, eyeglasses and ceiling. With a small pitcher for one drink I maybe use half the pressure to stretch it out to microfoam over 15-seconds; to slow time down start with steel pitcher/milk chilled, direct from fridge or freezer. If you don't bother with a thermometer figure when the pitcher becomes too hot to hold barehanded you've hit about 130*F - time is getting short when you can't barehand the pitcher, right? And your nose tells the rest.

I pull an electrical lead on mine when descaling and, after soaking, pump what little crud there is out thru the wand. I have well water and a 5-mic filter - tastes great and doesn't leave much in the boiler during 1/annual descale. DO remove the tip before pumping the boiler out that way.

DO change the dispersion screen screw out with a phillips, torx or (preferably) allen drive machine screw and DEFINITELY clean the screen and brass heat sink regularly or you will have bitter/skunky espresso. Treat the dispersion screw threads with a light swipe of Vaseline before reinstalling it and only loosen it when the machine is cold. Backflush slowly/regularly with a spoonful or Urnex in the blank basket.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Hot cappa milk has YOUR skin on top? Keep a tube of aloe vera in the kitchen.

Not my skin, I don't think it was, but the skin milk gets when burned.

I have the whole aloe vera plant in my kitchen. I have a knack for burning myself so I cut some off and tape it on the burn(s) as needed.

Thanks for the info on the dispersion screen. Is not taking the screw out hot for me or is it bad for the threads?
I tried some water out of the group head after a bunch of shots where pulled and the machine had sat for a while, very nasty stuff and brown. I like to backflush after shots if I know I won't be having another for a while, it is amazing what flows out each time. How often do you backflush with detergent?

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by germantown rob

Not my skin, I don't think it was, but the skin milk gets when burned.

I have the whole aloe vera plant in my kitchen. I have a knack for burning myself so I cut some off and tape it on the burn(s) as needed.

Thanks for the info on the dispersion screen. Is not taking the screw out hot for me or is it bad for the threads?
I tried some water out of the group head after a bunch of shots where pulled and the machine had sat for a while, very nasty stuff and brown. I like to backflush after shots if I know I won't be having another for a while, it is amazing what flows out each time. How often do you backflush with detergent?

Heat and accumulated grunge will cause the dispersion screen screw to get very snug; it's easy (well, easier) to remove when cold and, if hot, it's no trick to strip the screw slot (which you totally don't want to do). Be sure to use a properly sized screwdriver that fills the slot without sloppiness or you will strip the slot; way better to replace with a phillips, torx or allen machine screw BEFORE the catastrophe.

Backflush: start with a hot machine. Add a teaspoon or so of CleanCaf, Urnex (whatever floats your boat) and some hot water to the PF with a blank basket and stir it up for a few seconds as if to dissolve some of it. Keeping the basket rim clean and level, seat it firmly in the grouphead. Take out the drip pan grate and then hit the brew button "ON" until the pump goes quiet then "OFF". Repeat the process a few times until you're satisfied the Urnex and water have worked all the way thru the solenoid and are draining into the drip pan. Let it sit for a few hours then do the ON/OFF thing a few more times until it drains clean. Remove the pf from the grouphead, wash it off and repeat without the Urnex until nothing but clean water is showing in the drip pan as you cycle the brew pump "ON" and "OFF".

Oscar note: if you run brew water and do the "portafilter wiggle" back and forth from loose to snug (to rinse grounds off) you may end up seizing the pf into the grouphead. Doing the wiggle can force water under the grouphead gasket, and, later, make it very had to free up a snugged pf without a lot of muscle. Run brew water over a pf to clean it or heat it up but don't lock- or gently snug it into the grouphead while the pump is on.

[floydpink]

Great info. I unscrew the screen regularly and clean but was warned to NEVER backflush a Gaggia, so I haven't tried.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by floydpink

Great info. I unscrew the screen regularly and clean but was warned to NEVER backflush a Gaggia, so I haven't tried.

You have a baby correct? I know the new ones have a 3-way solenoid valve so you can backflush but that may something new.