Olympia Cremina group seal change - easy!

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb

New 2Kg FEDEX service to USA for GBP24.30

A short note to our US customers; we now have a FEDEX rapid delivery service of GBP24.30 for orders weighing up to 2Kg.  This will ensure you receive your order in 3 working days.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan

If there is anything you would like us to blog about please ask

There is an almost infinite number of topics to blog about within the espresso arena.  Whatever question you might have, please let us know and we will try and put a comprehensive answer together and publish it here.  If things get bad enough we might even try our hand at a video.  The only requirement is that it is an espresso question related to either the equipment or the beans we offer.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan

Mazzer mini electronic back in stock

Be quick as the next shipment is April. 

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan

Experienced with your Cremina?

just an observation, but it seems to us that when cremina owners start off they generally want to make double espresso, and ideally something with even more volume if they could.  as you own your cremina for longer it seems people slowly shift towards to purity of the single shot, unperturbed by the small volume, and completely focused on the pursuit of the ultimate extraction; a silky texture with as many of the subtle tastes in the roast being highlighted to your palate.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan

Teres blend tweak

 We have tweaked the Teres blend from 90/10 to 92/8 to allow a little more of the Costa character to shine through.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan

If the engineer in you is wondering why...

Everyone talks about running their Olympia Cremina at or around 0.8 bar, and if you're struggling to reconcile that with other machines running around 1.1 bar or thereabouts, there is an explanation although its a bit ugly.

Unfortunately the 'onboard' gauge on the Creminas seem to under-read by about 0.2 bar when a precision pressure gauge is fixed to the boiler of the Cremina.  The gauges on all machines do not under-read by 0.2 bar unfortunately, I have seen some where the differential is 0.3 bar and others where it is about 0.15 bar.  I have not yet found a machine the over reads and I've been fortunate to be able to check quite a few.  I know of one recently made machine that was in perfect agreement, and I am trying to find out why this is, having ordered a replacement mater pressurestat and gauge for our Cremina to see if the latest gauges are more accurate for some reason (calibration?).

So there you have it.  Your Olympia that mysteriously makes great espresso at an indicated 0.8 bar is most likely to be running at just over 1.0 bar, which should satisfy the engineer in you as it doesn't make sense that the correct pressure should vary so much between machines.

This is why we think it is important to talk about indicated pressure if you are referring to pressure indicated by the on-board gauge on your espresso machine.  Generally these gauges are not the most precise known to man, but they serve to give an indication.  Once you know your machine and gauge, the actual pressure is less relevant, you just come to know that at an indicated pressure of 'x' your espresso tastes good, and much below or above that number it doesn't.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan

A big thank you, whether you're enjoying Londinium Espresso in the sun or the snow this January

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan

If its burnt, call it burnt.

A lot of people like to use the term 'bitter' when describing a burnt taste in their espresso.  For me this unnecessarily complicates the issue.  For me 'burnt' is such a distinct and easily identifiable taste, even to someone completely new to espresso, that you should simply call it 'burnt'.

Note that a coffee can taste burnt for two reasons, (i) the roaster over did things and/or (ii) the water was too hot at the time of extraction.

Using this approach the word 'bitter' is then freed up to be used exclusively for describing over-extraction.  You might be thinking to yourself, how on earth will I know what over-extraction tastes like.  Trust me, you'll know.  It is a very distinct taste and I think can be accurately described as bitter, to the point of being astringent.  Mouth puckering if you like, as this will happen to you almost involuntarily when you hit over-extracted coffee.

The obvious early warning signal for over-extraction is an extraction time anything much over 30 seconds from the time the espresso leaves the portafilter.  The crema is also likely to be brown with a white spot on it.  In freshly roasted espresso the crema will become strangely foamy and dimpled like the top of the apple and lime fruit smoothies at Wagamamas, if you'll excuse the use of a curious simile.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan

Londinium's thoughts on the Kitchen Aid espresso machine

A customer of ours called us asking to bring a Mazzer Mini electronic grinder over to try out on her Kitchen Aid espresso machine.  Until then she had always bought pre-ground coffee, but had heard that buying a grinder and using freshly roasted whole beans would take her espresso to the next level.  Privately we thought a Mini Mazzer electronic was a bit of a mismatch with the espresso machine, as we had heard of mixed ownership experiences.

Whilst I am not in favour of unnecessary equipment and gadgets we most definitely took some pocket digital scales with us.  After the usual fiddling that goes with dialling in a grinder we found ourselves astounded with the quality of the espresso, considering it is by no means the most expensive domestic espresso machine available.  While it was possible to choke the pump you really had to load it up before it happened, unlike so many domestic espresso machines where the pump simply doesn't have enough grunt to make a thick, dense espresso.  The pump on this machine has some shove for a domestic machine.

Unable to contain my surprise I started asking about the machine, how long she had owned it for, what problems she had experienced with it, etc.  Well the response was surprising, and I don't doubt true, as I subsequently went online to places like Amazon and read the customer reviews there too and they were consistent with what our customer said.

That is, the Kitchen Aid makes wonderful espresso, but all other aspects of the machine are fair to middling.  It's such an anomaly in the domestic espresso machine market, as almost without exception domestic espresso machines look very nice and so on, but simply don't have the grunt to make great espresso.

The Kitchen Aid machine is the opposite, something of an Alfa Romeo in the espresso machine world, where the engine is wonderful and all the other elements that make up the car are considered ornamental and not to be relied upon.  As an Alfisiti I hasten to add that the current crop of Alfas are just as reliable as anything else, but their cars from the '70s and '80s are the ones I have in mind.

So the list of things that can and does fail is too numerous to list it seems, and you can check this for yourself on the Amazon customer reviews as I have already mentioned, including, but not limited to the gauges steaming up and the powder coating simply refusing to stay stuck to the body of the machine.  But there is a silver lining to this curious story.  According to our customer, at least from the kitchen ware shop she purchased her machine from, once her machine was out of the warranty period they allowed her to buy a new machine for GBP50, an offer which I think she has taken up four times and is now on her sixth Kitchen Aid espresso machine in total!

A quite incredible story I think you'll agree, but one which we thought was worth telling in case you are reading this and also have a Kitchen Aid espresso machine.  It seems as though if you are willing to expend another GBP50 on a brand you may no longer think as highly of as you once did, then you could land yourself a new machine and be back in espresso production.  If the espresso from your Kitchen Aid espresso machine is anything like as good as what we tasted I would put up with the malfunctioning pressure gauges and the scars on the chassis where the powdering coating has long since departed and just get on with enjoying the taste of the espresso.

To all the owners of Kitchen Aid espresso machines; cheers!

ps - i should add, the Kitchen Aid is a twin boiler machine, so it is worth considering, especially as it is now very reasonably priced.  just bear in mind our observations above.

pps - the machine is made by Gaggia we understand & no we would not recommend the Kitchen Aid grinder that pairs with this espresso machine as we have used it ourselves and it jams easily and it is no easy task to unjam.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Jan