My coffee journey
Let me describe the title, there is no new bicycle. No fancy carbon fibre frame, no SRAM XX Eagle AXS T group set, no Fox Racing Float 36 and no Hope 29″ Fortus wheels with Pro 5 hubs. I could keep going, but it wouldn’t make any sense. We did get something else, a coffee setup, quite a fancy one. This is us, being hardcore and going in with stretched legs, in the coffee rabbit hole. I mentioned us, as we both agreed we would buy this and it’s from both our savings. I might reframe that part, I sketched a general outline for Annick and rough amount for the expenses, and she said yes. Wow, I might add. Basically I had to rely on my own judgement on what to get.
What to get. There are so many options out there. I wanted something that could make espresso and also steam milk. I also wanted something that’s worth the money in the sense of reliability. And lastly I fancied a machine that isn’t just a push of the button, but something you have to work for to get coffee. Making coffee is easy enough, but this machine should be able to give delicious coffee. The should, mentioned before entails that the user has to pay attention to detail, think analytically about the situation and work in a systematic order to get it done, properly. This in my opinion is something up my alley.
What did we get: let’s dive into the setup. First off the machine; an Olympia Express Cremina in red. Basically a big boiler, with a 49mm portafilter, steam wand and a lever. The model hasn’t changed that much since its introduction in sometime like 67′? The materials and such has been upgraded but the main design is still the same. What I’ve seen so far are superbly manufactured parts and materials. The lever is what generates the pressure required for espresso. No pumps that can fail over time, just arm power. Large boiler, which heats up fairly fast, say in 15 minutes. This is not a machine for: coffee now. It requires patience and some planning. It comes with a portafilter with a single and double basket and spout. It also came with tamper. The machine got some upgrades. Let me explain.
In order to get analytical, systematic and repetitive results, you need data. The machine only has a dial indicating the boiler pressure. That’s not much to go on. First upgrade right out the box was changing the piston rod in the Cremina for the Naked Portafilter Piston Set which has a hole in it, to pass on the pressure. At the end of the rod a splitter piece allows you to screw on a pressure dial indicator and the Naked Portafilter Smart Espresso Profiler (SEP). These units measure the pressures at the end of the piston and the SEP send this data to the application on your phone. Combined with the Acaia Lunar scales, that also pair to the same app via bluetooth, you can get accurate real time data of your brew. The group head now also has a temperature strip sticked to the side to indicate the temperature. And to finish this part, there is a Weber Workshops 49mm Unifilter, which is a one piece naked portafilter. The naked implies you can directly see the holes. This helps to see if your puck preparation is done well and there is no/minimal channeling. It came with its own special Weber Workshops Tamper. A nice detail is the matching teak handle on both parts. An explanation for the image underneath, this is what the SEP app shows. The grey lines are the reference brew done by the manufacturer. The green line is the pressure profile I’m doing by pulling the lever and the brown line is the output measured on the scale.
Not quite done, we also got a new electric grinder, the Niche Zero. This is paired with a Weber Workshops Blind Shaker. And of course the custom base I made to have seamless interaction between both. We also got a brush, dosing funnel, a knock box and a tamping mat from Olympia Express.
This is a dream setup, honestly it is just amazing. Does it make amazing coffee, you might ask. Well the first coffees were not that great. I wasn’t expecting them to be. At the moment of writing this, I’ve done 13 shots of espresso and made 4 cappuccinos. Each subsequent brew I have done, I’ve analysed my previous attempts and adjusted accordingly, and each brew has become nicer! This for me is pure fun. It allows me to machine my very own coffee and the effort of my labor gives me my reward. Seeing how big my improvements were over these last few days, extrapolating this means in no time I would get good coffees! And if I put in the elbow grease, in a few years I will make amazing and delicious coffee. There will also be days when I muck up and I will be grumpy and stuck with shitty coffee. This setup will allow me to play, create and have fun. So friends and family reading this, you might be the guinea pig or you might be lucky. Whatever the result, it will be made just for you. Fancy some coffee?