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Monday, June 12, 2006
Home Espresso Machine
The thing about the home espresso machine is that... they just about all suck. With the exception of few double boiler machines, nothing is truly designed for the home environment at all.
All the single boiler machines don't have good temp stability and the "dual-use" boiler is nothing more than a hack.
All the HX(heat exchanger)/E-61 machines are a bastardization of commercial parts into smaller packages (a hack). With a flushing routine (another hack to fix a hack), you can get some temperature stability once it reaches equilibrium. But think about it... how ridiculous is that you have to spend more than a thousand dollar for a piece of equipment that you need to modify and hack to get it to work. The reason for all these hack/mod jobs is that the thing is just not designed right.
Among all the dual boiler machines, Reneka Techno is one of the closest thing to what a properly design home machine is. There is quite a bit of technology that goes into that thing... compact rotary pump, built in pre-infusion, inlet water preheater, vertical boilers, economy mode to turn off steam boilers, brew boiler feed to steam boiler to promote circulation... etc. Unfortuantely, it's too ahead of its time and recieved too little attention here. It would have been real nice to see a updated model in the states.
So looks like a GS/3 it is. I don't know how I am going to get the money, but there is just nothing out there that could do what I want.
ps. I am convinced that all these home users who claimed to have excellent shots from their home machine CONSISTENTLY are either:
1. Using a very "simple" blend that has huge temperature tolerance.
2. Never tasted a properly extracted shot by a skilled barista from a temperature stable commercial machine.
3. Don't have good tastebuds.
- Ben
Related Posts:
Rituale Home Machine Mod stage 1
Rituale Home Machine Mod stage 2
Rituale Home Machine Mod stage 3
Modding the Rituale
Modding the Rituale 2
Modding the Rituale 3
The thing about the home espresso machine is that... they just about all suck. With the exception of few double boiler machines, nothing is truly designed for the home environment at all.
All the single boiler machines don't have good temp stability and the "dual-use" boiler is nothing more than a hack.
All the HX(heat exchanger)/E-61 machines are a bastardization of commercial parts into smaller packages (a hack). With a flushing routine (another hack to fix a hack), you can get some temperature stability once it reaches equilibrium. But think about it... how ridiculous is that you have to spend more than a thousand dollar for a piece of equipment that you need to modify and hack to get it to work. The reason for all these hack/mod jobs is that the thing is just not designed right.
Among all the dual boiler machines, Reneka Techno is one of the closest thing to what a properly design home machine is. There is quite a bit of technology that goes into that thing... compact rotary pump, built in pre-infusion, inlet water preheater, vertical boilers, economy mode to turn off steam boilers, brew boiler feed to steam boiler to promote circulation... etc. Unfortuantely, it's too ahead of its time and recieved too little attention here. It would have been real nice to see a updated model in the states.
So looks like a GS/3 it is. I don't know how I am going to get the money, but there is just nothing out there that could do what I want.
ps. I am convinced that all these home users who claimed to have excellent shots from their home machine CONSISTENTLY are either:
1. Using a very "simple" blend that has huge temperature tolerance.
2. Never tasted a properly extracted shot by a skilled barista from a temperature stable commercial machine.
3. Don't have good tastebuds.
- Ben
Related Posts:
Rituale Home Machine Mod stage 1
Rituale Home Machine Mod stage 2
Rituale Home Machine Mod stage 3
Modding the Rituale
Modding the Rituale 2
Modding the Rituale 3
Labels: rituale mod
¶ Ben Chen 3:36 PM
Comments:
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I think your palate for good and great changes when you have something on the level. Imagine being in a small town where you only had limited access to good or even drinkable espresso. Then you have someone pull you a truly good shot and everything you thought god before was simply rubbish. That's the irony. You can be very happy until you find out what you're missing.
Just like I've always said.. Once you've had good coffee, it's extremely difficult to go back to what you were used to.
This same concept continues up and down the ladder.
This same concept continues up and down the ladder.
Gotta say I disagree with the "All" part of your post. I understand your concept if it was had been "most" or "generally" or "usually" but "All" is a pretty strong choice. To your point... I have a good machine for kitchen use, I pull some complicated shots and I have a reasonably good palate. My palate I judge against all the shots I tasted at the SCAA in Charlotte and my results at the Sensory Evaluation Test and my discussions with baristas who are far more talented than I. My "complicated shots" I determine against other more educated opinions than mine and the fact that I pull a lot of different SO and blends created in my kitchen. My machine I rate as good based on what it is capable of within its limitations and judging it against shots I have pulled on several commercial machines.
I'm dropping this comment, not to annoy you but more correctly to simply disagree with your "All" part. And if I disagree and I am barely a blip on the radar, I'm sure there are other kitchen hacks out there who are far more qualified to disagree.
Anyway, don't want to annoy, just want to speak up from the "trying to enjoy good shots" back row seats.
Regards,
I'm dropping this comment, not to annoy you but more correctly to simply disagree with your "All" part. And if I disagree and I am barely a blip on the radar, I'm sure there are other kitchen hacks out there who are far more qualified to disagree.
Anyway, don't want to annoy, just want to speak up from the "trying to enjoy good shots" back row seats.
Regards,
Shaun,
I would really love to see a machine that can deliever a consistent "wake up" shot with minimal flush disregard of idling time and ambient temp. I would also like to see that it can hold a intershot stability of within 1 degree from 170F to 210F, and less than 1 degree of intrashot variation.
The single origin we got to play with really requre within 1 degree of inter/intrashot stability. Nail it, it's incredible. Miss it, it's very very forgetable (or even painful to drink). We were only able to get like 3 out of 10 shots from my PID/Pre-heater/Rotary E61 machine.
Now, I did use a bit "harsh" words when I wrote the entry. I was so frustrated of not able to repeat my experience of the said SO coffee that it pains me. Having played w/ some of the dual broiler offerings (Techno, Brewtus) also made me realize their problems (already better than most of the machines out there, but still not quite what I am looking for). Heck, even with the Synesso we play with, there is a hysterisis between starting up and steady state.
I am an Engineer and tend to see things from a technical perspective. To me, there gotta be a way to achieve what I wanted. I would like to see a fresh design that is targeted for home use instead of scaling down commercial machine.
An F1 racing machine is a beautiful technical achievement but it makes a lousy commuter car.
I would really love to see a machine that can deliever a consistent "wake up" shot with minimal flush disregard of idling time and ambient temp. I would also like to see that it can hold a intershot stability of within 1 degree from 170F to 210F, and less than 1 degree of intrashot variation.
The single origin we got to play with really requre within 1 degree of inter/intrashot stability. Nail it, it's incredible. Miss it, it's very very forgetable (or even painful to drink). We were only able to get like 3 out of 10 shots from my PID/Pre-heater/Rotary E61 machine.
Now, I did use a bit "harsh" words when I wrote the entry. I was so frustrated of not able to repeat my experience of the said SO coffee that it pains me. Having played w/ some of the dual broiler offerings (Techno, Brewtus) also made me realize their problems (already better than most of the machines out there, but still not quite what I am looking for). Heck, even with the Synesso we play with, there is a hysterisis between starting up and steady state.
I am an Engineer and tend to see things from a technical perspective. To me, there gotta be a way to achieve what I wanted. I would like to see a fresh design that is targeted for home use instead of scaling down commercial machine.
An F1 racing machine is a beautiful technical achievement but it makes a lousy commuter car.
So what are the problems with the Techno? I've been saving my pennies to upgrade from my Millennium, but now I'm wondering if I should hold out.
By the way, after *years* with the Millennium I can pull good shots 50% of the time, as opposed to about 15% when I first got it. That's not a great average for a $1K machine.
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By the way, after *years* with the Millennium I can pull good shots 50% of the time, as opposed to about 15% when I first got it. That's not a great average for a $1K machine.
# posted by 
: 13/11/06 5:37 PM
: 13/11/06 5:37 PM<< Home
