After my Cat did its usual jump up on my bed to wake me up to be fed thing, I leapt out of bed (well .. crawled out actually) to turn on the Coffee machine before obliging my little sweetheart, only to realize I had to go to St V for a blood test. After checking the form .. oh no .. fasting wtf 😢 cruel but fair .. anyway.. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After returning as quickly as I could without breaking the speed limit .. I went about lifes highest priority (on any other day) .. making my first coffee .. and then a 2nd .. and a 3rd to make up for lost time 😃 1. [1st coffee] lowered the dose slightly by putting in 1 bean at a time when getting close to 17g, and when it ticks over .. take out 3 beans .. precision stuff eh? the other difference this time was not to actually apply slight pressure to the final polish to get the 3mm clearance, as I was using 3 less beans to reduce the volume. Yep .. you heard it right. lol. Pour - 25 secs and the coffee came out a bit too strong for my taste Rating - 8.5/10 (appreciated the extra kick .. being the first for the day .. and taste buds not being reliable) 2. [2nd coffee] Pour - 20 secs .. used the 'mycuppa' Guatemala beans this time. Still came out too strong Rating - 8.2/10 Crikey .. I am off the boil 😢 Have the beans suddenly 'matured' overnight .. and now produce an extra kick? 3.[3rd] Ok .. back to the Espresso bean .. so that I can compare to previous coffees. Pour - 30 secs .. still too strong. Perhaps I've developed an elevated caffeine sensitivity or something? Rating - 8.2/10 Temporary setback going on here :head: .. nothing to worry about .. I'll be back on top of my game soon.. don't you worry about that (thanks again Joh) 2 options 1. Adjust the grind back to a little coarser. 2. Go back to using a larger 6oz cup (instead of 4oz) To be continued.. (I ain't done yet!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's an interesting little tidbit. When checking out a PV Lusso review over on HB forum ... the reviewer suggested not locking the PF into the group head just prior to pulling the shot. He explained that there is an air pocket in the cylinder that is best removed as it disturbs the puck. It can be removed by holding the PF .. and only half locking it into position when pulling the lever down for pre-infusion. I tried this and as the lever gets down to about horizontal .. you can hear the trapped air being pushed out from the group head. You then lock the PF into its 6 o'clock position ready for the pour. Crikey .. Can this possibly be responsible for the quality of my shots dropping? Surely not. The only other difference in my routine was not tamping the final polish .. and this would, if anything, speed up the pour making it less strong. Pour time was 25s, 20s, 30s. The spent puck is soft to the finger poke and not compacted.
