Coffee tasting like rubber

Tracka

Guys,

We were given a Giggia coffee machine as a wedding present. we stored it until our new house was build and now have brought it out to start using it.

But...  the coffee taste's rubberish (my description)

Is there anywhere in sydney that has experience with home giggia machines, that I can take it to and get them to show me if im making it right or, tell if it is actually the machine that is making it taste like that ? (I'm happy to pay them for their time)

it was purchased 12 months ago. so out of 'warranty'  I should have checked it straight away so we may now have a $600+ paperweight

thanks in advance.

Samuel

john

Samuel Did you run a few litres of water through it before using it? What type of coffee are you using?? John

Tracka

Samuel Did you run a few litres of water through it before using it? What type of coffee are you using?? John

John, thanks for the reply. I ran it several times with water as per the instruction video. we tried two types of coffee. the first was one from David jones ( a friend gave it to us[this was already ground]) the second was from Gloria Jeans (our fav coffee).  we bought them as beans and ground them ourselves.

john

What part of Sydney are you in? Were the GJ beans flavoured?????? What was the extraction like ie fast or slow??? John

lars

Hi Samuel - it's much too early to despair about your machine yet.  The first thing is that you have to realise that the freshness of the coffee you use makes a huge difference...already ground coffee is usually (by definition) not fresh; there may be nothing wrong with the GJ's beans, but again, you should check when they were roasted, as anything over a week old, is going to give an inferior result. Lastly, as John has implied, the result you get from an espresso machine depends very much on how you have ground the beans - that's the reason John is asking how quickly the water 'ran-through' the coffee (ie the 'extraction').  Many people who buy a home espresso machine think that's all they have to think about, but if you don't have a good grinder, then the coffee is usually ground too course, which means the water will be pushed through the ground coffee too quickly, giving a poor result. Cheers L

mattyj

coffee tastes like rubber? ROBUSTA! Sure, it's great for adding body and crema (in moderation), but once it starts to stale, it smells and tastes like burnt rubber.

James_Lusty

Coffee like rubber??? is it water connected or using a storage bin. If water connected could be rubber hose. Second, most likely it is the coffee. Not only robusta exhibits rubber characteristics. Poor green bean selection. JL

tracka1

sorry about the delay in responding.  the forum would not accept my username again so I just registered another we have been away so have not touched the machine. I dug it out of the cupboard yesterday and i'm going to buy some fresh beans today and have another attempt to get it going correctly. not connected to any external water/storage bins. (only the small tank that comes with the actual coffee machine. no point having such a good machine if it does not get used, so i will make all attempts to get it going.

FreshCoffee2

Try running water through the group without putting any coffee up to it, smell and taste the water. You often get new machines that have a certain "new machine" smell...it's not very nice...but it disappears with flushing / use as others have written. Also, afraid you need to have good technique / understanding to get the best out of espresso machines. It's not rocket science but for example if there is any possibility your dose, or grind are not correct, you will get bad tasting espresso...particularly if the grind is too coarse or the filter underdosed markedly. Espresso brewed this way will under extract badly and depending on the type of blend will certainly taste foul....but it would be neither the machine's, nor the coffee beans's fault. In this scenario, many people decide the coffee is "too strong" and proceed to grind the coffee even coarser in an ettempt to smooth out the flavour. This is the opposite to what should be done, which is to actually grind the coffee finer (& make sure filter is filled crrectly) and as it more closely approaches the correct level of fineness and proper strength. THEN it smoothes out. So, apologies if I am telling you something you already know, but this is almost an impossible question to answer without knowing how well you actually know how to use the machinery. Regardz, FC.

tracka1

FC, totally understand what your saying.  I have a novice skill level with the machine and don't doupt that it may be the way i'm using it that is the problem. I'll report back when i have a few more attempts tonight

mattyj

Coffee like rubber??? Not only robusta exhibits rubber characteristics. Poor green bean selection. JL

really? what arabica coffees have you tried that taste like rubber? (just so i know not to buy any!) Or is it something that can be done during the roasting process - like i can make my Bali Shinzan Arabica taste like smoke by rosating it into second crack...

James_Lusty

I have found you can get a butyl character to any coffee which is most likely related to the processing of the green bean. The most common character associated with robusta would be a woody, matchbox character. However not all robusta coffees have these dominant characteristics. I could blend an espresso with thirty percent robusta and you would not pick up that there was robusta in the blend. Apart from, perhaps the increased stimulation. On your second issue smokiness at the second crack. Not all coffees develope smokiness when roasted to the second crack. The coffee might have a "cocoa bitterness" but the smokiness which also leaves a sensation of dryness (cocoa bitterness does not leave this dryness) is related more to the set up or condition of the roasting equipment and the length of the roast.   JL

Gonzo

All real technical issues aside... Realistically, this is most probably an espresso machine user (as in "newcomer") technique issue. G.