Any Coffee Experts Out there?

Anoneemoose

Hi,

We have a Delonghi Caffe Corso which is around 3 years old and still going well (I think). Recently, I’ve been finding my coffee either has no taste or tastes bitter. I normally use Starbucks Espresso Blend Whole Beans.

The machine is descaled when needed (a light comes on) but that was only 2 weeks ago and it’s normally every 5 weeks ish.

I normally like a coffee that tastes of coffee, but I top it up with steamed milk. I don’t know how this would be described....maybe a cross between a cappuccino and a latte!

I’ve read about different things causing bitterness, and one of them is the grind, however, if I change the grind at all, then it becomes tasteless.

I know this is not Old Style, but I wasn’t sure where else to put it. And it saves me a fortune on shop bought coffees!:D

If anyone can suggest anything...like trying different beans or doing something to the machine, I would be very grateful.

Anoneemoose

To add, the machine is a ‘bean to cup’ so it does the grinding and water temp.

Islandmaid

We have a Delonghi Magnifica, it's our second, the first lasted about 4 years but the grinder was playing up, and the whole thing started to produce poor quality coffees, maybe yours is just end of life, I am sure you have given it a mega clean etc I guess these things just wear out.

We ended up buying a new one on offer at AO.

These machines are expensive, but we all love good coffee, and over the 4 years including beans, it worked out a lot cheap that 'shop' coffee or those pod machines, and more environmentally friendly as less plastic waste and feeds the garden with coffee grounds

Sorry not to be more helpful

Matron_Midge

We have a gaggia "anima" bean to cup machine. After trying loads of different beans, we have settled on sainsburys own brand espresso beans.
Have you got a strength option? We have ours set to 4 beans out of 5.
The other option is to go to a proper coffee retailer and have the beans roasted to your preference - more expensive but you can get a lot of assistance on the grunt, roast and flavour strength from them.
Hope that helps a little.

Anoneemoose

Islandmaid wrote: »

We have a Delonghi Magnifica, it's our second, the first lasted about 4 years but the grinder was playing up, and the whole thing started to produce poor quality coffees, maybe yours is just end of life, I am sure you have given it a mega clean etc I guess these things just wear out.

We ended up buying a new one on offer at AO.

These machines are expensive, but we all love good coffee, and over the 4 years including beans, it worked out a lot cheap that 'shop' coffee or those pod machines, and more environmentally friendly as less plastic waste and feeds the garden with coffee grounds

Sorry not to be more helpful

Thanks for the comment, and it is helpful! I was thinking it was probably on its way out but was hoping that might not be the case!:rotfl:

We love our coffee too, even though I’m not particularly adventurous! And we don’t drink alcohol so this is like our treat.

I always soak and clean everything thoroughly when descaling and then obviously clean as I go. I’ll try descaling again in case just to see if it makes a difference.

Anoneemoose

Matron_Midge wrote: »

We have a gaggia "anima" bean to cup machine. After trying loads of different beans, we have settled on sainsburys own brand espresso beans.
Have you got a strength option? We have ours set to 4 beans out of 5.
The other option is to go to a proper coffee retailer and have the beans roasted to your preference - more expensive but you can get a lot of assistance on the grunt, roast and flavour strength from them.
Hope that helps a little.

Thank you!

We have strength options but we have them on the strongest, with a certain amount of water, depending on cup size. It has worked perfectly for our taste previously and can’t think that turning the strength down would help as I imagine it would be less flavoursome.

I think I will give it another clean. And then maybe open a new pack of beans in case this is a dodgy pack.

And I’ll have a play around with strength/grind/water amount just in case. And will get some different beans too.

If not, I’ll have to have a new machine!!

Thanks again.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Sounds more like a quality issue with the strength of roast to me, so they've essentially burned the beans before they've even got to you.

I'm not fond of dark roasts for that reason - the quality is just too variable. Admittedly, if you're running a coffee shop, the chances are that most of the customers pay for milk and various syrups which obscure the nasty burned taste, so it's only a problem for the awkward ones who actually want to taste the coffee. I also think that the increase in customers opting for non dairy milks means that there is always an element of sweetness, as they never provide the unsweetened versions.

You could add a tiny pinch of sea salt to the coffee to counteract the bitterness in the meantime, but I'd be looking at finding an alternative brand if you still want to have espresso - I always found Ily tended to have good beans compared to other companies, including their dark roast - and milk in itself is quite sweet, so a drip of syrup or sugar wouldn't go amiss.

GlasweJen

Try popping to Aldi and getting a 4 or 5 strength bean (£3 or so in price so not going to break the bank) to see if it's a dodgy bag of beans that's causing your issue.

coffeehound

Anoneemoose wrote: »

Hi,

We have a Delonghi Caffe Corso which is around 3 years old and still going well (I think). Recently, I!!!8217;ve been finding my coffee either has no taste or tastes bitter.

I!!!8217;ve read about different things causing bitterness, and one of them is the grind, however, if I change the grind at all, then it becomes tasteless.

Bitter can also mean the water is too hot, and similarly flat or tasteless can mean the water is too cool. So it might just mean the thermostat is playing up. Not sure what the thermostat is in those but probably a simple click-stat.

For buying mail order fresh beans, Id recommend Rave which are great VFM.

ETA if the grinder burrs are worn they will start to produce excess fines which will also give bitterness. Again no idea what the life is on B2Cs but something else to check.

Anoneemoose

coffeehound wrote: »

Bitter can also mean the water is too hot, and similarly flat or tasteless can mean the water is too cool. So it might just mean the thermostat is playing up. Not sure what the thermostat is in those but probably a simple click-stat.

For buying mail order fresh beans, Id recommend Rave which are great VFM.

ETA if the grinder burrs are worn they will start to produce excess fines which will also give bitterness. Again no idea what the life is on B2Cs but something else to check.

Thank you. Do you know off the top of your head what the water should be or is it different for different machines. Then I can check with a thermometer.

I’ll have a look at Rave too!

coffeehound

Hiya, 92 to 96 deg C should be okay. Thinking about it, I expect espresso grinder burrs to last about 2 years so if yours is 3 yrs old perhaps that is the more likely problem.

Probably best to wait till the hot spell is over before buying mail order as a few hours in a hot van would ruin fresh beans!