Coffee machine basics, faults and repairs.
Lots of issues or maybe faults with your coffee machine (or maker) can be solved by yourself. In this short article we take a quick look at how an espresso machine works so you can understand what’s wrong with yours.
The espresso coffee machine concept is fairly simple. The key to great flavour is the correct pour pressure. Pressure is controlled by a few things –
- How fine or course the coffee is ground.
- What state the beans are in in regard to moisture content.
- How the load is tamped down and at what height.
- To a lesser degree than the above 3 – the roast of your beans.
A common complaint in the coffee machine repair business is that “I’m not getting any pressure, something is wrong”. Indeed something is wrong but before we assume it’s your favourite appliance at fault, lets run a few simple tests.
I get very low pressure or none, what do I do?
Probably the number one cause of low pressure is that your grinder needs to be adjusted to a finer position. Try adjusting it to the finest position, grinding a load, tamp it down hard and try again. If you now have enormous or maximum pressure on the gauge, you know what you have to do. Start playing with the grind and make sure you are not tamping too hard and that the load is the correct height. Eventfully after a few test batches you’ll have your grind dialed in and know at what height to load up and tamp down.
If on the other hand you still don’t get any pressure or the pressure is still way below optimum, try some new beans. Beans left in the hopper for more than 2-3 days in Queensland coastal humidity will absorb a lot of moisture. This causes them to both taste a bit ordinary and allow a much lower pressure to be created.