It would be great if there was a centralized spreadsheet where everyone can contribute results for their specific machine. Seems like it could save quite a bit of precious time and coffee!
With De'Longhi machines, after grinding but before extraction starts, you just press the brew button again to cancel the brew. It ejects the dry, ground, unextracted coffee into the grounds catcher, unmoistened and ready to be weighed. No need to cut the power or reset anything.
Thanks! Confirmed on a De’Longhi Dinamica, pressing stop after the grind has finished (before the brew starts) results in the dry grinds being ejected into the grounds container. I got 12g from a “5 bean” single espresso.
Yes, it makes a HUGE mess in the machine. The spring-loaded puck 'scrapper" is good at spent coffee, but on unbrewed grind, it sprays the loose coffee grind ALL OVER inside and is a pain to clean.
Anyone can share with Delonghi Plus machine, what is the grind size to set for espresso? Should I set to 5 bean dosage, temperature medium and grind size 1.5 which is 1step away from the finest setting? I try 1.5 setting, crema look nice but the taste is not very good.
@@bryantwong140 Don't over think it. The grinder does rotation count, so it's anything but precise. Even the amount/weight of beans you have in the hopper will impact the weight of each grind. Unless you have a circular cone shaped hopper, it's not even worth to be too precise on each dosing. Sad thing is that most super autos have rectangular and odd shaped hoppers.
As a mechanic of bean to cup machines and coffee enthusiast I'm very interested in the review. I hope you've been experimenting with the unique SBS dial on the front of that Gaggia Accademia. One of the few bean to cup machines that can adjust the flow. A few things in this video: are you aware the amount of ground coffee in strongest setting is not always the same? With a Saeco/Gaggia/Philips for example it depends on a algorithm based on the power consumption of the brew group motor. This is meant to adjust for fine/coarse grinds. The majority of these machines is marketed more towards a long coffee than espresso. At least here in the Netherlands. 90 percent of my customers use it for just coffee (and cappuccino now and then).
We have a WMF 1100 S at work which can do coffee in various combinations, you can even program multiple-steps-coffee-recipes into it. It can also do hot water. But for some stupid reason, you can't do an Espresso followed by hot water automatically. It just doesn't let you to program this and I don't know why this was overlooked.
@@mbirth True. It's a shame it has only a separate hot water tap on the side. There are even several consumer machines that have a hot water sprout directly next to the coffee sprout to make an Americano.
Kan je uitleggen waarom het niet mogelijk is om een volautomaat met 25 seconde brew time te maken, dit moet toch wel te doen zijn, ben benieuwd wie als eerste uit komt met een ware espresso volautomaat in plaats van alleen maar lungos.
Tevens, zijn apparatnen al de instappers van Franke aan te raden, ik heb gelezen hier en daar dat sommige wel de juiste tijd voor het juiste volume dus meer in de buurt van juiste % kwa koffie extractie, ik denk dat het overkill is om iets als een Franke in huis te nemen maar het kan een soort van ''final chapter'' zijn voor de luie superautomatic mensen (toegegeven, meestal ook als mijzelf...)
Thank you, James, for discussing bean-to-cup machines - looking forward to your reviews, especially as I’m debating between full automatics, semi automatic and manual (and pour overs) as my old machine retired. Love your informative videos; learned a lot about coffee!
Indeed, thanks a lot for this, James. I have used one of these for a few years now. I don't try to make espresso out of mine, I use a longer extraction to make a decent coffee. So my grind is a bit more course anyway. Mine is basically dialed into lungo/long. I have been fairly happy with it. I found I really like the more basic full automatics. They tend to be far more adjustable - and cheaper as well.
Search for a Quickmill superautomatic! it wasn't a major succes but it's and actual Fully automatic Espresso machine and not a full automatic strong coffee machine like most are.
I've been the 'coffeemachine tuner' for a lot of friends and family. Untill now I've been adjusting based on the things I learned in your other videos. I did find that setting the grind setting finer than factory is always a great first step towards better tasting coffee. But a lot of times the stream of the liquid coming out of the macine turned way too light in just a few seconds. Usually by just randomly changing thing it got better, but this video is very concrete and helpful! I also love the tip to just weigh the ground coffe, never thoguht of that! Thanks a lot! I'm glad I became a bit more coffee nerd today
I’ve been waiting for this for so long! Haha. We have one of these machines at work and I’m never really happy with what it produces, but I know the beans have a lot to offer. Can’t wait to get back to work now and tinker. I’m going to be very jittery tomorrow! Thank you James!
I remember wishing that you had a video about dialing in a super-auto because I generally love mine. I'm so happy to find that you do now, even if I'm 2 years late because the algorithm hates me 🙃😂
Thank you for taking this on. I have watched untold hours of videos about these machines, and hadn't come across a single one that discussed how to dial it in - until now. You have made real what numerous reviewers either ignored or made sound like magic. Good work.
Thanks! After some trial n error, these are my settings for the Melitta Purista and Lavazza Crema e Gusto beans: temp high, bean 2 (10g, 3 bean is 13g), Grind 1 (finest, still good flow), 40 mL, which is exactly 1:4 ratio. As said, if you go lower than 1:4 it starts to taste first a little sour and then really weird. A little higher is to "watery". Thats at least my results and taste. Now I will start experimenting with the beans...
Thank you for doing this video, James! I know most coffee purists turn up their noses at superautomatics (and their cheaper pod cousins), but I think their utility as an accessibility tool is overlooked. Luckily I don't have to ration my energy so strictly anymore, but there's been times in my life that having the coffee machine meant I didn't have to choose between a hot drink or a shower. Seeing something specifically geared towards my beloved superautomatic makes me feel so happy and included!
I've come to really enjoy your videos Mr. Hoffmann. Your ability to simplify and organize complexities, the pleasant tone in your voice, your gentle demeanor, and your uncommon knowledge denotes wisdom, temperance, maturity, and humility; virtues seldom observed in one person. "...diligent hands bring wealth."-Proverbs 10:4
Omg amazing. Followed exactly what you said and the coffee is waaaay better. Just went 4-1 ratio and dialled the grind size back. I had set it to fine thinking that would be better and the ratio I was using was 8g/40g. Now its 10g/40g with a coarser grind. Brews way better. Did a taste comparison before/after and even the smell was hugely different. Thank you! ☕
I'm very pleased to report that my Delonghi Magnifica Smart S was pretty much dialed in from the factory. 3.82 ratio coffee to water from 8 grams of ground coffee and around 30.5 grams of liquid. I bought a precision scale to see if I can make the coffee better but I guess it was as good as it could be after my initial blind tweaks. Thank you for the great video and the guidance.
Very interesting! Thanks for this. I just bought a Saeco Xelsis, and after reading several reviews the consensus seems to be that everyone likes a grind setting of 2-3 for espresso drinks. The manual says to leave it at default and that it will self-adjust over the course of a couple hundred brews, but most people aren’t keen to wait, and are very happy with the 2-3 grind. Another common consensus with the Xelsis, is that the default temp is plenty hot, and that the higher temp doesn’t taste as good. That is coming from people in the community BTW, not Amazon reviewers complaining about a defective boiler, or expecting the steamed milk option to magically make scalding hot milk without clogging the mechanism.
I agree with those reviewers. We have a Dinamica Plus, and surprisingly, it did take a couple hundred drinks before tinkering started making much of a difference. And we did end up on a grind 3, max aroma (beans), 50ml coffee, for us to get a 43g espresso, that we liked the taste of.
Thanks James. Great video as always. I own a Jura Z8 as my wife "demands" a bean to cup at home. For the past few years I've basically played with "the variables" as you did in this video (grinder settings, water temperature, coffee and water quantities). As you said these variables won't ever allow me to produce a "real espresso" but I finally ended up with a very acceptable coffee when I realised that with these machines you should start with chosing the "right" coffee beans! I don't like bitter espresso and prefer some acidity in my final shot, so after many different beans, I settled on Lavazza Oro. Kind of medium roast, easily available and Lavazza will print roast dates on their packages, which allows me to keep an eye on the "freshness". Once you get the right bean for the machine and the flavour you're looking after, the small tweaks you pointed out will actually result in something pretty decent....at the press of a button.
Exactly. You'll never get the 'best' coffee with of a bean to cup machine. But a decent cup of coffee is certainly possible when you have good beans and are willing to take time to tweak the settings to your taste preferences.
@@anglax00 I've had a lot of success with Illy Inteso Beans. Long Coffee is fantastic. Full strength on beans at 200ml and medium grind. On the espresso I found 60ml and medium grind as well for a balanced espresso. Repeat these for milk drinks.
Thank you so much for this video. I’ve been watching your videos for years, all the while regretting the sub-par coffee I get from my Delonghi Magnifica. But after your video and something like 3 minutes of tinkering, I’m making excellent espresso. I had been tinkering with the settings for years, but the optimum settings were so extreme (maximum on beans and minimum on water) that I didn’t even try them. It was a ridiculously small amount of work to pull out my baking scales and weigh everything, and 2 shots later I was in great espresso territory. (I *still* am dreaming about replacing my rig with a niche grinder and a nicer espresso machine, but who isn’t?) Thanks for this and all the enthusiasm you bring to my daily addiction.
I don’t have these kinds of machines, and don’t ever plan on buying them. But the knowledge is delivered in such a pleasing simple way that I can’t help but stick around. And maybe I can use this to help someone getting started who buys one of these. And that’s a nice thought.
Thank you so much James, I have had these types of machines for over 15 years now mainly for the convenience and flexibility factors. Jura has been my go to for both drink selection, ease of maintenance, and reliability. I currently own 2, but have owned and sold 3 other during that time. Each machine worked flawlessly for over 10 year before needing repairs, unless maintenance was neglected. I have done similar steps, but slightly more OCD that your process: 1) set temp to max always 2) set dose to max 3) set grind to finest 4) adjust volume out stopping if brew was to fast 5) cup results at grind setting to select best options (select semi-finalist setting) 6) repeat 3-5 stepping up grind setting, stopping if brew is to fast 7) re-brew each semi-finalist to compare. With Jura machines this results in 1-2 steps finer than factory and between 50-80ml volume. I hope yours will provide me quicker results so i can waste less coffee and I am looking forward to see your side by side comparison video of bean to cup machines.
Thanks for your post. I have the E6 - but wonder if I should have stretched to the E8 for the sake of its "ristretto". Doing you have one of those? Would it allow for 'dialling in' more precisely, or a different grind?
As a first step to home espessso milk based drinks, I think they're a great option. I had a Delonghi unit we bought second hand and used till it literally fell apart. Made consistent, very good, very tasty coffee. Not the "greatest cup of coffee ever brewed (TM)" but certainly, consistent and good. I think that's important for a lot of people. I've gone down the home espresso setup with grinders and bottomless portafilters and the like since, but I have friends who have various versions of these and they work well. Nice to see them reviewed, I wouldn't turn my nose up at the coffee from them (though some of the bean choices can be terrible) so deffo great to see that there are ways to tweak and "dial in" a decent coffee from them.
I found that my Philips has so limited settings in grinder and heat, that it was more a matter of finding a coffee that it could do right and it wasn’t the most expensive beans that tasted best because of the limitations. Still, proper freshly roasted beans that hasn’t been sitting in a supermarket for a year are still worth it for a fuller taste. Now that my old Philips Saeco needs replacing soon, I will go looking for one with greater adjustment ranges. I like the automatic machine because I will never be good at making coffee with consistency and I fell the machine helps me take a lot of the parameters I fail at getting right out of the process. But I know it can only at most get 70% there of getting the most of the beans compared to a skilled person doing it manually.
Grind adjust is not the only thing. You need to look for one with the right hopper. Most rectangular hopper design means uneven lowering of beans when the hopper is less full, so you get less and less of a dose per grind session as the hopper has less and less beans.
Interesting video,I might start experimenting with my Saeco Odea Giro Plus. On the whole,I have been very happy with the machine though, but never knew that the sourness that I dislike on the really short setting (the giro has a dial to adjust volume of drink from tiny to really long) so it will be fin to play with that I remember when the machine was delivered, there was a small slip of paper in the bottom of the box that was written in Italian only, my coffee fanatic friend who had recommended the machine told me that the paper was also in his box and he translated it for me - the slip said to forget all other grind settings and always have the machine on the finest setting for true espresso and to disregard the advice inside the manual. I've always followed this advice and never had the machine on anything but the finest setting
TBH the primary use-case for these things is in small, or home, offices. I've worked in many places that had industrial vending coffee machines that were worse than instant, but one day I joined a place that had a delonghi BtC machine and it was significantly better. I bought one for myself! The problem of course, is that in such an environment, you don't want espresso or similar, you want a mugfull to sip while contemplating the meaninglessness of your existence as the sales manager tells anyone still listening of this meeting's weekly projection forecast revenue opportunity projections. So I'd be more interested in the "real world" uses of these for getting a decent mug of coffee out of them.
The long black option on these machines often runs all the water through the coffee, resulting in a large but bitter tasting coffee. It's better to use the espresso option then add plain hot water.
We have larger, comercial versions of these bean to cup brewers at work but I suspect they work exactly the same. The coffee is generally pretty bad even though they use excellent beans from an excellet local roaster. I will play around (as much as I can) using this video as a starting point. Thank you for giving me a little direction here!
Thank you James. This is literally what I need right now. Our coffee machine has broken, and we're trying to decide what to get. 1 button brewing would be nice, as I'll still make a v60 or aeropress when I want something different. But this is really making it seem like a good deal to spend the extra £150+ on the Sage Barista Pro and taking care of the puck prep myself... Looking forward to the comparison. I've hacked our machine atm, so it at least produces coffee, so it's less urgent.
Thanks for this review. I bought my DeLonghi Dinamo Plus almost 2 years ago. Your video confirmed my right decision. I use this machine daily for 1 to 5 cups of espresso or latté and I am very happy with it. Regarding the programming of the water in ml. I do that over the app., which the tested version probably doesn't have. The app is not the best feature of this machine. Except for preheating it in the morning from your bed, it's pretty useless and after the last update it has gotten worse in using. For the rest I can recommend this machine for the price level.
I purchased the Phillips 4300 superautomatic. It consistently produced sour espresso no matter which type of settings I used. I think part of the reason is because most superutomatics utilize an equivalent to a pressurized portafilter in the brew group mechanism. I also don't believe the water is heated well. For example, on the one I had, the water heated to no more than 140F, which is way off the mark. I also used the recommended coffee, which is Lavazza Super Crema. Had the 4300 for a week, and returned it back. I then purchased a Breville Barista Pro, and so far I am very happy with it.
im in the same boat right now, im about to return it after receiving it yesterday LOL... been trying to brew all day yesterday and wasted so much beans to get the taste i want...
The issue is the o-ring based piston cylinder design... They can't take too much pressure, or the o-ring will leak, so most of the shots are under-extracted due to short shot time.
My father has a jura, and it's been the bane of my existence. It took me years to realize it wasnt even attempting to make an espresso but more of a cafe crema. Once that was sorted I kinda was able to dial it in, but his refusal to not buy terrible beans really hampered any magic that i could do.
buy them anyway switch and when the machine needs to be filled and just add the specialty coffee in and tell them that there the same beans and just tell him that you made some adjustments and you'll now get a better cup of coffee. I doubt he'd really be able to tell that the beans aren't the same he's always been buying especially if he doesn't really look when changing the spent grounds container and just dumps it.
@@michealpersicko9531 what a terrible suggestion. Just let the man have his coffee the way he likes it. No one's forced to like 'proper' coffee beans just because other people think they're what everyone should drink. His dad is presumably a grown-ass man who can decide for himself what damn beverage he wants to have.
My mother liked terrible coffee and I never understood why. I'd buy her good coffee and that coffee would come out every time I visited, until it was stale and rancid and I had to throw it away, over her objections. (Stale coffee tastes bad, but rancid coffee is unhealthy.) Meanwhile she'd keep buying her warehouse club coffee every three or four weeks. So I gave up. She was happy, and it was no trouble for me to drink tea when I visited. I wasn't there for the coffee, I was there for the company.
What coffee beans do you suggest for your Jura? I have a Ena8…still frustrated. Just bought a bad of lavazza expresso medium roast but haven’t tried yet
I’m soooo happy you’ve made this video! Bean to Cup is the simplicity some non-morning people need to wake up with a waste free drink. Great tips. I’m going to play with my Philips/Saeco now.
I have a Jura Ena 4 and tried to go finer and finer, and the shot got more sour every time. After watching more videos from you (and buying a gaggia classic as hobby machine) I diagnosed the issue as channeling in the puck. So I settled at 6/8 (8 being most course) regards to grind setting. I yet need to weigh unbrewed coffee on max setting. but I dialed in my "espresso" to around 1:4 ratio (assuming max beans is 10gr according to the manual.) Also I brew Lungo's with it going up to 150ml which I know is not perfect, but hell, it sure is easy. I normally use medium roasted single origin freshly roasted beans which work well with this higher ratio. And I'll try to get my proper espresso's from the Gaggia Classic (with Gaggiuino mod eventually), starting with a hand grinder and probably moving up quickly to a df64 grinder.
Going too fine on my ENA8 always left some ground coffee in the chamber resulting in clogged filter. Even the cleaning programme would not get it out and I had to disassemble the machine to clean the (non-user removable) brewing unit. Damn those special screw-drivers you need for these machines.
Its nice to finally see james hoffmann, who had a big influence on my descision to join the coffee industry, to use and make comments about the machine i work now with everyday. Looking forward for more videos about it.👍
Thank You James , Excellent points. I have a Delonghi Magnifico 4200 , I find the grind setting works well and use it at its finest setting , with the most amount of coffee on the bean setting , I also use 2 shots with very little water for 1 espresso. I adjusted the water until I got a very nice espresso that is surprising, I have also examined the pucks that are left , I think the grind setting is good , as they are always in a good shape and not falling apart , the group head does tamp once with the piston moving up at the Pre stage, then the full extraction occurs , I do know however I use more coffee than you would in an espresso machine , but I get an equal tasting espresso for the trouble, I think . Maybe you could try it to get a better taste ? The Coffee Beans I use are Lavazza Intenso . Regards Bob
I love that you don't discriminate amongst brewing methods, James. While I use a Pavoni myself I really appreciate the added value of a super automatic instructional!
I been really enjoying your videos for the past few weeks, last weeks was fascinating. I noticed that I have to load your videos twice, the first time you fade out, anyone experiencing this. Second time it plays perfectly
I have a Philips Superautomatic and I've actually been very happy with it. I only drink specialty coffees and I've noticed with the Philips machines the max amount of coffee and minimal water gives me the best taste for my preference. My coffees are sweet, strong, and flavorful. I'm like a medium grade coffee snob so your mileage may vary.
@@Ginuwine-kx2iv second from finest grind minimum water, maximum amount of beans. For what it's worth, I'm not longer happy with it in the 10 months since I've wrote this comment I've had it warrantied 3 times
I’ve got a Jura Giga 6, and love it. I’m not a big espresso coffee drinker, but this machine makes it easy to get a really good cup of morning coffee with no thinking before my mind is awake. Upon purchase, my hubby and I spent about 3 days going through all of the options and tweaking the settings (as you suggest) with grind settings, coffee volume, water volume, temperature, etc., then saved these settings with the individual drink choices. I haven’t bought coffee from a shop in years, as we now make better coffee than any shop. Very freshly roasted medium-roast beans seem to work best for us, as compared to specialty coffees, so we search out coffee from our local roaster weekly. This was a pandemic purchase (lifetime investment?) that we thoroughly enjoy every single day.
Do you mind sharing your settings? I had a Jura En8 which made a great cup on coffee using Illy Inteso Beans. I upgraded to Jura Z10 and the coffee is still great but slightly bitter. I'm going to try weighing the dry puck and adjusting to ml but I was hoping you have the perfect mix. Thx
I use a bean to cup WITH specialty coffee at home on a daily. And what you said about grinding to fine has opened my eyes! I run it on the finest setting, cause to me even on this setting the grounds feel not that fine actually. And most of the time, the coffee is pretty good. I drink it as americano, so basically what you recommend anyway. However, from time to time, the machine spits out a coffee that just tastes weird. I couldn´t describe it myself, but when you explained how channeled brews taste, that was basically it. So obviously, next thing I´ll do is set my grind to medium and then just go ahead with the whole process you did in the video.
I was going to buy one of these machines, but then I saw your video on the budged barista set-up, my set-up consists on a Gaggia Classic and a the Breville at around $570USD, and I couldn't be happier. Thanks James.
I'm a big fan of you, my coffee has improved so much by watching you. I bought the Delonghi Dinamica that you have shown in the video. I am able to get great espresso and coffee out of this machine. Though I did have to tweak when I bought it, put the grind size to its finest and use Vienna Roast and did adjustments to the amount of water going in the espresso and water and milk in cappuccino, bliss
You changed my coffee game forever when you recommended to add hot water from a kettle to an espresso shot RAHTER than using the coffee brewing button. I did a side by side comparisons - as any good scientist would. You're spot on. Now I'm doing espresso button and topping with hot water for my coffee. Won't go back either.
Also try the otherway round, Have the hot water in the cup and then extract the espresso into it, I find it gives creama to a long black and improves the taste.
I have a Jura super auto. Dialed it in yesterday and found the following to be the best without getting bitterness/sourness using lavazza super crema whole bean: Temp: high Strength: Normal Size in OZ: 2.0 Grind size: 3rd finest
We have one of those Siemens machines with two bean/grind compartments, and we love it. For the sake of curiosity, we used beans from our fav coffee place, and we managed to dial it so well that there's no difference whatsoever - at least to our taste buds. We even managed to get amazing results with speciality beans, and can't really complain at all. For us it was worth every penny, especially when we're simply not in the mood to do everything manually. But it does take experimentation to get it just right - once it's set up, our fav beans have winning recipes 😅
I’ve been hoping for this video, James. Thank you. I watch almost everything you put out and I’ve learned a ton from you, but since I’m not looking for a new hobby but rather a tasty cup at the press of a button, so far it’s been automatic for me. So this was super helpful, and I’m gonna have to change my grind setting ASAP. Super interested in the reviews as well.
Very clear explanation. I have a super auto (Philips Latte) and I'm looking forward to seeing your next video talking about these machines. Regards from Montreal.
I bought a bean to cup machine several years ago and was always a little disappointed but never got the coffee I wanted. I thought I just needed a more expensive machine - Only when delving into the world of espresso last year did I realise why- bought an entry level sage machine and learnt a lot . I now understand limitations of bean to cup and although I still use it much prefer the journey I am on with more authentic espresso.
Work is going from a Nespresso to a Bean to cup machine (less waste). This is exactly what I needed to be equipped with before diving into machine settings. As always James, you are awesome.
I have the Tchibo machine and truthfully I've been very pleased with the results. Maybe my palette isn't discerning enough to detect the difference but I suppose coffee is like wine, it's good if you enjoy it.
I have a superautomatic espresso machine that automatically grinds, tamps, pre-infuses, brews and discards the coffee grounds at the press of a button and your videos helped me dial in a good water amount, coffee amount and grind fineness to make it make a nice espresso with thick crema.
Thanks! I have the Jura A1 and have played around with the grind settings and amount of water (flow time based). I will follow your advice and play some more.
This video makes so much sense. As a small roaster offering bean to cup options to offices I could never quite grasp why often using less coffee in the chamber gave a much better result with the same amount "espresso". Will also try adjusting the heat for a lighter roast 🤔
This explains a lot, thanks. I recently got my first Bean to cup machine, the Delonghi Magnifica Evo. I'm definitely guilty of changing to many settings, but feel I've got it back on track now. Would of been so much easier if I had found this video first :D
Thanks, James. I've asked a few times for your super-auto tips/tricks, and here it is! You've given me an exercise (and, hopefully) a better cup of coffee at the end. Thanks again!
So far all you've done is convince me that I'm better off making my coffee through more traditional methods. That said, as I like the ritual of making coffee, I don't think I was ever in the market to buy one of these in the first place
This is super helpful. I have a Jura E8 and will use the bypass chute and a dedicated grinder, but would find that finer grinds were getting *worse*. Now I understand why and how to address it.
I have had the Dinamica for a year now and never noticed that it was making bad coffee - because I usually make Flat Whites. Due to being a Fat Bastard I am on a diet right now and started drinking Espresso's to cut out the milk I was smashing each day from about 6 or 7 Flat Whites ... now I've never been a fan of black coffee but the Espresso's I've been making are quite sour from the Dinamica. I tried using my Moka pot on the stove and it was better. So now I'll run through these steps and see if I can improve the Espresso the Dinamica puts out - thanks for the tips James!
Nice tip on cancelling a brew to measure dose size - I would recommend taking two or three readings though. On my DeLonghi I measured in 100g of beans and counted how many drinks I could make before they ran out. 12g single, 18g double. I'm excited to try out the tips in this video tomorrow!
We just got that Siemens machine you showed at the end in our office and I‘ve been struggling to make decent coffee with it. Very happy to have a starting point now :)
That was the video i was waiting for. My parents had Superautomatics for the last 15 years. They are really usefull when you have a lot of people at home, dinners or brunch. But on a day to day basis, i hated the coffee from them. I tried all of the "espresso" standard method : dose, grind, temperature, etc. It became so frustrating for me that people were paying 2000$ on a machine that coud'nt brew espresso that i decided to do my final design engineering project on the subject of : trying to make a super-automatic espresso machine that can actually brew espresso! Plot twist: its was super hard so we chose to mechanized a lever machine to reproduce pressure profile automaticly instead
James, in your forthcoming review video, it would be incredibly useful to hear your thoughts on how the Bean-to-Cup machines compare to pod-coffee solutions (e.g. Nespresso). Often both types of machines are chosen for their convenience - so hearing your thoughts on the differences in actual results would be great!
Agree! That’s what I am try to decide against right now. I know its not the best coffee possible but if I have 2 minutes to run and grab a coffee between meetings its really the only two options for espresso ease of cleanup
I went from the most expensive nespresso machine to a Melissa barista TS bean to cup and the difference was night and day better to the point where I didn’t feel like what I’d been drinking previously could really be called coffee. However even this is looked down upon by proper coffee aficionados so everything is relative lol
@@robinisathakur Agree with you. I think a good bean-to-cup machine is the best compromise between convenience and quality - I also have other brewing methods at my disposal but when I want a coffee that tastes great and doesn't take much time/effort there is nothing better.
Just the video I needed! Thanks!! I've inherited, from a friend, an older Saeco Royal "Professional" that wasn't working. I have since revived it, and while it makes a cup of coffee, I haven't been thrilled by the results. I've been wanting to tweak it, but have been unsure as to how to approach dialing it in. Unfortunately can't rely on the grind setting being anywhere close to factory, so dialing it in will be a bit more of a challenge, but now I have a good roadmap on how to get there.
Finally, you turned your attention to superautomatics. Sometimes it's just nice to have a one touch machine at home that gives fast coffee gratification especially now a lot of people work at home and just needs to have a quick coffee while working. James, I'm looking forward to your review of superautomatics. I hope you include the cheap but bestselling on Amazon, the De'Longhi Magnifica S ECAM 22.110.B.
Omg I am ecstatic to have this video. I’ve had a 1500$ Jura for a while and though I wanted more info on dialing it in I never thought I’d get it here.
Recently had relatives buy one of these, I tried to get them to go the Oracle Touch route but it was too much to ask. All I remember is the frustration of trying to help a friend dial in one of these and giving up. This gives me some hope that something drinkable is achievable with these machines. Thanks for the excellent video, I'm looking forward to the full review in case I'm ever in the same situation again of having to give thoughts on these machines.
As someone who loves coffee, your videos, and gadgets-- I thought you'd never make one of these videos but desperately wanted it. I've been through 2 different super-autos, upgrading and gifting as I go. I'm hooked on the convenience. At the moment I'm loving a Saeco PicoBaristo which I picked for its ability to fit tall travel mugs for both coffee and milk. I have my eye on the Philips LatteGo models, which thankfully seems to use the same brew group as mine but are a few years along in the R&D pipeline otherwise. I'm itching to upgrade once again.
Revisiting this video after upgrading my Gaggia Accedemia (the one in the video) to the new 2022 version (warranty upgrade woooo!). Not overly a comment about the video - the advice works great when getting dialled in, especially with lighter roasts :) Mainly just a comment on how much better the new Accademia is than the old one at handling speciality coffee, considering the internals are pretty much the same, the quality of espresso between the two is on another level and the closest to a manual machine I have found so far (I think as the brew temperature seems to be both more steady and higher. So, either my old machine was broken from day one or the upgrade really is that much better. The day a super auto preps a puck in some way will come I'm sure of it...but thanks to James I can get pretty damn good coffee without the faff of a manual machine, so Thank you very very much :)
I had to dial in my Saeco Superautomatic when I bought it ~5 years ago. I have also tried different blends and roasts over the years to get the flavour I'm looking for. Overall I'm happy and the coffee it makes is better than the equivalent that I would buy at a higher end chain and similar to what I get at most small shops in the US.
We've been using a Saeco bean to cup at work for over a decade (just bought and refurbished our 3rd machine) I never knew what was mean to come out of it ratio wise.. We just changed bean supplier, so now I'm very keen to put this info into practice Thankyou James!
Well said. The machines are at best automated Mocha pot brewers. Working with light roasts, they really struggle. We're offering them, but had started doing mix darker and light roasts so that the coffee extraction is improved. You get the flavours of the specialty light roast, with good body, with at least a 30% darker roasted coffee blended in. Sticking to a 50/50 dark/light roasts seems to produce the best case for coffees that will be consumed with milk/milk foam. Well said about the puck prep. I also think the smaller diameter of the puck means the depth of the puck needs to increase depth, this increases the chance of channelling. Super-autos with larger diameters seem to perform better.
Basically found the same as what you explained, but I didn't have your guidance back when we had an automatic bean to cup. It was a Melitta "Caffeo Solo & Perfect Milk" - it took me weeks of guessing to get a decent drink out of it, but I was happy with it until it started leaking water (it was an old machine I repaired and got 2 years out of for free, so it wasn't a bad deal!) Generally, set it as strong as it was a capable of, with a medium grind setting, with it "pulling" the shot for 15-20 seconds. It didn't have a menu, just a dial, and it'd sometimes be a different result without you touching it. I did like the convenience, but automatic machines can be so temperamental in terms of descaling/cleaning them - ours always ended up getting stuck. Also, the milk prep although it produced a reliable foam, it didn't make the milk hot enough. It converted me from never drinking coffee, to being quite interested in it quite quickly. We changed to a Sage Barista Express in the end and learnt to pull "real" shots with it and are generally far happier with that, now.
The timing of this video couldn't be more spot on. We are having our new office bean-to-cup delivered next week. I think I will have some fun dialling it in. Thanks James.
Thanks James. Perfect timing. I've actually just put some specialty beans in my DeLonghi that I had tested before at a local coffee place. And like you said, first tries are quite disappointing. ( My go to bean up until now is a cheap dark roast from Lidl, that does surprisingly well in this machine). My initial reaction of dialling to a finer ground indeed didn't help. I'l try and use your tips to get the best out of these specialty beans.
This video comes at a perfect time! I thought it was the coffee beans that gave me problems. I tried 4 different kinds/brands that I all sort of liked, but none fit 100% yet. I guess I go back and set the coffee machine differently instead of hunting for this elusive perfect bean that I probably already found without realising. I have been also watching the "how to choose your coffee" video some time ago, but with a mix of those two vids I should get some good coffee out of a way over-prized machine soon! (machine came with my rental appartment)
Oh my days…. This may just be the perfect video. I’m guilty of setting the grind on my delonghi to the finest, hitting the button then shaking my head in frustration at the bitter, weird tasting drink in front of me and saying “Hoffman said it needs to be fine for espresso beans” 🤣🤦♂️☕️
