Problems / Questions with my Saeco Super Automatic.

Dec 06, 2004 1 Replies

Hi,



Just received my Saeco Magic Comfort Plus, this is my first espresso machine and I have lots of questions.



The machine has three programmable buttons



Mine are set to:


- Small cup = 1 ounce



- Med = 4 ounces



- Large = 8 ounces


- Are those preffered measurements? do you suggest I set them to something else?



I know a 1 ounce is called an espresso



- What is a 4 ounce and 8 ounce drink called? Are they both considered Cafe Cremas or are they called Long espressos? which one is which?


- I set the temperature of all the programmable buttons to Maximum, is this the preferred setting?


- The Dosage is set in the middle, is this the preferred setting? It doesn't have any numbers for the dosage, only a - at the far left and a + at the far right.


- The Grinder is set to 4, is this the preferred setting?


- Aside from turning on the cup warmer I havent touched any other setting, do you recommend I do?


- When I first unwrapped the machine the coffee grinds container sat firmly in place and it took a little pressure to remove it from its inserted position, but now when I place it back in, it rests loosely instead of firm, I don't have to apply any pressure now to remove the drawer, is this normal?


- I've tried adjusting the grind setting and the dosage amount and it takes 15 seconds to get a 1 ounce shot of espresso. Unless I'm not timing it correctly. I start timeing it as soons as the machine indicates that Pre brewing has started.


- My other problem is that the shot comes out bitter and when I add just a little water (I start by adding an ounce at a time to a single shot), it tastes too watered down. So far I can't even reach the crappy type of Americano I've been buying from Starbucks.



I guess it could be my beans, but I bought two different kinds of fresh roasted and I have the same problem with both.



Help please!



dss snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote in news:1102351185.053918.173840 @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Personal taste if what determines the brew sizes. Good starting points, but there's no hard and fast rules on a superauto.

4 oz is cafe crema, but to make proper cafe crema you have to coarsen the grind a few notches for proper extraction. 8 oz sounds like cafe Americano.

again, not a bad start but you may want to try the next coolest temp to see if that tastes better to you.

crank it all the way over to the max or + and don't think twice. that's a 9 gm dose.

ideally you should adjust the grind so you get 1.5-2 oz of espresso in about 9-11 seconds. you don't want a rush of coffee and you don't want dribbles, either. again, only trial and error will tell you.

always throw out the first shot you make after any extended down time, i.e. greater than 20 minutes.

sounds normal. machine won't power up if it's not inserted right.

for purposes here, time it when you see coffee first emitted, not when you first hit the brew button.

again, try a cooler temp. also, coarsen the grind a tad. realize any adjustments to grind only show themselves after 3 shots or so...

probably best to practice and tweak it on cheap beans. the machine will make "better" product than starbucks for the most part, it just takes a little patience.

eric

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