SCG Experiments: How Much Time to Make 4 Lattes on the QM67?
To answer the question posed by multiple YouTube viewers, we put Bunny behind the dual boiler QM67 espresso machine, enlisted Shiami to track time and taste, then took it away! Watch how quickly she was able to whip up four lattes.
Tech Tips: Brew Head Gaskets & Portafilter Aging
Ever wonder why your portafilter isn’t fitting right, even after you’ve replaced the brew head gasket? In the final installment of our series with Bill Crossland, he explains why this might happen and how you can resolve it.
Brewin’ with Brandi: Skinny Mudslide
Feeling naughty, but not too naughty? This sugar-and-fat-free drink from Brandi hits the mark! You can try it either hot or cold — we elected to shake it up and serve it up over ice.
Ingredients
- 1/2 oz Monin Sugar Free Irish Cream syrup
- 1/2 oz Monin Sugar Free Dark Chocolate sauce
- 1 shot of espresso
- 6 oz fat free milk
- ice
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and shake it well! Pour into a serving glass and enjoy.
Tech Tips: What is Pre-Infusion?
To pre-infuse or not to pre-infuse? If Shakespeare had an espresso machine a few hundred years ago, Hamlet would have most certainly been pondering just such a question. But maybe you’re not really sure what exactly pre-infusion is, or how it works, or why one might want to consider it?
The third video in our series with Bill Crossland covers all of this — and more! Learn about pre-infusion from a mechanical perspective, including how it even came to be to begin with.
Tech Tips: Espresso Machine Pressure Release Valves
Next up in our mechanically-focused series with Bill Crossland is a discussion of the different types of pressure release valves — where they are, what they do and how they work. If you’ve ever been curious about over pressure, brew pressure or solenoid valves, this video is right up your alley.
Tech Tips: Internals of an E61 Brew Head
Ever wondered how an E61 brew head works? What makes it different from other brew heads? How it maintains temperature consistently or releases pressure at the brew head? Or maybe you just want to know what the heck an E61 even is! Well, your questions are about to be answered, darling, with help of our good friend Bill Crossland.
Not only is Bill a talented and knowledgeable mechanical engineer in his own right, he’s also been working on developing a wide array of espresso machines for both the commercial and home markets for the past twenty-odd years. So when it comes to breaking down how the mechanics of an espresso machine work, we were lucky enough that he provided us this lovely tutorial!
Using an E61 from a Rocket Espresso machine that has been cross-sectioned to show its internals, Bill walks us through the different components and functionality of this brew head. Watch to learn everything you wanted to know about E61′s — and possibly more! — in this mechanically-focused video.
Brewin’ with Brandi: Cinnful Irish Latte
Continuing on our theme of Irish-inspired (read: Whiskey and/or Irish cream-inspired) recipes this month, Brandi has selected a rather interesting latte that features both Irish cream and a little spice.
Watch her craft it on the Saeco Exprelia — we even made her use the steam wand this time!
Ingredients
- 1/2 oz Monin Cinnamon syrup
- 1/2 oz Monin Irish Cream syrup
- 2 shots of espresso
- steamed milk
Directions
Steam your milk to your desired frothiness (what?!). Combine both syrups into your serving mug, pull shots and mix them together. Fill with steamed milk and enjoy.
Compare: Baratza Coffee Grinders
Today is the day when we look ourselves in the mirror and sternly pose the following question: If required to at gunpoint, would we be able to perform a side by side comparison of the Baratza grinders? Why we might be required to do so at gunpoint is neither here nor there, but we do believe that an unquestioned life is not worth living … so we ask the tough questions.
To get the answers, we turn to the beautiful Bunny Malaspino, who was more than happy to perform such a comparison (sans weaponry) for us in this video. Watch as she breaks down the current Baratza line-up — Encore, Virtuoso, Preciso, Vario and Vario-W — and shows us how they compare functionally. If you’ve been concerned about your own ability to perform such a comparison under such stressful circumstances, this video is for you.
The Great Espresso Machine Boiler Draining Compendium
We have folks asking us often how they should prep their espresso machine for storage, transport or shipping. Possibly the most important thing to do is to make sure all of the water is gone from the internal boiler and waterworks.
How you do this differs depending on the type of espresso machine you have. We asked Gail to break it down for us in four separate videos, each tailored for different boiler styles. If you need a walkthrough, find your machine type below and watch her take us through it!
| Single Boiler Espresso Machine | Superautomatic Espresso Machine |
| Heat Exchange Espresso Machine | Double Boiler Espresso Machine |
SCG Experiments: Non-Pressurized vs. Pressurized Portafilters
There’s many decisions one must make on a daily basis; some of them are highly personal and we’re really not going to get into them with you again, darling … but others are worthy of public exploration and debate. One such example is whether or not one might want to upgrade their Saeco single boiler espresso machine from its stock pressurized portafilter to the non-pressurized model produced by Seattle Coffee Gear. Is it worth the price? How about the work? Flavor-wise, how do the shots produced from either portafilter design compare?
We put Bunny in front of a machine and asked her to go crazy! She did that, but she also performed a few experiments. Watch as we try out a few different approaches using both the pressurized and the non-pressurized portafilters, taste the shots and then discuss how their flavors measure up.