There are various kinds of issue that you might face while using your Espresso Machine. This might affect your experience with your appliance. Thus, in order to work perfectly with your Coffee Maker, it is necessary to know how to troubleshoot it. We all hate when our Machine breaks down. In our present article, we will brief you out with various such Troubleshooting tips while working with your Espresso Coffee Maker.
Factors Affecting the Working of Espresso Machine
There are various existing factors which might affect the working of your Coffee Maker. Here, we have listed out some of the common ones.
- 1. Temperature Factor
- Imbalance in Temperature degrades the taste of your Coffee. If the taste of your Coffee turns bitter due to the machine being cold, Just extract a shot without Coffee in it and the taste will improve.
- You also need to make the Cup Warm before pouring your drink in it. Pouring the drink in a cold cup might cause you to taste off your drink. The most comfortable temperature for your Espresso is 70 Degree Centigrade to 80 Degree Centigrade.
- If you do not descale your Espresso Machine it might also reduce the temperature of your water.
- Preheat the Portafilter before brewing the Coffee in it and let the water in the Cup for some time so the water keeps the Cup warm.
- 2. Coffee Factor
- The Roast is the first thing that anyone would notice while buying Coffee Beans. Darker Roast has a shining surface, which indicates that the Coffee is having oil content. Such kind of Coffee prepares the rich kind of foam as well as cream. If we keep such beans in the jar for a longer time, the oil content in them will dry and you wouldn't be able to enjoy the best kind of Espresso.
- The issue with using Preground Coffee Beans is as same as the Roast. The loss of oil content can degrade the taste of your Coffee. Thus, it becomes necessary to store them in the air tight container so the water can properly suck the remaining air content in them.
- The Coarseness of the Coffee Beans also plays an important role in the kind of your Espresso drink. It should be decided according to your taste of Coffee and the kinds of Coffee Beans that you have. Such as the Coffee Bean having rich content of Oil must be coarse in fine size for the proper extraction of flavor from them.
- Another point to consider is Tamping Depth. The Coffee Beans should be at 10% distance from the top of Portafilter, so the water doesn't flow through it quickly. Keeping the Coffee Beans near to the top of Portafilter will cause drip out.
- We also need to consider Tamping Pressure, as keeping them hard wouldn't allow the passage of water and keeping them weak will allow easy flow of water. This could affect the taste of your Espresso.
- 3. Frothing Factor
- The Milk with low-fat content produces a lot of foam. While on the other hand, the Milk with higher fat content will provide you with the consistently flavored drink. Depending upon the kind of Espresso you wish to have, you need to decide the fat content of the Milk.
- Preparing the Coffee with the High-Fat Content Milk takes a lot of time. If you are intending to have the drink with a silky texture and rich kind of foam, you have to wait for a longer period. The adding of steam will also cause the milk content to increase.
- The low-fat content milk is best if you are a fan of Coffee with high froth content. The milk with low-fat content consists of bubblier as well as silky milk. Apart from that, Espresso prepared with this kind of Milk usually takes up less time for preparing.
- 4. Grinder Factor
- Cleaning the Bean Hopper: Sometimes, the Coffee Beans stick to the Bean Hopper while use and later they don't allow the Grinder to work efficiently. If you will clean the Hopper in a well manner this problem can be solved.
- Cleaning the Burrs: The same Coffee Beans can also stick to the Burr Grinders and can clog the operations of your Espresso Coffee Maker. Thus, it becomes best kind of Espresso from time to time.
- Cleaning the Coffee Chute: Coffee Chute also faces the same kind of issues as the earlier ones. So, it is also necessary to clean the Coffee Chute to dispose of such particles. Also, run the Grinder empty after cleaning to dispose of particles which are tough to remove.
- 5. Steam Wand Factor
- Check whether the heat light is ON or not.
- Is the Tip of Steam Wand clogged? If yes, use the needle end of your cleaning apparatus to clear that clog. Once it is done, run the steam wand for few seconds to check its working.
- For eradicating the issue of Steam Wand Clogging permanently, follow this procedure every time after extracting your Coffee drink. It will remove the milk as well as coffee content stuck up in the Wand.
- Water dripping out before extracting your Coffee from the Steam Wand indicates that such content is stuck up in your Steam Wand. Thus, thoroughly cleaning the appliance becomes necessary once you extract the drink.
- When you are descaling your Espresso Machine, make sure to run the solution through the steam wand it would remove the Mineral Contents and prevent the clogs into the system.
A grinder is a must needed accessory of an espresso machine. If the Grinder of your Best Espresso Machine is not preparing the best kind of Coffee Beans, you need to follow the steps given below:
It might happen that the Steam Wand of your Best Espresso Machine stops producing steam or doesn't produce effectively. Under such circumstances you need to follow the given steps:
i have a barista athena and having trouble getting the setting for the stop on the steam valve, can you advise on how to get this right?