Olympia Cremina extraction help

mark israel

Hello All, I am the very happy owner of an L1 on which I feel I have achieved a degree of mastery . I'm very happy with the great majority of my shots from it, regardless of bean, and I don't ever see letting this wonderful machine go. But, as many of you will understand, I have the desire to expand my home barista skills and when the chance to pick up a 2011 Olympia Cremina came along, I took it. I have had the machine for about 2 weeks and I'm having lots of trouble getting good thick, tasty shots. I realize that manual levers have a rather steep learning curve, and I'm ready to be patient with it. But if any of you have experience with the Cremina and advice about how to dial in my shots more quickly, I'd love the help. I've tried various grinds, distribution techniques, single and double shot doses, a couple of different beans, and a range of tamping pressures. The results seem to be all over the map: slow difficult-to-press shots, thin sour shots with little crema, bitter shots. I am trying to be systematic, and change only one variable at a time. Any ideas?

Reiss Gunson

hi mark

thanks for posting. without a doubt the cremina is capable of producing some wonderful espresso, but i would not have embarked on this adventure if i did not think i could improve on the consistency of the results, adding a spring, a group with a much greater thermal mass, and a thermosiphon

that said, you might like to try the following;

1. the group will be too cool at idle. in order to address this raise the lever just high enough that water doesnt come out of the group, and then lower it to the resting position. do this twice, perhaps three times. this will elevate the group temperature to where it needs to be

2. the lever pressure against your hand should not be high as you bring it down; if it is this is an indication that you have tamped too hard, dosed too high, or ground too fine. too much lever pressure and the crema will disappear

3. as always, make life easy on yourself by sticking with one roast whilst you are getting to grips with it

4. use a tamper that fits closely against the basket wall

5. pre-infuse of course, perhaps holding the lever up for 8-10 seconds before bringing it down again

kind regards


reiss.