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I'd suggest going for cortado (1:1 ratio espresso:milk) if the espresso tastes good to you, because the cup you use is just too big = too much milk (imho it ruins the coffee)

I'd add some extra steps to your routine to enhance repeatability and accuracy: Address grinder retention: After grinding, pay attention to the portafilter weight. I used a VS3, and sometimes the retention could be significant. Make sure to purge or clean the grinder if necessary to ensure consistency. Use a thermometer for milk: Checking the milk temperature is crucial. Overheating can negatively affect the flavor by introducing off-tastes, and overly hot beverages make it difficult to appreciate the nuances of the flavors. Aim for the ideal milk temperature to balance sweetness and texture. Choose suitable cups: Consider investing in cups that make practicing latte art easier. The ones you're currently using seem less forgiving, which might hinder your progress.

hi, first of all, great video :) but one thing you definitely should change is, if you put the portafilter in the grouphead, you have to start the extraction directly, do not wait. the taste get worse and worse every second you wait. go for a try. tell me if you noticed a difference in taste?

Sometimes I find when the Espresso is perfectly well balanced it can seem to be a bit milk heavy, especially in a bigger cup. I think it is because neither over extraction or under extraction are overpowering the drink, the milk can sometimes balance/sweeten these things out. However when it is already well balanced/sweet extraction then the sheer volume of milk can cause it to seem milky compared to the espresso on its own. This is where cup size really comes in to play I find. Less cup volume will change the overall coffee to milk ratio. Every coffee is different but I find the coffee I currently use tastes best in a 8 to 10oz cup (to me). The smaller the cup, obviously the more you will notice the extraction issues as there will be less milk to soften things off, but when it hits right it is great!

Hey Jon. The difference between the Silvia V6 E and M, is that the “E” variants don’t have a stand-by mode (as per the EU requirements for high wattage appliances). The “M” variants do have a stand-by mode indicated by a flashing green power light. I believe you have the V6 E variant and was in the off state when you switched it on. @NJSInstructional and @SeattleCoffeeGear have great videos on temperature surfing. Take note of the roast of the bean in their demos as darker beans require a lower temperature than lighter beans. i.e. a longer pause to cool down. Under 60 secs for a medium roast is too short, I used to aim between 90 and 120 secs (without the need to flush). Don’t get confused with Gaggia videos, as the Gaggia Classic (& variants) use a much smaller 100ml aluminium boiler which cools down quickly compared to the 300ml brass boiler in the Rancilio Silvia. If you go back and watch your earlier videos, you’ll notice you enjoyed the final cup more often when you didn’t sample the espresso beforehand. This is because you’re tasting an undiluted espresso before tasting a mixed coffee therefore compromising your pallet. A sip of water before tasting your final cup should alleviate this. This isn’t the entire reason for differences in taste of your final cup but is one of many factors. 😀

You may remove the spout for more clearance :)

It still looks like you have Quakers in many of your videos. Have you tried identifying them yet? It’s not an insignificant thing to be overlooked, I would compare it to making a strawberry smoothie and including the moldy berries instead of throwing them out. There is no reason to leave them in and they can have a catastrophic effect on your espresso’s taste. You guys have implemented so many of my suggestions in the past to your benefit and I must insist that if you take any of my advice to heart it would be that removing Quakers is a necessity.

Always with a smile jon😁 good job !!!!

Perhaps it is just that way the milk did or did not mix with the espresso. I can’t see anything particularly incorrect. Maybe go in a more daring speed and larger circle when pouring the milk. It needs a little bit of impact to self-mix. The milk texture may also be ever so slightly different from what you want - perhaps slightly too aerated, and slightly colder than needs to be.

This is making espresso, not coffee.☕

That's one slow coffee grinder ! ☺

Anything but hersheys!

as long as you are at full blast by the texturizing phase of your milk steaming, no worries. Some of us would do not nice things to have steam power that strong haha

nice thumbnail

All of the shots in your channel have no crema. Just invest some money and buy some proper freshly ground coffee. What’s the point of being coffee nerd and buy stale and cheap coffee?

10 minutes for a coffe……….

My wife and I are on the same journey. ❤ We are experimenting with syrups as well. Loving the channel! Can you share where I can find the container you are using for your beans?

hiii zee ...see with the chocolate sauce more easy to do latte art haha ;)... you can do a perfect tulip ...as a barista am so happy for you guys ...I watched all your videos even if I haven't commented on some videos and you guys for only 30 days good job ,

Now with real chocolate please lol

a tip to get the puckscreen out waay more easier, just cover your portafilter with a towel and tap it a few times with the palm of your hand and turn the portafilter upside down, the puckscreen will be easily dropped and the puck still stay intact inside the portafilter!

I saw a fetus today! (That's a sentence I never thought I would comment)

I used to use distilled water in my espresso machine, but a friend recommended switching to "Summit" water since it has more minerals compared to plain distilled water. The difference has been amazing-the crema has improved significantly and lasts much longer than before!

Hey Zee, on the rare occasions I made mocha, I'd use "Venezuela Bitter & Ghana Sweet" from Royce Chocolates. a great local chocolatier. Was the grinder at the same setting as Jon's last video, if so that's a big change... For a moment I thought you were going to produce "Angel Wings" on your latte art... Nearly!!!😀

Looks great! Just some of my thoughts: I’ve seen a few comments from your past videos mentioning the thin layer of crema. You’re using darker roasted coffee which tends to degas faster, but you don’t really need to worry too much just based on crema, the CO2 generated by the beans has no direct impact on the taste, and even if a thicker layer of crema looks better, it might not necessarily taste better (James Hoffmann mentioned it before I think). Just go by taste. If you do find that the coffee is starting to lose flavour, or taste stale, do consider different storage methods. You generally want to keep exposure to heat, moisture, oxygen, UV light and lastly time to a minimum. You’ve got light and time under control, but using a different container will probably allow you to reduce exposure to the other factors (though moisture might be harder to control, but is itself a more complicated factor). Inert gas canisters are usually the best option, but expensive and unnecessary, maybe only for more expensive beans. One of the bigger problems with storing it in a container like the one in the video is the growing headspace every time coffee is consumed. A larger headspace means that more oxygen and moisture can damage the beans while also giving more space for CO2 and aromas to degas. Bags with one-way valves, as seen in the big bag you guys pour your beans out of, are generally superior to rigid containers like these as long as you squeeze out the remaining air at the top. A simple, though maybe impractical solution that is better than this would be to single dose your beans immediately (search up Weber Workshops Cellar, don’t worry about the price, basically any narrow container that leaves a small headspace will work). This means that you only expose the beans to two instances of exposure, once when you open the bag, second when you open the vial. On a side note, wedge distributors may be harmful to extraction as they can cause unnatural compression to occur, iirc Lance Hedrick (or maybe Hoffmann) covered it before. (Sorry for the long paragraphs, been following you guys your workflow has improved so much! Hope to see more content)

Hello and greetings from Germany :) For me, the crema of the espresso looks a bit flat; you might want to adjust your grinder to make the grind slightly finer. Also, I find it easier to make latteart if the cup is a little bigger, as it gives you enough space to pour the base and still have room for the latteart. I use cups ranging from 180ml to 250ml, and that works well for me. Sure you can do latteart in any cup, but for me, a slightly bigger cup makes it easier. I'm not an expert, so this is just my opinion, but maybe you can give it a try and see if it helps. Wishing you a great day! Adrian ☕😋

When I make milk drink, I don't care if my extraction is on point, because the taste will be diluted beyond recognition anyway. That matters even less with sugary drinks like mocha. Only when I drink straight espresso/americano/long black that i want to make sure the taste is on point. That said, milk drinks are a good way to not waste your coffee while dialing in.

you can also get a puck screen with a hole in the middle! if the grouphead screw is causing collision

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Hi! What setting is your Varia on for grinding espresso beans? Best wishes Kent

"It tastes pretty much the same as yesterday" is music to my ears, well done guys My theory on why it tastes inconsistent in the cup is: The crema is generally more bitter, since it has all the fines trapped in it. If your milk pushed some crema into the spot that you were initially sipping from, that mightve been a overconcentrated spot. To mitigate, it's recommended to stir the cappuccino. Ofc, after you've captured the nice art on camera :) But since you don't get much crema anyway, probably not necessary

A thing nobody seems to be talking about regarding latte art, is how much the shape of the cup affects how the milk settles. I only recently got myself a shallow and round-bottomed cappuccino cup, and it's so much easier to pour art!

Since yall seem like a one bean at a time household (and mainly dark roast), the eureka mignon libra would be a good future grinder upgrade.

Hey Jon, I think you had a fantastic session here today!!!!🏆🏅 I suggest cleaning your pallet with a sip of water between sampling your espresso and sipping your Latte. Right now, I wouldn't change a thing for a couple of days just to see if you can maintain the consistency. Do you watch Josh on @AlternativeBrewing? I've never seen such a clumsy person make such great shots and steamed milk in his latest video... If he can do it, there's hope for us all yet!🤣🤣🤣

To me your coffee always looks like a fairly light roast compared to what I'm using. Yours is definitely more in the medium roast region and then I think 1:2 might actually be too short of a shot. But that's just my gut feeling, you need to make that decision based on how it tastes. Generally I would think these would need at least 1:2.5 ratio.

I like the new cup way better than the old ones! Great job with your heart shape! If you'd like it to be bigger and fill out the cup, integrate much much less (more integration = more stiff) and get your pitcher spout closer to the surface. You'll find that the heart will spread like crazy and get huge

why did you collect some hot water from machine in carafe before making your espresso ?

hey there! i do agree that your 1st shot is better than ur 2nd. however, if u miss the roasty flav, u could play with the grindsize first. for me personally, 1:2 with contact time below 30 second is just too short. please adjust the grindsize so that u can have total brewtime around 30 second, and keep all other parameters the same. that way u can pull out more of its potential, and not having any kind of saltiness in your coffee cheers!

I suppose you should ”pump” the bellow and not to tap it like a dog. It pushes out any grind residue

I recommend steaming the milk before or as soon as possible. After pouring a shot you have a 10-20 second window before the air causes it to bring out more of the bitter flavour.

Hey Guys!!! Great video! A good display of understanding and reasoning. Although you guys are on the right track regarding yield and ratio, I feel its actually the contact time with the brew water that's making all the difference. i.e. less contact time = sour, more = bitter. Hence previous suggestions of attempting the "salami" shot by other viewers. Does anybody else in the community want to clarify? Great milk steaming btw Zee!!👍 Glad you found a great shot!!😁

That new cup looks so elegant! Also, seems like it was the right decision to go back to 2:1. At least your wholesome faces at the end tell that story 😂

Hi, saltiness probably shouldn’t be in your coffee - and from what I can remember, it should be coming from under extraction - but you are definitely getting sufficient extraction. Try going to a specialty coffee shop and see how their coffee tastes, perhaps grab a bag of the same coffee so you can replicate it at home. Or, best yet, go to a coffee cupping!

I think you use to much coffee in portafilter😢

The fact that it looks messy but absolutely isn’t is amazing

Milk is looking very flowy! Try to start the pour a little higher in the cup, you were pouring in the center so the heart ended up a little deep and also got crunched up against the back of the cup. Very promising! nice work

That milk was perfect for Latte Art. I counted 4 seconds of a paper ripping sound. If you can replicate that, you're golden. Btw, is there a roast date printed on your beans?

Love to hear that sound when frothing. This machine has some serious steam power.

That was a very good milk jon good job

Hey Jon, your shot looked ok, but as you mentioned, a touch long. With the steam, the "explosion" is common on all the Rancilio's, its a combination of the power AND some residual moisture trapped in the pipes. I found purging just a little longer on full power helps to mitigate this, but not remove it entirely. The density of the milk plays an important factor in milky coffees. The more aerated (foamy) the milk is, the less it dilutes the coffee. Hence the the difference in taste between lattes and cappuccinos (as well as the difference in milk to espresso ratio). I have been meaning to ask, is the coffee you use roasted locally or imported? Though anecdotal, I have found roasted coffee doesn't travel well... Wonder if anybody in the community can add to that? Another great piece of Rorschach latte art...😛 Overall. you're workflow is good and getting better (apart from the fiddly puck screen)🤣🤣🤣 Great job and keep plugging away.

maybe get a bottomless portafilter for your setup there so you can see if extraction is uniform and if channeling is a problem. cheers.