How to Dial In Your Espresso Machine the EASY WAY (Feat. Ponte Vecchio Lever Espresso Machine)

Dailing in your espresso machine for a specific bean can be a frustrating experience. However, if you can eliminate as many variables as possible you'll find the dialing-in process much easier.

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Lever Fanatics Buying Guide
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Elegant Glass and Steel Espresso Cup
-- Thick glass with an elegant steel wire handle.

DeLonghi Double Walled Thermo Espresso Glasses
-- The best double walled espresso glasses.

GreaterGoods Digital Pocket Scale
-- The only scale you'll ever need.

Needle Distribution Straight with Plastic Handle
-- A step up from a paperclip or toothpick.

Tamper Base Flat 45 Stainless Steel with 8mm Thread
-- Hard to find 45mm tamper for the Ponte Vecchio Lusso Lever Espresso Machine

Milk Froth Pitcher Stainless Steel (12 oz.)
-- A solid frothing pitcher.

DeLonghi Knock Box
-- Everyone needs a knock box. It will change your clean up forever!

[brynybach]

Thank you for your excellent tutorial. I bought my single lever Ponte Vecchio after watching many many videos and going onto various forums but finally settled on this machine after watching one of your early videos. I tried very hard to get a Niche Zero but at the time couldn't get one anywhere so again after much research bought a DF64 which has been fantastic (and cheaper to buy). Overall I've been extremely pleased with my set up and mainly thanks to you with the Ponte Vecchio. Your video tips have been most helpful especially this one. I did get a engineering friend to take the twin feed bottom off of my filter basket holder (on his lathe) which I feel has made a great improvement. The filter baskets are also rather small on this machine compared to the norm and new baskets are hard to find. My machine did not come with the deeper sided ones you seem to use in this video. If you can tell me where you got those from I would be most appreciative. Please keep the videos coming and thank you.👍

[letsgoletsgoletsgoletsgoletsgo]

I just ordered a bezzera strega... This video is so timely

[Oliccino]

Thanks for your videos. I don't think the fine setting is as bad as you say. Especially with bright roasts you can get great espresso with (too) long extraction. But yeah not with the Lavazza beans

[PortalFPV]

🤣 a Dixie cup?....Brilliant! I see so many youtubers spend all this money on some fancy machined metal coffee funnel and you just go and cut the bottom off a disposable cup

[CH-ypby]

Not sure what the diameter those baskets are but if you used a puck screen you will find that you will get a more consistent even amount form the coffee spouts.

[MrDistill]

Great video thank you for taking the time to share your brewing style. Curious have you ever thought of cutting your portafilter to make it bottomless?

[PA]

I notice you start tightening the portafilter at the same time as starting the pull. Am I correct in thinking this is purge the normal pocket of air from being forced through the puck creating channels?

[CH-ypby]

1.5 bars for temperature??? Can you explain what exactly you were changing.

[ITWorksSoftware]

Nice tutorial, you forgot to do WDT on the fine grind, but I doubt it would have made much difference.

[Anarchsis]

So I suspect that a Niche grind size of 7 may be as fine as you can go.

[GeelongVic]

I use a Ponte Vecchio Export and a Niche Zero Grinder combination. I have caveat about the Niche, in my experience. After year of Niche usage, I performed my first full dismantled, burr out cleaning and vacuuming. After the full, complete cleaning, and despite doing the factory recommended recalibration, my grind settings all changed.

I currently grind 14 grams of Kimbo Espresso Napoletano, a morning favorite of mine, at a Niche grind setting of 15 giving a very fine grind requiring a long 70 second extraction yielding a very flavorful 21g of smooth dark chocolate Ristretto from a pull/Fellini technique like yours (actually copied from you). Previous to the cleaning I had to use grind settings like yours but since the cleaning the burrs are reset "tighter" then before. Where I once used settings like yours now my settings are still different for the same coffee bean blend. So, unless I did something incorrectly, expect changes with your Niche grind settings after a full cleaning.

I agree with you that the spring lever Ponte Vecchio machines fundamentally deliver more consistently uniform espressos morning after morning especially compared to my efforts with my direct lever La Pavoni which requires more fiddling and attention to deliver a great morning Ristretto. Maybe that's due to operator error on my part, but I just love and prefer using my Ponte Vecchio Export morning after morning go to machine,

Thank you for your informative and instructive videos.

[Alex-krzr]

14g is a double Espresso, right? Currently trying to use 8g as I want to have more Espresso per day without being overcoffeinated. Is there any difference when using the small basket?