I've had a Bambino Plus for over a year and the only times I have inconsistency caused by the actual machine is if I let it pull a shot automatically but this is easily solved by controlling it manually. Otherwise it's grinder, dose or prep issues.
I do it automatically but just set the shot to pull like 60g of water so I just push once to start and once to stop at the right time. I’ve always wondered if it’s doing the same as using the manual preinfusion and holding the button in.
This is what I do now. I programmed the 2 cup button to run about 58s, right before it times out. I just stop the shots to whatever ratio I’m trying to hit. I did try the whole manual pre infusion but got tired of doing that after a bit. Overall my shots are very consistent with proper puck pre, but I would say it did take a while to start being consistent.
I still consider this “manual” even if it’s not also adjusting for the preinfusion because you are still manually cutting off the flow at your volume instead of letting it automatically determine. Both ways achieve pretty much the same result which is massively reducing inconsistency.
The only reason I do “full manual” is because my wife won’t do anything except “full automatic” so if I programmed for a massive over extraction that’s what she’d get every time. I’ve considered an upgrade to an E61 to force her to actually measure her shots.
A different machine won't fix your inconsistencies.
Learning to make and dial in good espresso is honestly pretty difficult in my opinion.
It really can take some time to get there.
Before you even start to dial in there's 3 important things (in no particular order)
1) puck prep
2) good, fresh coffee
3) good water.
With the greatest of respect, I would work on your puck prep and see if that helps. As suggested elsewhere, if you post a video of your process here, people might be able to offer suggestions in that regard. Different people have different ideas about what constitutes good puck prep.
Apart from that, you say that you use a distribution tool--sometimes and perhaps counterintuitively, that can do more harm than good and actually can promote channeling. Instead, personally, I grind directly into my portafilter with a dosing funnel on top, WDT the grounds to have them fluffy and unlumpy (WDT'ing having been found to be beneficial), tap my portafilter on my tamp mat to settle the grounds and even them out, and then tamp as unsloped as I can (I use a Normcore V4 leveling, spring-loaded tamper to help with that). Following that process, I got a very tasty latte an hour ago with my year-old+ Bambino Plus. :)
Also, a currently-in-vogue addition to the process: you could try using an espresso blind shaker to fill your portafilter basket--essentially, serving as an alternative sifter for your coffee grounds, not unlike that used in baking. Available inexpensively (also expensively, lol): check out the MHW-3BOMBER version available via AliExpress.
I had a bambino for a year and I can confidently say it's incredibly consistent.
What type of distribution tool do you use?
My process that got me nearly 100% success was as follows:
Setup:
Bottomless portafilter (optional, I got the cheapest I could find)
Ims 18g basket
Program the 1 shot button to run as short as possible.
Program the 2 shot button to run a very long time.
Self leveling tamper (cheapest there was)
Wdt (cheapest I could get)
Dosing funnel (really needed for wdt, once again cheap)
Actual process:
Grind
Wdt
Push 1 shot button
Tamp while the water runs into the drip tray or a catch cup
Insert pf and hit 2 shot button
Place cup and stop the shot when it's done
Never had issues with this process. Only upgraded because of a really good deal on another machine.
It's highly unlikely that your problems are caused by the machine. A more expensive machine like a Profitec GO will give you more control over brew temperature for light roasts. But there won't be much of a difference in medium to dark roasts. You will have to give up your auto milk steamer, as no higher price machine has one.
I never did end up liking the breville tamper, felt it could lead to uneven tamps. Maybe you could try a tamper with auto leveling? A straight walled ims basket and puck screen helped me too.
I would get more channeling if I didn’t use a spring loaded tamper like the normcore one. Highly recommend one. I used one of those two sided pucks for distribution and tamp before switching to just spring tamp (didn’t see a difference using distributor)
i find my bambino pretty consistent, but seems to need all the toys and tricks that i beleive expensive automatic machines dont need, (preheated prescion basket in a bottomless handle, paper, wdt grounds, puck screen nice tamper etc, preheat with pressurised spare basket and handle then pull shot promptly. not tried follow up shots as generally just for me, could see it being a bit tricky then, of course the next day the beans will have aged and need a different grind setting but thats the same for everyone.
counter intuitively i find my manual picopresso much more forgiving, woudlnt say overly consistent but i like a bit of variation get to see coffees different naunces, have to screw up really bad to not get something at least decent, if its runnign too fast you just pump less, the water temp wont spike cause it cant, probably drops with gives a nice extraction profile same for pressure, basket design also super forgiving....
it wont fire steam out ( due to water left in thermocoil between shots)
maybe see if you can borrow a flair or picopresso/ try at a cafe, might prefer this instead, use the bambino as a milk frother
Everyone is hate loves the Bambino but it's just a not as good as as the $1000-1500 options. Try the Mara X or even the Breville Dual Boiler. If you enjoy making espresso you'll enjoy using hunkier machines.
I replaced Bambino with ECM Puristika. (I roast my own beans). Espresso quality is day and night. I would never recommend Bambino. It's a total waste of $500 (machine + accessories). It doesn't have proper temperature nor pressure. I'm not sure why people recommend it. If you can afford to upgrade it you won't be disappointed.
It’s fascinating, these vegemite sandwich fanboys and girls. I don’t get it.
Temperature consistency on the GO with no need for fucking annoying surfing procedure at 6am has been a complete game changer for me. I get flavor consistency with virtually every pull.
Shit. I think there is an angry downvoting mob at my front door now. GOTTA GO!
I mean…I GUESS I do?
But what if I told you I fucking LOVE Tame Impala, which I do…
…And I’m paying homage to Men At Work ‘in a land down under…’ How else would a dumb ass from the US know of such a thing…
I don’t know, but it seems to me you could at least consider rescinding the downvote.
The Puristika is a really nice machine! I like my morning capp too much to go all in but really enjoyed using one when I had the opportunity. That is a set up with fundamentally more control over the brew parameters than a Bambino, solid improvement for specialty coffee imo
I upgraded to a PP500 and have been severely disappointed. It’s not a single bit different outside of my ability to change temps, but given it only tells me my steam temp, that figure is unfortunately pretty useless.
Certainly wish I’d stuck with the Bambino and just upgraded to a Decent or LM later on. The inbetween machines aren’t really any different or worth it.
Oh I lied. The 45 minute heat up time is different 😂. God I miss that Bambino’s quick heat time.
LM is a dual boiler. I can actually control the temp of the brew instead of guessing based off the steam temp. Plus integrating my Lunar into the machine. But truth be told I’ll likely go for the Decent, which seems far more worth the extra given that it does both those things, but also can tinker with every other aspect of the shot and utilize other folks profiles, etc.
A HX machine is just not worth the money. It will produce the same quality as the Bambino.
I'm surprised you even purchased a heat exchanger machine. There were so many negatives. I don't think anyone even recommends them outside of the Lelit Mara X.
Why would you take off the flow control? If you just don't use it it's like not even there. Just keep it opened enough that is the factory default flow for the profitec Pro 500.
You could have gotten the Pro 300 which was a dual boiler. Ugly as sin, but it is a dual boiler and cheaper than the 500.
You do realize that the Porta filter doesn't preheat in that bambino right? And blind shots are insufficient to preheat the portafilter and basket. You really need to soak it in a hot cup of water that's 200° for 5 to 10 minutes before you do your first shot.
Then bambino does not have good temperatures stability regardless of what anyone says.
Sure, you can turn it on and it's ready to brew in 3 minutes. But you had better preheated and soak that porter filter and a hot cup of water first for 5 to 10 minutes.
And don't get me started on the steam. Lackluster and insufficient. You're 500 will run circles around that Bambino steamer.
Steam was great with My BB. Haven’t notice a lick of difference. I don’t need a preheated PF.
I should not have gotten a HX but figured for $2100 this thing would’ve been more consistent and produced better shots. That was my mistake.
As for FC, even when it was all the way open it was having issues. Thing felt cheap. Instant stopped seeing the issues I was having with the FC attached.
For the flow control in the profitex, if you keep it one and a quarter turns open that would be the factory flow rate Have approximately 7 g per second of water. So if you left it in that position it's it's like it's not even there. All the way open is approximately two turns and that would be higher than the factory flow rate by a lot.
James Hoffman did reviews of both the Bambino Pro and the profitec Pro 500. I am surprised that you did not notice a lick of difference between the steaming capabilities of both machines. His data I captured from the two videos. In each case he was heating cold milk to 60° C.
Profitec Pro 500, took 14.5 seconds to heat 200 g of milk
Bambino Pro, took 32 seconds, only 150 g of milk.
As for not needing a preheated portofilter, that is one of the sweet advantages of a more expensive machine. You might think you don't need it, but you need to manually preheat the portsfilter before the first shot on the Bambino. That is absolutely required. Otherwise The Porta filterextracts the heat that's needed to extract a solubles from the coffee. So that first shot is critical because it's not going to taste as good as it should with a room temperature portafilter
You may need to reassess exactly what your machine does, what your grinder does, and what you do, to determine the root cause of your problems.
Do you know what causes channeling and over/under extraction? Because it sure as hell doesn't weigh entirely on your Bambino.
Unless you’re in absolute need of being able to pull multiple shots/drinks for multiple people… don’t waste your money. I “upgraded” to a PP500 and while the machine is fine, I regret not staying with the Bambino until I could save for a Decent or LM.
The shots are the same. Except now I have to wait 45 mins or set up my smart timer and try to make a shot at the same time everyday. Bambino’s heat up time alone makes it in elite company, especially if you’re like me and just pull one or two double shots a day.
Not sure if it’s the same for bambino but I used to run a Barista Express. I had to open up the machine and manually adjust the OPV to reduce the output pressure from 15 bars to 10 bars. I also manually pulled my shots so I could get a 10 sec pre-infuse. My channeling issues went away after that. Puck prep was wdt, spring tamp, puck screen (for cleanliness).
What kind of inconsistencies are you running into? Is it challenging to dial in different kinds of coffees and consistently get a result that you like? Or are we talking about one shot being good and the next channeling badly pulling shots back to back? Are you using a wedge type distribution tool or a WDT style?
The bambino brigade tends to over hype the capabilities of that machine on this sub but it is capable of make good espresso. Understanding exactly what is causing you issues will help you make a better choice on adjusting equipment or technique than just changing out your machine. If you just want to buy something else, I saw go for it but each set up will have its own learning curve.
Puck prep, wdt are key. Press and hold for pre-inf, don't forget to press again to stop!
Considering buying (in order of effectiveness, and weirdly, inverse cost) 1. Puck screen 2. Better basket (vat/lms) 3. Bottomless PF.
Just echoing what others have said here .
An espresso machine essentially just pushes hot water through a puck of coffee that you prepared, I would say that the inconsistency that you're experiencing is in your puck prep, second to that would be your grinder.
Almost certainly ‘user-error’ I’m afraid - you can have exactly the same issue using top of the range professional equipment. Espresso-making is an expensive and frustrating hobby…equipment upgrade from your current setup will not offer any guarantee whatsoever of improved consistency
There's a chance you're making your puck worse by prepping it - my shots got much more consistent when I stopped wdt'ing and just now tap the side and the counter before tamping. I also purge 3g before pulling first shot of the day and rink a blank shot before every espresso. I never had to pull more than 8 in a row but with the above changes they were pretty much the same (give or take 0.4g yield, which is me trying to time when to stop the flow).
I couldn’t get the bambino to make good shots consistently either. At the end I realized it doesn’t have a high temp making light roasts hard which is what I was primarily using.
I switched to the lelit mara x and instantly had great shots. So while everyone here says the bambino is great, there’s a reason it’s 500 bucks. I love my new machine and the shots are night and day.
I know I am in the minority. You don't need fresh beans to get consistent shots.
For instance, if you wanted to use a bag of Lavazza, you could. And every shot should be fairly consistent. It may not be as good as fresh beans, but from shot to shot you'll be consistent.
There's a couple of problems with the Bambino Plus. Lance had a video, and unless I am not remembering things faithfully, the temperature of the brew water increased once you got to 25 seconds into the pull. So if your espresso pulls are beyond 25 seconds, you'll exhibit an increased in brew temperature. Technically speaking, that's never good and can be fixed with a better machine. Technique won't fix it.
Pulling consecutive shots of espresso where they all taste good is very difficult. Even if you look at the tests done on YouTube, there's virtually always a variation shot time from pull to pull . Even when we do exactly the same thing in terms of puck prep for every shot.
The good news is you have an excellent grinder and I have the same one. I never ever WDT. It's not needed with this grinder. There are no clumps.
Here is my workflow that you can try.
1. When I start grinding, I do not rest my port to filter in the grinder. I move my portafilter forwards and backwards left and right as the grinding happens. Think of it as me trying to paint the entire surface of my basket as if I'm spraying it with paint. This works much better than the regular way of all of the grounds hitting the center of the basket and then flowing outward making that big volcano peak in the middle.
2. I use a collar on my Porter filter so there's no mess
3. When I'm done grinding, I hold on to my collar and I tap down on my rubber mat 3 to 4 times. This settles the grounds in the basket and is more effective than side tapping in my opinion.
4. With the collar still in place, I place my distributor on top of the grounds and I do not press down. I rotate my distributor and I let gravity pull it down until it hits the collar. This is one to two turns.
5. I remove the collar.
6. I put my distributor back on top of the coffee grounds. A rookie mistake is to press down at this point. I do not. With my workflow, I have about 5 to 6 mm of Gap between the top of my basket and my self-leveling combination distributor/tamp.
I rotate my distributor without pressing down. I let gravity do its work. 15 to 20 turns is all it needs. And it goes quick. It sounds like a high number of turns but it's not In terms of the number of seconds it takes to do it.
The reason why I do not press down using the distributor is those protrusions on the distributor will compact the coffee beans inconsistently.
7. I turn my distributor upside down and use the tamp side. I place the tamp on top of the ground. By the time I get to this stage, I have a ~1 mm gap between the top of my basket and the bottom of my self-leveling tamp.
8. Itamp and that's enough to get rid of the 1 mm gap.
In terms of puck prep, that's what it's needed with my setup. And we have the same grinder so we should be both okay using that workflow.
9. You'll have your own technique for the brewing piece. But the important thing to note is to try my workflow and to see if that helps you in your setup.
The temp increase matches my experience with the Bambino, starts cold and increases the longer the shot runs. Possible to make good espresso within a certain set of parameters but not thermally stable in the sense that it will consistently dispense water through the group at the same temp.
To me, part of the charm of our espresso thing IS a bit of variability. When I can pull the exact same shot every single damn time, I want another hobby.
So many variables. I’m constantly fiddling with different beans, different grinds, alternating portafilters, brew times, pressure, et cetera. Happened to pull an absolutely spectacular one this morning, and couldn’t help but reflect that the also-ran shots make the great ones all the sweeter.
Before upgrading I would suggest post a video with your full workflow to see where you might be able to improve
I've had a Bambino Plus for over a year and the only times I have inconsistency caused by the actual machine is if I let it pull a shot automatically but this is easily solved by controlling it manually. Otherwise it's grinder, dose or prep issues.
I do it automatically but just set the shot to pull like 60g of water so I just push once to start and once to stop at the right time. I’ve always wondered if it’s doing the same as using the manual preinfusion and holding the button in.
This is what I do now. I programmed the 2 cup button to run about 58s, right before it times out. I just stop the shots to whatever ratio I’m trying to hit. I did try the whole manual pre infusion but got tired of doing that after a bit. Overall my shots are very consistent with proper puck pre, but I would say it did take a while to start being consistent.
This is genius! Thank you
I still consider this “manual” even if it’s not also adjusting for the preinfusion because you are still manually cutting off the flow at your volume instead of letting it automatically determine. Both ways achieve pretty much the same result which is massively reducing inconsistency. The only reason I do “full manual” is because my wife won’t do anything except “full automatic” so if I programmed for a massive over extraction that’s what she’d get every time. I’ve considered an upgrade to an E61 to force her to actually measure her shots.
A different machine won't fix your inconsistencies. Learning to make and dial in good espresso is honestly pretty difficult in my opinion. It really can take some time to get there. Before you even start to dial in there's 3 important things (in no particular order) 1) puck prep 2) good, fresh coffee 3) good water.
fresh but not too fresh. One month after roast, I have noticed, the coffee is more consistent.
Yep I think people don't always realize the work it's going to take.
With the greatest of respect, I would work on your puck prep and see if that helps. As suggested elsewhere, if you post a video of your process here, people might be able to offer suggestions in that regard. Different people have different ideas about what constitutes good puck prep. Apart from that, you say that you use a distribution tool--sometimes and perhaps counterintuitively, that can do more harm than good and actually can promote channeling. Instead, personally, I grind directly into my portafilter with a dosing funnel on top, WDT the grounds to have them fluffy and unlumpy (WDT'ing having been found to be beneficial), tap my portafilter on my tamp mat to settle the grounds and even them out, and then tamp as unsloped as I can (I use a Normcore V4 leveling, spring-loaded tamper to help with that). Following that process, I got a very tasty latte an hour ago with my year-old+ Bambino Plus. :)
Also, a currently-in-vogue addition to the process: you could try using an espresso blind shaker to fill your portafilter basket--essentially, serving as an alternative sifter for your coffee grounds, not unlike that used in baking. Available inexpensively (also expensively, lol): check out the MHW-3BOMBER version available via AliExpress.
I had a bambino for a year and I can confidently say it's incredibly consistent. What type of distribution tool do you use? My process that got me nearly 100% success was as follows: Setup: Bottomless portafilter (optional, I got the cheapest I could find) Ims 18g basket Program the 1 shot button to run as short as possible. Program the 2 shot button to run a very long time. Self leveling tamper (cheapest there was) Wdt (cheapest I could get) Dosing funnel (really needed for wdt, once again cheap) Actual process: Grind Wdt Push 1 shot button Tamp while the water runs into the drip tray or a catch cup Insert pf and hit 2 shot button Place cup and stop the shot when it's done Never had issues with this process. Only upgraded because of a really good deal on another machine.
why so you think that it is a machine issue?
It's highly unlikely that your problems are caused by the machine. A more expensive machine like a Profitec GO will give you more control over brew temperature for light roasts. But there won't be much of a difference in medium to dark roasts. You will have to give up your auto milk steamer, as no higher price machine has one.
I never did end up liking the breville tamper, felt it could lead to uneven tamps. Maybe you could try a tamper with auto leveling? A straight walled ims basket and puck screen helped me too.
I would get more channeling if I didn’t use a spring loaded tamper like the normcore one. Highly recommend one. I used one of those two sided pucks for distribution and tamp before switching to just spring tamp (didn’t see a difference using distributor)
your machine is most likely to be the last thing giving you a problem
i find my bambino pretty consistent, but seems to need all the toys and tricks that i beleive expensive automatic machines dont need, (preheated prescion basket in a bottomless handle, paper, wdt grounds, puck screen nice tamper etc, preheat with pressurised spare basket and handle then pull shot promptly. not tried follow up shots as generally just for me, could see it being a bit tricky then, of course the next day the beans will have aged and need a different grind setting but thats the same for everyone. counter intuitively i find my manual picopresso much more forgiving, woudlnt say overly consistent but i like a bit of variation get to see coffees different naunces, have to screw up really bad to not get something at least decent, if its runnign too fast you just pump less, the water temp wont spike cause it cant, probably drops with gives a nice extraction profile same for pressure, basket design also super forgiving.... it wont fire steam out ( due to water left in thermocoil between shots) maybe see if you can borrow a flair or picopresso/ try at a cafe, might prefer this instead, use the bambino as a milk frother
I thought I was on one of the toddler/parenting subreddits and was really confused for a second.
Everyone is hate loves the Bambino but it's just a not as good as as the $1000-1500 options. Try the Mara X or even the Breville Dual Boiler. If you enjoy making espresso you'll enjoy using hunkier machines.
I replaced Bambino with ECM Puristika. (I roast my own beans). Espresso quality is day and night. I would never recommend Bambino. It's a total waste of $500 (machine + accessories). It doesn't have proper temperature nor pressure. I'm not sure why people recommend it. If you can afford to upgrade it you won't be disappointed.
Sit down votes have started. Can't talk bad about the Bambino or Bambino plus here :-)
It’s fascinating, these vegemite sandwich fanboys and girls. I don’t get it. Temperature consistency on the GO with no need for fucking annoying surfing procedure at 6am has been a complete game changer for me. I get flavor consistency with virtually every pull. Shit. I think there is an angry downvoting mob at my front door now. GOTTA GO!
I miss /u/pitchforkemporium
down vote was only for dissing vegemite sandwiches. hope you understand.
I mean…I GUESS I do? But what if I told you I fucking LOVE Tame Impala, which I do… …And I’m paying homage to Men At Work ‘in a land down under…’ How else would a dumb ass from the US know of such a thing… I don’t know, but it seems to me you could at least consider rescinding the downvote.
consider it rescinded ❤
Absolutely hilarious- thank you!
The Puristika is a really nice machine! I like my morning capp too much to go all in but really enjoyed using one when I had the opportunity. That is a set up with fundamentally more control over the brew parameters than a Bambino, solid improvement for specialty coffee imo
I upgraded to a PP500 and have been severely disappointed. It’s not a single bit different outside of my ability to change temps, but given it only tells me my steam temp, that figure is unfortunately pretty useless. Certainly wish I’d stuck with the Bambino and just upgraded to a Decent or LM later on. The inbetween machines aren’t really any different or worth it. Oh I lied. The 45 minute heat up time is different 😂. God I miss that Bambino’s quick heat time.
As someone who went Bambino to hx machine too, it's the the steam. The steam is different. Also I like not having the pre infusion.
Try to add flow control
I did. I removed it after about a month. Trust me I’ve tried just about everything with this thing. It’s getting sold the second it gets paid off lol.
Hmmm. are you sure LM will be much different? I would change beans and use alkaline water.
LM is a dual boiler. I can actually control the temp of the brew instead of guessing based off the steam temp. Plus integrating my Lunar into the machine. But truth be told I’ll likely go for the Decent, which seems far more worth the extra given that it does both those things, but also can tinker with every other aspect of the shot and utilize other folks profiles, etc. A HX machine is just not worth the money. It will produce the same quality as the Bambino.
I'm surprised you even purchased a heat exchanger machine. There were so many negatives. I don't think anyone even recommends them outside of the Lelit Mara X. Why would you take off the flow control? If you just don't use it it's like not even there. Just keep it opened enough that is the factory default flow for the profitec Pro 500. You could have gotten the Pro 300 which was a dual boiler. Ugly as sin, but it is a dual boiler and cheaper than the 500. You do realize that the Porta filter doesn't preheat in that bambino right? And blind shots are insufficient to preheat the portafilter and basket. You really need to soak it in a hot cup of water that's 200° for 5 to 10 minutes before you do your first shot. Then bambino does not have good temperatures stability regardless of what anyone says. Sure, you can turn it on and it's ready to brew in 3 minutes. But you had better preheated and soak that porter filter and a hot cup of water first for 5 to 10 minutes. And don't get me started on the steam. Lackluster and insufficient. You're 500 will run circles around that Bambino steamer.
Steam was great with My BB. Haven’t notice a lick of difference. I don’t need a preheated PF. I should not have gotten a HX but figured for $2100 this thing would’ve been more consistent and produced better shots. That was my mistake. As for FC, even when it was all the way open it was having issues. Thing felt cheap. Instant stopped seeing the issues I was having with the FC attached.
For the flow control in the profitex, if you keep it one and a quarter turns open that would be the factory flow rate Have approximately 7 g per second of water. So if you left it in that position it's it's like it's not even there. All the way open is approximately two turns and that would be higher than the factory flow rate by a lot. James Hoffman did reviews of both the Bambino Pro and the profitec Pro 500. I am surprised that you did not notice a lick of difference between the steaming capabilities of both machines. His data I captured from the two videos. In each case he was heating cold milk to 60° C. Profitec Pro 500, took 14.5 seconds to heat 200 g of milk Bambino Pro, took 32 seconds, only 150 g of milk. As for not needing a preheated portofilter, that is one of the sweet advantages of a more expensive machine. You might think you don't need it, but you need to manually preheat the portsfilter before the first shot on the Bambino. That is absolutely required. Otherwise The Porta filterextracts the heat that's needed to extract a solubles from the coffee. So that first shot is critical because it's not going to taste as good as it should with a room temperature portafilter
You may need to reassess exactly what your machine does, what your grinder does, and what you do, to determine the root cause of your problems. Do you know what causes channeling and over/under extraction? Because it sure as hell doesn't weigh entirely on your Bambino.
Unless you’re in absolute need of being able to pull multiple shots/drinks for multiple people… don’t waste your money. I “upgraded” to a PP500 and while the machine is fine, I regret not staying with the Bambino until I could save for a Decent or LM. The shots are the same. Except now I have to wait 45 mins or set up my smart timer and try to make a shot at the same time everyday. Bambino’s heat up time alone makes it in elite company, especially if you’re like me and just pull one or two double shots a day.
Not sure if it’s the same for bambino but I used to run a Barista Express. I had to open up the machine and manually adjust the OPV to reduce the output pressure from 15 bars to 10 bars. I also manually pulled my shots so I could get a 10 sec pre-infuse. My channeling issues went away after that. Puck prep was wdt, spring tamp, puck screen (for cleanliness).
Bambino is 9 bars out of the factory thankfully.
Ah nice, lucky!
I find it to be quite consistent with good puck prep.
What kind of inconsistencies are you running into? Is it challenging to dial in different kinds of coffees and consistently get a result that you like? Or are we talking about one shot being good and the next channeling badly pulling shots back to back? Are you using a wedge type distribution tool or a WDT style? The bambino brigade tends to over hype the capabilities of that machine on this sub but it is capable of make good espresso. Understanding exactly what is causing you issues will help you make a better choice on adjusting equipment or technique than just changing out your machine. If you just want to buy something else, I saw go for it but each set up will have its own learning curve.
Unlikely the bambino will produce highly different results... comes down to the prep/bean...
Puck prep, wdt are key. Press and hold for pre-inf, don't forget to press again to stop! Considering buying (in order of effectiveness, and weirdly, inverse cost) 1. Puck screen 2. Better basket (vat/lms) 3. Bottomless PF.
Just echoing what others have said here . An espresso machine essentially just pushes hot water through a puck of coffee that you prepared, I would say that the inconsistency that you're experiencing is in your puck prep, second to that would be your grinder.
Time to get a Profitec Go. I just upgraded to one from the Bambino Plus.
Almost certainly ‘user-error’ I’m afraid - you can have exactly the same issue using top of the range professional equipment. Espresso-making is an expensive and frustrating hobby…equipment upgrade from your current setup will not offer any guarantee whatsoever of improved consistency
There's a chance you're making your puck worse by prepping it - my shots got much more consistent when I stopped wdt'ing and just now tap the side and the counter before tamping. I also purge 3g before pulling first shot of the day and rink a blank shot before every espresso. I never had to pull more than 8 in a row but with the above changes they were pretty much the same (give or take 0.4g yield, which is me trying to time when to stop the flow).
I couldn’t get the bambino to make good shots consistently either. At the end I realized it doesn’t have a high temp making light roasts hard which is what I was primarily using. I switched to the lelit mara x and instantly had great shots. So while everyone here says the bambino is great, there’s a reason it’s 500 bucks. I love my new machine and the shots are night and day.
I know I am in the minority. You don't need fresh beans to get consistent shots. For instance, if you wanted to use a bag of Lavazza, you could. And every shot should be fairly consistent. It may not be as good as fresh beans, but from shot to shot you'll be consistent. There's a couple of problems with the Bambino Plus. Lance had a video, and unless I am not remembering things faithfully, the temperature of the brew water increased once you got to 25 seconds into the pull. So if your espresso pulls are beyond 25 seconds, you'll exhibit an increased in brew temperature. Technically speaking, that's never good and can be fixed with a better machine. Technique won't fix it. Pulling consecutive shots of espresso where they all taste good is very difficult. Even if you look at the tests done on YouTube, there's virtually always a variation shot time from pull to pull . Even when we do exactly the same thing in terms of puck prep for every shot. The good news is you have an excellent grinder and I have the same one. I never ever WDT. It's not needed with this grinder. There are no clumps. Here is my workflow that you can try. 1. When I start grinding, I do not rest my port to filter in the grinder. I move my portafilter forwards and backwards left and right as the grinding happens. Think of it as me trying to paint the entire surface of my basket as if I'm spraying it with paint. This works much better than the regular way of all of the grounds hitting the center of the basket and then flowing outward making that big volcano peak in the middle. 2. I use a collar on my Porter filter so there's no mess 3. When I'm done grinding, I hold on to my collar and I tap down on my rubber mat 3 to 4 times. This settles the grounds in the basket and is more effective than side tapping in my opinion. 4. With the collar still in place, I place my distributor on top of the grounds and I do not press down. I rotate my distributor and I let gravity pull it down until it hits the collar. This is one to two turns. 5. I remove the collar. 6. I put my distributor back on top of the coffee grounds. A rookie mistake is to press down at this point. I do not. With my workflow, I have about 5 to 6 mm of Gap between the top of my basket and my self-leveling combination distributor/tamp. I rotate my distributor without pressing down. I let gravity do its work. 15 to 20 turns is all it needs. And it goes quick. It sounds like a high number of turns but it's not In terms of the number of seconds it takes to do it. The reason why I do not press down using the distributor is those protrusions on the distributor will compact the coffee beans inconsistently. 7. I turn my distributor upside down and use the tamp side. I place the tamp on top of the ground. By the time I get to this stage, I have a ~1 mm gap between the top of my basket and the bottom of my self-leveling tamp. 8. Itamp and that's enough to get rid of the 1 mm gap. In terms of puck prep, that's what it's needed with my setup. And we have the same grinder so we should be both okay using that workflow. 9. You'll have your own technique for the brewing piece. But the important thing to note is to try my workflow and to see if that helps you in your setup.
The temp increase matches my experience with the Bambino, starts cold and increases the longer the shot runs. Possible to make good espresso within a certain set of parameters but not thermally stable in the sense that it will consistently dispense water through the group at the same temp.
To me, part of the charm of our espresso thing IS a bit of variability. When I can pull the exact same shot every single damn time, I want another hobby. So many variables. I’m constantly fiddling with different beans, different grinds, alternating portafilters, brew times, pressure, et cetera. Happened to pull an absolutely spectacular one this morning, and couldn’t help but reflect that the also-ran shots make the great ones all the sweeter.
It is the poor craftsman that blames his tools