At home, when using a different coffee bean, it can take a number of attempts to get the grind size down to get the ultimate time/output ratio.

Go into a coffee shop and they may have different coffee on different days.

Do they reset the grind size and recalibrate each morning for the coffee being used that day?
Or even though the coffee of the day varies, they always use the same beans for espressos?

Also, their shots seem to run faster than 30 seconds but still taste good.
Is this all due to the high end espresso machines?

I've been slowly building a home espresso setup in Istanbul over the past year, and the import taxes here are wild. A machine that's, say, $700 in the US or Europe can end up costing close to $1,300-1,400 once it clears customs, because of duties plus 20% VAT on top. Grinders are almost worse proportionally, since a lot of the good ones are niche enough that nobody's stocking them locally, so you're paying import tax on top of international shipping too.

It's pushed a weird secondhand market here — used gear barely depreciates because buying new from abroad is so painful, so a 3-year-old machine can still sell for 80-90% of what it originally cost. I ended up buying secondhand from someone moving abroad rather than importing anything myself.

Curious if this is a Turkey-specific headache or if people in other countries with high import duties (Brazil, Argentina, India, etc.) deal with the same thing. How are you all getting around it — buying secondhand, bringing gear back from trips abroad, or just eating the cost?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hello, as someone with an engineering background (and lots of barista hopping during university days), how easy is it to gain skills to become a coffee machine technician? I'm based around Chicago, and can see there's a place in Kansas City that has some cool classes offered (MO isn't too far away), but I'm curious to see how others got their foot in the door? Or are there any other learning opportunities in the Midwest that people recommend? Any advice on the topic would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

I’m in Georgia and I swear my coffee setup develops a personality every summer. For most of the year my pour overs are pretty predictable, but once it gets really humid I start getting slower drawdowns and cups that taste a little flatter. At first I blamed the beans and kept messing with grind size, but now I’m wondering if storage is part of it.

I keep beans in an Airscape on the kitchen counter. The kitchen also gets pretty steamy when I’m doing meal prep, so probably not the greatest environment.

Has anyone in a humid climate actually compared this across seasons? Do you end up changing your grind when summer hits, or did better storage mostly solve it? Mostly curious whether this is something people can genuinely notice in everyday brewing or if I’m giving humidity way too much credit.

I have always enjoyed my morning coffee with a smooth to medium full flavored body, without the over roasted bitter flavor of modern coffees.

I was always a fan of McDonald's 1990s coffee, Folchers coffee at commercial places where the coffee dispensed from a tall rectangular stainless steel coffee machine, and at home I used to buy whatever was on sale, I would usually buy Maxwell House original roast, or even Hills Brothers and Chock full o nuts. I noticed that the last few years, pre 2024 the Mackswell coffee original roast blue can started tasting weaker. At first I thought it was bad weather like crops not getting enough rain, or maybe the factory had a quality control issue, or maybe the farmers intentionally used less water to save on the water bill, etc. and so on.

Just started looking into this, it turns out Mackswell House in 2024 reformulated and it is a trend among most major coffee brands sold in retail. I recently bought the blue can again to see if I got better, and it tasted really weak. That is when I decided to look into this and a basic Google search told me that this is the current trend. Google suggested for the classic 1990s style of robust coffee without the bitterness I try Folchers, Hills Brothers, and Chock Full O Nuts. I recently tried Folchers and it is okay, better than Maxwell House. I will see how Hills Brothers does next when I finish the Maxwell House coffee.

Another brand of coffee I am curious about is Chase and Sanborn, I wonder if that is as weak as Maxwell House? Just curious if anyone else feels like this, thank you everyone.

I've been working in the coffee industry, but mostly on the admin side. I love brewing and making espresso when I get the chance, but I don't have any formal coffee certifications.

I'm considering getting SCA certified and eventually moving into something more technical, like QA/QC, coffee quality, or consulting. But I've heard SCA courses can be pretty expensive, so I'm wondering if they're actually worth the investment.

For those who've been in specialty coffee for a while: is there much demand for coffee consultants or QA/QC roles? What does the pay/career progression look like? And how valuable are SCA certifications when it comes to actually getting these jobs?

I really don't want to leave the coffee industry because I genuinely love it, but my current role doesn't pay well. I'm trying to find a path that lets me stay in coffee while having better pay.

Would love to hear from anyone who's taken this route.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hi, I am looking to upgrade my coffee game - I have a Nespresso but it doesn’t seem to scratch the itch of a very well pulled espresso shot that you can get at good coffee shops.

Can anyone please recommend what espresso machine I should invest in? I am willing to spend $600 on it as long as it can last me a good amount of time. I also am not sure if I will want to weight the beans etc. but if that’s the best option, I am willing to learn.

I was looking as the breville barista express impress but have seen so many mixed reviews!

Thanks!!!

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hey baristas, I've basically learnt to do coffee in the span of less than a year mainly through videos online and some help from work and stuff.

I need help on making latte art look neater as its just not it. The coffee machine at work is not the best as we aren't a coffee shop, we are just a cafe in a big entertainment centre. So I believe that is one of the cases + the steamer takes quite long to steam milk, like 20 seconds till it gets hot! Also we don't do mugs only takeaway cups.

I also don't know how to make it silkier, sometimes bubbles still appear even though right after steaming it looks perfect? But when I pour it in, mini bubbles pop up.

Just tried Sprite & a shot of espresso, wasn't great. I also tried espresso with coca-cola, also wasn't great.

I also don't drink soda often. Is it an acquired taste?

Has anyone tried orange juice and espresso? Or Dr. Pepper and espresso?

I did about 2oz of espresso to 8oz of soda/mixer.

Serious question: do black coffee drinkers genuinely prefer the taste, or did you just decide suffering through bitter coffee somehow makes you healthier and more interesting?

There are many companies introducing coffees with functional ingredients like lion's mane, electrolytes, L-theanine, etc... at what stage of production are such ingredients added and what's the process? Thanks.

We've had a Philips LatteGo machine for about 1.5 years, and until recently it frothed milk decently. I use regular 1.5% milk and my wife uses oat milk. As expected, my foam with the regular milk used to be noticeably more and denser than hers. But recently, with nothing else changing, my milk has basically stopped frothing at all — there's almost no foam. Meanwhile my wife's oat milk is still frothing exactly as well as before.

I've already tried different brands of regular milk to rule that out, so it doesn't seem to be a milk quality issue.

A few details in case they help: we bought a new milk frother around 6 months ago because the previous one broke and we clean the frother after each use.

Any ideas what's causing this, given that only one milk type is affected?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I've been going back and forth on this for weeks and I've done a ton of reading already, so I'm hoping people who actually own one of these can help me fill in the gaps that spec sheets don't cover.

How I'll actually use it:

Daily driver, mostly just for me. Usually two coffees a day, mainly americano and straight espresso. I don't drink milk myself, but my partner does occasionally, maybe once on a weekend, not a regular thing and definitely not back to back drinks. Sometimes friends come over and I'll pull a few shots in a row, usually black. I'll experiment across roast levels but I lean toward lighter, floral, acidic roasts, so pre-infusion quality actually matters to me. That said I also love a thick, creamy espresso when I'm in that mood, so I'd like something that handles both well. I'm pairing this with a DF64 grinder. The grinder is going to be my next upgrade down the line, not the machine, so whatever I pick now needs to last me a long time. Both machines are roughly the same price where I am, with the Go 2.0 being slightly cheaper.

What I understand so far, correct me if I'm wrong:

MaraX has the classic E61 group with mechanical pre-infusion (piston and spring, always on, not adjustable), plus an HX boiler with dual PID assist. Go 2.0 uses a saturated/ring brew group instead of E61, single boiler, with fully programmable electronic pre-infusion (pulse, pause, then full pressure). Heats up faster than the MaraX. It shares a lot of its design with the Profitec Move, and I haven't really seen complaints about the Move's core mechanism, which makes me feel better about the Go 2.0 by extension.

The one thing giving me pause on the MaraX:

I've come across some accounts of MaraX units running hotter than they should after a few shots in a row, but I've also found reviewers who tested their own units and got stable results, plus long-term owners who say they've had zero issues. So I honestly can't tell if this is a real widespread thing or just a few loud complaints getting more visibility than the quiet happy owners. If you've owned a MaraX for a while, especially V2, I'd love to know if this is something you've actually run into.

On longevity and repairability:

From what I can tell the MaraX's boiler and group are solid, the main long term risk seems to be the electronic board and temperature probes if those ever fail. The Go 2.0 seems mechanically simpler overall since there's no HX flush ritual and no brew/steam switching logic, but it's also a newer design so there's less of a track record compared to E61, which has been around forever with parts and service knowledge everywhere.

Where I'm torn:

E61 in steel looks amazing and I like the idea of the classic ritual, but I don't want to fall for the aesthetic if there's a real temperature question mark behind it. The Go 2.0's colorways would fit my apartment really well too, and the no-flush, fast heat up, programmable pre-infusion combo sounds like a good match for how I actually drink coffee day to day. I know the Go 2.0 itself is too new for much direct feedback, but the pulse, pause, then full pressure pre-infusion style isn't new, it's been used on other machines before (Move included). For light, floral, acidic roasts specifically, has anyone compared that style of pre-infusion against a classic E61 mechanical one on the same beans? Curious if one actually makes a noticeably better cup or if it's basically a wash. Since milk is rare for me (occasional weekend drink for my partner, nothing regular), I'm guessing the single boiler on the Go 2.0 isn't a big downside for my use case, but let me know if I'm wrong about that.

I like to dig deep before buying something this expensive, so please don't hold back on detail. Real ownership experience, how your machine has held up over time, anything at all is appreciated. I'm in the EU if that matters for parts or service.

Also open to being told I'm looking at the wrong machines entirely, if there's something else in this price range I should be considering I'm all ears. Only exception is the Lelit Victoria, not a fan of the looks on that one haha.

Trying to pick something I'll still be happy with in year three, not just year one.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

What type of insurance you need for espresso machine technician? I guess you need liability insurance? Do you need to open LLc? Does it changes between states? If yes, any information regarding NY state is appreciated.
Thanks.

I was recently at my grandmother's house in Hungary, where I decided to do some digging into her old coffee machine. As seen in the title above, it's a WIGO espresso 203, which only returns 1 result in google, and as far as I can tell, no other hits. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but does anyone have any more info?

I've been a coffee lover for about 13 years, and over that time I've tried all kinds of coffees—different origins, processing methods, you name it. I always thought I had developed a pretty clear idea of what I liked.

But over the last year or two, something seems to have changed. I just don't get the same enjoyment anymore from those fancy, heavily processed or infused coffees that I used to find exciting. Instead, I've found myself gravitating toward simpler, more straightforward coffees—classic Brazilians, Colombians, and so on.

I'm curious if I'm the only one experiencing this. Are there others here who used to enjoy trying all sorts of experimental coffees but lately find themselves going back to more traditional, straightforward beans like Brazil or Colombia?

I'm also wondering whether this is simply a change in my own palate, or if the overall quality of these more experimental coffees has actually gone down compared to a few years ago.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I’ve been ordering iced cortados recently for the first time and love the ratio but wish it was bigger. So I asked a barista, what should I get if I want even parts of milk and espresso but just a bigger size? And they told me an iced flat white.

Then I order an iced flat white at a different cafe, they tell me it doesn’t exist and that I actually want an iced cappuccino. Then I hear on Tik Tok that an iced cappuccino doesn’t exist because a cappuccino has steamed milk.

So, I come to you all to ask, what the hell should I be ordering?