Espresso shot attempt with my new Rancilio Silvia

One of my first attempts to get a good shot of espresso from my new Rancilio Silvia. I think this shot was a little slow, perhaps due to tamping too hard? Suggestions and comments welcomed! More details on this shot:

Coffee: Lavazza Crema e Aroma
Grinder: Rancilio Rocky, set to 6. (I tried 9, 8 and 7 and had troubles with the shots being a little too fast).

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• rancilio
• silvia
• rocky
• lavazza
• crema
• aroma
• espresso
• pour
• shot
• grinder
• settings

[pangathan]

Update: I bought beans from Gimmie Coffee here in NYC -- roasted just a couple days ago, and it made all the difference in the world. Especially after I refined the grind settings and have gotten better at tamping. Thanks for advice everyone.

[pangathan]

Thanks Kat and Endo -- that's really helpful. This was a new bag of Lavazza and I always thought that was an excellent brand, but I'm definitely up for trying something else. I'll fiddle with the grind setting and tamping too.

Any recommendations on beans? I'll probably try Veltron, but I'd love to hear any other ideas.

[pangathan]

Looking for any comments or suggestions to improve. Thanks!

[90blacknight]

Forget grocery store bought beans.  You need fresh roasted beans.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

Hmmm...I think it starts out too quickly, myself. It starts extracting at around 4 seconds, and I try to shoot for it coming out at 7 - 10 seconds after I initiate the shot. You may want to tweak the grind a bit more, or play with your tamp. Fresher coffee is also a good idea, but if you love the flavor of the kind you're using, then I'd just mess around with the grind/tamp elements a bit. - Kat

[Endo789]

@pangathan

I'm 99% sure the problem is your beans. Lavazza is never fresh. Buy something with a roast date on it, preferrably less than 3 weeks since roast.