The machine, not the people. I came into a used one, found a manual on line, but still have a few questions …
What is the black cylindrical thing that can attach where you’d normally put the coffee “arm”?
It came with a large metal pitcher for frothing milk and two smaller ones. Do the smaller ones hold a shot or two shots of coffee? I put in as much coffee as I could and filled both…the second one was significantly weaker.
The steamer seemed to put out too much water and really watered down the milk… maybe I have to just barely turn the dial.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding you, but are you frothing the milk after adding coffee? The milk is frothed and then poured onto the coffee. If I’m envisioning what you’re saying correctly, the small pitchers are for 8 and 12 oz drinks, and the large is for 16 and 20 (whatever the hell Starbucks calls them).
The steam wand should put out steam only. If it’s dripping water at all, something’s wrong with either the wand or the boiler. When steaming milk the pitcher should constantly be in motion, from the wand fully submerged to just the tip. When you get to ~150 or so the milk should start roiling, and you should be moving the pitcher in rapid but small patterns. When the sound drops significantly, you’re finished (the sound gets deeper throughout steaming, then almost instantly becomes guttural). Beyond that and you’ll burn the milk.
Keep the steam holes completely submerged, unless you’re making a cappuccino. In that case, the dip the pitcher up and down while keeping the steam holes half covered (on average).
If I completely misunderstood your question and all of the above is useless, I apologize.
I think you must be referring to the brewhead cleaner. It cleans out the coffee ground residue left in the brewhead after frequent usage. The coffee “arm” is referred to as the portafilter.
Mine did not come with pitchers. You can use a 2 oz shotglass to brew into or an espresso cup. Brew one ounce of espresso per dose of grounds (2 tbsp). Tamp the grounds lightly to prevent the water from flowing through the grounds too fast.
Prime the machine before steaming and be sure to steam before you brew. Turn on the steam button and let it run for a bit then turn it off and wait for the green light. Then put the wand all the way into the milk, hit steam button and open up the wand slowly all the way. Slowly lower the pitcher to allow the steam wand head to sit just under the top of the milk to create foam. If you see big bubbles, the wand to high above the milk and you need to lower it until you see the milk roil. As you make foam, the top of the milk will rise and you can lower it further to continue to make foam.
If water is coming out of the steam wand, the water in the boiler is not hot enough. Try priming again. Mine always dripped a little bit, but not much, if I’d properly primed and waited for the green light.
Through the magic of youtube: here’s the actual video that came with the Starbucks Barista in two parts; the first is using it and the second is cleaning it.
Thanks a ton !!! Responding in CAPS in the middle of your quote because I don’t know a better way…maybe there is a youtube video for that !
Thanks again! Another question… should I use the device provided to tamp the grounds first or not? The instructions said not to despite the fact that the long handled scopp has the end designed exactly for that.
I have noticed that the puck is so hard and compressed that I can’t get it out without soaking the portafilter in water.
No youtube video AFAIK, but the way I do it is use the quote button (looks like a cartoon conversation bubble) on paragraphs selected to quote. You know how to select text?
It’s been awhile, but I believe the phillips tool is to disengage the brewhead from the housing…for deeper cleaning, perhaps? I’m just guessing, though. It may be covered in the video or in the manual?
Espresso grind is a very fine grind…much finer than what you’d use in a regular brewer, but not quite as fine as turkish grind, which is practically dust. It’s also very important for coffee ground for espresso to be uniform in size. If you have a blade grinder, you won’t be able to achieve this as it chops up the beans randomly as it spins them around resulting in fine powder mixed with larger pieces–not uniform. Brewing through grounds like that results in uneven pressure of the water through the grounds and some water going through the coarser grounds fast (underextracting) and water saturating the finer grounds (overextracting) but not flowing through. If you don’t have a burr grinder, have your beans ground for espresso at a local bean shop. It’s better to grind right before brewing though, if you can.
By prime, I mean release old water out of the lines. It’s covered in the video. Once the green light goes on, hit the steam button (but don’t open the wand, I think) and allow water to drip through for a few seconds. Then close it and wait for the green light to come on again. Then, steam your milk with the wand.
It’s okay if the light goes off before you’re done steaming. The pressure dips off with its release as its a tiny boiler. You’ll want to steam at maximum pressure available though by opening up the wand full on.
Did you get a tamper with the machine? It looks like this. I’m not sure what you mean by the “long handled scoop”. Did you get a scoop with a tamper incorporated into the handle like this? I have a similar one and it works fairly well, but a great tamper has some weight to it requiring less effort to apply just the right amount of pressure. Tamp the grounds, but just don’t apply too much pressure. The idea is to even out the grounds and eliminate the larger pockets of air after scooping the grounds into the portafilter, so that the water can flow through evenly and at the proper pace.
As to the puck, don’t leave the spent grounds sitting in the portafilter. The puck should be pretty dry and you should be able to knock it out by sharply tapping the portafilter handle on something hard, like the edge of a trash can or counter. Professionals and dedicated aficionados use a knockbox, but it’s not absolutely necessary to have one. It does keep your portafilter away from icky trash cans, it’s easier on the portafilter handle, and allows you to collect the grounds cleanly and neatly for other possible uses (such as gardening). If you can’t get the puck out, there are several possibilities. Either you are tamping too hard, your grind is too fine, the basket is not clean, the portafilter is not sealed or the machine is not putting out enough pressure and the water is not passing through effectively leaving a wet puck that sticks to the basket.
To fix this, try:
[ol]
[li]Clean and dry the portafilter and the brewhead thoroughly to ensure a clean surface of both the basket and a tight seal.[/li][li]Make sure your coffee is ground uniformly for espresso. Espresso is not just a type of coffee roast, it’s also what the grind is called.[/li][li]After scooping the coffee in tamp lightly, just enough to make a flat, even surface. If the water goes through too fast, it will appear light in color; tamp slightly harder next time. If the water goes through incredibly slow, tamp with less pressure or don’t tamp at all. The resulting shot should look dark on the bottom becoming slightly lighter towards the top with crema on top. The espresso coming out of the portafilter is best described as looking like honey, in color and in the way it pours (kind of thick). It shouldn’t pour out fast or drip slowly.[/li][li]Find a Starbucks that has a barista willing to help you test your machine. They should know how to pull a good shot. They would be probably be able to determine whether the machine is kaput or not.[/li][/ol]
Oh, and watch the videos which should answer a lot of the questions I just did.
