Portafilter Upgrade

My Vetrano has a sweet new upgrade - a La Marzocco portafilter, the rubber handled one that comes stock on LM machines. The main reason I got it was to be able to use my deeper 18 and 21 gram baskets with a spouted PF. My bottomless is great, but I like to have the ability to split a shot into two cups. Plus, at times I find that I prefer the more subtle crema that a spouted PF produces.
This truly a professional piece of equipment and it is so nice to use. It feels heavy as expected, yet it is very balanced in the hand. Really makes me wish I had a LM machine to lock it into!

Another great feature that I didn't think would be a big deal is the 15 degree angle on the handle which creates a stable, level tamping surface. The spout is the open double - I love how it allows you to see the flow coming out just before the split, plus it's also narrow enough to catch both streams into one cup.

Mod Needed:
Unfortunately this PF won't lock in completely on a Quick Mill machine (and possibly any of the E61-style prosumer machines) without a minor modification. On the Chris' Coffee website, it is recommended to change out the group gasket to an 8mm in order to get a proper fit. My experience was that even with the thinner gasket, I could not get it to lock in past the 7 o'clock position.

After seeing a solution on another blog (thanks Teme!), I decided to take a file to my brand new portafilter. It was actually quite easy to do, since brass is such a soft metal. I went very slowly, just taking a very small amount of metal off with each iteration until I had a perfect fit. Anyway, below is a closeup showing the filed down tab on the underside of the PF (Sorry about the poor lighting).

In My Grinder

Monkey Espresso Blend from Sweet Maria's
Roaster: Home Roasted
Returned to some home roast after being spoiled by what I just finished from Counter Culture. This batch of Monkey was roasted a bit light and lacks the sweetness that I expect. But still has good body and excellent crema (though I can't get the flecking in the cup that I was getting with the CCC coffee).

Sumatra Tapanuli WP Decaf
Roaster: Sweet Maria's
Earthy, full bodied, thick like syrup, not very sweet. This was the roaster's choice that I ordered along with some green. Makes for an interesting espresso, and a great Americano.

Flickr Photostream

I've been into home espresso and coffee in general as a hobby for about a year. Even though I have not been blogging the whole time, I have been taking alot of pictures. I'm definitely not a great photographer, but I've managed to keep things pretty well documented throughout my travels.

This weekend I finally got organized and added a bunch of my photos into my Flickr photostream. It will take a while to get titles and descriptions set up, plus I guess I'll need to buy the pro upgrade in order to organize everything the way I want to with collections and sets.

Some of the highlights in my opinion are:

• Coffee Bars in Italy
• La Marzocco Factory in Florence
• Random coffee [amateur] photography
• The Vetrano

iRoast2 Profiles

I've been using the iRoast2 for about 6 months now and my roast quality and consistency has improved quite a bit. The are many good forum threads on CG and H-B, but this one was the one that helped my caf roasting the most (thanks to JulesG, who has contributed a great deal of knowledge on the iRoast in the CG forums).

Caffeinated Coffees

---

Stage I - 320 / 6 min
Stage II - 375 / 3 min
Stage III - 385 / 4 min
Stage IV - 390 / 1 min
Stage V - 400 / 1 min

I usually end up stopping the roast shortly after stage 4 begins with about 1:30 left on the clock for a total of 13-14 minutes. I am shooting for Full City to FC+, stopping right as the second crack starts.

Decaf Coffees

---

Stage I 350 / 7 min
Stage II 400 / 4 min
Stage III 440 / 4 min

The caf profile doesn't really get hot enough for decaf and I never had good results. I really like this decaf profile because the motor noise gets lower with each stage, making it easier to hear the cracks.

In My Grinder

Espresso Aficionado
Roaster: Counter Culture Coffee
Simply amazing... very subtle, yet complex. Fruity notes, a hint of tobacco.

Sumatra Tapanuli WP Decaf
Roaster: Sweet Marias
Earthy, full bodied, thick like syrup, not very sweet. This was the roaster's choice that I ordered along with some green.