As a product design engineer, that's always in the back of my mind but at the end of the day, this is a niche within a niche and even with previous side businesses, I've realized that most chinese cloners don't bother unless there's real money in it.
1. I approached this project with the goal of making good espresso as cheaply as possible. EC50 uses pressurized portafilter baskets which are mostly used as crutches for preground "espresso" coffee which is too course. The basket that's being used in my project comes from a manual machine that a lot of people like and works really well. It's easier to take good parts and work backwards than trying to upgrade a cheap machine to work well imo
2. This allows me to dial in preinfusion and extraction pressures manually which is why some people like manual espresso. More control.
3. Most electric machines use vibe pumps which some die hard espresso nerds think disturbs the coffee puck too much. Manual machines like the one I designed are much gentler on the puck which (allegedly) leads to less channeling and more consistent shots.
Definitely something I was worried about too. I did some A/B testing with an actual espresso machine and didn't notice a difference. I also looked up some papers that had CO2 solubility in water as a function of temp and pressure and at the brew times/pressure/temp we're at, there's very little being absorbed into the water. Certainly not enough to affect taste.
I use an air compressor to drive it now and haven't noticed a decrease in brightness either.
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[ 47.1 ms ] story [ 96.9 ms ] threadCouple thoughts:
1. I approached this project with the goal of making good espresso as cheaply as possible. EC50 uses pressurized portafilter baskets which are mostly used as crutches for preground "espresso" coffee which is too course. The basket that's being used in my project comes from a manual machine that a lot of people like and works really well. It's easier to take good parts and work backwards than trying to upgrade a cheap machine to work well imo
2. This allows me to dial in preinfusion and extraction pressures manually which is why some people like manual espresso. More control.
3. Most electric machines use vibe pumps which some die hard espresso nerds think disturbs the coffee puck too much. Manual machines like the one I designed are much gentler on the puck which (allegedly) leads to less channeling and more consistent shots.
No answer for the steam wand though!
I use an air compressor to drive it now and haven't noticed a decrease in brightness either.