The Olympia Cremina is a classic lever machine.
Like most lever machines it exhibits a declining pressure profile.
This profile is a long shot ... about 45sec.
It uses a fine grind.
With dark roasted beans most of the flavour comes out early in the shot.
Towards the end, the shot is quite watery.
The Cremina uses a narrow 49mm basket.
It is characterized by a manual pre-infusion, a pressure ramp-up, and a subsequent pressure decline, all managed by the user's interaction with the lever.
I like to start the shot when the machine's group head is around 85C.
The end of the shot usually sees the group temp rising over 90c ... sometimes getting to 92-93c.
The classic La pav basket is 14g so you'd aim for 28 out.
Key Aspects of the Cremina Espresso Profile:
Pre-infusion:
The user initiates a pre-infusion phase by gently lifting the lever, allowing water to gently saturate the coffee puck at a lower pressure.
Here the pressure rises to about 1 bar.
Ramp-up:
As the lever is further depressed, the pressure increases, typically ramping up to a peak pressure as the piston moves through the brew group. (9 bar though I usually hit around 6-8 bar on my La pavoni)
Pressure Decline:
The user manages the lever's movement to control the pressure, causing a gradual decline towards the end of the shot.
This is a really flexible profile.
You can pull this as a 1:1 ristretto for that classic Italian shot.
Sometimes I end the shot early at 30secs but you can also pull this with 12g still at 45 secs.
These lever shots always finish at very low pressures.
Rancilio Silva.
Red: Temp
Blue: pressure
Green: Flow
The flow peaks twice at 4g/s but drops to 1g/s
I was using a 58mm to 49mm stepdown basket.
B. Brew stage (40 secs)
It has a Cremina Lever profile.
The initial dose is 18g.
grinder: DF64V (grind setting 15).
Out : 36g
Phases
A preinfusion for 25 secs (zero volume in cup)
- soak - 15s, 1.1bar pressure
- Ramp up to 3 bar, 4 s
- ramp up to 6 bar, 4 secs
- ramp up to 9 bar , 2 secs
There should be no coffee in up at this point.
B. Brew stage (40 secs)
- Ramp down to 8 bar. 10 secs. 6 g volume
- Ramp down to 7 bar, 10 secs, 14 g volume
- Ramp down to 6 bar, 10 secs, 26 g volume
- Ramp down to 5 bar, 10 secs, 36 g volume
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variation 2
Temp settings:
Higher brew temperatures for lighter roasts, lower brew temperatures for darker roasts
Preinfusion settings:
longer (slower flow rate) preinfusion for lighter roasts,
shorter (faster flow rate) preinfusion for darker roasts
After preinfusion, pressure is ramped up to a maximum and then gradually declines.
Pressure settings:
Max brew pressure of 6-9 bar (I like 8-9 bar)
Adjust decline to maintain a fairly steady flow rate (1.0-1.5ml/s) as puck erodes.
Pour time of ~30s (not including preinfusion)
Use the coffee dose suggested by basket manufacturer (but feel free to updose).
"normale" brew ratio of 1:2 (adjust to your preference)
When starting out, I recommend getting a medium roast house espresso blend from an established specialty coffee roaster. This will maximize your chances of success. Then feel free to branch out to single origin coffees, uber-light roasts, etc.
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