Mr. Coffee Espresso Machine Help

[Joe93101]

Hello everyone, new member here!


A little bit about myself, I am a coffee lover, although a relatively new one. I used to drink instant nescafe until a friend gifted me with a packet of whole beans last year. I soon decided to try it out, getting a small blade grinder and French press. Immediately I fell in love with the flavor and lived happily with my French press until it shattered a few weeks ago. While at target, I noticed that the Mr. Coffee Espresso Machines were on sale for about the same price as the French press so I decided to give it a try.

I tried using some espresso grounds that I had from before, but when I brewed the coffee it was very bitter and quite tasteless. My guess is that those beans were ground too finely for the machine and just old. The coffee was also very dark. On my second attempt, I ground fresh beans in my grinder and brewed them, but the coffee was very light and bland. I deduced that this was because the beans were too coarse for the machine. Yesterday, just to experiment, I took some of the grounds and used a mortar and pestle to grind them down to about the consistency of coarse salt and tried brewing the coffee. It tasted better, although it was still light and kind of bland. Any suggestions on how to better use this machine and how I can grind beans fine enough without spending $100+ on a burr grinder? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[PinkRose]

Hello Joe,

Welcome to the Coffee Forums website.

I guess the obvious response would be to ask you if you kept the receipt for the Mr. Coffee machine and if you could return it and get a new French Press instead.

But, if that's not possible, then you'll need to tweak how you grind your beans with your blade grinder.

This website describes what the grinds should look like for various methods of making coffee.
How to Grind Coffee - Learn About Coffee Grinding

If you experiment with it, you have a good chance of getting your coffee to come out the way you like it.

Please keep in mind that the coffee will never be the same as what you enjoyed when using the French Press, and I wouldn't be surprised if you return to using a French Press eventually.

Rose

 

[coffeetom]

If you got an espresso machine for the price of a French Press, it's highly likely a steam driven one.
Not saying they're all bad, but a lot cheap espresso machines are shiny on the outside and cheap on the inside.

Can I ask which one you got?

And what grinder do you have? Is it a blade grinder or burr grinder?

To get a better grind with a blade grinder for espresso you can use a sifter and grind the coarser grinds again.
I did that before I got a burr grinder but it's not convenient and takes a lot of time.

And I agree, I love coffee but hesitated a long time because I didn't want to spend more than $100 for a burr grinder either (I'm cheap .

 

[peterjschmidt]

If you liked your press pot, my thinking is you won't like the steam-toy, even once you get it figured out. The solution, were it me in your situation, would be to buy another press pot (you can buy the replacement beakers for them online, but there's no savings in doing so) and stepping up to a Baratza Encore. It'll be the best coffee you've ever had.

 

[friedcoffee]

Yeah, Baratza grinds the coffee to the best levels required without ruining them. It will come a bit costly then others, but it's worth if you are a real coffee drinker.

 

[nic9212or]

Hi I'm also New to coffee. From allot of research to have good espresso you need to have the right grind and right machine. If I were you, I would return the machine get a press and save for a good machine & grinder.

Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk

 

[nic9212or]

You can find french press on Amazon from10-50$. Most are around 20ish

Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk