Superautomatic Coffee Machine..Primarily for Regular Coffee

[walkteach48]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum, but it looks like a great forum for coffee lovers. My husband and I love good coffee. When in Italy, we adjusted and started to enjoy espresso, but we still prefer good regular coffee. In our quest for a great cup of coffee, we have been researching the superautomatic machines. We like the idea of the espresso/latte option for entertaining.

We are hoping the Jura Capresso s9 that we bought yesterday will make a great cup of regular coffee. We made our first coffee this morning. Unfortunately, it was not as good as our much cheaper Capresso (only coffee) machine. We made it extra mild, coarse grind and used regular coffee beans we had on hand (Peter's Blend from Porto Rico Coffee Co.).

Questions: Is it possible to get a great cup of regular coffee from superautomatic machines? Are there any tricks to making good regular coffee using a superautomatic machine?

The return policy at William Sonoma is very good. I made sure the machine could be returned if we were not satisfied.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Walkteach[/i]

 

[javahill]

Nope. Best thing you can do is make an Americano - espresso with hot water added - and you'll probably enjoy it more than drip coffee.

The key difference is that espresso is brewed under pressure not gravity. Drip brewed coffee is a solution. Espresso is a solution, a suspension and an emulsion.

There is a lot more going on in your espresso. If you add water to it, it will thin out a bit and have more volume. But still remain some wonderfully distinctive characteristics.

But for those times when we have a lot of guests, we keep a drip brewer in the pantry.

 

[imateacher]

Hi, just wanted to reply to your post. I just sold my capresso c1500 on ebay for 50% of my purchase price. I got an 'upgrade' of a capresso S9 Avantgarde for xmas.
YES YES YES coffee will taste much better with these machines! Set the grind to fine while it's grinding... use a good coffee, and set the strength to normal. That should just about do it.
I can't live without my super automatic. I had capresso regular drip machine for years and got spoiled with the coffee center replacement. I will NEVER do paper, gold, or other filters... or grinds and dripping ever again!

Don't return it! Just practice until you get what you like. If it isn't 'strong' enough or full-bodied, add a shot of espresso to the regular cup. No, the espresso isn't like a good coffee place or great restaurant; however, it sure isn't bad! The cappucino came out pretty, also. It tasted decent. It beats the drip, but never will beat the coffee houses unfortunately. Don't expect it to. ENJOY! Hope you didn't return it before reading this post!

 

[CCafe]

The point is though that a super auto will not make same quality as a French press or drip machine. The main reasoning for this is the way the machine makes the coffee. It still uses the same technique as for making espresso. This doesn't work well for producing coffee because you are merely over extracting the grounds to produce your drink.

 

[javahill]

CCafe - please check your facts. Superautos don't "merely overextract." We sell about 50 Schaerer Ambientes a year and a similar number of Capressos. The first superauto I sold 4 years ago was a $24,000 monster. When it was calibrated, you'd need to walk among the coffee gods to tell the difference. I work with some of them. If you go down to Central America to judge cup of excellence when the harvest comes in or if you're a finalist or winner in the US or World Barista competition, then you can push back with some credibility. Otherwise, you're like me - a mere coffee mortal.

 

[CCafe]

Good God man don't blow freaking artery, your trying to compare apples to oranges. My reference to super auto's was merely pointed at the Capresso at hand.

Yes I sell the big ones too, and yes I understand if properly configured they will make some of the best coffee one can drink. Matter of fact I say the same thing about configuring as you do.

But you can't compare a Schaerer Ambiente to a Capresso C1500 or a S9 for that matter and if you do you need to have your head checked.