Coffee Chat: How come semi-automatic espresso machines - Delonghi, Tsannkuen and Donlim are just toy machines?

"Toy machine" is generally a general term for semi-automatic Italian machines with unreliable performance. This is my concept when calling it a toy machine. Simply put, for me, this is a machine whose performance cannot meet the threshold of my taste. It does not mean contempt or other malice. Of course, I have also seen some people who have never used a toy machine, nor a semi-automatic one above a toy machine, and do not know why some people call these machines toy machines, and they look down on users who buy toy machines. Therefore, when they call it a toy machine, many value friends will think that this person is pretending to be cool and is looking down on us users who use these machines. In the future, for convenience, similar machines such as Delong, Tsannkuen, and Donlim will be collectively referred to as "toy machines", so let me explain it to everyone first to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

Before talking about the machine, let's take a look at the production parameters of Italian espresso on Baidu Encyclopedia: 1. Single Espresso coffee powder quantity 9±2g; 2. Water temperature 90±2℃; 3. Brewing head pressure 9±1bar; 4. Extraction time 25±5 seconds. The definition is basically consistent with the production parameters proposed by Dr. Ernesto Illy decades ago. You may be a little familiar with it. This Dr. ILLY is the Italian brand that many value friends like to buy. It has coffee beans, coffee powder, and drip coffee. This grandfather is the founder of ILLY. Because he is a doctor of chemistry, everyone is used to calling him Dr. ILLY. His definition of ESP production parameters has influenced it to this day. Of course, with the continuous emergence of transformers and new theories, this definition is not absolute. Of course, a reliable single-head transformer starts at more than 100,000 yuan, and ordinary enthusiasts will not buy it, so there is no discussion. Beginners can use this parameter as a benchmark and then fine-tune it according to their own taste.

1. About pressure

We understand the parameters, and careful readers should have discovered a problem. The pressure parameter is "9BAR". It is clear that the toy machines bought below 1,000 yuan are all 19 or 20BAR, and at least 15BAR. And after the manufacturers spared no effort to promote the pressure parameters, the ignorant people were fooled. So the nominal pressure of toy machine A is 15BAR, and you will see value friends saying from time to time, ah, this machine that costs XXX dollars is only 15BAR, and not long ago, the XX brand machine was only XXX dollars at 20BAR, this one is not cost-effective at all. Is the toy machine already over-performance in terms of pressure? Or are the toy machine manufacturers falsely labeling the parameters? Toy machine manufacturers do not falsely label, and of course the toy machine pressure performance is even less likely to be over-performance. That is just a stealth concept played by toy machine manufacturers. The nominal pressure of the toy machine is the maximum output pressure of the pump pressure, and what we need to make a cup of delicious coffee is a stable and continuous brewing head (also called extraction pressure, which refers to the pressure when water passes through the powder cake) 9BAR. That is to say, although both are BAR, they do not refer to the same thing at all. Some readers may say, my pump pressure is 20BAR, can't the extraction pressure reach 9BAR? Well, sorry, it really can't. Otherwise, why would the value friends who used to play toy machines and later upgraded to advanced machines remind players who are new to toy machines not to grind the powder too finely and not to press the powder too hard? The same powder coarseness and the same powder pressing force. The extraction is normal on the advanced to top-level machines, but the coffee cannot come out on the toy machine. In addition, aren't you curious, why do toy machines use a pressurized handle? If the extraction pressure meets the requirements, why do we still need to rely on the handle to pressurize? According to the promotional words, it is to better extract the oil? (Let's call the foam produced by the pressurized handle oil for the time being) Okay, then let's talk about this pressurized handle.

2. About the pressurized handle

Toy machine manufacturers like to promote pressure, because 19BAR looks larger than 9BAR. These manufacturers also like to brag about the pressure handle, because machines above the toy machine level do not use the pressure handle. But think about it, toy machines are generally less than 1,000 yuan, and the expensive ones are about 1.5K. Why don't machines that cost thousands of yuan or even more use the pressure basket? Some friends even bought a pressure-free handle after buying a toy machine? Friends who have toy machines can disassemble the powder basket, and you will find that there is a piece of black plastic at the bottom of the powder basket. That thing is the pressure device. What does it do? It can make the coffee liquid flow out in the form of a jet, thus forming foam so that everyone thinks it is grease. The second point that the melon-eating crowd was fooled-the more grease, the better, grease is a symbol of good coffee. Well, if you are shot, please go to the end of the article to reward and come back. The manufacturers are very smart, knowing that those who are knowledgeable and have requirements for coffee taste will not buy toy machines. And the ignorant watermelon-eating crowd, look at the grease (temporarily think it is) to speak, so naturally they have to get a pressure handle. In fact, the pressure portafilter will have an indirect negative impact on the extraction of coffee, so if you buy a toy machine and want to see where you can make some improvements, buying a pressure-free portafilter is a good way. Of course, if you are obsessed with latte art, this also makes sense, because a cup of ESP with big thick bubbles and a cup of ESP with normal fat will produce different latte art. Imagine injecting milk foam on an ESP with a bunch of big bubbles (if you make milk foam well), and then after the injection, there will be a layer of big brown bubbles on the top. . . . . In fact, I have also suffered from the loss of the pressure portafilter, see the picture below for details

As you can see in the last picture, the cup above is made with a small S, and the fat is very thin (mainly because the powder is not fresh). Look at the cup below, the "fat" is obviously thicker than the cup above, right? But if you look closely, there are a lot of coarse particles. This is the magical effect of the pressurized powder bowl. No matter whether the powder is fresh or not, it can make some foam when sprayed into the cup.

3. About extraction water temperature

Regarding water temperature, general toy machine manufacturers don't promote this point. Delong will promote that its toy machines use boilers. Boilers are higher-end than heating blocks. This was almost true before Huijia's machine (which uses a combination of multiple large heating blocks) came out, because almost all toy machines use heating blocks and models above toy machines use boilers (except Huijia now). Delong, which uses boilers, naturally has to make a big fuss. At this point, you may find it strange that water temperature is related to boilers. In fact, the heating system (boiler, heating block) and water temperature are directly related. Let's talk about boilers first. Delong uses boilers and advanced machines also have boilers. Does that mean Delong is already at the advanced level in terms of water temperature? Sorry, it's not. You can check what the size of all Delong's toy machine boilers is. 6 or 7 years ago, Delong marked the size of the machine boiler. It seems that it is not marked now. If I remember correctly, the boiler of Delong's toy machine that often goes abroad is 180ML. Some of the friends who know a little bit will say that I only need 30-60ML to make a cup of espresso, and 180ML is more than enough. If you know a little about the operation of the machine, you will know that when you turn on the extraction button, the boiler outputs hot water while adding cold water. Think about this mere 180ML of hot water while it is outputting and adding cold water continuously. Do you think the fluctuation of water temperature is large or small? I can tell you that when extracting 45ML of espresso, the water temperature fluctuates by more than 15 degrees. If you don't have an idea of ​​the impact of this value on the taste of coffee, you can buy two bags of drip ears, with the same other parameters, and extract with a water temperature difference of 15 degrees. Try to see if you can taste the difference in taste. If not, well, you save money. In addition, ultra-fine powder, high-pressure extraction. And medium-coarse powder, normal pressure extraction. The former is more sensitive to the impact of changes in water temperature on the taste of the extracted coffee, and is much more sensitive. As for the heating block, before Huijia came out, I directly judged that the machine with a heating block was a toy machine, so there is no need to explain it. To put it simply, the working principle of the heating block is that the upper and lower heating blocks are combined together (the inner sides of the two heating blocks are semicircular pipes), and then they become a circular closed pipe. After heating the heating block, the cold water is pumped up, and the cold water becomes hot after passing through the hot pipe. This is the working principle of the heating block, which is completely different from the method of pumping water into the boiler and heating it to a predetermined temperature. This is also one of the reasons why the preparation time of the heating block is short. Because the heating blocks of the toy machine are very small, you can imagine that cold water becomes hot water after passing through the hot pipe, and the heat will be taken away in this process. We assume that the efficiency of heat removal is exactly the same as the efficiency of heating, then the water temperature stability is completely feasible, but unfortunately, this assumption is completely impossible to achieve on the mini heating block of the toy machine.

4. About the pressure relief valve

This is a component that almost no one pays attention to or few people know about. Toy machines use overflow valves to cut corners, while machines above toy machines use solenoid valves. Once, a friend's girlfriend bought a toy machine, and my friend asked me to teach her how to use it. Later, when she was backwashing, I don't know if there was a problem with the overflow valve itself or the sensitivity of this component itself was not enough (I think it was this guy's fault anyway), but the machine exploded (well, don't be afraid, the machine didn't explode, there was just a loud bang, and the handle popped out). Since then, I never teach people to use backwashing to clean toy machines. Just find a brush to brush it (inner OS: What if the machine explodes one day, I get burned or hit by the handle, I can't afford to pay for it) In addition, when extracting with a toy machine, don't grind the powder too finely or press the powder too heavily, I'm afraid anyway. In addition to the pump, the quality of the pressure relief valve also affects the stability of the extraction pressure.

5. Steam

I believe that many people buy espresso machines for latte art. The good news is that toy machines can also be used for latte art. As the saying goes, if you have strong hands, you can still make latte art with a toy. Of course, I think it is more difficult to make good milk foam. Of course, some people think that the steam of toy machines is weak and the whipping process is long, but there is more time to adjust and it is easier to make good milk foam. Anyway, this is good news for players who buy machines for latte art. However, if you have high requirements for taste, you may find that the milk coffee made by toy machines always tastes a bit bland and unpalatable. On the one hand, the espresso made by toy machines is not good in itself, and another reason is that the weak steam of toy machines takes a long time to whip, and the steam is relatively wet. The result of these two points is that more water is added to your milk during the process of whipping milk foam. Think about it, if you order a latte and add some water to your latte, what will happen?

In addition to the above, toy machines usually use non-58MM handles, and 99% of machines above toy machines use this size, so if you change the machine, the powder hammer, powder bowl, bottomless handle and all other tools related to the powder bowl size must be replaced. In addition, the safety of the aluminum heating parts used by toy machine manufacturers who cut corners after long-term use is also worrying (I haven't studied this part, almost no one around me buys toy machines, and I don't have the opportunity to take them apart to take a look)

Characteristics of toy machines: 1. They like to advertise pump pressure (15BAR-20BAR) and extraction pressure of 9BAR. 2. They use a pressurized handle. This is the most obvious feature to determine whether it is a toy machine. The extraction pressure is not ideal due to the pressurized handle and the pressure relief valve, and the extraction water temperature fluctuates greatly due to the boiler or the heating block. These two points have a direct and great impact on the quality of espresso extraction. Then there are entry-level, advanced, and top-level. From single boiler to letter furnace to double boiler, from brewing head to boiler to saturated brewing head, from directly extracting cold water to extraction boiler to cold water being preheated by steam boiler before being transported to extraction boiler, all of them are to make the temperature fluctuation smaller. And from vibration pump to rotary pump, they are also constantly pursuing the constant extraction pressure.

Summarize

Is the toy machine worth buying? I think that no matter what it is, ignoring the buyer and discussing whether it is worth buying is nonsense. Personally, I think the following types of people are suitable for considering toy machines: 1. Those who have no requirements for the taste of coffee; 2. Those who have a budget of only a few hundred (they may not be poor, but they are willing to invest in coffee); 3. Those who just don't believe in evil (a car worth 100,000 is a car, but a car bought for 1,000 is not a car?) But before buying a toy machine, there are a few points I hope everyone knows. If your main demand is to have a cup every morning, and you don't want to get up half an hour earlier every morning, and there is no one at home who gets up early to make it for you, I advise you to consider the capsule machine. If you have a large number of cups every day, you can consider the fully automatic one. Buying a semi-automatic machine does not mean that everything will be fine after buying a machine. In this budget range, the role of the grinder is definitely not worse than that of the machine. So you need an Italian grinder. Considering that you are buying a toy machine, you can now choose the lowest-equipped Huijia ZD12 or 15 grinder. Freshly ground and bought powder are completely two concepts and tastes, so don't save on grinding. What if the budget is just a few hundred yuan and you must try Italian coffee? You can still buy the grinder and replace the machine with a moka pot (yes, fresh grinding is so important). If you must have milk foam, then I will buy the IKEA 9.9 milk frother, although I don’t recommend this kind of milk frothing cup and milk frother, because the milk foam is like detergent foam, which reduces the taste. It is better to heat the milk and pour it in. Of course, the beans must be fresh and reliable, and fresh grinding is meaningful. If the beans are Colin Blue Mountain, XX cat shit, etc., then fresh grinding is meaningless. I wrote an article before buying beans, you can find it by flipping through it. I think it should be almost done. If I think of anything else, I will write another one or add it to the next Italian machine article. Thank you for reading it. If you think the article is okay, it’s okay if you don’t reward it, just give it a thumbs up.

If you are going to criticize after reading this, please finish reading. If you are using a toy machine now and think that the coffee it makes is obviously delicious. Then I want to tell you that it’s OK as long as you think it tastes good. After all, it’s OK as long as you are satisfied with the coffee you make. I write according to my taste and judging standards, and I have no intention of imposing my judging standards on you. You can also leave a message to tell me how you feel about using the machine. Some people always think that I am pretending to be cool by saying that toy machines are not good. Then I want to tell you that coffee is just foreign soy milk, not as advanced as you think. Moreover, the cost of making a cup of coffee for me is only one-fifth of the cost of drinking a cup at Xingbaba or even lower. Think about it, what you drink is more expensive than mine, so how can I pretend to be cool? There is no need for me to pretend to be cool by criticizing the toy machine. If you can’t understand the words, just look at the pictures. If you can’t understand the pictures, don’t criticize...