Back on sale for $199. Great machine for the price point.
First post so apologies for any errors!
Back on sale for $199. Great machine for the price point.
First post so apologies for any errors!
Just a heads up I hated this machine. Made poor coffee. YMMV I guess I'm a liiitle fussy.
If you're going to get one, take off the "panerello" and you'll get much better milk steaming. Zip tie on the little rubber bit if it flies off.
Got this tip in the last Dedica thread, great tip.
I love mine, I had another pod machine and it is far better than that shitbox thing.
It's a good machine, but I would highly reccomend spending more and getting the bambino.
I've had both, bought my Bambino for $316 June last year, it's made roughly 2,000 coffees. Very happy when paired with the right grinder / beans
Bambino or Bambino plus Bes500?Bambino plus is great buat I'm not sure for bambino Bes450
Agreed. Had both and if I were buying again I'd up the budget and grab the Bambino Plus from Good Guys Commercial for $361. The BP makes far better coffee, has better milk frothing, takes up a similar amount of bench space, and is actually easier to use for non-coffee folk (with the semi-automatic milk frothing).
Great machine for that price point.
Do yourself a favour and don’t use the pressurised basked.
Much better coffee if you replace it with a 51mm non-pressurised basket.
I got a 51mm aftermarket basket but coffee spurts every direction every direction.
Anyone else get same thing?
What grinder are you using?
How fresh are your beans?
How well are you distributing and tamping?
Sounds like you might be having problems with channeling.
I buy pregrounded coffee from a coffee roaster. no grinder at home. I've got a dual tamp/distributor and I've tried all sorts of methods in terms of a lot of pressure, little pressure, no pressure, used distributor only etc
I might just try Lavaza or something from the shops and see it it happens.
@parker2004au: pre-ground is absolutely not going to be fine enough - need your own grinder for non-pressurised baskets, then wdt if still channeling post dial in.
@blues99: Cheers
I'll just put up with the coffee - should of mentioned it's not all the time - maybe 1 out of 3 cups; can be a little can be a lot.
I'll go back to the stock portafilter.
@parker2004au: Pre-ground. There's your problem. It takes a fair bit of work to get the settings right for the correct grind for both the beans and the machine. And then on top you have to get your tamping right.
Best solution is to get a grinder. Second best solution is to use a pressurised basket if you're going to persist with pre-ground. You might also want to ditch using a bottomless portafilter.
@dontpanic: I just don't have the money or counter space to get a decent grinder which is why I cheaped out and got a $200 machine lol.
When this machine goes kaput (had it about 3 years now) then I'll look at one with a grinder.
I tried a hand grinder for about 2 cups and gave up lol.
For now I think I might go find my stock Dedica basket and portafilter.
@parker2004au: I got a hand grinder for my flair lever coffee 'machine' and it got tiresome very fast, ended up throwing the handle out and putting a drill on the end of it and was able to grind the coffee in about a minute rather than 5 manually cranking it - not sure what this means for the longevity of the burrs..
Our main coffee machine is a Barista Pro which has a grinder in it, however we just moved to a separate grinder (Smart Grinder Pro which falls to around $200 occasionally) and the taste + ability to consistently pull the same tasting shot has massively improved, a true game changer in my view!
If it were me (and it recently was) I'd say finding money+space for a separate grinder as opposed to getting an all in one machine is well worth it
@MrKnowItAll: Also better if either device fails, you don't have to deal with the costs of replacing the other working part of the machine (i.e. if the grinder fails in an all in one machine and it can't be repaired, you have to get rid of the working espresso machine).
Personally, I would recommend the Smart Grinder Pro, paired with the Bambino Plus (with the unpressurised basket). It's easy to use (managed to convince the Nespresso lovers to use it), relatively small footprint, and produces consistently good coffee with a few button presses (once you dial in the settings for your beans - but that's the same for any machine really).
Also recommend getting a dual tamper and distributor to ensure you get consistent tamping results without having to fuss about too much:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Distributor-MATOW-Portafilter-Adju…
Wow… Sounds like someone is using the G app wrong if their non-fresh beans are not being tampered with correctly before misguided channelling.
… and being kicked out in 1..2..3….. :)
Take the original handle and unscrew the single screw at the bottom. Remove the plastic channeler and saw off the top ~1cm so your 51mm unpressurised basket will fit in. Screw it back in. This should prevent the basket spraying everywhere with the added bonus of being able to pour two single shots separately.
What kind of basket? Do you mean a naked portafilter?
Sorry I think I got my lingo mixed up.
I got a "SODIAL Coffee Bottomless for EC680/EC685 Filter 51MM Stainless Steel Replacement Filter Basket Coffee Accessories" from Amazon, I think someone in one of the Dedica posts linked to it in July sometime.
@parker2004au: Yeah I wouldn't think a naked portafilter would be a great idea for this machine.
Great machine, got mine couple weeks ago
A bit of googling suggests that to do a decent milk froth, you give it a lot of bubbles to start, then stick the wand in about a cm and it mixes it all in. Seems to work. Was getting extremely mixed results before.
I bought this during the previous sale and replaced the steam wand with the rancilio silivia wand. 1000x better milk and suddenly became a machine i've always wanted!
Which wand is this? have you got a link? Is it just a plug and play replacement?
If you are handy with a screwdriver and long nosed pliers, and have a bit of strength in the hands it is not too hard. It took me say an hour and a half (and worth every minute!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AOTa3bEpYM <— this video shows the old model EC680, there is just one difference with this new one which an extra grounding wire to unclip.
You can google Rancilio Silvia V1/V2 and find the wand - I got mine on eBay for ~$50.
Got mine about 1.5yrs ago, the steam wand starts to get loose and does not hold the position…..
Cracking price - got this for $279 sometime in July.
The coffee machine is great. The milk frother is more trouble than its worth
Good price; the repair for my Sunbeam EM7000 (6 year's old!) costed this this much.
Had this machine for a few years, with a different basket its great. Heats up fast, steams milk well.
Bought one of these about 5-6 years ago and ended up selling fairly promptly on ebay and replacing with a Sunbeam EM6900
Shame i hadn't seen the recommendations above to replace the basket. Its a lot smaller than the sunbeam haha
I have this one. Make a quite decent espresso. The milk frother is a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of it you can make silky texture milk for your latte art.
Any tips for the frother?
I’ve seen some youtube but still unable to get silky texture
For me, the most important parts are the angle of your milk jug and never set your Panarello on cappuccino - always use the hot milk option. Just stretch your milk and make a whirl inside your jug.
I am not able to use steam pipe only because it keeps popping out. But I think this YouTuber found the way. I reckon it might help you to create a better milk texture.
Thanks!
Are you using the standard pressurized filter? What grinder setting are you using? Single/double for latte?
Bought the Dedica with Breville Smart Grinder Pro. Also bought Sensor Lab Beans from woolies
At the moment on the grinder I use grind no 24 for double espresso to make latte (still using pressurized filter), but just not getting a quality taste
Tried with grind no 20, and the machine wouldn’t work on double espresso (but worked on single espresso)
Any idea?
Also tried the frother (by taking off the automatic wand), somehow not getting silky milk (not even some bubbles)
Advice would be appreciated thanks
Since you're grinding your own beans, try switching to an unpressurised basket if you have one. More importantly, you haven't mentioned how much coffee you're actually dosing (both grind size and dose are important)
15g beans for double espresso, grind size 24 works on the dedica (but grind size 20 doesn’t)
Will order the non pressurized but will take a week or so
Single shot/ less beans will require finer grind compared to double. Generally harder to get good pour from a single shot. Stale beans also require finer grind.
You are doing it wrong. Had the exact same machine combo and I was grinding at 5-7 range. 20+ is way too coarse for espresso.
Do you mind sharing your best setting? (I know beans and taste are very subjective?
Single/double espresso (for latte)
Pressurized or non
Time duration on dedica
Dose of beans
Time duration on grinder
Grind course (5-7)
Any other tips?
Thanks!
You should try get a small bag of fresh beans from one of the coffee stores on this website (e.g. airjo, inglewood). Fresh beans make a big difference. I have tried supermarket beans on this and other machines and it always comes out like slush. it should come out like honey.
As I said you need to be in the 10 or lower range for espresso. Anything lower than 4 would choke the machine. One important note is that you can make macro adjustments if you remove the hopper. Since this setting would be set different for your machine, my grind setting of 5 will not be equal to 5 on your machine.
Try grinding at the finest setting and if it gushes out still, you need to remove the hopper and make macro adjustments.
I used non pressurised basket. Can't remember now but I think I dosed 16g and aim for 32g out in 26 to 30 sec
@dji1111111: … then decide if it’s bitter (over extract) or sour (under extract) OR just right.
For pressurised basket it might be appropriate?
To get proper frothed milk I use a steamer jug (the metal ones that are angled inwards). Remove the pannarello and zip tie the top of the remaining rubber wand so it doesn’t fly off.
Angle the jug so that the rubber wand is entering the milk at a 45 degree angle at the edge of the jug. Turn on steam and hold til the jug gets too hot to handle (roughly about 20 seconds).
In this time the force of the steam will have created a milk vortex which will rise up the sides of the jug so we be careful not to spill it. The milk will also expand as it fill with air.
Just practice with variations on that technique and you’ll start refining it.
Pressurised baskets’ double wall mechanism builds up pressure, it releases the valve and pushes coffee through the single hole. I’m guessing the fine grind builds enough pressure on the single but chokes on the double by blocking the hole.
If you’re getting the non- press. baskets, then I’d be waiting til they come before getting serious with the variables like grind size, extraction time, how much/little to tamper etc.
The pressured baskets are forgiving and can give you a decent shot.
Great machine, have been using it for almost a year now. Commercial grade micro foam from the steam wand. Nice and compact, yet powerful.
great machine - my whole family now have one. Super compact and if you're using the pressurised basket it comes with you're going to have an inoffensive cup pretty much every time. Milk stretching takes practice to master but it's doable. If you buy an aftermarket unpressurised portafilter and pair it with a good grinder it's a very solid performer with pretty consistent results. You might spend a bit of time chasing the right extraction as elements heat up and pressure consistency does vary but for the price it's a good machine.
is it worth to get a seperate Milk Frother?
No. The frother isn't perfect by any means, but it will get the job done if you take some time to figure out its quirks.
If you're going to spend extra money, make sure you get a grinder if you don't have one.
Great, Have been waiting to get one. Thanks OP.
Also Afterpay Rewards has 10$ discount on 50$ spend, may be targeted.
Dont have a grinder that will do Espresso grind. Worth just getting the coffee shop to grind it for me? Or is it going to go to sh1t too quickly.
I only buy in 250g bags as the only coffee drinker :P
The problem is that you really need to experiment with the beans to find the right grind setting for the bean AND the machine. Otherwise you'll over/under extract and the shot will taste pretty awful. The pressurised basket will help somewhat with pre-ground beans, but don't expect cafe quality results.
Hello All,
I have no idea about coffee machines. I love to drink weak cappuccino. Is this machine any good? Thanks for your help. Have been looking for something for a while now. Just not sure what to buy due to lack of skills :(
You want https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/645140 .
To all coffee connoisseurs out there.
Very simple question? Does this make better coffee for a flat white than moka pot ?
Coz I find that moka pot doesn’t always give a concentrated shot ! So I have difficulty in making a flat white
Simple answer: yes
Definitely, because a moka pot won’t give you any steamed milk or milk froth.
I use the aerolatte milk frother for that ? I find that the coffee shot itself isn’t as good . I might be wrong. Thanks in advance for answering
I’m just being an idiot. The machine is decent with a grinder. I tend to go for a double shot because I like it strong.
I haven’t used a moka pot before. Just quickly reading the moka pot vs espresso machine on the web, they compare the concentration to drip coffee. Moka pot is 2-3x more concentrated than drip coffee VS espresso machine, which is 5-10x more concentrated than drip coffee.
Hope that helps.
@Frugal: Legend ! Thanks a ton. I am gonna get one of these or the bambino one mentioned several times above 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WgzKFJ6klE&ab_channel=Alter… / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh9-JN7CbNk&ab_channel=Alter…
(worth considering if you are used to a Moka Pot).
Should work with $30 back via zip pay
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/647045