Hit 200 degrees on my espresso machine and finally got good crema

I've been using a Gaggia Classic for about 3 years now and always struggled with thin, pale crema. Last month I finally bought a cheap infrared thermometer gun off Amazon and checked my brew temperature. Turns out I was running at 185 degrees, way too low. I adjusted the pressure stat and did a longer warmup, got it to a steady 200 degrees. First shot after that had thick, dark crema like you'd see in a cafe. Has anyone else found that a simple temp check made that big a difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakewhite26d ago

Same thing happened with my Silvia. Night and day difference after a proper warmup.

sage_perry26d ago

Hold on, I gotta push back on this a little bit. Are we really sure it was the temperature that did it and not just dumb luck? You changed the pressure stat and the warmup time at the same time, so you can't really say 200 degrees was the magic number. I've pulled great shots at 195 and terrible ones at 202, and a thermometer gun from Amazon is probably not that accurate anyway. Plus, crema is way more about the beans being fresh and the grind being dialed in than a five degree swing. It sounds more like you just finally dialed in your workflow and the temp was a coincidence.