WHAT ESPRESSO MACHINE IS BEST FOR YOU?
If you know for sure you love espresso, but aren't sure on the right machine style for you, take this quiz!
Espresso Machine Boiler Types
Learn everything you need to know about boiler types before assembling your espresso set-up.
Pour Over Brew Method Demystified
Learn the art of pour over. The end result is balanced, complex, and—if you’re lucky—a meditative state.
What is Drip Coffee?
Discover the nuances of coffee brewing and get the right brewer for you.
A Beginner's Guide to Coffee Grinders
Get a grasp on grinders. Know their burr type, materials, and the features your machine needs to brew a consistent shot.
Coffee Flavor Affected By Grinders
Learn about coffee grinders affect the taste of your coffee.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHOOSING COFFEE
Start your journey into the wonderful world of specialty coffee and espresso with this diverse collection of beans.
Shop our collection of coffee products
Browse our extensive selection of gourmet coffee and espresso beans. Whether you’re looking for whole bean, pre-ground coffee, decaf, single-serve capsules or ESE Pods, we have it all.
Scale in Dual-Boiler Machines
For proper machine maintenance, we stock genuine parts and premium care products.
Support Library
Don't know what part you need? Check our support wiki for part diagrams and guides to help troubleshoot issues.
BWT Water Filters for Espresso Machines
Build the perfect coffee bar and make sure it stays that way with a state of the art water filtration system.
The Importance of Espresso Tampers
Choosing a quality tamper is often overlooked as an important consideration of brewing good espresso.
Technical Support
Discover useful specs, troubleshooting guides, and brewing tips from our huge support library.
Whole Latte Love on Youtube
With over 1,000 videos, our channel has everything from espresso machine reviews, tech and maintenance guides, coffee recipes, and more!
Machine Video Library
We’ve taken our expert YouTube videos and carefully collected them into specific playlists for each machine.
Profitec Pro 500 PID vs Quick Mill Arnos
It's time for another showdown between two great espresso machines, this time in the heat exchanger category.
Whole Latte Love Blog
Advice, staff picks, mythbusting, and more from the Internet’s leading coffee experts. Let us help you.
by Whole Latte Love Updated: February 28, 2020 1 min read
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive promotions and regular updates on everything coffee!
Most prosumer espresso machine’s with a heat exchanger boiler and E61 brew group require a significant cooling flush before an extraction to get to the proper brew temperature of approximately 201 to 203 degrees. But how long should a cooling flush be? And how long of a pause between the cooling flush and an extraction?
Note, all machines are a little different. For example, Expobar machines usually only need a very short flush of a couple seconds. But for many others, this technique will work.
To do it, draw water through the group with an empty single spout portafilter loosely engaged. As it pours listen closely for the hissing and watch for sputtering and unevenness in water flow. This indicates brew water that is flash boiling.
When the water calms down to a uniform stream it’s at about 206 to 207 degrees. From there, each second of additional flushing drops brew water by about 1 degree. So to get to a brew temp of 201 continue flushing for 5 to 6 seconds after observing a uniform water flow from the spout.
Following the cooling flush, allow 30 to 45 seconds for the new water in the heat exchanger to recover to brew temperature. Use this time to grind and tamp your coffee and then pull your espresso. The duration of the cooling flush will vary depending on how long your machine has been idle. So if you’ve pulled a shot within 10 minutes the flush will be much shorter.
There are minor variations from machine to machine. So, the proof is in the taste. If shots are consistently bitter it’s likely your brew water is to hot. And if they’re consistently sour it’s likely to cold.
Sign up to receive Whole Latte Love emails and take advantage of our biggest sales of the year before anyone else, as well as receive email-exclusive coupons, content, and more.