/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I am in awe at how superior this lil nigga is compared to the low-tier countertop automatic machine I used to have last year, that was about the same price. How consistent it is compared to it, how much better the coffee tastes. Yes, I know for coffeeheads it's not breaking news that cheap espresso machines are trash but there's always an element of doubt when you get into a hobby that seems weirdly expensive. "Am I falling for a meme?" you ask yourself.

But surprisingly, no, after an initial period of adjusting grind settings and settling on a technique, this thing is miles ahead of a cheap automatic machine.

I do have a question about my experience with it, just to check if I'm doing something wrong or if this is an experience everyone has. Since getting into specialty coffee, I've had espresso at two different roasters and I find their coffee has no noticeable character, flavor notes, or acidity. It's not overextracted, it's not bitter, but it's just sort of there. No undesirable characteristics but nothing that makes it interesting to taste, and absolutely no acidity whatsoever. So am I just training my tastebuds to enjoy underextracted coffee with the Picopresso or is coffeeshops dialing in their espresso to have a bit of a higher extraction a thing.