a good day with my new mini

[richardcoffee]

I've had my mini for a couple of weeks now and while I've enjoyed it, I've had moments of doubt. Lots of steam pressure but I couldn't get micro foam that suited my tastes. I'm not even talking about latte art. After all, I'm no artist, so what would make me think I could get art with milk drawn on a coffee canvas. And, my shots have been somewhat lacking in flavor. Perhaps partly due to the coffee - it was, perhaps a little old, but also a failure of distribution. I couldn't seem to get the pressure up on shots and the naked portafilter tended to spit on me. Yesterday, I started fresh. I put in a clean set of screens. And I changed out the nozzle on the steam wand from the 4 hole that sprays every which way to the 2 hole. Then, I weighted my coffee to ensure a 20 gram dose, stirred it in the basket with a little skewer I have and did the nutation that I've read about before a 30 pound tamp. The shot poured beautifully - no spitting - about a 40 second shot. And I really like the 2 hole tip. It happens very fast, but since I learned to pay close attention with the new 4 hole tip, it payed off with really good micro foam with the 2 hole tip.. So, while I always want immediate pay off, it has paid off for me to ask a lot of questions, read a lot of advice here and on other sites and keep working at it. Thanks for the help. Now, as the sun is shining here in Indiana, I'm off to the garage to roast some SM Decaf Espresso Donkey Blend.