I’ve used a home espresso machine, with built-in grinder, daily for at least 10 years. I’m generally happy with the results - there’s some variability but most everything I make is acceptable, and I fairly regularly get something I feel is good. Recently I’ve been getting a lot of “acceptable” and it’s been a long time (many months) since I’ve made one that I’d call “good”. They’re missing that bit of oily lustre that I feel really makes it perfect.
- I drink a single shot over a small amount of hot water
- I get my beans from a local (same province) roaster that say they roast to order
- I like dark roast beans - the roaster calls it their Italian roast
- my house water comes from a well and is naturally a bit hard, but we have a whole house softener
- I’ve never de-scaled the machine because of the water softener - there’s no build up or crusting at any orifices
- I don’t make any attempt to get perfect extraction quantity - I grind, tamp and trim with the tool supplied with the machine. When I first got this particular machine (about 4 years ago) I programmed the extraction time, but a can’t remember the “recipe” I used
- I’ve tried beans from one other local roaster (via a grocery store) with the same results
My experience says it’s stale beans, but I’m buying roast to order, so I’m confused.
The most important factor in tasty espresso is a high quality grinder. Idk if that’s going to be very helpful for you, but just important to keep in mind
I can accept that there might be levels of good that can only be reached with a better grinder, but I’ve had much better than I’m getting now with my current grinder - I’m just trying to get back to that.