I kind of understate and oversimplified the PID and thanks for pointing it out here. PID application is much wider than for controlling temperature. Learned something new.

To really learn, you have to go full manual; equip with a weighing scale, a stopwatch and a keen eyesight (e.g the crema color will change, and that's the time to end the shot).

Having a pre-set button to provide a predetermined press is good when the skill is consistent and things are stable to focus on number of drinks you can produce instead.

But if you still would like to have such feature for your future machine, the better choice is WPM KD210S2, feature-rich for it's price point.


KD210 - plaqued with issues and no longer in active production.
KD210S2 - the issues are no longer there. Plus with improvements too.

Why still want to stick with the old KD210?

This post has been edited by Tikietic: Feb 21 2019, 11:05 PM

Sold off your BDB already?

And Silvia still have easy access to plenty of spare parts too..

What Keng is trying to point out is this drainage at the drip pan as circled in red

does your machine has this little purge hole there? the 3-way solenoid valve will need to purge the water somewhere; it's at your drip tray.
This is taken from a KD210S2

it's really neat to see how the stretching and rolling techniques can be incorporated using such simple tool.. really neat (there is a youtube video that shows the action inside the milk pitcher while that tool is being operated..

This post has been edited by Tikietic: Feb 26 2019, 11:18 PM

it does look like a output/drainage pipe..
but i have an inclination to think that's it's not from the 3-way solenoid valve.
my reason is.. the pipe(judging from it's translucent plastic material) is too clean.
the output from a 3-way solenoid valve will carry coffee water and hence, it will stain everything along its path.. yours is too clean.

unless the kd135b adds a sort of "blow-out valve" in replacement of a solenoid valve, this could be and interesting replacement/adaptation.

anyway, here is a good way to check:
1. clean your drip tray
2. do an extraction
3. when the extraction terminates/stop, look at the purged liquid at the drip tray.. it is coffee liquid?

if yes, then there is a 3-way solenoid valve in your machine.. else, it's a drainage, or..
i may be wrong..

Strictly observation.. during expo such as cafe malaysia, most vendors with their commercial machines will output their drainage water into those recyclable empty drinking water container hidden under the countertop cabinet. I had the opportunity to chance upon them taking these water container to empty them.. the fluid were blackish like kopi o.
So, it's unlikely to be "a bit" ya..

Eerrr... When it physically rubs, wouldn't that be too late already?!

What's not to love the R58?
- Dual boiler
- Rotary pump
- PID
- e61
- Plumb-able

Used to eyed a similar configured machine by expobar(via taobao) back then.. much cheaper than the rocket..

Found this today..


Surprisingly, was offered a fresh batch from the seller.
500g for RM39.00
Cleaned the grinder and going to have to re-dial it for this bean tomorrow ba..

This post has been edited by Tikietic: Nov 5 2019, 11:19 PM

Following up on the DeGayo Beans..
The roasting is a bit on the oily side, however the beans are large as compared to some seller claiming of 17/18C filtered sized beans.

Sorry.. it's screen size 17/18.
Bought from a Restaurant and cafe owner.. it's great that they offer 500g, a good size(price/quantity wise) to try..
The beans are Indonesian.. Has this typical earthly taste.. Maybe can try self blend with either Columbian or African next time ba..

Yeah.. if you live near Shah Alam.. it's good to give them a try..
Nothing beats Mandheling though..

Nice of you to mention guatemala.. it was one of our curious so bean earlier.. we got a bag and it was like "not here, not there"... perhaps it was the bean, perhaps it was the roasting or our palate.. thus, we just leave it as it is... never tried light-medium roast on espresso-base before.. does your guatemala has a estate/farm name? maybe we can try look for it..

interesting... you went as far as light roast for espresso? is this borderline towards a pour over sort of thing?
am sure on a roasting point of view.. lighter roast, less energy used/consumed.. higher margin?
but taste-wise... we are willing to give it a shot.. seeing how "light" an espresso go

you're probably right as you have hands on experience where roasting are concerned.. perhaps even roasting machine/appliances have some percentage of energy wastage or heat-inertia that makes savings not so significant..

so are you honing your roasting skill towards light-medium/light style?

agtron... now that's really something very objective
we first came across this agtron labeling on certain pacamara offerings..
don't easily come across this agtron info anymore.. (by the way, 80+ coffee and agtron 80 are 2 different standards, right?)


This post has been edited by Tikietic: Nov 8 2019, 10:05 PM

Espresso machines... There are many to choose but not many are good for long term considerations.. We started our journey with lots of "toy-grade" machines.. from steam-driven to those 3-5kg plastic-ky small footprint machine..
Unfortunately, there's limited choice in Malaysia if one is tight with a budget for a decent espresso machine.. Except for the Welhome, WPM. The alternative is (still) Chinese made machines..

Gemilai CRM3012, Milesto EM-18, WPM KD-210S2..

From our observations.. these machines give you a very good value for the money spent.. they're not cheap now as compared to like 3-5years ago in which you can have them delivered to M'sia for sub RM2k and less..

Nevertheless, we believe these alternatives are still very much cheaper than a... Say.. Breville(in which we find too much on the cosmetic value vis-a-vis performance and hence, a value proposition vs the 3 example above)




This is the machine we are currently using:


This post has been edited by Tikietic: Nov 16 2019, 10:24 PM

For an electric grinder.. no harm done exploring (once again) a Welhome WPM.. which are mostly 30mm-ish cornical burr.. they run reliably for years for the less picky guys.. our setup has been running stable for the 6th years now.. and we had it for about RM400+ then..

Perhaps our next grinder would be a 50mm flat burr.. such as below:

RM900-ish deliver to M'sia.. yeah, it's not Macap grade.. it grinds right?