The Smart Espresso Profiler Review

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Review of the Cremina coming soon!
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[@mikloscsanady3955]

Thank you for the review, James! It is really motivating to get this kind of feedback. There are some features of the app I'd like to mention, to make it even more interesting: First of all, it also works without a pressure sensor, using a scale only (and it's free). This way you obviously only get a flow graph, which is interesting by itself. Also, it makes the app suitable for pour over. There are more supported scales: beyond the Acaia Lunar, Pearl, Cinco and Pyxis, the Skale II scale is also on the list, more will follow. :) Features: - autostart on pressure: logging starts automatically, when a certain pressure is reached - auto stop on lifting the cup - virtual autotara: no need to tara the scale. When starting a shot, the app will start logging from 0g, no matter what the scale shows - switch between weight increase and flow graph - E61 groupheads are compatible Well, I guess these are the most important ones. Enjoy! :) Cheers, Miklós

[@mikloscsanady3955]

@@mysteriousfox88 yes.

[@duriorYT]

Hey Miklos! Great work you're doing there - keep it up! Quick question: Are you planning to include the Felicita scales into the app?

[@fanthomans2]

Sok sikert, srácok! ;)

[@figilande8]

Hey Miklós, how did you integrate the acaia scales in your app? I thought their protocols are not open. Did you reverse engineer the code? Because there are microcontoller based espresso machine modifications to bring pressure profiling and so on but usually only work with the skale2 because its open code.

[@dan110024]

ohboy....is this the first coffee app that doesn't suck? Past James reviewing brew apps would be shocked!!

[@agreen182]

I've never pulled an espresso shot in my life, and probably never will, but I still love watching James talk about espresso machines. AMA.

[@umt6429]

Omg I dont even drink coffee outside of the occasional iced latte yet here I am

[@brandonb9452]

agreen182 do you drink regular coffee? What is regular coffee though? How do you like your roast and cup?

[@josephbayliss1703]

I got a beaut second hand one from Gumtree for £20. Just a descale and I ended up with a £250 espresso machine.

[@Crazt]

I rarely ever have espresso, but these videos has me looking for a maker that isn't a car payment.

[@kaneforeman3279]

Crazy you can pick up a delongi ec155 for 60-100 and with a few modifications pull really good espresso. It’s not perfect but it’s damn well better then nothing

[@askroller]

Client: "as usual!" Barista: "Can you share your profile?"

[@ceze70]

Yes, thanks for the great feedback, James! One more note maybe. I like the indicators (time/weight, brew ratio/flow rate) rather in the header than as floating labels. You can switch to that mode in the menu which will pop up after a long tap in the middle of the screen.

[@stinkdyr301]

Cool device Gabor! Well done, and I look forward to owning it and using it on my Pavoni.

[@JohannesFH]

Oh yes, my next episode of "Pretentious looking man furrows his brow and talks at me about brown drinks" - love it

[@jesseallinson4760]

James saying "telephone" is the most wholesome thing I've heard all week

[@blinxs99]

they should allow profiles to be uploaded and shared! users could recreate recommended cups of coffee from people in the industry, such as James. or, if anything, it would give you a great starting point that you could dial in to suit your preferences

[@brookenpollard]

I can’t wait to finally be a part of the patreon group and on the day before my birthday as well. I am excited for the next review as I’ve been looking into different lever options.

[@Checkedbox]

Just wanted to say that the sound in this video was really great. Not sure if this was a change on purpose, or if I'm just noticing it now, but this was a really nice video to listen to, nevermind watch.

[@sarahhenderson3885]

My husband is a massive fan and gets very excited for your videos. He started showing them to our twins and turns out they think you are fantastic. And will tell me, 'coffee man on'. Watching your videos I too have become a fan. I don't know much about coffee but I love a cup of it. My husband is very into it and brought a flair after watching your video and I can appreciate the science that goes into it. Loved your IKEA and so did the kids. Look forward to exploring your videos ☺️

[@warco27]

I think it would be interesting to see some taste tests done with this, to see how much taste changes with different pressure curves, how much we can predict based on the pressure curves and also to try and pull several shots with the same profile to see if they're as consistent as they should be.

[@wsdejong]

I always learn something from your videos. I can't always put it into practice, but I always gain knowledge from your videos. Thanks, James!

[@QuickQuips]

Ah. I knew the Decent Espresso bringing analytics to shots would encourage other devices but I wasn't expecting an aftermarket dongle. Pretty clever and a good way for people wanting to improve their manual espresso technique.

[@klajkor]

Thank you James for this nice review, and congratulations Gábor Laczkó for designing and making this excellent product. Well done, and keep going!

[@varkonyizoltan4355]

Thanks for the review. I have the chance to try it out with Flair espresso on the Budapest Cafebar Bazaar 2020. I was given a definite profile (Leva profile) as benchmark which had to be reproduced. I have to admit it was not an easy-peasy exercise at all even for the second try, and proved it requires some persistent playing period if you want to just repeat a memorable shot. It was very enjoyable and offered a navigation tool for your lever machine brewing process, which could be an extremely useful learning tool for beginners at least until the "art of craft" embodied in their nerve system. I am happy to see it to be highly recognised by James here, and congratulation to Gábor and Miklós to this smart endevour!

[@marcelomiky3422]

Thanx for the review, James! A suggestion for future users, a public dataset for data scientists/coffee lovers find some patterns for good extractions. I'm looking for some datasets to apply machine learning on it.

[@juliriss]

I love that you also address topics which are not so familiar to us home-baristas! I've learned a lot by watching your videos! Greetings from Austria!

[@pedxing]

This is just the PERFECT kit for a game-changing coffee lab setup. Truly enviable gear. Thanks James! I've been wanting to see this working in the real world for awhile.

[@MrTsukurou]

And here I am trying to get ahold of a pressure gauge that transmits to a phone that has csv export capabilities... It is on order, but then you release this! Glad that someone else had this same idea. Thanks for the video @James Hoffmann!

[@doms6741]

Needs to have an online forum. So people can replicate each others "god shots".

[@EdGodoyPlana]

This is a great idea! I have tried to find out if there is a way to obtain other profiles to load on the SE Profiler app. I understand you can share your shot information but it would be great to be able to look up other profile from diferente espresso machine. For example can you upload a Decent default profile to try to replicate it with a Flair 58 for example!

[@Paul.Reuter]

Topic suggestion: dynamometric tampers. The heavy ones with a stand and a lever (Macap/Elektra) and the simple ones.

[@leporello7]

Great idea! Just a little advice for using the Cremina: Before locking the filled portafilter, lift the lever up to just below the point, where water starts to flow. If you lift the lever with the portafilter firmly in place you pull the ground coffee upwards and risk ruining the integrity of the puck.

[@ceze70]

Alternatively, you can dose just as much coffee that it touches the dispersion screen

[@lappenfpv7102]

This machine looks just beautiful.

[@luispires7069]

That Melitta 70’s coffee set is looking mighty groovy in the background...

[@Gildaaaaaaas]

Don't mention it or we might go and pressure him into trying that old coffee some more x)

[@joskaffeekutsche6634]

It's a phantom menace

[@CatnamedMittens]

Almost as good as that 70s coffee he drank

[@RicardoMQA]

Dear James, Gabor is a nice guy with great products really! I bought one of his cool pencil tampers a few years ago! Thanks for the review, great, really great!

[@BubbaLichvar]

I love seeing when old (but tried and true) methods of doing things meets new technology and new ways to verify it. This is what this looks like to me.

[@albertjiang7507]

It looks to me that the plots have used some sort of smoothing function(judging from the last part of the curves, an exponential one similar to capacitor discharging). The great thing about these functions is that they produce nice curves but they do alter the results displayed. When you want to exactly recreate a profile, maybe a raw input could be more preferable. The software has a lot of interesting tricks and features which are fascinating. I think it might be possible to further improve the profile tracking functionality by blending in some control theory.

[@TheDJRiffin]

I think its just the release of pressure and the weight increase plateaus. Because we can see the "raw"ish looking data as he pulls the shot.

[@BRLeoC]

Gabor is a great guy and passionate about what he does, and he roasts great coffee too! The very first thing I did to my Cremina was to buy Gabor's naked portafilter. It is so much better than the chunky stock one - James you should definitely get hold of one for your review! Coincidentally just yesterday I watched the video on the smart scales because of my interest in the Profiler. I think it is a great tool for improving the quality of the shots on direct levers, but on the other hand direct levers are there for making coffee a little more art and a little less science.

[@alaskavaper966]

Extremely interesting. Your skills as an informed, hands-on, presenter, producer and frequently collaborator are unmatched, James. Loving the lever!

[@Karius7]

Just going to say, after James' review of the Sage Precision it immediately went on my Christmas wishlist. And, well... I've now found out that it sits perfectly on my window sill, approx 60 cm from my bed. I have never had a better alarm clock

[@woulung]

Ok, first I didn't quite catch the name Gábor Kalmár, but then James said Miklos's name, I realized this is a hungarian stuff. I'm proud. :)

[@weirdowho1627]

Their names are Gábor Laczkó and Miklós Csanády. The "Kalmár" you've heard is the company's name, which is Kávékalmár Kft. ;)

[@bobf6799]

Hello James. Yes please do the Cremina review. I’ve had one for years which dates back to the 1980s. Your videos on technique are very helpful and getting your expertise on this machine would be appreciated.

[@JonFairhurst]

QUESTION: Did the second shot match the first in taste/density/texture? It would be good to confirm the repeatability.

[@averly9295]

Since he went early but then decided to try and follow the curve as closely as possible for demonstration purposes, I'd say that actually was a pretty bad replication of the first shot. But it would be an interesting question in general if not for this shot particularly. But I think the real question here is, if it is a significant improvement of repeatability across multiple days and it's not an easy question to answer with repeatable tests. I tried coming up with a few ways, but they all fall flat in some way or another.

[@justvibewithme8520]

Thank you for sharing your work. I loved these tiny devices. It will make so many things simpler.

[@djsnowman06]

I worked as a Barista at a little coffee shop locally (for like, two months). Love the videos, you've probably forgot more info about coffee than I'll ever learn.

[@PayamRPooya]

hello james, it would be great if you did a follow up on this , on a flair (pro) , for 2 reason , one that flair works a little bit different in case of water contact with coffee , and to see what modifications are necessary to setup this on a flair , thank you for your great work and for keeping us updated on new coffee gears

[@brekkoh]

For the record james, I enabled yt push notifications just for your vids, I hope your happy.

[@Just_brew_coffee]

Like the idea of profiling and potentially used it on other machines! it opens up the black box of pressure profiling.

[@mikloscsanady3955]

Yes, and as we are independent from coffee machine manufacturers, the possibilities are endless! :)

[@Just_brew_coffee]

Miklos Csanady Indeed! But I could imagine it’s challenging to completely translate the pressure profile because there are others parameters that affect brew pressure as well, eg, coffee particle size, water temperature, number of holes of the basket etc... Keep working on it💪🏻

[@_Superman_]

As always, absolutely love your videos and the magical way in which you present. Really gutted I couldn’t get to see you here in Auckland last month and hoping you return for another visit! It would be awesome to have a manual machine like this... 🤞🏻/ Keep up the amazing videos and sharing your passion for coffee with us fellow coffee addicts.

[@tga240]

This is exactly what I've been wanting for my La Pavoni!

[@Tinners1983]

tga240 agreed it’s £200-300 to convert my Europiccola pro to have an analog pressure gauge may as well go the whole hog...

[@mdk777s6]

Brilliant! This is the future of all high end coffee machines and technology high end baristas will be using! Tech & Coffee! This makes what we are doing now with regulated torque tampers seem so stone age! This is like going from black and white tv w/ rabbit ears, straight to 4K ultra definition! Great job!

[@rudevectors8018]

Thought. Using the same parameters. Coffee, grind size, puck preparation etc. All you need is the app + Bluetooth scale. The pressure is a nice addition, but technically the only real-time metric you need to reproduce the same shot, is the flow rate?

[@ZachCub]

That is all the things of my dreams. Science, tech, coffee and a gorgeous espresso machine.

[@Analyse_US]

As a data analyst and owner of a Robot, love this.

[@tomwalker5407]

Great review James! What a beautiful piece of design.

[@billlewis141]

I'd like to see you put this on a La Pavoni and regulate the pressure to see if it effects the results.

[@andygiametta517]

It would be interesting to add temperature to the measurement. I would imagine that you could tune the app to give guidance around extraction pressure, boiler pressure, or brew time adjustment based on you tagging the results with your opinion (bitter, sour,...) but it would need temperature for this.

[@youremostwelcome]

I've been toying with the idea of adding one of these to my La Pavoni for quite a while. Given how rare it is to see such a resoundingly positive review from James... might push me over the edge.

[@miniwarrior7]

Lol the pressure sensor is like $25, the bluetooth module like $10, the adc converter like $5 the software could be done in 2 weeks or less of someone competent.

[@youremostwelcome]

@@miniwarrior7 By all means, I'm all ears.

[@darylmoniaga712]

Wow, really got me nerding out with all the possibilities this thing opens up! Props to Miklós and everyone involved in making this and thanks for the review James. Now just need to get to a point where I can reasonably afford everything ahaha

[@richardcollinsuk6694]

That’s one beautiful machine, can’t wait for the review. I can imagine lots of relaxing Sunday afternoon fun pulling amazing espressos with this setup. My addiction to good coffee has now been surpassed by my addiction of your great channel. :)

[@Frustratedfool]

The looks like an evolutionary goal on my coffee brewing journey. Thanks for adding in some very interesting geekiness to my new love of the craft.

[@ericpmoss]

I love the Cremina and the Strietman Gabor has. The Strietman is lovely to use if you don't need steamed milk.

[@jameshoffmann]

Yeah, I think the Strietman is beautiful and pretty cool

[@ericpmoss]

@@jameshoffmann I love my CT-1. The CT-2 is even better and more efficient.

[@napfeny]

At the beginning when James tried to pronounce the guy's name I was suspicious that it was a Hungarian name. Turns out it is. :)

[@jameshoffmann]

"tried"... 😔

[@kellypg]

@@jameshoffmann you did your best.🤣

[@SwissCheese707]

James: I’m going to need to make some coffee Me: 😮

[@Beznet]

This is next level coffee nerd material and I love every second of it

[@edbourgeois8601]

Very very 😎, the early Oly. Cremina concept was all about understanding profiling.

[@alchemistTi]

What about putting it on a high end double boiler machine and using that as the benchmark, then trying to replicate that on the lever?

[@mikloscsanady3955]

It is possible.

[@knickly]

You know what'd be a cool gadget for pump machine users is an electronic (variable) relief valve with a transducer. Thus, you could not only "read" your profile, you could "write" it, even on machines that don't by default support profiling. (Equivalent to valve J4 on the Decent DE1, I think)

[@joesia2577]

Hi James, I like your vlogs about coffee. Learning a lot about the art of making coffee. Hope you keep it up.

[@ambivalent100]

When an App for a super niche device looks and works fantastic.... yes I'm looking at you, group of weird to use bluetooth scales that James tested.

[@SheeplessNW6]

The price of those Acaia scales though! I like the idea, but damn

[@outofthenorm5087]

4th. I can't believe I'm finally early on a James Hoffman video. I love your videos... You were the inspiration for my channel. You rock!!

[@KnobleKnives]

Oh my god, that's a beautiful machine, and a rad little device

[@maxrpm2215]

I don't use leaver types machines but thats impressive. Next model could be the pressure sensor automatically adjusting the pressure and all you need to do is pull the lever to the max pressure set on the shot. Not impossible to do.

[@أسهلمعآيه]

That machine looks great and sophisticated

[@dyershov]

110V is not a problem. First, if the machine doesn't have a pump that is phase-locked to the line input, then one can get away with a simple transformer for just resistive heating elements. Second, if 50 Hz sine wave is necessary to operate the machine, then one can build a simple converter using off the shelf inverter and a couple of power supplies to satisfy amperage.

[@burnstyles]

This tool looks awesome...would love to play around with this on a lever.

[@kylefancher5988]

I’d love to see what you think of how this works with the Flair!

[@BrianBirdy]

Things just keep getting better and better over here

[@LucasBruckschlegel]

This is so incredibly nerdy, I love it 😍

[@samroesch]

This would be pretty nice on a MP GS3. Cool product, and nice execution!

[@MatthewFalkMD]

Was 'just' thinking the same thing! Might actually give it a try....

[@toulcaz31]

What prevents the gauge to provide the temperature of the head it's connected too? That would be a nice info to have. Stable temp in the head is really what separates some levers from others. La Pavoni for instance prevents you from brewing too many espressos in a row. I don't have such nice lever so I am curious how repeatable that Cremina is beyond two or three shots.

[@nuttynut242]

this will be so awesome if implemented on commercial applications. eg. chain of cafes.

[@rlwalker2]

Time to show that this approach can be used to tweak an incredible cup of coffee.

[@outoftheb0x]

I used to work in a European telecom company and back in 2004 during a beer induced philosophy session with colleagues, I'd prophesied that the surest way to get menfolk excited, was to add Bluetooth to any object men use, 16 years later, I see that still holds true.

[@Physicshelper]

With enough data shared in terms of the profile, one can use the mechine learning to create a optimum profile. That will be exciting.

[@miniwarrior7]

Unfortunately it needs humans to taste it and our taste buds might be our worst sense in terms of uniformity...

[@Physicshelper]

@topher Yes, you are definitely correct. With enough data, one could find the "most tasty" profile for a certain preference. Much like coffee matching program.

[@1EFeKT1]

This is why the Nespresso machines became so popular. Sure, they don't produce the best coffee ever, but they are VERY consistent at the ones that they actually produce. In case you're using the same capsules every time, you're pretty much expected to have the exact same coffee each time, which is a serious plus as there are no surprises - and most of the time one appreciates the lack of surprises in his much desired cup of espresso :)

[@stuipooey1]

You have a point however once you experience just how good espresso can be Nespresso just doesnt compete. Been there and done that before realising how bad and expensive Nespresso is 😥. Now I have a hobby bordering on obsession complete with filtered water, flow profiling, the works. 😂

[@EngliscMidEadwine]

If you use a pump espresso machine instead of a manual one it can be just as consistent.

[@jjseandxcefree]

i once surfed a wave in north kauai about 10 years ago. this video reminded me of it. James, do you use gel or spray to keep your hair "wavy"?

[@muthi_hib]

02:10 - to be honest, watching you make coffee is the entertainment I've been waiting for the most

[@SabreeBlackmon]

I have a vintage Olympia Cremina that I installed one of his analog gauges on. I was planning to upgrade to the digital later (since the piston swap is already performed) but I'm keeping the analog. The line of sight between you, as you are pulling, and the analog gauge is pretty spot-on, at least on the Cremina. I can perform my slow ramp-up and ramp-down based on the position of the lever or time on my scale. With the digital, you have to look down at a phone, presumably on the table, while pulling. The ergonomics are not as good and I can imagine it might reduce your pulling accuracy or place strain on your shoulder. But! He makes rock-solid stuff, and I thinking about upgrading a La Marzocco GS3 MP with a digital one in the future.

[@panp1222]

this is really cool thanks for all of this coffee videos

[@LifestyleLab_]

This is so freaking cool!!!

[@willthedingo]

Oh my gawd that machine is gorgeous. That shade of red is such an aesthetic. I do wonder about the possibility of something like this attached to a Gaggia boiler. Perhaps a custom lathe cut threaded adaptor to replace the steam output tap on top of the boiler. I may have to put some thought into this. I don't know how much heat they can comfortably take however so that may be a problem. EDIT: OH hey, never mind, looks like you can just add a pressure gauge between the pump and the input of the boiler to bypass all heat. People have done it to the Gaggia Classic. Interesting, I might have another upgrade for my '91 Gaggia Baby in the future!

[@willthedingo]

Although now that I have a 2000+ generation gold stripe sticker Gaggia Baby, that all hardware for the machine attaches to a single galvanised steel base, I may just have to dip my toes into custom building a machine out of it.

[@retusrieben6487]

To See such Tech makes my heart beat faster. It's simply brilliant and such a great little device. You paired it even with one of my most favourite espresso machine the Olympia I simply felt in love with that machine when I saw it the first time. 😍

[@devingnawan]

How about four another type of coffee machine, ex. La marzocco linea?

[@mikloscsanady3955]

It is possible, one of our customers did that. You just have to cut the pipe after the pump and install aT-connector, with the proper thread for the pressure sensor.

[@MonikaLynne11195]

This machine and set up is so beautiful to me. What an amazing invention. That Olympia looks like the Ferrari of espresso machines

[@ScoffMathews]

That's pretty cool, I wonder if this IoT+coffee data will become a thing in the next few years.

[@pauli9870]

Thanks James.You made me appreciate specialty coffee alot.

[@PimFlik]

If i'm not mistaken, not only do you need to buy the pressure profiler ($400) but you also need a pressure profiling kit for the machine ($300) that's $700 total.... That is quite a chunk of cash though. This is nice, but i think the price needs to come down a lot for this to reach critical mass. Even if you only take that device it's still twice the price of a flair! i.e. you pay more for this device than for the entire espresso machine. I'm looking forward to this though. Hopefully they can do something with the Rok

[@GTGTRIK]

What would be really cool is an open standard for bluetooth connected scales/pressure sensors for espresso machines.

[@rfarnham1079]

James you gotta review the Bripe, its a pipe you brew and drink coffee out of. Its crazy but trust me

[@zakariyyagardee8934]

Please James. We need this.

[@voidremoved]

can you smoke hash at the same time??

[@voidremoved]

@@dumb445 It looks like a portable dab rig

[@rfarnham1079]

voidremoved that’s a negatory ghost rider

[@jameshoffmann]

I feel like this product was made to make us as an industry - are you really into it? Should I take it seriously?

[@samuelmarcondes8187]

Someone in the world who can use 230 volt power... it’s me... at the moment, I am playing with a aram, in Brazil... great video. Congrats.

[@redmenace3921]

Wow, this level of monitoring and repeatability is so appealing! I really hope we'll eventually see this sort of technology, along with what Decent brings to the table, trickle down into something more affordable for us mere mortals.

[@horrorhotel1999]

When NASA was designing training equipment for the ISS to prevent muscle loss in astronauts caused by microgravity, they ran into the same problem that spring-based espresso machines have: Sprigs do not produce a linear force output, which is bad if you want to simulate weights. The solution they came up with was using vacuum pistons. Pulling against the atmosphere you are in with a given surface produces a constant force over the entire travel. I am wondering if anyone has incorporated this principle in an espresso machine, but would think that they haven't, since it would require a ridiculously big piston and would pull different shots depending on elevation and weather. An interesting thought nonetheless

[@abshih]

Always enjoy your intro tunes.

[@WalthariusManuFortis]

Awesome stuff, best combination of technique and coffee

[@litbmeinnick]

At first I thought you could screw it onto the top of an E61 group and while it would monitor flow rate, it could automatically increase or decrease pressure. Wouldn't that be cool as well?

[@eugene1241]

Talking about pressure profile, have you heard of the Nomad Espresso Maker, James? Love your channel. It led me to many things coffee! Loving your narrative.

[@stonebear]

now, this is the kind of nerdery that gets the dopamine going.... :) stick this on a Flair and you've got a serious hi-zoot coffee setup that you _don't have to plug in_ to use. (and for rather less than a powered setup!) (Oh, and PORTABLE! Flair, Timemore slim, scale, something to put beans in, and a way to have or generate hot water, and of course one's pocket supercomputer, and you can be making espresso in the middle of the desert or something... that's just FUN...)

[@DeDraconis]

I'm very interested and looking forward to you showing us that espresso machine.

[@ErkalTaskin]

Now we just need an espresso machine with this built in so you can save different profiles and it will repeat them automatically