Ask the Experts: Is Something Wrong with my Odea’s Sensors?

Saeco’s Odea Go and Giro superautomatic espresso machines are a little bit on the tenderhearted side: They have sensitive sensors that are sometimes difficult to interpret.

We commonly receive calls from customers who are being prompted to empty the waste drawer (dregs box and water tray located with the brew group on the right side of the machine) more often than they deem necessary. There are two sensor lights that can indicate this needs to happen:

This light specifically indicates that the dregs drawer needs to be emptied	This light indicates any number of issues are present and is not specific — you may need to add beans, add water or empty the dregs drawer

The dregs box that catches used pucks doesn’t use a sensor that measures the volume, rather, it’s based on cup count — around every 10 shots it will indicate that the dregs box needs to be emptied. The waste water area under the brew group, however, is pressure sensitive and will indicate it needs to be emptied once a specific weight has been reached.

If you see the warning light and empty only the dregs box and not the waste water drawer as well, it will reset the dregs box shot count but then indicate (likely shortly thereafter) that the drawer needs to be emptied again because the waste water has reached capacity. And vice versa. Another cause for the frequency may be that the dregs box was removed, emptied and placed back into the machine too quickly or when the machine was off, so that the shot count was not reset.

You can easily keep these overactive lights at bay by thoroughly cleaning the dregs drawer — both the box and the waste water area — each time it indicates it needs to be emptied. Also, making sure you do this when the machine is on is very important. Finally, expect that it’s going to happen about every 10 shots or so — and if you’re drinking 4 – 6 shots a day, you won’t be able to let those little pucks hang out in the dregs drawer longer than a couple of days.

If you’ve misplaced your user manual and want to refresh your memory on how your Odea functions, here are PDF versions of the Giro and Go.

Ascaso Dream UP: Boiler Refill & Temperature Surfing

The most frequent repair issue we see on Ascaso Dream machines (both the older version and the new UP) is a burned out boiler. These machines are single boilers without an automatic boiler refill, so folks often burn out the boiler because they don’t pull enough fresh water into the boiler before trying to steam or brew.

Watch Gail as she walks us through refilling the boiler and temperature surfing on the Dream UP.

Why Does my Rancilio Silvia Have 2 Water Intake Tubes?

A few times per week, a new Rancilio Silvia owner calls in with this question — what the heck is that 2nd tube for? The machine diagram in the user manual hasn’t been updated by Rancilio to show this tube or describe what it’s for, so we recorded this for posterity. Gail shows us the tubes and talks about their functions.

Which Brew Temperature is Best for Lavazza Super Crema?

We took one of our most popular coffees, Lavazza Super Crema, and brewed it using different temperatures on the La Spaziale Mini Vivaldi. While the 204F degree espresso extraction temperature is a general rule of thumb, a lot of single origin/estate beans and even some blends are particularly sensitive to heat and will perform better at a different temperature.

Watch as Gail brews several shots at different temperatures, tasting each to determine the ideal brew temp for Super Crema.

Where to Lubricate the Saeco Superautomatic Brew Groups

It’s a good idea to regularly pull out your Saeco superautomatic‘s brew group and spray it down with hot water — we recommend doing this once per week and using water only, no soap. Why? Because the soap is going to break down the lubrication on the brew group and you’ll be re-applying it weekly as opposed to twice a year. Ultimately, you’ll be using more than you need to and we’re just thrifty that way.

Gail shows us where to apply the lubricant on the brew group when it is time for a touch up. A general rule of thumb is that if you can see/feel the lubrication on the group, you’re probably as lubricated as you need to be. When applying, don’t put a large quantity into each area; just apply some to a q-tip and then put a light layer. We often see big globs applied that then mix with coffee grounds to make a rather dangerous cement. In this case, you can have too much of a good thing.

Francis Francis X7 Internals

While working on a Francis Francis in our repair center, we found out it’s awesome little secret: It comes with an internal PID! You can’t adjust it yourself, and some of the newer models like the X7 aren’t designed to be adjusted at all, but it will keep the boiler’s temp within 1 degree of the set temperature — unlike less sophisticated thermostats that have a varying range of about 20 degrees and, thus, require temperature surfing.

Josh and Gail cracked open an X7 to show its guts and glory!

Lavazza Pre-Ground Coffee Cupping

We sell several variations of Lavazza’s pre-ground coffee and we often get asked what the difference is, flavor-wise. So we asked Gail to put it to the cupping test to see how they compare.

Watch as she cups Lavazza In Blu, Qualita Oro, Qualita Rossa, Bar and Crema e Gusto.

Hourglass Aging Taste Test

We’ll never know how Marilyn Monroe’s figure would have held up over time, but that’s not the kind of Hourglass we’re talking about here, baby! We’re talking about the cold coffee brewing system that creates a smooth concentrate that you can use to make hot or cold coffee for up to two weeks afterward.

Or so they say! But can you, really? These are the big questions that only the crew at Seattle Coffee Gear are prepared to take on. We had Gail brew up a batch of the Hourglass coffee; she then tested it the next day for a baseline flavor assessment and then we followed it up 1 week and 2 weeks later to see how the flavor stood up.

Watch Gail as she takes one for science!

Ascaso Dream UP + Brew Head Upgrade

The Ascaso Dream UP is considered a ‘versatile’ espresso machine, meaning that — like its predecessor — the brew head has been designed for use with both ESE pods and ground coffee. However, the stock brew head definitely favors pods and you don’t get as rich of a shot using grounds as you can off of other machines in this class.

When we did our review recently, we noticed that even though the new UP has a three-way solenoid valve, it didn’t seem to perform that well, leaving really soupy grounds behind. So we decided to experiment with the machine by installing the Brew Head Upgrade kit to see if that improved the performance. It did!

Watch Gail show us the different screens, talk about how they perform and demonstrate a shot. We even spliced in footage from the original review (accompanied by super sessy muzak!) for easy side-by-side comparison.

How to Make a Mocha

Mmmmmmmocha. When coffee and cocoa beans hook up and get real with each other, they create one of the most enduring and appreciated flavor combos around. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t dig the espresso-infused chocolatey goodness of a well-crafted mocha — and while it may be a little on the sweeter side than some of us can handle in the morning (Read: Gail), it’s a nice mid-afternoon pick-me-up or a great option for an after dinner dessert.

There are many different ways in which you could whip up this drink, and we asked Gail to demonstrate two variations. First, she pulled the shots into the chocolate, mixed them together and then added steamed milk on top. Second, she made chocolate milk, steamed that up and then combined it with a separately pulled espresso shot. Watch her make choco-magic on the Rocket Giotto Evoluzione!