Sunbeam Cafe Series Espresso EM7000K (Matte Black) Questions & Answers

Hi,
I also get the same thing occasionally. Sometimes it's because I put too much grounded coffee into the group. Also this helps sometimes, cleaning the area where the group twists into. Using a cloth, I push it up the sides and go around the full circle. This helps create a better seal. However I would like to know if anyone else has had this issue and what they did. It certainly shouldn't be happening.

Mine too... it sounds like the thermostat? The machine is working well, however interested if this noise might lead to something failing down the track?

I have the same thing happening - like a pinging sound - quite annoying really.

Hi, I might be able to help. So I'm guessing from your description that you are getting water flow/extraction but you are not seeing the pressure gauge move at all? If so chances are your extraction finishes very quickly and the extracted product has no body, very thin crema and tastes bitter. Three things contribute to extraction pressure:
Grind coarseness, dosage and tamp pressure. I'll give you a quick spiel about each.

Firstly the grind, basically the finer the grind the higher the pressure at the group head. Fresh beans are typically ground coarser than aged beans and you adjust the granularity every few days as the beans age. Many supermarket beans will not give you sufficient extraction pressure even with the finest setting on your grinder! You can try to compensate in the next two areas.

For the dosage, the basic rule of thumb is to leave around 5mm of space from the top of the filter basket. The amount of coffee this corresponds to depends on the tamp pressure. The key is to get the tamp pressure and the dose consistent so that the only variable is the grind. For the troublesome supermarket beans above, you can increase the dose and increase the tamp pressure to maintain the 5mm space at the top but increase the extraction pressure.

Finally getting tamping right is super important to achieving good extraction pressure. As I've said in many of my other comments the plastic tamper supplied with this machine is simply not up to the job. You will have to get a tamper with some weight behind it. The concensus among baristas is that 30 pounds of tamp pressure is optimal for espresso. If you haven't used a scale to measure your tamp pressure, you might be surprised how tight the coffee needs to get packed in. As above ideally use a calibrated dose and use a consistent 30lbs tamp pressure and make all adjustments with your grinder. Again, overcompensate here for bad beans if that is your problem.