Welcome to espresso.liljenberg.net!

The main target of this site is to help you to make better espresso.

If you are serious about your coffee-making, please continue reading about how you can dramatically improve your consistency in brewing good espressos!

Later on, you will learn how to utilize a PID controller for getting the correct brewing temperature. Read here why this is important.

PID controllers are typically quite complex and expensive devices, used in industrial process solutions. There will be a PID controller developed on this site, which might later be a commercial product. Read here if you are interested in that project. The goal of this PID controller is to be:

  • Relatively easy to install in most commercial espresso boiler machines
  • Optimized for espresso machines
  • Easy to configure and tune
  • Non-expensive

Temperature control - why & how?

Why use temperature control?
Coffee tastes differently when brewed at different temperatures. If the brewing water is too cold, the coffee will taste sour. On the other hand, if the temperature is too high, the coffee will taste overly bitter. Obviously, it is quite important to brew at the correct temperature.

So how do we attain the correct temperature?

Thermostats

The PID Project

Here you can follow the development progress of the PID controller. These pages are continously updated as the project progresses.

Mazzer Mini Modification

I own a Mazzer Mini, which is a fabulous grinder in many ways. Read a review of it at coffeegeek.com

BUT (!) it is really annoying that the portafilter fork is mounted so low that a lot of grinds fly outside of the filter basket!

As I will show here, there is a way to fix this design flaw. The idea is to mount the portafilter fork approximately 18 mm higher than the original point to make it come nearer where the grinds come out.

What is PID Control?

Please note: This is a technical article, intended for those of you that are eager to learn. You don't need to understand all of this to be able to utilize the PID controller that will be developed by espresso.liljenberg.net.