Coffee Setup

Shopping List

1. DeLonghi Dedica EC685.M (~100€)

   1. Steam Wand (29,49€)
   2. Portafilter (46,99€)

2. Comandante C40 Mk4 (Virginia Walnut) (249€)

3. WDT Tool (11,99€)

4. Tamper (29,90€)

5. Milk Frothing Pitcher (9,34€)

6. Knock-Box (22,95€)

7. Loveramics Cup Egg Ice Blue (11,90€ per Cup)

Upgrading DeLonghi Dedica

The Steam Wand and the standard Portafilter of the DeLonghi Dedica a pretty limited in their capabilities. Since the portafilter contains pressurized baskets, this leads to a worse quality in coffee. Additionally in my opinion, the new wooden portafilter has a better astetics and is easier to clean, because parts can be taken apart.

Upgrading the Steam Wand

The steam original steam wand is bad to clean and makes it more difficult to get good results in latte art. As the upgrade of the portafilter is rather trivial, the upgrade of the steam wand requires taking the whole machine apart.

There are several tutorials online on how to exchange this. I’ve taken the first one for the installment:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQqeI2kJZJ4
2. https://youtu.be/_Ae1Uda2br4?t=777

Known Issues

During replacement of the steam wand I wasn’t that careful and overstretched the connecting rubber tube. There are dealers online having replacement parts on this, if this rubber band might fall off due to the pressure.

replacement part

Upgrading the Comandante Grinder

When doing espresso, some types of coffee require fine adjustments in the stages of grinding. The Commandante Red-Clix double the amount of stages in the grinder, what allows better results in brewing.

Test your machine

My personal favourite coffee right now is the supremo vulcano. I recommend XXX clix on the commandante and 30 seconds of brew time on the Dedica.

Tutorials on steaming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaKRBBpA4fw

Last words

In total the whole setup has cost me ~500€ what is definitely not cheap but resulting in a great experience of enjoying good coffee. There are definitly retailers that enable some cost saving, but the grinder is pushing the price with 250€ the total setup price highen than with a budget solution. I’m kinda unhappy with the knock-box, but maybe there are some better alternatives on the market, that I can try out.