Hi Oli
Your coffee is definitely ground too coarse, ask your coffee supplier to grind for espresso, you should be looking for an extraction time of 20-25 seconds for a shot of coffee, when you get the grind of the beans right the crema will come, try and get the freshest coffee that you possibly can, I roast my own beans and I find that the best taste and crema always comes from 3-7 days roasted beans.
Hope this helps
kevron
