Coffee Appreciation

Hey Bombcup, I used to log on here as Tina Kino,
you must have clicked "reply" beneath Zed's post; you can just entering text in the field below the last post.

Friend of mine just bought a Quest M3 (I somehow guess you will be familiar with this).
Roasting non-digital as of now (no added thermometers / wizardry), he produced some very nice roasts already.
Quite a lot of them seem to have a hint of a "tar" like smell to them though - even if the beans really do not look that dark (this happened with beans of different origins).

Can I ask you if you have any thoughts on this?

I bought the espresso machine and grinders for our office from Bella Barista, they were very helpful on the phone and it all arrived in a couple of days.

Happy to hear that Sumo, they know their products well, I need to get to grips with the specs of all the espresso kit. We've got a 2 group Rocket R8 on the way for the roastery, it's a special order job with 3-phase power as we are running out of current in there!

Tina, I haven't used a Quest machine before, but tarry or smoky smells sounds like there could be a shortage of airflow carrying the smoke and chaff out of the roaster, do they keep the chaff collector clear? Or there's a build up of creosote inside the machine which is contaminating the coffee. That's assuming they're not roasting robusta or aged arabica like old brown java or monsoon malabar which have those flavour traits inherently.

Thanks for your feedback! Will check for build up.

Pot Kettle Black is a new place here in Manchester. Awesome sandwich and long black (using Deerhunter from Hasbean) plus big enough to let littl'un wander about without upsetting other customers.

Hope it grows in popularity amongst the deansgate crowd as the location probably means less footfall than other indies here, and it is away from the busy NQ coffee scene.

What do people use to store freshly roasted beans in (besides pouches) ?

What I'm looking for is basically something like a pouch with a one-way-valve that allows the CO2 out, but does not let stuff in, all this in some sort of re-usable stainless steel container, preferably.

Edit: I found these.
They are not beautiful though.

http://coffeehit.co.uk/friis-coffee-canister

Now I will always picture you being followed around by your coffee kangaroo.

I use a metal tin with Tweetie Pie on it

For your own cover version of Waxie's Dargle?

You can use a cheap automotive refractometer to look at the coffee.

Any one tried the handpresso or portaspresso great excuse to use a pump or minipresso

I've given up on my bean-to-cup machine. It made near perfect espresso every time, but there was some ritual missing.

Switched back to a stove top espresso, and enjoying the loveliness of that.

It occurs to me that I have enough coffee makers to try a different technique every weekday:

• Monday - Bean-to-Cup espresso
  
• Tuesday - Stove top espresso
  
• Wednesday - Cafetierre
  
• Thursday - Vacuum filtered
  
• Friday - Filtered
  
  

That probably maps well against my daily requirement of how big a kick I need in the morning.

If I need well made espresso there are a number of places in my town that are guaranteed pleasers. I've never felt that I'm missing out by sticking to stove top for home; like you I not only enjoy the result, I also like the process of preparation.

I'm selling a dual boiler one group La Spaziale Vivaldi on coffee forums, there's been some interest but only for posting (which I'd rather not do). If someone was local I could be a bit flexible on the price http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?19159-La-Spaziale-Vivaldi-Mk2-%A3500

that's a crackin machine [not the prettiest] but gets consistently great reviews from users and at that price…

Clicked on that forum - my fucking eyes -!

Coffeeforums constantly prompts me to install TapTalk, v.annoying.

Just on my way home from the Barista Guild of Europe's first barista camp, and it was fucking awesome! I volunteered, and it was crazy hard work, but super fun and met so many awesome people. Lots of cool kit. If I never see another cupping bowl, it will be too soon....

I had to give up on coffeeforums.co.uk. Too many (utter) cunts, despite some alright people.

any suggestions for someone selling an Ethiopian Konga natural Yirgacheffe?

I like the JBs one but is there a UK roaster doing something similar, I found the hasbean one a little thin.

I am looking to buy 500g - 1kg.

I have got bored of ordering 250g bags of different coffees, as fast as I get one dialled in the bag has finished.

Is it a seasonal coffee that I have to wait for?

This used to be no go to brewhttps://www.coffee.uk.com/index.php?main_page=product_coffee_info&cPath=1_21&products_id=107&zenid=2e8db47764e7e78e2a75ca4375e8f180

My local had some of that a while back (via James Gourmet coffee although it's not on their site anymore). I can see if they have any bags left if you want?

Union have the washed Konga Yirgacheffe http://www.unionroasted.com/coffees/estates/konga.html

yes please, where are they?