Coffee Appreciation

Incredible coffee and space pretty much designed for business meetings.

Quick shot before todays ride

Dream garage.

You thinking of restoring and pimping up any more Steve? How much do you reckon they'd be if ya did?

I've got another 2 group pump machine, the orange one pictured previously, that's nearly ready to reassemble, then i've got 3 x 3 group levers, one in the same body style as the yellow one but chrome, 2 more modern style, one of those is LPG for mobile use.

There's about 30 hours work in them, plus £200 worth of powder coating, the cost of parts and the importing headaches - the last machine was 41 emails! So i'm looking for £1500 - £2000 depending on which one.

The curse of talking about getting a pretty La Pavoni...

The solenoid valve on my Gaggia Baby Dose has packed in at the weekend.

I had already removed it and 'unblocked' it 3 times this year but this time, no luck so I ordered an upgraded one from Espresso Services.

£37.50 later this beefy piece of kit rolled in:

Back in working order now. @Colm89 would be proud of my repair skills - this time I didn't buy a new machine!

Does anyone know where you can buy spare aeropress filters East sort of way?

Not East, but you can get them in Notes if you venture central. I bet somewhere like Nude would have them

Great, thanks

If you still need them Craft Coffee usually have them. (Just around the corner from Shoteditch High St station)

I think I over-appreciated coffee yesterday.

I typically have about four cups max a day, which is probably to much as it is, but I somehow had six yesterday... 4 x espresso based drinks, 1 x aeropress, 1 x shithouse instant.

I had a horrible caffeine crash after the last one that actually made my stomach feel pretty sick, and noticeably struggled to get to sleep last night - couldn't switch off despite being mentally and physically knackered.

What do you guys reckon your daily limit is before things go a bit wrong?

What do you guys reckon your daily limit is before things go a bit wrong?

3 brews or owt after 3pm.

#3isthemagicnumber

Max 5 before and nothing after 3pm here.

No caffeine after 1900.
Generally 2-3 cups a day; 1 cafe espresso, 1 crap work coffee, 1 stove top.
Up to 5 or so on the weekend, my weekends are 3 days long.

Latest is about 2pm for me i reckon - coffee soon after lunch then just grind through for the afternoon.

Four is my weekday norm, but like w_p, i definitely get through more at the weekend; I mainly think that's coz I drink more when i'm doing longer rides though. A couple before and at least a couple after. And maybe one in the middle.

Would be good to get down to three cups a day in the week but i just don't think it's gonna happen.

I think I read somewhere that the body processes caffeine quite quickly and pees it out, so the whole "no coffee after lunch, otherwise I can't sleep" thing is a red herring/psychological.

I try not to drink more than 3 a day. If I am in a stressful situation at work, or on a deadline, I cut that down to 2 tops... coffee tends to exaggerate stress for me.

In other news -I've been really impressed with the Hasbean Kicker espresso blend I've had on the go this week. Really excellent results with minimal adjustment to my setup - very clear citrus notes and a lovely smooth finish.

Someone put a link to Stubbs coffee a while back as they were doing 20% and free postage.

I ordered a couple of bags and found their breakfast blend to be ideal for me to make cappuccinos/lattes.

Anyway - the owner emailed me for feedback and gave me a 50% discount code for one of my friends so it might be worth trying them if you havent:

https://stubbs.coffee/shop/

*Good day!
As you may know, Vincent has just referred you for your first bag of Stubbs Coffee. We look forward to kicking you off with your first bag at 50% off and hope it'll be the start of many more to come.
Simply apply your code Referstubbs99 upon checkout (valid for three months) and get half-price on your order.
Once you order your coffee, we'll then roast it specifically for you and send it via next-day delivery - that way you'll get the freshest coffee possible. Our aim is to get your coffee to you within four days of ordering.
We hope you enjoy shopping on our website. We're still making improvements as we go along since its launch not too long ago, especially on the mobile version.
That's it from us for now. Please get in touch if you have any further questions or would like any recommendations on our coffees, depending on your palate. We're always happy to help.
We look forward to receiving your order very soon!*

WTF is this? Anyone seen one?

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Ignore that. it's a juicer. Forrun eBaying.

Yeah, the Italian.companies made everything!! I was at the espresso machine museum earlier this year and they had an entire Faema bar setup. Fridges. Grinders, toasters the whole shebang.

Looks cool, I wonder if it's a modified grinder? The body looks like it and the mechanism would be the same.

@StevePeel

I currently have a rancilio rocky/silvia combo. Both are over ten years old. What would you suggest for home use as a replacement/upgrade?

I'd quite like a double boiler, but not something that is too huge.

If you're going for a double boiler I always think a rotary pump is nice to have too, nice and quiet. The Rocket R58 ticks all the boxes, it's compact too. The taps feel a bit plasticky though. Profitec 700 feels better quality, does all the same stuff.

Orchestrale Nota is my favourite of all the machines BB do. Heat exchanger, rotary pump, massive boiler, very sturdy. The boiler size is the crucial thing, it's super temp stable.

Domestic dual boilers cram so much stuff into a very small space, it's a highly compromised design. The 2 boilers are tiny, it's like cooking with a flimsy lightweight saucepan vs a big iron pot. They're very complicated and they go wrong a lot. I don't believe that a dual boiler really gives you any more temperature predictability than a HX machine with an experienced operator.