Coffee Appreciation

Not gonna lie, I'm still going to order but my colleague who I've convinced to order is now teetering.

Interesting! Thank you!

Very helpful thank you.

I've been getting the very bitter, dry, harsh brews, which I recognised as over extraction but for some reason I thought the way to fix that was by reducing the amount of coffee so that the water would pass through quicker and extract less. Which is completely wrong. So no wonder I've made about 10 cups of potent brown water the past week.

Nice one :)

I only drink milky coffee out of the house when I get a decent flat white but I have to say I am really enjoying oat milk in coffee. Never got on with almond or soy milk but I actually prefer oat milk to normal stuff! Just wish it didn't come with an extra charge.

Let me take a look tomorrow. It might have hit an expiry date.

YBCR delivery has arrived!

2kg of @StevePeel 's finest Caramel Cherry Espresso Blend.

Coffee and Champagne all day today

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So the main struggle yesterday was steaming milk with the Rancilo.

Followed instructions on how to do so online, but seemed to be 'screaming' louder than expected and the orange light would come on relatively quickly. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

On my gaggia once I start steaming I never pay attention to the light, I just leave it 2 minutes between flicking the steam switch on and using it after pulling a shot.

in terms of steaming itself. I use a thermometer as I prefer accuracy to feeling by hand, I hold the tip of the steam wand right to the top of the milk level, usually you get the scream for a second or two but you want it just submerged that you end up with a sound like you are continually tearing a piece of construction paper in two, watching out that you're not making a ton of large bubbles which sit on the top of the milk (you want it to be spinning and the whole lot moving around). this phase is to stretch the milk and i must say it's not always 100% consistent but typically the milk volume increases by about 80-100% and as it rises you should be lowering the jug to keep the steam wand submerged just under the top of the milk.

keeping an eye on the thermometer when it hits 100 I then drop the wand down about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way into the milk and angle the jug so the steam reflects off the side and down towards right side of center at the bottom to get the milk spinning as fast as possible, you need to move it around a fair bit to find the best angle, if you see any foam sitting on the top you can lift the wand up a little and try to get the spinning milk to try and incorporate it back in with its movement.

as the thermometer approaches 140 I have my hand on the steam control and turn it off as it hits the 140 mark (the temp will continue to rise after a bit).

also whole milk will be much easier than semi skimmed. oatly barista also steams well surprisingly.

oatly barista also steams well surprisingly

I have now switched 100% to this, also Rancilo

another small (and pretty obvious) tip if you want your coffee to look good, pour in a quarter of the milk and then swirl the cup until it picks up the colour of the coffee and there's no white, then you can finish pouring and have a nice caramel colour backdrop for your epic latte art onion/heart/ splodge

Thanks @HatBeard the screaming noise was concerning me. Think I just need to play around a bit with this setup. On the plus side, got everything dialled in pretty quickly. Slight issue of channeling but fixed that by grinding a little finer and keeping an eye on holding portafilter level when tamping.

if you are a #buyer the ONA OCD coffee distributer thing costs about the same as a half-decent grinder for what is essentially a lump of metal but it has taken all guesswork out of my tamping, rock solid consistency since I got it.

I endorse this too.

I'll wait for the cheap Chinese copy. No I wont I'll just keep bashing the sink with the portafilter.

Tiny bump here for my Ascaso electric grinder, plus big ole' price drop

Morning coffee nerds. I'm selling my Ascaso iSteel electric grinder. I gave away my broken Silvia a while ago and kept the grinder thinking I would use it for my drip filters but I can't justify the kitchen counter real estate for two pour-overs a week...

I'd rather it found a new home with someone here than eBay, hoping for £50 (down from £80) ONO. DM me if you're interested! Sold.

http://www.ascaso.com/div-espresso-coffe­e-machines-grinders/i-steel-1.html

Potential dibs

Is there a decent, cheap (sub £100?) Espresso machine?
Not 100% sure I would use it enough, so hoping to get something cheap but capable to see before dropping more coin on something more long term

Second hand Gaggia Classic. You might also find some old cafe kit for cheaps that can be fixed up, if you're so inclined.

Potentital 2nd Dibs
From what I can see the grinder is triggered by the portafilter so how were you doing this for filter?

I second the second hand gaggia classic - picked one up in a charity shop for a tenner 5 years ago and after descaling it worked fine (I think this is a common problem, so it's probably easy to find them listed as "not working").

I noticed there's a Gaggia Classic in the classifieds over on Coffee Forums UK at the moment. Asking £150 but maybe they'd drop for an offer.

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@StevePeel thanks for the speedy delivery. Whilst the espresso blend's been keeping me going just fine during the week and the Las Acacias has plenty of oomph, the Rugeju AA is fantastic. I'm not sure how much of a good idea 2× 6 (or is it 8?) cup stovetops was this morning but pretty sure tomorrow will witness a repeat.

Hi @StevePeel

I see you have run out of Las Acacias. I am ready to go for a sub, not sure if I should go for the espresso blend or something else, or is there an option for you to chose whatever you have that you think would be suitable?

I.e. not at the melons / lemons / mashed banana end of hipster coffee spectrum?

#difficultcustomer