Coffee Appreciation

Sweet Prince by Dark Arts - absolute Cracker Jack for filter. 👌

Can someone recommend / has seen a coffee machine table?

I need one for my kitchen, saw a few Ikea Hacks but could do with more inspiration!

Man, Hasbean are the absolute best for customer service. Got an order in the post today and there was a minor mistake with it (the first one I've ever had from them). I sent them an email and within 10 minutes they'd responded saying they'd send me a free bag of what I'd originally ordered, no questions asked.

Years ago I saw a John Boos table in Selfridges. They don't seem that easy to come by in UK. They cost a lot. Nice, though.

https://www.johnboos.com/Items_page.asp?s=r&SalesCode=&Prod=1&Page=5&Group=30&hdg="KIB"%20Kitchen%20Island%20Bar%20%20&nsf=False&nsfc=False&csa=False

Too bad, John Boos is widely available in NA, even here in Canada (longest undefended border bullshit). Our wood countertop (commercial grade) is from them, no complaints. 96" x 30" x 1 3/4" for about $450 CAD.

Has anyone plumbed something like a Gaggia Classic into mains water supply, ie bypassed the water tank? I’m [finally] planning my kitchen and the coffee machine will be taking a permanent spot.

I can’t decide if I need to bodge up some kind of float affair in the tank or if it’s possible to connect it up directly with some kind of inline pressure regulator and one-way or anti back-up valve. Google has not turned up much but it looks like one of the Siemens machines can be adapted.

They cost a lot.

$ 1,544.00 LOL

You could have a custom made one with coke on top for that money!

I have an Ikea Bekväm, a tad on the small side but good enough for now. I couldn't be arsed to lacquer it back when I got it, but would recommend it.

1 Attachment

Ikea Bekväm

Used here too, also unlaquered.

That is exactly what I had in mind.

I think I will look on Gumtree for "console" tables with shelves and put a beefy worktop on top.

I saw a few Instagram posts with similar Ikea hacked kitchen trolley.

That's a good pointer, Ikea actually has a couple of nice options:

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/kitchen-products/kitchen-islands-trolleys/vadholma-kitchen-island-black-oak-art-40366115/

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/kitchen-products/kitchen-islands-trolleys/tornviken-kitchen-island-grey-oak-art-20391658/

I had a look on eBay and Gumtree and there are loads of viable options.

Kitchen Island / Kitchen Trolley / Butchers Block are the best suited search terms.

London being London, there are plenty for sale at very reasonable prices.

Brass shower plate/IMS shower screen combo arrived today, better flow so I'm gonna go with a finer grind to dial things back in again...

Tried the bottomless basket but still got a lot of horizontal spray, will do a bit more tinkering tomorrow...

The old aluminium shower plate was proper fucked, not sure it's worth keeping as a spare, tho' it has been working fine up until now... Nice to do a little upgrade, it's fun...

may be a touch of the placebo effect going on but i was really pleased with the results after doing both upgrades to mine.

The IMS screen is undoutably streets ahead, the increase in consistency with flow can me measured with the naked eye even without a filter in the holder

I'm hardly getting any crema, there's way too much flow now!! I tried going up a notch on the grinder but it hasn't made any difference... I've gone from a rich creamy extraction to piss weak filter coffee... 😭

Finer grind and maybe more tamping force?

You using good and fresh beans? What recipe?
Sounds a bit like new shiny components = less margin for error, so you need to start from scratch and fully dial it in. If that means making it much finer and bumping it up 1g, if it tastes good, go for it.

The beans are a few days old actually, I've been avoiding coffee for a bit so they've been sitting in the hopper... New beans in the morning and see where we are...

Sorry if this has been covered many times across these pages, but do coffee machines capable of doing both pods (nespresso) and normal ground coffee exist?

not sure but you can get machine that take Easy Serving Espresso (ESE) pods which is probably slightly more environmentally friendly way to enjoy coffee than pods! I've got a Delonghi Dedica and takes both grounds and ESE pods

Check the roast date too though, if they’re weeks/months old they could be a bit dead and woody, and might explain a lack of crema.

Easy Serving Espresso (ESE)

Thanks! That's the key word I was missing for my web searches, makes more sense now! Seems like a few machine can do both ESE and ground.

Are you happy with yours? Is the milk steamer thingy good?

Not tried the ESE pods yet but tempted by the zero mess, I've modded my Dedica steam wand for a Silvia jobby, replacing the Panneralo (sp.) that it comes with gives a great froth for a Cappuccino but you won't get any Latte art out of it, although, to be fair, I've not managed to get any Latte art since the mod, lol!

fuck pods