Coffee Appreciation

Two interesting article - @StevePeel , could maths make you save 25% of coffee by grinding it coarser??

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jan/22/maths-experts-secret-perfect-espresso

https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-the-perfect-cup-of-coffee-with-a-little-help-from-science-129398

Is it possible to get beans roasted in London? Someone in our office ordered about 6kg of unroasted beans by accident.

DIY with a heat gun. I ended up with a career when I got the hang of it.

https://youtu.be/5JVCXLMSfNc

I skimmed that article earlier. So you grind coarser and put less water through? So you end up with less espresso? That’s not going to cut through a 8oz milk drink. Might work in the med where people drink espresso but not in UK where people want buzzy milkshakes.

buzzy milkshakes

My favourite :)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fellow/ode-brew-grinder-cafe-performance-for-your-countertop

New grinder from Fellow on Kickstarter.

Wide flat burrs, 100% grind with no residue left, quiet, well priced.

That's the sales pitch at least!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fellow/ode-brew-grinder-cafe-performance-for-your-countertop

and no espresso settings? :(

Looks good that. Probably no espresso setting as there doesn’t look like much provision for motor or burr cooling so it might not give back to back consistency for espresso. I like the aesthetic though, very Braun.

I’ve got a preorder in for the new Mahlkonig grind-by-weight machine for the shop. Tell it you want 18g and the load cell and clever software make sure you get it, even if you bash the counter or knock the machine during grinding. Should save a few minutes and several shots dialling in every morning as all you need to adjust is grind setting.

I just wish my wholesale accounts would see the value in the consistency it allows, it could save hours of explaining that their espresso is not running correctly because they need to change the timer AND the fineness together on a regular on-demand grinder. You would not believe how difficult this concept is to get across.

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You would not believe how difficult this concept is to get across.

My go-to is comparing the gap between the burrs to a pipe. Larger pipe, larger flow-rate. Coarser grind settings, larger flow-rate.

Does anyone know a shop in Shoreditch which stocks Wilfa Svart grinders?

I’ve got various analogies but the majority of my wholesale accounts are food-centred cafes, bars and restaurants, not many speciality cafes where the primary motivation is coffee quality. I get them dialling in correctly by the end of training but visit a week later and it’s all been for nothing. If they’re dialling in at all they’ll just be adjusting the timer or the grind collar, whichever is more convenient and the flavour is all out of whack. Add in that most of them don’t give a shit about staff retention and it’s an impossible situation all-round. This technology would solve a lot of this problem but the places that need it most are the least likely to spend £2k on a grinder when they can get a basic one for £800, and they certainly won’t upgrade when they’ve already made an investment.

Not shipping to the UK.

Fucking Brexit.

That's a depressing yet not surprising experience.

I worked in a place similar to what you described for a few months. I was cleaning out the grinder one day and the owner came in and asked why I was taking it apart. I don't think it had ever been cleaned since the place opened.

The shit is hitting that fan at the Tate:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jan/29/tate-britains-40k-head-of-coffee-role-sparks-row-over-low-curator-pay

Ooh. I know the person vacating that role, awesome guy and worth every penny. It’s unfortunate that it’s being compared to other museum roles which are subject to an entirely different set of market forces. I imagine places like the Tate make a very significant portion of their revenue from catering, possibly the largest part. Tate have thrown the kitchen sink at their coffee service including roasting their own on site and taking an activist type role in ethical trading. I’m sure their coffee revenue runs easily into 7 figures and they have to offer a competitive salary to attract someone skilled and competent enough to manage that.

Yep, I know it's Tom Haig - I buy coffee from him.

His coffee knowledge, as I am sure you know, is off the scale.

The Tate coffee project, which is so much more than just roasting some beans, is a wonderful thing. The Tate, as an institution, is full of total wankers, hence the people in their orbit can't understand how good Tom Haig is, and hence how special his replacement needs to be. In that context, I think the salary is surprisingly modest.

Yeah it’s not massive in London terms certainly. A Costa store manager is going to be earning c.30k. How that relates to museum curator earnings just isn’t relevant.

Why didn't they put the 20k they spent on that crazy promo film towards... just making the grinder instead of putting it on kickstarter?

@>>>>>> I got the coffee leveller as recommended by you and it's really helped with my shot consistency. Excellent bit of kit for me.

Because they needed £153k to make it.

It's really great, it's made my other half's life super easy for pulling shots... She isn't as anal as me about the process so it really simplifies things, for the pair of us tbh!

Nice one!

How is it different to just banging the portafilter a couple of times to get the grinds to settle and then tamping?

Banging causes the grounds to separate into layers of sizes.

Distribution tools help keep the particle sizes more evenly distributed.

@hatbeard was using one of them before they were accepted by the cool kids.

#hipstertwat

I'm talking about a couple of knocks on the bench not running it on a shaker deck overnight. I very much doubt what I do would cause any layering.