Coffee Appreciation

sorry to hear about the pressures you're under.

the doaskid discount hasn't worked for me for quite a few months. I've no intention of trying to backdate anything as you do a bang up job but nice to know it's still there.

Good work showing how it should be done.

I like the way you run your business.

Tried doing the doaskid but didn't seem to work on the website when I ordered at the beginning of the week - is it definitely still working? Thanks for such speedy dispatch on the coffee, and don't worry about claiming the 20% off retrospectively - chuck it in the virtual tip jar! Can't wait to get brewing.

My delivery arrived this morning. Well pleased. @StevePeel thanks for the swift dispatch.

Last unsolicited post about the Robot, but here's a vid of me doing a pour.
Ain't no godshot, but it tasted might fine and shows that even someone like me can attain some level of home espresso nirvana relatively cheaply.
https://youtu.be/BV5kiAmtxWo

Anyone got an espresso machine they want rid off?

Anyone got an espresso machine they want rid off?

Got a Sage Barista Express if you want something with a decent grinder and steaming wand too?

Struggling to get the right extraction recently with my v60. Coffee always tastes under extracted. Tried adjusting grind size quite a bit from coarse/ filter up to much finer aka "Mocca" on my Wilfa.
But no real difference. Trying a new filter in the Brita to see if that makes a difference (being at home more I guess they may need changing more often). Anyone experienced this before.?

I stopped using a Brita filter and went to bottled water and got much better results (I'm in a hard water area) but you could also try reducing dose or changing water weight. Have a look at the Barista Hustle coffee compass/ .

On my wilfa I normally set it to the P on aeroPress, 15g in 250 water and its about 3 minutes to 3.30 obviously ymmv and they aren't precision calibrated or anything but that's ballpark. What are your run through times looking like?

But tbh I often go through bad weeks/months where i cannot dial anything, the coffee tastes bad no matter what I do etc. Sometimes its the beans, sometimes its me. Could also be the water so new brita filter would be an easy thing to try.

Have you seen the James Hoffman V60 method? Also his brew ration video is worth a watch

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I sometimes can't get things dialed no matter what I do.

I usually grind at around the a in "Aeropress" on the Wilfa. It takes around 3 minutes.

Re. James Hoffman, yes, I tend to go with his suggestions.

Just tried a new filter and there was a slight improvement.

Sage Barista Express

Oof. I'd love that, but wouldn't have much space for anything else. Why you letting it go? How much if you don't mind me asking?

They're a fairly sensible size.
Only selling as partner has the same machine and 2 is possibly overkill.
£250? Seems to be a bit less than they're selling for on eBay

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That is a most excellent price! You're kinda short selling yourself.

Alas, if I did go for this, the toaster will have to say goodbye. Proper little space till I move out again.

you can put the toaster in the cupboard. counter space belongs to coffee.

Any good tips or tutorials for making a latte art? Since I have more time at home now, I might use to learn something.

You can practice with a drop of washing up liquid in water, steams the same as milk, but then you waste shots of coffee doing the pours. But I imagine you waste off some shots every day dialling in anyway?
Better than wasting all the milk, especially during a pandemic lockdown.
You do need a good steam wand, with lots of pressure, and a proper pitcher to produce milk good enough to pour. Then just watch some videos on how to do really good hearts, then try tulips. I would leave rosettas until you get bored of doing tulips.

Cheeky dibs if @Chak decides against. Pretty sure this would constitute essential travel.

Just to add, I'd say start super basic, make a blob. Get used to the difference between pouring from high up allowing the milk to mix with the espresso and pouring low and almost laying the milk on top.

After that, move onto a heart, lay a blob, then at the end of the pour, raise the jug up and draw down through the centre of the blob.

Once you've got that down, move onto a tulip shape, lay a heart, then another on top of that etc.

Once you're onto rosettas, the main thing is to not force the jug from side to side. Let it swing freely like a pendulum, only putting enough energy into it to keep it swaying side to side.

Granted, that's all pouting technique. Even before that, make sure you can get nice smooth microfoam.

Start with the steam tip just below the surface of the milk, turn the steam on full, bring the tip to the surface until you get that shh-shh noise. How long you want it there depends on how much foam you're after (flat white? latte? cappuccino?), how much total milk you're using and how much steam pressure you have. For a rough guide, I normally go for about 2 seconds for a flat white (though my machine is a bit lacking in steam pressure).

After you've done that, focus on keeping the milk circulating nicely until it's at the correct temperature. Keep the steam tip at a tangent to the milk pitcher to allow the milk to circulate as smoothly as possible. Quite close to the edge of the pitcher but not too close to the bottom (otherwise you tend to get the milk sloshing around which leads to the surface dropping below the steam tip and you get a load of bubbles in your milk).

Personally I'm not a big fan of practicing on anything other than espresso and milk. Take you're time, don't rush it and one day suddenly it'll just click and you won't be able to figure out how you couldn't do it before.

Apologies for the wall of text, hope some of it is useful!

This might sound daft but something I’ve fallen foul of before: have you tried more than one set of beans? Could it just be a duff batch?

I'm usually good at finishing up beans, just found half a bag roasted Jan 2019 and some decaf beans that're a few years old.

Other than being a bit stale, will these still be brewable if things get really desperate?

Pre-emptively picked up some Darkwoods yesterday too, so many small roasters to support through this.

So I made a mistake on my barn order and picked up a bag of espresso roast beans when I only wanted filter. Disappointing!

Sending them back seems far too much faff - would anyone on here want them if we can arrange a contactless collection / drop off? In SE23 - beans are these ones https://thebarn.de/collections/beans/products/las-orquideas?utm_campaign=Retail%2024.03.20%20%28HZ4X8V%29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=THE%20BARN%20COFFEE%20ROASTERS%20-%20Newsletter&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJ3ZXN0eV9tZ0B5YWhvby5jb20iLCAia2xfY29tcGFueV9pZCI6ICJQQmdNQzgifQ%3D%3D

Hoping to get back all or most of what I paid but will take delivery cost on the chin.

What size bag?

250g, 16 euro...

As always from the barn, on the expensive side but their coffees are always great. All the more reason this bag would be wasted on me when I need filter roast