Coffee Appreciation

Two rinses as per the instructions and left for a little longer tha the 10secs in the instructions, but not until it had completely dried.

Mine arrived too, tested it and it was between setting 3 and 4 for London water.

Only had a filter coffee so far so a bit early to call. Will try espresso tomorrow morning.

@danb and @Bainbridge

When did you guys order? I'd completely forgotten about it until reading your posts, (I was pretty hammered when I made the order I think it was around the beginning of march)

Did a review of it on insta.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ISNOtB0AO/?igshid=5mfa3nd2514z

The instructions need updating as both the dry time and the flushes are too short.

Try the second strip, see if it dries a darker colour, setting 4 makes sense for the water supply you have. ( same as at FCP) and after 2/3 jugs past the prime it should settle in and be working at optimum levels. If you’re getting a new filter I’d got for 4/5 rinses right off the bat.

Check out moka pots too, you could probably find one to mess with for less than £10.

Interest to know what you all think of the Peak for filter coffee after a week or so of use.
Also is London and Bristol water considered 'hard'? I'm in Norfolk and our water is very hard (so I use bottled water) so interested to see if it would make difference here.

Dunno, years ago lol.

Also @Matisse could you post your full review here? I don't have an Instagram account so I can only see the first part and would like to read the whole thing.

Interesting will retry the test and see if I notice any change

Would agree on the fit and finish of the lid, it does feel a little thin and slightly rough.

@Gewürzt 2 years ago at least :)

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/14181204/

Ha, I'll go back to forgetting I ordered it then.

Whatdya reckon? There’s so much choice! Grinder? Aero press? Drippy thing? Another
cafetière? And coffee supply for someone who doesn’t drink loads?

I got an Aeropress a couple of weeks ago and love it (coming from french press). If you do decide to try one, have a look at Origin Coffee - they list it at £25, but are doing 20% off everything at the moment (and delivery was free as well). No connection to them etc...

Peak Water - A Review.
After what seems like and age, but In reality is about right for new product development, the Peak Water has arrived. You probably know the person leading the team behind it is @mcolonnadashwood, if not go check them out, you’ll learn something about lifting if nothing else.

Whats it like though? Its well packaged with clear instructions things that matter in the retail product space, and I’l all grey with light blue accents is a striking thing to look at, for a jug that is. The fit and finish needs some work, edges are a little sharp, the lid doesn’t quite fit snugly, there are no fill level markers and the spout has a tendency to encourage pouring from the edges when the jug is full. But these are small issues that will be resoled in future models I’m sure, and tbh it’s not an issue for me as it’s the filter I’m really interested in.

The instructions are pretty clear, and worth following with a couple of key ammendments.
Firstly the included alkalinity test strip. A lot of feedback I’ve heard is that the 10 second time is not long enough for the optimal setting. Give it a minute and the strip will dry fully, in a lot of cases to a darker colour (indicating higher alkalinity) than at the 10 sec mark, (Image 2 shows this well). This is crucial as this is dictates the starting bypass setting, more on that in a moment.
Secondly the recommend flush cycle to prime the filter would appear to be too short. I found a significant difference after another 1-2 full jugs so would recommend adding at least 2-3 extra full jug flushes before first use.

The numbers on the 3rd image show the readings after a week of use. Our tap water is moderately hard, with a Kh/GH balance of 6/12 deg German hardness on average (270-310ppm TDS). You can see and immediate difference on setting one, and then a small drop to setting 2. The gaps between 3-4-5 are much larger and this is due to the nature of the bypass itself. The proprietary filter has a central bypass hole that is covered by a dial, as you can see in images 4-8, the hole is entirely one for setting one, and is closed of gradually until setting 5, no bypass. It’s pretty obvious from the images that the nature of the bypass with this system is not linear, something that will be hard to achieve in any system. But the large difference in coverage between 3/4 is why the starting setting from the test strip is crucial. It’s worth noting here that the setting is a starting point, for optimum results you should tune it using the dial to your tastes.

The output water is a little flat and hollow to drink, slightly lacking in the weight and roundness I associate with the local tap water, but the taste is crisp. Mind you who cares about that, its for coffee.
In this regard the output reminds me a lot of the output from the BWT Bestmax Premium cartridge system that we use @fcpcoffee, both in taste and in the Kh/Gh balance. It made the difference I expected to the coffees I cupped against the tap water, increased clarity and brightness, better balance and sweetness, none of the heavy chalky feel I associate with the very hard water I used to brew with. So in essence its the closest I think you’ll get to the cafe water experience at home, which in terms of the Peak Water mission statement, is job done quite frankly.

TLDR: its a bloody good filter that produces cafe level water quality and it will make your coffee taste better, if you brew it well……

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The pics of the bypass settings

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Also is London and Bristol water considered 'hard'? I'm in Norfolk and our water is very hard (so I use bottled water) so interested to see if it would make difference here.

London depends where you are. SE London where I grew up it’s reasonably hard but quite drinkable out the tap and makes a nice cup of tea. Western outskirts near Staines/Egham it’s disgusting tasting. Really chlorinated and every fitting round the house is constantly covered in limescale. Tea tastes horrible and brews with a thick scum. Coffee is lousy at best and it’s just a waste of good coffee here unless the water is heavily filtered.

That said, Illy coffee seems to respond very well to my shitty-tasting local water so I can actually make reasonably good espresso with a supermarket coffee. In Beckenham it tasted horrible though!

Good advice already from @mmccarthy and @StevePeel

The only thing I’d personally add is that a Hario mini mill is ergonomically more satisfying to use over a Porlex. But yeah, if you’re ready to devote kitchen counter space, get an electric grinder, it’ll be the best money you’ll ever spend on making decent coffee.

There's also that Delter thing, no idea how it compares to the Aeropress (not familiar with that either) but I'm a Cafelat Robot convert.

Thanks @Matisse and @Jonny69

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on this. I’ve ordered a Hario Medium hand grinder (as I have plenty of time at the moment!) and a Hario metal v60 and decanter like this one: https://www.pactcoffee.com/brewing-equipment/hario-v60-metal-drip-decanter

I do get the argument for an electric grinder but don’t know I’d get enough use out of it to justify and keen to avoid another electrical thing if possible.

Will let you know how I get on and order some coffee from @StevePeel once it’s all here.

Thanks again.

Coffee grinders are one of those things you don't think you need/ use.
Then you buy it and wonder why you didn't get one sooner.

I recently bought a Sage Dose Control Pro and I love it. It's not a high end grinder but it has been working well with my Gaggia.

I'm looking for recommendations for beans. I really like Square Mile Red Brick, and tried Pact's House Blend espresso and I hate it. It's really dark and I can't get it to taste anything but burnt.

Where do people get their beans from that delivers and had interesting stuff? (for both espresso and bean to cup). I'm burning through coffee at a staggering rate during lockdown.

What is the lfgss code please and I'll try a few bags :)

@StevePeel I'd like to know too - or is it somewhere upthread?

steveissexeh is the new official one.

Thank you!

Used my peak water for a couple of filter coffees this morning and definitely could tell the difference. Bit sweeter and more rounded.