Coffee Appreciation

Got the Monmouth espresso blend in at the moment. I'm trying all the main coffee roasters' espresso blends while I'm stuck at home. I don't have a grinder so get it pre-ground. So far this one has the grind size dialled in best for my machine. First shot ran absolutely spot on the numbers.

Ah I might try with cold brew. Been loving the tonic and s'pro but waiting for it to cool down is a pita that this would fix.

I get my partner's beans ground at our local roasters, they're the first place that ever asked me what espresso machine we had at home... Maybe most places do that but as I buy whole beans I wouldn't know... Do Monmouth ask?

Now that I'm dosing with the scales (I used to use the timer) I might even let my OH use my grinder, I'm such a nice guy... 👹

Fucking love a cafe bonbon.

Ordered my FiL some of @StevePeel finest on Tuesday lunchtime, delivered to him today.
Top work!

do Monmouth ask?

No you’re just lucky if your kit works with that grind on the day. Next time you go will be a different batch, different freshness, possibly different machine, that machine might have been stripped and cleaned / new blades....

I hate advising this but home espresso really is a bit of a non starter without your own grinder.

New workplace has a Nespresso machine - anyone got recommendations for decent pods? Aware of Colonna / Volcano already.

See also the Forza Win Custardo - made it the other day with fancy supermarket custard and it’s bloody tasty

Yeah I don't see how knowing what espresso machine you use would make any difference to how they grind it. I'll often tweak mine as I run through a batch of beans. I'll use anywhere from notch 7 to 11 on my Rocky grinder which is a fairly wide range. Matters less if you have a pressurised portafilter though I guess.

I thought I'd try my naked portafilter this morning and unlike the normal porta, it doesn't seem to seal as well and pissed water over the top. I presume it's because the original porta and the naked have slightly different thickness tangs or a slightly lower basket rim so the whole thing doesn't sit as tight against the machine's o-ring. Any suggestions other than replacing the O-ring and possibly buggering the function of the proper portafilter?

Does the naked rotate much beyond 6 o’clock before it locks in?

Its tabs are in a different position to the original porta's. So to insert it you have to start further around, to the extent I need to push the steam wand out of the way. Both stop a bit past 6oc. The original portas tabs are at 90deg to the handle whereas the naked's are at I dunno like 120deg or something

Ah that’s probably it then. The lugs are probably different thickness too. Best to get a proper matching one. You could put a homemade shim between the group head and the gasket but you risk fucking the gasket up if you don’t have a spare.

Yeah, now is not the time to be breaking the machine. I wonder if I could get a basket that sits taller in the porta?

@dancing james
@Vince
That all sounds bloody dreamy. Thanks

I actually ordered 2x "3 way" taps from two different AliExpress sellers as I was worried that the first one wouldn't arrive due to the 'rona.

Placed the orders 3 weeks apart, both taps arrived the same day.

And my kitchen was delayed by 6 weeks...

Happy to re-sell the spare one, they are around £50

You could always 'break' the existing portafilter by taking a hole saw to it!

Yeah. Nah.

I do actually have three portafilters so I could... but it seems silly given I've already got the naked one and it just needs an inverse shim...

Yeah I don't see how knowing what espresso machine you use would make any difference to how they grind it.

Because for example the little Krups machine at work can make a convincingly good espresso out of supermarket ground coffee like Lavazza whereas my Gaggia pushes water through that sort of coffee like the portafilter is empty. I generally find if they grind it the same as they do for their commercial machines, it works fine in the Gaggia. That’s what I do if I get coffee from the place near work. It’s always been close enough for me. I know it could be better, but sometimes close enough is close enough.

I’m selling my Mahlkönig Vario if anyone is interested in a good home grinder. It used to be in daily use, but has been sitting in a cupboard now for a year. In a good tidy condition with a few marks here and there . Comes with only the plastic grounds collector bin, but there seem to be plenty of portafilter attachments on eBay if anyone wants to use it for espresso. £150, located in N16

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I'll have this, will PM

We're going to have to replace our kettle soon. Thinking I may as well replace with a temp control/gooseneck one, what's the recommendation for something that doesn't cost an arm?

I was looking at this the other day; the cheapest I could find with temp control was the Bonavita electric pour over kettle, which was about £90-100. There are cheaper stovetop ones with a thermometer, but the Coffee Gator one I saw recommended seems to be out of stock everywhere.

Yeah the Bonavita seems to be the goto: https://coffeehit.co.uk/products/bonavita-variable-temperature-digital-electric-kettle-1l

Personally I'm not overly fussed with strict temp control so I just use a standard Hario Buono (which also has an electric variant but no temp control)