Coffee Appreciation

This is an entertaining video - thanks for creating it. You didn't comment on whether the coffee was tasty or not, but I'm glad no harm was done to your home in making it! We have an electric hob, so no luck there - I'll look for something to provide heat for the genuine "table" coffee making environment.

This burner sounds like what we're looking for. I would love to take it off your hands in exchange for some coffee money / money for coffee? Sorry for my slow reply - we have been in Cornwall for the week, neglecting the online world.

@Stonehedge and @mmccarthy thanks both for your replies about the cona - sadly no fondue kit here or anything else to help me (I mourn the loss of my tangia several years ago), I think the rekrow style burner is the way forward for me. Will post back on any successful coffee making

No worries! It's yours. Are you London based usually?

I’m looking at this as well, from James Hoffman’s latest video it looks like he will be comparing a few machines around this price soon.

Any views on the Gaggia Classic Pro?

Your fingers will get a good work out turning that little knob back and forward, yeah...

never got very far with turning my little knob back and forth tbh

New place, same set-up. Got rid off the PID stuff in the Pavoni, I just couldn't get a dependable seal around the temperature sensor wire. I have a pretty good feel for when to pull a shot now, so it's not entirely necessary anyway.

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I said fuck it and pulled the trigger on the Mara X + Mignon Specialita setup. Now I have to wait a few weeks (bellabarista preorder) and then somehow get away with this at home. (and we're moving to a smaller apartment in a month)

I went with the Sette 270 which is hopefully turning up tomorrow. Currently using a Gaggia Gran Prestige and debating whether to go with an older Classic in good nick or a new Classic Pro or something else. The MaraX looks great but a bit more than I'm looking to spend.

I went from a classic to a Mara PL62, I am very happy with the upgrade. The X is supposed to be better again,

You won’t be disappointed.

Yes I am! I'll message you

Nah, better to find someone who can do the hard work for you, it’s true :)

I hear you might need to shim it for finer grinds, as mentioned in /r/espresso.

After posting yeasterday I received an email saying that they were expecting delivery by the end of October despite the order confirmtion saying 1-2 days. Bit frustrating as had been looking at the Niche Zero as well but hadn't gone with that as it was delivery in November. Wondering whether to cancel the order now.

Mine came with a pair of shims (which I didn't need to use, espresso setting for me is generally around 2/3 out of 30 settings). I'd be surprised if they let machines out of the factory that weren't capable of grinding fine enough for espresso out of the box. On the flip side, I'm sure you could remove the burr carrier and burr from the machine, pop a shim on and re-fit in less than a minute.

That's good to hear. Do just use your's for espresso?
Wondering whether it's a pain to switch between espresso and press grind on it, in which case I'll just keep the Krups GVX I've been using.

Flip between espresso and filter (normal morning is a filter for me and flat-white for my wife). Mid-20s for filter generally and around 2-3 for espresso on my machine. It does (as you're probably already aware) have 3 different timer settings so setting it up for both shouldn't be a problem. Though I just single-dose so use a single timer set to 10 seconds and shut it off when the beans have all gone through.

Feel free to fire over any questions about it.

Just found this video of a shim addition, 3 mins for a guy giving a walk through of how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sBpJcsF7-4

Thanks that's helpful. Do you switch the burrs for filter grind or just use the original ones?

Occasionally, I've not done any side-by-side comparisons but I can't see a significant improvement with the filter-specific burrs. Oddly enough, at very coarse grind settings, the filter-specific one produces a lot of fines (much more so than the original one). I'm not convinced it's worth the £30 personally. Do need to have some proper side-by-side comparisons but the regular burr is perfectly fine for filter brews

Thanks for this.

It prompted me to check the burrs on my giant Fracino grinder. Turns out I could run my fingernail along the edges without much resistance so I guess they're pretty worn. I learn the Fracino is a rebranded Cunill with 59mm burrs and get replacements which aren't sharp but they bite a bit.

First dialed in shot today and placebo or not it's a dramatically better. I think this might also be down to me realising how much I need to purge. On taking it apart I found what looks like about 15-20g sitting in the grinder, yuck.

After fitting with an empty chamber I got 10g less out than I put in so I guess I have to purge about 10g every time. No more variety bean subscriptions for me, I getting one bean and sticking to it!

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Compressed air is good for blowing retained grounds out apparently.

Currently we have a compak K10 PB grinder. It is good but retains about 3 or 4g of coffee. So it makes using it for espresso and pour over a hassle as there is so much of the wrong grind size when switching over.

The Niche zero appeals for its lower retention, but how would the actual grind consistency compare?

I’ll see you. Cleaned my Mazzer Mini recently to find this horror

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Kinda frightening...
I guess I'll be putting about a pound every two weeks or so through my new Silenzio, how soon should I dig in and give it a clean?

Good to know. Now just have to wait until the end of Oct for delivery...