Coffee Appreciation

Is the MC2 really a massive hassle to switch between espresso grinding and something coarser?

Yes. Edit: because the worm screw for adjustment needs lots of turns for small movement.

Is the MC2 really a massive hassle to switch between espresso grinding and something coarser?

Yes. I seldom use my espresso machine these days, but I feel like it would take forever to get it between the two. However, if like you say the aeropress use is very occasional, the MC2 seems like a good bet. And you'll always be able to punt in on ebay for about what you paid for it.

Is the MC2 really a massive hassle to switch between espresso grinding and something coarser?

Fuck me yes. For the occasional aeropress it will be much quicker to just hand grind it.

Fuck me yes

Lol, a fellow MC2 owner who loves the grind adjustment, yes?

I’m in the middle of experimenting with the Sage Smart Grinder Pro at work. It’s very fast and easy to switch between espresso and coarser grinds and back. I can’t yet comment on the quality of the grind because I haven’t got it fully dialled in yet, but it looks promising.

Edit: espresso machine is a Gaggia Classic at 10 Bar.

Yeah, I’ve actually stopped making espresso altogether a long time ago (and finally sold the machine last weekend). Filter/Piston only nowadays and the mc2 is great for that. The less I touch that grind adjustment knob the better!

Gah, I don't want to go this way cuz I love my Gaggia but I've only used my machine half a dozen times since I got the Aeropress... Booooo!!!

I bought a 1zpresso jx pro and regularly switch between v60 and espresso with ease. It’s a great bit of kit

Can someone recommend me a nice espresso - I'll want 1kg whole bean and ideally £30 posted or less. Been drinking dark arts lost highway & Hardlines House Party but fancy something different.

I'm still trying to find a nice one (Red Brick always underextracts in my case, just switched to Red de Mujeres few days ago) but if you fancy SQM stuff, James Hoffmann provides a discount code on his Patreon which gives 10% off all coffee. He'll refresh the code every few months, so it's still a good deal if you were to occasionally support him just to get the latest code.

Yellow Bourbon is always a safe bet. I'm sure somebody actually drinking espressos will be along shortly :)

Ancoats Graphene always worked well for me, £28 per kilo.

Entry level coffee machine and grinder, budget approx £600. A friend just won some money on premium bonds and would like to be able to make espresso based milk coffee drinks at home.

MC2 and Rancilio Silvia?

Maybe a sage bean to cup if they want the drink more than they want to play with coffee?

Monmouth espresso blend is another safe bet. Theirs is like Yellow Bourbon but slightly darker roast.

Yeah I've drunk a fair bit of YB and been to the shop a few times - suppose I'm looking to try new things and support cafe/roasters in these hard times who I think do good things which maybe discount sqm (theyre nice roasters though!)

@rhb I'll give that a go

The best coffee I've drank all lockdown was from Assembly. If you haven't tried their beans you really should.

And twice the price.

Would they want all brand new? How into coffee are they or likely to be?

I think they’d want brand new

Sage barista pro might be a good option as an all in one unit. Gets good reviews.

Sage Bambino and Lelit Anna could be other options as stand alone espresso/steamers

They willing to add money? It's a tough choice for that budget, you're looking at a Gaggia Classic or Rancilio Silvia. Personally I'd get a simple lever machine like the Cafelat Robot but for the cheapest actually decent espresso machine you're looking at about £850 for a Lelit Mara or £1200 for a Rocket Apartamento plus roughly £200 for a good enough grinder.

Cool, hope you enjoy it.

Round hill are my local, very tasty and have a 20% discount on atm - might be worth a look.

And twice the price.

But it’s not the same thing though, is it? YB is my go-to for a light roast espresso, but it’s delicate and gets a bit lost in milk drinks. Monmouth espresso is a more developed roast and works better in milk. And even that’s not a dark roast. I don’t even know who is still dark roasting beans these days other than Whittard and they’re not cheap. Depends what you want at the end of the day.