Coffee Appreciation

Ooooh, I like the look of that. Would also love a Fellow kettle. On the Christmas list they go...

I guess it’s borosilicate to be heat resistant enough to be microwave safe - can’t imagine they’d not use that, rather that it’s just a mistake in the copy.

These are good, except you have to take the lid off for the last bit of coffee

Love it.

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rather that it’s just a mistake in the copy

Yep, seems like the most likely possibility

Ooft, that is lovely.

Yes. I’ve just ordered one. Here on Thursday. Will update.

Any reason why you’d have one grinder for filter and another for espresso?

What’s the MC2 like? Trying to find a Wilfa Svart but it’s proving a PITC to find one. So looking at these now. Don’t actually need espresso grind but what they hey, will probably get an espresso machine at some point.

Should I be looking at anything else around this £££?

Trying to find a Wilfa Svart but it’s proving a PITC to find one.

Same. Just YOLO-justified a Baratza Encore to unwrap on Xmas day.

A Svart won't do espresso grind if that makes not finding one feel better

I'd advise against getting an espresso-capable grinder for future-proofing purposes, you'll be spending a fair chunk more and you may end up just getting a good espresso grinder than can do okay filter grind. I love my Sette but wouldn't be surprised if a decent filter-focussed grinder could do a better job on the filter side of things.

Though to be fair, the Niche does seem to do a pretty decent job of both. But it's also around 4 times the price of a Svart.

Also as you'll probably see mentioned a lot, the MC2 is a pain moving across large ranges of coarseness, hence it not being commonly used for both espresso and filter purposes.

Niche is currently the only grinder around that seems to do filter and espresso really well and gives you the ability to easily switch between the two. It's expensive compared to filter grinders but pretty great value compared to espresso grinders of a similar quality.

Also when adjusting a grinder from filter coarse all the way to espresso fine there's a chance the grinding plates will get jammed by any leftover coarse chunks still in the system, meaning you then need to take it apart and brush off the burrs then reset it.

Adjusting between filter and espresso grind is highly impractical on the mc2. You basically have to choose one, unless you’re willing to partially disassemble. Turning the dial to adjust the grind majorly is unfeasible.

I like having a grinder. I bought the mc2 as a broken unit and the journey of its repair is fairly well documented in this thread. Lol.

If you can get a working one second hand for £70~ it’s good bang for its buck. But really, I want something that can adjust grind quicker. I’d say £200 seems to be the benchmark.

I started coffee drinking via Aeropress as of lockdown. I get acceptable results (to me anyway) with the pre ground "modern standard" bags from Sainsbo's.
What's my best next move to up the quality without spending a ton of money ? Is a cheap grinder + posh supermarket beans likely to be worth it or if i'm grinding do I need to get better beans pact/bourbon etc ?
I only drink one cup a day.

Freshly ground beans will make a whole amount of difference and last longer than pre ground. Also, beans from a coffee shop will be fresher than those from a supermarket (which could have been on the shelf for months). Maybe a porlex hand grinder to keep costs down if you are only drinking a cup a day?

Getting a hand grinder and using good beans is probably the biggest jump in quality you can get. If you’re just drinking one cup a day, a bag of beans for £10 works out to about 60p a cup, and you can honestly make coffee that you’d pay £3 for in a good cafe. As long as you’re weighing and timing.
Edit: didn’t mean to paraphrase @jdp there.

@jdp @hangedup - Ta

get a set of scales, hand driven grinder and fresh beans.
weigh the beans for consistency/ fine tuning.

I used to use 13.5g beans for an aeropress, inverted method.

Changing from ground to beans will be noticeable, then supermarket to fresh roasted another noticeable change.

Bean region also affect things.
My wife and I prefer South American, I like Indonesian too, neither of us like African coffee.

Noticed a few people are finding it hard to get hold of a Wilfa Svart. I bought one a few months ago from Crema, and just received a Wilfa Classic+ filter machine to replace my Moccamaster (gone on semi-permanent loan). The service with them has been excellent and I doubt you'll find a Wilfa Svart for less than €90 anywhere. Hope this helps!

https://www.cremashop.eu/en/products/wilfa/wscg-2/1274

fortunately, I have to take the lid off to clean/refill it once I've drunk the last bit of coffee anyway!

Ended up getting one from coffee-box.co.uk

There were 3 in stock when I got one. Down to 1 now if anyone wants to nab it.

Thanks for the advice, all. x

The Fellow's carafe turned up. Maaaate this thing is burly. Feels very, very sturdy. Am yet to use it but happy with the purchase so far just on appearances.

What's my best next move to up the quality without spending a ton of money ? Is a cheap grinder + posh supermarket beans likely to be worth it or if i'm grinding do I need to get better beans pact/bourbon etc ?

Cheap grinder + posh supermarket beans won’t net you much imo. Your next move up is to get coffee from a roaster and get them to grind it. Next step up after that is to move to beans (which won’t lose their flavour as quickly as ground) and grind with something like a Porlex Mini.