Coffee Appreciation

To be fair I think all the extra equipment people name as essentials like scales/times/naked PF etc etc are not essential at all, and if you know how to make coffee, you will make a good coffee without any of that, especially with a machine/bean combo you know.

They are useful tools that can help you guide your way through the process (though I think it can be quite distracting as well) or give you some pointers as you learn, but ultimately not something anyone who's made a fair few coffees should need to pour a decent one.

To be fair I think all the extra equipment people name as essentials like scales/times/naked PF etc etc are not essential at all

I'd argue that scales and shot timing essential if you want consistent results with espresso. I couldn't eyeball the difference between 14 & 15 grams of beans. But I could certainly taste the difference. Naked portafilters I agree are not essential, but are useful to spot issues when tamping. I imagine they're mainly purchased because they look great when being used.

Filter is obviously a lot more forgiving and you could probably get away without the scales and timing. But given a decent set of scales can be had for £10, and most people have a timer on their person. It seems a shame not to take advantage of using them.

You can easily have an excellent filter set-up for around £50 (decent hand grinder + V60/aeropress/French press etc.), I'd argue it's tricky to get a decent espresso set up (new) for around £6-700. At that point, spending an extra £10 for a set of scales to give you consistent results seems like a no-brainer.

Also, if you're making lattes/flat whites or whatever, you very easily mask a bad espresso with some well textured milk.

I'd honestly be surprised if someone could make a decent run of espressos without measurement of dosage and monitoring of shot times, especially the former.

I should correct myself, measuring the amount of coffee in is definitely important! Be it through a calibrated timer on a grinder or done by weight. I meant using scales to observe the grams of coffee out isn’t necessary with a bit of experience. Again, it can help, but I wouldn’t say it’s something necessary.

Ah I see, my bad! I'd say measuring/timing the output is handy to get you in the right ball park when dialling in a very different set up. But yeah, once you're in the ball park doing it by taste is your best bet IMO (though I still monitor shot times just to ensure consistency).

What was the go to filter and espresso hand grinder? JX pro?

Is there something decent in the £80 price range? It’s a gift, so would need to be new.

Recommended shop to buy a moccamaster? Doesn't seem to be that many places that sell them and a couple of the top offerings from Google have pretty dodgy reviews.

Thanks, I’ll look into it!

@Tenderloin
He’s a mild coffee nut. Watches Hoffman, has a Sage grinder and machine but not properly obsessive. Not UK based though (out in the UAE).

Bit random, but looking to buy a v60 to go with the grinder I bought (went for a timemore c2 on sale for £60 at sigma coffee). This popped up:

https://divinecoffee.co.uk/products/v60-coffee-kit-and-divine-coffee-250g-bag-roasted-delivered

10% off if you sign up for the mailing list, means you get a nice filter set up and a bag of beans for £22.50. Seemed an absolute bargain to me considering that you can’t seem to buy a v60 online for less than a tenner at the moment. Thought it was worth mentioning. No idea what the beans will be like tho!

I have a JX Pro which I use for espresso and would recommend, though it would be about 50% over your budget - I think it worked out at around 120-odd quid when I ordered mine direct, which is the cheapest way to order.

Took about 10 days to arrive with no extra charges, thought I think that might be a bit of a lottery and I was expecting to be charged £18 on top (think it's 6 plus 12 handling charge).

Yeah, I needed it delivered by the end of the week (panic birthday present after I missed the boat on my initial plan).

With the timemore on sale at £60, and the above brew set up for £22.50, seemed like a pretty nice combo. Just hope my Dad actually uses it!

https://friedhats.com/products/brazil-project-aaa

My shout - I like the packaging and seems nice for a present

But the Barn is deffo a good shout too

FCP look like they have some nice beans in at the moment maybe @Matisse could advise on something special

https://assemblycoffee.co.uk/collections/buy-coffee/products/limited-edition-diego-bermudez

My portafilter finally arrived

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i seem to remember some alibaba scales being discussed recently. Would they fit on top of a Rancillio grate in order to measure shots as they are being pulled.

I only drink black coffee at home but my girlfriend likes a frothy number. Any recommendations for a decent milk frother? Will be used with oat milk if that makes any difference.

I can't believe I'm going to risk evening mentioning a Nespresso product in this thread, but my mum and dad have a Nespresso Aeroccino and it is fantastic at what it does, and is very easy to clean. Works well with Oatly Barista apparently.

The Bellman milk frother is brilliant, proper espresso machine quality. It’s my mate that imports them and sells them so make what you will of my recommendation, but I genuinely rate them.

Had some of their beans a few months ago and they were really great

@nefarious and @StevePeel thanks for the recommendations! I think ease of use and cleaning is probably going to be fairly near the top of the list of priorities, I can't see her using something too complex (or that requires more than 5 seconds worth of washing up) very often.

Oh also, @StevePeel, I've been absolutely hammering through the Yellow Bourbon Colombian beans, really enjoying them. I'm on my 3rd 1kg bag in not very long...

The Bellman is infinitely cooler for sure. I have a machine with a steam wand and I rarely make frothy drinks at home, but will bang the Aeroccino on whenever I'm visiting the parents simply because it takes two seconds makes me think that it's a good fit. There may well be other similar products but I seem to remember the Areoccino reviewing surprisingly well.

Ah nice one, thanks :)

I’ve had a few espresso today and the portafilter is quite wet in side. The coffee tastes pretty good but the crema is a bit bubble.

Is this wrong in some way

I don't think so, never looked into it properly but I assume the wetness of the puck correlates to the amount of headspace between the puck & shower head. There are definitely some more informed folks on here though who may be able to provide some more info.