Coffee Appreciation

@TTM ‘s Mazzer arrived today.

Took some messing around with, and I’ve gone for a temporary ghetto single dose setup rather than use the normal doser. Makes much better espresso than the Iberital, or dialling in seems a lot easier at least.

Only did some tasting, as it’s 8pm, and also had to give the Gaggia a bit of love to get it working after a long break since it’s last use.

Still, looking forward to having an espresso in the morning rather than just making a cup of filter that I end up downing.

I’ve read that this pancake doser can be modded into a single dose chute. Which is less than a tenth of the price of the mazzer one!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unique-WElinks-Stainless-Dispenser-Accessories/dp/B07X1Y8LPM/ref=asc_df_B07X1Y8LPM/

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Fantastic.

Glad you can taste the difference already. I too went from the IB2 to the Mazzer and was blown away by how much better shots tasted.

I’d read about that pancake mod, but never got round to doing it. Please post pics if you do go down that route and I hope the machine serves you well for many years to come. It’s certainly built to last!

Yeah reckon I’m gonna order the pancake thing. Just need to figure out how to make blowing it out less messy. Currently it just flings grounds everywhere. Might get a little brush to do the chute on the main body.
There’s a guy that’s made a nice mod for both the top and the front, but at £100+, it seems a bit spendy for now. Might try and make a top cap single doser from wood, hopefully a smaller hole at the top will stop grounds blowing out everywhere. I’ve been putting a tamper on top of the beans as they grind to stop popcorning too.

I’ve been putting a tamper on top of the beans as they grind to stop popcorning too.

That’s what I did too. Worked fine. I also used a small paint brush to sweep the last bits into the grinder.

I have Mont58 espresso blend and Guatemala to drink over the weekend. Got the espresso blend dialed in and will be trying the Guatemala as espresso as well.

I don't know much about beans but I was surprised to see the variation in the beans in the Guatemala. Lots of different sizes, shapes and roast levels. Compared to the espresso blend where almost every bean is about the same size and roughly the same milk chocolate colour. I would have expected a blend to have more variation like that. I'm looking forward to trying it.

Having a clear out and have a free V60 with papers in case anybody here is interested - collection from Balham.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/363488/#comment15979676

Having trouble dialling in my espresso. I can make an ok espresso with 16g in/35-40g out in about 20 seconds. Any higher dose or finer grind just chokes the machine, even just a nudge finer at 15g chokes it.

It’s a medium to light roast single origin, probably more intended for brewing rather than espresso. Would getting a darker roast make things any easier?
Might it just be my machine (Gaggia Cubika) lacks the pressure power for a proper shot?

FWIW, it does make a nice shot at 16g in, 40g out in 20 seconds. But it does just seem a bit quick.

@StevePeel - is your espresso blend roasted any darker than the single origin stuff at YB? Going to put in an order, and just wondering if I’m better off getting the espresso blend to make my shots better/easier.

Now with vid, excuse the one handed messy tekkers.

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Yes it’s a little bit fuller in the roast and easier to extract than most of the single origins but no promises I’m afraid, unfortunately as you suggest the equipment is the limiting factor here; if the shot won’t run any slower then it’s going to pull all the sourness out. Might not be the machine, could be the grinder producing a lot of fines. Your brew recipe is great for a lightish roast but it needs to be slow for more contact time, like 35 seconds for tart coffees. Counter-intuitively have you tried turning the pump pressure down via the OPV? On our pressure profiling machine in the SO programme we do the main infusion at 5 bar for that reason, it gives us body in a high-extraction shot.

Not sure if I can adjust the OPV on the Cubika - forum posts seem to agree that any adjustment doesn’t actually change the pressure. I’ve just picked up a small bag of North Star espresso to try a slightly darker roast. It sounds similar in roast to the YB, so will order a kg of YB if all goes well!

Thanks for the tips. Might see if a much lower dose works too, eg 12-13g. I’ve just got a nice flat burred Mazzer Super Jolly and the grounds seem way better than out of the MC2 so hopefully it’s not too many fines!

Great, the Super Jolly will definitely be up to the task. Careful going really low with the dose, you start running into issues with headspace and the coffee washing around in the basket.

Basically speed balling

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Does the Cubika do pre infusion? If not it might be worth experimenting with manual pre infusion to se if you can change the flow at different grind sizes

Banned : )

In case anyone is after a Niche Zero, I just had an email saying there will be UK stock available on their new website tomorrow.

@Tenderloin

Thank you!!!

No worries.

“ We are delighted to announce that we will be launching stock of UK models, tomorrow (Tuesday 11th May) at 7pm UK time. The stock will be available to pre-order, for delivery in July.
Please note that this launch will only include UK models. ”

I mean, I could press the button on and off quickly to get some water in there, lol.

Is a VST/other basket upgrade going to do anything for me, if I've got a cheap machine?

it's probably quite hard to separate the placebo effect of an upgrade from actual improvement but i think switching to a VST basket and an IMS shower screen on my classic did help a little with consistency from my shots.

Set multiple alarms to remind myself

Also.

Will be shifting my Sage Smart Grinder should I be successful. If anyone is after one, let me know - would much rather do an 'on here' price than mess around with Ebay.

Almond milk

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Secured the Niche!

Hooray!

I'm therefore looking to sell my Mahlkonig Vario - which is an excellent and popular grinder. Mine however has an issue where it doesn't grind fine enough. I basically gave up trying to fix it after replacing the pulley and motor - Im not the most technical and it was just frustrating me so decided I'd buy a Niche instead. A normal person would just fix it probably.

It has a brand new motor (and original motor which still works but drive shaft is gnarled)
New pulley
burr removal tool
rrp is £430 + £85 for the above - but used go on Coffeeforums etc for £250 - and ebay for £270

Does £200 seem reasonable?