Coffee Appreciation

I was just being facetious really, although I did do some experimenting. Went for the standard 15g/240ml but it overflowed at the end (which is what I heard it would do). No problem with 10g/240 (aside from a weak cup), so will likely just try 10g/160ml on site tomorrow. It’s way faster than advertised, although not sure it’ll be great for my batteries long term!

Tbh, it’ll never make great coffee, and if I wasn’t up so early I’d brew a flask. But it was thrown in for free with some other bits so I couldn’t resist. Not sure how well it’ll survive in the work van either!

I’d have loved one of those when I was plastering just to get something (anything) hot into myself in the winter that ran off my drill battery so no messing about. Turning on the jenny to boil a kettle at tea break can gtfo.

Ditto! I've been off caffeine for 28yrs, apart from the occasional sneer from an arriviste, caffeine-addicted edgelord you won't have any trouble... Plenty of specialty decaf options out there, no need to miss out on that taste!

What's your favourite? Most decaf I have tried, even specialty, is dark roasted and described as "dark chocolate"

First brew in the machine. Having a real fresh coffee on the job is pretty nice!

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I used to drink Monmouth's decaf when I was in London, I loved it but apparently that isn't third wave enough for some on this thread... 😂

It's a shame there isn't more choice for decaf, or even information about what you're drinking... Monmouth at least tell you where the beans have come from and I believe they were single origin, my local roastery just makes up a blend and doesn't offer any info other than it's Swiss water method decaffeinated... I need to explore more options myself...

I think there’s a few single origin options at justdecaf.co.uk

Aeropress ordered. Is it easy to use?

It is the Othello of coffee brewing.

Always found the Square Mile stuff to be pretty decent too!

Square Mile decaf is consistently really good.

Hah! I was too slow typing!

What’s the forum going away but can’t take the coffee machine with me

I quite enjoy the challenge of Airbnb coffee brewing. Espresso beans ground from the local bar in a wee Italian fishing village - actually pretty tasty - certainly better than the guff from the actual machine.

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My wife just showed me a kickstarter for a hand grinder called the “Knob”.
She says it lacks a shaft.

Either that or the Square Mile marketing team sent us the same email at the same time ;)

No good for me unfortunately but I did find a very expensive Aussie version... That has inspired me to go on a decaf safari, I've found three single origin decafs being roasted near me and I'll be going out to get a bag of each one later today!

Ah sorry i assumed you were in the UK!

That’s rad though! Who did you find in Aus? If you’re in Melbourne, St Ali and Seven Seeds would be worth a look if they’re not on your list

Looks pretty cool actually.

As if these grinders are £200-300

I'm sticking to local roasters, got Fonzie Abbott, Industry and Black Lab in Brisbane so far... I did find a very nice sounding single origin Ethiopian decaf down in Melbourne which I may get on mail order, gotta try that... It's difficult to get all the information tho', the same rules don't seem to apply to decaf so you don't always get info on the roast, which I find bloody annoying... Would like to try some lighter roasts but you just don't get the choice with decaf...

Yeah I’d agree on the roasting info - I also prefer a lighter roast and ended up having to do a bit of trial and error to find something I liked

Slightly OT

Anyone know of a contactless way to collect money for office coffee. We were using paypal money pools but it's closing down, and a way which is easier for people to pay would be better. I can't bear having cash. Someone actually gave me a pile of 5ps the other day.

Get a card reader.

Zettle is now owned by Paypal.
https://www.zettle.com/gb/payments/card-reader

Square, Sumup, probably plenty of others. Similar fees for all - about £30 for the reader and then a couple of % per transaction.
Very easy to set up and you can do the admin side from a phone app.

Set up the same for swim session payment for my local tri club. Far easier than accepting coins per person per swim

But then I or someone else needs to be there to accept payment like a cashier, is that right?

Do you use your personal paypal account?

Eye-wateringly expensive. 125g bag

https://shop.3fe.com/product/nicaragua-los-placeres-anaerobic-natural-ethiosar-125g

I linked the club bank account, but I'm sure you could link to your own, or open a free account with someone like Starling

Looks like you can either send links for people to pay without the card reader (but then you could probably just use a payment link straight to the bank account)

Also looks like the card readers now can connect to Wifi and no need to have the phone anymore
https://sumup.co.uk/solo-card-reader/

Also seen Tipjar at places where the reader is stuck to the wall and it's auto set to £3 for example, and you just tap the phone/card to to give a tip.
But fees look pretty high given it's just a glorified card reader
https://www.wearetipjar.com/

though it is simple