Coffee Appreciation

You’ll get an Iberital MC2 for that budget too, but a lot of people have commented that it’s difficult to adjust it from filter to espresso and vice versa

It’s really one or the other. MC2 doesn’t make the greatest filter either tbh (plenty fines).

I scored a Mazzer Super Jolly off here for under £100 which I use for espresso and a hand grinder for filter.

I think MC2 and a timore c2 hand grinder is a great combo tbh and perfectly doable for £150. That or just spend all the cash on a hand grinder.

I picked up a gaggia mdf about a year ago for £80. Probably could have got it cheaper but I was desperate at the time. I really enjoy the coffee it grinds.

Got bought a Wilfa Svart for my birthday by my wife so I need to get rid of my forum favourite Krups.

The grounds collector will get a run through the dishwasher tonight and I'll give the unit itself a good scrub too before collection.

£15 sound ok?

Based in N16 for collection.

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Ethiopian decaf from 36th Parallel in Melbourne turned up yesterday, VERY dark roast, I would say a whisker away from tasting completely burnt...

Crema in the espresso was incredibly bitter, the shot itself was drinkable but a lot of burnt notes came through... Worked much better with the Aeropress...

Still looking for a true medium roast decaf, lemme know what you've found!

I know coffee tasting is fairly subjective but does anyone else find Ethiopian coffee to have an overly fermented almost rum/liqueur flavour?
The last few months I've had several bags of coffee, all with wildly different tasting notes, that I've really not enjoyed due to the aforementioned fermentyness. I was scratching my head trying to find a common denominator when I realised they had all been Ethiopian.
Does anyone else find this with Ethiopian coffees or have I just been particularly unlucky with my bean selection?

Did you just happen to buy natural process Ethiopians every time rather than washed? A boozy berry liqueur taste is pretty common in those, but then I enjoy that myself and it's often present in natural coffees from other countries, not just Ethiopia. Maybe you just have a preference for washed coffee?

Now that I look back at my order history, that does seem to be the case. I hadn't realised that made such a difference to the flavour. I'll bear that in mind next time I order, thanks for the tip.

Are there such a thing as 250ml oat barista style milks? I don’t want to open litre cartons for the very occasional drink

Especially when it takes 4 shots to dial in!

Don’t let it put you off Ethiopian coffee – a washed one can be one of the most clean, pleasant, tea-like examples of coffee. I can’t stand naturals.

How do people dial in grind for their Moccamasters? try and get a decent extraction from a v60 and go with the same setting?

Looking for some recommendations/detective work here. A while ago I had a pour over from a shop that tasted distinctly of spices/Lotus Biscoffs/those German biscuits you eat at Christmas. It was great. I can't remember where it was from now and any search for "coffee" + "spices" or "ginger" etc just brings up coffee with ginger added to it which is not what I'm after. Any ideas of where I could start to try and find a coffee with similar characteristics?

Ethiopian coffee to have an overly fermented almost rum/liqueur flavour?

I used an Ethiopian Natural for my coffee wine a few years back iirc. It worked out brilliantly.

I've got to say, I've only had the Wilfa Svart for 5 days but it's been amazing.

I always felt my coffee at home was pretty decent, but I knew it could be a lot better. The big change is that consistency, before I felt like I'd get excellent coffee every now and again but the rest of the time it was decent. Fair enough it's only been 5 days, but each day the coffee has tasted almost exactly the same and it's been excellent.

I'm grinding much finer than I could before and I feel like I'm already at a point where I can actually start playing around with varying weight and fine adjustments on the grind size.

It's made me very excited.

Nice! Yeah getting a good grinder is probably the best thing you can do to increase the quality of the coffee you make (IMO). It may not be as fancy & shiny as a new espresso machine but I'd say a damn sight more important.

I always felt my coffee at home was pretty decent, but I knew it could be a lot better. The big change is that consistency, before I felt like I'd get excellent coffee every now and again but the rest of the time it was decent. Fair enough it's only been 5 days, but each day the coffee has tasted almost exactly the same and it's been excellent

That's pretty much how I'd describe the improvement bought by my Sage Dose Control. Good coffee isn't just a once or twice a week thing for me now...it's every day!

Nice! Yeah getting a good grinder is probably the best thing you can do to increase the quality of the coffee you make (IMO). It may not be as fancy & shiny as a new espresso machine but I'd say a damn sight more important.

This is is very true but it's one of those things where no matter how many times somebody with good coffee knowledge says it, you don't really realise how right they are until you notice it for yourself.

I thought the Krups I'm selling above wasn't a bad grinder, people on here often talked about it being a good value for money entry level burr grinder for non-espresso coffee drinks. Not knowing any better I've been using that for a number of years, assuming the inconsistency in my coffee drink was because I was using a French Press, even though I've been using the "Hoffmann method" for some time.

Over lockdown and during my long stretch of unemployment I started watching a lot more of his videos and other coffee videos on youtube and I realised that actually what I was getting out of that grinder was not as consistent as I thought and was nowhere near as fine as he was suggesting to grind for FP and Aeropress.

It wasn't really a problem that I absolutely needed solving but I was intrigued, how much better would my coffee taste if I did everything else the same, but just ground finer and more consistently?

£120 the grinder cost, it's hard to put a value on the level of enjoyment increase, but I'd say I'm now enjoying my cup of coffee as much as if I'd bought a good single origin pour over in a good coffee shop. At £4-5 a pop in London, after 30 coffees I think I'll have got my money's worth (if you factor in I was paying for everything else anyway).

Another way of looking at it is if this lasts 5 years, then it will cost 6.5p/day. I am definitely getting 6.5p worth of extra enjoyment out of the coffee I drink every day.

Enough of my musings.

I think the grinder was actually cheaper because I found a website doing a really good deal, I think it was £105 including delivery.

So more like 26 coffees or 5.7p/day for 5 years.

Absolutely, one of the main reasons I'm set on not going back into the office is the cost of my coffee habit. Even though it's not London prices (though not far off!), I can easily spend £10/day on coffee.

Next up you'll be roasting your own beans! (think my roaster paid for itself in less than 6 months!)

There's definitely part of it where people think "Just how different can a grinder be?" due to the relative complexity of grinders vs espresso machines (or even drip machines).

But I'm fairly sure most of it is down to "But I want the shiny thing!"

As someone with a Wilfa Svart shaped parcel under the tree, I am excited to hear this.

I think when I've had some Indonesian coffees in the past I remember these flavours being noticeable, so maybe see if any roasters you like are doing anything from e.g. Sulawesi or Java and check the flavour notes in the description?

You know, I'd rather roast my own beans than switch to V60/Chemex. If I switch to pour over then I'll convince myself I need a gooseneck kettle, I'll spend time working on pouring techniques, when to bloom, when to swirl. I'd rather spend that time trying roasting.

Not going to happen while I live in a flat though, also I think I've got enough time sucking hobbies already!!

Any of you svart-fans using one with an espresso machine?
I've been using an unmodified svart at finest setting for an 18g shot of gaggia classic
Tastes good to me but I'm just an amateur. What am I missing with such a coarse grind?