Coffee Appreciation

And then there’s the issue that if you’re known as the family coffee person, you’re probably going to be given a load of coffee you don’t want.

I'm drinking the result of this now and I'm not enjoying it! Such a dark roast and I don't have an espresso machine. Tried a couple V60s with milk and the results are really something I'd like to never drink again.

Anyone here enjoy dark roast shiny beans and want about 500g of this posted to them?

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I'll happily take a punt on that! I only drink espresso and do prefer a darker roast over the more popular (these days) lighter beans 👍

Sweet, PM me your address and I'll send them over.

The YB is a surprisingly dark looking bean (I say bean rather than dark roast) but gives a really good drink.

Yes big +1 on this - it's one of the best decafs I've tried and definitely the best for espresso.

Beans are indeed surprisingly dark looking, but don't let that put you off!

Any recommendations of roasters in the Putney/Wandsworth/Clapham area? Google offers me Arise and Sendero, if anyone knows anything of either, or somewhere better?

Happy donkey were my go-to, but keep jacking up both postage and bean prices so figure I may as well cut at least one out by going local… I tried a few from Horsham but they were a little fruity for my tastes.

James Gourmet

Finally picked some up. Only had a couple shots of the Chapin Blend – Los Amigos but really enjoying it. At £20/kg it’s top drawer.

The Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Bule Adado is also great and not too wild at £7/250g. Might just be the benefit of trying a new roaster, and drinking Union for the last month or so, but it is nice to make coffee feel special again by having some average (but totally drinkable) beans for a while.

I had the bule recently. It was very good (I've had a lot of James Gourmet beans I've the years. A friend of mine uses him as his main supplier).

parents ascaso grinder has died after many years daily service, was mine before i gave it to them so they want to buy a new grinder for espresso only and does not need to be a high end £1000 grinder, will be used with a gaggia and needs to be easy to use, the control on the ascaso had no markings and my mum tended to not tweak it and the coffee was a bit hit and miss so i'm. thinking of the sage barista one with the screen mainly as i might be able to persuade her to twist the nob a bit finer or coarser if the coffee comes through fast or slow.
anything else out there worth a look? i guess £2-250?

I still love my Mignon (Silenzio)
Bit of retention but not bad
Nice and quiet
Small footprint
2.5 years in (I think) and no issues
A bit more than budget, but that’s the way we swing around here

I could buy one in anticipation of an espresso machine in the future (gaggia classic is in bits at the moment) and give them my sage as we have a Wilfa for filter but work on new flat means no buying of trinkets for a while

Descaling last night. The distribution puck in my Gaggia is well past its best and really needs replacing. The side that presses against the boiler was so heavily pitted there’s no way it was sealing and I figured there was probably water forcing around the sides affecting my shots. While it was out, I gave it a quick lap on some 400-grit followed by 1200. This morning: pulled a dreadful shot. Argh!

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Wow! That looks bad

Yeah I think I stopped noticing how bad it's got! Good time to ask for a reminder - who is it that makes the stainless steel and brass replacements?

Yeah, that doesn't look very happy at all 😢

I'm surprised it got that bad in the first place but definitely needs replacing.

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Lol. It's 15 years old and been in daily use. Just the ravages of time.

I you do get a replacement, check the hole bore/pattern. Heard some third party ones are a bit shite with restricted flow due to the design.

Yeah I can see the cheaper no-name brass ones have smaller holes. If I get one of those ones I was planning to open them up to the correct diameter.

Naturally - forgot about the workshop access, apologies.

No experience of this model myself but it is for sale on here: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/381025/#comment16858423

That’s a nice price

nice but more the kind of thing i would buy, I think they are ordering the sage which will probably be just right as the display is easy to follow and the big grind adjust knob on the side is way easier than the one on the ascaso as you had no idea of which way to adjust it or how much.
Folks are in their 70's so dont want fiddly things to use.

Having waited patiently for an Ode 2 on pre-order parcel force yesterday managed to deliver it to the wrong address somewhere random in north west London....

It’s a really nice looking grinder. Neat and simple.

Shades seems to be the go-to place for parts, mods etc for all things Gaggia and they have very good prices on both the brass and stainless. Never bought directly from them myself (though my Classic has their PID installed) but going by their fame I'd trust neither should need any fettling to work as good as it can 👍

https://www.shadesofcoffee.co.uk/gaggia-classic-pro---stainless-steel-dispersion-plate-shower-screen-holder-oem-58mmx145mm

Received my Ode Gen 2 yesterday and so happy with it, super nice and easy to use, quite the upgrade vs the Wilfa Svart