Coffee Appreciation

Luckily that's exactly the same steam tip that's included 😁

Got water inside my hario scale and it looks like it's knackered. Any other recommendations before I just by another one, not looking to spend mega dollar on a scale though.

Nice! Still can't believe they still ship them with 3-hole tips. Didn't keep mine for long but I recall it being pretty useless. Moving to a single-hole makes such a difference.

Enjoying aeropress at work. Have tried the JH method today, which will need some dialling in, but excited about the process. Haven’t had that for ages! Need to grind coarser currently but otherwise a fine cup.

Enjoying aeropress

I've given up on my dream of the Robot espresso machine, don't think I'll use it enough to get a fancy grinder etc. my espresso mugs will remain just an ornament!

Anyhoo, anyone got any tips for really light roasts using aerorpress? My usual (inverted, metal filter) tastes really really acidicy. More so than when I try the Moka pot.

Such a good setup for work. I'm yet to start grinding coffee in the work kitchen though, maybe something I should start this year now that no one bats an eyelid when I use the aeropress in work

I have been grinding (porlex) and brewing with an aeropress for close to four years now at two different work places. I don't overload on caffeine and get something that tastes much nicer than the sludge from the communal machines - can't recommend highly enough.

Away for a couple of weeks in Malaysia and decided to try out the bodum french press cup thing. As all I realistically have to work with is boiling water so it's that or an aeropress. Passable results so far with something I can't remember the name of from YB, ground at home before setting off.

Tried Boiling (or as close to as possible) water, finer grind, inverted method and allow longer for extraction?

What grinder? Some grinders are better with dark roasts than others

Not sure if single dosing is the issue - do you WDT? I don't, but reason I ask is shots can vary widely based on distribution if your grinder clumps so that can explain back to back inconsistency, whereas lack of purging will not be an issue if you are brewing back to back and you weigh output.

Yeah I do have a WDT and I use it. I weigh beans in, not out, but logically my average weight out must equal average weight in. Maybe I'll try weighing both when I have another coffee to see what the variance is like

Yeah when you have retention then weight out =/= weight in because different amounts get retained each time. Maybe the blower/sweeping grinds out might be the answer you're looking for.

22.0g in, 22.1-22.2g out. But I don't think that tells me very much. The grinder can't retain grounds forever - there's only so much space inside, so on average once all the nooks and crannies are filled I'm always going to get 22.0g on average. Question is how much of the 22.1g that came out is from the previous coffee?

I've done a little experiment before with light roast and dark roast and it's clear that some of it is retained because I can see the colour difference with my eyes. But I can't measure it easily... I might try one of the blower things

Anyone got a Cafelat Robot?

I see you already had some responses but I’ll add mine to the glowing reviews.

I have the robot paired with a Lagom mini grinder. Love the setup and I get consistent shots each day.

If you go for the robot I’d recommend getting the pressurised basket as well as the normal portafilter and the additional hands for the machine. I use the pressurised basket to pre-heat the piston while I prep in the portafilter basket. Just fill the pressurised basket with boiling water and let the weight of the hands pull the hot water through to heat the piston.

The hands also help with pulling the shot, bear in mind that to pull a shot you’ll be pushing about 18kg of downforce so without some way of spreading the pressure it can be uncomfortable first thing in the morning.

Clean down is as simple as running everything under the hot tap and leaving to dry. No descale cycles, no flushing, just a tap and perhaps a bit of kitchen towel if needed to wipe the basket if it hasn’t dried before your next shot.

Maintenance is to apply some supplied something to the gasket. I’ve never done this in over three years of daily use so for me maintenance is nil and the tube of whatever it is is still sat in the cupboard with some other spare silicon bits that came with the machine.

Really light roasts by there very nature are going to be acidic. You can grind finer but probably best using slighter darker roast. Unless it's a coffee you know and enjoy then a fiber grind/longer steep should do it!

The timemore one can be had off aliexpress

Very useful replys here, thanks all.

I don't have a grinder, but I think I'm going to have to get one now for that level of control. Thanks for the tips.

A grinder is definitely a step up! A lot of people like the timemore, and it is what I will get if I ever need to replace my Porlex.

be careful to check the actual seller on aliexpress. I recently ordered a Timemore hand grinder, they took my money and pretended to deliver, then I entered to a surreal world of being asked to prove it had not been delivered. I gave up of course. All I have for my money is a load of spam emails asking if I want something to go along with the grinder I had "bought". Classy.

Did you pay on credit card?

ah yes, thank you, had written it off in my head after the annoyance subsided (slightly). Will see if I can muster the effort. NB - this one was a present, I already have a latest model C2, and it is excellent. Will order another (from Amazon....).

Never bought anything from aliexpress and tbh it looks like a bit of a mess, there's loads of sellers and they all seem to be around the 40 euro mark?

There's a few on sale on coffee sites for under 60 euros, I'd probably pay extra to avoid aliexpress.

I’ve bought a few Timemore bits from AE - looks like the basic scales are half the price there than on Amazon. Never had issues tbh, so would recommend it

Having a weird experience with a washed Colombian from Cast Iron - using my usual 18g in 40g out I have stepped my grind down from a 11ish to a 4 on the Niche Zero - shot time not changed at all. I’m using a spring tamper, so could change the spring and tamp harder, I’m just surprised that such a drastic change in grind size isn’t having any effect at all, 40g pulling in about 22-24s compared to the 30s I’d go for.

There is a lot of volume in the grinds, very fluffy, and similarly in the pulled shot - very crema-y. There’s some sweetness there but feel like the coffee definitely has more to offer.

Thoughts, before I put a heavier spring in my tamper?