Coffee Appreciation

Latching onto the tamper talk.

I am still using the lightweight magnetic one that fits in my Sage.

Are the sprung ones worth it?

I also need to get a WDT tool, and a dosing funnel (the Ascaso grinder likes to shower grinds all over the place, and loves to hang on to excessive amounts) assume they are all equal?

Can't comment on sprung tampers (I've always stuck with cheap & basic tampers, as long as the feel and fit is good).

Can definitely recommend a WDT tool, made a noticeable difference in consistency. Not sure if it's massively impacted by which grinder you're using, but definitely found a benefit with my Niche Zero.

Same with the dosing funnel, I've got a 51mm basket so was definitely a big benefit with that. I went for a magnetic one, but was still pretty cheap (think around £10-15 or so)

I'm sure you've already thought of this, but is the roast level noticeably different to coffee that you usually use? I tend to stay with the same roast level so I rarely deviate between four or five clicks on my grinder - out of 200sish clicks I think.

I do remember having to move surprisingly far out of that small bracket of settings when I used a very different coffee though - like medium dark.

I'm looking for a nice <£30 small-medium box to sit on the counter next to my coffee machine and grinder that can hold all my gubbins (scale, tamper, wtd etc). Any suggestions? I don't really want one of those bespoke coffee stations but also don't want an ugly B&M plastic box.

Wooden bread bin, wooden rice containers.

Mine lives in an old biscuit tin

Toolbox : )

do you WDT?

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Toyo

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Probably on the light end of medium light, but nowhere beyond the pale. I’m more surprised that there is so little difference to brew time with such big grind changes - doing the same would often choke a shot, and now I’m seeing almost zero difference. I’ll crank it down again this morning and see where I’m at I guess.

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?

Questions are.
How accurate are the scales. Was that 22.00g in, or somewhere within the rounding up/down between 21.05 and 22.05

Does 0.5% to 1% deviation in weight actually matter when the beans aren't all identical, so the ratios of dust/skin/centre will be ever so slightly different with every scoop

The precision of the scale is 0.1g so in theory it's 21.95-22.05g, and it's fairly self-consistent but no idea how accurate.

A 0.1-0.2g deviation in weight doesn't matter I don't think. My question is what's the weight of retained grounds from the previous coffee

I suppose the "easy" way is to dismantle the grinder, clean out any grinds, and start again.
Weigh in and out and that will give you the retention amount.
Repeat a few times for science.

Don't shoot the messenger - I get the science behind it, don't bother with it myself because the Sette is conveniently un-clumpy and my tastebuds not as refined as most here..

@giles I get the same issue with some medium-light roasts - brew gushes through in approximately 20s even at grinds that would choke the machine on a medium roast; would love to hear if you figure out what is causing that.

Sometimes too fine = channeling = the gush

Or run some peppercorns through it, then 22g of beans, then see how spicy my coffee is

Yeah I also suspected that might be the problem, but that makes me then wonder if there are some roasts which are actually not suitable for espresso in that they require a grind so fine that they will always channel?

big brain thinking there.
Peppspresso™

While we're on the subject, any recommendations for a 58mm magnetic dosing funnel? All the cheap ones don't seem to have much actual funnel to them, which surely defeats the object?

Think we have a winner! Thanks for your suggestions all 👍

I really like my Normcore one. Zero complaints. Made well. But the v2 or v2 tall version. The v1 as you say isn't much of a funnel.

As recommended, picked up the Sage off @HatBeard.

Anyone got any tips for the grind settings?

Will be used for now on aeropress, but will be buying my Robot next week I think, which will become the main apparatus at home.

I'm not looking for award winning quality cups, just a decent cup at home.

This will mostly be with medium roast fyi. Not a fan of overly light or overly dark roasts.

Love how this is progressing! Wonderful little forum bubble!

Robot owner here too, they are fantastic, you won't regret it. I would suggest getting a spare shower screen just in case and the silicon plug for preheating when you order as postage is quite high for accessories later on! Pre heating isn't totally necessary with dark beans but I think it is worthwhile when dealing with lighter roasts. Oh and get the hands!

Grind settings - find the one that gives you your preferred extraction (easy to start with 1:2 bean to brew ratio by weight) in about 30s as a starting point, then adjust up and down based on taste preferences. How exactly the adjustments affect taste I leave for those with finer palates than mine, but generally finer = longer extraction, more bitter/body, and coarser = shorter extraction, less bitter/more bright.

This is a very tasty coffee:

https://www.ancoats-coffee.co.uk/store/coffee/single-origin/damo-ethiopia/