Coffee Appreciation

This got delivered today, looking forward to working from home tomorrow! Got a couple of bags from JGC on the way too to celebrate/test/nerd out 👌

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Gaggia Ruby question (and/or general pro machine) - a couple of times when turning the machine on in the morning after ~10 minutes then continuous coffee button will activate on its own.

Just wondering if this indicative of an issue? Maybe the machine trying to relieve boiler pressure?

Right here's something I've been thinking about recently and I'm not getting conclusive answers from googling.

Adjusting grind for quantity of brew.

Should I be grinding coarser and/or changing the ratio when making larger batch brew quantity?

250ml vs 500ml vs 1L

Generally speaking, no. But can depend on your brew method - if it's pourover, your flow rate is going to drop with the increased amount of coffee, which can lead to over-extraction if you don't bump up the grind size a bit.

How are you finding it? And where did you order from?

I vary grind loads when doing small vs big with the Moccamaster. Grind for 330ml is way finer than for 1lt, otherwise the litre is over extracted and nasty. Sticking to 60g/L there aren't any other variable so makes sense

Ok good guidance, thanks

Yeah I think this is what I'm experiencing, but it's hard to work out how much to vary the grind size by for the different amounts of coffee I'm brewing

I rarely do anything other than 330ml so it's a bit finger in the air for more. Recently settled on backing-off the Made By Knock three full turns, whatever that means. Maybe it was two... I dunno. Guests get sub-standard filter

Bought from the df64coffee website directly and enjoying it so far! Came from a 1Zpresso JX-Pro which is a really good grinder, but ginding manually for espresso had become a bit old for me eventually, especially since my girlfriend's gone decaf (which needs a much finer grind).

It's fast (DF64 users might argue it's quite a bit slower but still only ~15secs), it looks good, no retention, easy to adjust and not very noisy.

I was skeptical about the whole flat vs conical thing/how different grinders can make the same coffee taste different but got to admit I was surprised. I'd been drinking the same coffee for quite some time (bought a big 2kg bag and defrosting as I go) and once I dialled it in I was surprised as you could notice a difference, which to my palate was an improvement. This was confirmed by a very much non scientific side by side test with a JX Pro shot. Nothing night and day, but it's definitely there.

Wins all round!

Nice one, I'm stuck on filter since selling my gaggia so can't compare.

I usually just brew 200-250 ml for myself at home (mokkapot or V60) and using the same grind size for around 500 ml V60 yielded a horrible tasting cup. Definitely will grind coarser next time - or just use the french press, which needs a much coarser grind anyway.

The mokkapot doesn't take too kindly to upping the dose either.

Sounds really interesting, thanks for the review. What was the all-in cost after importing?

It was £189 plus 35 postage, so £224 in total. I preordered so took a few weeks for it to ship, but once it did it took under a week I think, so it should be quite quick and painless if they’re in stock. Similar experience to buying direct from 1Zpresso as I remember it.

Is there a travel cup out there that will keep my coffee warm for an hrs commute but not make it taste awful. I currently have a kinto but its still scalding when I want to drink it and I find the metal/plastic combo taints the taste.
Ideally it would be a Porcelain internal with some protective outer casing if such a thing existed.

https://uk.frankgreen.com/products/stainless-steel-reusable-cup

This does the job for me

Just make sure you leave the lid off or keep the drinking bit open when storing, otherwise they go smelly and weird.

On the same subject - travel mugs that are actually nice to drink out of?
Nothing makes coffee less enjoyable than delivering it to your mouth through some weird spring loaded aperture.

Thanks for the tip.....I haven't noticed it yet so I must have been doing that

On other forums I’ve seen the Zojirushi insulated mugs be recommended.

I've had one of these for years, seems durable and fits in a bottle cage snugly which is a plus. I only drink black coffee though so no milk smells 😬. I got mine from Dunelm, various other UK retailers stock I think.

https://aladdin-sustain.com/products/urban-thermavac-stainless-steel-travel-mug-0-3-5-l

I'm convinced the answer to that is ultimately 'no'. Every single travel cup I've ever used has given coffee a weird taste. Including the one I thought would be best, the Fellow Carter. But same thing.

I wonder if the Ember Travel Mug would work for you? Pricey, but if it does what it says...

What about a glass keepcup?

Carrying a not spill-proof glass keepcup full of coffee on a commute is a total pain in the ass and borderline dangerous on a moving train if you're standing and holding it. If you take a bump and spill it on someone... oof.

Drink your coffee at home or in a cafe, carrying a mug around all day seems ridiculous and unnecessary to me.