Coffee Appreciation

What colour and how much?

It's surprisingly good, my only other experience is with a Gaggia Classic (with the Silvia wand) and commercial machines. It's significantly better than the Classic, and while a bit slower than a commercial machine, the quality is certainly comparable.

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Is that with the stock tip or did you get a single hole one?

Good point, it's a single hole tip. I tried a few aftermarket ones and didn't get on with them, so made my own with an M6 acorn nut with a hole drilled in it.

The aftermarket ones I tried would generally suffer from either leaking steam and/or being a pain to get on or off

Well that's something that doesn't sound too hard to do ...

There may well be some better off the shelf options these days to be fair, though it's nice to have something that's so quick and easy to remove and clean

Edit: wrong thread

Black, £340 forum price? I'm BR7 if you're SE or whatever postage is - still have original box somewhere.

Re the Sage/Breville vs. Gaggia chat, it’s worth considering who will be using the machine. If you want to tinker and faff, Gaggia etc all day long. If you want something that will heat up quickly and be usable by multiple members of the household then get a Sage/Breville. Once the beans are dialled in my wife will happily make herself a milky coffee with the Sage, but no chance would she do that with a more analogue machine like a Gaggia with temp surfing/slow heat up times etc etc. Going for something like a bambino or duotemp and separate grinder shouldn’t make any difference to non coffee nerd usability (once the beans are dialled in) and opens up a load of flexibility for doing filter grinds. If I could go back I wish I’d gone down the Bambino and separate grinder route.

Ha thanks I'd be looking for a white one.

As I'm the only one drinking filter at home we only use the Moccamaster when we have guests so I'm considering selling that and getting an espresso setup again as my wife would like me to be able to make her some milky drinks at home.

Thinking of also selling my Fellow Ode Gen 2 if I go down that route and then getting a Niche Zero. And Profitec Pro 300 combo.

@Tenderloin What did you settle on after selling your Silvia?

I haven’t sold my Silvia. Still need to!

I’m getting a la marzocco linea micra - think it will get reduced in BF so waiting for that.

DF54 to be used with a Sage Bambino and occasionally a filter/drip. Seems to hit a nice price/performance spot. Missing anything?

Kaffeine, Workshop, Prufrock, Colonna & Smalls, Rosslyn, Formative, Origin, Esters

Might not be cheaper than this?

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You should also go to the Algerian coffee store in Soho. It is take away only, but also as far as I know, the only place in London you can actually get espresso coffee served to you for a tolerable price.

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I don’t know how to get that code working!

Good tip, it will be a high caffeine day I expect, so perhaps I could aim to get the dearest and cheapest.

Ace, thanks, good to have these to hand. Some familiar names since 2014!

Just type OPENHOUSE

Hopefully it’s not account specific.

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Given the prep that goes into good espress, surely buying espresso from a cafe is out of the question?

I can’t see them pissing about with distribution tools and level specific tampers and weighing scales.

Or is this all down to a decent barista and good beans and prep

I'm reading this sat in Colonna & Smalls in Bath, I'd trust them to make a good espresso. They made my filter in aeropress.

There's another press on the counter called Delter which is a new one to me.

The WiFi password is pulpednatural

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Depends on where you're going, I worked for a good few years at decent coffee shops and of course frequently make coffee at home so can weigh in here.

This was before WDTs were common, but I imagine the quality of grinder reduces the need for them vs what you'd have at home.

I never bothered with levelling/sprung tampers and think they're a bit of a crutch to be honest, and when you're making 300+ shots per day, you get pretty consistent.

When it comes to weighing scales, this might get done a few times per day (and when initially dialling in) to keep track of the grinder setting changes (changing grind fineness and grind time means you don't keep direct track of dose), which are generally changed throughout as required. Mainly judged by keeping an eye on how the espresso is coming out, as well as a few taster shots to make sure things are staying on track.

But yeah, at home, I'll use a WDT because it helps with my grinder, as well as a spritz of water to mainly keep the area tidy.

In terms of milk-based drinks, I'm fairly sure I could make an equally good coffee with my home setup as a commercial one. When it comes to an espresso, the lack of being able to properly dial in a shot, as well as the reduced thermal stability of my home machine means it's less likely to be so consistent.

Most cafes focus on milk-based drinks, so they'd probably make you meh espresso, but some places like Moonstruck consider espresso its own drink (as they should!) and will go through the whole ordeal of puck prep etc to serve you something delicious. It probably depends on your taste as well though, I know I can find some great fruity espresso but I don't know where to send someone who prefers darker roasts.

It depends where you go. If you go to the right places they will. Also they have the scale to be using beans fresh and dial it in each day

Talk to me...fruity espresso is exactly what I'm looking for!

Also, I gave up making home espresso a while back. So it is a genuine treat, as a change from filter at home and Mokapot at work.