Coffee Appreciation

people at nude got offended when we asked for 4 sugars,
they didn't understand out coffee and sugar high plan we had for that day.
otherwise always a good cupa

how does the 12th of April sound with people. it is Easter sunday, so i don't know if many people are celebrating the day that jesus was reborn, or died for our sins or passover. i can't remember exactly what he did and what we're celebrating but i'm sure it is fantastic.

anyway. 12th of april. if not that it's going to be like sunday 3rd of may or later.

12th Apr: Paris-Roubaix and Retro Jersey Ride

oops. should have looked at that. sometime in may it is then

We are probably buying a burr grinder. Looking at Rancilio Rocky Doserless. Anyone got any thoughts?

Great grinder. Used mine daily for a few years and its still like new. Grinds come out a bit lumpy with espresso but I think that's the same with most doserless grinders.

Still good for espresso tho'?

i've got one and it's good. doserless is probably better.

can probably get an old mazzer off t'bay for the same price, mind.

Which Mazzer? All the ones that I can find are way out of our budget.

The Rancilio we're looking at is 2nd hand.

any really. the mini mazzer or super jolly tend to go for about 100/120 on t'bay but if you're buying your rocky second hand too then i dunno how much you're looking at. less than that for sure.

the best thing about the rocky i've found is that its dead easy to go from 'spro to french press grind consistency really quickly.

wow, if I can get a mazzer mini for £120 ill sell you my rocky cheap. Rocky's great, used it almost exclusively for espresso, but its no mazzer!

I just used my hand grinder for an espresso and it worked perfectly - awesome tiger-striping, great head of crema and the taste wasn't bad either - even though I was using ordinary beans, rather than espresso ones.

Hand grinder = £4 off eBay = epic win

That said, I would be tempted by an Iberital MC2 from Happy Donkey. Only £100 and it has a doser too.

http://www.cilio.de/ epic photoshop fail

http://www.cilio.de/ epic photoshop fail

weirdly enough i just imported some stuff from that company a few weeks ago. i didn't see that mouuuuustache mind

you got a stainless steel stovetop espresso ting? if so, how much is it?

Taylors Of Harrogate - Lazy Sunday, probably my favourite supermarket blend. Proper mellow. Enjoying a mug of it now.

have just opened my second bag of monmouth espresso ground coffee and it seems they (or their machine) is inconsistent. put the normal amount in the portafilter and did the usual tamp (currently using a glass that's the right size) and the shot started coming through instantly and blonded very quickly.
did another shot with a bigger dose and a bit more pressure on refitting the portafilter and it was much better.
i think they used the same machine for each bag purchased 2 weeks apart (the one on the right as you face the counter at the borough shop)
just seems a bit odd? or is it because the coffee is a different batch?

you got a stainless steel stovetop espresso ting? if so, how much is it?

nah, i got a bunch of those pour over cups, they were really good quality though.

I have the same problem sometimes - the first batch I had from Monmouth was perfect - great consistency and texture and the flavour and crema was excellent, but the last lot I bought blonded within ten seconds and flowed much too quickly.

I think the difference is something to do with the grinder, in that you can get 'worm' grinders which can be adjusted much more finely, and 'notch' grinders that have specific settings for grinds. The worm one can be adjusted with more precision, but it's harder to get the same grind consistently, while the notch grinders are much more consistent, but not as fine tunable...

I'm having similar problems with monmouth's espresso blend - can't get anywhere near as good a shot as with my usual Angerian Coffee Co's Formula Rossa - it seems to need a coarser grind for the same tamp, but I cant seem to get the consistancy...think I'll be back to Formula Rossa next time!

have just opened my second bag of monmouth espresso ground coffee and it seems they (or their machine) is inconsistent. put the normal amount in the portafilter and did the usual tamp (currently using a glass that's the right size) and the shot started coming through instantly and blonded very quickly.
did another shot with a bigger dose and a bit more pressure on refitting the portafilter and it was much better.
i think they used the same machine for each bag purchased 2 weeks apart (the one on the right as you face the counter at the borough shop)
just seems a bit odd? or is it because the coffee is a different batch?

ground espresso, in general, will be really really hard to get consistent unless you're dealing in tiny batches. it's just because the coffee will deteriorate really quickly once it's ground.

MrSmith: Having your own grinder makes a big difference. I now grind just enough for a basket before each coffee.

Who wants this? :)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COFFEE-BIKE-not-VAN-WITH-FRACINO-MACHINE-AND-GRINDER_W0QQitemZ120401664053QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_BOI_Restaurant_RL?hash=item120401664053&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1688|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

ground espresso, in general, will be really really hard to get consistent unless you're dealing in tiny batches. it's just because the coffee will deteriorate really quickly once it's ground.

but if the time after grinding is the same the speed of the shot coming through was massively different. the first batch of coffee used the same dose/tamp pressure after opening the bag as the second bag purchased 2 weeks later.
which suggests variations in grind or bean not ground coffee ageing after grinding.

Hi ,

can anyone suggest a good mail order place for freshly roasted coffee beans? My friend uses has bean and says they've gone a bit poor. Alternatively, a very cheap way of roasting beans at home - I seem to remember seeing a stove top roaster here?