Coffee Appreciation

aforgado

NOW YA TALKIN'!!!! this is heaven on earth.

NOW YA TALKIN'!!!! this is heaven on earth.

ooooh teddy, you're so continental…

:^]

where would we be without cwooffeeeeee

NOW YA TALKIN'!!!! this is heaven on earth.

with a pastel de nata on the side.

with a pastel de nata on the side.

what a combination, shame most places that have de natas are portuguese

what a combination, shame most places that have de natas are portuguese

and have shite coffee?

they sell them in the eagle pub as their only dessert, unfortunately their coffee is terrible, done in a stovetop that just gets left to boil away and the coffee is always burnt.

coffee in restaurants is nearly always rubbish. Moro do a decent brew though.

yeah, the portugeuse are a bit like the italians where they have a weird fascination with brands and believe that XYZ brand is the best. in italy there are a whole bunch of different roasters where as in portugal there are only a handful and Delta are the biggest by a long, long way. obviously the whole thing is stupid because it's all about who's making the coffee.
i THINK that fernandez and wells sell ne datas, or at least they use to. there's a place just off brick lane, name escapes me, but they might do them as well, both serve monmoth to a pretty high standard.

i use to work right by this portugeuse bakery in vauxhall. good cakes, backed hard.

yeah, the portugeuse are a bit like the italians where they have a weird fascination with brands and believe that XYZ brand is the best.

my Italian friend who lives in barcelona travels half way across the city because there is a cafe that uses illy. strange behavior. :-)

I had a cup of Illy in a cafe near a canoe hire place in Herefordshire. Helpful aren't I. It was actually really good, they must have just opened a fresh tin cos that shit goes off within hours, but this shouted good Colombia dark fruit niceness.

Hoff is catching up ;-)

Spend all my time trying to 'give good head' and now I'm told it's shit. Damn you coffee geeks, damn you!

No more Latte Art then?

Hows your espresso and your machine doing Hip?

Spend all my time trying to 'give good head' and now I'm told it's shit. Damn you coffee geeks, damn you!
When it comes to things like the taste of coffee and design of a bike you have to trust yourself.

I have always disliked the taste of crema so I'm having a ball ;-)

No more Latte Art then?

One way to save the day would be to mix the shot (skimmed or not) with a little milk before pouring:

Compared to:

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Hows your espresso and your machine doing Hip?

I've been thinking about other stuff recently so coffee's on the backburner a bit. Also, I drink less of it when it's hot. For a mad iced-coffee fan I really should try some of these cold recipes!
The machine is still doing a good job for my morning espresso/cinos although I still haven't got around to installing a single-hole wand tip and my steaming leaves a lot to be desired so no more latte "art" from me :). Using the Gaggia with Silvia tip at work craps over the Bezzera at home when the holes are unblocked.

Got some of these..

and..

cos this bloke seemed to know what he was talking about. I've not read it yet though.

I'm sure my experimenting will ramp up again once it cools down and I'm doing less cycling trips. It would be nice if I had a benchmark to aim for too so I really should make an effort to get to some good cafes, taste test and try and replicate it.

Woohoo new toy!

La Peppina by FE-AR Milan circa early 70s. Non pressurised kettle so perfect temperature control, and spring lever for nice declining pressure curve. Makes nice espresso and eye-candy.

i am on the worst coffee come down ever right now.

Got hold of a Zassenhaus grinder on eBay over the weekend for £20. God knows why - it's not like I need one.

Haven't had an espresso in weeks - probably months. Filter coffee has been awesome - nice selection of Gethumbwini, Quebradon, Sumatra and some Costa Rican stuff I can't pronounce the name of that tastes wicked...

bombcup.. it might be eye candy without the probe attached to it :P

I've got a bag of Waitrose Monsoon Malabar and some Coffee Buzz from the little Broadgate cafe to tide me over until I get to Monmouth or order some Square Mile.

there is a latte art throw down at the squaremile roastery tomorrow at 7pm.

although all the entry places have gone people are still welcome to come, get drunk and heckle those trying to win the prize money.

i am also mc'ing the event.

I've still not got a single-hole nozzle for the Bezzera so my attempts at "art" (ha!) have stopped.
I might have a lookylook but methinks I will be giving up my non-drinking after 2 days and watching le tour on City Road.

i am also mc'ing the event.

...and the lord jeebus quietly wept...

so how did hippy and BDW get on with the brazilian from monmouth (kindly given to me by bombcup) it's not available yet so i guess he will be interested to know what a punter thinks.
having 3 kinds of coffee is all well and good but i can't handle drinking 3 on the trot so have to try them in isolation. all i can say is they taste good but would be hard pushed to rate one above the other. the square mile that BDW gave me was very fine so i had to lower the dose with very little tamping.

I finally got the single-hole tip I need for the Bezzera.. same effect as the one I fitted to the Gaggia.. the milk finishes up 100x better!

Pulsar/Leva Single Hole Steam Tip from: http://www.bellabarista.co.uk/coffeespareparts/proddetail.asp?prod=80&cat=34

I've been drinking your stuff Smithy and I'm the same re: lack of side-to-side comparisons. I've almost used it all so won't get to compare with another directly. It has been nice but I think I prefer the blend still. The grind you did works really well with my machine though.. better than the Buzz stuff I was using which blasts through too fast and has to be ground a couple of steps finer than Monmouth's. I've also started drinking more espresso which may go some way to explain my thinking that the blend is sweeter.. I might've just had more 'cinos with it! :)