Coffee Appreciation

What's the big fuss about making espresso at home? Why not make really good stovetop coffee? Or filter? Or french press?

Kinds that are much easier and cheaper to get great results from at home, and equally good but in a different way

also gives you the treat of espresso when you're out n aboot

that's a bit like saying why drink beer at home, why not drink cider…

Have espresso machine, cone filters, stovetop at home and I make what tickles my fancy at any given point during the day and I can make a better espresso at home than any of the high street chains

A well-made coffee out and about still makes me smile

.....A well-made coffee out and about still makes me smile

trufax

that's a bit like saying why drink beer at home, why not drink cider…

Have espresso machine, cone filters, stovetop at home and I make what tickles my fancy at any given point during the day and I can make a better espresso at home than any of the high street chains

A well-made coffee out and about still makes me smile

Beer is just as good out of a bottle as on tap / pump / gravity, no? #wrongthread

If you got all the bits to make great espresso at home it makes perfect sense to do so, i just don't get the cheaper options way to do it. If you don't have really good kit, you'll really struggle to make great espresso. So why spend £100-200-300 on half decent espresso kit when you can spend tenners on fantastic filter coffee kit?

realises each to their own, longs for stovetop at home, goes back to work

I'ma fan of the Bialetti moka.

Probably not the best coffee in the world, but Whittards 'Guatamala elephant' makes me happy inside.

Though I can quite easily drink the whole 6-cup lot without care. And also without sleep for the rest of the night.

Coffee shop coffee though, I am quite partial to Costa's Flat White. Yumm

that's a bit like saying why drink beer at home, why not drink cider…

Have espresso machine, cone filters, stovetop at home and I make what tickles my fancy at any given point during the day and I can make a better espresso at home than any of the high street chains

A well-made coffee out and about still makes me smile

this ^
you just need to know where all the good coffee shops are.
luckily i have dose, brill, espresso room and beas all within a few minutes from where i often work. allthough i have now taken my spare gaggia to the studio i frequent the most.

the chains can go swivel, their coffee is shite.

^ Word.

I am usually based on site at the Olympic Park for work, but my head office is in the middle of the Beas/Espresso Rooms/Brill triangle.
It is not unheard of for me to come up with lame reasons to work out of the head office just for the sake of a nice cup of bitter liquid silk. Lame reasons like, erm, I need some more staples.

Beer is just as good out of a bottle as on tap / pump / gravity, no? #wrongthread

Bollox.

is saying

"Beer can be just as good out of a bottle as on tap / pump / gravity, no?"

less bollox? I've had some great ale and bitter from bottle, well on par with pints from pumps / gravity

Yes, ish.

yeh problem with stovetop is drinking too much, gotta get some longer roasted stuff like the italians go for. less caffeine, apparently. 12 cup pot will still give you the shakes (and worse), though.

^ Word.

I am usually based on site at the Olympic Park for work

http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/venue/2:26619/container-cafe

Square Mile beans on a La Marzocco, apparently.

Anyone tried using a camping stove for a stovetop? I want to use my stovetop at work but the propane gas torch we use isn't ideal and can't reliably be placced underneath a stovetop without blowing it up!

I know it's possible as I saw a guy (in France, of course) sitting outside the gallery that he was invidulating with a laptop on a table and a little camping stove brewing up some coffee in a moka pot!

Anyway, the question is: does anyone have a good suggestion of a cheap camping stove that works well and won't take 3 hours for the coffee to brew?

When we had the kitchen re fitted I used a camping stove to make stove top coffee for two weeks with no problem

So any of the camping stoves will do the trick? What I don't want to do is buy a really cheap stove and then find that the cost of running it with the gas canisters is actually more than my heating bill!

I used this.

i got a msr whisperlite international that's great, runs on anything

the problem / great thing is that you get quite a flame when you pre-heat it, at least when you use petrol

espresso room have some offers on at the moment for an aeropress and bag of coffee plus a coffee subscription which is likely to be from various different roasters (they had hasbean kicker and some square mile in stock when i went in)

currently drinking the square mile Takengon Aceh, wanted to try the Chimaltenago but they were out of stock.

I'm trying Monmouths Wih Bakong – Silih Nara from Indonesia at the moment. Must say it's not wowing me.. But then that might be just down to my particular taste or just the stove top.. Clean sweet taste.. Just get a bitter after taste.. I am very careful of my grind and brew (boiling water and cold towel)..

as nice as these different coffee's are i still compare them to the standard monmouth espresso which is my favourite.

Love the Balmaadi.. Just fancied a change.. Also a massive fan of the Gethumbwini Estate dark roast.. bomcup gave me the nod on both and I wasn't let down

If the Sumatra Wih Bakong is not floating your boat, get into the Ethiopia Sidamo Shilcho, just in the shops this week. It's another natural process coffee (like the sumatra) but this one is super sweet, pungent blueberry jam. Great for brewed coffee and flattys.

I'll be at 7 dials tomorrow.. :)

I have both of those stoves above. The blue one eats gas, but is fast - not good for simmer. But it was £5 with 2 cannisters, usually 2-4-£5.

The Whisperlite was £80, but the fuel lasts ages in comparison, though is relatively phaffy to use.

So depends how much use you're going to give it I guess.