Coffee Appreciation

There's a coffee blog somewhere that talks about coffee & sugar, and the effect of sugar on the taste. Anyway, in it I think it discussed Italian coffee as being improved with sugar. I'm yet to try this.

/csb

^ Colonna & Smalls' blog?

^ yeah, that'd be the one, it's a while since I read it but it was prompted by chat with them.

http://colonnaandsmalls.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/sugar/
This one?

Well I used my 6 cup stove top today and have been buzzing since...illy ground and tap water.

Even used my doscafe.

http://colonnaandsmalls.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/sugar/
This one?

I guess so, there's alot of reading on the blog. I definitely read that page, and it mentions the experience of adding sugar to Segafredo, which may or may not be typical of Italian espresso.

There is so much information on that blog! I'm yet to visit colonna and smalls, but I'd love to.

You really should visit if ever in Bath. Maxwell is a great guy and incredibly enthusiastic about getting people to think and talk about the coffee they are drinking.

I am very lucky to work 2mins from there...

^ v. lucky!

^^ well worth a visit as danb says.

I guess so, there's alot of reading on the blog. I definitely read that page, and it mentions the experience of adding sugar to Segafredo, which may or may not be typical of Italian espresso.

This is why Lavazza tastes the way it does.

This is why Lavazza tastes the way it does.

Which one?

To be fair to the Italians: There are good roasted coffees there. I have yet to see a good barista outside of a Fellini movie though.

I like good italian style dark roasts sometimes. It reminds me of the 90s.

Which one?

The red one, the black one and the gold one.

The red one, the black one and the gold one.

I think they all taste different and do quite like crema one.

To be fair to the Italians: There are good roasted coffees there. I have yet to see a good barista outside of a Fellini movie though.

Think I read somewhere that the italians like a darker roast and aribica beans? That gives the dark bitter flavour.

^^ I often buy the red one as I can get it at wholesale cost. I tend to use it when making a coffee with milk (or too rushed/lazy to grind nice * beans). It is what it is.

*I like light roasts for black coffees.

I am still using the plastic tamper that came with my classic.

Is there a simple answer to upgrading it? I use both the single and the doppio baskets.

This morning: Benugo, Great Portland Street.

When the chap practically threw my coffee cup onto the counter I thought it was just part of his harried, put-upon-by-customers 'tude.

But no! It was because he'd succeeded in creating a form of coffee plasma, hotter than the surface of the sun, and if he'd held onto the cup for a fraction of a second longer he'd have incandesced into a raging pillar of fire.

1/10.

I am still using the plastic tamper that came with my classic.

Is there a simple answer to upgrading it? I use both the single and the doppio baskets.

hasbean or happy donkey. 58mm I think.

http://www.madebyknock.com/ are lovely and not very pricey (you'll want 58mm as rhb said)

+1 to madebyknock

I've now bought x3 tampers and x2 knock tops (some were gifts) and have a Hausgrind on pre-order. A company worth supporting.

I think they all taste different and do quite like crema one.

can'ttellifseriousfry.jpg

theres a cheap (london standards), no nonsense Italian place on Leyden st in spits if you prefer traditional espresso roasts. All done in a wood fired roaster back in Italy. Nice guy and good beans, though the coffee served varies as he experiments with different blends regularly (maybe even every day?).

I use a Motta tamper. Very nicely made (in Italy).