Coffee Appreciation

Was going so well until "oatly"

hb dtm

finally! I'm free

All this Yellow Bourbon talk...mine got delivered yesterday but obviously I wasn't there so quick trip to the PO this afternoon to pick up in time for a Saturday morning coffeeathon.

#obligatoryswagpic

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My gaggia classic is running slowly through the shower head. Is it a case of descaling needed? I gave it a full disassemble and descale about 4 months ago, but had a brief period of about a month using tap water, as opposed to my usual bottled, since.

I'd like to rule out some other problem before rushing out the chemicals.

Descale boiler and backflush the grouphead.

Probably the solenoid valve, mine needs cleaning out of scale occasionally.

What is this backflush of which people speak?

you put a sealed/blanked basket in the portafilter with a little bit of cleaning agent, which is forced with the water back through the machine after you turn it on then off and out the waste pipe.

Probably the solenoid valve

This, if descale alone doesn't help it's not too hard to get it out and use a safety pin to clear the tiny hole.

Was taken to Lavender Coffee Shop in Bristol today, was sceptical but was actually really nice Italian Espresso, no sugar needed. Well worth a visit for folks on travels.

Right, I need to watch some videos and get mechanical. Bring it on.

I'm starting off a little photography project profiling the Baristas of London....just wondering if there are any baristas on here interested in getting involved. Proposal would be:

• I pop in when you're working and buy a coffee, take a few snaps of you making it and the coffee itself.
  
• If I get good snaps, with your permission, I post to my instragram account and use on my website portfolio
  
• I'm sure I can provide a can of craft beer to sweeten the deal.
  
  

Any takers or anyone you know who would be interested?

@StevePeel

The Sumatran is fucking amazing, seems to have even more depth and complexity.

Coffee#1 in Sidmouth seems to have replaced Baristas with local school leavers since last year, staff not knowing what a v60 or aeropress is doesn't fill you with confidence and the drinks reflected this.

There's a seafront coffee trike now though, lever machine & beans by clifton but wasn't a great Espresso tbh.

Hoping Honiton BTP is upto better things...

Sugar Pot in Kennington does really good coffee. Never tried their food but it also looks good.

^^ coffee shops that have put all their effort into looking like a third wave coffee shop but neglected to actually hire baristas are the fucking worst.

seriously if your main product is coffee how the fuck can you neglect to fucking do it properly. people funding shit coffee by buying and drinking it ruin it for the rest of us.

I got some Hermosi Premium from Yellow Bourbon and it is fantastic. Great coffee, amazing service.

Was the coffee trike a Velopresso by any chance? I worked on one of those for a summer and it was the best espresso machine I'd ever used.

It was this one:

Edit: guy in classic browsing lfgss pose.

people funding shit coffee by buying and drinking it

Often they don't know different I guess? The chains make huge profits based on this, which doesn't help either.

Any other interesting roasters in Manchester? I've been buying a lot of ManCoCo which i'm a fan off, but always up for a bit of variety.

Apart from London/Brighton and obvs Northants (@StevePeel ;) ) where are the big coffee destinations in the UK I know a few notable roasters in Newcastle, bits of Wales, Manchester, Edinburgh etc. Elsewhere? Still vaguely looking to move away from Brighton but having a nice coffee shop/social circle/centre is a big part of any decision. Which sounds ridiculous I know. Is there much going on in the southwest? Cornwall in particular?

Bristol/Bath has Colonna, Roundhill, Clifton and Extract.

Not sure about roasters further southwest though.

There's good coffee in Exeter. Both coffee shops that know what they're doing and roasters.
My favorites are:
The exploding bakery serve great coffee in the city centre.
Crankhouse is a very good roaster (and a nice guy who's into cycling).
There's good coffee to be had in South Devon too, Dartington and Totnes.
I've got other Devon recommendations if you want more details.