Coffee Appreciation

Ask your nearest friendly coffee shop to grind them for you

I'm in Putney and all my locals are mostly the major chains. I'll pop into a few places and see what they say.

Would my coffee be any better with a grinder and beans?

By an order of magnitude, especially if you’re willing to try some more interesting beans. Getting some freshly roasted stuff makes a wild difference too.

I feel like I should just give it to my brother or someone else who isn’t that arsed. I treasure my coffee too much to use mediocre beans, but part of me does wonder - how bad can it be? If the ancient can of Illy beans I was given is anything to go by, the answer is surprisingly bad.

Okay, so, what's a good grinder for an Aeropress? I normally make about 4 coffee's a day, using a little bodum scoop.

Porlex/Rhino hand grinders are good and around £40. Not too much work for grinding for filter coffee either. Wilfa Svart seems to be a pretty well regarded electric grinder and is normally just under £100.

I use one of these. I don’t have much of a frame of reference but it was cheap, is a burr grinder and seems fine for aeropress. Don’t think it’d be any good for espresso.

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Timemore c2, purchased off AliExpress will be about £40, takes about a week to arrive and is an absolute steal for that money IMO. It’s what I bought recently to use when I’m having filter rather than espresso (to save fiddling with the settings on my big espresso grinder).

Can also get a ceramic burr hand grinder from aliexpress for £10 but I’d sooner go for the Timmore as there stuff is actually very nice (and not pricey)

Less guilt about asking them to do it for free then 🤪

Well it finally arrived. Terrible packaging so it’s acquired a few more dings. Looks like customs opened it, then dumped a load of other shit as I also received two children’s books, an auction catalogue, some cream and a big box of diamond files…..

Bit of an old wreck but think I should be able to get it going. It’s built like a TANK.

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What a unit!

Way cool!

What’s the go to for mid range espresso beans that won’t break the bank?

I mean something around £15 a kg. I’d rather not use Amazon (but I’m prepared to drop my principles for a good deal).

I just upgraded to a Timemore C2 after years with a Porlex and the difference in build quality is insane. I think my Porlex only cost me £25 when I got it but there's no way I'd buy one now if, as @mmccarthy suggests, they're the same price as a Timemore.

Yellow Bourbon espresso blend with Steve Peel’s secret forum discount code should be your priority.

If you don’t like lighter roasts, then Whittard is pretty much the only remaining place where you’ll get a true dark roast. Won’t be as freshly roasted as somewhere like Yellow Bourbon, but still spits out a decent, traditional espresso IMO. It is, however, quite a bit more expensive.

I’ll check where the dark beans come from at work - I remember they work out pretty good value.

Rave are decent value. Buy a couple of kilos and stick one in the freezer and it should be free shipping.

Cheers! Who is Steve Peel?

Thanks - they actually seem cheaper through their own site than via Amazon which is refreshing.

First time hearing of the Timemore, definitely looks like a more solid option. Looks like the Porlex has gone up in price and is now £60-65 (I managed to win mine at a Rollapaluza event about 10 years ago!). Rhino is around £35 and still a decent cheap option for filter (could never get it to grind fine & consistent enough for espresso).

That's cool as fuck

Doppio coffees are about in that range. They're not as fresh or subtle as some other brands (Yellow Bourbon are definitely better) but they make a decent drink, especially if you're adding milk in one form or another. I've tried their Green, Blue and FairTrade blends and they're all fine.

Nice! Is that a sight-glass on the front for the boiler? Looking forward to seeing the progress on getting it nice & shiny!

Just noticed how huge it is next to the La Pavoni too! Also liking the fancy curved steam wand you've got on it.

Is that both a hot water tap & steam wand on the top of the Faema there?

@StevePeel on here, who runs
https://yellowbourbon.net/collections/shop

Enter code DOASKID for 20% off. Honestly, never had a bad bag of beans from there, and the espresso is great, freshly roasted, easy to work with. Don’t have a bad word to say about them. If anything, I almost feel guilty that I never order from anywhere else!

Yellow Bourbon espresso blend with Steve Peel’s secret forum discount code should be your priority.

I've bought several kilos from YB without knowing this 😭

I’m getting to the point that I feel I should stop using the code, lol.