Coffee Appreciation

Most home espresso is shit, so don’t sweat it too much.

This is what I came here to hear. :D

Not mine, better than 90% of what I’ve had at cafes.
Obviously to my taste.

Has anyone done or considered the gaggiuno mod?

Yep. Steam and temp control is immensely improved.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17081075/

I just bought the latest version of the PCB at the time and bought all the parts off aliexpress.

I don't know about PID kits but the Gaggiuino Discord is very active and will usually help you within minutes of you posting. Just make sure to start your own help thread for it. It's more friendly than it's made out to be.

Any Aeropress hacks? Just started using one on trips. I bought a stainless steel filter with 0.2mm laser cut perforations and dialled in an espresso fine grind and vacuum sealed for the trip.

With an espresso measure, a pre-infuse for 10 seconds, then do a pour-over style pour of about double an espresso over 25 seconds, and immediately press into the cup, I get very decent coffee about 25% of the time but trying to nail down the technique.

Inverted method FTW

Present company excluded obviously, but then 90% of espresso in cafes is total shit anyway.

Aeropress basically infinitely variable, but I’ve got an aeropress go (with metal filter) and Timemore hand grinder for coffee at work, and go for inverted method for filling then pop the filter and cap on and flip over on to cup, give it a swirl on the cup and leave for about a minute then plunge. Gives reasonably consistent brews on the go without too much faff. You can tinker with various variables (eg precise weights/timings for various steps) as you please. Also, would be interested in group opinion, but I’d reckon you’ll want to grind a bit coarser than espresso to get best results.

I think you need to know what you’re going for – I think it was unpopular until people in speciality started making filter coffee with it; I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone making consistently good short espresso-style coffee with one, otherwise we’d all be doing it!

go for inverted method for filling then pop the filter and cap on and flip over on to cup, give it a swirl on the cup and leave for about a minute then plunge

This is what I do but usually leave it a couple of minutes. I find the brew develops a bit more, but I tend to prefer darker roasts (which aren’t so popular).

Agree with @hangedup that it doesn’t do short or strong brews very well. It has a window that it works perfectly fine in. V60 does a better filter brew (imo), espresso does better espresso and lungo. But the Aeropress has the advantage of being able to fill it up and walk away, then being able to just dump the grounds in a convenient puck (unlike cafetière).

I’m with @Jonny69 with this, except for the dark roast bit. I mainly put naturals though the aeropress and I don’t push the air through the grounds over the cup. I do that down the plug hole to make the puck to keep things neat. I know that loses the aero part, but it works for me.
Yes a to courser than espresso grind.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17235386/

Was this posted here? Seems like a great deal to me

I've been using an aeropress for around 15 years now and still use it multiple times a day. I've tried pretty much every other brewer there is but still come back to it for consistency and ease of use.

It's all down to personal preference but I use it quite differently to you in order to make a filter brew.

I don't like the taste of metal filters so use 2 paper filters instead. I know Hoffmann doesn't rate the double filter but it works for me.

I also use the inverted method as it's way easier to get repeatable good brews with it.

Apart from that temperature is quite important. The darker the roast the cooler you can go (down to about 80 if you're using really dark beans). I prefer light roasted coffee and 93 degree works for me. Again Hoffman uses boiling water but I've never had good results with that.

Lastly the slower you plunge the better the coffee! If you plunge fast you get channeling and all sorts of other inconsistencies. That's something Alder and Hoffman agree on!

Here's my recipie for anyone that cares

Dose - 15g
Grind - Medium Fine (if it tastes muddy go coarser, bland grind finer)
Water - 230ml @ 93°c - A couple of mins off boil if you don't have a thermometer on your kettle.
Method - Inverted

Grind coffee. Dump into inverted Aeropress.

Rinse two filters in cap.

Pour 230ml of water. Stir a few times with the aeropress paddle. Back and forth rather than a circular motion seems to work best!

Attach filter.

At 45 seconds flip Aeropress. Give it a swirl while doing so to agitate grinds and make sure there's none sticking to the bottom.

Wait until 1 min 15 secs for everything to settle.

Plunge slowly for around 45 secs to 1 min.

Enjoy!

Delighted to report the IMS Precision basket and the WDT have made a massive difference. I had a tiny bit of channelling the first shot I pulled through, so made the grind a little finer and the second shot was spot on. It'll need fine-tuning, but it's a vast improvement.

A big difference was the depth of the basket. Old one only left a tiny bit of headroom with 18g coffee in it, whereas there's at least 5mm in the IMS. Also means I can line up the top of the tamper with the brim of the basket to make sure it's level.

Only issue is I'm getting a fair amount of water retained on top of the puck after the shot's been pulled. It hasn't affected the flavour, but pretty sure that's not meant to happen. Any pointers as to why it's happening and what I can do to prevent it in future?

Random one, but does anyone have a portafilter pressure gauge that I might be able to borrow? I'd obviously be more than happy to cover postage costs plus a few beers/bottle of wine.

Water on top is fine. It’s more of a problem if the coffee gets pressed up against the screen

In my uneducated opinion that’s a coffee issue. I get that with certain roasts and not others with all other factors being equal

My uneducated opinion too, but I get it with every coffee and basket I've tried. I've always put it down to tending to have a little more headspace. In which case you might find certain coffees do it because they are more dense so they leave more headroom. I remember trying darker low elevation beans once which barely fit in the basket. True story.

Apparently a little variation in headroom has no impact so I don't worry about it.

Oh no. Disaster. That 15 year old Mc2 that I bought for second hand from coffeeforum has finally died.

Ground a dose. Slowed down half way through then stopped, popped and smoked a little and smelt of smoke.

Is there a preferred cheap espresso grinder in the same strata as this, just in case I can’t get it repaired.

Has anyone swapped out a motor from one of these?

Anyone happen to know a repairs guru that is glasgow based?

Thanks in advance. :)

On a Sunday too…. Dammit.

https://www.espressounderground.co.uk/GRINDER-MOTOR-MC2-PN-IBEG2463-p/ibeg2463.htm

Can’t be rocket science can it?

Yeah I am also considering an all out triggers broom action seeing as I’ll have to take it to bits.

I’ve got a gaggia mdf which I’m struggling with. Great grinder but it’s so messy. I’m considering a 3d printed chute to make is a dose less grinder but getting the angle right will be a pain

I replaced a load of things on mine, starting with a dodgy resistor on the pcb, then the whole pcb, then realised I hadn’t checked the motor properly and realised the windings had burned out.

Was very straightforward tbh.