Coffee Appreciation

Capao turned up, in the hario, in the frog press and done. Happy days.

^haha - frog press. That just put an amusing picture in my mind.

hey don't ribbit til you try it!

i made a milky drink this morning with my shiny new jug. did the milk first then whizzed some water water through the head then refitted the portafilter and made a shot.
is there a specific order you should do it in? coffee came through a bit quick as if there was more pressure there because of making steam?

i guess i'm doing it wrong

I know the guy who designed the Has Been packaging and site. Nice coffee too.

Also: Aerolatte greatly resembles Swedish Made Penis Enlarger. I've got the former and it's great. Not saying anything about whether or not I own the latter.

hey don't ribbit til you try it!

i made a milky drink this morning with my shiny new jug. did the milk first then whizzed some water water through the head then refitted the portafilter and made a shot.
is there a specific order you should do it in? coffee came through a bit quick as if there was more pressure there because of making steam?

i guess i'm doing it wrong

Gaggia Classic?

On a single boiler machine you boost the element to get up to steaming pressure, the water is somewhere around 120*c. If you do this first you then need to wait for the boiler to cool back down to brewing temperature (switch back to brew mode then wait for boiler light to come on). There's a possibility, if you don't wait, that this may cause some increased inlet pressure on the pump, but probably not enough to make a difference.

More likely is the hotter water, aswell as scalding the coffee and bringing out the thin bitter ashy flavours, is a better solvent and causing the coffee to extract faster.

Maybe do the milk first, then take it out of steam mode and open the steam tap to let out the pressure. That should get you down to brew temp a bit quicker. Make sure you see that boiler light before you start brewing, that means the pressurestat is at the bottom of its temp cycle and you're not going to burn your coffee.

I'm stabbing in the dark a bit, I don't have a lot of experience of these machines. I had a Silvia in the kitchen for a while and I always used to pull the shots before steaming the milk because I didn't want the milk to die, plus with the milk being the major part of the drink it's good not to let it cool down too much.

With my silivia I too produce the shots before doing the milk.

Have made the mistake of leaving the machine on "steam" and then trying to make a shot - utter fucking disaster and mess.

Have been enjoying hasbean too, thanks for the tip.

it's a classic. i'll try it the right way round. coffee tasted o.k. though :-)

Shots first, keep warm on top of machine (assuming you've preheated it for a bit) then do milk.

I haven't had a coffee for two days. Tomorrow is going to suck..

oh fuck, watch out for an angry mergatron

can we finally get you to merge porn and anti-porn?

I did ask VB about that (because it'd be almost impossible to split the threads apart again if it backfired) and he said leave alone so I did.

I'm on my first shots of the Jabberwocky blend I got from hasbean as part of their starter pack. Heavy, tongue abusing citrus with an aroma that combines mustard and sour cherries - not unpleasant just really sharp. Not at all what I was expecting.

The Breakfast Bomb from Has Bean.. (via Aeropress) Wallop. Big, bold and earthy. A little back end sweetness.. |Great start to the day.

square mile summer espresso now available.

http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/summer-espresso

anyone tried it yet?

square mile summer espresso now available.

http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/summer-espresso

anyone tried it yet?

I'm on my first shots of the Jabberwocky blend I got from hasbean as part of their starter pack. Heavy, tongue abusing citrus with an aroma that combines mustard and sour cherries - not unpleasant just really sharp. Not at all what I was expecting.

Tricky blend that, I would wait until it's at least a week past the roast date, then go for low dose and fine grind - maybe 15 / 16g. Pull the shot a little longer and let some of the blonde in too, that should balance it.

Tricky blend that, I would wait until it's at least a week past the roast date, then go for low dose and fine grind - maybe 15 / 16g. Pull the shot a little longer and let some of the blonde in too, that should balance it.

5 bags of new beans to try and I open up the tricky one first. Bloody typical. Your verdict of "tricky blend" is most welcome to my ears though. All the settings on my grinder needed huge adjustment to get something that couldn't be described as "a tea spoon of sawdust." I'll follow your advice and make it finer and see what I can do about shot times.

On a different note - for fellow sci-fi nerds out there - the aroma is exactly how I imagine it from the descriptions of the Martian Songspire.

[Sorry if this is against forum rules but I thought it best to advertise in this thread than to have it lost on the masses]

After booking a flight and opting for the 10kg hand luggage plus bike bag option over the 22kg case at £31 I've decided that size and portability are my main priorities in a coffee grinder. For this reason I've ordered a Porlex grinder and will be saying cheerio to my lovely Zassenhaus. It's a great wee grinder that gives, in my opinion, an acceptable level of uniformity in all grind settings. It's particularly good in the finer grinds and I managed to choke my Gaggia Classic with it so It's a good manual grinder for espresso. There are some photos of it below so you can have a look. I'm after £17 posted from Glasgow to your door. Send me a PM if you're interested. Unfortunately, Brian the goldfish isn't included in the sale.

Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo4

dibs pm

Second dibs if Kboy drops out.

Just been in Currys and they have Gaggia Classic machines discounted to £215 though still £285 online, good deal?

You can get a brand new Gaggia Classic for €186.20 here

I bought two from them already, good service and DHL tracking number provided the same day.

Cheaper here.

---SOLD---

Might as well post this in here.

Got a Gaggia Cubika for sale, upgraded to a Classic a few months ago (thanks hippy).

Also have a vid of it producing a triple shot (I don't think the grind was quite right for this pour as by now I'd dialled in the grinder to work with the Classic).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9899407@N08/5843557364/

Comes complete with portafilter and both single & double baskets, plus original Gaggia spoon and tamper (made from high quality plastic), and original instruction manual.

It drips a little bit from the group head, but it always has done, and is even mentioned in the instructions!

Live in Kent, but work in Victoria Mon-Fri. Don't want to post it. If you're interested drop me a PM. Thanks!

for bit more dosh you can try to look for second hand Gaggia TS.
Loved this machine since served me well at home and some small events.