Coffee Appreciation

would rather have a nice espresso and a square of 80% cocoa chocolate.

RAWWWWWWWWWWWRrrr

Reassure me that it would only draw that power under full load- there is no way I could afford the electricity bill if that's it's standard consumption!

Yeah, just when heating from cold. After that it's just cycling to keep the temp up and to heat the cold incoming water. The element will not be breaking a sweat to heat 150ml of water going into a 12l boiler at 115*c after you've made a couple of flatties.

Insulate the boiler (I used standard fibreglass loft insulation), keep the machine on and power consumption wont be too scary. It'll keep your kitchen warm too.

edit - scratch that; it's a hx machine so it only draws water from the boiler when steaming (next to nothing) and using the water tap. Consumption will just be enough to keep it on the boil which isn't a lot.

Cool, thanks.

Can you recommend a good coffee machine forum before I spam this one to death with questions about the machine?

You'll find answers to most questions on www.home-barista.com

They shall have threads on plumbing and Volvos before this day is done

They shall have threads on plumbing and Volvos before this day is done

Good man, spread that Volvo love.

BTW, aldi 'Italian' blend coffee, aweful, actually tastes like chemical waste from a Trioxide plant. Mate bought me some as a gift, so felt compelled to brew it up, now I wish I hadn't.

Italian engineers in 'helpful thought' shock

Indeed!

Now if they'd only used ink that did not fade when exposed to heat...

Getting ahead of myself I guess, but just reading through Home-Barista, they say that you should flush the group-head through before starting a fresh extraction, but it is referring to "prosumer" heat exchanger machines, is this going to be necessary with a commercial heat exchanger machine?

Yes, the temperature of the water idling in the heat exchanger pipe will equalise with the boiler water and be too hot for brewing. You need to flush this out before inserting the portafilter and pulling the shot. This means fresh cold water will be drawn through the hx and heated to the correct temperature.

HX machines are designed to be busy. There is no need to flush if you are pulling shot after shot as the water in the hx tube has no chance to reach parity with the boiler temp.

Thanks Bombcup.

Does the HX machine work in a similar fashion to a combi boiler, where fresh water is drawn through a heat exchanger on demand, rather than being kept at temperature then?

Yep, that's exactly it.

I am beginning to understand the machine, a little anyway- thanks!

I'm going to need a water softener for this, do you need "coffee machine specific" ones, or will any old softener do the job?

A typically myrthless guide to hx machines from home-barista:

http://www.home-barista.com/hx-love.html

I am beginning to understand the machine, a little anyway- thanks!

I'm going to need a water softener for this, do you need "coffee machine specific" ones, or will any old softener do the job?

You'll need a commercial espresso machine water filter, a softener is an expensive luxury and tricky to set up but not essential

Ok, forget the softener, filter it is.

Good luck with the coffee machine there and if you cant get it fixt send it over to me and I'll give it a try hehehe!

Also it shouldnt be any problem to get good coffee in Barcelona. Just dont go to the super-tourist stuff but to the small bars where you see Spanish people drink their coffee and it should be allright.
Marabans is a big coffee brand in Spain and it's quite good coffee imo so if you see that somewhere you'll also know its good :)

EDIT: What kind of alcohol do you guys like in your coffee?

I just replaced the water filter on my Vivaldi. Got the new one from hasbean. Not cheap but good for 22,000 litres of water

Where can you get a decent cup?

South London Gallery cafe - one of the few that makes good coffee.

Oooh work got an award.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/observer-food-monthly-awards/video/winner-video-maltby-street

Bravo!! Are you in the vid?

No it was filmed on a saturday. Fuck that.

Ok, from the left we have heavy duty power, strange multicore, standard 13 Amp: