Coffee Appreciation

I haz 1kg of Monmouth espresso. #fuckyeah

bombcup: What did you use to insulate the boiler on your machine? Ta

6" Fibreglass left over from doing my loft.

Thought it might get damp from the vacuum breaker but I took the lid off the other week and all is well.

You'd recommend then? Or is there a better option?

Well it's been discussed on some of the coffee forums, I think the consensus is that some sort of silicon mat is the best thing. I don't know how much heat the fibreglass saves, the cups on top still get warm (my machine doesn't have a cup warming loop) but it's definitely better than nothing and it's cheap.

I guess the scientific way to tell would be to measure the time between the pressurestat clicking off and on again while the machine is idling, before and after installing the insulation.

How many notches back from all-the-way-tight do people have their Porlex grinders set up at? I ground some Monmouth Guatemalan decaff beans on the finest setting and the flow was a bit shit so will probably need to ease off a few clicks..

For this exact combo, I had to tighten from 3 clicks to 2 fot the de-caff. The beans seemed a little harder, and gushed a bit with my usual setting. Note that you can move between the clicks slightly too, and I think that position will be maintained.

I currently have the de-caff, espresso blend, Colombian Cafe' de Sandona', and Ethiopian Guji Gorbiche. I need to drink more of the latter two to get a clearer idea of what's going on. The Ethiopian is rich, and has a bright freshness to it. I need to drink more to get the right adjective.

Does anyone here have a rough duration they wait until after the brew-ready lamp has come on again before activating the pump on a Gaggia Classic?

I read 10 to 15 min. But i usually just switch it on first then faff about with beans and grinder etc. usually takes a few minutes then I run a shot of hot water through into the glass and use this as a way to pre heat the shot glass and filter. But the time I've done that and tamped in the coffee, it seems to be ok. The portafilter and group head seem reasonably hot enough.

stayed at a friend's down in Gloucester at the weekend and thought I would miss my new machine. Low and behold, walk into this kitchen and there's a fecking Gaggia Classic sitting on the counter. Albeit with preground Illy, still had something to play with over the weekend

Oh yeah, I always allow a good 20 mins warm-up, and a spash just before brewing, but what I'm considering is the wide thermostat temperature range, and its effect on the starting brew temp (which only gets lower during flow):

Just got some El Salvador Santa Rita Apenca-limatepec which is a natural peaberry. Looking forward to trying this one.

Monmouth espresso blend this week. Tasty.......

Does anyone here have a rough duration they wait until after the brew-ready lamp has come on again before activating the pump on a Gaggia Classic?

I think the brew ready lamp comes on when the element switches off right? When the element switches off you get some overshoot where the element continues heating the water until the element itself has reached parity with the water temperature, so trying to judge when the water may have cooled to a good temperature is tricky, particularly when the general construction of the machine isn't the most temperature stable.

If you're getting burnt, bitter flavours (temp too high) you might be better working from the moment the ready light switches off so you're basing the temp surfing from the lower set-point which is more reliable than the upper point.

If you're getting sour flavours (temp too low) you could hit the steam switch for a moment when the light comes on, but if the temp is insufficient at this point you should probably adjust the pressurestat.

jdp - That sounds great, I've had some amazing natural process El Salvadors, the best of which was a Square Mile roast brewed in a cloth filter at Notes.

sasmon - Good looking shot, nice machine :)

DIY siphon brewer – 2x conical flask, 1x rubber cork, 1x metal tubing, 1x blow torch. Needs some tweaking, but works in principle!

Just pulled my best double shot yet! 14g Monmouth Guatemalan decaff, took the grinder back 4 notches from all-the-way-tight and bang! Nice even flow, perfect flavour... Happy... :D

Nice one, TS. I've blended my bag of Guatemalan de-caff 50/50 with the standard espresso blend. It gives it a slightly less "flat" taste, and means you can still drink more and later.

Bombcup, that makes sense. I'll try making comparisons when I'm next pouring two doubles and compare.

Does anyone have any opinions on Happy Donkey's beans? Seem awfully cheap, but I'll be ordering a bottomless portafilter from there anyway, so postage isn't an issue. Don't want to waste time with horrid beans though; I was given a bag of Starbucks beans, and it was like drinking out of an ash tray.

I'm out of beans and may not have a chance to pass Monmouth today. Anywhere more central that's worth a try?

St Ali on corner of clerkenwell road/st johns street do their own roasting in house and their costa rican herbazu is very nice. they also do a blend called 'cult of done'

comes in 350g bags for £8-£10.50 I believe. they'll also grind it if you need.

used to have issues with the service in there but it's pretty good now and have had some decent chats with the staff about coffee as a result.

Monmouth in Covent Garden, monmouth st, not central enough. ;)

(though they might still be closed for a refurb they have been selling beans outside)

Algerian on Old Compton St.

There are a couple of indie coffee shops in soho that sell some square mile stuff too.

Thanks guys, I'll check them out. Has anyone done the hasbean subscription? Could be a nice solution to my laziness/no time problem...

DIY siphon brewer – 2x conical flask, 1x rubber cork, 1x metal tubing, 1x blow torch. Needs some tweaking, but works in principle!

Haha, love this. Guess it needs a filter?

The pic is messing with my brain. Looks like full size double doors and correctly proportioned skirting board in the background, with mansized blowtorch and huge lab equipment and plug socket

Thanks guys, I'll check them out. Has anyone done the hasbean subscription? Could be a nice solution to my laziness/no time problem...

Yeah I am subscribed. Love it - no worries about having to buy beans all the time, different coffees all the time so you get to know what you like.
I'd give the 3 month sub a go and see how you like it.

So I've been brewing my coffee in my aeropress (inverted, 200 - 220 ml water, 15g coffee) with water at around 85*C and the coffee has been pleasant but I wasn't picking up all the flavours I should have been, upped the temp of the water today to 94*C and it tastes like someone has put ribena in my coffee...in a good way.

day off and was in Brixton. Happened past Federation Coffee so had a latte and bought 250g of their Espresso Blend Beans (£6). Very nice I thought.

Yeah I am subscribed. Love it - no worries about having to buy beans all the time, different coffees all the time so you get to know what you like.
I'd give the 3 month sub a go and see how you like it.

Nice one. I've signed up for three months. Cost me £63 with shipping. I think that'll probably be too much coffee for me as I'm not at home as much as I'd like. Still, after three months I can always do the monthly subscription if I like it.

^ Coffee classifieds thread?

day off and was in Brixton. Happened past Federation Coffee so had a latte and bought 250g of their Espresso Blend Beans (£6). Very nice I thought.

Nice folks in there... Kiwi run... Unfortunately they don't do their own decaff, still good tho'...

there was a blond girl (not Kiwi) and a dark haried stubly dude (didn't speak - don't know if Kiwi) and they were perfectly pleasant, I will definitely go back when in the area.

their hipster clientelle, however, were not so pleasant.

The young couple at one of the tables gave disapproving looks to everything. probably brought on by the tightness of their jeans and the ridiculousness of their wooly hats that had been rolled up so much they were essentially fluffy yarmulkes with a bobble on top.

The rockabilly type gent who walked in after me just barked his order then after waiting long enough for it to be nearly ready, loudly annouced that he was "going "outside" (the market arcade bit is still under cover and there were people eating at the "outside" tables) for a "cig" yeah so just put it on the side yeah." douche lord.