Coffee Appreciation

Classic is great, get one...

The elder has spoken: it will be done

Beans ok?

Beans expected

I'd get a Gaggia Classic on offer, or try eBay (£75 maybe) with the risk of needing work.

You can get commercial grinders on eBay for £50 - £75 too. I'm using a Fracino with the hopper removed.

Bottomless portafilter is a very good idea for an espresso first-timer.

Will endeavour to ^^ There's some kerfuffle with flights at the moment so not sure when I'm returning. If I'm still here on Saturday will pop across town and pick some up.

Finally loosened the purse strings and got a Mahlkonig Vario grinder, got it working pretty much straight away... Really impressed, well expensive but does the job beautifully and it's a perfect size for our bijou kitchen...
Recommended, the coffee is lovely...

^yeah i'm very happy with mine too. fantastic little units

just had a look at the amazon refurb stuff - doesn't come with a warranty.. hmm...

Bought a refurb Gaggia from Amazon. It was as if it was new, proper packaging and full accessories.

You do get the Amazon guarantees still. At a hundred notes for a Gaggia I'm not complaining.

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

opened a bag of this, this morning. very nice. the strawberry milkshake thing is spot on.

Hatbeard rating 8.5/10

thanks for the tip, mine arrived today, so backflushed the machine, cleaned the portfilter and gave it a whirl

9/10 it was comparable to the JJB Konga which has been my favourite bean of this year.

http://www.jjbeancoffee.com/coffees/wote-konga

I'm out of coffee. The only thing in the house is some Fortnum and Masons Christmas blend, circa 1997. Fuuuuuuu. Too spannered to cycle anywhere. :(

^ This is a plea for help! I'd swing by and deliver something if I could!
Feel that pain.

What are the best coffee subscription services

I get through about 250g of beans a week, so was thinking about taking out a couple of subscriptions

Square Mile charge £75 for 500g of espresso beans a month for 6 months.

Hasbean do one £71 for 250g of beans a month, so ideally i would need another 250g subscription (or could take out 2x Hasbean).

Can anyone suggest another similar service? Are you using one already?

Perhaps get the hasbean starter pack as well. it's an absolute bargain at 20 quid for 1.25kg

they all arrive at once though. would be getting stale while you work your way through them.

I'd say get the in my mug subscription from hasbean and then order your staple coffee on it's own. gives you a regular flow of nice unexpected coffees to try including the odd cup of excellence beans, then you can pick and choose your regular drink as the seasons change without being tied to a single roaster.

Each 250g is sealed seperately, so wont go stale for a good while but i get your point.

am thinking of just getting the square mile 500g a month, 250g from hasbean, and then just finding an additional 250g each month from somewhere else

i have tried the hasbean starter packs, but was not overly taken by their espresso blends, but if i just get a random bag from them each month it will give me something to try

Finally got a grinder... It's just a Krups but fuck me, never tasted coffee this good from a stove-top before. Using some Kenyan beans from waitrose.

I've just got myself a gaggia classic with rancillio steam wand off eBay and am now in the mkt for a sub 50 grinder anyone point me beyond a porlex? Second hand for eg? Thanks a lot

There's a Brasilia in Ilford available on eBay just now. Other than that, look out for Cunil / Fracino models.

I know it's a speciality concern but >>>> that civit coffee is cruel

^ Nasty and like Blue Mountain, it is one of the coffees that everyone knows but doesn't taste particularly good either.

There's a Gaggia Cubika with grinder on eBay right now for £30 BIN. Postage negotiable.

I've had some nice Blue Mountain.

That civet stuff can get to fuck though.

Are there any decent coffee shops on Fulham Road or Kings Road?

http://thecoffeemachinelondon.co.uk/

These guys sell a great range of machines including some very flashy Elektras, but you can't buy a hot brew there any more. :(

Strange, I've seen the Chelsea-fashionista-yummy-mummy-army sipping on java there many times...