Coffee Appreciation

At Square Mile. I'm going to be working in their cafe in the Ace Hotel, so got a pretty full on week of training. Would have loved to have gone to that Ben Kaminsky class. Heard about Craft today, most likely going to pop in tomorrow.

Ah that's really cool, looking forward to seeing that place! Will coffee shots be on the menu or are you just using the EK43 for espresso?

Yup! EK43 for espresso and coffee shots, different grinder for milk drinks.

At Square Mile. I'm going to be working in their cafe in the Ace Hotel, so got a pretty full on week of training. Would have loved to have gone to that Ben Kaminsky class. Heard about Craft today, most likely going to pop in tomorrow.

wow, not sure if I could handle the pressure of that.

Soon we'll be hiring baristas for our carts @ Notes Coffee Barrows.
Pm me if you know anyone keen and enthusiastic about coffee. Ideally experienced in high volume but happy to train right candidates.

Can anyone recommend a cheaper bag of beans that's still decent? Tired of our office coffee so gonna bring my own in, but can't justify £5.50-£7 / week for Pact / Monmouth / Allpress. Maybe be something around the £4 mark?

Sainsburys have some Tanzanian something peaberry (brown & purple packaging). It's pretty good value I thought.

wow, not sure if I could handle the pressure of that.

It's pretty intimidating. But I wanted a challenge, and I think it's going to be pretty fun!

anyone?

Name your price stevo. I might take it off your hands.

erm, £40?

Will pm you after work with questions.

ffm has also expressed an interest by PM, now I've thought about it I'd rather it went soon as got a bit of a clear out to do. If he doesn't want it/can pick it up sooner than weekend after next, I will let you know.

Sainsburys have some Tanzanian something peaberry (brown & purple packaging). It's pretty good value I thought.

Cheers! Got some beans from waitrose on the way home, they got good reviews online. Ill report tomorow

Got Climpson's new Autumn Espresso Blend. Really nice. Lots of acidity without being sour, if that makes sense. A little bit fruity, but not massively (probably as it's relatively dark).

Also, Allpress Tanzanian. Tastes of stewed cherry / cherry jam as suggested. This one is lighter than their other beans. Haven't tried it in the Aeropress, but it's great as espresso / flat white.

For supermarket beans, you want to was the packaging date codes near the barcode. That'll tell you how fresh it is. I've posted here before about how you decode them (should lead with a "3" for 2013, followed by three digits "xxx" which denote the day of the year when it was packed, eg. "060" is about two months into the year.

Union are probably the best supermarket option.

Got a bag of Waitrose Kenya AA beans. Decent at £3.29, but I need to use a fair bit of beans to get a decent cup. Def value for money, so will prob stick to it for daily office use

http://www.waitrose.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductView-10317-10001-2253-Waitrose+Coffee+beans+Kenya+AA.html?storeId=10317

Good tip about the barcode thing, will check it tonight

ffm has also expressed an interest by PM, now I've thought about it I'd rather it went soon as got a bit of a clear out to do. If he doesn't want it/can pick it up sooner than weekend after next, I will let you know.

Undibs! Apologies for holding things up.

Some friends have just opened Craft Coffee on Sclater St, everyone should go.

Went into Craft Coffee this morning, it's lovely and friendly. Wasn't feeling too adventurous on the first coffee of the day, but my flat white was tasty. Good Anzac's too!

Ideally experienced in high volume

Them guys would get hired for Borough Market Saturday shift, no questions asked.

"Could you tell me what strength your Sumatran beans are please?"

" Yes sir, they go up to 11."

I'm trying to come up with a witty comment about that image but I don't think I need to. Nice fringe though.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE98H0UJ20130918?irpc=932

so no extra shots?

Terrible.

Mac(10)chiato anyone?

I bought the Gaggia Classic from stevo_com. A bargain and a gent, thanks.

I may be on this thread more often now, methinks.

You lot are going to slate me but today I made espresso from freshly ground Ikea beans. I bought them to let me faff about with a new grinder. They are suprisingly nice. Better than espresso I've had to pay for now and again.

Or does this go in the I confess thread?

I had a latte from McDonalds

this weekend I replaced the gasket and shower screen on my classic. descaled, backflushed, rinsed and repeated and it's running like new again. quality of shots has gone right up again and getting much more consistent performance from the bottomless portafilter.

next job is to finally get round to disassembling my vario grinder and give it a proper clean, I bought the tool to do it ages ago but want to take my time on it so i dont fuck up the calibration.