Coffee Appreciation

I generally prefer to choose from what a cafe offers, I don't think we should tell them what to make us. So yeah visual guides can be great in that case, or the old "4oz/6oz/8oz milk" instead of outdated Italian names. Although the ounces annoyed me at first because I'd never thought about drinks in ounces before.

Yeah, I suppose it requires people to actually know what/why they order what they do.
(all this is wasted on me since I only drink espresso/long black, but having worked as a barista it was always frustrating trying to sort through terms)

Todays thrilling coffee update- went to Vespa cafe off Carnaby street, miles ahead of Joe and the Juice (opposite) but still not what I'm after.

Tune in tomorrow for the next thrilling instalment.

It varies too much from country to country, cafe to cafe. I can't think of a single term that describes a particular drink universally. Even 'espresso' or 'latte'.
Describe what you make and we can all have fun naming it!

Ok, at the risk of being flayed alive for being a n00b, here goes.

I boil up my single shot stovetop with whatever ground coffee Tesco had on special, I did give the Pact offer a go, but just don't get through enough coffee for it to be worthwhile (though it was very nice, thanks Pact).

Whilst that's getting on with it's bad self I put the kettle on and warm a large cup with a splash of hot. Once the coffee's finished gushing I wang it into the cup and add boiling water before topping it up with cold milk, sometimes I make the milk frothy with a milk-mashing device like this

http://www.ocado.com/productImages/627/62754011_0_640x640.jpg?identifier=d7e9042bf3c186c23c0368083582798d

But usually I don't bother.

Could this be an Americano (Espresso + water) but with milk? Americano sounds a bit Spanish to me, maybe Mexican, so should the milk be 'Con Leche'?

Help my jangling nerves. I can't even drink the stuff right now as I'm fresh back from the dentist and off liquids 'til lunchtime.

Using tap water?

In Italy they drink those horrible, horrible, bitter espressos* made from burnt coffee that was ground 2 days ago and has sat in the hopper and then are uncaringly made with a plastic tamper and too-hot water.

I can imagine that benefiting from a little stain of milk foam.

Using tap water?

yes, but the tap round my parts is fairly nice

^^^^ Americano is Italian for American.

I think your coffee could be called a White Americano which would be funny because: 'merica.

I found out that the Americano drink comes from American ww2 soldiers serving in Italy but they couldn't take the strength of an Italian espresso, so would water it down. Hence Americano. I'm informed that Italians look upon this drink with scorn, often referring to it as "soup". #factoftheday

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

There is a different drink which is great also called an Americano which is like a negroni minus gin plus soda water.* It's a good afternoon drink, but ordering one often results in receiving the above mentioned caffè americano which, to my tastes, is a less-good afternoon drink.

In Italy they drink those horrible, horrible, bitter espressos* made from burnt coffee that was ground 2 days ago and has sat in the hopper and then are uncaringly made with a plastic tamper and too-hot water.

I can imagine that benefiting from a little stain of milk foam.

this is the exact reason I get a macchiato whenever the guys in my office go to caffe nero.

the dash of milk makes the horrific espresso palatable* without filling the cup with horribly burnt milk. good if I need caffeine but can't get out to my preferred coffee shop myself.

• by palatable I mean you can neck it without too much nasty aftertaste
  

hi all...the handle on the portafilter on our classic has just snapped off...i've been toying for a while while upgrading to a bottomless portafilter after loving the impact the recommended silvia wand had on my steaming, but can't now remember which one was recommended as being the best option (seem to remember is was a copper one with a wooden handle from happy donkey?). apologies for not looking through the last 182 page to find out. i'm now up for getting my hands dirty and playing with the pressure setting, etc if I have to in order to take things to the next level. i don't and won't be grinding my own beans...though i will buy small quantities of freshly ground stuff regularly. looking back a few pages there was a question about how although a pic of this beautiful single stream of crema goodness dropping from a bottomless portafilter looked great as an aspiration, in reality it was difficult to achieve (comments re. bean grind, channeling, etc). is there an option for the classic that is relatively non-tampremental (see what i did there ;) ?). appreciate any comments...if anyone had any links to the best how-to vids for pressure modifications i'd also be grateful...cheers

if you're not grinding your own beans I wouldn't bother, to get decent results from a bottomless requires trial and error and a decent technique and buying all your coffee ground at a single fineness means if it's off for that bean/roast you'll have a bad time with the whole batch. especially as it changes as the coffee gets older.

edit: should probably clarify. by 'results' I mean the pour coming out as a stream, everything else would be the same regardless, you just wont see it with a spout on the portafilter.

fwiw I have the happy donkey bottomless pf, I also use the 18g ridgeless vst basket (though still not convinced I'm getting the most out of this having just read this http://coffeegeek.com/opinions/markprince/04-29-2011 )

if you're not grinding your own beans I wouldn't bother, to get decent results from a bottomless requires trial and error and a decent technique and buying all your coffee ground at a single fineness means if it's off for that bean/roast you'll have a bad time with the whole batch. especially as it changes as the coffee gets older.

edit: should probably clarify. by 'results' I mean the pour coming out as a stream, everything else would be the same regardless, you just wont see it with a spout on the portafilter.

so is there a replacement you or anyone else would recommend other than the bog standard for getting a better shot out?

Todays thrilling coffee update- went to Vespa cafe off Carnaby street, miles ahead of Joe and the Juice (opposite) but still not what I'm after.

Tune in tomorrow for the next thrilling instalment.

Ah so you're working round there now?*

So many places to try!

*not planning to stalk you btw.

Bottomless PFs don't make better shots (well I've read the taste can be a little sweeter due to less contact with metal although I think that's splitting hairs) but they allow you to trouble shoot easier.

If you aren't grinding your own beans I'd stick to one with spouts.

changing the basket to a vst would also require a degree of technique to see improvements so grind again comes into play but could also have an impact on the quality of the shot. it would also require a lot of trial and error I imagine and as the article I linked to in my second post suggests they are quite finicky.

personally I think you'd see most benefit from a grinder rather than anything else as they (pf, basket etc) tend to be more for fine adjustments in the quality of the shot rather than the big gains you might see from dialling in the shot and grinding fresh every time.

so go bog standard pf and get my head around grinding? vst? :)

In Italy they drink those horrible, horrible, bitter espressos* made from burnt coffee that was ground 2 days ago and has sat in the hopper and then are uncaringly made with a plastic tamper and too-hot water.

I would rather drink the Italian version than 3rd wave lemonade.

so go bog standard pf and get my head around grinding? vst? :)

What HatBeard said. You will struggle to pour good espresso unless it is freshly ground the same day and at exactly the right coarseness.

A bottomless portafilter would likely make a mess, and a VST basket would likely make an even bigger mess.

Buy a Porlex if you don't want to splash out on a "proper" grinder. And get fresh beans.

By the way, I find the VST baskets increase extraction, but their main disadvantage is they are more prone to channeling.

I'm sure there are people on the thread with a more knowledge of this but I believe "italian coffee" is typically fairly straightforward dark-roast, suitable for shorter espressos. I'm sure the measures are 1oz or less (certainly down south). So yeah, these coffees are good with the acidity milk brings, perhaps more so than most of lighter-roast speciality coffees that are now normal here.

tl/dr... A macchiato has it's place, leave it alone!

No.

Fuck all this dairy shit in coffee, leave the coffee alone!

Had to do an Oxford St Shopping mission today so made it more tolerable by caffeinating myself up to the eyeballs...

Flat white at speak easy on carnaby street was superb - thanks for the tip off Miss Mouse, had never heard of it

Double macchiato and lunch (corn fritters, bacon, tomato,avocado and spinach) at lantana in Fitzrovia. Also ace.

Lavishing myself with such treats is the only way to keep my spirits up on days like today. Definitely worked, coz I've come back with all sorts of (non-cycling related) clothes. Very pleased I won't have to do it for at least another six months though.