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what is this posted:I need to order fresh roasted beans for work. Right now we're buying locally and it's a pain in the butt. Sweet Maria's
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Sep 17, 2012 22:07
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Boris Galerkin posted:Screw it, I've decided I'm going to plunker down for a proper grinder now instead of getting one that I'll probably replace one day. So the cheaper grinders in the OP don't seem to exist here in Europe and I don't feel like paying a huge shipping and then import tax to get one from the US when surely there must be some good coffee grinders made/sold in Europe as well. Can anyone recommend me one that's <150€, preferably <100€ even? I need it to grind for both French press and moka pots. Haha, I'm on the exact same mission. I saw a Baratza Maestro at a coffee shop today for 130€. My understanding is that that's a pretty good grinder, though I would love confirmation from anyone else. The price isn't exactly amazing, but I'm pretty god damned sick of pre-ground crap from Carefour, so I was glad to see it. e: I want to say they had the one a step up for 150€, but I couldn't swear to it.
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Sep 17, 2012 23:06
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Arnold of Soissons posted:Haha, I'm on the exact same mission. From what I can tell, the Baratza Maestro was really awesome and highly recommended by many people. It seems to be discontinued for the Encore though.
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Sep 17, 2012 23:27
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Boris Galerkin posted:From what I can tell, the Baratza Maestro was really awesome and highly recommended by many people. It seems to be discontinued for the Encore though. And after looking at their website, the price seems really good. I might have to go back there tomorrow. I think the other one they had was a Virtuoso, is that worth buying over a Maestro, assuming I have the model names right?
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Sep 17, 2012 23:51
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traveling midget posted:Sweet Maria's They don't seem to have a subscription plan.
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Sep 18, 2012 02:57
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Arnold of Soissons posted:And after looking at their website, the price seems really good. I might have to go back there tomorrow. Well the Baratza store lists a new Virtuoso for $250 new and $175 refurbished, so if it really is 150€ then that's a pretty good deal I would think and what's 20€ more for the next–in–line model? e: It seems like for my price range I am debating between a Solis 166 aka Starbucks grinder from Amazon which has 184 reviews there with 109 of them being 5 stars (nine of them 1 stars), and yesterday I've seen a local roaster carry this one by Nivona which has only 3 ratings on Amazon (all 5 stars) but the only other thing I can even find about that company/grinder is a YouTube unboxing + quick demo video in Dutch. Both of them are about 90€. Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Sep 18, 2012 |
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Sep 18, 2012 07:58
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what is this posted:They don't seem to have a subscription plan. http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/intelligentsia-at-home
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Sep 18, 2012 11:16
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what is this posted:They don't seem to have a subscription plan. http://my.counterculturecoffee.com/coffee/subscriptions/ http://www.vervecoffeeroasters.com/collections/subscriptions http://www.rivalbros.com/coffee-subscription http://www.klatchroasting.com/Klatch_Coffee_Clubs_s/23.htm
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Sep 18, 2012 15:37
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Boris Galerkin posted:Well the Baratza store lists a new Virtuoso for $250 new and $175 refurbished, so if it really is 150€ then that's a pretty good deal I would think and what's 20€ more for the next–in–line model? Apparently they were 150€ and 220€, which makes a lot more sense. I forgot that no place here takes plastic, though, so I have to go back tomorrow when I have cash. e: for bonus bad news, it's a 30 minute walk away and we are out of the lovely grocery store preground coffee because I didn't want to buy more when I knew I was going to buy a grinder and some local fresh roast. 
Arnold of Soissons fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Sep 18, 2012 |
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Sep 18, 2012 17:21
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Arnold of Soissons posted:Apparently they were 150€ and 220€, which makes a lot more sense. I forgot that no place here takes plastic, though, so I have to go back tomorrow when I have cash. And I think I've decided to buy the second one I linked, and it's really no cheaper ordering it online so I'll just pick it up at the roaster the next time I go buy coffee from them. I just bought 250g from them on Monday, so I'm trying to drink it as fast as possible so I can go pick it up with unground beans for the first time  . I think I'll also put in an order for a moka pot on Amazon (should I also pick up a tamper too?) tonight too.This is how it all starts, isn't it  e: Subjectively speaking, would I notice that big of a difference grinding my coffee fresh before brewing? Just figured I'd ask. I went from a coffee pad machine to buying fresh local coffee every week for a press and having it ground at the store since I don't have a grinder. I really hope going to self–grinding coffee fresh is really that awesome. e2: vvv moka pot ordered! vv Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Sep 18, 2012 |
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Sep 18, 2012 20:03
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Boris Galerkin posted:And I think I've decided to buy the second one I linked, and it's really no cheaper ordering it online so I'll just pick it up at the roaster the next time I go buy coffee from them. I just bought 250g from them on Monday, so I'm trying to drink it as fast as possible so I can go pick it up with unground beans for the first time I've never used a moka pot, but I cannot imagine why you would need a tamper for one. I just double checked the guide on sweet maria's, and they specifically say to not tamp the grounds at all. So I definitely wouldn't. You will definitely notice a difference going from pre-ground to grinding before each brew. I saw somebody, maybe in one of these threads, say "green coffee is good for 4 years, roasted coffee is good for 4 weeks, ground coffee is good for 4 seconds."It's obviously not 100% literal, but the difference between preground and fresh ground is huge.
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Sep 18, 2012 22:21
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Arnold of Soissons posted:I've never used a moka pot, but I cannot imagine why you would need a tamper for one. I just double checked the guide on sweet maria's, and they specifically say to not tamp the grounds at all. So I definitely wouldn't. It's 15 months / 15 days / 15 minutes.
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Sep 18, 2012 23:32
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what is this posted:They don't seem to have a subscription plan. http://www.gocoffeego.com/ is where you want to be. They have a great selection of roasters and have automatic subscriptions for anything. I can't recommend them enough.
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Sep 19, 2012 01:58
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I've had a good bit of Verve and Klatch. They both put a lot of effort into sourcing good beans and produce some excellent stuff.
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Sep 19, 2012 04:12
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Seems like the Nivona grinder I was talking about is just a rebadged Capresso Infinity sold in my country, which makes it much easier to find reviews for it. It seems like the complaints are that it doesn't grind consistently fine enough for espresso (this is fine) and that it creates a lot of static when I pull out the grind tray making the coffee explode everywhere (this could be a bad thing).
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Sep 19, 2012 07:37
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Astronaut Jones posted:It's 15 months / 15 days / 15 minutes. There we go, perfect. Thanks. Boris Galerkin posted:Seems like the Nivona grinder I was talking about is just a rebadged Capresso Infinity sold in my country, which makes it much easier to find reviews for it. It seems like the complaints are that it doesn't grind consistently fine enough for espresso (this is fine) and that it creates a lot of static when I pull out the grind tray making the coffee explode everywhere (this could be a bad thing). Yeah, it looks just like it. I had a Capresso Infinity for years. It definitely is static-y, but for the 1-3 scoops at a time I was grinding I never had any actual trouble with it at all. Some chaff dust puffing out maybe, but nothing like what some of the reviews said. Maybe if you really grind a ton at once it's worse, but it seemed to me like nerds on the internet over reacting. YMMV.
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Sep 19, 2012 07:52
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It is my main grinder. Just keep it on a tray and clean once a week. It's really not THAT bad. Yes to internetoverreaction.
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Sep 19, 2012 07:56
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So I'm back studying again which means lots of my 'go-to' coffee, Lavazza Qualita Rossa. Yes it's store bought but it's cheaper than the local coffee and dependable. I make up some coffee and it doesn't taste right. Brand new bag, freshly ground but it tastes almost stale. Kind of boring. I try playing with the grind settings but it doesn't help. So I complained to the company, more of a 'heads up, you have a bad batch' kind of thing rather than 'I AM SO ANGRY'. They get my details, batch numbers etc and where I bought it. A few days later this arrives  I must say I was quite impressed by how quickly that happened. It might not seem like much but when you're unemployed the prospect of having to spend another £12 on coffee isn't a welcomed one. What's strange is that this one has come vacuum sealed where as when I get it from the store it's not.
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Sep 19, 2012 22:33
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I just received a Moka pot I ordered and there was this "machining" grease lining the threads. Is this normal?
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Sep 20, 2012 04:19
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Chewbacca Defense posted:I just received a Moka pot I ordered and there was this "machining" grease lining the threads. Is this normal? When I went to the store the other day to look at the sizes before ordering on Amazon I also got grease all over my hands when I took one of them apart. I would imagine you'd want to wash it all out because who wants to drink grease.
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Sep 20, 2012 09:36
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If anyone uses an Aeropress, I have a couple questions: For each brew, how much coffee do you use (in scoops), and how much water? After brewing, how much water do you dilute the concentrate with? I have seen a few different guides to the Aeropress, but the yield seems pretty small for the amounts involved. They all recommend either 1 or 2 scoops of coffee, and then around 10 ounces of water. You're only supposed to actually brew with some portion of that, and then dilute after brewing. But in my experience, the result either seems to be a small amount of coffee or a pretty weak cup after diluting in recommended amounts. I don't think the issue is the grind, because I had smart people at a good coffee shop do that. And if anything the water I'm using is slightly hotter than recommended. After brewing, I think I have less concentrate than I'm supposed to -- maybe about 2 shot glasses' worth. It seems like less than others get, going by their photos and videos. Ideally I'd like to have a nice, strong sixteen ounces of coffee. That may not be realistic given the size of the device and all, but I'd at least like to get as much fairly strong coffee as I can per brew out of this thing, so any advice would be rad. Thanks.
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Sep 20, 2012 15:43
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There are a number of problems you're having there. 1. A "scoop" is not a proper way to measure coffee. How much coffee you get in a scoop varies on grind. If your grind is say 20% smaller in size, you're probably going to get 20% more coffee in a scoop and that's a dramatic difference in how the coffee gets extracted. Similar problems will happen if it's too coarse as well Buy a cheap digital scale. It makes every cup you make repeatable and your mouth will thank you for the cheap investment. Your results will be way better, even with different grinds is you use the same amount of coffee by weight each time. 2. 1 or 2 scoops is hugely different and they will come out tasting nothing like each other. If 1 scoop is too little the coffee will taste weak, watery and possibly bitter. If 2 scoops is too many, strangely enough it can also taste weak because you're underextracting the coffee. Measure by weight and find the sweet spot. 3. You will not get 16oz of prepared coffee out of an aeropress. You just won't. It's not designed for it. It's designed to make strong and smaller servings of coffee typically in the 4-6oz range. You can dilute it with hot water to get to 16oz, but depending on your taste buds you may not enjoy it and it really wasn't the intended purpose of the device. If you want a large strong strength coffee, you don't want an aeropress, you want a pour-over cone and will need to play around with amount of coffee and pour time.
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Sep 20, 2012 18:47
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Also it depends what you're using for a scoop. The scoop that came with my French press is actually "fairly" accurate in that one leveled scoop comes out around 7 g like it says on the handle. On the other hand the scoop that came with my grinder today is a joke and I don't even know how anyone could use it (because it's so small). Yep, went out and bought the Capresso clone today and it's pretty awesome. Have not played around with it too much other than making three cups of coffee with the French press. One was at the coarsest grind setting and it seems to be perfect with little to no sediment, and when I moved it up one click it seemed like there was a ton more so I think I'll just stick to the coarsest grind. Tomorrow my Moka pot should be delivered from Amazon so I'll get to play around with that one too. I don't seem to get the whole "static causing explosion of coffee everywhere" that I've read about so that's good. The only thing I don't like about this one is that there's no simple on/off switch. It has this stupid timer that I don't even think is remotely accurate so I've just been spinning it to "1" and holding it there manually. This works for me since I just put in the proper amount of beans per use (I'm assuming this is better for the coffee since the hopper isn't air tight and is exposed to sun all day long). Basic question to people with Capressos, how often do you clean it, and what does that entail? Should I just wash the hopper/bean container, the output tray (whatever these two are called), and the removable burr grinder part with soap once a week or something? Astronaut Jones posted:It's 15 months / 15 days / 15 minutes. Is this really true? Right now I'm going through roughly 250 g a week by myself and it's a little bit annoying going back to the store every week to pick up another pack. I was hoping with my own grinder I could just buy like 5 kg in bulk to last me months. Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Sep 20, 2012 |
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Sep 20, 2012 19:43
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Boris Galerkin posted:I was hoping with my own grinder I could just buy like 5 kg in bulk to last me months. This works fine if you separate the bulk bag into smaller portions and freeze them in sealed bags or mason jars. http://www.home-barista.com/store-coffee-in-freezer.html
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Sep 21, 2012 03:35
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Boris Galerkin posted:Is this really true? Right now I'm going through roughly 250 g a week by myself and it's a little bit annoying going back to the store every week to pick up another pack. I was hoping with my own grinder I could just buy like 5 kg in bulk to last me months. If you do that, you'll lose the entire benefit of fresh roasted coffee pretty quickly. I wouldn't buy more than two week's worth at a go, personally. I'm not sure where you are, but there's a shop here that will mail you fresh coffee every week, there might be something like that near you, too.
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Sep 21, 2012 07:33
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Yeah I see no point in buying bulk. Seriously, the number one improvement you can do above ANYTHING, I mean even if you're using some lovely Mr. Coffee drip machine, is to buy small batches of newly roasted coffee. Its a bean, I dont know why people can't understand that a fresh fruit isn't going to be as good as one thats been sitting for months. Lots of local roasters too will mail you coffee too if you're too lazy to drop in and buy some. Look, this thread can't make you go do everything it takes, but the point of this thread is pointing out some basic, unarguable facts when it comes to improving coffee. Two of the most unarguable, objective facts to legitimately improve your coffee is 1.) Grind it right before you make it, and 2.)Buy freshly roasted coffee. Everything else can be a little subjective and wonky but those two facts stay. If your life doesn't allow you to do those two things, fine, no one really cares. But if you refuse to do those two things, and you keep coming back here complaining about your coffee not tasting that well then, what else can we do about it? Coffee is a hugely subjective world, but for people just getting into it, its not that subjective really. There are some base-level things to understand. swagger like us fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Sep 21, 2012 |
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Sep 21, 2012 19:04
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I know this sucks, but it's the best I've produced so far.
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Sep 21, 2012 19:29
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dema posted:I know this sucks, but it's the best I've produced so far. Looks good to me! I've always wanted to be able to make patterns like that.
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Sep 21, 2012 19:39
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Wow, lots of rage here; chill man, I didn't know.
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Sep 21, 2012 19:46
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Boris Galerkin posted:Wow, lots of rage here; chill man, I didn't know. There's no rage man, I don't know how you got that from that post. But sure, wave aside everything I said with "u mad bro?" Just laying out that, this thread is for a pretty specific thing. I dunno, if you wanna buy 5kg of wholesale coffee go for it, but just dont be surprised if no one in the specialty coffee thread wants to talk about it
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Sep 21, 2012 19:58
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I use a french press and other methods that horrify people who know coffee (electric kettle and blade grinder), but I'm still not sure about the actual amount I should be putting in. The rule I see is 1 tbsp per 5 oz, and I believe offhand my press is 12 oz. When I stick with this ratio the coffee is what I consider very thing and weak. If I overload it to the point where the pluger takes a lot of force to push down, the coffee comes out how I like it, that is, extremely strong and black. So am I just seeing the wrong guidelines, or do I just have bad taste?
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Sep 21, 2012 20:11
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Saint Darwin posted:I use a french press and other methods that horrify people who know coffee (electric kettle and blade grinder), but I'm still not sure about the actual amount I should be putting in. This has been said 50 times, even on this very page, and If you want a consistent and easy way to measure coffee for your press, pourover, whatever. Get a cheap, digital kitchen scale and use it. "Scoops" or tbsp's is not reliable because coffee weight can change a lot. Thats it, there's your answer. Scoops and TBSP ratios are good enough for just to make coffee, but not to actually make reliably good tasting coffee everytime. A scale is like $30. If you're lazy, you'd be surprised it actually makes your coffee making easier. But using a full kettle, and pouring over the top of a zeroed scale, you just have to keep pouring till you hit your numbers of cups. No measuring water beforehand necessary. This question needs to go into the OP swagger like us fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Sep 21, 2012 |
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Sep 21, 2012 20:15
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swagger like us posted:This has been said 50 times, even on this very page, and is in the OP (or should be?). I don't see it in the OP, but I see the same advice above; I have a scale and I'll start using it. Ignore my measuring method, though. I still want to know if I just have horrible bad taste in coffee because I like it black as my soul, or if it's such a personal thing that there's really no "wrong" way. The amount of stuff I've read so far really makes it seem like "if you're not doing X Y and Z you're ruining the coffee and should be ashamed." I just don't know much about coffee overall and want to learn how to do it "right."
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Sep 21, 2012 20:21
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dema posted:I know this sucks, but it's the best I've produced so far. I'm glad latte art is showing up here, and holy poo poo that is a nice looking cup. I'm a barista by trade in a really disappointing shop, pretty much all I can do with the equipment on hand is work on pouring latte art until I can finally convince the owner to get rid of the awful step grinder we use for espresso. How I have a better grinder in my home than in the "best" shop in my town I'll never understand. It looks like you're over-frothing your milk. Try and stop aerating as soon as possible; once your steam jug stops feeling cold, submerge the wand. Traditional advice says once it feels body temperature, but I've found submerging before that point gives you smoother milk that can be used for more art. It might still make a light squealing noise, but you shouldn't really worry about that too much unless you're noticing a scorched or malty taste. Here's one of the better drinks I poured off my last shift. I've been working on combining tulip and rosetta designs together, but without decent round-bottomed latte mugs it's hard to start the tulip close enough to the back wall to pull off the "phoenix" 
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Sep 21, 2012 20:32
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I think that's usually my problem when I make mine too. I can barely get any form of art going and I notice the foam on top gets airy after a minute or so because the microbubbles start to pop. I think I'm always over-frothing because I assume that if I don't aerate it enough that it's just going to sink past the crema and I won't get any on top at all.
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Sep 21, 2012 20:49
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Saint Darwin posted:I don't see it in the OP, but I see the same advice above; I have a scale and I'll start using it. Ignore my measuring method, though. I still want to know if I just have horrible bad taste in coffee because I like it black as my soul, or if it's such a personal thing that there's really no "wrong" way. The amount of stuff I've read so far really makes it seem like "if you're not doing X Y and Z you're ruining the coffee and should be ashamed." I just don't know much about coffee overall and want to learn how to do it "right." Yeah sorry, when I wrote that I thought it was in the OP. My bad, its not. Nah, there's no real "wrong" way in the sense of this: If you are, consisently making the type of coffee you want to drink, then you're doing fine. The difference though when people talk about making coffee right is when they take their personal preference, and use some dumb claim like "man people are so stupid, they spend so much money on coffee and I make delicious coffee with my drip machine and no-brand preground coffee.". What people here will give you however, are fairly objective answers to troubleshooting how to make better coffee. Personal preference plays a part, but the methodology is based on collective experience and is largely objective.
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Sep 21, 2012 21:54
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Whalley posted:I'm glad latte art is showing up here, and holy poo poo that is a nice looking cup. Thanks for the tip! I'll try that. The cups are really sweet. Love them. Since I'm procrastinating work, here are some photos of my setup:      And since we were talking about waste management in the Mazzer Mini Electronic:  I've removed the screen on mine. My processes is to: 1) Remove portafilter and engage the machine to clear out the boiling water. It's a E61 HX unit. 2) Hit button one on the Mazzer. It's set to grind about 6g. Sweep the chute with a brush. Discard. This clears out the stale grounds in the burrs. 3) Disengage the espresso machine. Should be down to the target temp. 4) Hit button two. It's set to grind about 20g. Sweep the chute. 5) Tamp and pull a double.
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Sep 21, 2012 22:02
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Saint Darwin posted:I use a french press and other methods that horrify people who know coffee (electric kettle and blade grinder), Ok blade grinders are obviously terrible, but wtf is wrong with an electric kettle or a press?
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Sep 21, 2012 22:41
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Whalley posted:Here's one of the better drinks I poured off my last shift. I've been working on combining tulip and rosetta designs together, but without decent round-bottomed latte mugs it's hard to start the tulip close enough to the back wall to pull off the "phoenix" Latte art was one of my favourite things to do when I worked as a barista, though when the place I was working at changed management I hardly got any time to make drinks. It was always the assistant manager who was allowed to make drinks and we all got poo poo for not practising enough. Blah. I make a lot of failed hearts that turned out to look more like garlic bulbs. Did you draw the body on the phoenix on?
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Sep 21, 2012 22:47
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dema posted:here are some photos of my setup:  Oh golly gee you have a pretty coffee setup.Jyrraeth posted:Latte art was one of my favourite things to do when I worked as a barista, though when the place I was working at changed management I hardly got any time to make drinks. It was always the assistant manager who was allowed to make drinks and we all got poo poo for not practising enough. Blah. Everything except the swipe lines through the tail was free pour. I hate drawing/etching, it takes too long and just feels cheap. The bird was just two small rosettas with their follow through being pulled towards one side instead of through the middle, with the body/beak just being a slower poured line of the last little dregs of lighter, frothier milk left in the jug. It's just straight up luck that I flicked out for the beak at enough speed to get a sharp tip, normally they're a lot blunter. Wungus fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Sep 22, 2012 |
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Sep 22, 2012 04:03
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