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e: wrong thread, it finally happened
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Nov 24, 2022 05:19
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Toast King posted:e: wrong thread, it finally happened Whoa hey let's get him!
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Nov 24, 2022 07:20
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Welp. My uncle got me hooked on homemade cappuccino while I've been visiting for Thanksgiving. I see the thread doesn't seem to have a high opinion of the super-automatic machines, but would a semi-automatic + automatic grinder be good enough for a beginner who is a little intimidated by the manual stuff? Also, any recommendations on what to get on a 5-600 budget? edit: reading back through the thread I'm seeing a lot of praise for the 1zpresso manual grinders. I suppose I would be willing to give one of those a shot as well if people think they're really worth it. kzmn fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Nov 24, 2022 |
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Nov 24, 2022 16:58
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Google Butt posted:I had this same feeling but I'm kind of convinced there might actually be a notable difference after watching these webinars. If what is being said is true, it's capable of far more minute changes than I expected. So much so that kaffelogic works directly with commercial roasters to set up cupping profiles for the nano and conversions for those profiles to their larger roasters. Cool, I'll check these out. It's definitely a big part of their marketing, which I why I remain a little skeptical (and because Coffee Science is full of things that've ended up not really panning out). But I'll be happy to be wrong! Should be very easy to blind test when we get the machine -- I'm super excited to be able to accurately replicate roasts in a way that lets you remove some of those inescapable variables you always have without PID temp control and fully automated air settings. eke out fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Nov 24, 2022 |
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Nov 24, 2022 17:25
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kzmn posted:Welp. My uncle got me hooked on homemade cappuccino while I've been visiting for Thanksgiving. I see the thread doesn't seem to have a high opinion of the super-automatic machines, but would a semi-automatic + automatic grinder be good enough for a beginner who is a little intimidated by the manual stuff? Also, any recommendations on what to get on a 5-600 budget? You should know right now home espresso is a bottomless money pit. If you just want milk drinks like cappuccinos and lattes, a superauto can still make perfectly drinkable stuff. I have no idea which ones are considered good though. What was your uncle using? Superautos aren't good at making straight espresso, but not everyone wants that. They also require quite a bit more maintenance and tend to not last as long as a well built semi-auto. I have no interest in hand grinding, but lots of people here swear by them as a way to save money. I think the Lagom Mini in the $350 range is about as cheap as I would go for an electric grinder. The cheapest true espresso machine anyone will recommend is Gaggia Classic Pro at around $450. That's what I have, and it still is pretty finicky. I'm at the phase where I am trying to decide if I want to start modding it (adding better temperature control via a PID) or just spending two to three times that much for something fancier.
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Nov 24, 2022 18:55
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I love hand grinders but I wouldn't use one for espressos. Ever.
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Nov 24, 2022 19:05
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Bandire posted:You should know right now home espresso is a bottomless money pit. I'm not sure about the exact model but I think it looks a lot like this. But yeah if the super autos are good enough for cappuccino and lattes I might look in that direction because I'm not interested in straight espresso. Thanks!
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Nov 24, 2022 19:09
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I've used a Kinu M47 for espresso coming on four years now and wine not ideal is still a bit of a pain. I just wish the venn diagram for single dose electric grinders that are flat burr, quiet, and under a grand had a bit more overlap.
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Nov 24, 2022 19:22
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FWIW I timed myself, from having the thought "I want a latte" to prepped, brewed, foamed, cleaned, then sipping in 9:30. That's with a JX-Pro, Flair Pro 2, and nanofoamer. This is just a benchmark time for anyone considering how long manual takes. I don't know how long other setups take, though I know boiler machines need a long time of preheating you'll either need to plan or program ahead. Can probably shave 1 minute off this time if I had a way to organize my tools instead of loading into and out of a bin each time. Another 30 seconds if I had test tubes to dose out several 15g doses ahead of time.
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Nov 24, 2022 19:40
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BrianBoitano posted:FWIW I timed myself, from having the thought "I want a latte" to prepped, brewed, foamed, cleaned, then sipping in 9:30. That's with a JX-Pro, Flair Pro 2, and nanofoamer. Depending on your workflow the pre-heat is manageable, much more so than manual. When I wake up first thing I do is turn on the machine, then go get fully ready. By the time I’m ready it’s all heated.
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Nov 24, 2022 20:28
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I think what turns me towards manual machines is just the lack of maintenance needed. I’ve only had a GCP before and I hated emptying the drip tray and back flushing after every shot, plus using cafiza routinely. I am getting a little tired of manually pushing the robot arms down, especially when it’s early. I’ve got the mittens which help, but I’d love a traditional lever machine but then that introduces all the maintenance I don’t want. Flair 58 would be the only other thing I’d consider, since it addresses preheating issues and the lever seems easier than the arms.
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Nov 24, 2022 20:37
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Backflush after every shot seems extremely excessive. One a week at most for me, and my machine makes the back flush process extremely simple as it’s automated. Also descale frequency is gonna depend entirely on your water hardness. If you want to descale less you can always use less hard water.
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Nov 24, 2022 20:41
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Spiggy posted:I've used a Kinu M47 for espresso coming on four years now and wine not ideal is still a bit of a pain. I just wish the venn diagram for single dose electric grinders that are flat burr, quiet, and under a grand had a bit more overlap. Oh speaking of the Kinu M47, I finally went looking for a lid and found this one on AliExpress that works like a charm, though it'll take a few weeks between ordering and receiving. It's a very snug fit, but the easiest way to insert it is to do it perpendicular to the handle, so that the handle is sticking out to the sides, relative to the notch of the lid. It's pretty ridiculous that a $350+ grinder doesn't come with some way to prevent popcorning (I developed a habit of grinding over the sink to minimize stray bean fragments flying all over the kitchen), but at least there's a relatively cheap fix
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Nov 24, 2022 20:43
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:Depending on your workflow the pre-heat is manageable, much more so than manual. Yeah I don't mean manual is better for preheating overall, just that it requires less forethought. Some days I just go to my local café, so I don't really know whether I'll brew myself or not until the mood strikes. And the attention I need to preheat is about 20 seconds - put brew head on kettle, hit boil. Do that again 10 seconds before brewing. It's easy. nwin posted:I think what turns me towards manual machines is just the lack of maintenance needed. This is very nice for me too - I descale my kettle every 3-4 months but that would be needed anyway since my wife does tea. I clean o-rings once every 6ish months and that's it!
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Nov 24, 2022 21:01
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Can't you use an electric screwdriver on the JX-pro?
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Nov 24, 2022 21:05
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I've found it only really helps if you're doing more than one shot. Getting the driver out and coupled takes time and hand grinding is only ~35 seconds.
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Nov 24, 2022 21:23
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AnimeIsTrash posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oB1oDrDkHM There's some good tips in here on preheating and pour height.
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Nov 24, 2022 21:55
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I'm glad he's also fighting against the tyranny of ceramic or metal cones. Plastic is better.
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Nov 24, 2022 22:03
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kzmn posted:Welp. My uncle got me hooked on homemade cappuccino while I've been visiting for Thanksgiving. I see the thread doesn't seem to have a high opinion of the super-automatic machines, but would a semi-automatic + automatic grinder be good enough for a beginner who is a little intimidated by the manual stuff? Also, any recommendations on what to get on a 5-600 budget? I started home espresso stuff some months ago and I think what I have is kinda the cheapest way to get good espresso/espresso drinks at home. It's the gaggia classic pro, paired with the Eureka Mignon Chrono - with the espresso burrs which cost 40 bucks extra to order and I installed (it's very simple). I'm in Canada so these are CAD figures, the machine was around 550, the grinder was around 285. I would recommend looking for black friday/xmas sales for these items. I'm very satisfied although I'm also in the process of setting up to do a very extensive mod (google gagguino) as a fun project. I'm able to make very good espresso with this setup but be aware that until you get used to dialing in the grinder for different beans you're going to be making very bad espresso which could essentially strip paint. It's absolutely a hobby and not a shortcut to espresso! I find it a lot of fun as a tinkery type person.
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Nov 24, 2022 23:21
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VelociBacon posted:I'm able to make very good espresso with this setup but be aware that until you get used to dialing in the grinder for different beans you're going to be making very bad espresso which could essentially strip paint. It's absolutely a hobby and not a shortcut to espresso! I find it a lot of fun as a tinkery type person. I’ve been doing the espresso for about 3 years now, and this is very much it. You can get decent-good espresso with technique on a $80 espresso machine. IMO, order of importance is Fresh beans > grinder > understanding how to dial/taste and adjust (but Grinder and this are nearly interchangeable) > workflow > espresso machine. A good machine will take you from good to excellent, but it’s far less important. I’m of the opinion that spending on a good, used grinder if you can find one + a cheap machine to learn the process and see if you like it is the best way to go, but only if you’re willing to spend on fresh beans.
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Nov 24, 2022 23:36
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AnimeIsTrash posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oB1oDrDkHM I've been trying this method this weekend and I like it, but all I have here is a light roast natural Ethiopian and an Encore and with all the fines I'm having a hard time getting a final brew time any less than about 3:30-- it seems like the agitation from so many pours is pushing the fines toward the bottom of the filter. Coffee tastes good to me so it probably doesn't matter, I just wonder if it would taste even better if I could get it to stop clogging! Grinding coarser doesn't actually seem to be affecting my drawdown times whatsoever-- I suspect that the Encore is creating more fines the coarser I go, so I may as well go fine and try to at least get a more uniform extraction.
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Nov 25, 2022 00:44
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You've heard of the Coffee Cycler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39g6utADRzs But have you tried the (equally disgusting) spent-coffee-grounds liqueur? https://i.imgur.com/hUiUgqZ.mp4]
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Nov 25, 2022 01:06
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404notfound posted:Oh speaking of the Kinu M47, I finally went looking for a lid and found this one on AliExpress that works like a charm, though it'll take a few weeks between ordering and receiving. You are one of my favorite people right now. I have to constantly vacuum one small section of my apartment because that's where all the popcorning beans congregate.
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Nov 25, 2022 02:24
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bizwank posted:More or less; the hole in the housing lets water get in… Thanks. I ordered a new element and popped it in. The old one REALLY didn’t want to come out. As in I had to buy a new 30mm deep impact socket and set the wrench to full send to get it out. It actually distorted the boiler shape. The new one is in and the machine kicked right on like it had never been down. I can oddly here a lot of water boiling sounds that I can only attribute to a change in the level of the low water probe. From my research it seems like this doesn’t matter that much but where do you set these when servicing different units? 1/2 full boiler? 3/4? The Oscar has a safety valve, which you pointed out, but it does not have an adjustable over pressure to adjust brew pressure. I have taken the temp down some via the pressure stat but was looking into an OPV while I had it apart. I also lost some steam power of course as a result. Thanks for the timely reply.
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Nov 25, 2022 02:57
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MetaJew posted:You've heard of the Coffee Cycler: I appreciate it's a tik tok bit but I don't want anything that guy touches he looks like every restaurant manager I've ever met.
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Nov 25, 2022 03:28
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RichterIX posted:I've been trying this method this weekend and I like it, but all I have here is a light roast natural Ethiopian and an Encore and with all the fines I'm having a hard time getting a final brew time any less than about 3:30-- it seems like the agitation from so many pours is pushing the fines toward the bottom of the filter. Coffee tastes good to me so it probably doesn't matter, I just wonder if it would taste even better if I could get it to stop clogging! try less swirl at the bloom and at the start of the drawdown, too much swirling can make fines settle at the bottom and clog
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Nov 25, 2022 18:30
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What type of milk is typically used for milk drinks?
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Nov 25, 2022 20:26
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Google Butt posted:What type of milk is typically used for milk drinks? If you go to a cafe, you'll generally get full-fat cow's milk used in milk drinks. I tend to use oat milk, as I don't drink dairy. I like Rebel Kitchen's Barista Mylk, as it steams and pours very similarly to cow's milk, and tastes good too. It's a blend of a few different plants, but the main ingredient is oat. Edit: The reason cafes use full-fat milk is that higher-fat-content milk tends to taste better when steamed. It may also pour better? I'm not sure. Gunder fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Nov 25, 2022 |
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Nov 25, 2022 20:31
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Gunder posted:If you go to a cafe, you'll generally get full-fat cow's milk used in milk drinks. I tend to use oat milk, as I don't drink dairy. I like Rebel Kitchen's Barista Mylk, as it steams and pours very similarly to cow's milk, and tastes good too. It's a blend of a few different plants, but the main ingredient is oat. How sweet is it? I really, really dislike any added sweetness beyond normal milk.
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Nov 25, 2022 20:35
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I bit the bullet and bought a Cafelat Robot (with pressure gauge) in retro green from Prima Coffee. 15% off coupon "ROBOT15" got me to $381 before tax and shipping. I also ordered the OE / Cafelat Robot Espresso Prep System . They had 20% off today, so $80 before shipping. Now I guess I'll find out if my Baratza Vario W can do espresso at all or if I'm going to have to drop $$$$ on an espresso grinder.
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Nov 25, 2022 20:36
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Google Butt posted:How sweet is it? I really, really dislike any added sweetness beyond normal milk. The Rebel Kitchen Mylk won't taste like you've added any sugar to it or like it's been artificially sweetened. It tastes pretty close to full-fat milk in terms of sweetness. Steaming milk generally makes any milk taste sweeter, but it won't taste artificially sweetened.
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Nov 25, 2022 20:38
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I always get my milk drinks with oat milk but I find that the taste varies far more than with regular milk. Different brands have pretty different flavor profiles. Also if there’s too much oat milk — often the case when you order a larger drink but the number of shots remain the same — it’s all you’ll taste.
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Nov 25, 2022 21:01
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MetaJew posted:I bit the bullet and bought a Cafelat Robot (with pressure gauge) in retro green from Prima Coffee. 15% off coupon "ROBOT15" got me to $381 before tax and shipping. I'm ordering the same kit, but it seems like you can pair the JX-pro with it for $150 if the vario doesn't cut it. Did you order the oe kit with the little wood stand?
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Nov 25, 2022 21:08
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Vegetable posted:I always get my milk drinks with oat milk but I find that the taste varies far more than with regular milk. Different brands have pretty different flavor profiles. Gotcha. I ordered the nanofoamer lithium which will beat my robot here. I might order a carton of oatly and test it out in comparison to regular milk, even though I won't be making an espresso drink with it. Suppose practice wouldn't hurt.
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Nov 25, 2022 21:10
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Google Butt posted:Gotcha. I ordered the nanofoamer lithium which will beat my robot here. I might order a carton of oatly and test it out in comparison to regular milk, even though I won't be making an espresso drink with it. Suppose practice wouldn't hurt. I’ve had both the original nanofoamer and now the lithium…the lithium is loving :chefs kiss: . Even using energizer lithium batteries is the original nanofoamer doesn’t hold a candle to the new one.
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Nov 25, 2022 21:21
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Google Butt posted:I'm ordering the same kit, but it seems like you can pair the JX-pro with it for $150 if the vario doesn't cut it. Yeah I got the wood stand. I'll have to look up the grinder when I'm back on my PC.
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Nov 25, 2022 22:06
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I see a few people at the milder end of the coffee obsession scale asking about setup in the last couple of pages. I reported recently that I got a lagom mini and had some channeling issues. I'm glad to report that's settled down since I've ground a decent amount of coffee through it. I'm getting tasty espresso that I mostly use to make milk drinks with steamed oat milk, or an americano with a heavy glug of oat milk, with that grinder and the Breville Bambino Plus. I let it automatically texture the milk and again it's pretty good. Let me just say that in this case "pretty good" is "god starbucks tastes awful now." I do not use the pressurized basket - I got a naked portafilter with a nice wooden handle. The other things that I wouldn't be without are a weiss distribution tool - wooden handle with acupuncture needles from etsy - and a magnetic collar/funnel for the portafilter so that when I'm pouring coffee from the grinder to the basket and when I'm using the WDT I don't get coffee everywhere. The thing I am considering but haven't gone for yet is the normcore self-leveling tamper - it would probably make my routine a little better but at this point my results are good enough and the aesthetic doesn't go with my pretty coffee station. I preheat the brewhead and portafilter by running the single espresso mode once or twice. That noticeably helped with extraction. Making a nice cup of coffee takes me about five minutes; also I have ADHD so results may vary for people who don't end up emptying the dishwasher when they were just getting milk out of the fridge. All in all that's about $1000 in the US for the brewer, grinder, and assorted tools. On the way through I had a Kinu M47 hand-grinder which was very nice but eventually hand-grinding was too much for me. Based on reading this thread, Hoffman, Morgan Drinks Coffee, and reading a lot of reviews, I feel like this is the best combination I'm going to get for ease of use, results, and relatively low cost. I think this is very much a pick two situation: ease of use, low cost, good outcomes. If I could go back I'd skip the hand-grinder step - it seemed like the best balance of cost and results at the time. This isn't a set-up built for getting the very best espresso out of light roast third wave coffees. This works beautifully for medium to dark roasts. Between this and buying beans I like, I've been able to produce coffee that tastes good enough for my bitter supertaster partner to enjoy with just milk. (She's been a brave test guinea-pig but isn't going to be a regular coffee drinker. I just used her to benchmark my results.)
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Nov 25, 2022 23:35
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Question about cortados, are they just straight up 50/50 using hot/steamed milk, or is there a small layer of microfoam on top as well?
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Nov 26, 2022 00:27
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sugar free jazz posted:try less swirl at the bloom and at the start of the drawdown, too much swirling can make fines settle at the bottom and clog I will try going easy on the swirling during the bloom, I'm already just barely giving it a swirl at the end. Thanks!
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Nov 26, 2022 00:39
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| # ? May 13, 2024 12:45 |
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Idlewild_ posted:I see a few people at the milder end of the coffee obsession scale asking about setup in the last couple of pages. I reported recently that I got a lagom mini and had some channeling issues. I'm glad to report that's settled down since I've ground a decent amount of coffee through it. A lot of hardcore espresso people talk about how difficult/expensive it is to get great espresso at home, but I think most people are like you and me where the bar is "can I make a milk based drink as good or better at home than I can get at Starbucks". It really isn't that tough if you spend some time researching and learning. And if you can find your "good enough" without spending several thousand dollars, you are really ahead of the game. Google Butt posted:Question about cortados, are they just straight up 50/50 using hot/steamed milk, or is there a small layer of microfoam on top as well? I'm not entirely sure there's a consensus on how to make a cortado, but I usually do latte style foam in mine.
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Nov 26, 2022 00:42
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