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I tried to do a little searching in this thread, but does anyone in hear on a Vario or Vario-W and have they attempted to do the "hyperalignment"? I have a Vario-W with steel burrs and I notice with my pour-overs that there always seems like a good amount of fines at the top of the brew bed. I never used the ceramic burrs that came with it-- so I don't know if the steel burrs generate significantly fewer fines than the ceramics, but it makes me think that the lower burr may be out of alignment due to the drive belt or whatever else it is that people say online. I've read through some of the Home Barista threads on the subject but I haven't found a really good tutorial and I don't want to gently caress my grinder up if I screw it up somehow.
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Dec 10, 2021 23:06
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MetaJew posted:I tried to do a little searching in this thread, but does anyone in hear on a Vario or Vario-W and have they attempted to do the "hyperalignment"? I have a Vario-W with steel burrs and I notice with my pour-overs that there always seems like a good amount of fines at the top of the brew bed. I never used the ceramic burrs that came with it-- so I don't know if the steel burrs generate significantly fewer fines than the ceramics, but it makes me think that the lower burr may be out of alignment due to the drive belt or whatever else it is that people say online. Any goons in here align their burrs?
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Dec 12, 2021 20:59
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Happy Pizza Guy posted:The 40 page thread on the home barista forums makes it feel a wee bit intimidating, but I’d love to do it. I just haven’t seen a foolproof guide yet. I even just got my Vario back from a repair and they were kind enough to upgrade me to the metal chamber as part of the refurbishment, so I’m quite primed to do it… That metal grind chamber seems like a nice upgrade but I'm not sure how I would "know" if I would benefit from it. My Vario-W just has the plastic chamber as far as I'm aware-- but I do think it's producing way too many fines. The top of the bed always looks muddy while if you scoop off that layer, the grinds look mostly uniform and a little coarser underneath. Yeah, there was one specific comment that said the "easier" way to align it involved loosening the belt drive, i think, and then just clamping everything together with some woodworking clamps, and then tightening it all back up. I'm still very disappointed at the lack of a step-by-step guide. I guess I've been spoiled by car forums and people that are more mechanically inclined than coffee snobs. Here's the specific post: https://www.home-barista.com/grinders/alicorn-achieving-precision-alignment-with-baratza-forte-vario-t59857-270.html#p776891 Fake edit: Scrolling through the thread a little more, I see people attempting that process but there still doesn't seem to be a definite answer, and retensioning the belt doesn't seem fun. With all that said I've been generally satisfied with the flavor of my pour overs, so I'm just a little more curious about if I can improve on the grind quality. I am really thinking about buying myself the Cafelat Robot soon (after looking at comparisons between it and the Flair 58), so getting the grinder dialed in to hopefully grind for espresso would be nice.
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Dec 13, 2021 07:09
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Vegetable posted:We’ve been thinking of getting some of those coffee grinder cleaning beans. Basically you grind a batch of those to clean your electric grinder and then finish up with old, unwanted beans to wash out the residue. Do these things actually work? I use some occasionally, but when I do, I also pull out my upper burr and try to brush everything clean. I then use a wooden tooth pick to try and pick out any grounds that have gotten packed into any crevices. The cleaning "beans" claim that they will absorb old coffee oils and odors so I don't think they can hurt. You do need to have some extra coffee beans lying around to run through your grinder after you run the cleaning beans to make sure you get out any leftover grinds flushed out. I do think the next few brews taste a lot better after cleaning the grinder, so I don't think the cleaning product can hurt at all.
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Dec 13, 2021 08:28
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I'm still planning on buying the Cafelat Robot one day. What's the benefit of something like the bellman steamer over the Breville milk frother? They look like they are at a similar price point.
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Dec 25, 2021 10:45
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Any recommendations on where to get cool light roasted interesting beans in the US? I've been ordering from Proud Mary and Brandywine for the last several months. There's a roaster in Austin, Third Coast Roasters that I've picked up beans from for a while, but their roasts tend to be a lot darker and not that complex. Although, they are very affordable by comparison.
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Jan 22, 2022 17:48
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JohnCompany posted:If you're in Austin check out Flat Track, Houndstooth or Metric. They're all local (well Metric started in San Antonio but has Austin shops now), roast their own (Houndstooth calls their roastery Tweed, but it's the same folks), and will have light/third wave roasts. Do you mean Merit coffee? I'll have to check out one of those. Maybe stop by one of the shops today to buy some beanz.
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Jan 22, 2022 18:31
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I have a moka pot style brewer that I use very occasionally. I always make a mess trying to fill the basket and then I'm never super satisfied with the brew. I tried to follow James' technique on my gas stove but I don't own a heat diffuser and I couldn't get a steady brew at low flame. After deciding to stop the brew I made an Americano of sorts and it was nice with some good mouth feel but 30 g of coffee does feel a little excessive when I can just do my pour over with 20 g or aeropress with 11g. I think I'm gonna put the moka pot away again for another few months until I forget about my gripes.
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Jan 31, 2022 02:46
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RichterIX posted:You can use a thick frying pan instead of a diffuser plate, it's not very energy efficient but it's worth trying to see if getting a heat diffuser for that specific purpose it is worth it. If it's cast iron or something make sure you get it good and warm first, it'll take forever to come up to brewing temp if you don't. Again, not very efficient energy-wise. Yeah I had considered things like one of my cast iron pans but like you say it is sort of wasteful and definitely slower. I will say my cup of coffee trying to implement James' method was good but I couldn't get the low flame just right and it felt like the brew kept stalling. Maybe I need to use a different burner in my stove since the flame size is not analog and instead changes in largeish steps.
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Jan 31, 2022 17:25
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Related to the moka pot, what do y'all use to funnel in grounds without making a mess? I always wind up spilling grounds all over my counter trying to pour from my Vario's grounds bin, and I know you're not supposed to tamp the coffee into the basket so I'm always hesitant to really start packing in the grounds too much with my finger to make more room when filling it. I've tried just using the Aeropress funnel as a holder for the basket, but I don't have a second wide mouth funnel to then fill it.
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Jan 31, 2022 21:31
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aldantefax posted:We should just go get coffee at some point for the folks here in Austin. Figure 8, Onyx, Merit, Try Hard, and Tweed (which is what Houndstooth users) are all good for lighter roasts. At my local shop in south Austin we have Brandywine and Figure 8. I picked up a bag the weekend I posted the question from Flat Track. It is goodish but nothing to write home about. I did pick up the bag from their "old coffee, 50% off" display but the roast date was literally a week old vs the display with bags roasted maybe two days ago. So, by no means old, and $11 vs $22 is great. I can't say these flavors came through but it wasn't bad: https://flattrackcoffee.com/products/nanochalla-ethiopiawashed-default?variant=29461471002718 Cup Characteristics: Honeysuckle, Lemon Meringue, Asian Pear I think the best coffee I've ordered was a central American geisha from Brandywine. Whenever Brandywine sends out another 15% off coupon I may order another bag. That coffee as a pour over really did taste like a black tea and even my wife enjoyed it and she hates coffee.
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Jan 31, 2022 22:26
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So I tried to do the burr alignment on my Baratza Vario, and after fully stripping the grinder down, cleaning out all the old coffee grounds and clumped up stuff, and then trying the "wood clamp" method of loosening the grind chamber and then squeezing the burrs together while tensioning the belt and screwing everything back together I see gently caress-all difference. I was never able to get a perfect scrape using the dry erase marker method. I still see that part of the lower burr is contacting the upper burr. Perhaps disassembling it again earlier in the day when I'm less tired might yield better results, but I am still getting extremely fine grinds mixed in with my coarser grinds. Anyway, coffee grinders are frustrating, and Baratza used some very soft philips head screws that were very at risk to stripping.
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May 3, 2022 07:59
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Spiggy posted:I'll second the Airscape. I've had mine for quite a few years now and it's worked great the whole time. Is there a particular "good" place to buy an airscape or two from, or are the prices pretty fixed?
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Aug 6, 2022 23:30
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I am still very frustrated with my Vario W and the amount of fines in my pour over grind. I tried "hyper aligning" the burrs but it didn't seem like it accomplished anything or I didn't do it right. I'm certainly not getting the amazing, bright, sweet, citrusy (and whatever other adjectives these coffee nerds use) flavors people describe after doing it. So I either did it wrong, I have a bad sense of taste or something else is going on. Anyone else manage to "hyper align" their Vario or similar baratza flat burr grinder? 404notfound posted:Apparently AeroPress has their own official metal filter now. Looks like it's so new there aren't even any reviews that I can find yet. Anybody have a chance to try one? I've already got a metal one made by Able but I'm curious how the official one would stack up It seems like it would easily clog up and then be hard to clear. No?
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Aug 9, 2022 21:02
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eke out posted:Is the coffee you're using amazing, bright, sweet, and citrusy? Always tricky figuring out why you're not getting what other people are saying and it could just be less than spectacular beans. I don't know. I've been trying various single origin beans from various roasters. Some have a little more interesting flavors, than others-- from Brandywine, Proud Mary, Merit, and several others. I feel like the most unique bean I've had was a pretty inexpensive geisha I got from Brandywine, but every geisha I've seen from them recently has been substantially more expensive and not worth it. This is from my factory refurbished Vario W with steel burrs that I've had for 2+ years now. This is after I tried the hyper aligning process, with the grind setting at 4L, I think. I was washing my countertop compost bin out so these grounds were left to dry out in the V60 overnight. This is with a 20g of coffee and 300g of water. I'll bloom with ~40g of water, stir it and make sure everything gets saturated, wait 45ish seconds, and then slowly pour in the remainder of the water over the next maybe 45 seconds, maybe longer. I don't pay too close attention. Either way, I'll do a gentle swirl to flatten the bed and then let it draw down. It will have finished somewhere around 3 minutes. You can see that this maybe 1-2 mm thick layer of fines forms at the top and along the sides of the cone. You can see when I disturb the grounds that the size of the grounds underneath are coarser.  
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Aug 10, 2022 02:38
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I enjoy James' videos but God I cannot stand Lance. I do not like this crossover.
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Aug 23, 2022 20:26
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So I tore apart my Vario W again to try and get the burrs into better alignment. One of my key findings, or realizations was that the screws which fasten the burrs to the upper and lower carriers do not perfectly center the burrs in the carrier. As you tighten the screws down you can still move the burr around in the carrier which means that there will be some misalignment simply in that design. To try and fix this problem, I cut several strips of paper I had lying around, of various weights. I used the strips as shims between the burr and the carrier to try and get the burrs centered in the carriers. After doing that I think my key issue with getting the burrs aligned was messing with the drive belt tension ,while simultaneously trying to align the upper burr and grind chamber assembly with the lower burr. So if anyone is struggling with this, I think what you want to do is set the belt tension such that it has just enough tension to engage with the drive motor, but does not have so much tension that it pulls the lower burr assembly off axis. Once the belt tension is set, you can then proceed with loosening the four grind chamber screws, squeezing the grind chamber and lower burr assembly together, while applying pressure to the grind adjustment arms, and then tightening the grind chamber screws back down. Lastly, I did have to adjust the course grind adjustment screw/lever quite a bit to get the burrs to come together while disassembled. As a result, when I had everything back together, the burrs were coming in contact around the coarse setting of '4' initially. This can all be readjusted with the grinder back together, but it is quite a pain to see into the access panel and adjust the lever. With that fixed, I have the grinder recalibrated to contact at "2Q" per the manual. Since then I think my presence of fines in my grinds have decreased some, or improved. Not sure how much this has improved the flavor of my coffee, but whatever. My V60 seems less muddy now for similar grind size. A few videos I found, some of them were posted since the last time I tried to "hyper align" the burrs so people are still mucking around with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lH47jIetb0&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO2GpVWSJu8&t=587s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUuhzJO29pU Unrelated, I still want a Cafelat Robot.
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Oct 11, 2022 22:14
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Should I spend probably too much money on these beans from Onyx? https://onyxcoffeelab.com/products/ethiopia-worka-chelbesa?variant=39988795375714 https://onyxcoffeelab.com/products/decade?variant=40007039451234
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Oct 13, 2022 07:07
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eke out posted:i drank a lot of coffee from chelbesa last year and just ordered some new crop from sweetmaria's. obv there's a lot of variation between batches even within the same washing station and it's not necessarily true of all coffee from there, but that's one case where i'd believe their notes when they say it's big earl grey That sounds great. If you come across anything similar, or other interesting notes that are more tea like I'm curious. I had a bag of some sort of Gesha from Brandywine last year that my wife thought tasted like oolong tea. It was only $23/12 oz bag which is substantially cheaper than any other Gesha I've seen advertised. Found the item name, but the product page no longer exists: quote:Costa Rica Tarrazu La Candelilla Washed Geisha Finca Caciques Micro Lot
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Oct 14, 2022 22:56
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I looked up the Olympia Cremina, hoping I could get a deal with the USD exchange rate-- Same for the Londinium and Strietman. It appears they have all updated their prices to prevent this. Womp womp.
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Oct 23, 2022 03:36
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Google Butt posted:For those who hand pull espresso, how often are you drinking that vs regular coffee? I'm looking at Robots again, but I've never been an espresso guy.. I've been thinking about buying a robot for the last year or two. And then I saw this souped-up Europiccola/Professional for sale. Retail I think is around $1100-1200 for the La Pavoni, but the retail price of all those accessories and the pressure gauge add up. I think if it were new, that's almost $1500 for what this guy is selling. My brother, who has a Streitman CT2, is of the opinion to never buy a used machine. Do y'all have any opinions about this particular model? https://www.home-barista.com/buysell/la-pavoni-professional-with-accessories-t83481.html
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Nov 22, 2022 07:26
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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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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: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 just took delivery of my robot and want to try it out. Does anyone here use a steel burr Baratza Vario for grinding for espresso? What grind setting do you use as a starting point?
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Nov 30, 2022 23:14
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Google Butt posted:Post pics! I was too excited to take pictures of the shot I pulled but I think it was pretty alright! I have my Baratza Vario W set to the factory "contact" point of 2Q. Just assuming that espresso would require a very fine grind, I tried to initially set the grinder go 1K (or whatever the midpoint of the fine adjustment is). I set the grind weight to 17 grams and started it. I guess either the grind size was too fine or something wasn't flowing because at 1x it was grinding either a very small fraction of a gram per second or nothing at all. The scale was not moving while the grinder spun. I stepped the grind size up to 2K and it started grinding, but it was still extremely slow. Eventually it seemed like whatever contents were between the burrs made it out and it eventually stopped grinding at 16.7 or so grams. The annoyance with the Vario W is that it will tend to stop grinding once the weight reaches about 0.3 grams less than the set amount. If you're a real nerd you can tap the "start" button a few times and it will eventually reach that round number, but it probably doesn't matter. Followed James Hoffman's early recipe of 17 grams of grounds, and measured 60 grams into the basket. Tried to do a pre infusion so light pressure until I started seeing a few drops into my cup. Waited maybe 10 seconds, and then pulled with what I thought was high pressure, but I think I only hit 6 bar on the gauge. I failed to measure how many grams of espresso I got out. I'll try to next time. The texture was thick, a little tart, but not extremely sour. Maybe extraction could be better, or I could apply more pressure. Honestly not bad for a first try. Unfortunately I'm now almost totally out of beans, so I need to go buy more. 
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Dec 1, 2022 00:38
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Second shot I've pulled with the robot. I did go ahead and buy the orphan espresso little system for it. This time I remembered to use both the top and bottom paper filter. It has a little less mouth feel, maybe? Still tart or fruity. This was with a Tanzania peaberry roasted at Central Market with they claim a fairly light roast. I put in ~17g coffee, 60g water into the basket, and pulled ~43.5g of espresso. I forgot to look at the little timer on my hario scale to see how long that took. Doesn't matter. I turned this one into an Americano to have with an almond croissant. https://i.imgur.com/jXUcRiq.mp4 MetaJew fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Dec 1, 2022 |
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Dec 1, 2022 18:37
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Robot update: Tried to go a little finer on the "fine" setting of my Vario W and choked the shot. I backed off back to where I was grinding and it pulled fine. Still don't know if I'm making "good" espresso, but it's not bad. Maybe I will need an espresso grinder. :X
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Dec 2, 2022 19:00
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Google Butt posted:Since you already have a nice electric grinder, you could go for a nice espresso level hand grinder? Or if you can afford it a nice single dose electric grinder! Yeah my brother has been sending me the pre-order/deposit links for Kafetek. 
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Dec 2, 2022 19:38
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Are there any other espresso-ish scales I should consider for the Robot, or should I just buy the Wacaco Exagram that Prima Coffee said will fit it? https://www.wacaco.com/collections/gear-range/products/exagram Edit: Wacaco has a 20% off coupon and free shipping so it's about $27 after taxes.
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Dec 5, 2022 04:57
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I've been trying out my Robot using my brother's Orphan Espresso Lido 3 manual grinder. Surprisingly "or unsurprisingly" I feel l was able to pull decent shots setting my Vario with steel burrs to "2k" and just letting 'er rip. With the Lido, it seems like it's a very narrow line between over extraction, and under extraction and getting what I assume is channeling. That is, I barely build up any pressure before I start seeing coffe blasting out of the portafilter. On the Lido I think I tried +3 ticks from 0. That seemed very bitter. I then tried 4 ticks, that was sour. Moved down to 3.5-ish ticks and forgot to tamp, so that was bad. Tried another at ~3.5 and it seemed like it channeled. This is frustrating.
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Dec 7, 2022 17:46
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Tippecanoe posted:My brother is asking for some kind of thermos or insulated travel mug for Christmas. Something small and spill-proof as it will be going in his bag. Does anyone have any recommendations? Strangely I can't find a James Hoffmann video on the topic!! I also have the Fellow Carter and it keeps my coffee much too hot when I take it to the office. The little anti splash strainer thing is nice too. The only downside may be that I can't drink from it while driving unless I'm at a stop light.
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Dec 9, 2022 04:22
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Are there any deals to be had on the Airscape coffee canisters.
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Dec 14, 2022 01:58
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Will they ship items or do you have to live in the Bay Area to bid?
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Dec 15, 2022 05:23
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amenenema posted:Honestly the biggest quality of life coffee thing I've gotten recently was a cheap knockoff of Hoffman's Tens Hundreds Thousands dosing cups. Search "tea scoop" on Amazon. Can you share which specific one you bought? Edit: \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ gret posted:I just bought James' dosing tray for $20.50 total shipped to the US, so I'm not sure if you're saving much money if at all by buying a knockoff on Amazon. Actually doing a quick glance at "tea scoop" on Amazon, and the one that looks closest to James' dosing tray also costs $20.50 (even more once you add tax). I saw the same thing on Amazon. I'll probably just order the one from Tens Hundreds Thousands. MetaJew fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Dec 22, 2022 |
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Dec 22, 2022 07:29
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Google Butt posted:If anyone was curious about that AliExpress scale I linked a while ago, I can confirm it fits the robot. Notneutral cortado glass on top just barely fits without tilting for reference. Does it have any of the fancy features, like starting the timer when it senses some weight on the scale? I was thinking about buying the Wacaco, but I haven't bit the bullet yet. Are you in the US? How long was the wait for delivery?
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Dec 26, 2022 04:59
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Kinda getting an itch to buy the Lagom P64 with SSP Unimodal-espresso burr set. Although, I probably don't want to bother with trying to switch between espresso and pour over grinds, so I guess I would keep my Baratza Vario. I was looking at DF64(original, and the "p" model) videos and it seems like a good budget espresso grinder, but it seems like it could be finicky ifyou have to start calibrating or aligning the burrs. The Lagom, allegedly, comes aligned and they claim that it won't lose its calibration even after disassembling the burrs for cleaning.
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Dec 28, 2022 10:54
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Yeah that's true. I tried switching between espresso and pour over grind settings on my Vario and nothing seemed exactly right when I switched between the two settings I had dialed in. I'm not sure what burr set I would pick for espresso only but I'm still tempted to get the Lagom because of how sturdy it appears, and hopefully long lasting and reliable.
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Dec 28, 2022 20:36
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FAUXTON posted:https://www.modest.coffee/product/fire-sale/ Saw the post on reddit. Feel bad for them, but 6 month old coffee, even sealed in airtight bags probably isn't the greatest. They appear to have sold out of everything but the decaf and some of the dark roast. Hopefully they can pay off their debts. My brother gave me a six month coffee subscription to a local roaster, and of course the first bag they sent me was a dark roast blend which I have so far not been a huge fan of. Hopefully the next bag is a light roast or at least medium.
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Dec 30, 2022 05:31
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VelociBacon posted:Even with a niche I don't think you'll want to go between a grind as coarse as French roast and all the way back down to espresso. I could see having a fellow ode for everything but espresso and maybe the new fellow espresso grinder as it'll be out soon and you could wait to buy it until you have an espresso machine. Yeah I've wondered if anyone using these grinders that claim to have a range between pour over/french press and espresso actually do that? I just tried to go between pour over and espresso on my Vario, again and it seems like my grind calibration has gone out again. (I wonder what I can sell the Vario W for-- and if it would nearly cover the cost of a Niche for just doing pour overs).
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Jan 14, 2023 18:09
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