Coffee tips...

[simonineaston]

Somewhat ironic topic for The Tea Shop, but...
I've just aquired a pump coffee maker and I find that it can make great coffee - as tasty as the yummy cups of coffee from my local cycle-friendly cafe, a couple of hundred yards from the B2BRP https://www.facebook.com/No12Easton/
The issue for me is the consistency of the coffee - it really is quite tricky to make good cup after good cup, (renewed respect for 'baristas'). Has anyone got any tips and hints? I'm particular interested in hearing about the grind and this tamping business.

[mrjemm]

Coffee tip?

Avoid the LA postcode.

I used to be quite particular about such things, but have got slack of late and use a big name brand that comes ready ground (quite fine)- get through it fast enough that it doesn't get stale enough to notice (and of course store it in an air-tight container, but NOT in the fridge- learnt that yonks ago). My method of choice is a stove top 6 cup Bialetti, and fill almost to the top of the cup and tamp down firmish with back of spoon. Oddly, I enjoy the coffee I make at home, but avoid the same brand if I see out and about (oh, OK, I confess, red Lavazza).

I miss living somewhere with very good coffee roasters. We have an OK one who sell themselves very highly, and make OK coffee, but I very much enjoy a trip to other towns and cities... (If you happen to be reading this, and recognise your business, please don't be offended ).

[simonineaston]

...living somewhere with very good coffee roasters.

I'm within sniffing distance of Extract here in Bristol - certainly smells nice every Thursday!
http://extractcoffee.co.uk/

[Vorpal]

I've had three different pump espresso makers. I really like them, but I think that the machines can vary quite a bit.

With an expensive, high pressure one, it's easier to get consistently good cups of coffe. With the typical household ones, though, it's likely to take some trial and error.

The coffee roast is down to personal preference, but it makes a *big* difference. I like dark roasts, and used to get mine either from Whittard's, or a little independent shop in Ipswich. Some of these places will let you try a cup or two before you buy. If your favourite coffee shop will sell you some beans, start with those edited to add, if you are near a custom roaster, go there!

Buy it someplace where you can have it ground for you, and experiment a little with different grinds. My current machine (Gaggia) does best with a grind that is slightly coarser than a typical espresso grind (~2 / 10 on a scale where 1 is very fine espresso ground and 10 is coarse all-purpose ground). Be aware that supermarket grinders often are poorly maintained and do not grind the coffee as evenly as it should be.

If you buy a home grinder, read some reviews and plan to spend a bit of money on that, too. Baratza make good ones. Don't use a £30 kitchen grinder.

If your machine is low pressure, don't tamp it too hard. Just get the grounds level and slightly compressed. If it's high pressure, push it down well, or get a weighted tamper. For both types, this, too takes some trial and error. Try different things and see how you like the flavour, if you get a good crema, etc. I would expect to make something like 50, or maybe 100 coffees before I found exactly what I liked best, if I had to buy a new machine today.

And, most importantly, enjoy!

[simonineaston]

Cheers, Mr V - helpful!

[Audax67]

Conventional wisdom is that the quality of the grinder is more important than that of the coffee machine. I tend to agree with that. I struggled for a year with a Baratza Encore - see below - and recently acquired a Nuova Simonelli Grinta. The difference is incredible - I get consistently good shots now.

Anyway, whatever you do don't get a blade grinder, they bash the coffee to hell and create a mix of grain sizes from dust to something you'd dig out of a horse's hoof. They can also burn the coffee, which doesn't do it any good.

(below means here) Re the Encore: Baratza do make good grinders but the Encore isn't one of them. Well, it's OK for French press, drip and probably Turkish but difficult for espresso because the grind size is inconsistent. I read somewhere that under the microscope the grains are fluffy-looking, which makes me think they could bind together under a hard tamp and clog the filter.

My grinder recommendation would be a Eureka Mignon. You should be able to find one second-hand in good nick (see even further below). I have the Grinta 'cos it was on offer at a Very Good Price.

WRT the machine: there are two types of filter, pressurized and non-pressurized. Pro machines and good amateur machines use non-pressurized: the coffee itself acts as the filter. The quality of output depends largely on skill and experience. With pressurized filters it's the filter that restricts the flow of water through the puck. You will only get a crema out of a non-pressurized filter: pressurized filters will create a foam containing air bubbles on top of the coffee, whereas the bubbles in a real crema are filled with volatile coffee fractions. Both types of filter are usually supplied with a new machine, but you don't buy a £500 gizmo to use pressurized filters.

Re tamping, there are as many opinions as there are coffee geeks. I was tamping lightly with the Encore and getting fair results: with the Grinta I tamp like Nellie the Elephant and get great results. More than that deponent sayeth not.

Have fun.

(even further below) you might care to register here: http://coffeeforums.co.uk/forum.php

You'll find more reliable second-hand machines for sale there than by simply plunging into eBay.

[Heltor Chasca]

I like the Machu Pichu from Sainsburys at the moment. BUT even better...

Cycle off down the B2BRP to Bath, turn right and head out to Radstock via the 2 Tunnels. Just before you get into Radstock there's a light industrial state just after the massive mill. Here you'll find...http://www.roundhillroastery.com You'll enjoy it. Trust me...b

[al_yrpal]

We had a machine that ground the beans to various grades of fineness into an aluminium perforated cup with a handle, then you tamped it, then you screwed the cup in underneath and switched on the pump. It made great coffee, but the machine was brown and big and my Mrs hated its looks. Last Christmas we decided to get a new one as a joint Christmas present. I flogged the existing machine on Ebay for £40 which is about what I paid for it 12 years ago. I was looking at the cheaper machines but the Mrs insisted on the fully auto job. You fill the tank, put the beans in the top and press the appropriate button and out comes the coffee, perfectly… So, I have no current advice But, if you can afford it at some stage the fully auto Magnifica plus by De Longhi makes excellent consistent coffee. We like strong coffee and you can get Starbucks beans in Waitrose. I also like Sainsburys cheapo beans and Aldis too. Aldi still have some massive bags of beans left from their recent promo, Brazilian, Columbian, they were good too. If you weigh the beans into the grinder, time the grind and tamp the grounds down hard you will have a consistent starting point.

Al

[Audax67]

Well yes, but the flavour of unground coffee peaks a couple of weeks after the roasting date and declines thereafter, especially if they've been opened and exposed to the air. Beans bought in whacking great bags will still be around after they've declined to undrinkable, if they aren't there already. The big manufacturers - Lavazza, Illy etc - flush their coffee with nitrogen during packaging, so unopened they'll be OK (as industrial coffee goes) for a long time, but even they will die in a couple of weeks after opening. Stuff from your local roasters will have the roast date stamped on it and shouldn't be over a week old when they sell it.

[geocycle]

Coffee tip?

Avoid the LA postcode.

I used to be quite particular about such things, but have got slack of late and use a big name brand that comes ready ground (quite fine)- get through it fast enough that it doesn't get stale enough to notice (and of course store it in an air-tight container, but NOT in the fridge- learnt that yonks ago). My method of choice is a stove top 6 cup Bialetti, and fill almost to the top of the cup and tamp down firmish with back of spoon. Oddly, I enjoy the coffee I make at home, but avoid the same brand if I see out and about (oh, OK, I confess, red Lavazza).

I miss living somewhere with very good coffee roasters. We have an OK one who sell themselves very highly, and make OK coffee, but I very much enjoy a trip to other towns and cities... (If you happen to be reading this, and recognise your business, please don't be offended ).

Oooh, a tad harsh on Atk.....! The best coffee in LA1 IMO is probably made by Rosie at Pizza Rebublica on the uni campus.

[Heltor Chasca]

Via the advice on this forum I bought an Aeropress. Delightful, consistent and LIGHTWEIGHT for hiking/touring. I've got a little grinder which travels too: Hario MSS-1B 1-Piece Coffee Mini Mill Slim Grinder https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001804CLY/ ... qwb2DCQYHX

[mrjemm]

Coffee tip?

Avoid the LA postcode.

I used to be quite particular about such things, but have got slack of late and use a big name brand that comes ready ground (quite fine)- get through it fast enough that it doesn't get stale enough to notice (and of course store it in an air-tight container, but NOT in the fridge- learnt that yonks ago). My method of choice is a stove top 6 cup Bialetti, and fill almost to the top of the cup and tamp down firmish with back of spoon. Oddly, I enjoy the coffee I make at home, but avoid the same brand if I see out and about (oh, OK, I confess, red Lavazza).

I miss living somewhere with very good coffee roasters. We have an OK one who sell themselves very highly, and make OK coffee, but I very much enjoy a trip to other towns and cities... (If you happen to be reading this, and recognise your business, please don't be offended ).

Oooh, a tad harsh on Atk.....! The best coffee in LA1 IMO is probably made by Rosie at Pizza Rebublica on the uni campus.

Oooh, and does that mean there are good pizzas too? Another thing I struggle with, unless I make my own. Gawblimeyknows Piz Marge are terrible. Nice @ Storey have odd bases, but nay bad piz.

And of course... can non-strudents go to and eat there? Wanna try the coffee and piz!

Sorry to hijack, Simon. Food is important too (and I am still researching the fish & chips up here by the way ).

[georgew]

The best method of using an Espresso machine will vary with each model and certainly one has to use a specialist shop to find the best brands but beware as this is addictive and expensive to boot. Coffee forums contain lots of good and reliable information and I'd suggest you spend some time on some of these. "Too much coffee" would fit the bill. I roast and grind my beans so buy them green as I find that this gives me fresh coffee and exactly to my taste. I bought a second-hand professional grinder from Ebay and converted this to a more domestic use. Mine was a Super Jolly, a workhorse of a machine and it has never failed me.

[Audax67]

I roast and grind my beans so buy them green as I find that this gives me fresh coffee and exactly to my taste.

Just about the only way to go to get coffee freshly roasted as you want it. The only pro roaster within 50 km of here roasts his coffee so dark that you can't tell where it's from, the reason being that if he doesn't the punters complain that it doesn't taste like the stuff in the local bistro. His coffee labels contain all the usual "notes of mango and cinnamon" descriptions and the acidulated cow that runs his shop condescendingly explains "that's what the roaster smells when he's roasting it". I used to buy green beans there and the bloke himself was great to natter with, but he moved his roasting gear and now she's all there is.

Nowadays I get mine from a roaster in Paris. 2kg or more and it's post-free.

[simonineaston]

Ho Ho - little did I know what a can of worms I was opening when I bought the modest De'Longhi pump machine for £30 - reviews suggested it would be perfectly adequate as a coffee maker for an occasional - week-ends only - coffee drinker. Upthread, I read that there's a perfectly logical chain of priority - your beans-of-choice at the top, then get the best grinder you can, and then the coffee maker is almost neither here nor there really, so long as it works the way you like it. I know I like Extract's roast 'cos I've had coffees made from their beans at the caff round the corner, so all I have to do now is pick a really good grinder...
http://www.machina-espresso.co.uk/blogs ... der-review
but the prices, the prices!!