[petejh]

Am in Dublin with work at the moment and have picked up some Badger & Dodo Guatemala Finca San Francisco Tecuanburro on spec from the local Art of Coffee cafe I use every day - anyone tried Badger & Dodo?
...

And the award for most metro-sounding post on UKB goes to...

 

[chris j]

Interesting and all good stuff. I never knew there are kettles you can set the temperature on. The missus will die of shock when I ask for a kettle for Xmas...

[shurt]

Is this the one?

http://hario.co.uk/products/ceramic-grinder-skerton

 Well dubdom all the grinders look pretty good on the hario site. Dumas recommendation looks good too. I guess just fish around online and get what you can afford.

On the subject of kettles with an adjustable temp, they are good. Without wanting to change lanes mid thread green tea is a different drink at 70-80 degrees. Clearly good for the coffee connoisseur too.

[underground]

shurt, do you know much about the finer side of tea? I expect psychomansam does also, as I'm interested in exploring beyond the Tetley and Twinings, especially if it's a kit / process lover's dream. There, started a thread

Having been really off coffee for 18 months now, a combination of switching to green tea fixing a bit of an acid indigestion problem I had and really not enjoying the Costa franchise's stuff at the office, and recently the pot for the cheapo filter machine (that I haven't been drinking the coffee from for ages) we own got smashed, so since the recent flurry of discussion in this thread of late, I've had a little splurge.  (the filter machine has been brilliant for years, paid a tenner for it and felt sorry for the ebay seller who then had to pay £15 to post, loved it as a result, and have ordered a new pot, but my wife, the smashee, likes weak coffee and has recently stockpiled Sainsburys French Coffee and Chicory for £1.25 a bag and loves it. I might still use it for when we have a few people to deal with, but my love affair with it has now ended)

First to arrive has been (no pun intended) a Has Bean starter pack of filter roast beans, which I tried today (first pack to open is the Costa Rica Finca De Licho Yellow Honey Villa Sarchi) which I tried twice today in the Aeropress. Upside down method, weighed 14g of beans, ground them in a Krups GVX2 set to 2-3 notches off finest, and kettle off the boil for a minute or so, added 60-70g of water to wet, stirred, then topped up to 240g before plunging (wet the filter first too). I let a bit of air through this time, and unfortunately my wife also wanted a cup so we ended up with 1/3rd mug of coffee topped up with hot water. Weak, but still with promise.
Next attempt I had the whole serving just topped up, and it was really good. I'm sure the technique bears a lot of refinement and experimentation, but it was the best mug I've had in years probably. I kept thinking about it for the rest of the day.

Still on the way are some bargains; a Hario V60 2 cup plastic dripper and serving carafe (this was 19 quid delivered from Amazon from a Japanese import shop so it may be a while arriving but at the price it didn't seem worth paying loads of postage just to get the dripper for a few quid less, whether the carafe is need or not) and a Hario slim grinder  (20 quid delivered). Being a kit fiend I couldn't resist a stainless pouring kettle for £30 either, I did wonder whether I should just go straight for an electric one but I have a digital probe thermometer in the kitchen anyway so I'll manage. Never mind whether I should just use the kettle we already have.

BUT there was a point to my post originally... after I ordered the grinder, I did a bit of looking at other sites selling those, and the Porlex ones, and saw some replacement burrs for the Porlex. Nothing for the Hario, and a few sites later there are a few people saying they dropped the Hrio burrs, broke them, and it's impossible to buy replacements (i.e. they are not supplied). There are some universal 'male' ones available on ebay that claim to do a much better grind, and not having seen how they are put together, they may not be the ones that can fall out and break.

I considered cancelling the order and going Porlex but it was too late to cancel, and at £20 I'll just be careful - but worth bearing in mind when making the decision to buy based on initial price.

[krymson]

drinking a pot of freshly ground hand poured coffee right now. Really brings out the natural flavor of the beans  -- it's magnificent, and cheap too.

Grinding takes about a minute for one cup so not bad at all, boil the water at the same time and you have fresh coffee in about 3 minutes. I don't find the pour matters that much, i just use a regular tea kettle and pour slowly.

Since you really will taste the beans, having fresher stuff does make a difference(although I find a week after seems optimal, 3 weeks starts getting stale). burr grinder is a must. Oh yeah and a tip --the hario slim mill for some reason is supposed to give a more even grind than their other hand mills.

[Fultonius]

Just ordered 5 x 250 bags of unroasted coffee from these guys:

http://yorkcoffeeemporium.co.uk/green-coffee.html

And my pocorn-maker-come-coffee-roaster arrived from Ebay. Next week I shall be tasting my first ever home roasted coffee!   

[SA Chris]

Just ordered 5 x 250 bags of unroasted coffee from these guys:

750 bags, that's a lot of coffee!

[Fultonius]

Holy shit, that's why it cost £1875 - I thought that was a bit steep...

[Monolith]

Please forgive me if either of these headsups have been mentioned previously here.

Firstly Pact coffee currently have a £1 offer for a 250g pack of delivered whole bean or ground coffee. Visit their site
here. On the home page, you have the option to enter a promo code. Enter 'POKE' (less quote marks obviously). Proceed with your order. You'll receive an email once this parcel has been dispatched and you can cancel any further payments instantly if you wish. I'm very impressed.

Secondly, my electric bean grinder has gone walkabout and I purchased a £7.50 (currently half price) Cookworks one from Argos in desperation of needing one. The build quality is decent, it'll pulverise ya beans and I'd classify this as a bargain. Available at your local Argos subject to stock levels (can check in advance online). Check it here.

[Gritlad]

Have a wad point. £1 for coffee, much better than £1 fish.

[Pebblespanker]

Am in Dublin with work at the moment and have picked up some Badger & Dodo Guatemala Finca San Francisco Tecuanburro on spec from the local Art of Coffee cafe I use every day - anyone tried Badger & Dodo?
...

And the award for most metro-sounding post on UKB goes to...

 

lol I'll get my coat

[ksjs]

Both the kalita wave and aeropress are a good upgrade in terms of taste from cafetiere and stove tops.

I use on of these: http://www.bellabarista.co.uk/porlex-mini-grinder-with-ceramic-burrs.html to grind with and it is not too tricky to adjust the size of grind if switching between different brewers.

Hi Rich,

Thanks for that and apologies for the very delayed reply from me.

So, Christmas is coming and I thought I might suggest one of these (an aeropress or grinder) to family determined to get me a Christmas present. But I'm unconvinced. After your and others' posts I did a very unscientific experiment: basically I made coffee for about a week using different methods:

1. Stove top Bialetti coffee maker;
2. Cafetiere; and
3. Dripper (I have an Elfo coffee maker, info here http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/smartkitchen/item/10000361/).

And I ended up coming back to the Stove Top, it just seems to give a stronger flavour. I also think I have to use more coffee in a cafetiere or the dripper methods to make a good cup. I just can't see how the Kalita Wave for example can be materially better than the Elfo dripper I have, but maybe it is?

The reviews for the Aeropress seem to be so unanimously good that it's hard to think that it isn't! But I can't really try before I buy. Then I think maybe it's all very subjective and all methods, give or take, are equivalent.

I wonder if the grinder might in fact be a more important factor in determining the quality of the finished product. Anyone any thoughts on that or indeed any of my wonderings above?

Cheers all!

[miso soup]

http://www.homewares.co.uk/gaggiaspecialists/10082.html

For what it's worth, if money was no object I'd have one of these Gaggia bean to cup guys.  Pour the beans in the top, the machine grinds them and then instantly brews them and pours out the best espresso I've had in a domestic environment.

[Muenchener]

1. Stove top Bialetti coffee maker ...

And I ended up coming back to the Stove Top, it just seems to give a stronger flavour.

It's certainly possible to get decent results with a stove top device, but I find it rather hit and miss. Requires split second timing to remove it from the heat when the hot water has flowed through but before the steam gets to the coffee and ruins it. I've also found the qualitiy of individual examples very variable. Have basically given up on them because:

The reviews for the Aeropress seem to be so unanimously good that it's hard to think that it isn't! But I can't really try before I buy.

If you like consistent, repeatable "stronger flavour" aeropress is probably the way to go. I personally it a bit overwhelming, and have switched to the Hario filter because I find it gives a more mellow result that I prefer.

[ksjs]

If you like consistent, repeatable "stronger flavour" aeropress is probably the way to go. I personally it a bit overwhelming, and have switched to the Hario filter because I find it gives a more mellow result that I prefer.

I wonder if this it: I have a notion that I like mellow coffee but the reality is I make what I think is reasonably strong coffee. Although I also know that when I have a coffee in a cafe i.e. Costa etc the taste is deep and round with what seems like more body so I don't think strength is the priority for me. Ideally I'd like something as close as possible to that style but made at home and not by buying a big machine.

I can't see that the Hario or Kalita filter set ups would be substantially better than the wee Elfo thing I have at the moment.

What about the grinder, any thoughts on its importance?

[Muenchener]

What about the grinder, any thoughts on its importance?

Not really. I've used an electric burr grinder at home for years and before that I had a hand burr grinder, so can no longer remember what the comparison with a blade grinder was like. The grinder I have is low end and relatively cheap, but perfectly ok for all the above-mentioned brewing methods. Afaik only actual espresso machines need a very fine and precise grind that, in turn, requires an expensive grinder.

[Richie Crouch]

From what you have said Keith, I would go for the aeropress. A good flavour, hard to brew badly and a stronger taste than pour through requiring less beans to be ground.

[Nibile]

An electric grinder with different adjustments could be agood idea for the fanatic. Depending on humidity one should vary the grind: finer on dry day, bigger on humid ones.
I'm too lazy though.

[petejh]

Hi Keith, you can borrow my aeropress for a week if you want to check it out before buying. Just not the week over xmas though, think I might be in need of it then!

[ksjs]

Hi Keith, you can borrow my aeropress for a week if you want to check it out before buying. Just not the week over xmas though, think I might be in need of it then!

Great Pete - thanks! Thanks too everyone for the replies - I've convinced myself that a grinder might be the knowledge so have asked Santa to try and bring a Porlex Grinder. Will report back...

[moose]

I'll +1 the aeropress recommendation if you want an intense coffee without too much faff.  To my taste-buds, the Aeropress yields something midway between filter coffee and espresso / stove-top.  It needs diluting down for a "long" drink like an americano, although I personally tend to add it neat to frothed milk for cappuccinos.

[underground]

I still refuse to pay £25 for the new pot for my 1/2 used coffee machine. I got a Hario, and it's been brilliant when I want it to be - i.e. making a brew for me... Good for me and her also when we have nothing else to do and the kids are happy playing - in both cases when I can just concentrate on it. This has been the best cup so far when I've done it right. Easy to do wrong though - on Saturday I followed the method off a website, ground 48g of beans and then in making the shallow indentation in the middle, decided to shove my finger all over them really hard. Rubbish results.

Been using the cafetiere in the interim for the quick and easy big pots of coffee and its been ok. I always find with that one it's too easy to make a whole pot of OK coffee and 2 days later there's a quarter left cold in the bottom...

Anyway this is all just preamble to the Nespresso. My inlaws have a new Delonghi Latissima one, and I'm a sucker for gadgetry  - but I thought the espressos from it were good. I don't / didn't like espresso but I liked theirs. My brother in law sold it to me on the basis of them leaving the house at 5.30 every morning and buying at the train station - instead have a supply of paper cups and lids at home and get a latte before they go out... I'm still thinking about the wrongs and rights of this but... since my wife always asks for a cappuccino or latte, and I never get a coffee in the morning and end up paying over the odds for it due to the flying kids / hair / dressing routine, I ordered one.

[Fultonius]

Happy new year caffeine junkies!

Since nobody got the hint and bought me one of these for Christmas, I just ordered one:


from the amusingly named HOMELOO   

No more unsteady pouring from the pot!

[rich d]

I got a coffee bean grinder from the wifey. Result! Does taste nicer, even with my poor quality lavaza beans and Delonghi set up.

[Fultonius]

  Order up some beans from Yorkcoffeee,porium or thebeanshop and get the most out your new machine