[lagerstarfish]

I found it very difficult forcing one of those meatballs through my Aeropress

do people cook them first?

[shurt]

The reason I remember this so well is because I did the total opposite! Boiling water,  packing it in,  over  filling water etc.  I noticed an improvement after following instructions.  I'm currently back on stove top as machine is bust. 

FWIW, I don't think anyone has suggested boiling water beforehand.

Hey Dave, I wasn't suggesting anyone was advocating using boiling water, just pointing out one of my previous stove top errors that went unnoticed for years. There was talk by someone about using pre warmed water and as far as I understood, that was a no no.

 

[Muenchener]

The Alpine Start blog has review of lightweight portable coffee making equipment. I'm intrigued by the concept of a hand-pumped 16 bar portable espresso machine.

My normal camping rig is a Rhinowares grinder and either a plastic Hario filter cone or an Aeropress. For single overnighters where weight is an issue I'll sometimes dispense with the grinder and take pre-ground   

[tomtom]

The Alpine Start blog has review of lightweight portable coffee making equipment. I'm intrigued by the concept of a hand-pumped 16 bar portable espresso machine.

Good article that.

[galpinos]

Has anyone actually tried the "Handpresso"? I'm keen for anything that'll make a "travel espresso". I love my aeropress but would love to be able to make a half decent espresso in the van of a morning.

[Fultonius]

Has anyone actually tried the "Handpresso"? I'm keen for anything that'll make a "travel espresso". I love my aeropress but would love to be able to make a half decent espresso in the van of a morning.

Nope...  Give it a punt? 

Or read this and go back to Nescafe Gold... http://www.eater.com/2016/6/8/11883828/dont-drink-coffee-single-origin-beans-aeropress-starbucks

[Muenchener]

 

[Drew]

A few weeks ago I had a bag of Lavazza Red coffee beans which I ground up and used in my Aeropress. It created this foam on top which I can only describe as being like soap suds. Not like crema. Quite big bubbles. Anyone else ever experienced this?

[slackline]

Moroney et al. Asymptotic Analysis of the Dominant Mechanisms in the Coffee Extraction Process. SIAM J. Appl. Math., 76(6), 2196–2217

[Iesu]

I'm late to this thread. A good one and I have some reading to do.

Several years ago I cut down heavily on coffee (at work) due to massive post lunch energy crashes. Then I bought an Aeropress and my intake steadily increased again. I would recommend the Aeropress for anyone interested in getting a smoother (read: less bitter) tasting coffee, compared against many and varied low-tech coffee making implements I own: stove top espresso, french press/cafetiere, american stove top percolator.

When my employer was recently acquired by a danish engineering consultancy my office had a close call with a "pouch" style coffee maker; I put my foot down and managed to get a De'Longhi bean to cup machine. It's probably not the best, and required fairly regular TLC but better than pre-ground, pre packaged stale old coffee in pouches!

I use an old school Salter counter mounted hand burr grinder at home bought about twelve years ago from a car boot sale. It was about £20 and my other half was horrified at the price (typical yorkshirewoman). it's probably not as consistent in the grind as expensive equipment but it's "good enough for me".

I would recommend anyone who enjoys drinking coffee and has more than a passing interest in the "process" to investigate home roasting green coffee beans. I bought an electric popcorn maker for £12 off ebay and it does a reasonable job once timings are worked out and with a keen eye kept on it. Be prepared for chaff, smoke and bean shrapnel! Pennine tea and coffee are a good alternative supplier to hasbean for northerners. http://www.pennineteaandcoffee.co.uk/

Again my home roasting would probably be considered sub par by the snobs, but it's "good enough for me" and a fun/interesting exercise.

Further to early comments about Leeds coffee places, Sam from Opposite is now working at Bloomfield Square in Otley (co-owned by the front man of 90's pop sensations Terrorvision I believe), which is a good place for a pre/post Caley shot of espresso.

There are well regarded spots in Leeds which may have opened since the early postings (2011?) such as Laynes and Mrs Atha's if you're interested in hipster trendy/swank coffee shops. I don't actually like Laynes' espresso though; too bitter for me.

and apologies if this has all been covered earlier.

[tommytwotone]

I don't actually like Laynes' espresso though; too bitter for me.

Glad I've found someone else who thinks this - I find their stuff way too astringent, really don't get why people rave about them so much.


My love for La Bottega Milanese in Leeds is well documented. As they put on their own chalkboard - "Real Italians: Real Coffee"...

[Iesu]

Again: Probably covered elsewhere (lots of catching up to do) but one decent coffee place in Sheffield i discovered on my way to a couple of conferences is Tamper on Westfield Terrace (Uni district) https://tampercoffee.co.uk/

Tommy; agreed on that, the Laynes' is well overrated. Bean and Bud in Harrogate (near new-ish North bar, Theatre district) is good and they are more willing than most to listen to how you would like your coffee made.

I lost that Milanese place when it left the calls and only discovered it's relocation in The Light last year. I find it a bit too formal but the coffee quality is hard to criticise.

[andy_e]

How do people rate Cielo near the corn exchange in Leeds?

[Iesu]

Not been myself but I gather from a colleague that they have other outlets in the 'burbs (Garforth i think? Leastways it's eastwards) and he rates them highly. Apparently they roast their own and are some kind of community supported/supporting org?

[andy_e]

Yeah, not for profit and they do other charity work too. I had an espresso in there the other day that tasted bizarre, but have had very good longer coffees in there.

[Iesu]

What sort of bizarre?

[andy_e]

I really can't place the flavour. Almost sour or even a bit umami.

[Catcheemonkey]

I'm hardly impartial - but a mate has started up a coffee roasting business in Leeds. I rate his wares over the likes of Has Bean and he'll even tailor the roast to your request.

Check out www.shilohroasters.com

He provides coffee to Meanwood Valley Urban Farm - give it a go if you're out that way.

[Iesu]

Good tip; I will log this for when I've run through my several kilos of green. Ta

[Fultonius]

I would recommend anyone who enjoys drinking coffee and has more than a passing interest in the "process" to investigate home roasting green coffee beans. I bought an electric popcorn maker for £12 off ebay and it does a reasonable job once timings are worked out and with a keen eye kept on it.

That's a slippery slope. I started with a popcorn popper. When that died I got a GeneCafé home roaster. Now I spend time wondering if I should drop £15k on a 5kg roaster and become "yet another" local roaster....

[Iesu]

I really can't place the flavour. Almost sour or even a bit umami.

That's almost put me off ever visiting! Umami isn't something i seek out in coffee!

[Iesu]

I would recommend anyone who enjoys drinking coffee and has more than a passing interest in the "process" to investigate home roasting green coffee beans. I bought an electric popcorn maker for £12 off ebay and it does a reasonable job once timings are worked out and with a keen eye kept on it.

That's a slippery slope. I started with a popcorn popper. When that died I got a GeneCafé home roaster. Now I spend time wondering if I should drop £15k on a 5kg roaster and become "yet another" local roaster....

I'm (I hope) immune to that slope with expensive BBQ's, surfboards and a house that's falling down/renovations to spend my expendable income on!

[Muenchener]

I've going a bit off piste lately, with interesting results.

Two weeks ago on a visit to family in Norfolk I discovered the excellent Grey Seal Coffee in Wells and bought a bag of Thai coffee. It was very pleasant - more lightly roasted than I usually go for, but with flavour and depth to it and without any of the biting sourness that so many "third wave" hipster roasters mistakenly think is a good idea. I didn't know they grew coffee in Thailand.

I didn't know they grew coffee in Australia either, but yesterday I was wandering around an area of Munich I lived in a while ago but don't go to much lately, and found a new roastery where they did know. The guy told me it tastes "woody", so clearly I had to buy me a bag of that. Just ground the first batch - looks & smells reasonably normal ...

[TobyD]

Coffee grinders​...

ukB opinion on these two please:

https://www.johnlewis.com/krups-gvx2-expert-coffee-grinder/p230843325

https://www.johnlewis.com/de-longhi-kg79-coffee-grinder/p507144

For use mainly with an aeropress. I have a krupps blade grinder at the moment moment, which is OK but I wonder if I'll really notice the difference between it and a burr grinder?

[chris j]

I have the Krups one.  It does a fine job grinding for the aeropress. It's noisy and a little fiddly to clean but no other complaints.  One thing to note if you change from the aeropress in the future is it didn't seem to grind quite finely enough to work well with an espresso machine.  I eventually stopped using it and moved to a hario hand grinder to reduce my coffee intake...