UKBouldering.com

Who knows about coffee? (Read 16535 times)

butters

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Natural Born Punter
  • Posts: 1592
  • Karma: +57/-2
  • Everything's a grade harder hauling these 'burns!!
    • blog of butters
#25 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 11, 2008, 07:51:12 pm
The cheapest grinder that is worth buying is this Dualit one.


Can the burrs and any other part that makes up the grinding part can be easily removed and cleaned? I love decent coffee though I would appear to be a bit of a punter compared to some on here but the process of grinding beans is the next logical step in my ongoing love affair with coffee. However the reason that I ask is that I am currently undergoing a real love of cooking Indian food from scratch and  me being me I was thinking about making my own garam masala\curry powder\chaat masala for which I really need a grinder of some sort to get the best results so could such a tool could be the answer to my grinding problems as well as being the next step in my coffee affair?

Also rather interested in the espresso maker as well but I am not that rich at the minute...  :(

bluebrad

Houdini

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 6497
  • Karma: +233/-38
  • Heil Mary
#26 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 11, 2008, 08:58:22 pm
Too much coffee = penile dysfunction.

slackline

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 18863
  • Karma: +633/-26
    • Sheffield Boulder
#27 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 11, 2008, 11:58:21 pm
Too much coffee = penile dysfunction.

Do you speak from a position of first hand experience?

rc

Offline
  • **
  • player
  • Posts: 86
  • Karma: +8/-0
#28 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 12, 2008, 07:23:36 am
Quote
Can the burrs and any other part that makes up the grinding part can be easily removed and cleaned?
I reckon not - not enough to avoid drinking curry flavoured coffee after that first grind of garam masala.

I dont know about cleaning the dualit but I once ground some vanilla flavoured beans (for a friend, honestly) and it was a nightmare getting rid of the taint.

butters

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Natural Born Punter
  • Posts: 1592
  • Karma: +57/-2
  • Everything's a grade harder hauling these 'burns!!
    • blog of butters
#29 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 12, 2008, 12:41:58 pm
Quote
Can the burrs and any other part that makes up the grinding part can be easily removed and cleaned?
I reckon not - not enough to avoid drinking curry flavoured coffee after that first grind of garam masala.

I did suspect that was going to be the answer.... Oh well - just going to have to be old school and grind the gram masala in a pestle and mortar then...  :(

Zods Beard

Offline
  • ****
  • forum abuser
  • Posts: 687
  • Karma: +34/-0
#30 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 12, 2008, 05:31:02 pm

I did suspect that was going to be the answer.... Oh well - just going to have to be old school and grind the gram masala in a pestle and mortar then...  :(

Bit off topic, but I did this myself a while ago, a complete chore, I'd just buy some good quality ingredients myself. Good Luck!

magpie

Offline
  • *****
  • Trusted Users
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 2931
  • Karma: +127/-0
#31 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 14, 2008, 10:23:37 am
Quote
Can the burrs and any other part that makes up the grinding part can be easily removed and cleaned?
I reckon not - not enough to avoid drinking curry flavoured coffee after that first grind of garam masala.
I did suspect that was going to be the answer.... Oh well - just going to have to be old school and grind the gram masala in a pestle and mortar then...  :(
There are some cheap ones (£20ish) on Amazon that are meant to be pretty good for doing your spices, lots of the reviews on there mention grinding spices.  I can find the particular link if you want?

And, as an aside, I don't drink coffee at all but those photos are tempting even me  :bow:

fatkid2000

Offline
  • ****
  • junky
  • Posts: 920
  • Karma: +13/-2

rc

Offline
  • **
  • player
  • Posts: 86
  • Karma: +8/-0
#33 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 15, 2008, 10:45:52 am
fatkid2000: The La Pavoni range are beautiful machines, but my impression is that it'd be a lot harder to make really good espresso on a small home lever/piston than a regular noisy pump driven machine. I've only had a quick go on one though so never really got the process nailed. Basically you introduce another variable you need to control: the pressure. I think the commercial lever machines work differently and are easier to get consistent results (?). However, there's a slice of coffee nerds who are faithful to Pavonis and no doubt the machine is perfectly capable of delivering the goods.

Personally, I reckon anyone with moderate OCD can learn how to make consistently good espresso in about 30mins. It is not a complicated business. Its a bit tougher on a lever machine, though not hugely. But then there is the evidence: a huge number of fantastic high spec commercial machines out there and yet drinkable shots are unbelievably scarce.
Why all the coffee is so bad is a mystery to me...

fatkid2000

Offline
  • ****
  • junky
  • Posts: 920
  • Karma: +13/-2
#34 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 15, 2008, 10:49:38 am
What machine would you go for rc. Its wedding list time at the mo - and as we have 2 house merging into one. There are few things we need so a good espresso machine is on the list - not bothered about price.

rc

Offline
  • **
  • player
  • Posts: 86
  • Karma: +8/-0
#35 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 15, 2008, 11:20:50 am
Not bothered about price!! Hang on, I'll try to calm down.
First of all, it is going to be a waste of time unless you get a grinder - which means using up more kitchen work surface real estate.
I reckon any half serious home set up has to compete with the tried and tested Rancilio Silvia machine coupled with a half decent grinder, like the Rocky. I've been using this rancilio combo for 5 years now, no problems at all.

Grinder
 * Dualit £55
 * Isomac Macinacaffe £110
 * Rancilio Rocky £175
 * Mazzer Mini £350

Espresso machine
 * Lower end of the quality machine market - Rancilio Silvia (~£300)
 * Midrange -  Isomac Zaffira (~£600)
 * Upper end - ECM Giotto (~£1000)

If totally unconstrained - you graduate to heat exchanger machines that you need to plumb in
 * La Spaziale (~£1400)

For rancilio Drury
For isomac another coffee
For reviews and info www.toomuchcoffee.com and www.coffeegeek.com

You'll also need some other crap: a tamper at least.
PS: A lot of this coffee kit (imo) does not have the best quality control (I'm not saying anything about Italian manufacturing standards) and with any of the main mnfrs some people have probs.

fatdoc

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 4093
  • Karma: +100/-8
  • old and fearful
    • http://www.pincheswall.co.uk
#36 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 16, 2008, 11:21:11 am
your knowledge on this subject is both astounding and compelling to read.


waddage



SA Chris

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 29579
  • Karma: +643/-12
    • http://groups.msn.com/ChrisClix
#37 Re: Who knows about coffee?
April 16, 2008, 11:50:40 am
As an aside, I can highly recommend chocolate covered espresso beans for a mid session boost, or late night driving snack. They are very tasty too, hard to resist eating too many.

Mr Cat

Offline
  • **
  • menacing presence
  • Posts: 237
  • Karma: +8/-7
    • Flickr
#38 Re: Who knows about coffee?
August 28, 2009, 04:10:47 pm
I've got one of these:

with one of these:


Pretty basic as far as coffee set ups go, but it can make a decent espresso. I would recommend.

rc: have you got any other hasbean recommendations? I usually get the espresso blend, but am on monsoon malabar at the mo. yum.

hey...small world as I was going to start a coffee thread but done a quick search first... :)

as I've just bought a 2nd hand gaggia classic last night (fleabay) as I like expresso's as I'd previously been using a swissgold filter for bog standard filter coffee and I also like that monsoon malaba... :)

next up will be a decent (but cheap) grinder to replace my crappy rotar blade one....most like will get a burr grinder like this -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200377295381&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I've also just ordered some expresso ground version of this - https://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/Guatemala-El-Bosque-Amatitlan-Red-Bourbon-2009%252d2010-Crop.html

SA Chris

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 29579
  • Karma: +643/-12
    • http://groups.msn.com/ChrisClix
#39 Re: Who knows about coffee?
August 28, 2009, 04:15:55 pm
Dave will banish you to room 101 for expresso's (on 2 counts!)

meatball

Offline
  • **
  • menacing presence
  • Posts: 223
  • Karma: +17/-3
    • Chuck Norris facts
#40 Re: Who knows about coffee?
August 28, 2009, 06:07:49 pm
http://www.algcoffee.co.uk/scripts/default.asp

visited the shop in london last year, found the staff helpful and knowledgeable. may be of interest to some

Fultonius

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 4504
  • Karma: +155/-3
  • Was strong but crap, now weaker but better.
    • Photos
#41 Re: Who knows about coffee?
August 28, 2009, 11:38:26 pm
I get my beans from www.thebeanshop.co.uk  -  top quality and a the people that run the shop are sound as.

It's just a small shop in Perth, but they do a fair whack of mail order. All the coffee is roasted in small batches in the shop, so it's guranteed to be super-fresh!

I use one of these:



For grinding, and one of these:


For the art of espresso making. If it wasn't 23:38 I'd have one now. Oh well, only 9 hours to wait  ;D

Scraggadoo

Offline
  • **
  • addict
  • Posts: 146
  • Karma: +2/-0
#42 Re: Who knows about coffee?
August 30, 2009, 06:34:53 pm
I don't know, just looking at these pictures of coffee and thinking about having a coffee all appeals to me...  If only I didn't dislike the taste of coffee so much!

Did all the coffee lovers / drinkers always like coffee or did they grow to like it??

I found my mate's obsession with coffee making a little strange until I saw this - perhaps its a normal thing and I'm just missing out!

butters

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Natural Born Punter
  • Posts: 1592
  • Karma: +57/-2
  • Everything's a grade harder hauling these 'burns!!
    • blog of butters
#43 Re: Who knows about coffee?
August 30, 2009, 06:45:47 pm
Have always loved coffee and it would seem (to my terrible memory at least) since the day I was born and it is a relationship that has got better and better since I discovered good coffee. Tea on the other hand I really just don't get.

SA Chris

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 29579
  • Karma: +643/-12
    • http://groups.msn.com/ChrisClix
#44 Re: Who knows about coffee?
August 31, 2009, 08:12:59 am
I don't know, just looking at these pictures of coffee and thinking about having a coffee all appeals to me...  If only I didn't dislike the taste of coffee so much!

Always liked it, more so than tea. You could wean yourself onto it by starting with some nice flavoured coffees?

http://www.morethancoffee.co.uk/acatalog/Flavoured_Coffee.html

Some would call it heresy, but I like the occasional creme caramel or creme brulee flavoured.

 

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal