Coffee... What, and how?

[Trevatanus]

After a year and a half of paying in excess of 2 quid a cup from the coffee bar at work (which was very hit and miss)
The boss bought one of these a couple of weeks ago: http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/...
Trouble is, I think we are using it a little more than it was designed for, and fluid flow is a lot slower than it was

[Tickle]

Aero-press for me for the last couple of years, beans delivered to my door from Joe Blacks (http://www.joeblackcoffee.co.uk/) £11 for 1kg (if you are in the local drop off area).

[I Am Milk]

Well after re-reading this thread thanks to a scrupulous bump by a certain Lord Grover, I have just spent silly money on coffee and coffee accessories.

Highlight being THESE

Winning.

[BorkFactor]

I may have impulsively bought one of these Nescafe Dolce Gusto things on offer a while back, it does make a nice cup of coffee and the availability of pods in Costco makes life a lot easier.

However when I am being lazy (i.e. most of the time!) I am quite enjoying the Azera Intenso stuff.

In other news my Mum has signed up for that Pact coffee thing where you get the beans delivered to your door every week. They are really, really good.

[smithyithy]

I have a Dolce Gusto in my bedroom (loft) for convenience. As soon as I wake up I hit the button and get a cup of Americano. Also keep a few decaffs, hot chocolates, mochas etc if I fancy something late at night.

Downstairs by the kettle I use a cafetiere for proper nice mugs of coffee. I usually buy bags of ground from the supermarket when I get my Dolee pods. Tried loads of different brands from Sainsbury's - I prefer something dark and strong (of course without milk). Funnily enough, Costa's ground coffee is very nice.

When I get chance, I'll pop out to a coffee shop and get some beans freshly ground and bagged up. Nothing beats them for taste but it's just a bit less convenient as nearest decent shop is a bit of a drive away.

When I'm out and about, if possible I'll opt for McDonalds over Starbucks / Costa as their Americano is far nicer tasting, although volcanically hot!

[Hugo a Gogo]

I had an exploding Moka pot a few years ago (overfilled? valve blocked?) which splattered three walls of the kitchen with coffee grounds and boiling water, and just missed my head as I was coming in the door

now the missus won't have one in the house

[uncinqsix]

I'm really enjoying the Chemex that I bought a few months back. It's a great complement to my espresso setup: produces a completely different drink and allows me to try lots of interesting, lightly roasted single-origin coffees that don't work as espresso. I've found a few really nice ones so far

If I carry on like this, I'll need to grow a nice bushy hipster beard to stroke as I make my coffee

[smithyithy]

Just in Lichfield now, had some fresh beane grinded and bagged from a little shop here.

500g Italian Roast, 125g Cinnamon Hazelnut.

Gonna stick the latter in the cafetiere when I get back

[Adamski69]

Got me a Kitchenaid Artisan espresso machine with the twin boilers. It cost a small fortune and I have to say I wouldn't have laid out for it personally but it was gifted to me by a mate. It makes one of the best coffees ever, and when ever I went to his house I would get him working on a brew for me. Fresh ground beans from the monkey poo and all.

Unfortunately he got ill and stopped using it so asked if I would like to be custodian, which I happily agreed to be. In all honesty they have not got a good rep and gradually its falling apart, leaking etc but while it still can it makes an awesome cup.

I have tried several different Whittards of Chelsea www.whittard.co.uk beans and liked most of them, but my go too everyday is Waitrose Sumatra Mandheling beans, £3.29 a bag, ground in a cheapo electric spice grinder I got from Robert Dyas. Double espresso hit, top with semi skimmed and half a sugar, 25 secs in the micro, world is a good place.

When it does finally give up the ghost I will go back to my trusty hob top espresso pot that was less than £20 and still be happy.

Edited by Adamski69 on Monday 2nd November 09:55

[Richyboy]

Whatever beans from costco. Grind them up in the burr. Pour through dripper. I add theanine, vanilla, mct or cinnamon maybe. Used to add butter but that wasn't doing me any good. Taste is secondary for me, want that feeling of being happy to be alive that coffee does so well.

[HotJambalaya]

I was waiting for the new Nespresso full cup machines to make an appearance in the UK but it looks like they're sticking to america and canada.

https://www.nespresso.com/us/en/vertuo-machines-ra...


In the mean time I was playing with the idea of a cheap bean to cup machine.

I was looking at amazon and came up with this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Programmable-...

I'm just wondering, how long can beans be left exposed, do they deteriorate? I don't tend to go to this place for months on end

[PedroB]

I'm an Aeropress fan and when time allows I have gone full nerd on it.

My general way of doing things:

28g of Monmouth house roast ground in a Porlex 'Tall' hand grinder, 250g water at 78 degrees. Inverted Aeropess method with an extra fine stainless steel filter. Stand time of 30 seconds, stir. Squeeze. Drink!

[RizzoTheRat]

LordGrover said:

Just thought I'd mention I've just received a Clever Dripper. It is awesome, or more to the point, the coffee it produces is very good. The extra time steeping really delivers a fuller flavour.

That looks to be very similar to my Ingenuitea tea pot, if you like tea as well as coffee they're well worth it.

[giblet]

PedroB said:

I'm an Aeropress fan and when time allows I have gone full nerd on it.

My general way of doing things:

28g of Monmouth house roast ground in a Porlex 'Tall' hand grinder, 250g water at 78 degrees. Inverted Aeropess method with an extra fine stainless steel filter. Stand time of 30 seconds, stir. Squeeze. Drink!

My Porlex tall and aeropress combo has served me well for just over a year now. I tend to stick to 2 scoops of beans, inverted method with 30 second bloom then top up, stir and leave for a further 60 seconds before pressing and using the stock paper filters which are rinsed before use. I have tried a variety of beans since I got it. Everything from supermarket stuff to Pact/Rave etc. Standout ones for me have been the Nicaragua Hacienda which was a limited coffee at Whittards but seems to be available at a few places online and the Columbia Cascada from Fortnums which was superb but a tad pricey at £4.50 per 100g.

[Hoover.]

I went to independent café the other in St Johns Wood.... had a cappuccino and wow suddenly realised how crap the high street coffee chins are.... it was really enjoyable

[uncinqsix]

Hoover. said:

I went to independent café the other in St Johns Wood.... had a cappuccino and wow suddenly realised how crap the high street coffee chins are.... it was really enjoyable

Welcome to Enlightenment

[sgrimshaw]

HotJambalaya said:

I was waiting for the new Nespresso full cup machines to make an appearance in the UK but it looks like they're sticking to america and canada.

https://www.nespresso.com/us/en/vertuo-machines-ra...

What's the advantage of the Vertuoline over using two Lungo pods (or a mix of Lungo and Expresso) to get mug size drink from a standard Nespresso machine?

[ascayman]

It might look like a dodgy link but it isn't its a link to the best coffee I've tasted in a long time http://www.sohogrind.com/

[giblet]

sgrimshaw said:

HotJambalaya said:

I was waiting for the new Nespresso full cup machines to make an appearance in the UK but it looks like they're sticking to america and canada.

https://www.nespresso.com/us/en/vertuo-machines-ra...

What's the advantage of the Vertuoline over using two Lungo pods (or a mix of Lungo and Expresso) to get mug size drink from a standard Nespresso machine?

No rogue X's?

A few reviews I skim read seemed to say that there is no real taste difference between the large mug it makes and a standard americano made using a regular pod on the standard machine and then topped up with more hot water.

[Foliage]

I was using moka but have taken to using 3 cup stainless steel cafetiere. I still prefer the simpler techniques.