Coffee machines - whaddaya know?

[cqueen]

giblet said:

Is this the one you have? My concerns are with it having a glass base. It will be used and kept in the office kitchen where I have already dropped and broken a french press! Saying that if I dropped any ceramic grinder I would probably break the burrs too.
I had a look at the mini but from what I've read the plastic retaining nut for the handle cracks over time.

I think the glass would survive if you dropped it on wood floorboards. Tiles/concrete it could break.
http://www.smokeybarn.co.uk/blog/hario-skerton-gri...

[Blown2CV]

Chicken Chaser said:

I have the option on a used Gaggia Classic. What do I need to look out for when buying used? Is it cost effective to do so, or do these things wear out?

for anything of that cost and annoying sophistication i'd want it to be refurbed. If not, you might need to pay for it, and i bet that will be the cost of a high-street coffee machine and more just by itself. I am constant complainer of the prices people pay for coffee kit, so maybe i am not the best person to respond. Someone else will be along shortly with "£864??? snap his hand off that's a barg, so what if it's inoperable, just look at it!"

[Blown2CV]

cqueen said:

giblet said:

Is this the one you have? My concerns are with it having a glass base. It will be used and kept in the office kitchen where I have already dropped and broken a french press! Saying that if I dropped any ceramic grinder I would probably break the burrs too.
I had a look at the mini but from what I've read the plastic retaining nut for the handle cracks over time.

I think the glass would survive if you dropped it on wood floorboards. Tiles/concrete it could break.
http://www.smokeybarn.co.uk/blog/hario-skerton-gri...

i have that one, and yes i feel sure it would break. So would lots of things though. Just sit on the sofa and clutch it between your knees to grind. As it were.

[giblet]

Blown2CV said:

cqueen said:

giblet said:

Is this the one you have? My concerns are with it having a glass base. It will be used and kept in the office kitchen where I have already dropped and broken a french press! Saying that if I dropped any ceramic grinder I would probably break the burrs too.
I had a look at the mini but from what I've read the plastic retaining nut for the handle cracks over time.

I think the glass would survive if you dropped it on wood floorboards. Tiles/concrete it could break.
http://www.smokeybarn.co.uk/blog/hario-skerton-gri...

i have that one, and yes i feel sure it would break. So would lots of things though. Just sit on the sofa and clutch it between your knees to grind. As it were.

Thanks for the replies, ended up going with the porlex tall grinder. Twice the price of the Hario above but I'll probably end up bringing it home at times so easier to transport. Now do I order an aeropress or should I stick stick with my old french press for a while? Hmm

[Hackney]

giblet said:

I must admit I was a long term instant coffee drinker until I was bought a cafetiere. I have seen the light, even with supermarket bought pre ground coffee. Not sure I want to get into roasting my own beans and grinding them though but a porlex hand grinder seems tempting. How long do roasted beans last before going stale?

I've been using the scoop that came with my "3 cup" cafetiere. Two scoops of coffee with 200ml of water, makes enough for a mug and enough space for a splash of milk.

Open to some suggestions for what coffee to try next. So far I've tried the following -

Illy - not a fan at all. Granted it was the espresso ground stuff but don't like the taste whatsoever.
Taylors Lava Java - quite like the taste and it has a hell of a kick, used on days when I need a proper jolt
Taylors Rich Italian - not bad, nice taste
Taylors Lazy Sunday - Go to choice for a few mugs in a day, really like this stuff
Devilish Hazelnut - fairly meh, using it up just so I don't waste the stuff

If you're in the supermarket (Taylor's tells me you are) try Percol.

[Blown2CV]

giblet said:

Blown2CV said:

cqueen said:

giblet said:

Is this the one you have? My concerns are with it having a glass base. It will be used and kept in the office kitchen where I have already dropped and broken a french press! Saying that if I dropped any ceramic grinder I would probably break the burrs too.
I had a look at the mini but from what I've read the plastic retaining nut for the handle cracks over time.

I think the glass would survive if you dropped it on wood floorboards. Tiles/concrete it could break.
http://www.smokeybarn.co.uk/blog/hario-skerton-gri...

i have that one, and yes i feel sure it would break. So would lots of things though. Just sit on the sofa and clutch it between your knees to grind. As it were.

Thanks for the replies, ended up going with the porlex tall grinder. Twice the price of the Hario above but I'll probably end up bringing it home at times so easier to transport. Now do I order an aeropress or should I stick stick with my old french press for a while? Hmm

ah gwan get an aeropress... get a massive bag of beans from nextdaycoffee too.

[giblet]

Hackney said:

If you're in the supermarket (Taylor's tells me you are) try Percol.

Cheers, will be moving to beans once the grinder arrives.

Blown2CV said:

ah gwan get an aeropress... get a massive bag of beans from nextdaycoffee too.

Aeropress ordered! Got a bag of beans to try from a friend of a friend who owns his own mobile coffee company so will give those a try first. Seems to be an insane amount of choice when it comes to buying beans online. Need to make sure I don't buy too many, will limit myself to a 250g bag each month.

[Blown2CV]

giblet said:

Hackney said:

If you're in the supermarket (Taylor's tells me you are) try Percol.

Cheers, will be moving to beans once the grinder arrives.

Blown2CV said:

ah gwan get an aeropress... get a massive bag of beans from nextdaycoffee too.

Aeropress ordered! Got a bag of beans to try from a friend of a friend who owns his own mobile coffee company so will give those a try first. Seems to be an insane amount of choice when it comes to buying beans online. Need to make sure I don't buy too many, will limit myself to a 250g bag each month.

yes there are tons, maybe we should have a beans thread! Check out death wish bean for a laugh.

[uncinqsix]

Chicken Chaser said:

I have the option on a used Gaggia Classic. What do I need to look out for when buying used? Is it cost effective to do so, or do these things wear out?

Think of it like buying a second-hand Alfa. If it's been well looked after/maintained and not too heavily used, it'll probably be fine. The main things that wear are seals, and if the previous owner hasn't kept it clean there's going to be a build up of stale coffee in the grouphead. If the price is right, no reason not to. I bought mine second hand, but that was from a friend who owns a couple of cafes and knows the importance of keeping machines clean and serviced.

[giblet]

Blown2CV said:

yes there are tons, maybe we should have a beans thread! Check out death wish bean for a laugh.

There is already a recent bean thread I like the sound of death wish but seems pricey. Strongest stuff I have tried so faris Taylors Lava Java and it did the job!

[giblet]

Aeropress turned up a few days ago. Used it a couple of times now with the inverted method and pre-ground coffee. Very easy and simple. Need to play around with brew times and water temps though as my first mug was over extracted and second one was under extracted.

[giblet]

Out of curiosity do you aeropress and pour over folks weigh out your beans and measure your water temps for each coffee that you make?

[Blown2CV]

giblet said:

Out of curiosity do you aeropress and pour over folks weigh out your beans and measure your water temps for each coffee that you make?

no, if i'm honest. I measure out the grounds and use off the boil water but i'm not that exacting.

[giblet]

Blown2CV said:

no, if i'm honest. I measure out the grounds and use off the boil water but i'm not that exacting.

I was watching a few aeropress videos where people were weighing both the coffee and the water and checking water temps etc. Seemed a bit over the top for my tastes.

Pissed off to say the least, the Porlex grinder turned up late last night, 2 days late. Tried to use it today but it's faulty. The outer burr doesn't fit properly, when you turn it upside down to adjust the grind it seems fine but when you turn it back to the correct side for grinding the inner burr drops down to meet the outer meaning there is no gap and the only thing being ground is the ceramic burrs. Now I need to send it back to Amazon and wait for them to refund me, in the meantime my freshly opened bag of beans is going to waste!

[Blown2CV]

giblet said:

Blown2CV said:

no, if i'm honest. I measure out the grounds and use off the boil water but i'm not that exacting.

I was watching a few aeropress videos where people were weighing both the coffee and the water and checking water temps etc. Seemed a bit over the top for my tastes.

Pissed off to say the least, the Porlex grinder turned up late last night, 2 days late. Tried to use it today but it's faulty. The outer burr doesn't fit properly, when you turn it upside down to adjust the grind it seems fine but when you turn it back to the correct side for grinding the inner burr drops down to meet the outer meaning there is no gap and the only thing being ground is the ceramic burrs. Now I need to send it back to Amazon and wait for them to refund me, in the meantime my freshly opened bag of beans is going to waste!

should have got the £1000 grinder

[giblet]

Blown2CV said:

should have got the £1000 grinder

Or the Hario Skerton that both you and cqueen recommended, half the price and a lot less hassle.

Edit - stripped it down and rebuilt it a few times. Seems to be working now. Tried the beans I bought the other week, I can actually taste the flavours that are mentioned on the packet. Very impressed, now lets see how quickly I get through this packet so I can order some more.

Edited by giblet on Monday 6th October 18:58

[Hoover.]

Just had my La Pavoni Proffesional serviced by Fairfax and wow....... should have done it when I bought the thing secondhand 4 years ago, totally transformed it's operation.

I always thought the milk steamer was crap and just thought it was designed that way....... Ohhh no, it now works like I thought it should of.

Just having my fourth cup of the day ....... yum yum.

[Sy1441]

Got a Gaggia Evolution, Aeoropress, Nespresso Pixie and Bodum Cafetierre. Find myself floating between them all. Nespresso would comfortably be my recommendation though for pure ease of use vs. quality.

[Hoover.]

[quote=Sy1441 Nespresso would comfortably be my recommendation though for pure ease of use vs. quality.
[/quote]

I only use my La Pavoni hand pull machine at weekends but the grinding of the beans etc is all part of the enjoyment of getting it just right..... I like the fact it takes a little time and effort on a sat/sun morning to make something special

[S6PNJ]

A quick Aeropress question - I'm coming to the end of my paper filter pack and am toying with the idea of getting a metal filter instead. I'd looked on-line at a few and managed to find a site that reviewed many different metal filters against the standard paper filter, coming to the conclusion that one particular metal filter worked the best. Now I'll be buggered if I can find that website or indeed the metal filter! I know it cost £20 and that it was used in some world (?) championship and the one supplied would not come with the same world championship branding, but I'd recognise it in an instant. I've Google image searched various topics but not seen the filter I'd recognise - any ideas folks?