Coffee. Grinder and Cafetiere or Pods in a machine

[NaePasaran]

Blown2CV said:

for health reasons i have been having decaf more often. Any good reccomendations for fresh decaf beans / grounds?

Orzo might be worth a try? Roasted barley?

You can get ground up stuff for coffee machines, but that didn't work well in the moka pot, went quick sticky/thick/gloopy.

Got instant from Holland and Barrett which is pretty nice.

[TX1]

Thanks both to 272BHP and Joe M for the feedback regarding the Malabar.
It really is a frustrating bean, so much variation in flavour between different roasters which makes me wonder if the estate the bean comes from has a huge impact on this bean.
Used to get a particular smokiness in the past which seems to have subsided, very strange.

[BIRMA]

TX1 said:

Thanks both to 272BHP and Joe M for the feedback regarding the Malabar.
It really is a frustrating bean, so much variation in flavour between different roasters which makes me wonder if the estate the bean comes from has a huge impact on this bean.
Used to get a particular smokiness in the past which seems to have subsided, very strange.

I think it must be down to variations in the roasting process, I've asked a few roasters via e-mail about how they roast and first crack etc but none have answered my question perhaps trade confidentiality comes into play who knows.

A few months ago I bought this:- INDIA MONSOONED MALABAR Green/Raw 100% Arabica Coffee Beans For Home Roasting from an eBay seller and they made a very nice coffee.

As I have mentioned a few times I've tried green beans from around the world and have paid up to £100 a kilo for some green beans so God only knows what they would charge for roasted beans. I've yet to find any beans that beat the Santos region beans and my new favourite flavour wise are fair trade organic beans from Peru. All of these green beans come with specific roasting notes and I wonder how much attention people in the trade pay to what is advised.
From experience I follow this advice precisely and have found if I don't pay attention and let the beans roast for even 30 seconds over first crack you get a much darker roast and you can loose some of the hazelnut chocolate type of flavour from your beans.

[TX1]

Could very well be the people roasting however I would have thought an industrial roaster would be programmed for every bean that the company roasts so it would be pretty precise every time unless when it was programmed they got the roast totally wrong in the first place.

[NordicCrankShaft]

I've been gifted done volcano coffee works beans and I just cannot get on with them in my Sage Barista Pro.
I've messed about with every single grind setting trying to dial it in, too fine....bery bitter, too coarse.... Watery bitter, I've cranked the grind down, up, several positions in the middle. Just doesn't seem to want to play ball.

[lauda]

NordicCrankShaft said:

I've been gifted done volcano coffee works beans and I just cannot get on with them in my Sage Barista Pro.
I've messed about with every single grind setting trying to dial it in, too fine....bery bitter, too coarse.... Watery bitter, I've cranked the grind down, up, several positions in the middle. Just doesn't seem to want to play ball.

I had that with a bag of beans from Pact the other month. Wasted half the bag trying to get something half decent out of my Barista Express.

It was strange as normally I’m just one grind setting up or down when I get new beans but there was something about this particular batch that meant I just couldn’t get them dialled in.

Next bag was absolutely fine.

[NordicCrankShaft]

lauda said:

NordicCrankShaft said:

I've been gifted done volcano coffee works beans and I just cannot get on with them in my Sage Barista Pro.
I've messed about with every single grind setting trying to dial it in, too fine....bery bitter, too coarse.... Watery bitter, I've cranked the grind down, up, several positions in the middle. Just doesn't seem to want to play ball.

I had that with a bag of beans from Pact the other month. Wasted half the bag trying to get something half decent out of my Barista Express.

It was strange as normally I’m just one grind setting up or down when I get new beans but there was something about this particular batch that meant I just couldn’t get them dialled in.

Next bag was absolutely fine.

Exactly that, I've even pulled the beans out and put other brand beans through to make sure it's not the machine and it's working fine with other beans, don't reall want to throw away the beans but also they taste like ste, yet the reviews of these across the board seem positive.

[TX1]

Could they be old beans ?

[beambeam1]

lauda said:

ZedLeg said:

We've been getting Ride and Grind coffee recently. It's nice but I'd be lying if the nice tins they come in aren't the primary appeal

Favourites so far have been "tesco value" and "Mr Driver".

Edited by ZedLeg on Tuesday 6th February 13:23

I want some of this just for the tin. If the coffee is drinkable, that’s just a bonus

Really liked the tins so have made a purchase! Once ordered though I found out through their instagram that they are based in Edinburgh so must check them out in person if I can!

[ZedLeg]

I really like the coffee. There's nothing super punchy in what I've had but it all tastes great.

[jj2908]

Happily embracing life with a Jura z10, Can anyone recommend independent ben roasters in south Wales?

[dickymint]

jj2908 said:

Happily embracing life with a Jura z10, Can anyone recommend independent ben roasters in south Wales?

Nice one. I thought you had second thoughts on the Z10 and going Gaggia. So far I've no regrets at all with mine - I'm in South Wales but not looked for local roasters so let us know how you get on

Edit: there used to be a cafe in Abergavenny that did excellent coffee and sold loads of different beans but not sure if they roast.

[Gretchen]

Without trawling through almost 200 pages can someone recommend a manual coffee grinder?

Total newbie but I’ve recently been given some beans brought back from Columbia. Mentioned it at work and a colleague whose French Cameroon argued his coffee was better and would give me some beans. Then by coincidence a mid delivered parcel resulted in the official recipient collecting and giving me a decent size bag of expensive Cameroon beans.

So I need a grinder! Must be manual (will use on boat). Reading through a few pages I’ve seen suggestions that are in the hundreds. I was thinking more like £30 as it might not be something I want to invest long term in as I’m not a daily drinker - will be more weekends.

Thanks in advance.

[jj2908]

dickymint said:

Nice one. I thought you had second thoughts on the Z10 and going Gaggia. So far I've no regrets at all with mine - I'm in South Wales but not looked for local roasters so let us know how you get on

Edit: there used to be a cafe in Abergavenny that did excellent coffee and sold loads of different beans but not sure if they roast.

I thought long and hard, then…. Just pulled the trigger!

[giblet]

For the £30 mark I’d go for something like a Hario Skerton Plus or any of the cheap Amazon specials that are clones for the likes of Porlex etc

[P1Fanatic]

Sorry to jump in but seems a wealth of coffee knowledge in here so wondering if anyone knows a decent coffee machine service / repair place anywhere Reading / Berks area that specialises in E61 machines? I have a 3yr old Rocket Appartamento that could probably do with tune but it seems difficult to find anyone.

Pro Espresso in Oxford outsource to Coffee Classics but their website looks naff and their reviews on Trustpilot shocking. I found one place locally who do more office type B2C / pod machine repairs and when asked if they are familiar with E61 they just replied £175 to take a look.

I don't want to courier it as its heavy, requires a mini pallet and hears lots of stories of damages in transit.

So far only option I have found is to drive it up to Bella Barista nr Northampton which is a 4hr round trip each time. Also hard to find reviews of their servicing specifically. Anyone on here used them or can recommend anywhere else closer?

Thanks.

[Bonefish Blues]

Coffee Classics do on site repair & service so you could watch them throughout?

[number2]

P1Fanatic said:

Sorry to jump in but seems a wealth of coffee knowledge in here so wondering if anyone knows a decent coffee machine service / repair place anywhere Reading / Berks area that specialises in E61 machines? I have a 3yr old Rocket Appartamento that could probably do with tune but it seems difficult to find anyone.

Pro Espresso in Oxford outsource to Coffee Classics but their website looks naff and their reviews on Trustpilot shocking. I found one place locally who do more office type B2C / pod machine repairs and when asked if they are familiar with E61 they just replied £175 to take a look.

I don't want to courier it as its heavy, requires a mini pallet and hears lots of stories of damages in transit.

So far only option I have found is to drive it up to Bella Barista nr Northampton which is a 4hr round trip each time. Also hard to find reviews of their servicing specifically. Anyone on here used them or can recommend anywhere else closer?

Thanks.

This isn't what your asking, but what do you mean by think it needs a tune?

I have a Lelit Bianca which I took apart trying to solve a problem I didn't have and they're easy to get at.

[P1Fanatic]

Bonefish Blues said:

Coffee Classics do on site repair & service so you could watch them throughout?

Have you used them? I know reviews can be misleading and most of the negative ones relate to Sage machines (so possibly an issue with how sage outsource repairs) but too many to be coincidence so throws up a red flag for me. Also only about 10 mins nearer for me so still a decent trek. I think I will ask Bella Barista if they do a same day service and make a day trip out of it. They always seemed to have a good rep on the coffee uk forums back in the day. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing somewhere decent nearer to home.

[Bonefish Blues]

P1Fanatic said:

Bonefish Blues said:

Coffee Classics do on site repair & service so you could watch them throughout?

Have you used them? I know reviews can be misleading and most of the negative ones relate to Sage machines (so possibly an issue with how sage outsource repairs) but too many to be coincidence so throws up a red flag for me. Also only about 10 mins nearer for me so still a decent trek. I think I will ask Bella Barista if they do a same day service and make a day trip out of it. They always seemed to have a good rep on the coffee uk forums back in the day. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing somewhere decent nearer to home.

No, I spoke to them at some length about a problem with a machine I had, but having done the numbers I sold it as S or R and bought a new one in the end. Means nothing really, but I found them straightforward and patient - and they're much more local to me than you.