Help me make good coffee.
Discussion
Every day I buy a coffee from costa, starbucks or elsewhere. The average price now seems to be £4 for a flat white.
Luckily I expense it through work but its a big chunk of my daily allowance spent on mediocre coffee.
It’s got me thinking can I make a better coffee at home and take it with me.
I have a thermos and I’m not afraid to use it.
With a budget of £500 or so can I make good coffee at home?
Requirements are.
Least hassle as possible at home. Time in the mornings is limited and don't have 20 minutes to make a coffee.
Easy to use. I’m happy to learn. My missus isn’t.
Visually appealing, it’s going to sit on the worktop it has to look good. Think kitchen aid mixer, le creuset cast iron pans ect.
If it looks like an air fryer the missus will veto it.
Make good coffee.
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Luckily I expense it through work but its a big chunk of my daily allowance spent on mediocre coffee.
It’s got me thinking can I make a better coffee at home and take it with me.
I have a thermos and I’m not afraid to use it.
With a budget of £500 or so can I make good coffee at home?
Requirements are.
Least hassle as possible at home. Time in the mornings is limited and don't have 20 minutes to make a coffee.
Easy to use. I’m happy to learn. My missus isn’t.
Visually appealing, it’s going to sit on the worktop it has to look good. Think kitchen aid mixer, le creuset cast iron pans ect.
If it looks like an air fryer the missus will veto it.
Make good coffee.
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Taking a flask of good coffee is not easy. Most machines, other than drip filter machines, won’t produce enough quickly enough.
Try a Chemex?
Then pour into (pre-warmed) flask… keep milk separate then add (if you really must) when you pour one.
If you wanted to go geeky, get a decent set of scales to weigh your beans/water.
If I’m going somewhere without decent coffee then, if I’m being organised, I’ll take a flask of hot water (I have one that has never had anything other than water in it) and some coffee bags/disposable filter bags.
Try a Chemex?
Then pour into (pre-warmed) flask… keep milk separate then add (if you really must) when you pour one.
If you wanted to go geeky, get a decent set of scales to weigh your beans/water.
If I’m going somewhere without decent coffee then, if I’m being organised, I’ll take a flask of hot water (I have one that has never had anything other than water in it) and some coffee bags/disposable filter bags.
We had a very similar requirements list when choosing and even though were sceptical about the brand, ended up with a Ninja coffee machine.
https://ninjakitchen.co.uk/product/ninja-luxe-cafe...
Super easy to use, loads of drinks. You do enough of the work to feel like a barista, but in reality so little work that you get great coffee each time.
Only place it might fall short is the looks, it's not an Italian machine. But, it's not too bad looking IMO - comes in a few colours which might help.
We've had a few machines over the years and i'd say this is the best all round machine for the lazy coffee connoisseur by some margin.
https://ninjakitchen.co.uk/product/ninja-luxe-cafe...
Super easy to use, loads of drinks. You do enough of the work to feel like a barista, but in reality so little work that you get great coffee each time.
Only place it might fall short is the looks, it's not an Italian machine. But, it's not too bad looking IMO - comes in a few colours which might help.
We've had a few machines over the years and i'd say this is the best all round machine for the lazy coffee connoisseur by some margin.
If it's going in a thermos you can forget about milk frothers and chocolate sprinkles in fancy shapes.
While the espresso machines can look interesting the big jug filter machines are nothing to look at - very much just appliances on your worktop.
I would seriously consider a filter cone and chucking it in the dishwasher before you leave the house.
While the espresso machines can look interesting the big jug filter machines are nothing to look at - very much just appliances on your worktop.
I would seriously consider a filter cone and chucking it in the dishwasher before you leave the house.
If it is going into a thermos, the obvious solution is a simple cafetière and then find some decent coffee. There are plenty of specialist coffee outlets - start with Monmouth and Silver Oak Coffee, both of which can grind to your preference.
If you want a coffee in a cup before leaving the house and have time to steam some milk (a 60 second job tops) but want convenience, then a bean to cup machine is the answer. Once again though, choose your beans, and don’t just resort to supermarket muck.
If you want a coffee in a cup before leaving the house and have time to steam some milk (a 60 second job tops) but want convenience, then a bean to cup machine is the answer. Once again though, choose your beans, and don’t just resort to supermarket muck.
If you want the Kitchen Aid of coffee machines.
You want the Illy X1.
Its Kitchen Aid prices though.
Ground Coffee and ESE pods Machine X1 Anniversary black - illy https://share.google/VzwblC8B3rbP0MyNA
You want the Illy X1.
Its Kitchen Aid prices though.
Ground Coffee and ESE pods Machine X1 Anniversary black - illy https://share.google/VzwblC8B3rbP0MyNA
A Wacaco Picopresso or Hugo Leverpresso can go in a cupboard. They are great for travel too. Take up next-to-no space. Around a hundred quid.
Picopresso:
https://wacaco.com/products/picopresso
Leverpresso:
https://hughinc.com/collections/leverpresso-lite
A good handgrinder is another hundred quid - I would look at 150 for longevity though.
1ZPresso:
https://1zpresso.coffee/j-ultra/
A set of scales for a tenner.
https://www.amazon.com/YONCON-Coffee-Scale-Timer-I...
In the time it takes to boil a kettle, plus 30 secs(ish), I can extract an espresso, as good or better than a $4000 La Marzocco machine. Easy to clean and maintain.
Want a machine? Lance Hedrick pitched the DeLonghi Stylosa ($100) against the LaMarzocco Linea Micra ($4000)...It was a seriously tight battle!!
On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rxnJRrHcjw&t=... won't play on here
The De Longhi Stylosa at 100ish quid:
https://www.delonghi.com/en-us/p/stilosa-stilosa-e...
Picopresso:
https://wacaco.com/products/picopresso
Leverpresso:
https://hughinc.com/collections/leverpresso-lite
A good handgrinder is another hundred quid - I would look at 150 for longevity though.
1ZPresso:
https://1zpresso.coffee/j-ultra/
A set of scales for a tenner.
https://www.amazon.com/YONCON-Coffee-Scale-Timer-I...
In the time it takes to boil a kettle, plus 30 secs(ish), I can extract an espresso, as good or better than a $4000 La Marzocco machine. Easy to clean and maintain.
Want a machine? Lance Hedrick pitched the DeLonghi Stylosa ($100) against the LaMarzocco Linea Micra ($4000)...It was a seriously tight battle!!
On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rxnJRrHcjw&t=... won't play on here
The De Longhi Stylosa at 100ish quid:
https://www.delonghi.com/en-us/p/stilosa-stilosa-e...
Edited by PhilAsia on Saturday 20th December 10:49
You cannot get nice espressos or flat whites in thermos. You can however, have lots of fun every morning and weekend. You get some syrops - amazing brunch every Saturday.
In the thermos you can put americano and will hold quality for some time.
Quick and efficient is bean to cup and frother
https://surl.li/emcbrx - currys original link was 5 paragraphs so cut link
https://surl.li/ryoghg
Let me mnow if you can see links at all
In the thermos you can put americano and will hold quality for some time.
Quick and efficient is bean to cup and frother
https://surl.li/emcbrx - currys original link was 5 paragraphs so cut link
https://surl.li/ryoghg
Let me mnow if you can see links at all
Blue_star said:
You cannot get nice espressos or flat whites in thermos. You can however, have lots of fun every morning and weekend. You get some syrops - amazing brunch every Saturday.
In the thermos you can put americano and will hold quality for some time.
Quick and efficient is bean to cup and frother
https://surl.li/emcbrx - currys original link was 5 paragraphs so cut link
https://surl.li/ryoghg
Let me mnow if you can see links at all
As the espresso is the base for most coffees, if you have a machine you could produce several concentrated shots to take with you and use the kettle at work for a decent coffee.In the thermos you can put americano and will hold quality for some time.
Quick and efficient is bean to cup and frother
https://surl.li/emcbrx - currys original link was 5 paragraphs so cut link
https://surl.li/ryoghg
Let me mnow if you can see links at all
Alternatively get work to buy a decent bean to cup coffee machine for everyone.
Maybe this is totally wrong but I have a decent bean to cup machine at home and I bought one of these a while ago...
https://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/product/ember-mug...
That'll keep your espresso shots hot.
I have one of these...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smeg-MFF02BLUK-Frother-Fu...
You can make lattes all day and they don't taste crap.
It may seem overkill but it works for me.
https://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/product/ember-mug...
That'll keep your espresso shots hot.
I have one of these...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smeg-MFF02BLUK-Frother-Fu...
You can make lattes all day and they don't taste crap.
It may seem overkill but it works for me.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
I will try and answer some comments and be more specific in my requirements as it seems there a lot of options.
It’s going to be used in the morning for 2 cups of coffee in the morning when I wake up. One for me and one for the missus. I drink 2 cups a day on the weekend.
At 10am I do like a nice coffee to get me through to lunch.
I’m a field engineer so don’t have a canteen as such and no kettle or facilities. Hence the quick coffee shops and use of a thermos.
I have tried a moka pot, cafetière and good old instant.
Moka was best out of all of them but we swapped from gas to an induction hob and now it doesn’t play nicely with the moka pot.
I found the moka pot either made nice coffee or horrible burnt stuff. Was too much of a faff to get right.
I want to automate as much of the process as possible whilst having good consistency. Bear in mind it has to beat costa, so a low bar.
I want to buy pre ground beans for the time being. I’m not apposed to grinding my own eventually but baby steps first.
The machine thats caught my eye is the gaggia classic evo.
Looks nice so gets a pass from the missus. Doesn’t look too complicated. Seems to have decent support for parts ect.
Apparently makes a nice coffee.
I will try and answer some comments and be more specific in my requirements as it seems there a lot of options.
It’s going to be used in the morning for 2 cups of coffee in the morning when I wake up. One for me and one for the missus. I drink 2 cups a day on the weekend.
At 10am I do like a nice coffee to get me through to lunch.
I’m a field engineer so don’t have a canteen as such and no kettle or facilities. Hence the quick coffee shops and use of a thermos.
I have tried a moka pot, cafetière and good old instant.
Moka was best out of all of them but we swapped from gas to an induction hob and now it doesn’t play nicely with the moka pot.
I found the moka pot either made nice coffee or horrible burnt stuff. Was too much of a faff to get right.
I want to automate as much of the process as possible whilst having good consistency. Bear in mind it has to beat costa, so a low bar.
I want to buy pre ground beans for the time being. I’m not apposed to grinding my own eventually but baby steps first.
The machine thats caught my eye is the gaggia classic evo.
Looks nice so gets a pass from the missus. Doesn’t look too complicated. Seems to have decent support for parts ect.
Apparently makes a nice coffee.
NDA said:
mikef said:
Jura E6 (fancier Jura models are available)
Makes perfect coffee and highly adjustable for your cup size and level of roast
Good suggestion - I had a Jura E6 for many years. Very easy to use and good coffee too. Then the quest for the perfect bean commences! Makes perfect coffee and highly adjustable for your cup size and level of roast
sam.rog said:
Unfortunately the jura gets a pass from the missus. Fails the air fryer test according to her.
Oh.Sage do some good machines too
https://www.sageappliances.com/en-gb/product/bes87...
Not difficult to use.
sam.rog said:
I want to buy pre ground beans for the time being. I m not apposed to grinding my own eventually but baby steps first.
From the time taken point of view, a good bean-to-cup machine will taste better and produce much less mess than ground beans, and be quicker than using a separate grindersam.rog said:
I want to buy pre ground beans for the time being. I m not apposed to grinding my own eventually but baby steps first.
The machine thats caught my eye is the gaggia classic evo.
Looks nice so gets a pass from the missus. Doesn t look too complicated. Seems to have decent support for parts ect.
Apparently makes a nice coffee.
As A GC owner (though modified with a Gaggiuino) and who also takes a coffee in a (single cup) thermos flask thingy when out and about, I think that is a good option - especially if it passes the 'allowance' test. I buy my whole beans from Hormozi but they also do ground as will pretty much every other roaster. As said above, don't go for supermarket beans as they will likely be 'old', but beware, a lot of pre-ground beans won't necessarily give you the shot times that will produce a good (or maybe that should be great?) espresso.The machine thats caught my eye is the gaggia classic evo.
Looks nice so gets a pass from the missus. Doesn t look too complicated. Seems to have decent support for parts ect.
Apparently makes a nice coffee.
On MY GC journey, I started with the basic GC (pre 2015), them modified it to give the 9 Bar output, then added a presure gauge so I could keep an eye on it, then added a PID to control the temp, then added a 'dimmer' mod which enabled me to control the pump speed and hence do pre-infusion, then further modified by going Gaggiuino - all of that possibly across 3 different machines from memory, selling on as I went. That was initially coming from a Delonghi B2C machine and an Aerobie Aeropress (which I still have and sometimes use). My current Gaggiuino has been with me for getting on for 2 1/2 years now, so I'm more than happy with it.
Grinder wise, I have a Mazzer Super Joly grinder (for 'caf' beans) and a 1Zpresso JX Max hand grinder (for de-caf beans). Something like the Niche Zero / Duo or a DF64 might be a good grinder, the Niche possibly passing your test more than the DF64 though.
If you want a longer read - try this thread - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
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