Coffee. Grinder and Cafetiere or Pods in a machine

[tim0409]

pavarotti1980 said:

Any recommendations for nespresso pods. Fed up of paying top dollar for the Nespresso ones direct and given up on the cheap ones from Lidl, Amazon etc as they are just too bitter

It’s been discussed on the Nespresso thread; I buy Starbucks pods from Discount Dragon (formerly Yankee Bundles). They are cheap because they are close to their sell by date but I doubt it matters much especially at £17 for 120 pods -

https://discountdragon.co.uk/product/120-x-starbuc...

[Blown2CV]

tim0409 said:

pavarotti1980 said:

Any recommendations for nespresso pods. Fed up of paying top dollar for the Nespresso ones direct and given up on the cheap ones from Lidl, Amazon etc as they are just too bitter

It’s been discussed on the Nespresso thread; I buy Starbucks pods from Discount Dragon (formerly Yankee Bundles). They are cheap because they are close to their sell by date but I doubt it matters much especially at £17 for 120 pods -

https://discountdragon.co.uk/product/120-x-starbuc...

yea but the guy was saying he wanted better tasting ones, not cheaper ones.

[tim0409]

Blown2CV said:

yea but the guy was saying he wanted better tasting ones, not cheaper ones.

I read it that he wants better tasting ones than the cheap capsules from Lidl, which Starbucks arguably are (although I concede they are not nearly as nice as Nespresso).

[RanchoGrande]

Sway said:

I've just picked up a Sage Barista Pro. Don't see what the touch adds for the extra dosh...

Took a fair amount of dialling in. The beans I managed to pick up today are pretty crap - yet once dialled in the coffee tastes bloody good.

Couple of things I think are necessary. I've just ordered a dosing funnel off amazon. The amount of spillage is very annoying, so adding a lot of 'headspace' for the grinder seems a no brainer. I also ordered a stick on thermometer for the milk jug. Annoyingly, the Express has this as standard.

Can't wait to pick up some decent beans on Tuesday - then spend another hour dialling those in...

Touch adds auto milk frothing! I find it's super useful as it does it perfectly every time.

[Sway]

RanchoGrande said:

Touch adds auto milk frothing! I find it's super useful as it does it perfectly every time.

Gotcha!

I'm quite liking learning how to froth... Admittedly currently not always getting it as right as I'd like.

This morning though - managed to make a cortado indistinguishable (to my palate) to the ones I get from my local superb cafe. Using the same beans they do, which obviously helps.

[giblet]

I’ve decided I want a Barista Pro just trying to find a reasonably priced one. Some questionable condition refurbs available on eBay that are missing parts so I’m looking for a lightly used one in good condition instead

[RanchoGrande]

giblet said:

I’ve decided I want a Barista Pro just trying to find a reasonably priced one. Some questionable condition refurbs available on eBay that are missing parts so I’m looking for a lightly used one in good condition instead

I picked up a refurbished touch via ebay and it was like brand new with nothing missing. Think it was around £600. I did note at the time that there were a lot of pro's for sale with missing bits, my guess is that most of them are customer returns as I reckon people don't realise that you need to put a bit of effort into making coffee with one of these.

[giblet]

Had a look at the pro and the touch at my local John Lewis store today. Sage rep was there so had a nice chat about the range and he even made me a flat white on the Pro so I could get a better idea on the process.

For the money it seems like the perfect grinder and machine combo all in one unit. Smallish footprint too

[Sway]

Really impressed with mine. Have manually adjusted the burrs to suit the beans I get from local place - quick and simple job.

I'd also recommend this for anyone with a Sage grinder. Stops any overspill whilst grinding and tamping.

https://amzn.eu/d/0NBc5ux

[Teddy Lop]

Delonghi b2cs making funny noises. Need to pin down what the replacement will look like.

Any thoughts on a pairing of the sage smart grinder and duo espresso?

Reason for the grinder being I want the early morning weekday "uuuggh press button give me coffee" of b2c levels which aside from rinsing the portafilter (no hardship and maybe an upgrade over the way the delonghi utterly soils itself internally) this seems a morning zombie friendly setup?

Barrista pro combines in one unit.. but for a couple hundred more...?

Anything I'm missing?

[pokethepope]

Teddy Lop said:

Delonghi b2cs making funny noises. Need to pin down what the replacement will look like.

Any thoughts on a pairing of the sage smart grinder and duo espresso?

Reason for the grinder being I want the early morning weekday "uuuggh press button give me coffee" of b2c levels which aside from rinsing the portafilter (no hardship and maybe an upgrade over the way the delonghi utterly soils itself internally) this seems a morning zombie friendly setup?

Barrista pro combines in one unit.. but for a couple hundred more...?

Anything I'm missing?

I know it's not an answer to the question you are asking, but one of the real benefits of the Delonghi B2C's is the availablity and affordable price of spares.

[audi321]

What's you guys think of Nespresso Vertuo machines? They're £65 here and apparently half price subscription for 6 months and a free frother via the Nespresso website.

Or are they just glorified Tassimo machines? They supposedly have a patent on the design of 'centrifugal force' to extract the coffee for another 5 years (meaning no one can copy the pods in this time).

Edited by audi321 on Monday 19th September 20:43

[RobbieTheTruth]

audi321 said:

What's you guys think of Nespresso Vertuo machines? They're £65 here and apparently half price subscription for 6 months and a free frother via the Nespresso website.

Or are they just glorified Tassimo machines? They supposedly have a patent on the design of 'centrifugal force' to extract the coffee for another 5 years (meaning no one can copy the pods in this time).

Edited by audi321 on Monday 19th September 20:43

Glorified Tassimo.

If you drink instant, it's a big upgrade and you'll enjoy it.

If you're looking for anything like a coffee from a good independent coffee shop, you'll be disappointed.

[Flibble]

I had one and found the weird frothy texture unpleasant. It's like drinking coffee that you've whizzed in a blender to foam up.

[dapprman]

As some one who prefers a longer cup than an espresso I find mine works very well and compared to my parent's Tassimo, vastly superior. Only downside is you are limited to Nespresso's own pods (for the moment anyhow), but that is the same for all the pod machines aside from the original Nespresso. I also now rarely use my 'classic' machine, really just during the summer for the occasional iced coffee.

Depends on what you want though and also costings. When I got mine (already had, and still have a classic) it was £1 for the base Vertuo machine, though I had to take out 12 months of non-discounted subscription (credit lasts for 2 years I think and I worked out if the machine did not work for me I'd still use all the credit in time).

[fizz47]

Sway said:

I've just picked up a Sage Barista Pro. Don't see what the touch adds for the extra dosh...

Took a fair amount of dialling in. The beans I managed to pick up today are pretty crap - yet once dialled in the coffee tastes bloody good.

Couple of things I think are necessary. I've just ordered a dosing funnel off amazon. The amount of spillage is very annoying, so adding a lot of 'headspace' for the grinder seems a no brainer. I also ordered a stick on thermometer for the milk jug. Annoyingly, the Express has this as standard.

Can't wait to pick up some decent beans on Tuesday - then spend another hour dialling those in...

How are you finding it?

Spent a fair amount of time trying to dialing it in and watching a whole bunch of videos but was still getting coffee that tastes really bitter or sour.

Forntuantly found a local roaster so have really fresh roasted beans.

Actually came to the realistion that a dosing of 18g (what most videos showed) was too much for me. so have put the dosage down but the single shot basket doesnt work as well as the double shot basket... so still trying to figure that out.

Milk frother is great and enjoying my coffee much more than my nespressos.

[Turn7]

IIRC, Sage use a smaller portafilter/ basket than the norm, so you have to drop to, I think, 15g

[Sway]

fizz47 said:

How are you finding it?

Spent a fair amount of time trying to dialing it in and watching a whole bunch of videos but was still getting coffee that tastes really bitter or sour.

Forntuantly found a local roaster so have really fresh roasted beans.

Actually came to the realistion that a dosing of 18g (what most videos showed) was too much for me. so have put the dosage down but the single shot basket doesnt work as well as the double shot basket... so still trying to figure that out.

Milk frother is great and enjoying my coffee much more than my nespressos.

Really enjoying it. Once I'd dialled it in, it's now producing coffee pretty much as good (to my palate) as the 'third wave' coffee from my local (superb) café. I'm using the same beans as them.

I did have to adjust the top burr setting manually to get it to grind fine enough. I've also got the funnel I posted earlier in the thread, and tamp quite firmly.

One thing that seems to make a huge difference is running 3-4 'empty shots' through both group head and portafilter before loading it with coffee and running an espresso. That seems to add about 5s to the extraction time.

I'm using 18g of coffee, and getting 38-40g of output in around 28s. Thats with a medium roast from Clifton roasters.

[Turn7]

Sway, are you allowing dry pre heating time?

,My Gaggia needs about 15/20 minutes to heat the group and basket sufficiently...

[Sway]

Turn7 said:

Sway, are you allowing dry pre heating time?

,My Gaggia needs about 15/20 minutes to heat the group and basket sufficiently...

No, cause its a 'thermojet' so switching it on and leaving it doesn't do anything to warm the group/portafilter. It doesn't heat up a whole boiler reservoir.

I like cortado/flat white, so use a decent sized glass mug - hitting the button a couple of times to run some hot water through it and also pre-heating the glass is no drama. Takes about a minute whilst the kettle is boiling for my other half's tea.