Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

the-evaluator · 28 Feb 2017 at 14:31

Funny you should mention it, I was planning to pop in there next week after a meeting in London.

I really like Ibrik style coffee, I don't have it over here often as when it is avaialble it's generally not done well. I've had some awesom Ibrik coffee in Greece and Cyrus.

Raymond Lin · 28 Feb 2017 at 18:53

nst68 said:
When you signed up to the Smokey Barn site did they send a welcome email that contained your user id and password (in plain text!)?

This happened to me and I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid about them not storing hashed password.

Fingers crossed the coffee I ordered will be good

I don't recall the email now.

I'm on my second bag, first bag's coffee is just strange, keep jamming my grinder....taste okay. It is fresh though, plenty of crema.

rodo · 4 Mar 2017 at 09:48

Got my first bag from Hasbean this week and tried it in my new clever dripper. A lot nicer than the supermarket stuff and less bitter, plus the dripper is less of a faff to clean then the Aeropress. I went for an Eithopian coffee and it had some sort of blueberry aroma to it which was a bit odd but not unpleasant. I think I'm now just going to mess about with how much coffee I'm using with the 300ml water but 16-20g seems to be the sweetspot.

TS7 · 4 Mar 2017 at 10:52

What's the general consensus on Sage products. I could potentially get this for 250

http://www.johnlewis.com/sage-by-he...so-coffee-machine/p1749201#media-overlay_show

Thoughts?

I am quite happy with my current set up which is Delonghi EC680 for weekends and mornings when I have extra time and an Nespresso for everyday. So I'm not completely set on the idea but if it's a tangibly superior machine I'd be tempted. The only downside with my current Delonghi is the steam wand which gives little control

Jimbeam3678 · 4 Mar 2017 at 11:39

Same as the Barista express I minus the grinder I believe. I have one and its a great product.

TS7 · 5 Mar 2017 at 11:06

http://www.jimseven.com/2016/06/20/automation/

Very interesting article about future of espresso and automation

joffy · 5 Mar 2017 at 13:17

TS7 said:
What's the general consensus on Sage products. I could potentially get this for 250

http://www.johnlewis.com/sage-by-he...so-coffee-machine/p1749201#media-overlay_show

Thoughts?

I am quite happy with my current set up which is Delonghi EC680 for weekends and mornings when I have extra time and an Nespresso for everyday. So I'm not completely set on the idea but if it's a tangibly superior machine I'd be tempted. The only downside with my current Delonghi is the steam wand which gives little control

I have that Sage machine, so quick n easy. Heats up in a minute, easy to clean/maintain.

jpaul · 5 Mar 2017 at 21:02

TS7 said:
What's the general consensus on Sage products. I could potentially get this for 250

http://www.johnlewis.com/sage-by-he...so-coffee-machine/p1749201#media-overlay_show

Thoughts?

lots of info on coffeeforum too

If the boiler/steam insides of the pro are the same as the barista express, it should give a more flexible solution than the BE,
as you can pair with a grinder of your choice , but I guess you have a grinder for the de'longhi ?
(the BE has a stainless tube water line embedded in heat exchanger/thermoblock for better longevity, hopefully the pro is the same)

I am intrigued by the warm up time, you need to have the brass porta-filter up to temp and I do not understand how quick that really happens with a sage.
the heat exchanger model I have takes minimum 15minutes.

Your De'lomghi has a thermoblock too, so the delta functionality of the pro, is 'just' the pre-infusion and timed aspect of the shot, so unless it has become unreliable not sure I would fork out ~~£300~~ £250

Egon · 5 Mar 2017 at 22:35

Just ordered a 2nd hand, older model, 'refurbished' Gaggia Classic. Includes the following:

Service including new grouphead gasket, grouphead shower screen and block clean, full de-scale, exterior 'deep-clean' (looks like new apparently), pressure tests,
Steam arm upgrade (Rancilio wand),
OPV mod to 9 bar from 15
3 way solenoid confirmed

It's arriving on Thursday and I'm really looking forward to trying it out. But I need to get a couple of things ordered first... a tamper is on my list, any recommendations? I also have recently received an order from Rave, but it's ground for Aeropress which is probably a bit course for espresso. But I was planning on using that for the time being as I imagine it is going to take some practice to begin with anyway. Or is that a bad idea?

Anything else I need?

jpaul · 6 Mar 2017 at 09:15

nice,
Weapon of choice - motta 58mm curved tamper, bought demo'd, for ~£10 from 'cream supplies'

TS7 · 6 Mar 2017 at 09:21

Jimbeam3678 said:
Same as the Barista express I minus the grinder I believe. I have one and its a great product.

joffy said:
I have that Sage machine, so quick n easy. Heats up in a minute, easy to clean/maintain.

jpaul said:
lots of info on coffeeforum too

If the boiler/steam insides of the pro are the same as the barista express, it should give a more flexible solution than the BE,
as you can pair with a grinder of your choice , but I guess you have a grinder for the de'longhi ?
(the BE has a stainless tube water line embedded in heat exchanger/thermoblock for better longevity, hopefully the pro is the same)

I am intrigued by the warm up time, you need to have the brass porta-filter up to temp and I do not understand how quick that really happens with a sage.
the heat exchanger model I have takes minimum 15minutes.

Your De'lomghi has a thermoblock too, so the delta functionality of the pro, is 'just' the pre-infusion and timed aspect of the shot, so unless it has become unreliable not sure I would fork out ~~£300~~ £250

Thank for your replies. Upon further thought I'm going to give it a miss. I've only had my current machine for 6 months and can't justify retiring it so soon, as tempting as that Sage machine is

Grimley · 6 Mar 2017 at 19:36

Egon said:
Just ordered a 2nd hand, older model, 'refurbished' Gaggia Classic. Includes the following:

Service including new grouphead gasket, grouphead shower screen and block clean, full de-scale, exterior 'deep-clean' (looks like new apparently), pressure tests,

Steam arm upgrade (Rancilio wand),

OPV mod to 9 bar from 15

3 way solenoid confirmed

It's arriving on Thursday and I'm really looking forward to trying it out. But I need to get a couple of things ordered first... a tamper is on my list, any recommendations? I also have recently received an order from Rave, but it's ground for Aeropress which is probably a bit course for espresso. But I was planning on using that for the time being as I imagine it is going to take some practice to begin with anyway. Or is that a bad idea?

Anything else I need?

Bottled water, preferably Waitrose/Tesco/Morrisons/Asda own brand or Volvic or a 50/50 mix of said supermarket water & the latter. Or a brita filter jug with BWT magnesium filters (recommended to me on twitter) Not a good idea to use pre-ground in a classic, If your coffee grind is too coarse the water flows through too quickly, giving a kind of americano coffee that can taste a bit burnt.

Cleaning - Get a group head brush, some cleaner (Cafiza/Puly caff - I use the latter) & a blank filter basket for backflushing (videos on youtube on how to do this) Descaling is recommended, but the frequency will depend on whether you decide to use unfiltered tapwater or what I recommended, & how many coffees you plan on making with the classic.

jpaul · 6 Mar 2017 at 22:12

Grimley said:
Or a brita filter jug with BWT magnesium filters recommended to me on twitter)

interesting - never heard of them, they seem to be about £5 versus £2.50 I usually pay for Britta - but taste is better I guess ?
I probably put at least 1litre of water through the machine a day ~ 4 doubles plus associated cup warming, but have not yet used filtered in the machine
(Britta is just for tea/instant coffee), but I descale machine every couple of months , a litre of volvic seems to run about ~£1 so not so cheap.

with that cost would probably be more economic to get a reverse osmosis solution eg, for both espresso and other uses ?

A couple of other accessories for starting new might be -
a knock box - I improvise with tough polythene drink container with top cut off, lined with plastic bags
a milk frothing jug
... and cups

Dj_Jestar · 7 Mar 2017 at 06:11

BWT are better imo. Jug is better designed too.

Egon · 7 Mar 2017 at 12:16

Grimley said:
Not a good idea to use pre-ground in a classic, If your coffee grind is too coarse the water flows through too quickly, giving a kind of americano coffee that can taste a bit burnt.

Don't use pre-ground? Any reason why not? I know they won't be as fresh but I don't have a grinder at the minute and not likely to for a while to be honest, so I don't have any other option right at this minute. I'm not buying supermarket coffee, but freshly roasted and ground from Rave (or wherever) can't be too bad an option right? Correct me if I'm wrong of course.

So, I'll need to get:

Some espresso ground coffee, if the aeropress grind is going to be too coarse.
A tamper
Milk jug (but could wait)
Bottled water I can get anywhere

Cups I already have, the rest - knock box and cleaning equipment - will have to wait until next month or the missus will string me up!

Dj_Jestar · 7 Mar 2017 at 13:22

Ground goes stale very quickly. Like, within the hour quickly. You'll never get fresh tasting coffee from pre-ground. I'm sure you can get some stuff that passably tastes as coffee but it'll never compare to grinding your own.

Egon · 7 Mar 2017 at 15:02

Righto... so you may have twisted my arm (I didn't need much convincing tbf)

From what I have read a burr grinder is essential and Hario are a good place to be looking. It will have to be a hand grinder for the moment so with that in mind - this looks an absolute steal!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hario-Medium-Coffee-Grinder-Ceramic-x/dp/B001802PIQ

or this mini version

https://goo.gl/h9IQUI

Dj_Jestar · 7 Mar 2017 at 15:58

I have the Hario Skerton (your first link) for when I'm not at home (I work from home but travel to the office once in a while) and it's great, but is a bit bulky. I haven't used the mini, but would expect good quality from it. Another alternative that I have used and think is great (and would totally buy to replace my Skerton if it ever conks out) is the Porlex "Tall" JP-30 grinder: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Coffee-Tea-Espresso/Porlex-Tall-Hand-Coffee-Grinder/B01B77O8LG

Raymond Lin · 7 Mar 2017 at 17:12

I have a Zassenhause, hardly use it because it takes too much effort.

Beautiful piece of equipment though.

nst68 · 7 Mar 2017 at 18:43

Raymond Lin said:
I don't recall the email now.

I'm on my second bag, first bag's coffee is just strange, keep jamming my grinder....taste okay. It is fresh though, plenty of crema.

Was it the Ethiopia Sidamo that was difficult to grind?

I use a Porlex hand grinder it was a nightmare to grind at my normal settings, I'm now using different beans from them and it's back to normal