Nice Things

[smoothsailor]

6 hours ago, Maynard Friedman said:

What have we become?

Mid lifers 

[Thanks_M8]

some "wall-art" I would say.

my wife got the frame for me and we finally got around to this over the Weekend.

first pressing of the album, officially a bootleg, made by Bangkok records, which seems to be defunct or even just started for this project and closed down afterwards.

vinyls are stored separately so they stay playable.

[mpukas]

On 2/16/2022 at 8:09 AM, MJF9 said:

@mpukas On the filter coffee making side, imo it's definitely worth investing in a top notch burr grinder (the Commandante above is great, I grind max 42g coffee in one go, not cheap but robust, quality kit), quality beans to your taste and filtered water.  My preference for filter is a Chemex as it gives a clean cup by virtue of the bespoke filters, but I also use V60 on travels or Khalita Wave though more impressed with its looks than its performance.

I can't comment on the espresso machine side from a cost v quality perspective. My presumption has been that getting the beans, grind, water and extraction time is critical.  Get them wrong and no machine will deliver you a perfect brew.  If you want to go nuclear, I bet those home La Marzocco linea mini machines are top notch!

@MJF9 Thx for the reco on the Comandante. Finally getting a chance to look into it. I love things like this that are well designed and precise. The question is, does it grind "better" than an electric flat burr grinder? 

[mpukas]

On 2/16/2022 at 8:16 AM, Thanks_M8 said:

re Home Espresso Machines: an old Buddy of mine got one made by ECM years ago for about 2k, made great coffee with it but spent half his afternoons cleaning that thing and playing around on it to dial it in. 

This is exactly the reason I'm hesitant to get into a prosumer level machine. I can see myself spending way too much time with it. I'd be frustrated learning to use it, but I know that once I get it dialed in I'd love it. 

[Thanks_M8]

^This! 
Imo it takes up room I would rather have as working space in the kitchen. And for 2€ for a good espresso it's hard to justify one of these beasts, for me atleast...

[MJF9]

@mpukas no worries... I've never tested that out nor compared it personally.  I went off a recommendation from a barista (who made great coffee) who said it was as good as the electric machine he had in his coffee shop (and he had a Comandante for his home use).  We'd been discussing (similar to the above) how to create a good espresso at home and was an expensive machine worth it, which veered into the other parameters to get right for great coffee.  So I went for the Comandante on trust.  Quite aside from the quality question, I gotta say I actually enjoy the ritual of grinding by hand before I brew a cup.  It's no hassle to me, a few minutes out of the day well spent.       

[Foxy2]

The only downside with hand grinders and manual lever machines is that they can make good shots - one at a time.

It works fine for me throughout the day and even when making another one for the wife every now and then, but entertaining visitors or guests with four or five shots at a time is too messy for me…

[Thanks_M8]

^this aswell. 

[smoothsailor]

Visited a friend his shop one time, I was with two other guys.

we got Senseo coffee and for him self he made some thing nice.

I found that out when I went to the bathroom and saw his kitchen.

the friendship didn’t last

[bartlebyyphonics]

^

??!

must have been one hell of a kitchen?

[just spent the morning wrestling a new fridge freezer into the house; 6am delivery; not nice experience... not necessarily a nice thing either; but more freezer space = possibility to make more nice things to keep for longer...]

[indigoeagle]

I've got a La Pavoni Europrofessional and can recommend it.
It does have a boiler/kettle but no pump. To create the pressure to extract the crema from the coffee it also has a lever.
So there is a bit of an artful handling involved and learning it.

Previously I used the Commandante with the 9barrista and that also produced a pretty good espresso.
Then I got the La Pavoni and enjoy making micro foam steamed milk with it for my cappuccino.
And recently I got the Niche grinder, which I can also highly recommend.
The La Pavoni might not be ideal, if you need a machine for the office with lots of espressos you want to make.
I'm making between 1 and 6 and for that it's great.

The price with around EUR 800 is also worth it.
Apparently they recently increased prices, so you might still find a dealer with the previous price.
 

[mpukas]

Manual expresso machines are way cool.  I could probably get into one of those, at some point. For now, I've ordered a cheap-ish Timemore hand grinder f/ Amazon, a cheap high accuracy scale, and a vac seal canister as well. I've got my eye Kinu M47 hand grinder - looks rather amazing. I'm leaning towards a Gaggia Classic Pro and will do a couple of upgrades. This setup will get me started making good quality espresso at home at about the lowest cost. I can upgrade in the future. I'm solo, so doing 2-4 shots per day is doable without too much time. 

There's a very good local coffee roaster a few minutes from my home, and I've never bought any of their coffee for home use. Usually I buy bulk from every one's favorite member-only warehouse. A new grinder, scale, storage + quality beans should up my moka pot brew a bit, until I get an espresso machine. 

[Double 0 Soul]

^^That's a handsome looking machine

[MJF9]

@indigoeagle agree, that La Pavoni is a fine-looking machine... good to hear performance matches the looks too

@mpukas sounds some good changes are on the way there... I like moka pots, though I found hitting the sweet spot to avoid over-extraction can be tricky... it's been a while but I recall extracting with the lid up and then immediately submerging the base in cold water to stop the steam dead before pouring helped

[Maynard Friedman]

Don’t overthink it, just make it and drink it.

[MJF9]

But the fun's in the thinking which makes for better drinking!

[Double 0 Soul]

I think Tesco Gold tastes better than Alcafe, it's def worth the extra £1

[Maynard Friedman]

Instant Coffee World Cup (UK edition), semi-finals:

• Nescafé v Mellow Birds
• Maxwell House v Douwe Egberts

[Dr_Heech]

7 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

I think Tesco Gold tastes better than Alcafe, it's def worth the extra £1

6 years ago l ditched caffeine. So went from Tesco gold to Tesco gold decaf. 

Well, you gotta treat yourself sometimes eh.

[Double 0 Soul]

1 minute ago, Maynard Friedman said:

Instant Coffee World Cup (UK edition), semi-finals:

• Nescafé v Mellow Birds
• Maxwell House v Douwe Egberts

Chesus! we're not made of money!

[Double 0 Soul]

3 minutes ago, Dr_Heech said:

6 years ago l ditched caffeine. So went from Tesco gold to Tesco gold decaf. 

Well, you gotta treat yourself sometimes eh.

Does it cost more money? it's often the case with these hipster products, they take ingredients away and charge you more bloody money!!

"Insert caffine induced high blood pressure shakey fist emoji"

[Dr_Heech]

10 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Does it cost more money? it's often the case with these hipster products, they take ingredients away and charge you more bloody money!!

"Insert caffine induced high blood pressure shakey fist emoji"

No. But since last year l've gone from Tesco gold decaf to Nescaf decaf. It's an extra 60p atm but if it increases much more I'll have to go back to the 'el cheapo' 

 

[Double 0 Soul]

How the other half live eh?

I'd like to see Tesco introduce something akin to Barr's 10p bottle deposit but on coffee jars so you could take your jar back, they refill it and give you a discount.

@MJF9 could take his bottles back and they could fill them with placebo water from the tap

[Maynard Friedman]

That would throw his complex logarithms out! 

[MJF9]

38 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

I'd like to see Tesco introduce something akin to Barr's 10p bottle deposit but on coffee jars so you could take your jar back, they refill it and give you a discount.

Hahaha... good idea that bottle return OO... imagine how many of them thick plastic coffee jar lids this would save the planet from.  Apparently in Britain 24 million peeps use that stuff, most having 2 to 3 cups a day, and a few of them are rumoured to have them massive 750ml cups 

[Maynard Friedman]

[MJF9]

Hahah... aww Maynard, your very first WAYWT and you forgot to say who made your shirt 

[Maynard Friedman]

Cheers, it’s from Warehouse (by Jeff Banks).

[MJF9]

It’s getting there… look what the ROK got cookin’

[Duke Mantee]

How’s the flavour?

Edited March 5, 2022 by Duke Mantee