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I have a hard on for one of these: Quickmill Silvano - http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/home/espresso/silvano Don't currently have an espresso machine. Want straight espresso plus both awesome looking and tasting cappuccinos. What other machines should I look at in the same price range? Thinking 1k is the top end. Crossland Coffee CC1 also comes up, and I like the price, but dislike the aesthetics. Willing to pay a few hundred for the Silvano on that basis alone. Hopefully this is going to be sitting in my kitchen for years.
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May 20, 2012 20:55
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There are certainly quite a few choices around the $1k mark. Too bad you missed the $995 introductory price on this one earlier this year. How much have you budgeted for a grinder? You should be looking at at least a Baratza Vario.
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May 20, 2012 21:37
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Still, at $1.1k, think it might still be worth while over the Silvano? edit; was thinking having a PID would be nice? As for the grinder, I'm planning on getting a Vario. Been happy with my Encore. Will relegate that to pour over duty. dema fucked around with this message at 22:31 on May 20, 2012 |
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May 20, 2012 22:25
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Just ordered some more Verve 1950 Moka Java blend, I really love this stuff as my afternoon cup. Wasn't impressed with the Kenya Rizue...something (forgot the name already) from Temple I bought a few weeks ago. It was really muted.
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May 23, 2012 01:38
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So I'm away from home, been using my travel rig. Minimill slim, melitta cone, and whatever hot water source I can find. I adapted a paper cup with a crease in the rim today for pourover. It was surprisingly accurate. So, for those who don't want to spring for a buono, perhaps consider the lowly paper cup 
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May 23, 2012 01:42
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Verve Ethiopian Worka is still my absolute favorite coffee ever. I keep trying other stuff then coming back to it. In other news, I couldn't get 16oz cups to come out right from my Hario V60. Tried for over a month. Tweaked the grind, amount, technique, pre-infusion, and overall time. Either coming out weak or acidic. Have since gone back to 8oz cups and every single one has been amazing. It's a mystery.
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May 23, 2012 02:46
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GrAviTy84 posted:So I'm away from home, been using my travel rig. Minimill slim, melitta cone, and whatever hot water source I can find. I adapted a paper cup with a crease in the rim today for pourover. It was surprisingly accurate. So, for those who don't want to spring for a buono, perhaps consider the lowly paper cup How do you pour the water into one of those, anyway? Do you just kinda try to cover the grounds evenly, or what?
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May 23, 2012 03:06
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Ordering my espresso machine, grinder and junk on Tuesday. What size steaming pitcher should I get for 8oz double lattes? 12oz? Currently planning on getting one of these: http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/home/steamingpitchersandknockboxes/newsteampitchers
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May 25, 2012 19:51
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dema posted:Ordering my espresso machine, grinder and junk on Tuesday. What size steaming pitcher should I get for 8oz double lattes? 12oz? I'd go with the 20oz. I use a 12oz for cappuccinos, and fill it up to a little below where the spout starts on the inside. Even then, you have to be careful steaming or you're going to end up spilling. There's no way you can make a big latte in it and get good microfoam IMO.
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May 25, 2012 20:27
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Perhaps it's somewhat offtopic, but Starbucks is rolling out a new line of bottled energy drinks containing "green coffee extract" which is supposed to be "a natural source of energy from unroasted coffee, without the coffee taste." The reason I bring this up is that I bet this "green coffee extract" is simply the byproduct of decaffinating coffee beansm, now marketed as a more natural alternative to synthetic caffeine. I think their need to put a token, coffee-related ingredient in a product they can then promote as being "without the coffee taste" is amusingly symbolic of Starbucks as a whole.
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May 25, 2012 20:40
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Cool, thanks Astronaut, I'll go with the 20. Had been thinking the 12 would be better since I'll be going for 6oz of steamed milk.
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May 25, 2012 21:17
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mystes posted:Perhaps it's somewhat offtopic, but Starbucks is rolling out a new line of bottled energy drinks containing "green coffee extract" which is supposed to be "a natural source of energy from unroasted coffee, without the coffee taste." The reason I bring this up is that I bet this "green coffee extract" is simply the byproduct of decaffinating coffee beansm, now marketed as a more natural alternative to synthetic caffeine. I think their need to put a token, coffee-related ingredient in a product they can then promote as being "without the coffee taste" is amusingly symbolic of Starbucks as a whole. There was some article in the LA Times about some study showing green coffee helped with weight loss. Starbucks is just cashing in.
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May 25, 2012 21:47
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dema posted:Cool, thanks Astronaut, I'll go with the 20. Had been thinking the 12 would be better since I'll be going for 6oz of steamed milk. Well, maybe you can get by with the 12. I just measured and I use about 6oz of milk in the pitcher (mine's actually a rattleware, but it looks exactly the same) for a 5oz Cap, since if you have anything less in the pitcher it's impossible to steam properly. I have a couple of oz leftover when I'm done pouring, but if you got a 12oz and filled it up a little more and were careful, you might be able to do it. I just find that with my steaming technique on my Duetto II, if I have more than 6oz in the pitcher when it's vortex time and I have the pitcher tilted, I end up spilling milk on the counter. YMMV.
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May 25, 2012 22:06
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nm posted:There was some article in the LA Times about some study showing green coffee helped with weight loss. Starbucks is just cashing in. Of course it helps with weight loss - it's green for crying out loud!
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May 25, 2012 23:40
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Having a hard time getting excited about the Baratza Vario. Think maybe I'll just scrounge up some extra change get a Super Jolly.
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May 26, 2012 20:42
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Ordered an electric Bonavita kettle finally so I wont be using a measuring cup anymore to do my pourovers. If anyone is looking for a cheaper alternative to the hario gooseneck, then definitely check out the bonavita. I needed electric, and the hario electric one was pretty expensive. Also ordered an Escali Primo scale finally, been stupid for the past few months and have been using scoops. Im excited to finally put away the measuring cup and be able to just pour it directly overtop a scale to measure the water. So much easier.
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May 26, 2012 20:53
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swagger like us posted:Im excited to finally put away the measuring cup and be able to just pour it directly overtop a scale to measure the water. So much easier. People think I am some kind of ultra-sperg for recommending weighing anything related to coffee, but it's so quick to just pop the brewing device on a scale and pour in water. I find it much faster and easier than measuring anything by volume, and you get perfect consistency to boot.
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May 26, 2012 21:12
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Astronaut Jones posted:Well, maybe you can get by with the 12. I just measured and I use about 6oz of milk in the pitcher (mine's actually a rattleware, but it looks exactly the same) for a 5oz Cap, since if you have anything less in the pitcher it's impossible to steam properly. I'd still probably go for the 20oz. I have a 12oz for making lattes and pretty much any time I make one my milk is nearly overflowing during the "whirlpool" part of the frothing process. The extra room would make it a lot less of an issue. Having the 12oz is nice if you don't need that much milk though, like for Chai tea or something where you only want maybe 4oz. nm posted:There was some article in the LA Times about some study showing green coffee helped with weight loss. Starbucks is just cashing in. Coffee in general helps in weight loss, and for an even simpler reasoning, caffeine does. Caffeine helps speed your metabolism, so anything you eat or drink that has it in it could in theory help weight loss. Nearly every weight loss pill has caffeine it, both to help increase metabolism and also caffeine helps speed up how quickly the other things you are taking it with react. Coffee has the most caffeine when it is unroasted so it makes sense that there would be a study indicating that green coffee helps with weight loss. rockcity fucked around with this message at 15:19 on May 27, 2012 |
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May 27, 2012 15:14
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What would green coffee even taste like? Sounds horrible, that's like eating raw cocoa beans.
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May 27, 2012 18:02
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PhazonLink posted:What would green coffee even taste like? Sounds horrible, that's like eating raw cocoa beans. I've never trying brewing/extracting it, but it has a real earthy vegetable taste when you chew the raw beans.
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May 27, 2012 18:06
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mystes posted:Perhaps it's somewhat offtopic, but Starbucks is rolling out a new line of bottled energy drinks containing "green coffee extract" which is supposed to be "a natural source of energy from unroasted coffee, without the coffee taste." The reason I bring this up is that I bet this "green coffee extract" is simply the byproduct of decaffinating coffee beansm, now marketed as a more natural alternative to synthetic caffeine. I think their need to put a token, coffee-related ingredient in a product they can then promote as being "without the coffee taste" is amusingly symbolic of Starbucks as a whole. What? No one uses synthetic caffeine. I mean, yeah, they know how to make it, but decaffeinating coffee produces enough to supply the entire industry, and basically as a free side-effect of what they were doing anyway. Five-Hour Energy drinks contain "natural" caffeine! PhazonLink posted:What would green coffee even taste like? Sounds horrible, that's like eating raw cocoa beans. Thomas Hammer, a Spokane roaster, has a "white coffee" roast they use in espressos. It's very, very lightly roasted, and produces a green drink with a strong vegetable-y flavor, kind of like asparagus or artichoke. They boast that it has about 2.5x the caffeine of a city roast, and zero acidity. They make their "white zombie" latte with it and white chocolate syrup, which is actually pretty good. (If you're in the mood for a coffee milkshake.  )
Gravity Pike fucked around with this message at 01:13 on May 28, 2012 |
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May 27, 2012 21:28
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dema posted:Still, at $1.1k, think it might still be worth while over the Silvano? edit; was thinking having a PID would be nice? Good choice on the grinder. It is tough for me to choose between a hybrid PID machine like the Silvano and a classic E61 HX. Temperature control with an HX machine is not all that difficult. The length of the flush determines the shot temperature, and there are thermometer accessories you can add to the E61 group to help you calibrate your preference. I am not sure how those two particular machines compare in terms of steaming performance. You could always look at a used machine. This commercial Conti unit seems pretty sweet, but it is probably impractical for home use. CG's BST forum is pretty active in general. Also check local Craigslist and such.
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May 27, 2012 21:31
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Yeah, I've been reading about HX units for the last few day. Also watched a few videos. Having to flush them scared me at first, but I've gotten over that. Think I'm going to call Chris Coffee on Tuesday and chat with a sales person. See if we can't figure out something that makes sense. edit; also sounds like the HX machines are the way to go if you use a power timer? dema fucked around with this message at 01:49 on May 28, 2012 |
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May 28, 2012 00:33
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How can I make my coffee taste better. By better I mean taste like Duncan Donuts coffee. I have a Hamilton Beach Drip which my parents got me for xmas, I like it because it has a timer. Also it brews 12 cups, because I drink that whole thing in one day. The temperature is fine as far as drinking it, but I usually have to wait at least 10 minutes after pouring some cold creamer (whole milk) in it. And we buy Folger's Classic Roast because we got kids and it's cheap. So... I'm assuming I should start by not buying crap beans.
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May 29, 2012 02:02
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nevermind
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May 29, 2012 02:50
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Interesting episode of Invention Hunters today... a guy had a handheld manual espresso machine. Nothing new about that although they made it sound like it was never done before. What was interesting however, was that it claims to use variable pressure and that it reduced acidity drastically. They took it to coffee shops and customers said it was very good, shots looked like they had crema. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrn0tXHEpcA Any thoughts? Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 04:29 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 29, 2012 04:21
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:How can I make my coffee taste better. Yeah the very first thing you can do is buy a grinder, and start buying whole beans that are roasted within the last few weeks. That alone will improve your coffee an enormous lot. From there you can go further but honestly, the first thing you should do is don't buy preground coffee
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May 29, 2012 04:23
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swagger like us posted:Yeah the very first thing you can do is buy a grinder, and start buying whole beans that are roasted within the last few weeks. That alone will improve your coffee an enormous lot. From there you can go further but honestly, the first thing you should do is don't buy preground coffee I hate starbucks and honestly, going from folger's to starbucks whole bean and grinding yourself will be night and day. Folger's always tastes, sour and popcorn-cardboardy to me. I've had to drink it for a week now here on data shift at BNL because I don't have time to make my own with my travel rig (except my first cup), and every sip is soul killingly awful.
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May 29, 2012 04:37
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GrAviTy84 posted:I hate starbucks and honestly, going from folger's to starbucks whole bean and grinding yourself will be night and day. You work at BNL?  No but seriously I know I need to do what you said.
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May 29, 2012 04:46
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dema posted:edit; also sounds like the HX machines are the way to go if you use a power timer? The main thing a machine needs to run properly on an appliance timer is a vacuum breaker to prevent false pressure. That is in addition to the usual overheat/low water protection and boiler auto-fill circuit, etc. I am pretty sure any machine you are interested in buying will have all this stuff, though there are considerations like the La Spaziale Vivaldi machines requiring a really expensive specialized timer because of the electronics. The Breville machine has a timer built in. Steve Yun posted:Interesting episode of Invention Hunters today... a guy had a handheld manual espresso machine. Nothing new about that although they made it sound like it was never done before. What was interesting however, was that it claims to use variable pressure and that it reduced acidity drastically. They took it to coffee shops and customers said it was very good, shots looked like they had crema. That is a gadget designed by someone who does not know much about coffee, and the shot he pulled looks terrible. The Mypressi Twist is the only device of this type that I would actually recommend buying. It would be neat if they could integrate a small heating element (maybe just some tiny cartridge heaters), but I don't really see that happening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNxnUTIPQaE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKMjyu75Y1s
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May 29, 2012 07:36
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Ok, just figured I'd ask the experts
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May 29, 2012 08:29
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dema posted:Think I'm going to call Chris Coffee on Tuesday and chat with a sales person. See if we can't figure out something that makes sense. Talked to George @ Chris Coffee this morning, we figured out something that made sense. I may have gone a little overboard. Beyond excited.
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May 30, 2012 15:56
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dema posted:Talked to George @ Chris Coffee this morning, we figured out something that made sense. I may have gone a little overboard. Beyond excited. Are you going to make us ask?
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May 30, 2012 16:22
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I was just going to take photos when I got here, but that's too far away. + E61 thermometer.  Mini E now has a digital display for setting the dose time, rather then having to use a screwdriver. Bit over priced but I couldn't get excited about anything else sub 1k. Also got a bottomless portafilter and all that other cool junk.
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May 30, 2012 17:29
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Bob_McBob posted:People think I am some kind of ultra-sperg for recommending weighing anything related to coffee, but it's so quick to just pop the brewing device on a scale and pour in water. I find it much faster and easier than measuring anything by volume, and you get perfect consistency to boot. So what is the weight of coffee beans to weight of hot water I want? I'm going to take my first step into weighted brewing for our afternoon coffees.
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Jun 1, 2012 16:06
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Arnold of Soissons posted:So what is the weight of coffee beans to weight of hot water I want? I'm going to take my first step into weighted brewing for our afternoon coffees. 
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Jun 1, 2012 19:17
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ephori posted:If you've got an iPhone or iPad, I like Brew Control for reference. I tried just weighing out the amount of coffee I would have used anyway and plugging that into the app, but then I wound up 10g over on water using the default ratio. When you think of "one scoop," what weight is that, roughly?
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Jun 1, 2012 19:43
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Arnold of Soissons posted:I tried just weighing out the amount of coffee I would have used anyway and plugging that into the app, but then I wound up 10g over on water using the default ratio. That's a pretty ambiguous question.
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Jun 1, 2012 20:50
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Arnold of Soissons posted:When you think of "one scoop," what weight is that, roughly? Well it depends on a lot of things like humidity, bean type, roast level, ground or whole, how big of a scoop you're using. Also, grams are mass, not weight. The avg scoop (like the ones that come with bodum gear) are about 7g as whole beans, but that is still incredibly inaccurate.
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Jun 1, 2012 21:24
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I just got one of these and it's fantastic. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001RF3XJ2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i02 Very consistent results. Percision is 0.1 gram up to 2,000g.
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Jun 1, 2012 21:27
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