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Flash Gordon Ramsay
Sep 28, 2004

Grimey Drawer
That can't be good coffee. Not enough Italian words.

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dik-dik
Feb 21, 2009

Mu Zeta posted:

I like this coffee menu. Takes away the mystery since there seems to be a dozen different ways to make cappuccinos and lattes.



Nice! It's also appropriately short. My favorite cafe in my town has a menu about that long and they serve nothing but coffee (and tea, unfortunately).

Pigsfeet on Rye
Oct 22, 2008

I'm meat on the hoof
I finally saw this thread, though I haven't read through it all. Some months ago I found a small roastery that I pass regularly on my way through Delaware, and I stopped to sample his coffee. It seems really good, utterly different from the grocery-store and Starbucks coffee that I'm used to. I used to use a blade grinder years ago to grind beans, but got sick of the noise and gave up grinding and just went with standard bagged coffee. Having tried a much better quality of coffee now, I recently got a ROK grinder so that I can grind beans on my own. Now coffee tastes great and making it pleases me a lot! I need to get a decent coffee maker next. I looked around, and my thoughts are leading toward a Kitchen-Aid siphon coffee maker, does anyone have any thoughts on or experience with it? Sorry if it has been discussed earlier.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

I don't do drip at all, though there's a list of recommended ones on the first page of the thread, who knows how out of date that is though.

That ROK grinder is crazy though eh? Unlike the Hario, Rhinowares, etc. it's not made to be portable or stylish or anything like that so it's just a big ugly hunk of metal that's good at its job.

Dennis McClaren
Mar 28, 2007

"Hey, don't put capture a guy!"
...Well I've got to put something!
I have some questions about the french press tool I've been using.

I put in 4 tablespoons of folgers. I boil my water, and pour it on top of the grounds. I let the full french press cylinder "steep" for about 1 min. before I put the top on and push the plunger down to the bottom. After that I pour my coffee. The whole process after I pour the boiling water into the cylinder lasts about 2 min.

Is that long enough for the french press to do its job and properly brew the coffee?

I maybe getting a tolerance, or I maybe just doing this wrong. But it feels like the coffee isn't really doing its job, like it might not have had long enough to brew before I drink it to activate?

Do I need to let the water/grounds steep longer before I plunge? Do I need to let the coffee brew longer post-plunging? Thank you for any help in making my morning perkier!

Flash Gordon Ramsay
Sep 28, 2004

Grimey Drawer
You need to let it steep for 4 to 5 minutes before you plunge. It doesn't really steep after you plunge. And buy better coffee.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

Related to nothing, the owner here just came back from a business trip to Bouqet, Panama with a bunch of Panama Geisha, the so called "$100/lb" coffee normally available by auction and special lot sale. It's probably the most expensive I'll drink when we get around to selling it, since I'm not going to drink coffee that was excreted from a weasel's rear end. The greens are very strange, I've never seen raw beans so uniformly sized, which is apparently an artefact of how they grow (larger plant, fruit is spread across it more evenly). I can imagine it affects the grind after roast as well. Now I just have to figure how to sell it.

Crystal Lake Witch
Apr 25, 2010


Scaramouche posted:

Related to nothing, the owner here just came back from a business trip to Bouqet, Panama with a bunch of Panama Geisha, the so called "$100/lb" coffee normally available by auction and special lot sale. It's probably the most expensive I'll drink when we get around to selling it, since I'm not going to drink coffee that was excreted from a weasel's rear end. The greens are very strange, I've never seen raw beans so uniformly sized, which is apparently an artefact of how they grow (larger plant, fruit is spread across it more evenly). I can imagine it affects the grind after roast as well. Now I just have to figure how to sell it.

I was down at our roasters a little while ago, and got to cup some of this coffee, from a sample they got a few months ago. It's seriously incredible coffee.

Klades
Sep 8, 2011

Is anyone familiar with the Caribou Coffee chain?

I ran out of coffee at home (time to bump up the mistobux sub I guess) so I decided, what the hell, let's try one of those fancy-pants drinks and see how it compares to the pour over I make for myself.
So I went to a Caribou because there's one on campus and ordered a cappuccino. And it tasted like hot garbage, unless I ate some cookies first, which made it taste "okay".
Is this more likely to be because of Caribou's cappuccino quality or because of my taste buds? What would be a better idea for dipping my toe into the world of espresso?

Crystal Lake Witch
Apr 25, 2010


Klades posted:

Is anyone familiar with the Caribou Coffee chain?

I ran out of coffee at home (time to bump up the mistobux sub I guess) so I decided, what the hell, let's try one of those fancy-pants drinks and see how it compares to the pour over I make for myself.
So I went to a Caribou because there's one on campus and ordered a cappuccino. And it tasted like hot garbage, unless I ate some cookies first, which made it taste "okay".
Is this more likely to be because of Caribou's cappuccino quality or because of my taste buds? What would be a better idea for dipping my toe into the world of espresso?

I think it's more likely that they serve really poorly prepared, bitter rear end cappuccinos, then you just having a weird taste bud problem that makes you not enjoy the drink. Chain coffee companies like that tend to be pretty lousy.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Was the top of the cappuccino full of thick foam? If so, it's poo poo.

Archenteron
Nov 3, 2006

:marc:

Subways Jared posted:

I have some questions about the french press tool I've been using.

I put in 4 tablespoons of folgers. I boil my water, and pour it on top of the grounds. I let the full french press cylinder "steep" for about 1 min. before I put the top on and push the plunger down to the bottom. After that I pour my coffee. The whole process after I pour the boiling water into the cylinder lasts about 2 min.

Is that long enough for the french press to do its job and properly brew the coffee?

I maybe getting a tolerance, or I maybe just doing this wrong. But it feels like the coffee isn't really doing its job, like it might not have had long enough to brew before I drink it to activate?

Do I need to let the water/grounds steep longer before I plunge? Do I need to let the coffee brew longer post-plunging? Thank you for any help in making my morning perkier!

Normal French Press coffee steeps for around five minutes, but is also a coarser grind than usual. Assuming your Folgers is normal drip coffee grind, try 4 minutes but be prepared to adjust by 30 seconds either way to taste. Once you press it, you're done and free to pour it all. Also, how big is your coffee mug? Four tablespoons is a LOT of coffee. Usually people suggest 1-1.5 tbsp per 8oz cup

kim jong-illin
May 2, 2011

Scaramouche posted:

Related to nothing, the owner here just came back from a business trip to Bouqet, Panama with a bunch of Panama Geisha, the so called "$100/lb" coffee normally available by auction and special lot sale. It's probably the most expensive I'll drink when we get around to selling it, since I'm not going to drink coffee that was excreted from a weasel's rear end. The greens are very strange, I've never seen raw beans so uniformly sized, which is apparently an artefact of how they grow (larger plant, fruit is spread across it more evenly). I can imagine it affects the grind after roast as well. Now I just have to figure how to sell it.

As an aside Kopi Luwak coffee is very unethical because they've turned to battery farming civets rather than foraging for wild civet droppings, it's not a great choice of coffee compared to typical speciality coffee.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

ChiaPetOutletStore posted:

I was down at our roasters a little while ago, and got to cup some of this coffee, from a sample they got a few months ago. It's seriously incredible coffee.

Yeah he's not letting us drink any of it either. Bags of it just sitting there... taunting me... it's all sealed greens or else I'd sneak some.

Also Kopi Lopak isn't just unethical, it's just bad crazy stupid and I'm amazed it ever caught on.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

It's like foie gras if foie gras tasted like butt

Jan
Feb 27, 2008

The disruptive powers of excessive national fecundity may have played a greater part in bursting the bonds of convention than either the power of ideas or the errors of autocracy.
I visited Blue Bottle's café in Palo Alto while I was there and got some Hayes Valley espresso. They advise a 1:1 (20g grounds for 20g espresso) extraction in ~30s, but I'm having a bit of trouble dialling that in. 2-3 notches away from the lowest setting on my grinder, I can get it to extract in around 30 seconds, but it seems to pump it out in spurts rather than a constant stream.

I'm actually surprised that fine of a grind doesn't choke the portafilter outright. But as long as the pump isn't completely blocked, it should be fine if it struggles a little, right?

e: For reference, I'm still using this cheapo Breville.

Jan fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Sep 9, 2016

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

Doin my part for the environment: Convinced the owner to completely remove the K Cup/flavia/capsule stuff from our Office Coffee Service. After doing some research it was kind of horrifying, I knew it was bad, but not how bad. Not accepting new customers, and phasing out old customers onto things like ESE pods instead.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Jan posted:

I visited Blue Bottle's café in Palo Alto while I was there and got some Hayes Valley espresso. They advise a 1:1 (20g grounds for 20g espresso) extraction in ~30s, but I'm having a bit of trouble dialling that in. 2-3 notches away from the lowest setting on my grinder, I can get it to extract in around 30 seconds, but it seems to pump it out in spurts rather than a constant stream.

I'm actually surprised that fine of a grind doesn't choke the portafilter outright. But as long as the pump isn't completely blocked, it should be fine if it struggles a little, right?

e: For reference, I'm still using this cheapo Breville.

How does it taste? You might actually like the taste better if it's just a normal volume double shot instead of being to restricted. Clearly between your grinder and the breville something is struggling a lot. Personally I find Blue Bottles recommendations are on the extreme side. For example for their normal drip coffee they use 30g coffee beans for 300g water. That's an insane 10:1 ratio compared to the industry standard 17:1.

Corla Plankun
May 8, 2007

improve the lives of everyone

Scaramouche posted:

Doin my part for the environment: Convinced the owner to completely remove the K Cup/flavia/capsule stuff from our Office Coffee Service. After doing some research it was kind of horrifying, I knew it was bad, but not how bad. Not accepting new customers, and phasing out old customers onto things like ESE pods instead.

I honestly think we could afford a couple baristas with the amount my job spends on keurigs. We probably go through 1,000 pods a day.

Jan
Feb 27, 2008

The disruptive powers of excessive national fecundity may have played a greater part in bursting the bonds of convention than either the power of ideas or the errors of autocracy.

Mu Zeta posted:

How does it taste? You might actually like the taste better if it's just a normal volume double shot instead of being to restricted. Clearly between your grinder and the breville something is struggling a lot. Personally I find Blue Bottles recommendations are on the extreme side. For example for their normal drip coffee they use 30g coffee beans for 300g water. That's an insane 10:1 ratio compared to the industry standard 17:1.

It tastes delightfully non-acidic, it's actually one of the rare times I've pulled straight espressos using my equipment that I didn't ultimately want to mix with milk foam. I'll try a 2:1 extraction just to compare (for :science:) -- it might just match or surpass Barn as my favourite so far. But it's probably even harder to find in my area.

Scaramouche posted:

Doin my part for the environment: Convinced the owner to completely remove the K Cup/flavia/capsule stuff from our Office Coffee Service. After doing some research it was kind of horrifying, I knew it was bad, but not how bad. Not accepting new customers, and phasing out old customers onto things like ESE pods instead.

I try to be mindful about waste, packaging and that sort of thing in general. The fact that K-cups became so intensely popular just reminds me and saddens me that we basically have no chance as a species to not destroy our planet out of sheer laziness/selfishness. Using cups in a shared/office environment especially makes me cringe.

But then, I can't convince my office mates to use a plate to get their food from the bistro inside our own building instead of spending a styrofoam tray every time. :smith:

dik-dik
Feb 21, 2009

Anyone here use roastmasters.com? Looks like they're the cheapest source for a Behmor 1600+ (due to free shipping + free 8 lb of beans).

hosebeast
Feb 21, 2004

SHASHASHASHASHASHA

dik-dik posted:

Anyone here use roastmasters.com? Looks like they're the cheapest source for a Behmor 1600+ (due to free shipping + free 8 lb of beans).

https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/behmor-1600-plus

Support Sweet Maria's! They offer 8lbs free with it and green coffee is consistently high quality

porktree
Mar 23, 2002

You just fucked with the wrong Mexican.

hosebeast posted:

https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/behmor-1600-plus

Support Sweet Maria's! They offer 8lbs free with it and green coffee is consistently high quality

Ya, and Thom's a great guy. But I also trade with Burman, and Garry is also a great guy. I've never heard of Roastmasters.

https://www.burmancoffee.com/equipment/behmor1600plus.html

dik-dik
Feb 21, 2009

hosebeast posted:

https://www.sweetmarias.com/product/behmor-1600-plus

Support Sweet Maria's! They offer 8lbs free with it and green coffee is consistently high quality

Oh yeah, I've bought from SM quite a few times and have always loved the coffee I bought from them. Idk why I forgot they sell the Behmor too.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

We just got a shipment of the new Quick Mills (some aren't in North America at all except for us). Some neat stuff there I might talk about in future, but the one I'll mention now is the crazy huge manual level model. It is freakin nuts; weighs 85 pounds, just under 3 feet tall including the lever, just under 2 feet wide. Like, I can't even envision the use case for it. Everything about the size and weight screams cafe/commercial, but it's a manual lever, so it has a built in limit on how fast you can serve. That said though, it is so freakin huge I can't imagine anyone ever having it in their house. Also the throw on the lever is brutal, it's probably the hardest lever pull I've seen on a manual, and that's with the leverage of a foot long lever. Way worse than comparable sized Elektra for example.

Quidthulhu
Dec 17, 2003

Stand down, men! It's only smooching!

Trying to clean my chemex ripoff for basically the first time cause I'm making coffee at home for the first time in a looong while and holy poo poo this thing is hard to clean. Time to get a Hario I guess.

Big Bad Beetleborg
Apr 8, 2007

Things may come to those who wait...but only the things left by those who hustle.

Quidnose posted:

Trying to clean my chemex ripoff for basically the first time cause I'm making coffee at home for the first time in a looong while and holy poo poo this thing is hard to clean. Time to get a Hario I guess.

Get some CLR and let it soak?

dik-dik
Feb 21, 2009

The Behmor arrived yesterday. This thing rocks!

rockcity
Jan 16, 2004

Quidnose posted:

Trying to clean my chemex ripoff for basically the first time cause I'm making coffee at home for the first time in a looong while and holy poo poo this thing is hard to clean. Time to get a Hario I guess.

How is it that dirty? I literally don't even use soap on mine, I just rinse it well immediately after use and it is sparkling clean.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

I said I'd post a bit more about the new machines we got in, and this one stands out as interesting enough I thought I'd tell you guys.

It's the Quick Mill Evolution 70 Model 3245, and the first thing I thought when reading the spec sheet on it is "oh my goodness, it's the breville oracle killer". I put up a picture with lines on it:

So it's got an adjustable grinder built into it, with portafilter rest beneath (expertly circled in red). The grinder is nice, basically the same as their countertop model. Loses points for not having a digital granularity adjustment though, but gain points for allowing to grind as long as you like instead of being limited to 1 or 2 settings like others. The way the portafilter sits in the holder and the way the grounds come out is just perfect, almost no spillage. Then you've got the built-in tamp block (expertly circled in green) that lets you get that tamp in almost immediately after grinding.

The weakest part is the steam wand, which is just your traditional pannarello, but it is a double thermo machine, so you have steam and espresso water heated separately. You can also set your water temperature right then and there using the +/- things, and then dial in your shot, or again, manually take as long a shot as you want. The "buttons" aren't a true touch screen or anything, they're just printed onto thick as gently caress glass with capacitive sections underneath, and the LED looks a bit primitive but it gets the job done. You can program stuff like your brew temp, various extract times, and it even has an alarm clock style on/off setting so you can have it turn on half an hour before you get up.

At first I was like "why bother making a semi-automatic more like an automatic by including the grinder", but then I got the Breville comparison and went "oh, duh". It's actually a surprisingly fluid workflow.

So the oracle obviously has the nicer interface, and the automated steam wand (which some people see as a downside), but the quickmill has some pretty good advantages too: solid stainless steel top to bottom (oracle is plasticky), made in italy (oracle is in China I think), and one of the cooler things is, it's easy to fix. We took the top off and there's tons of room in there, tubes all going sensical places, the only tetchy part was the group head/steam wand being beneath the boiler but you're going to encounter that just about anywhere. I was actually really impressed by the overall utility of the machine, since when they announced it to us it sounded like a bit of a gimmick (I was calling it "the failed Silvia w/PID killer" before it arrived). The espresso itself is quite good too, though it'd be hard not to be with those parts.

Anyway, that's my take on a new (to me, and at this point probably most of north america) machine that had a bit of a novel approach. Let me know if you guys want to see similar write ups in future.

EDIT-sorry have to attach image since imgur doesn't support bbcode links without attribution anymore?

Only registered members can see post attachments!

dik-dik
Feb 21, 2009

Looks like a cool machine! After some googling, I ran across the model 3145, which looks like basically the same thing but with a slightly less toy-like interface? Is that the only difference?

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

Pretty close; it lacks the programmable stuff and "brains", so that means no shot timer, no clock, and the volumetric dose stuff probably isn't going to be as exact/programmable. Guts, including the double boiler, is the same.

Quick Mill is apparently a Big Deal in europe but they haven't bothered bringing over 110/120v machines until relatively recently so it'll be exciting to see if they catch on. They've already taken some advice we gave them (add possible plumbed in, design suggestion on the steam wand) and said they're working on them, which is a nice advantage to have when each unit is hand-assembled in italy.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

Thought you guys might get a kick out of this. Someone drove by the chat to register their opinion on the Rancilio Rocky SD (price removed to protect the innocent, it wasn't in USD anyway):

Some Guy Who Was Super Angry About Grinders posted:

Wtf xxx for a coffee grinder ? Lol
Are you thief ?
Wtf is this joke ?
Its bad stainless with bad and pooe quality plastic
Productiom cost: nearby maybe a 100$
Lol dickheads
Give me a second to go bad rate you in the journal !
Ih and
I was just passing bye !

I knew the Rancilio had it's detractors but wow...

Jhet
Jun 3, 2013

Scaramouche posted:

Thought you guys might get a kick out of this. Someone drove by the chat to register their opinion on the Rancilio Rocky SD (price removed to protect the innocent, it wasn't in USD anyway):


I knew the Rancilio had it's detractors but wow...

I was thinking of buying that one. Is it really that bad or are they going full sperglord about it? I was going to order a Rancilio Silvia and the grinder because they seem to get pretty decent reviews and I don't have thousands of dollars to throw at it.

Scaramouche
Mar 26, 2001

SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

I got more of an "old man yelling at clouds" vibe off that guy rather than sperglord. As far as I know the Rocky is a pretty good grinder. I wrote this about it back in May:

me back in may posted:

Can't comment on Silvia versus Gaggia, but I was helping unbox some Rancilios we got recently and those things are nutsy. It's laying there in the box lookin like a Braun grinder or something, but I can barely lift it out with one hand the thing is so dense*. After reading up on its capabilities I'm amazed they got that much grinder in that size. Not a lot of walk-ins buy them in my experience, but it's one of the grinders the owner recommends unreservedly, keeping in mind we also stock Mazzer/Macap/Baratza.

*this is where you mock me for not being strong

Then bizwank chimed in:

bizwank back in may posted:

The Rocky is a huge friggin motor with a few extra parts strapped to it, weighs in around 20lb if I remember correctly. That thing is a beast for sure.

Since May we've sold far more Baratza than the Rancilio, but I'm guessing that's a price point thing. It also depends on what you want to do with it. It's overkill for drip/french/etc in my opinion.

bizwank
Oct 4, 2002

The only plastic on the rocky is the hopper, spout and switch. Like the Silvia it's all commercial inside, and might outlive you if you take care of it.

Jhet
Jun 3, 2013

bizwank posted:

The only plastic on the rocky is the hopper, spout and switch. Like the Silvia it's all commercial inside, and might outlive you if you take care of it.

Thats great to hear. I need something that's going to keep me properly caffeinated. There's a single decent coffee shop within a mile of my new place and it's not going to fill the needs of my household. I was hoping the Silvia would fill that need, and I'm pretty sure that it most certainly will.

Foxfire_
Nov 8, 2010

My small (~15) person office is moving and the new place has less nearby coffee.

Is there a level of espresso machine that is idiot-proof and easy to clean that can still make mediocre-to-good lattes and cappuccinos or is it a fool's errand?

The alternative is basically 'gently caress it, I'll just get starbucks on the way in to work', so it's not much of a bar to clear on the taste side.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Nespresso maybe. Though I hate pods and it's firmly in the mediocre category.

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ChickenArise
May 12, 2010

POWER
= MEAT +
OPPORTUNITY
= BATTLEWORMS

Mu Zeta posted:

Nespresso maybe. Though I hate pods and it's firmly in the mediocre category.

At least they have a recycling program for the pods. Also - the OriginalLine has more coffee options, and the Virtua or whatever's "coffee" comes out as half froth.

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