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I’d say every third person I make coffee for spends the entire interaction complaining about lockdown, and how boring it is to work from home, and restrictive and lovely it is to wear a mask. I also have a few customers that mostly come in to vent about work and poo poo, and I really think they’re just our shop as a replacement for hanging out with friends.
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Jan 29, 2021 17:40
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TheDarkFlame posted:And the third half is that people decide daily trips to their local coffee chain are essential travel because they need to get out the house during lockdown. And if they just so happen to bump into all their friends while they're waiting to be served, well that's just a coincidence and not at all a breach of lockdown measures. There's nothing wrong with picking up a to-go cup of coffee in a mask, paying with your contactless card and leaving. I'll go to the local shop near me once or twice a week and it's nice to interact with a human being, even if they're behind a plexiglass wall like we're at the bank. Places around me actually take it seriously though and everyone wears a mask and I stay the hell away from people milling around.
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Jan 29, 2021 18:20
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Anjow posted:That's the problem, though - the argument about saving money only works once, when you first stop buying your pre-made drinks. I already used it up - now I'm comparing it to making them myself with the Sage Bambino Plus so there's no saving, just an improvement in quality. no no no, once you've saved enough to pay off the first round of equipment you're making pure profit that you can invest into even more expensive equipment  also it's been a year since i've stepped into a coffee shop or had someone else make me coffee, oof
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Jan 29, 2021 19:13
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I had coffee at two separate coffee shops here in Austin in the past year and socialized at both with people. One was socializing outdoors with a buddy while we both wore masks in between sips and eats, the other place had very sparse tables, plexi barriers, and required masks when not at your seat. Generally that seems to be working out for people and there were college students that were doing study groups and people by themselves plinking away at a laptop or what not, so it felt like a cafe, just..."Less people". I tried the decaf beans last night and it looks like the flavor is fine (though I wanted a bit of sugar for a bit of oomph) but the acidity of the brew was still kinda blah for the later evening That's probably my guts still rebuilding themselves, but I did 50/50 decaf/regular beans and brewed up 18+18g to 600ml water today for the morning brew and it was pretty okay, very drinkable, nice rounded profile. I may make more later today but switch to just hot water or weak tea or something after 8 PM instead of the decaf since that is fine for me too. I'll also be getting back my Stradivari soonish so I'll likely try to get back on the espresso horse again. I think I'm just going to focus on making pretty okay lattes, but I worry that the beans I put through my espresso grinder are going to just get stale if I only do this once or twice a week.
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Jan 29, 2021 19:30
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Oneiros posted:no no no, once you've saved enough to pay off the first round of equipment you're making pure profit that you can invest into even more expensive equipment  Lol if you don't have an entire section of your kitchen/an entire table dedicated to all the coffee things you own.
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Jan 29, 2021 19:36
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aldantefax posted:I had coffee at two separate coffee shops here in Austin in the past year and socialized at both with people. One was socializing outdoors with a buddy while we both wore masks in between sips and eats, the other place had very sparse tables, plexi barriers, and required masks when not at your seat. Generally that seems to be working out for people and there were college students that were doing study groups and people by themselves plinking away at a laptop or what not, so it felt like a cafe, just..."Less people". Yeah, this was mostly our situation during the summer, and it wasn’t bad at all, but now that we’re in a State Of Emergency my patience for customers is really going downhill. I do agree that the people that have a decent mask on while in the shop are doing the right thing, and probably shouldn’t take out my stress on them.
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Jan 29, 2021 19:52
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I picked up a copy of the second edition of The World Atlas of Coffee thanks to this thread, super stoked to have a coffee table book about coffee. And holy gently caress do I miss an afternoon of work spent at a coffee house...
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Jan 29, 2021 21:18
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qutius posted:I picked up a copy of the second edition of The World Atlas of Coffee thanks to this thread, super stoked to have a coffee table book about coffee. It's a really great book. I love reading about the history of the coffee growing nations.
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Jan 29, 2021 21:24
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Has anyone had anything from https://colonnacoffee.com before?
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Jan 29, 2021 23:23
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I have a very weird thing going on with my Rancilio Silvia and I need some help diagnosing it. We bought the machine second hand, it wasn't used too much. It was working fine while we owned it. I descaled the machine about a month ago. I also installed an Auber PID with pre-infusion at that time. For about a week after the PID install, everything was working fine and the PID seemed to be working as intended in regards to temperature control, pre-infusion with the pump, etc. One morning, and I honestly cannot recall doing anything different at this time, when I pulled a shot it came out extremely fast and with a high volume. I thought that I must have tamped poorly, but every single shot that we are trying to pull now has this same pattern. Basically, when running the machine either PID controlled or manually, it seems to run water very quickly, for lack of a better term. It doesn't seem to take very long to build pressure as it did normally and the shots start coming out of the portafilter within like 1-2 seconds. Even running it on pre-infusion coffee starts coming out of the basket DURING the pre-infusion. Then the shot runs extremely fast, to the point that it looks like basically water coming out of the basket. It usually ends up putting over more than 150 g of "coffee" with each 30 second run. I noticed that I was having a hard time backflushing and actually noticed that water was leaking around the portafilter at one point. I ordered a replacement gasket and screen, and very thoroughly cleaned the grouphead with cleaner - the old screen was very blocked, but the gasket was fine. Despite this, the same issue with the shot pulling really fast occurred. There doesn't appear to be an issue with my grinder or beans (tried it with freshly roasted and ground beans on settings that have previously pulled acceptable shots) I can't find any guidance on what may be going wrong here. The PID controlling the temperature seems to be doing fine, and the temp readings off the boiler appear to be accurate. I guess maybe something is hosed up with the PID controlling the pump, but I don't quite understand how it could screw up to cause this issue. I don't think that the 3-way valve would be causing this? Does anyone have any ideas? Would posting a video of this help with diagnosis?
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Jan 30, 2021 01:03
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Gunder posted:Has anyone had anything from https://colonnacoffee.com before? I'm a big fan of their nespresso pods, it's been a while since I've ordered (2 years?) but they were fabulous quality, as close to a proper-specialty-cafe shot you can get from a pod machine.
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Jan 30, 2021 01:14
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Swan Lake Algae Problem posted:Yeah, this was mostly our situation during the summer, and it wasn’t bad at all, but now that we’re in a State Of Emergency my patience for customers is really going downhill. I totes get you though, I can only imagine that it is v. stressful especially when people are like "actually i don't need a mask, because my body my rules. what do you mean you're not going to give me coffee" ALSO, I was brought to the attention of an indonesian-joint video game about being a chill barista in a video game, Coffee Talk: https://www.wired.com/story/coffee-talk-game-anniversary-origins/
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Jan 30, 2021 02:09
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Sextro posted:I'm a big fan of their nespresso pods, it's been a while since I've ordered (2 years?) but they were fabulous quality, as close to a proper-specialty-cafe shot you can get from a pod machine. Cool. Gonna try some of their Discovery genre beans.
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Jan 30, 2021 02:24
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Laminator posted:I have a very weird thing going on with my Rancilio Silvia and I need some help diagnosing it. What does the water from the group look like without the portafilter in place?
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Jan 30, 2021 03:33
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Laminator posted:I have a very weird thing going on with my Rancilio Silvia and I need some help diagnosing it. when you are backflushing with a blank do you still get leakage from between the portafilter and the head? can you see if water is flowing back to the reservoir from the opv when doing so? i suspect a malfunctioning opv (tho they usually stick open) that's allowing your brew pressure to climb to the max the pump is able to put out
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Jan 30, 2021 03:38
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aldantefax posted:I totes get you though, I can only imagine that it is v. stressful especially when people are like "actually i don't need a mask, because my body my rules. what do you mean you're not going to give me coffee" Last weekend I asked a dude not to take his mask off to use FaceID while he was paying, and it apparently made him so mad that he wrote a giant long email to the owners of the company to call me an rear end in a top hat and explain that he's a health care provider and know's how not to put folks at risk.
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Jan 30, 2021 04:05
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Swan Lake Algae Problem posted:Last weekend I asked a dude not to take his mask off to use FaceID while he was paying, and it apparently made him so mad that he wrote a giant long email to the owners of the company to call me an rear end in a top hat and explain that he's a health care provider and know's how not to put folks at risk. Or, he could just type in his passcode instead of being a gigantic gaping rear end in a top hat. It’s only 4-6 numbers, it’s not difficult.
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Jan 30, 2021 04:40
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Jhet posted:Or, he could just type in his passcode instead of being a gigantic gaping rear end in a top hat. It’s only 4-6 numbers, it’s not difficult. Guy like that, you know it's 4 at most
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Jan 30, 2021 04:48
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Swan Lake Algae Problem posted:Last weekend I asked a dude not to take his mask off to use FaceID while he was paying, and it apparently made him so mad that he wrote a giant long email to the owners of the company to call me an rear end in a top hat and explain that he's a health care provider and know's how not to put folks at risk. I'm not in the public but I do work with a lot of people who have this kind of mentality and really the only thing I can do is shrug and go "I take care of my parents who are in their seventies and I can't take the risk of exposure", to which nobody I've said that to had a good response when they realize what they're doing at the expense of others. Maybe that dude just wants to be really reborn as a slug in his next life, who knows?
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Jan 30, 2021 08:37
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Swan Lake Algae Problem posted:Last weekend I asked a dude not to take his mask off to use FaceID while he was paying, and it apparently made him so mad that he wrote a giant long email to the owners of the company to call me an rear end in a top hat and explain that he's a health care provider and know's how not to put folks at risk. Find out where he works and report it. That's not safe for the patients.
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Jan 30, 2021 08:53
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Gunder posted:Has anyone had anything from https://colonnacoffee.com before? Why do I click on links in this, or the boardgame, thread. Now I'm debating how to convince my lady we need the older style of Nespresso maker and we can give our older Vertuo machine to a friend. You know. Because having the Precision coffee brewer, 2 French Presses, a V60, a Nespresso machine, Breville Barista Pro, Baratza coffee grinder......just isn't enough.
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Jan 30, 2021 13:47
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Swan Lake Algae Problem posted:Last weekend I asked a dude not to take his mask off to use FaceID while he was paying, and it apparently made him so mad that he wrote a giant long email to the owners of the company to call me an rear end in a top hat and explain that he's a health care provider and know's how not to put folks at risk. LOL we are almost a year into this poo poo how are these people still being so petulant about masking? That's got to be exhausting. Sorry you have to deal with that garbage.
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Jan 30, 2021 14:05
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Laminator posted:words can you take a video of flushing the grouphead with no portafilter in place? also i know you said it’s not your grinder, but i’d double check it anyway because gushing is far far more likely to be a grinder (or puck prep) problem than a pressure problem. if your grinder can be calibrated, check that the calibration hasn’t changed, and pull out the burrs and inspect them for damage or wear.
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Jan 30, 2021 14:10
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Tiny Chalupa posted:Why do I click on links in this, or the boardgame, thread. I don't think I'd bother with their pods, even if they are better than normal pods. I reckon your existing coffee equipment will beat anything their pods can do.
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Jan 30, 2021 14:31
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Gunder posted:I don't think I'd bother with their pods, even if they are better than normal pods. I reckon your existing coffee equipment will beat anything their pods can do. Good point. I'll likely try the coffee beans they offer. I'm pretty much willing to give most anyone a shot as long as the prices aren't too nuts. Trying to find that elusive company that gives me knock out beans most of the time. Not every time just most the time
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Jan 30, 2021 14:49
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bizwank posted:What does the water from the group look like without the portafilter in place? In terms of the flow rate, or the actual drip pattern? Both look about the same as before things were weird. After I changed the screen/gasket and cleaned the disperser it did look a bit more "even" but nothing drastically different. Oneiros posted:when you are backflushing with a blank do you still get leakage from between the portafilter and the head? can you see if water is flowing back to the reservoir from the opv when doing so? After changing the grouphead gasket etc, no there is no leaking. Water is flowing back to the reservoir with a blank portafilter in place. It is putting out about 215 mL of water per minute. After more intense googling and getting lost in many home-barista.com threads, I agree it seems to be something with the OPV. It's hard to find info on this topic because most of the posts are about LOW pressure and slow shots, and not high pressure. However, this thread is close to what we're dealing with: https://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/silvia-fast-extraction-after-descale-t9669.html Agreed that the OPV malfunction seems to usually be it gets stuck open and makes low pressure, so not exactly sure what has happened with mine. I can assume that either 1. on the descaling, it caused some sort of malfunction in the valve, or 2. the higher average boiler temperature after the PID install has made the high pressure from the valve more obvious or caused something to malfunction (seems less likely) I think at this point I'm going to order a grouphead pressure meter, and a replacement valve gasket, and try to adjust the OPV valve. If that fails, then I guess I'll order an entire new valve assembly. hypnophant posted:can you take a video of flushing the grouphead with no portafilter in place? also i know you said it’s not your grinder, but i’d double check it anyway because gushing is far far more likely to be a grinder (or puck prep) problem than a pressure problem. if your grinder can be calibrated, check that the calibration hasn’t changed, and pull out the burrs and inspect them for damage or wear. A video of backflushing the grouphead, or just running the grouphead without a portafilter? I will check the grinder, but it's only a few months old. It's a Niche Zero. I have a hard time believing it would get drastically hosed up in the timespan we have had it. in case it helps with anything, here's a video of trying to run a shot via the PID. Like I mentioned in the first post, it's running so much that the shot starts to go during the pre-infusion, and then it just ruuuuunnns fast to the point where it's basically extracting nearly clear water if I let the shot run for a full 25 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS7F3A6VPqs If I run this with a bottomless, it just sprays everywhere, like channeling, but it's in multiple areas and makes a mess. Laminator fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Jan 30, 2021 |
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Jan 30, 2021 16:57
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That's just a gusher and you need to grind finer. I don't know why it was working for you before but that's 100% a grind problem and nothing to do with the OPV or anything else with your machine. e: it's possible you had some flow restriction before which descaling has corrected, and so you were getting low flow rates even though your grind is too coarse for espresso. Either way the solution is to go back to your grinder and grind finer before you start poking around inside the gubbins. hypnophant fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Jan 30, 2021 |
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Jan 30, 2021 17:43
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yeah, i concur with adjusting the grind. thats starting to flow so fast i doubt it's even getting to build much pressure.
Oneiros fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jan 30, 2021 |
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Jan 30, 2021 17:52
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Laminator posted:Agreed that the OPV malfunction seems to usually be it gets stuck open and makes low pressure, so not exactly sure what has happened with mine. I can assume that either What do you have your PID set at? Too-high temps will increase pressure, but just averaging out the temp range shouldn't make much difference, if any. Certainly never did on any of the Silvias I installed PIDs on. You sure you didn't install something wrong and are actually brewing at closer to steam temps? If the OPV is passing water with the backflush basket in place then it isn't seized shut, and that's the only way it could "fail" in a manner that would increase group pressure. It's literally a spring with a gasket/gasket gasket holder on one end, an adjustment for the spring tension and a locking nut, and if you didn't touch it when installing the PID then it should be right where it was before. It is much, much more likely that your coffee is what's causing this. And yes products that are only a few months old can and do fail. Before you tear your machine apart again, there's a simple test you can do to see if the issue is your coffee or the machine: crank your grind down. It's pretty easy to choke a vibratory pump, so if your grinder calibration is tracking correctly you should be able to do so (and possibly pull a decent shot along the way). If there's little to no change in the extraction rate then most likely something is up with your grinder. Edit: just saw the video. Adjust your grinder. Most likely you had it dialed way out to compensate for the clogged screen.
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Jan 30, 2021 17:53
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Just watched Hoffmann's showdown of luxury grinders and wondering whether I actually really need that second kidney
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Jan 30, 2021 18:32
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Yeah, I may have to start saving for that EG-1. What an amazing thing. That, and a DE1+ from Decent Espresso. I love those too. Gunder fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Jan 30, 2021 |
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Jan 30, 2021 18:39
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So to humor everyone, I disassembled, cleaned, and re-calibrated the grinder. I tried brewing a shot at the same dose (15 g in a 16 g basket), leaving all the variable on the PID the same as factor (221 F boiler temp, 2 second preinfuse, 25 second extraction), with a batch of beans roasted on 1/25. The first shot I dialed down from previous settings, from a 10 to an 8. A few dribbles of coffee came out. I turned the grind size up to 10, the same thing happened. I turned to grind size up to 14, and nothing came out of the portafilter basket. I turned the grind size up to 20, and it pulled a normal shot that tastes alright. I tried to pull another at the same setting and it wasn't as good and flowed faster, but not outside of the realm of issues that I've had with tamping/small weight variations. I guess the grinder was out of calibration from the factory, and/or there must have been some major issues with the old beans. I'm not 100% convinced that the grind was the only issue here, but as I'm actually able to pull a shot that is relatively normal looking I'll keep trying and see how things go the next few days. This is either a "keep it simple, stupid" thing or it's something else weird.
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Jan 30, 2021 18:45
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you've got a new (to you) espresso machine, with unknown maintenance history and recently descaled which can cause all sorts of weirdness, and a grinder from a kickstarter campaign if you can get it all working by adjusting the grind that's a win  Lord Stimperor posted:Just watched Hoffmann's showdown of luxury grinders and wondering whether I actually really need that second kidney i'm not gonna watch i'm not gonna watch i'm not gonna watch... please, i'm fine with my little comandante hand grinder. my bank account (and counter space) don't need this...
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Jan 30, 2021 18:58
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To be honest, as James points out, those machines are all about chasing diminishing returns. If you get yourself something great in the mid-range, like the Niche, you’ll be most of the way there already, at a fraction of the price.
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Jan 30, 2021 19:07
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oh yeah, marginal value and all that but they're neat
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Jan 30, 2021 19:12
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They are indeed. Oh to be the lucky Patreon member that wins one of them!
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Jan 30, 2021 19:14
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Gunder posted:To be honest, as James points out, those machines are all about chasing diminishing returns. If you get yourself something great in the mid-range, like the Niche, you’ll be most of the way there already, at a fraction of the price. My takeaway from the video is that I should try to upgrade from the Encore to a Niche whenever they are reliably in stock. Also all super fancy grinders look like lab equipment.
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Jan 30, 2021 19:48
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Democratic Pirate posted:My takeaway from the video is that I should try to upgrade from the Encore to a Niche whenever they are reliably in stock. I love mine. Huge upgrade from my old Virtuoso+.
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Jan 30, 2021 19:51
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Gunder posted:If you get yourself something great in the mid-range, like the Niche, you’ll be most of the way there already, at a fraction of the price. Edit: joined the newsletter. Would like to grab one at some point. I would like a step up from the internal Breville Barista Pro grinder at some point Tiny Chalupa fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Jan 30, 2021 |
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Jan 30, 2021 19:57
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Tiny Chalupa posted:Does anyone know if there is a rough ETA on when the second wave will be available for preorder? Niche are well past the second round but for some reason they’re still using igg as their storefront. Once the current lot have shipped they should open preorders for the next round, which will ship three ish months later. Check back in march for shipping around july, is my guess. They’ve been doing it this way for a few years now. Re: ultimate grinder showdown: my p64 (hu burrs) came in the week before christmas and it’s still a treat every day
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Jan 30, 2021 20:17
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