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Anyone know if this machine is any good? From what I gathered, it's a 'Conti Comocafé', a lever espresso machine. From the OP I see this counts as a manual machine, which in skilled hands (not mine) should make some pretty drat good coffee. That's convenient because for whatever reason it's in my basement gathering dust and since I've been wanting to try something better than my Dolce Gusto capsules, I should probably give this thing a shot (  )I'm talking about it here instead of actually trying it out because 1) I don't know how to operate this thing (how many times should I work the lever, etc.) and 2) assuming it even works, I'd like to do this properly and actually grind my coffee instead of buying the packaged thing (already have capsules for that), but I don't have a grinder (yet)... or coffee beans, for that matter. For now I'll just switch it on and see if it heats water... edit: forget it, I took a closer look and that thing is all messed up, the heater is busted and who knows what else. No matter, I like this DIY coffee cult you guys have going on so now I won't give up until I try some of this fabled magic coffee. I'll go read the OP again and see if I find a brewing method that works for me. seravid fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Dec 9, 2011 |
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Dec 9, 2011 00:34
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Bob_McBob posted:It's an open boiler gravity-fed lever machine. The most common machine of this design you normally see is probably the La Peppina. Basically, instead of a pressurized boiler, the water is held at brew temperature in the reservoir and simply flows down to the group by gravity. It's an incredibly simple design that works extremely well, but it means you get no steam for milk. Thanks but I'm in Europe, fixing it would get pretty expensive. beze posted:After running into this thread a few weeks back and taking to the recommendation to get off the blade grinder and move to a burr, I was inspired to get an old hand crank grinder, and all I can say is MMM COFFEE! I got one of those, but it's pretty old. How did you clean yours?  Not sure what to use down there (or even if it's salvageable).
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Dec 9, 2011 02:22
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I've been looking at grinders and various brewing gizmos but it seems I forgot the most important part: where the hell am I going to get freshly roasted beans? I'm in Portugal, no such thing as a local roaster in my tiny town and the few portuguese online stores I've found don't seem very trustworthy. I've checked the link in the OP and the closest roaster is located in France/UK, so we're talking about a 5 working days average for the stuff to get here. That doesn't sound very viable, does it? I suppose buying green beans would solve my problem (right?), but that complicates things as it means I'd have to spend even more time and money for this crazy experiment. Last week I was perfectly satisfied with my space-age capsuled coffee, now I'm thinking about roasting imported coffee beans 
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Dec 10, 2011 00:49
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traveling midget posted:http://www.baristaguide.com/coffee-industry-directory/coffee-roasters/portugal I'm confused. I knew about these companies, but discarded them as they're major players (hell, one of them is owned by Nestlé). They supply pretty much every restaurant, bar and supermarket in the country, so I'm assuming they produce in very large quantities and stash their stock in warehouses for who knows how long. If you guys say it's fine since I'll be doing the actual grinding and brewing with a decent system instead of buying the powdered stuff and using a $10 drip machine, that's cool, but I thought buying coffee as freshly roasted as possible was a pretty big deal...?
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Dec 10, 2011 05:15
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Bob_McBob posted:I have never heard good things about Portugal. Haha, well, that's not surprising. Anyway, a fellow portuguese coffee enthusiast from the HB forums is helping me out so I'm all set regarding coffee beans  Now, regarding brewers for a slightly skeptical, cheap bastard like myself, would this Kalita glass dripper be acceptable? (I guess I'd need the carafe too) If anything else on that site has more bang-for-the-buck, please, be my guest.
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Dec 11, 2011 06:15
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#155 stainless steel it is! I have a good (though small at roughly 500ml) kettle with a narrow, long-ish spout, I think that should do it. So, I guess I'm ready for this thing. Kalita steel dripper, wave filters, kettle with decent spout, vintage grinder and I'll start with the Ethiopia Shakiso (best seller at Hasbean). My goal here is to have the best possible first impression, wouldn't want a lousy coffee to ruin my fragile enthusiasm! If this works out as well as my venture into quality headphones a couple of years ago (started with 150€ cans, I now have 1k€ worth of stuff), I foresee a new, very expensive hobby  edit: can't disassemble the grinder to clean it, they used nails everywhere. Guess I'll have to buy one :/ seravid fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Dec 11, 2011 |
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Dec 11, 2011 19:38
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Here in southern Europe we almost exclusively drink (watery, needs-half-a-kilo-of-sugar) espresso. Anywhere you go, if you ask for a coffee you'll get a shot of espresso. Drinking this stuff by the mug-full will be a new experience in itself, I think I'll be fine with the smaller size. I did look for a Baratza but they really are crazy expensive around here. I'm sure I'll get one eventually, but for now I ordered a Hario mini mill. I'll mod the hell out of it if necessary. Funny you should mention digital scales, I ordered one from ebay yesterday. With practice I'm assuming people can simply eyeball it, but for a beginner it just makes sense to have a scale handy. Maybe I should get a thermometer too, not sure how long I should wait after boiling the water... Bob_McBob posted:P.S. Welcome to coffee-fi, sorry about your wallet some guy on Hasbean posted:This is a really weird, but wonderful coffee. It's got excellent sweetness and balance but is nicely complex. A bold front end of strawberries and pears poached in red wine and sweet almond cherry frangipane, which turns to a mind-blowing intense strawberry jam on wholewheat toast finish. Really good break from the norm, and something to hold your attention. Love it to bits. What the... (what's the coffee equivalent of $10k cryogenically-treated interconnects?)
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Dec 12, 2011 20:00
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Oh, so comparing coffee to flowers and chocolate and berries is actually a thing? Well, now I'm super-hyped.
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Dec 12, 2011 20:51
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nm posted:You clearly haven't had good coffee yet. So I'm noticing  I just made a Ristretto from my Dolce Gusto machine. I tried it black for the first time, to see if I could pick up on something and it definitely had a note of jesus-christ-this-tastes-like-crap. Thankfully I always have a Lindt 85% cacao chocolate bar handy, which made the world right again. Cue goons telling me in detail why I'm worse than Hitler for buying Lindt chocolate in 3...2...
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Dec 12, 2011 22:20
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Help me, goons, for I have tasted this quality coffee you so praise and... it was pretty drat bad. Here's what I did, hope you guys can help me figure this out The stuff I received: - Ethiopia Shakiso beans, roasted on December 12th. - Hario mini mill - Kalita Wave steel dripper I adjusted the mill somewhere in the middle position, ground 15g of beans (mug holds 250ml), boiled some water and heated up the mug. For the actual brewing, I did pretty much what this dude did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyknoezUCNg The result? A watery mess with a pronounced bitter aftertaste. No sign of the "bucket of red fruits" or any other quality people talk about when they describe this coffee. I can still taste the bitterness, though, I guess that's something
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Dec 20, 2011 15:55
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Thanks for the help, I'll try different grinds/temps/pour methods and see how it goes. I can't stop thinking about the watery part, though. Any thoughts on that? Maybe it's because I've been drinking espressos all my life, but this coffee had no texture at all, it was like drinking (crappy) flavored water.
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Dec 20, 2011 19:59
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GrAviTy84 posted:Yeah, sounds overextracted. December 12th is also over a week ago, how was it stored? Here's a pic of the beans:  It took 8 days to get here from the UK (to Portugal), I received it today. I order a lot of stuff from the UK and shipping is usually faster, guess the holidays are taking their toll.
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Dec 20, 2011 20:14
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Gave it another shot. I boiled the water, waited 3-4 minutes before covering the grounds, let it do its thing for 30 seconds then poured over (in a circular motion around the edge). Brew time was around 2 minutes (first time was 3+ minutes). Grind was coarser than previous attempt. Result... is the same. Flavored water, tastes like death. I feel so goddamn incompetent 
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Dec 20, 2011 23:10
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GrAviTy84 posted:I would go with a gently caress-it opposite direction brew next time. Grind finer than the first try, use 1.5x as much coffee, and pour slow, aiming for a 4 minute extraction. The thinking here is maybe the grinds were too coarse to begin with and the water is just passing around them without actually extracting much. This is one reason I really like the CCD, it's a lot more foolproof. Sounds good, I'll try it first thing in the morning. I also already modded the mini mill, maybe that'll help. that Vai sound posted:How close to the edge were you pouring? Too close and the water will just pass by grounds on the side, or so I've read. I don't think it was that close but I'll definitely keep that in mind.
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Dec 21, 2011 03:21
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I thought about that, maybe it's just me and I'm wasting everyone's time, but consider this: 1) I enjoy espressos/cappuccinos/lattes/etc. (and that's from unpopular machines like the Krups' Dolce Gusto) and 2) there is a total absence of any of the qualities everyone likes about this coffee. Here's one example: http://shop.ritualcoffee.com.au/products/ethiopia-shakiso-natural "Rich, sweet chocolatey aftertaste"... If it's not a problem with the roasting/grinding/brewing/whatever then it must be me, sure, but that means my sense of taste is all hosed up because there was nothing remotely resembling a chocolatey aftertaste, unless that's coffeetalk for "strong bitter taste that won't go away even after 15 minutes" (I actually had to eat something to make it go away). By "watery" I suppose I mean "too diluted". It reminds me of powdered drinks or that concentrated stuff that you mix with water in a 1:10 ratio, but instead of 1:10 you went with 1:1000. Good coffee shops will be hard to find, around here "coffee" means a 50ml shot of cheap espresso drowned in sugar. Besides those and the girly drinks my Krups machine does, that's all I know, really. Hell, people here think you're crazy when you talk about filling a mug with coffee. That's one of the reasons I wanted to make the good stuff at home and hey, no regrets. Trying new things is fun, even when they taste awful. I do apologize for monopolizing the thread. Hopefully in the next few days I'll either fix the problem or acknowledge the fact that maybe I'm more of a tea guy.
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Dec 21, 2011 05:10
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Update  Finer grind (and more consistent now with the modded mill), 50% more beans (18g for 200g of water), 4 minute extraction. First impression - while brewing - was positive, I noticed some bubbles around the cup, something I usually saw on youtube but never had here. Definite improvement on the taste, I actually managed to drink the whole cup. Still no sign of red fruits or chocolatey impressions, though. It starts with a somewhat sweet taste but that fades very quickly, instead becoming acidic (not unpleasant) and ending with the familiar bitter aftertaste (unpleasant). That bitter taste seemed less aggressive than before and I think I can pinpoint one of its characteristics now. It feels burned, like I'm drinking coals. I have no boiling-water-proof thermometer, but I'll try to wait a few extra minutes before starting the brew to see if it helps. I'll keep experimenting with the Ethiopian beans, but in the meantime I'd also like to try a more noob-friendly coffee, to check 1) if maybe the beans I have are over-roasted and 2) just to try an overall less aggressive coffee. Could you guys take a look here: http://www.hasbean.co.uk/ and give me a few pointers? No local roasters in my area, I'm afraid, online ones will have to do. lags posted:Try finer, yes. But maybe also try brewing it French press style (coarse ish) in a separate container, and filtering it into your cup. My reasoning is this should identify if "watery" is just lack of body that you're used to in espresso or your pour over method. Good idea, I'll take a look at those.
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Dec 21, 2011 16:47
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Smiley Face posted:If you want a sweeter coffee, try something south american. I have a columbian at the moment that smells exactly like coffee, it is amazing! South American it is, thanks. lags posted:By all means buy more stuff! But for the record I just meant brew the grounds & water in a separate cup and filter into your other using your current pourover filter thingamawhatchit. Sounds like you're making progress in the right direction anyway though. Haha, I guess I went straight to the "throw money at the problem" method. So, I should dump the grounds in a cup, fill it with water (stir?) and filter the whole thing through the dripper, is that right?
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Dec 21, 2011 18:41
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grabulasa posted:A week from roasting should not have any detrimental effect on the coffee, it tends to stay OK up to a month or so. Wait, what? After reading the OP I was set on the CCD, but couldn't find it here in Europe. I just re-checked and Hasbean doesn't sell it...? Thanks for the recommendations, I'll try them after the holidays. Too late now and I already ordered some Brazilian beans yesterday anyway.
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Dec 22, 2011 17:22
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Daerc posted:I just did some quick searching, and while Hasbean doesn't seem to sell them, it looked like most people in the few UK coffee forums I could find were picking them up off CoffeeHit (or a few other sites that don't even ship to the entirety of the UK). I usually don't even bother with UK shops since they almost never ship outside the country, but I can't believe I didn't try Amazon  Well, thanks a lot! Just ordered one from there, as you said shipping was much cheaper. With this dripper I should be able to remove myself from the equation, at least when it comes to brewing... I can still screw up in other areas Any recommendation for filters? Are supermarket ones good enough or should I rely only on trusted brands?
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Dec 23, 2011 07:54
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Can you guys detect these aromas from the beans or do they only come out after brewing?
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Dec 25, 2011 18:15
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I've spent the last few hours with a disassembled Hario mini. My conclusion: I hate it. I also hate everyone in this thread, the world in general and any existing extra-terrestrial life. Myself, too. Let's see: - Unsecured shaft? Check. Tape the area where the bushings are supposed to secure it. Boom, it's rock-solid. - Unsecured outer burr? Check. The four plastic housings are pathetic, the burr moves freely in there. Half a mile of tape later, the drat thing is now bulletproof. - Unsecured inner burr's clamp? Check. I'm starting to see a pattern here. Tape everywhere until there's no more gap. - Unsecured inner burr? Check. Holy christ, this is ridiculous... Anyway, you guessed it, tape tape tape, inner burr stabilized. Last check, everything looks good. Job well done, seravid, give it a whirl. Wait, that... that doesn't look centered at all! - Slightly bent shaft causing an eccentric rotation and nullifying hours of work? RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH  According to a thread back on CoffeeGeek, this appears to be pretty common. Nice going, Hario, I'm sure I'll buy more of your quality products in the future.
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Dec 26, 2011 01:09
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GrAviTy84 posted:To be fair, you're expecting 300bux of grinder out of a 40bux hand grinder. This is one reason many of us recommend buying the best grinder you can up front. I expected brands to cheap out on materials, capacity, ease of use... not on the one thing it's actually supposed to do. Which, now that I think about it, was pretty naïve of me. Still, can't help but find it amusing/depressing that to get a grinder that is actually good at grinding, I'll need to spend at least three times more cash than I paid for the Hario. Since we're here, any European alternative to the Baratza Maestro? It's a rip-off here compared to the US. At 95$ (refurb) I would have jumped straight to it instead of the wonder mill I have.
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Dec 26, 2011 03:37
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Got my CCD  But - as expected - something went wrong. The drip started well enough but ended up very restricted, at 4 minutes it still had some coffee in it. 'Grinds are too fine' would be anyone's first guess, but take a look and tell me those are too fine:  Zoom in!  Run the Enhancement Algorithms!  If anything, (to my untrained eye) that looks too coarse.
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Dec 28, 2011 17:52
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Corla Plankun posted:I really feel like you should try this one and report back. The page boasts a big improvement and I personally would rather upgrade something than buy a new thing because I am ultra cheap and handy. I'd say he's much better off with the tape mod. I tried that one and it was nothing but frustration. Doesn't fix the outer and inner burrs slack either. nm posted:No, the spring mod fixes the up and down play. The mini mill doesn't really have this issue (it already has a spring, unlike the skerton, which works, ok, but not grea). After you secure the shaft and the inner burr, check if you have an eccentric rotation. Thanks to everyone who replied to my last post, by the way. I decided to stop spamming my problems here while I wait for my Brazilian coffee to arrive. I think it'll settle this thing one way or the other, because for now I'm kind of here: Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:Are there any coffee blends/ single origins available online that would be recommended to start being able to distinguish flavors beyond "kinda heavy" and "not bitter until the after taste hits"?
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Dec 31, 2011 18:28
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nm posted:Check.  (except no refurb Meastro for me since I'm in Europe)
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Jan 2, 2012 07:58
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My Brazilian coffee arrived. On the bag, a little description praises its "outstanding sweetness" with notes of chocolate, caramel and toffee. Sounds good to me. 15 minutes later, the coffee's ready and it tastes exactly like the Ethiopian I had before. Mocking me, sip after sip, as I try to detect even a hint of sweetness, chocolate, caramel, anything other than the familiar nothingness in the mouth and lingering bitter aftertaste. Welp, end of the line for me.
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Jan 4, 2012 17:10
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GrAviTy84 posted:Do you ever taste other things like wine, whisky, rum, or tea? I mean taste, not just drink. These "notes" that descriptions like to brag about are just subtleties in the coffee, the coffee wont actually taste like a cup of toffee or caramel or hot chocolate or gingersnapcookies with wild berries. It tastes like coffee with a hint of fruitiness, or coffee with a caramel-like roastiness, or coffee with a rustic chocolate like earthiness, or coffee with a bright spicy nuance. These notes are just things that the cuppers, when cupping, think the coffee's subtleties remind them of. It's not something I usually do, no. That doesn't mean I don't know the difference between drinking and tasting, common sense told me early on to do more just gulping down the coffee. I do something similar to the "chewing" technique seen in that youtube clip. Hope I'm not sounding too whiny, if anything I was loving committed to this and did my best to get it right, posting only when I ran out of options.  I've tried three different beans (two from an online roaster, one from the local supermarket), two different brewing methods, using a regular grinder then heavily modded then back to regular, everything from espresso grind to boulders (grinding immediately before brewing), carefully measured coffee/water ratios, steeping times going from 2 to 6 minutes, water 30s/5min/10min/20 minutes off boil, rinsing the paper filter, pre-heating the cup, pouring the water at once or in phases, straight or in circular motions, stirring once or multiple times, blooming the grinds... To be fair, this coffee is much more pleasant than the Krups pods I'm used to, but that's really not saying much. Without a square of dark chocolate to go along it's actually quite bland, especially when you think about all the talk of sweetness and fruits. It's not like I was expecting coffee to taste like apple juice, but with people hyperboling the gently caress out of this - using terms like "outstanding sweetness", "huge mouthfeel" and "expect a blast of *insert fruit*" - I certainly was expecting it to be more than good old coffee with the slightest, subtlest hint of something vaguely resembling chocolate and fruits but not really. But I suppose that was my mistake and since I dabble in high-end audio - largest exporter of hyperbolic silly terms - I really should know better.
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Jan 5, 2012 01:27
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nm posted:Well, I had an amazon gift cert and bought a new maestro plus for like $100 after the gift cert. Let us know how it compares to the Hario mini.
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Jan 6, 2012 06:26
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Kaluza-Klein posted:I can't make the Hario Slim give me a 1.5 click grind, right?! Flip the adjustment wheel/nut around for stepless adjustments.
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Jan 8, 2012 23:26
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So, what to think of this? http://www.home-barista.com/store-coffee-in-freezer.html TL;DR - freezing seems to be a viable choice to preserve coffee.
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Jan 13, 2012 20:42
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Temperature question: are the cheapo thermometers on ebay even worth the 5 bucks they ask? Description states an error margin of 5-10ºC above 80ºC, how useful can they be? edit: that's 10-20ºF above 176ºF in moon degrees seravid fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Apr 23, 2012 |
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Apr 23, 2012 23:32
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I just bought this beauty: but, being used to the CCD, I'm not sure what methodology to follow here. My online roaster has this nifty guide, does this look right? 75g per liter seems like a lot 
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Jan 31, 2013 21:51
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I'm having a curious issue with my (relatively new) french press: I have to let the coffee cool down for a while or it'll taste really bitter. As it cools the bitterness clears right up. The obvious prime suspect is water temperature, but it's not too hot according to my cheapo ebay thermometer and I've never had this happen with the CCD, so I don't think that's it. Also, if the water was too hot shouldn't the coffee always taste bitter, be it hot or cold? I guess I could simply allow the coffee to cool down, but it's pretty cold around here this time of year. I'd like my coffee hot, not just warm.
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Mar 1, 2013 19:24
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ExcessBLarg! posted:Any thoughts on grind vs. brew time? With my crappy Hario Mini grinder, grinding at the finer settings is somewhat more consistent than coarser so I'm using fine-ish grinds even with a french press. Of course with those grinds I have to reduce brew time considerably - not exceeding ~1:30m if I want a drinkable coffee - but as long as I keep an eye on the timer it usually turns out pretty good.
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Jun 9, 2013 16:28
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Is there anything you can do with 80ml glasses besides espresso? I got these for Christmas: and while they're pretty great, the only thing I have to make espresso is a Dolce Gusto machine (crema is pretty good; the coffee... not so much). What I do have is a CCD and a french press (and a Kalita Wave gathering dust since I bought the CCD). I guess I can use them as shot glasses.
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Dec 26, 2013 23:50
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What's the next step in grinders coming from a Hario mini mill? It's just too inconsistent. I was set on a Baratza Encore or Wilfa Svart but I don't know if that's overkill considering I only use a Clever dripper and, ocassionally, a French press.
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Apr 6, 2022 22:05
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.Z. posted:You don't need to go electric for that. Get the 1Zpresso JX. It'll end up being the last grinder you'll need for anything non-espresso. It grinds much faster than a Mini Mill. And if you've got doubts, get it from Amazon for easy return. Looks great! 20-something seconds to grind 20 grams? Goddamn, the Hario takes four times as long. The JX costs almost as much as the grinders I've mentioned, though. I suppose a high-end manual grinder should be better than an entry-level electric in most regards. Definitely wins in the maintenance and noise department, which I do appreciate, and I had the Mini mill for years so clearly I don't mind the work (Hario  )
seravid fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Apr 7, 2022 |
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Apr 7, 2022 01:41
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AnimeIsTrash posted:The Timemore C2 is a bit cheaper than 1zpresso and can basically do everything except espresso. Interesting, but the 1Z seems better built. As something I'll be using everyday (for years, hopefully), I figure it's worth the premium. So it's settled, I'll be ordering the JX next week. Thanks, all
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Apr 7, 2022 04:40
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I'm sure the C2 is a fine grinder but, yeah, what Mu Zeta said.
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Apr 7, 2022 12:33
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Is a manual espresso maker usable if you're short on time? While I'm happy with my current setup, sometimes I only have time to enjoy 30ml of coffee before work, not 300ml. In order to finally stop buying capsules for days like that, I'm now considering going full coffee nerd and acquire a Flair Pro 2 (or equivalent in the 300€ range?). Watching workflow videos, though, with preheating the chamber and the portafilter and zen gardening the grounds before tamping and finally assembling the stack to pull the shot... makes it seem much more time-consuming than the clever dripper and french press I use, even if the actual brewing of the shot ends up being much faster. I realize a machine would better fit my needs, but 1) probably not my budget, 2) I'd rather not have yet another plugged-in monolith on the kitchen top and 3) pulling a lever is more fun than pressing a button. I'm now regretting buying the non-pro version of the 1zpresso JX, though...
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May 29, 2022 06:51
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