Silly Commuter Coffee

iPete

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19771320#p19771320]edrobbin[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19771238#p19771238]iPete[/url] wrote:

Anyone recommend a good bean for cafetiere, preferably something fresh and lightly roasted? Oh and easy to acquire.

Suspect the answer is Monmouth.. but would prefer easier to get.

Sounds daft, but Ikea beans are pretty damned good, and cheap, easy to find

I do buy them following a recommendation on here (maybe you) but my bi-annual IKEA trip isn't going to keep the grinder full for long.

KnightOfTheLongTights

Had the best coffee I'd had in ages at the weekend.
It was made with freshly ground beans, in a glass one-cup filter cone that cost about a tenner, a bit like this -


So much better than the best coffee I've ever had out of a machine....

mrfpb

KnightOfTheLongTights wrote:

Had the best coffee I'd had in ages at the weekend.
It was made with freshly ground beans, in a glass one-cup filter cone that cost about a tenner, a bit like this -


So much better than the best coffee I've ever had out of a machine....

The V60 has become my favourite coffee maker now. I have the 01 to take away with me on business trips and the 02 at home (where I work). However I find the papers pricey compared to other cone filters. Tip: Whitards sell packs of 100 for a fiver, but they are usually in storage rather than on display.

KnightOfTheLongTights

mrfpb wrote:

The V60 has become my favourite coffee maker now. I have the 01 to take away with me on business trips and the 02 at home (where I work). However I find the papers pricey compared to other cone filters. Tip: Whitards sell packs of 100 for a fiver, but they are usually in storage rather than on display.

Ah right - that's what they're called? Not absolutely sure mine is Hario (I got it in a Vancouver cafe about a year ago and have only just got round to using it!). But it could well be cos it looks identical.
I have just been using Melitta Coffee Filter Papers which are about £1.20 for 40 - do the job but don't sit very snugly in the cone - so guess you get some water running though the paper and missing the coffee?
I note these are available on amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hario-VCF-01-10 ... _201_img_2

menthel

Went into local hero in Kingston today- decent double macchiato for £1.80. Took it away to escape all the children and drank it on my way to sigma sport.

iPete

Move over Aeropress, the Oomph is here?
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/oomp ... ffee-maker

mamil314

iPete wrote:

Move over Aeropress, the Oomph is here?
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/oomp ... ffee-maker

Can this be really operated with puny cyclist arms?

itboffin

My bean grinder is knackered any recommendations?

pangolin

Electric or hand grinder? Baratza Encore gets good reviews as a home use filter grinder.

KnightOfTheLongTights

itboffin wrote:

My bean grinder is knackered any recommendations?

I've had this for ages - simple, efficient, looks good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Krups-Twin-Blad ... ref=sr_1_1

pangolin

Don't get a blade grinder whatever you do.

itboffin

i've got a wahl electric grinder which does the job

pangolin

I'd go for Baratza Encore if you can, DeLonghi KG79 if not. A burr grinder will give you a much more consistent grind than a blade grinder, so the coffee extracts more evenly.

corriebee1

Okay

Be gentle with me. I'm not a massive coffee expert, but looking for some advice on my Gaggia Classic.

I've had a Gaggia for about 9 months. Absolutely love it and use it every morning, usually with Lavazza espresso and some hot milk. It makes a tasty enough brew for me.

I bought some nice Union Coffee the other day, which was described "espresso grind" (albeit the instructions on the side showed how to make a good cafetiere with it). I've discovered that when i use this new coffee in my gaggia, even when putting less coffee in the basket it seems to struggle pumping the water through.

I've reverted back to Lavazza to try and sure enough the coffee pours a nice double espresso in 20 seconds or so. With the Union stuff, that's more like 50 seconds, and it doesn't sound like it's doing the pump any favours!

Anybody got any ideas on why this might be the case? Is the Union stuff ground so fine that it's compacting too easily?

pangolin

It could really be too fine, in which case the machine clogs and it's just too much work for it to pump the water through. This usually happens when you're grinding your own though. It's rarely the case with pre-ground coffee.

Have you ever back flushed your gaggia? Giving it a decent clean might help it out. Scroll all the way down to part 8 for how to clean it if you're not sure.

https://www.coffeecrew.com/gear-equipment-coffee/learn-the-ways-of-the-bean/255-gaggia-classic-step-by-step

You'll need these 2 items to back flush the machine. Well worth doing it will taste a lot cleaner and might make it a bit easier on the pump if it's never been done. That tub will probably last you for life.

https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0032-puly-caff.html
https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0057-blind-filter-basket.html

my_grandadʹs_bike

pangolin wrote:

Electric or hand grinder? Baratza Encore gets good reviews as a home use filter grinder.

Avoid the Mahlkonig Vario - cost me over £300 and hasn't lasted two years. Customer support is fairly non-existent as well.

spasypaddy

anyone going to the coffee festival in london this weekend?

corriebee1

pangolin wrote:

It could really be too fine, in which case the machine clogs and it's just too much work for it to pump the water through. This usually happens when you're grinding your own though. It's rarely the case with pre-ground coffee.

Have you ever back flushed your gaggia? Giving it a decent clean might help it out. Scroll all the way down to part 8 for how to clean it if you're not sure.

https://www.coffeecrew.com/gear-equipment-coffee/learn-the-ways-of-the-bean/255-gaggia-classic-step-by-step

You'll need these 2 items to back flush the machine. Well worth doing it will taste a lot cleaner and might make it a bit easier on the pump if it's never been done. That tub will probably last you for life.

https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0032-puly-caff.html
https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0057-blind-filter-basket.html

Thanks Pangolin. I have ordered both of those and will attempt the big clean over the weekend.

We have son number 2 arriving on Monday by c-section so i need to have coffee on tap sans problems!

andyrr

I had a clogged up Gaggia too - I had been using some chemicals to flush it through but this made no difference - was only getting a tiny trickle of water out of mine.
I've had mine for 10+years so was preparing for it being unrepairable so in desperation I bought the blind basket plus some Cafiza. After 1 go it got it working again - super stuff.
The Cafiza cost about £9 for a big bottle of powder and it only needs a sprinkle to do the trick.
Probably worthwhile taking the showerscreen side to bits too - depending upon the water in your area - I live in Scotland where the water is nice and soft and kind to our appliances - if you've used yours regularly then it will probably have some gunge or scale in it somewhere that that little job would also be worthy of a few minutes of your time too.

pangolin

Yep definetly worth unscrewing the screen (the bit the water comes out of), give it a gentle scrub then soak it in some water and cafiza or puly-caff. Give the machine a careful scrub with a toothbrush or similar while it's off too.

spasypaddy

i cant get the screen off my gaggia, it needs to come off though as the pressure is poor at the moment. any tips?

andyrr

On the Classic the thin shower screen disk itself is held on by a single short bolt with a Phillips head, behind that there is the group head that is, I think, retained by a couple of Allen head bolts.
The screen should come off with a couple of light taps, the head can be harder to remove, could try knocking it with the handle of a screwdriver or similar. Sometimes that has just pulled away quite easily, last time it took me quite a bit of effort.

spasypaddy

i cant get the screen off...

itboffin

spasypaddy wrote:

i cant get the screen off...

Bash it bash it hard ....then buy a new one

pangolin

spasypaddy wrote:

i cant get the screen off...

Does yours have a screw in the middle? Mine's never been too bad. Tried backflushing it a couple of times with some cleaner to degunk it a bit first?

edit - we're talking about the part shown being removed at 1:46 in this vid right? Not the part she calls a shower holding plate at 2:13.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oGwJuJ65Dk

topcattim

Can anyone advise me about Aeropress? I like the flavour and have got properly ground beans (I went to my local coffee roaster who ground some for me to a "Number 6 grind"). But the instructions on the Aeropress pack say that you should try to take 20 seconds to plunge - if I wait more than about 10 seconds, the water has gone through the filter without me needing to plunge at all. So I've taken to putting the water in, giving it a very quick stir, then plunging (for a duration of about 5 to 10 seconds), but I'm figuring by going so fast I might be losing the effect of the pressure plunge. Am I doing something wrong?

dhope

topcattim wrote:

Can anyone advise me about Aeropress? I like the flavour and have got properly ground beans (I went to my local coffee roaster who ground some for me to a "Number 6 grind"). But the instructions on the Aeropress pack say that you should try to take 20 seconds to plunge - if I wait more than about 10 seconds, the water has gone through the filter without me needing to plunge at all. So I've taken to putting the water in, giving it a very quick stir, then plunging (for a duration of about 5 to 10 seconds), but I'm figuring by going so fast I might be losing the effect of the pressure plunge. Am I doing something wrong?

I'm not sure how you're managing that. It sounds like you're ballsing something up, but apart from wondering if you've put the paper filter in then I can't think what. The water shouldn't be going through the filter paper without you pressing the plunger. The plunger creates the vacuum to stop that.

Anyway, lets pretend you've not done something silly and just point you to some instructions
Use the upside down method...

https://ineedcoffee.com/upside-aeropres ... -tutorial/

iPete

Strange, are you washing/wetting the paper filter first?

dhope

Ahhh, I think I know what you've done. You've not put the plunger, so you're pouring the water in and there's no vacuum so the water just goes through the filter?

Anyway. Upside down

topcattim

iPete wrote:

Strange, are you washing/wetting the paper filter first?

dhope wrote:

Anyway, lets pretend you've not done something silly and just point you to some instructions
Use the upside down method...

:oops:
Oops, yes I have done something silly and failed to wet the filter paper first. I'm both embarrassed and pleased at the mistake as this should be easy to fix. I'm looking forward to my evening coffee now.
Thanks both.