Espresso nerds in the house?

[jedy617]

I just wouldn't know what to do with 10lbs of coffee, I drink an espresso drink or pour over like every other day so most of it would go bad. I mean I have vacuum sealed off portions and frozen them and it's definitely decent, but I think I'd rather just buy when needed

 

[Dakota Day Trader]

Well I think the first question to ask is: what type of espresso do you like to consume. Are you after traditional dark roast chocolaty, dense, viscous shots of espresso, or are you looking for something that highlights light roasts, acidity, fruitiness, a less heavy feel on the palate? If it's the former you should be looking at conical burr grinders, if it's the latter you should be focusing on flat burr grinders.

I'm just getting started down this rabbit hole, so I've only tried a few espressos: Death Wish, Kicking Horse, and Lavazza Super Creme being the ones I remeber most. Looks like I have another rabbit hole to go down with coffee, too!!!

I do, or will be single dosing at home, so I think having the option to go either way would be great. I prefer more of the dark roast flavor, but again, I've never really tried anything else. In fact, I am today years old when I found out I even needed a grinder other than the one in my Breville!!!!

I went to one of Black & White's cafes recently on a trip to NC, it was one of the best drinks I've had at an east coast cafe so far.


Totally fair, I don't know how the current ones stack up. I think I have the first version and I personally find it very fiddly, a huge mess even with RDT, retained nearly 2-3g with a clean burr chamber, had very poor consistency, and even worse grind issues before I got an anti-popcorning device. Fines everywhere, especially if you use the bellows (because the bellows push down on the upper burr carrier...).

My shot consistency was horrible using the same grind setting, dose & tamp, with shot times varying up to 10 seconds. My shot times with the Sette 270 are consistent, within a couple seconds. One of these days I'll muster up the effort to check/align the burrs and mod the clump crusher and give it another shot. Also interesting to see it's actually dropped in price since I bought it.

My biggest thing is trying to get the perfect latte. I will measure things to the nth degree, but once I find my recipe I plan on sticking with it for a long time. I may try some different coffees (which will start the process all over again), but basically I'm looking for the best cup I can get and then enjoying it over and over again. I'm not sure I'll go much further than that, but I can see where having the option might be nice.

In a home setting, single dosing has some clear advantages. I prefer different roasts at different times of the day and single dosing lets you scratch those itches.
If you think conical is the direction you want to go take a look at the Niche Zero.

I look forward to single dosing once I get set up. Being able to measure exactly how much you're using, and getting the grind dead perfect in a repeatable way is exactly what I'm after!

Of all the rabbit holes I could have found, this is probably going to be the most fun!

 

[WildBoar]

I just wouldn't know what to do with 10lbs of coffee, I drink an espresso drink or pour over like every other day so most of it would go bad. I mean I have vacuum sealed off portions and frozen them and it's definitely decent, but I think I'd rather just buy when needed

I break each 5 lb bag into 7-8 smaller bags. I vacuum seal them and keep them in the freezer. That is usually about a 3 month supply.

 

[ehhh]

I always buy enough to hit the free shipping minimum, usually 3 bags, 12oz each, and store portions in small mason jars in the freezer. Usually lasts me a little more than a month and the quality is unchanged.

I’ll have to try this Happy Mug place though, those prices are crazy.

 

[jedy617]

I always buy enough to hit the free shipping minimum, usually 3 bags, 12oz each, and store portions in small mason jars in the freezer. Usually lasts me a little more than a month and the quality is unchanged.

I’ll have to try this Happy Mug place though, those prices are crazy.

I stopped buying anywhere else tbh. The prices and quality are just too good. Never got a bad bag. My favorites are their halo bariti. I think they mainly supply other coffee shops and sell green coffee, so they just give good prices direct to consumer. No flashy website or social media stuff they pay for either

 

[Krouton]

I’m not much of a coffee drinker but I got my wife the breville bambino and eureka Mignon notte grinder last year to replace her $7/day latte habit and it’s been great. We’ve been using Counter Culture and Tony’s espresso but it sounds like I’ll have to try out happy mug for our next order

 

[mengwong]

double ristrestto's and morning cappa's, and loads of 'em

Haha, remind us, what was your day job again?

 

[Bear]

Been loving Black & White Roasters recently - their current Future blend, Tiki, is my all time favorite funky espresso. I also really like Malabar Au buy Josuma for milk drinks and overall old school chocolaty crema bombs.

That's my go to, I usually order it by the 2lb bag, the funkier the better, Dragonfly every once in awhile.

My machine is a Alex Duetto, grinder Ceado E37

 

[MarcelNL]

Haha, remind us, what was your day job again?

working from home, so the setup doubles as my office machine ;-)

 

[WPerry]

I’m not much of a coffee drinker but I got my wife the breville bambino and eureka Mignon notte grinder last year to replace her $7/day latte habit and it’s been great. We’ve been using Counter Culture and Tony’s espresso but it sounds like I’ll have to try out happy mug for our next order

CC can be really good - I've had some tasty and very blueberry-forward bags from them within the last year or so - but there's always luck of the batch and distribution factors to consider. If you're picking some up from your grocery store, double check the dates on the bag - it may be a week out of roast or it may be three months.

Sometimes I can catch reasonably fresh bags on deep discount at my local Whole Foods (Prime Member), in which case they're a pretty good value.

 

[Heckel7302]

I don’t really drink espresso, but my work has one of these. Apparently it’s pretty nice.

 

[dragjp]

that's a propro grade machine, priced ~35k I believe lol. I barely see it outside coffee studios.

 

[bingo]

I’ve got one of the standard internet inspired recent setups with the lelit Bianca and niche zero. With a timemore 078s on the way… hopefully they complement each other and I can get a little more transparency out of the flat burrs.

I’m lucky to have a couple good roasters I like to support nearby in sweet bloom and huckleberry. Sometimes I’ll branch out to other Denver area roasters but those are the most convenient and also turn out amazing roasts.

 

[Heckel7302]

that's a propro grade machine, priced ~35k I believe lol. I barely see it outside coffee studios.

Yeah. Shame it hardly ever gets used. I work for a symphony. It's in our bar area so people can get espresso at shows. Our former GM was a coffee nut and liked to spend money. As the current GM I think it's a little silly to have spent that much, but concertgoers enjoy it I guess.

 

[dragjp]

Our former GM was a coffee nut and liked to spend money.

he definitely got expensive tastes, but yeah, lucky the concertgoers

 

[Heckel7302]

he definitely got expensive tastes, but yeah, lucky the concertgoers

We are talking with a local coffee shop about leasing the space during the day since it just sits there unused aside from a dozen morning concerts a year. Machine comes with the space. I think it was a strong selling point to them.

 

[MarcelNL]

I'd outsource the coffee making during concerts to them too, far more likely to get good your audience a cup they can truly enjoy

 

[mockit]

There are some really impressive home setups on this thread! Coffee is indeed a rabbit hole. As a former coffee pro, I have always had very mixed feelings about making espresso at home. Can it be worth it? Yes, and technology over the past 5 years has made it much more reasonable. Home grinders, in particular, have improved a ton. If you asked me while I was working in coffee (2016-2019) I would have said absolutely not. I still think for the vast majority of people who live in a metro and do not work from home, it makes very little sense. I realize the heart wants what the heart wants. We don't buy expensive knives because we need them. But, I will tell you that I am deeply passionate about coffee and still have doubts about purchasing a home espresso setup. Waste is a big part of it.

 

[Heckel7302]

I'd outsource the coffee making during concerts to them too, far more likely to get good your audience a cup they can truly enjoy

Daytime concerts the storefront will be open, so that would be them. No enough people drink coffee at evening performances to justify staying open though.

And the unit was purchased 5 or so years ago. Apparently he paid around $20k for it, so maybe it was a decent investment.

 

[dragjp]

Apparently he paid around $20k for it, so maybe it was a decent investment.

Haha kinda yeah. with the inflations and all magic happened last couple years, cost of a high end machine raised 50~70 percent, at least through my observation.

 

[JimMorrison]

I've got a Rancilio Silvia V3 with PID and a doserless Rocky. Unfortunately, after 10 years of very inconsistent shots, I realized the leftovers in the Rocky were really messing me up. So now I'm using the Rocky for my wife's daily Chemex filter-brew and I'm pulling shots ground with a Commandante hand grinder. It's way more work, but the shots are much more consistent. Once I find $2k lying around I'm dreaming of a Weber Key grinder.

Let's be honest, I'm dreaming of a Weber EG-1, but that's a whole 'nother level of crazy. The Key is affordable by comparison.

 

[MarcelNL]

No need to go that far IMO, there are a load of grinders that outperform a Rocky in consistency!

Weber makes great grinders (am using one for pepper) though...

 

[Lars]

Making good espresso is not that hard. Managing workflow and customer service is what makes a great barista imo.

 

[jedy617]

Easiest thing ever with a good machine and good grinder imo once dialed in.

 

[MarcelNL]

Making good espresso is not that hard. Managing workflow and customer service is what makes a great barista imo.

I wish that was true, it must be very hard given the plonk mostely served as espresso, regardless of what high end machine is in use in a shop...

 

[Lars]

I wish that was true, it must be very hard given the plonk mostely served as espresso, regardless of what high end machine is in use in a shop...

If the water, beans, grinder and training sucks, the machine doesn't matter..

 

[Corradobrit1]

Let's be honest, I'm dreaming of a Weber EG-1, but that's a whole 'nother level of crazy. The Key is affordable by comparison.

Thats nothing. Titus grinders take the award for insane. Superbly over engineered as only the Germans know how. It's got knobs machined from mokume FFS. Priced at about 8K Euro.

 

[mockit]

@Lars

That is a tricky one IMO. I have worked in a few different service models. My preferred model is one where the barista is not primarily responsible for anything except the coffee. Hands down. Let the barista focus on being a barista. Let a cashier or someone front of house focus on providing an experience. This requires a cashier who can talk about coffee and does not mean the barista should be head/eyes down. I also prefer this as a customer if the above conditions are met. I think customer service and flow are what make a cafe good though . Lots of places with bad coffee are still good cafes. Finding good coffee at a random spot is kind of an unreasonable expectation for me at this point lol.

@jedy617

Dialing in is 90% of the ballgame on any machine and 90% of professional baristas in specialty coffee do not or cannot do it properly. Dialing in strictly by numbers (including TDS) or sight is not dialing in. It is not rocket science, but it requires knowing what you are tasting and making an intentional adjustment to correct it. Doing this properly and efficiently is not easy. If it was, 90% of specialty coffee would not suck.

 

[MarcelNL]

If the water, beans, grinder and training sucks, the machine doesn't matter..

it's hardly ever the water, even some standard fairly cheap commercial Italian blend can produce decent espresso...the machine matters little, te grinder does but the training and EXPERIENCE of the barista is key...

the Italian model works, pay at the counter and put your token on the bar where a barista will take care of you....barista is a skill, like carpentry, waiting tables etc...in our modern world it has become 'the interchangeable person making espresso drinks'

 

[dragjp]

Titus grinders take the award for insane.

yeeep, that's gonna be my next countertop decoration if buying anymore. grinder? what grinder

If it was, 90% of specialty coffee would not suck.

+1, barista? an acronym for chemist with tasting skills