Coffee Machine?
- Thread starter Gustov
- Start date
Soldato
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- 4 Apr 2003
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- 8,119
The novelty never wears off!
I don't even drink coffee, but even I love my new investment
I can confirm, this very machine does make a nice cup of coffee.
Associate
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- West Bridgford
This place is great - spend less on the machine and more on the Mexican Altura and Australian Skyberry
krups grinder - £40
a couple of decent bags of coffee - £8
coffee filter machine £7 - £70
I have a £7 asda filter machine on my desk at work, does the job nicely
Man of Honour
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- 1 Aug 2004
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I usually get mine from Wittard's but will get Lavazza from Sainsbury's if I have ran out of Pico.
I'm not sure if Whittard's is fairtrade tbh but some of them I have bought have been average at best.
platypus said:
A wise choice sir and you are most welcome.
Man of Honour
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- 1 Aug 2004
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- Tyneside
Guatamalan Elephant and Pico Duarte are both excellent coffees frm Wittard's.
*hugs knees and rocks backwards and forwards at some of the comments*
The ultimate thread for coffee based geekery.
If your mum only drinks black coffee and isn't into espresso, there are a hell of a lot of possibilities.
Hario V60
Filter cone
Chemex
Aeropress
Vacpot
French press
Stove top
Eva Solo
I'd personally go for either the V60, Chemex or Aeropress - admittedly the V60 and Chemex are technically very similar, but they do produce fairly different cups.
V60 is at it's heart a filter cone, can be used on a jug to allow more than one cup to be made or directly onto the cup.
Chemex is again a filter cone at it's heart, but the filters are incredibly thick and efficient and it produces a wonderfully tasty brew when done correctly. 3 cup is up to about 500ml, 6 cup up to about 1litre and the 10 cup is bout 1.5litres - for a single person, the 1-3 cup will be fine.
The Aeropress is a very versatile little device. Can produce something very close to espresso in taste, or can go to french press and pretty much anything inbetween. Can even make tea with it. But it's possibly the most convoluted method of the 3 to use.
Grinder wise, if you don't want to spend £70-100 on a basic electric burr grinder, then spend £35-40 on the Hario Skerton hand grinder. Best hand grinder I've ever used.
Also worth considering is fresh coffee. A nice present is the 12 month subscription from Hasbean or Square Mile - a different coffee every month for a year. Whole beans are always better than ground. Beans will last up to 3-4 weeks if properly sealed and stored from the day they are roasted. They do drop off in quality after about 10 days though. Ground coffee is not worth using after it's been ground for 10 minutes.
The beans at Whittards and supermarkets aren't fresh, no matter what they say. They will be better than pre-ground coffee though.
Places to buy coffee from:
Nude espresso *only sell in store though*
Square Mile Coffee
Hasbean
Places that uses coffee from the above tend to sell it as well.
I don't buy fairtrade. It's not worth it. The quality isn't any better and the amount of extra money given to the producer is ridiculously small for the increase in price you pay. Buy coffee that was put out to auction, has traceability and was bought by specialist roasters - you will pay more, but more of that goes to the farmer and you get a much better drink at the end as well as none of the roasters will buy rubbish.
The ultimate thread for coffee based geekery.
If your mum only drinks black coffee and isn't into espresso, there are a hell of a lot of possibilities.
Hario V60
Filter cone
Chemex
Aeropress
Vacpot
French press
Stove top
Eva Solo
I'd personally go for either the V60, Chemex or Aeropress - admittedly the V60 and Chemex are technically very similar, but they do produce fairly different cups.
V60 is at it's heart a filter cone, can be used on a jug to allow more than one cup to be made or directly onto the cup.
Chemex is again a filter cone at it's heart, but the filters are incredibly thick and efficient and it produces a wonderfully tasty brew when done correctly. 3 cup is up to about 500ml, 6 cup up to about 1litre and the 10 cup is bout 1.5litres - for a single person, the 1-3 cup will be fine.
The Aeropress is a very versatile little device. Can produce something very close to espresso in taste, or can go to french press and pretty much anything inbetween. Can even make tea with it. But it's possibly the most convoluted method of the 3 to use.
Grinder wise, if you don't want to spend £70-100 on a basic electric burr grinder, then spend £35-40 on the Hario Skerton hand grinder. Best hand grinder I've ever used.
Also worth considering is fresh coffee. A nice present is the 12 month subscription from Hasbean or Square Mile - a different coffee every month for a year. Whole beans are always better than ground. Beans will last up to 3-4 weeks if properly sealed and stored from the day they are roasted. They do drop off in quality after about 10 days though. Ground coffee is not worth using after it's been ground for 10 minutes.
The beans at Whittards and supermarkets aren't fresh, no matter what they say. They will be better than pre-ground coffee though.
Places to buy coffee from:
Nude espresso *only sell in store though*
Square Mile Coffee
Hasbean
Places that uses coffee from the above tend to sell it as well.
I don't buy fairtrade. It's not worth it. The quality isn't any better and the amount of extra money given to the producer is ridiculously small for the increase in price you pay. Buy coffee that was put out to auction, has traceability and was bought by specialist roasters - you will pay more, but more of that goes to the farmer and you get a much better drink at the end as well as none of the roasters will buy rubbish.
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Man of Honour
- Joined
- 1 Aug 2004
- Posts
- 12,681
- Location
- Tyneside
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 1 Aug 2004
- Posts
- 12,681
- Location
- Tyneside
You should never put boiling water into fresh coffee as it can scorch the beans and knack the taste.
Water about 10-15 seconds off the boil is spot on.
Water about 10-15 seconds off the boil is spot on.
I really, really hope you realise you won't be able to make a coffee with just a grinder and beans...
You do not just add water to ground coffee beans - you passed water through ground coffee beans. You need a device that does this such as a cafetiere, an espresso maker or a stovetop espresso maker.
With the stove top, you put your ground beans into a capsule that's placed above water. When you boil the water, the water / steam pushes through the compacted beans and results in an espresso at the top of the device, which you can pour to a cup. To make a 'large coffee' (an american coffee or simply an americano) you just add water to the proceeds.
I hope that helps. I just have this amusing image of you making your mum an xmas coffee by adding the ground beans to hot water and her spitting it out everywhere
Ah right so I could just boil the kettle?
As long as I buy good beans and a good grinder?
haha no I don't. Never had anything but instant coffee in the house.
It's a God damn expensive Xmas present then? £25 stove, £40 grinder and say £10 for beans...
£75
As long as I buy good beans and a good grinder?
I really, really hope you realise you won't be able to make a coffee with just a grinder and beans...
haha no I don't. Never had anything but instant coffee in the house.
It's a God damn expensive Xmas present then? £25 stove, £40 grinder and say £10 for beans...
£75
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It's a God damn expensive Xmas present then? £25 stove, £40 grinder and say £10 for beans...
£75
Well I assume most people with a stovetop just buy pre-ground beans for making espressos. I normally buy some beans from Chandos cafe and have them ground. Another good pack is from Lavazza cafe espresso packs - but make sure you get the espresso pre-ground beans, not cafetiere ones!
So the grinder is the least essential piece of kit. Even then, if you mum isn't a fan of strong coffee, you might be best off just getting a cafetiere because it's less of a faff to use.
I'm tempted, what's it like to clean i.e can I leave it for my cleaner to do or would I have to clean it after each use?
Preground is acceptable, as long as it's preground from freshly roasted and not stuff that was ground and put in a packet months ago *ie most supermarket grounds*
Freshly ground coffee is the most important part of coffee. If you need to you can use really nasty cheap equipment and still make great coffee.
Stovepots need really consistantly ground fine coffee, difficult to do reliably with a hand grinder. Filter is proably the easiest to get right at home.
Hario Skerton, Ceramic filter cone, filters and beans.
Example - Grinder with some excellent coffee - £38
Filter cone - £11.50
Filters - £2ish from the supermarket
All done.
Or for something more special than a filter cone. Small Chemex - £29, Filters - £7, Grinder with some excellent coffee - £38
Freshly ground coffee is the most important part of coffee. If you need to you can use really nasty cheap equipment and still make great coffee.
Stovepots need really consistantly ground fine coffee, difficult to do reliably with a hand grinder. Filter is proably the easiest to get right at home.
Hario Skerton, Ceramic filter cone, filters and beans.
Example - Grinder with some excellent coffee - £38
Filter cone - £11.50
Filters - £2ish from the supermarket
All done.
Or for something more special than a filter cone. Small Chemex - £29, Filters - £7, Grinder with some excellent coffee - £38
I'd like to recomend this http://www.coffeeitalia.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=MVENUSCVOL03000001, a snip at only £9164 of your Great British Pounds.
But seriously,...
I have the single manual version of that...
(slightly smaller and cheaper!)To be honest I'd buy a hasbean's 12 month subscription and something to brew it. Then she'd get a reminder every month of your christmas present.
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