Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Flibster said:
From my wanders around London yesterday I've got a couple of thoughts.

I still think that Prufrock is the best place in London for coffee in general. Brew bar is magnificent. They're also starting to do other coffee rather than just Square Mile *occasionally, and you may have to ask nicely ;) *

Best espresso is served at Tapped & Packed on Tottenham Court Road. The blend is amazing. Slightly funky due to the natural they have in it, but very drinkable. I'm not a natural coffee drinker, but that is wow.

The best milk based drinks are served at St Ali supplied places. Sensory Lab is my prefered place to drink it. St Ali is wonderful, but too dark and trendy for me.

Did pick up a coffee that I haven't tried as of yet. Doesn't even appear on their web site at the moment. Square Mile's El Talapo - sounds just up my alley though. Chocolate, caramel, toffee, brown sugar... Yum. :D
Click to expand...

I liked the vibe in Prufrock but they didn't seem to be doing anything on the brew bar when I popped in a few weeks back. Lovely espresso though.

Chocolate Brownie was good too :D

Back in the office next week after two weeks off at college so decided to go for Breakfast Blend to wake me up for my latest order!
 
BUSH said:
be interesting to see what you think of it. I've just worked through a bag of it, mixture of v60 and flat white and didn't find it overly exciting. I got hints of the notes described, but it lacked richness and body for me, particularly with milk. I tried higher doses but couldn't get myself happy with it. I preferred the San Rafael Urias of the current squaremile coffees. May try it again and play some more with different grinds and brew ratios as on paper i felt the same about it :D
Click to expand...

Haven't opened it yet. It's still a touch fresh. Probably open it on monday


Mad old tory said:
I liked the vibe in Prufrock but they didn't seem to be doing anything on the brew bar when I popped in a few weeks back. Lovely espresso though.

Chocolate Brownie was good too :D

Back in the office next week after two weeks off at college so decided to go for Breakfast Blend to wake me up for my latest order!
Click to expand...

Even if there's no-one at the brew bar, the kit is all ready to go. It's usually only equipment failures that shuts it down.

Cakes though... Bea's of Bloombsbury - Cupcakes are very good, but on Thursday I tried their Lemon meringue pie... I don't think you could live on it, but I'd give it a damn good try! Best lemon meringue pie I've ever had.
 
Flibster said:
Haven't opened it yet. It's still a touch fresh. Probably open it on monday




Even if there's no-one at the brew bar, the kit is all ready to go. It's usually only equipment failures that shuts it down.

Cakes though... Bea's of Bloombsbury - Cupcakes are very good, but on Thursday I tried their Lemon meringue pie... I don't think you could live on it, but I'd give it a damn good try! Best lemon meringue pie I've ever had.
Click to expand...

You literally spent all day going from coffee shop to coffee shop didn't you :D
 
Reading Flibster's post about his favourite places was just cruel, as i'm in London right now but didn't have time to check any of them out today! :( Tomorrow I'm catching a train back to Leeds at 10, which is cutting it a bit tight for a nice caffeinated breakfast!

Hey Flibster, do any of those places open at 8? Cause if so I could probably drop by one of them! The espresso room is close enough to King's Cross that i could get off one stop early at Russell Sqr,have a coffee there, and walk the rest of the way. If i had the time I'd much rather try the Sensory lab though tbh.... :)
 
Yeah, Prufrock, St Ali and Tapped&Packed also open at 8, and they're close enough to KX that I could make it! Guess I'll just go to whichever of those I feel like visiting when I leave here.

Random question though,how come Tapped&Packed has 2 branches so close to each other? (And please dont tell me it's for the same reason Starbucks open branches close to each other!:))
 
I still personally think the best coffees in London are to be found at either Monmouth, Flat White or Milk Bar. Monmouth beans are still the best of the bunch IMO.

nom
IMG_20110906_123703.jpg
 
BUSH said:
be interesting to see what you think of it. I've just worked through a bag of it, mixture of v60 and flat white and didn't find it overly exciting. I got hints of the notes described, but it lacked richness and body for me, particularly with milk. I tried higher doses but couldn't get myself happy with it. I preferred the San Rafael Urias of the current squaremile coffees. May try it again and play some more with different grinds and brew ratios as on paper i felt the same about it :D
Click to expand...

As I've just about finished the bag now I'll add some comments.

As it got older, it got better. Started out fairly bland, but got much sweeter, I think it went more toffee and caramel rather than chocolate. Didn't work as espresso, but in the syphon and V60, it rocked.
 
I decided against trying some Ethiopian as per my other post. I managed to be in Soho in the waking hours for once (I work nights) so picked up some El Talapo from Flat White. I have to say I'm not overly impressed. As you say it is quite 'bland'.. sometimes it almost feels like I'm not making it strong enough.
 
Scam said:
I decided against trying some Ethiopian as per my other post. I managed to be in Soho in the waking hours for once (I work nights) so picked up some El Talapo from Flat White. I have to say I'm not overly impressed. As you say it is quite 'bland'.. sometimes it almost feels like I'm not making it strong enough.
Click to expand...

For me, it was at it's peak around 12-15 days past roasting.
 
Anyone doing the inmymug 150 tomrrow? Finally got my subscription in place last week so that Im not running out of coffee all the time so I got the two packs through this morning.
 
Hey all,

Fascinating thread! Just got back from a highly caffeinated fortnight in Italy and have a determination to get decent coffee now I'm home. I did have the intention of looking for an espresso maker, but from reading around a grinder seems to be the first step, so am about to order an Iberital MC2 as this seems like a good option without spending far too much money! Long term the intention is to grind for espresso, but will this handle grinds for filter as well?

Now the problem is that I don't have the budget for a machine, so was thinking of getting a decent filter unit (already have a couple of stovetops and a french press). I love the look of the chemex, but am also considering the V60 and the dripper with the valve that opens after you brew. A syphon crossed my mind as it looks like so much fun, but I need a method to give me my fix in the morning before the brain really wakes up and that looks a little complicated... The woodneck also looks attractive as it has the fabric filter so I dont have to worry about running out of papers.

Basically I am now rather confused and would be grateful for some recommendations - from the last 20 odd pages of this thread these options all seem to have their proponents, but struggling to make the final decision.
 
@Ferax

I would go for an Aeropress (circa £20) and a grinder like the MC2 ( I have an MC2 and it's a great unit, just a bit of a pain to get the grind spot on first time as it doesn't have settings just markers on the hopper). You can make yourself a good cup of coffee in the morning with little to no thought and be on your way with this setup. V60 might be a good shout too but Aeropress works very well for me.

I'm drinking a cup made with that setup right this minute and it's lovely!! :)

You can then add to your brew kit along the way, I have a chemex which I bring out at the weekend when I am in the mood for a few cups or the beans dictate the chemex as the better brewing option. The Chemex takes longer to brew with than an Aeropress and as such isn't really an option in those 'omg I overslept and am in a rush' mornings prior to work!

Beans- hasbean.co.uk have some of the best beans going in my opinion and their customer service is great.

Hope this helps. :D
 
Hi guys,

I've been keeping up with the thread for a while now and earlier this year started off with an Aeropress and Porlex grinder which have been keeping me going with Hasbean coffee. As my infatuation has grown I've now got the itch to move on to a decent electric grinder and semi-auto espresso machine (trying to convince my wife it's a worthy Xmas present)

I've so far been looking at the Iberital MC2, Gaggia MDF and Baratza Virtuoso Preciso grinders which are all around a similar price (£120-130). I've done a bit of reading on each one and I think so far the Baratza Virtuoso Preciso is my favourite due to the ease of setting the grind with micro/macro adjustment and switching between grinds for espresso / filter / Aeropress.

Does anyone have any advice on these 3 grinders and any particular recommendations? Has anyone bought from interpresso.com before as they seem well priced for the Baratza?

I think on the machine front, I will be looking at a Gaggia Classic and probably do the Rancilio steam arm mod. If anyone else has a huge stash of Nectar points that have never been used, you can put these towards a Classic on the nectar / Phillips website :)

Thanks,
Paul
 
Thanks Youstolemyname, sounds like a good plan. Just watched a couple of videos of the chemex and is does look a little more inlvolved that I had thought - beautiful object though!

Paul, the virtuoso precisio looks great, the ease of different grinds is very attractive, but I had been put off by the price, that looks like a great deal though, would be interested in that as an alternative to the MC2, pity the shipping is £289 though.
 
Just noticed that the MC2 I saw at £114 doesn't include VAT either, making the Baratza seem like an even better option. Shipping is £28 from interpresso, sorry about teh typo above.
 
I have the MC2 and like I say- it can be a right pain to get a correct grind setting for the bean. However, if you always have one brew method (which I pretty much do apart from the odd spot of Chemex) you are only a few twists away for each bean. On the plus side, it means you can make infinite micro adjustments to your grind...

Never heard of the Baratza but the fact it has 40 settings and 11 micro settings seams a great bonus. Next grinder I go for, I will ensure it has a setting selector on it.

Have a look at the Rancillo Rocky too, supposed to be a very very good grinder.
 
Got my Ethiopia Ogawa Natural from Hasbean today. I hadn't ordered anything from them in awhile, simply cause I've taken to buying beans from local coffee bars (between my 3 regular places I can get Union, Hasbean and Square Mile beans, sure, slightly more expensive than they'd be if I ordered them directly even including shipping, but without the hassle of having to go pick them up from the depot cause the postman couldn't fit it through the slot), but I decided to get a paper filter holder for my vac pot so I got some beans as well.

They didn't taste anything like I expected them to: it's a very light, blonde roast, and I was expecting the kind of face-curdling sourness that people who like very light roasts describe as "zesty citrus flavours" :p But It turned out not to be very astringent at all, very mellow in fact. As espresso I couldn't taste any of the chocolate cherry notes I got from smelling the beans (maybe French Press or vac pot will bring them out), but I got a very clean cup considering it's a natural and a really pleasant malty flavour that lingered on as an aftertaste and only the slightest amount of bitter (but "good" bitter, like eating watermelon peel preserved in syrup - you wouldn't know what I mean, it's a very traditional sweet back home, I have no other way to describe it).

I'll have it in the syphon tomorrow. Or later today if I get too weak:p

Speaking of the syphon though, I'm a bit confused by the paper adapter I got. First of all it seems smaller than the cloth filter (I got the same £25 ebay pot that's basically an unbranded Hario), and secondly, the papers that came with it seem FAR TOO BIG for the filter! Is the filter actually meant to stick out from the sides? Take a look here:

IMAG0155.jpg
 
manveruppd said:
Speaking of the syphon though, I'm a bit confused by the paper adapter I got. First of all it seems smaller than the cloth filter (I got the same £25 ebay pot that's basically an unbranded Hario), and secondly, the papers that came with it seem FAR TOO BIG for the filter! Is the filter actually meant to stick out from the sides? Take a look here:

IMAG0155.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats normal. My recommendation is to rinse the paper filter a little before sticking it into the metal holder and into the syphon and then rinsing it properly. Seems to make a better seal that way.

Someone has modified a Coava Disk to work in the syphon adaptor... Want to try that. But I'm using a glass drainer from a Cona at the moment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom