Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

I've been drinking instant coffee for the last couple of years :o and decided to improve on this so just went out today and bought the following :

Aeropress, Hario Skerton, Hario milk frother, vacuum storage

Currently have 1 bag each of the first on this page :
http://santino.com.sg/oppremiumblend.htm

Had my first today and was a good improvement over instant coffee (obviously..!) but still a lot of experimenting to do ! Any recommendations on where to look for some tips ? :D
 
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Ironic Namesake said:
I've been drinking instant coffee for the last couple of years :o and decided to improve on this so just went out today and bought the following :

Aeropress, Hario Skerton, Hario milk frother, vacuum storage

Currently have 1 bag each of the first on this page :
http://santino.com.sg/oppremiumblend.htm

Had my first today and was a good improvement over instant coffee (obviously..!) but still a lot of experimenting to do ! Any recommendations on where to look for some tips ? :D
Click to expand...

Check out www.brewmethods.com for alternative aeropress techniques.
 
100% converted to the virtues of the clever dripper, its fantastic! - through all the messing I've not managed to make a bad cup, just lovely smooth drinkable coffee with no bitterness.

I need to try cold brewing with it actually... might have to set it up next week...
 
Forgot to mention, was in London on Wednesday and went to Sensory Lab. The guys there made me the best cup of coffee I ever had that came out of an Aeropress! The stuff I make in mine tastes like bitter gunk by comparison, and I know it's not just the beans I use (although they did use some nice beans, an Ethiopian variety roasted by St Ali's).
Gotta say though, £4 for a cup is a bit extravagant :p
 
I still can't master my Aeropress. What sort of grind should I be using? And are there any techniques that are better than others? I've been doing the inverted one. Just end up with quite bitter coffee.
 
Currently on the Machacamarca de Berenguela, not too bad. Looking forward to trying the Colombian Oporapa also from Hasbean as I really liked the sound of that. Was quite cheap as well.
 
Ahleckz said:
I still can't master my Aeropress. What sort of grind should I be using? And are there any techniques that are better than others? I've been doing the inverted one. Just end up with quite bitter coffee.
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Are you using boiled water straight from the kettle? Might be worth letting it cool a little? What I do:

Put kettle onto boil (I let the kettle finish boiling as I start to grin which takes about 3 mins, water temp is then usually about 80-85deg by the time I get round to using it).
Measure beans into grinder (I find that a good scoop is around 21g).
Grind (I use a grind that lets me apply a steady pressure to the Aeropress, but not so much that it clogs up and needs lots of pressure).
Warm up cup and Aeropress, I just use hot water from the tap.
Pour hot water through filter in holder (supposed to get rid of any paper taste).
Empty Aeropress of hot water, quick dry and empty the grounds in. (inverted)
Poor water in from the kettle to just under half full. Leave it for 30 secs.
Give it a good stir, then fill to the very top. Stir slowly and leave for another 30secs or so.
Put the filter on, cup on top, invert and slowly push the coffee through taking about another 30secs.
Stop pushing as soon as you hear air escaping.
Enjoy.

All timings above are approximate, it's normally the time spent getting the next thing ready or cleaning up. I've not had a bitter coffee yet (although I admit to liking strong coffee so may be less susceptible!). The big thing that took me a little while to get used to with the Aeropress was the lack of bitterness, compared to the strong instant stuff I was used to!
 
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Just a little thing that happening in London next week.

29th Feb @ Prufrock, Leather Lane

http://gorillatampers.tumblr.com/post/16913837990/safehouse-coffee-tea-comeback-fundraiser said:
To those who don’t already know the lovely people at SafeHouse Coffee & Tea in Griffin, Georgia USA

A tragedy struck their Cafe a few nights ago, the Cafe was consumed by fire and left their blood, sweat and tears in a very bad way.

So on Wednesday evening the 29th of February From 6pm till 10pm I will be Hosting a Fundraiser at Prufrock Coffee on Leather Lane.

There will be Raffles, Auctions and Thumb Wrestling Challenges to raise money for the guys at SafeHouse Coffee & Tea.

Raffle and Thumb Wrestling Prizes will be Coffee from Hasbean, Square Mile Coffee Roasters, Extract Coffee & James Gourmet Coffee.
Some exciting goodies from Marco Beverage systems. Clever Coffee Dripper’s from Coffeehit. Tea & teaware from Waterloo Tea and much much more.

Auction for one off’s, A custom Knock Box made from old Coffee Roaster parts by Dave Faulkner of Extract Coffee Roasters, A little Special something from Kees van der Westen, A custom Handmade Tamper from Myself with 1st edition GT poster, A peice of East London Furniture’s finest & A piece of Artwork By Martin Kingdom.

If you would like to donate directly to SafeHouse Coffee follow here
Or if you would like to help out on the night or donate prizes for the fundraiser please drop me an email here

Support is flooding in from these loving people donating time and goodies for the fundraiser.
Prufrock Coffee
Square Mile Coffee Roasters
Hasbean Coffee
Extract Coffee Roasters
James Gourmet Coffee
Marco Beverage Systems
The Kernel Brewery
KeepCup
East London Furniture
PuckStudio
Vespertine Press
CoffeeHit
Synesso
Waterloo Tea
Northiam Dairy
Kees van der Westen
Martin Kingdom
Big Apple Hot Dogs
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And a little video is here

And of course, the following Saturday we've got the UKBC *cough* Midlands Heat in Norwich. I'll be there and tweeting again if at all possible using the hashtag #ukbcht4
 
I've stumbled across my new favourite espresso brew method for those that normally prefer a bit of sugar, apparently this is known as a "Cuban style" espresso -

In a double filter basket add about half of your grind and level out with a gentle tamp. Add a thin, level layer of sugar on top of this and then add your remaining coffee. Tamp as normal, brew and then enjoy the beautifully sweet, rich goodness that follows :)
 
Ahleckz said:
I still can't master my Aeropress. What sort of grind should I be using? And are there any techniques that are better than others? I've been doing the inverted one. Just end up with quite bitter coffee.
Click to expand...

So many ways to use the Aeropress. I've worked through and used all the methods listed on brewmethods.com and more. This simple method comes from someone who did particularly well at one of the World Aeropress Championships and I use this all the time now:

1) Grind 20g beans (see Note at end about grind setting).

2) Soak filter paper with boiling water to get rid of any paper taste. I insert the filter and screw the plastic filter holder onto the Aeropress and pour a mugful of boiling water through a couple of times. This also serves to preheat the Aeropress).

3) Pour boiling water in mug to pre-warm.

4) Pour away mug water, place Aeropress on top of mug (right way up) and pour the ground coffee in.

5) Ensuring water is between 91c and 93c, start timer and pour the water over the ground trying to make as much disturbance to the ground coffee as possible. Pour near to brim.

6) After 30 seconds of timer, slowly stir for 10 seconds. I use the Aeropress stirrer.

7) Plunge slowly (around 15-20 seconds) until just before there would be the hissing sound. You'll probably already know this point from experience.

8) Fill up remainder of the mug with water from kettle. If adding some milk, I find semi-skimmed tastes better than whole milk but it's down to preference. Makes sure the milk is warm, not boiled.

Enjoy!!

Note about the grind:
If you're having to apply a load of pressure to the plunger or the coffee is very bitter then grind coarser. If you're finding the coffee watery and the plunger is too easily pressed, grind finer.

Experiment with other methods until you're happy with the result. I've found that there's no brew method which is hands down better than any other.

I use a cheap set of scales from ebay and a thermometer with a probe which has an alarm which sounds when the water drops to a set temperature which I set to 93C which makes life a little easier.
 
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Afternoon.

The Fundraiser for Safehouse Coffee has got an some of the items that are up for auction on John Gordon's tumblr page. Including one item that I want. I want it a lot.

First up:

http://gorillatampers.tumblr.com/post/18148545939/auction-1-a-hand-made-custom-knock-tube-from

Thats pretty cool. Bit big for me though. However....

http://gorillatampers.tumblr.com/post/18210405388/kees-van-der-westens-frankenstein-tinkering

A custom made Espresso Machine by the same guy who does all the Speedster machines *which I adore, but are too large for my kitchen... damn...* I so want that... But I suspect it'll go for quite a chunk of change.

If anyone can make it to the event at Prufrock Coffee on wednesday evening - then please do.
 
Flibster said:
A custom made Espresso Machine by the same guy who does all the Speedster machines *which I adore, but are too large for my kitchen... damn...* I so want that... But I suspect it'll go for quite a chunk of change.
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saw that on Square Mile's twitter, a real thing of Frankenstein beauty, but the would kill me if I turned up with it, and then kill me again when she found out much I'd dropped on it :D
 
Siliconslave said:
saw that on Square Mile's twitter, a real thing of Frankenstein beauty, but the would kill me if I turned up with it, and then kill me again when she found out much I'd dropped on it :D
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It is truly magnificent. I'd love it. it's almost steampunk espresso. ;) And as my other half goes away for 2 weeks as of thursday morning. Once it's in the flat... ;)

I do suspect it'll go for at least a couple of grand, hopefully much more. The Speedster is about £5k, which is what stops me from getting one sadly.

[edit]

And bidding is now open!

http://www.32auctions.com/organizations/3060/auctions/3417/auction_items/63209
 
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I can't believe it only went for £1800 - that's a crazy price, and sold to James whose staunchly anti espresso at home, i guess it'll set set-up at square mile then...

Almost time to order the next batch of work and home coffees - what would people recommend for a filter brew? I much prefer the sweeter richer tones than anything too citrusy
 
IMO that was a complete bargain. If I hadn't have got a txt from the other half consisting of just the words:

DON'T YOU FORNICATING DARE!

I may have put a crafty bid in too. But I value my life and my sensitive areas. :D

Had a quick chat with James at the end of the night, he wants it to be somewhere where it will be used and people can see it. After he's tried it out and made sure it's all safe and won't burn you and so on. I'd half expect to see it at Square Mile HQ or possibly Prufrock for a while in use.

Rest of the evening was great fun. 8 different coffees were being run, 4 on the espresso side and 4 on the brew bar. James, Extract, Hasbean and Square Mile.

Thumb wrestling went off well, more than one person commented on James having freakishly long thumbs after they had been beaten by him.

Ooooh, Big Apple hotdogs... MY GOD THEY ARE GOOD! I don't know where he usually is, but I'm going to find out.

Raffle was brilliant. Bags of coffee, brew bags, cupping sets, a couple of grinders, some tea hampers.

I would have loved one of the tea hampers *but would have had no way to get it home* or one of the grinders *Baratza vairo-W weight based grinders iirc* but instead went home with one of the brew bags. :D Clever dripper, coffee from Square Mile and Extract, Synesso shot glass and Independent London Coffee Shop book. Not a bad prize at all.

The beer was going down very well with many people, Kernel brewery made some people quite wobbley. Not mentioning any names... ;)

In the end, something like £3000 was raised for Safehouse Coffee, a great amount for them to use to help them get up and running. Also found out that Marco will be replacing their Uber boiler that got drenched.

The chap from Marco *forgotten his name, sorry* went home with the Bunny painting that was auctioned in the shop.
Jeremy from Prufrock bought the Knock tube and it was in use seconds later behind the bar.
Steve from Hasbean bought the Gorilla Tamper

Fastastic evening all in all. What other industry would something like this happen in? I can't thing of one.
 
And a quick little cafe review.

Protein by DunneFrankowski in Shorditch.

Brilliant setup, and speaking to Rob, it's going to be evolving nicely. Very simple and clean but the brewed coffee method is fascinating. It's essentially something very close to cupping, but based on a tea making method. I was blown away by how simple and elegent the setup was, and the coffee wasn't bad either. :D

I had an espresso and a cappucinno taster, single shots but to compare how the coffee changes in milk and the brewed coffee. I'm going back next time I'm in London. It's about a 5 minute walk from Liverpool St.
 
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