Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Thanks for the review Flibster - sounds like a great evening and amazing that so much has been done Safehouse, as you say no other industry would do this, such camorradory between coffee shops, especially across the pond!

The Baratza vairo-W looks pretty damn cool, impressive if it can accurately weight the coffee while grinding, would have though the vibration would mess it up!
 
Should my Aeropress 'leak' coffee out before I start plunging? I had about a quarter of cup of coffee after the 30 second wait before plunging.

Would another filter help?
 
Yea, that one was much nicer. I think I wasn't using enough coffee before. Measured out 20g and grinded that, mainly as fine as it would go and then reduced the grind for the last third (arm was getting sore!) Much tastier. Beans aren't very fresh, so just going to use them up and change the grind each time before finding what I like. Then I'll spend some money on some good, fresh, beans.

I'm planning on going to the Barista Championship Scotland heat in a couple of weeks - maybe that'll teach me something!

Edit - Did the inverted method again today, with a slightly less fine grind. Much better! I think before I wasn't measuring my beans and just gestimating. Now going for about 20g (which is roughly one scoop). Seems to be a good weight to go for until I can get my grind perfect. I'll probably bump up to about 25g when I get the grind sorted as I like stronger coffee. Really looking forward to getting some good beans now though.
 
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I've only ever got coffee from the high street, and I love that compared to Instant stuff, which I've had to stop buying now...so I need something cheap to make a decent filter coffee at home.

Is the Abid clever dripper a good choice for this?

I realise I'll have to buy a grinder eventually, but was going to order some pre-ground to start off from hasbean, and use that with the clever dripper...would that get me a good filter coffee?
 
Postie delivered my Aeropress, starter pack of coffee beans and Porlex grinder an hour ago so I had to try it out - even though I'd not long finished some shop bought coffee.

I had some of the Colombia Oporopa. I must say, freshly ground coffee made with the press is very, very good. I'm going to enjoy trying the 5 different beans in the starter pack and experimenting with grind size etc.

For now though, I'm going to have to lie down as I'm seriously buzzing :o
 
I'm on a bag of that Oporopa as well at the moment, and I'm finding it quite agreeable indeed. Bargain for the price :)
 
My zassenhaus hand grinder appears to be broken after 3/4 good years of use. I'm going to take it apart and see if i can work out whats up with it but this seems to be a good opportunity to justify buying a new electric grinder.

Is there anything else i should consider buying other than the iberial mc2? If not, should i be getting the version with or without the doser?
 
It seems that the Columbia Oporapa is the coffee of choice at the moment. I've grabbed a bag myself from Hayley @ The Window Coffee. :D

She's going to be on tv on Friday btw. Making coffee for Alan Titchmarsh apparently.


Lewist said:
Is there anything else i should consider buying other than the iberial mc2? If not, should i be getting the version with or without the doser?
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Unless it's purely for use as an espresso machine, always get the doserless version. And I prefer doserless versions for espresso too.
 
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The Iberial is great if you just want brew one method - if you want to switch between say espresso and drip its a right royal pain to change grind consistency.

Its totally geared for tiny adjustments so it'll take two to three complete turns to dial between fresh and old beans for espresso or around fifty to get from espresso to drip.

The problem is it does such a good job for such a low price its hard to find anything of a similar quality with more flexibly. The best alternative seems to be the baratza maestro at ~£140 - http://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/Baratza-Maestro-Plus-Coffee-Grinder.html if you want to mix up your brew methods (or just get a MC2 for espresso & a hand grinder for drip)

and good shout on the Oporapa - will have to pick some up next week, running dangerous low of both work and home coffee, eek!
 
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Just got a really good grind level and figured out the Aeropress quite well. However, I've ran out of beans and I have no money at all. Grr! Back to instant. :(
 
bruce said:
I've only ever got coffee from the high street, and I love that compared to Instant stuff, which I've had to stop buying now...so I need something cheap to make a decent filter coffee at home.

Is the Abid clever dripper a good choice for this?
Click to expand...
Hopefully someone familiar can answer on that one specifically however I just thought I'd say that a cafetiere ("french press") is a very forgiving and easy way to make tasty long coffee at home. Before I got my espresso machine that was the best way I had of making coffee at home and it still gets regular use as it's a good way to make a lot of coffee quickly e.g. for after dinner drinks.
 
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I'd totally recommend the clever dripper over cafetiere tbh - the lack of sludge in the brew wins it for me every time :) The only downside is the size, its only a one (& 1/2) cup solution whereas you can get >8 cup cafetieres...
 
I've been sending a few emails back and forth with Steve from Hasbean, he reckoned as a newcomer to home brewing coffee, I'd be better off with an Aeropress and a Porlex grinder, so that's what I've ordered, along with a couple of his recommendations for coffee beans.
I really like the filter coffee from Mcdonalds (sorry lol), so I'm hoping the results from this kit will be as good, if not better.
 
Sure...

# 1 x Bolivia Finca Machacamarca de Berengula 2012
(Grind or Green: Roasted Whole Beans)
# 1 x Phil Ter Filter Blend
(Grind or Green: Roasted Whole Beans)
 
bruce said:
I've been sending a few emails back and forth with Steve from Hasbean, he reckoned as a newcomer to home brewing coffee, I'd be better off with an Aeropress and a Porlex grinder, so that's what I've ordered, along with a couple of his recommendations for coffee beans.
I really like the filter coffee from Mcdonalds (sorry lol), so I'm hoping the results from this kit will be as good, if not better.
Click to expand...

good stuff, once you have it dialled in it'll blow McDonalds out of the water :)
 
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