Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

molinari said:
Just seen that there is one a couple of minutes from my office at Bond Street. I usually visit Taylor St Baristas but I may have to pop there tomorrow to check it out.
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yup, thats the one i went to (after a rather tasty lunch at P&B) - much nicer than Taylor St imho - not to detract from Taylor St, they do a great job as a small chain :)
 
Siliconslave said:
yup, thats the one i went to (after a rather tasty lunch at P&B) - much nicer than Taylor St imho - not to detract from Taylor St, they do a great job as a small chain :)
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P&B surely means Patty & Bun, and if so, that's got me wanting to go there for another superb burger. I love the place :).

Back to coffee..... does anyone here roast their own beans???
 
molinari said:
P&B surely means Patty & Bun, and if so, that's got me wanting to go there for another superb burger. I love the place :).

Back to coffee..... does anyone here roast their own beans???
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yup, thats exactly where I mean and it is truely glorious :)

Not tried home roasting, want to give it a go but its quite a commitment - plus it apparently smokes the whole house out!
 
Another leak appeared in my Classic. Seems fixing the boiler shifted the issue to another part of the machine. :mad:

What made me laugh was the part I needed. EF0045/01/A - Complete ****. :D [edit]Seriously? The word for a male chicken is censored? Wow....* [/edit]

Should stop the leaky steam wand now. Just have to wait for the damn thing to arrive.
 
Recently bought a Gaggia Classic, now looking at getting a decent grinder, seems the Iberital Mc2 range is very popular but not sure it would suit my needs as I'll be changing between espresso and cafetiere grinds quite regularly (use a cafetiere at work). So I'm thinking the Rancilo Rocky may be a better choice for its ease of grind change, £100 more than the Mc2 though, any thoughts/suggestions appreciated.
 
smit101 said:
Recently bought a Gaggia Classic, now looking at getting a decent grinder, seems the Iberital Mc2 range is very popular but not sure it would suit my needs as I'll be changing between espresso and cafetiere grinds quite regularly (use a cafetiere at work). So I'm thinking the Rancilo Rocky may be a better choice for its ease of grind change, £100 more than the Mc2 though, any thoughts/suggestions appreciated.
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I have the MC2 and whilst it is a good grinder if, as you say, you're changing between grinds a lot I think it's definitely worth the extra for the Rancilo.
 
FrenchTart said:
I have the MC2 and whilst it is a good grinder if, as you say, you're changing between grinds a lot I think it's definitely worth the extra for the Rancilo.
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Thanks:), I'll go for the doserless version I think, I can't really see the benefit of a doser for my needs, unless I'm missing something?
 
smit101 said:
Thanks:), I'll go for the doserless version I think, I can't really see the benefit of a doser for my needs, unless I'm missing something?
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I went for doserless on my MC2. It's fine and it's nice making sure I only grind what I need. I guess it's a little noisier as you can't just get all the grinding out of the way but..meh..that's not exactly a big deal imo :)
 
Siliconslave said:
yup, thats the one i went to (after a rather tasty lunch at P&B) - much nicer than Taylor St imho - not to detract from Taylor St, they do a great job as a small chain :)
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Just popped in for a quick macchiato, and I'm very impressed. Nice to see they also offer Aeropress coffee, although at £4 I'll stick to making mine at my desk :).
 
I'm enduring a coffee nightmare at the moment. Would grateful ask for your advice..

I have a gaggia classic and porlex hand grinder. I'm using a double basket and grinding 18.0g of beans. Beans roasted a touch over 2 weeks ago and kept airtight.

My issue is that my extractions are either too fast (50g coffee in ), or too slow (12g coffee), extraction time 30 seconds. I'm going between 2 settings on the porlex. For the fast extraction I'm tamping with as much force as possible. The slow extraction I'm using a feather touch. There is literally no middle ground, and it's making me sad!

I'm aiming to extract approximately 29g coffee in 26 to 30 seconds.

Is there anything else I can try??
 
Going to Cali said:
I'm enduring a coffee nightmare at the moment. Would grateful ask for your advice..

I have a gaggia classic and porlex hand grinder. I'm using a double basket and grinding 18.0g of beans. Beans roasted a touch over 2 weeks ago and kept airtight.

My issue is that my extractions are either too fast (50g coffee in ), or too slow (12g coffee), extraction time 30 seconds. I'm going between 2 settings on the porlex. For the fast extraction I'm tamping with as much force as possible. The slow extraction I'm using a feather touch. There is literally no middle ground, and it's making me sad!

I'm aiming to extract approximately 29g coffee in 26 to 30 seconds.

Is there anything else I can try??
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I would suggest sticking to 18g of coffee grounds for starters. Also try out some more settings on your porlex. Always use quite a firm tamp (though don't go absolutely crazy and get three people to stamp on it or anything). Adjust your porlex grind to be less fine until the same level of tamp produces the result you want.

Have you pressured/OPV modded your classic? Also, are you using the basket that comes with it that only has one small hole at the bottom? You'll improve your coffee a lot if you OPV mod and change the basket (if you haven't already done so).

edit: I think I have misunderstood your post slightly.

Do you have a shot measuring glass? Personally I'd aim for a 23-26 second extraction for the full two shots rather than 30. The time starts from when you hit the button rather than when you first see coffee coming out. 30 seconds seems like quite a long time.
 
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FrenchTart said:
I would suggest sticking to 18g of coffee grounds for starters. Also try out some more settings on your porlex. Always use quite a firm tamp (though don't go absolutely crazy and get three people to stamp on it or anything). Adjust your porlex grind to be less fine until the same level of tamp produces the result you want.

Have you pressured/OPV modded your classic? Also, are you using the basket that comes with it that only has one small hole at the bottom? You'll improve your coffee a lot if you OPV mod and change the basket (if you haven't already done so).
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I replaced the basket and did the opv mod.

The difficulty I have is I'm going between settings 3 and 4 on my porlex. On 3 even with a feather touch, the extraction is too slow. At 4 with full force tamp the pour is too quick. Not sure what I can do.

And just to clarify, grinding the same amount of beans each time, 18g. When I say extract 29g of coffee, I meant the weight of the poured shot.
 
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that does sound frustrating :(

Have you tried under dosing the slow extraction slightly? How fresh are you beans? its not ideal but different beans will dramatically affect the pour as will the freshness...

actually - can't you mod the porlux to make it stepless? Theres some posts around about adding a washer or two?

I worked around that by just using a washer and two nuts instead of the plastic thingy that comes with it.
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That's really strange. I never had issues like that when I used to use my porlex. I must have just been lucky.

If you can mod the porlex as above then perhaps that's your best choice.
 
FrenchTart said:
That's really strange. I never had issues like that when I used to use my porlex. I must have just been lucky.

If you can mod the porlex as above then perhaps that's your best choice.
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I can imagine its just luck, if you hit that point right between the two theres not all that much you can do, beyond over/under dosing...
 
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