Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

scruffeh · 3 Sep 2014 at 19:52

Can anyone recommend some good coffee beans (thinking of giving square mile a go, but have used Hasbean in the past). Generally get my beans from a local independent.

I tend to drink flat white and/or macchiatos. Setup is a Gaggia Classic and Mazzer SJ..

Cheers...

Twirlywoos · 4 Sep 2014 at 01:26

scruffeh said:
Can anyone recommend some good coffee beans (thinking of giving square mile a go, but have used Hasbean in the past). Generally get my beans from a local independent.

I tend to drink flat white and/or macchiatos. Setup is a Gaggia Classic and Mazzer SJ..

Cheers...

Raves fudge blend and Italian Job seem to be popular for flat whites. Good prices too, but do let the beans degass.

Jolteh · 4 Sep 2014 at 01:37

scruffeh said:
Can anyone recommend some good coffee beans (thinking of giving square mile a go, but have used Hasbean in the past). Generally get my beans from a local independent.

I tend to drink flat white and/or macchiatos. Setup is a Gaggia Classic and Mazzer SJ..

Cheers...

I feel like Square Mile are the best beans I've tried.

I've gone back to Hasbean recently and tried some of the stuff from there for a bit of variety, and I had a little fling with Pact, but for my next order I think I'm going back to Square Mile.

molinari · 4 Sep 2014 at 07:37

scruffeh said:
Can anyone recommend some good coffee beans (thinking of giving square mile a go, but have used Hasbean in the past). Generally get my beans from a local independent.

I tend to drink flat white and/or macchiatos. Setup is a Gaggia Classic and Mazzer SJ..

Cheers...

Unfortunately HasBean don't have any Brazilian coffee in at the moment, and they don't have any of the fantastic El Salvador Finca la Fany washed bourbon either. At the moment, I'm drinking this from Costa Rica, which makes lovely espresso based drinks.

scruffeh · 4 Sep 2014 at 10:00

molinari said:
Unfortunately HasBean don't have any Brazilian coffee in at the moment, and they don't have any of the fantastic El Salvador Finca la Fany washed bourbon either. At the moment, I'm drinking this from Costa Rica, which makes lovely espresso based drinks.

Ahh yes, the Finca la Fany is lovely!

Going to try some of options above. Thanks very much..

Grimley · 5 Sep 2014 at 22:27

scruffeh said:
Can anyone recommend some good coffee beans (thinking of giving square mile a go.

Do it. I'm on my third bag from there this year & I cant fault it. Just started a bag of this, its great.

http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/magdalena

doran1801 · 12 Sep 2014 at 17:46

Just took the plunge and upgraded my gaggia classic and grinder to a Fracino little Gem and iberital DeRacanvis grinder.

MASSIVE improvement.

FrenchTart · 12 Sep 2014 at 17:47

Wow. Super coffee envy

In what way has it improved things btw? Serious question. I'm pretty happy with my setup but yours looks a hell of a lot shinier.

doran1801 · 12 Sep 2014 at 17:52

I had an old gaggia grinder. I could never get the grind right so ending up buying good, but pre ground coffee.

The gaggia classic, whilst Ok, wont let you pull a shot at the same time as steam milk. This one done,

I got this setup 2nd hand, and have spent 2 days cleaning it all up and descaling it. So only just started to pull of some really nice Espressos. You can see vast improvement in consistency.

I use a puccini bean from Pollards in Sheffield. Roasted and packed today and ground by myself.
So not bad for £300 quid. Plus I get to sell my Gaggia and make a little money back.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171455095247?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

FrenchTart · 12 Sep 2014 at 17:56

All sound like good reasons to upgrade

I think I'll be sticking to my Iberital MC2 and Gaggia Classic combo for some time. I only ever make espresso-based drinks and I steam milk maybe once or twice a year so the main problem with the Classic is (lucky for me) not one I really run up against that often.

Spitfir3 · 12 Sep 2014 at 19:00

Been using hasbean for the last few months and i've been very happy but I was wondering about trying Square mile - would it be worth the extra few £ with my classic + mc2 setup?

Flibster · 12 Sep 2014 at 20:11

Spitfir3 said:
Been using hasbean for the last few months and i've been very happy but I was wondering about trying Square mile - would it be worth the extra few £ with my classic + mc2 setup?

Both world class roasters. Remember that Square Mile do 350g bags instead of Hasbeans 250g bags. So 40% more in a bag, normally works out per gram to be pretty close.

FrenchTart · 12 Sep 2014 at 20:58

I really need to get round to trying Square Mile. Hasbean are great but their postage seems to just get more expensive/worse. Kind of frustrating having to wait 3 days for beans when at the same price point a month ago I would get it next day. Obviously I can just pay more but blah

Local roasters in Manchester are few and far between. ManCoCo are okay if you like all your coffee to taste the same - the guy running it is a really nice bloke but he tends to over-roast the coffee imo (personal preference I guess). Ancoats is extremely good but they have only a limited selection. I do recommend trying them out though (not the blends - once again, all a bit samey).

molinari · 13 Sep 2014 at 11:08

doran1801 said:
MASSIVE improvement.

This looks great. I'm seriously considering replacing my Gaggia for something a little better.

FrenchTart said:
I really need to get round to trying Square Mile. Hasbean are great but their postage seems to just get more expensive/worse. Kind of frustrating having to wait 3 days for beans when at the same price point a month ago I would get it next day. Obviously I can just pay more but blah

Yeh, I've notived the price increase in HasBean shipping too. I may have to try Square Mile. I guess I could always by HasBean from my local Taylor St, the extra they charge is a little more than the normal price, but it's still cheaper than the shipping that would normally be added on.

doran1801 · 14 Sep 2014 at 07:41

molinari said:
This looks great. I'm seriously considering replacing my Gaggia for something a little better.

Yeh, I've notived the price increase in HasBean shipping too. I may have to try Square Mile. I guess I could always by HasBean from my local Taylor St, the extra they charge is a little more than the normal price, but it's still cheaper than the shipping that would normally be added on.

The frothing is taking a bit of getting used, to! How long should you be expecting to spend getting the milk to temp?

If i'm not careful, the milk is boiling within about 10 seconds. So am not able to spend time texturing the milk, And my thermometer cant keep up with the rapid increase in temps, resulting in me making milk far too hot.

1st world problems !!

Twirlywoos · 15 Sep 2014 at 19:06

FrenchTart said:
All sound like good reasons to upgrade

I think I'll be sticking to my Iberital MC2 and Gaggia Classic combo for some time. I only ever make espresso-based drinks and I steam milk maybe once or twice a year so the main problem with the Classic is (lucky for me) not one I really run up against that often.

These guys are meant to be decent
http://www.passionfruitcoffee.co.uk

LOAM · 21 Sep 2014 at 20:33

Is the Gaggia Classic the go to machine for me and the missus, wanting to move on from the tassimo. I'm purely an Americano or espresso, the wife likes her cappuccino's, would we need to buy anything extra?

FrenchTart · 21 Sep 2014 at 20:35

LOAM said:
Is the Gaggia Classic the go to machine for me and the missus, wanting to move on from the tassimo. I'm purely an Americano or espresso, the wife likes her cappuccino's, would we need to buy anything extra?

The one thing the Classic isn't great at is steaming milk. You can get around that with a few (cheap) upgrades but if you have the cash then it might be worth investing in a slightly higher-end machine. Either that or a separate option for the milk steaming.

Going to Cali · 23 Sep 2014 at 12:19

FrenchTart said:
The one thing the Classic isn't great at is steaming milk. You can get around that with a few (cheap) upgrades but if you have the cash then it might be worth investing in a slightly higher-end machine. Either that or a separate option for the milk steaming.

Yes, the original steam wand is rubbish but that's easily solved with the rancilio wand mod. As a single use machine though, it's more than adequate. I never make more than the one cup (more to do with having a hand grinder than anything), I wonder how it would hold up to making multiple shots and steaming for more than one drink at a time.

davetherave2 · 23 Sep 2014 at 22:31

Just in case anyone has missed this and I didn't see it mentioned in the thread. Has Bean have a limited run with 3FE of the lovely El Salvador La Ilusion price is a little steep @ £30 for two bags one roasted by Has Bean and the other by 3FE (Honey processed & Natural) so you will have to be quick as there isn't long left to order.

http://www.hasbean.co.uk/collection...ca-la-ilusion-3fe-has-bean-collaboration-pack

So whats the plan? Well, Roland one of our roasters here will be going to Dublin to roast the El Salvador Finca La Ilusion honey that we had a couple of weeks ago (for just 7 days, that is no longer available on Has Bean) with Simon who is one of the 3FE roasting team.The rest of this honey La Ilusion is an exclusive from now on for 3FE.

Monica who is part of the 3FE roasting team is coming to spend the day with Gary in Stafford, and they will roast the La ilusion Natural selection that has not been on the website. This will then be a Has Bean Exclusive going forwards.