Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

FrenchTart · 26 Mar 2015 at 19:24

Siliconslave said:
I did try this method: http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/do-it-yourself/2011/08/how-to-make-cold-brew-coffee/ a good while back and it worked pretty well - you do need a filter to get rid of the grounds, but you can pick them up very cheaply from a large supermarket (or get decent ones from a coffee shop)

Cheers for that

gEd · 28 Mar 2015 at 01:32

JoeF1 said:
Could i be a pain and get some of your recipes? Going with the consensus the inverted method is the best. But what about grams and ml water? Thanks

Well, generally for espresso, the recommended starting point is (by weight) twice the amount of water as coffee. Go with that as a starting point.

With the Aero, I use it inverted, grind a full scoop full of beans (~16g) and top her up with off the boil water and leave it for about 50 seconds for an Americana-esque coffee. It very tunable and really comes down to personal preference but it is generally better to add hot water to a strong brew than to add too much water at the brew stage which can lead to over extraction.

rhysduck · 28 Mar 2015 at 18:29

Edinho · 29 Mar 2015 at 07:25

Siliconslave said:
60g of coffee, thats quite a bit! Filter ground as suggested.

I'm not sure the Yorkshire in me would be keen on 60g per brew.

molinari said:
Moka Pot makes a good strong coffee. I think it's one of the harder methods to perfect.

Really? It's infinitely easier than any of the steam routes. Fill holder - fill with boiling water - put on stove - take off stove. Even me mum can manage it.

Scam · 29 Mar 2015 at 18:15

Does anyone know roughly how many mls the Aeropress scoop holds? Random but I want to use it for measuring out whey protein whilst a kindly forum member posts me a proper scoop, so I need to get 70cc (70ml)

I'm getting differing answer online and am struggling to measure myself

FrenchTart · 29 Mar 2015 at 18:28

I just cleaned behind the shower head on my Gaggia for the first time in aaages. It was pretty grim and definitely responsible for the off flavours I'd been experiencing with my espresso lately.

Pro tip - don't be as lazy as me

Raymond Lin · 29 Mar 2015 at 18:39

I finished my 2 bags of Fazenda Cachoeira, not sure what it is but I really didn't enjoy this batch as previously, it seems a bit more sharper and berry like than before.

Bought a bag of Starbucks Pike Place and really enjoyed it.....something is wrong with my tongue.

Flibster · 29 Mar 2015 at 18:47

Scam said:
Does anyone know roughly how many mls the Aeropress scoop holds? Random but I want to use it for measuring out whey protein whilst a kindly forum member posts me a proper scoop, so I need to get 70cc (70ml) I'm getting differing answer online and am struggling to measure myself

Glass on scale and tare.
Fill Aeropress scoop with water.
Empty into glass

1g water = 1 ml = 1 cc

Simples.

FrenchTart · 29 Mar 2015 at 18:54

You probably have already realised this but just in case.... The protein powder has a different weight per ml to water. To fill a my protein powder scoop I'd need approx 3 heaped table spoons of protein powder.

Scam · 29 Mar 2015 at 19:44

Flibster said:
Glass on scale and tare.
Fill Aeropress scoop with water.
Empty into glass

1g water = 1 ml = 1 cc

Simples.

Yup. I was confusing myself because I was using a 25ml medicine cup as well to measure. Brain not functioning on a Sunday afternoon

FrenchTart said:
You probably have already realised this but just in case.... The protein powder has a different weight per ml to water. To fill a my protein powder scoop I'd need approx 3 heaped table spoons of protein powder.

Yep. You need 25g of impact whey (from MyProtein), which is 70cc, which is why they sell a 70ml (70cc) scoop. I just didn't pay attention on my order and bought the 5cc scoop...

For reference I seem to get about 35ml of water in one scoop so that's nice and easy...

EDIT: Can you tell my girlfriend wanted to do cleaning and chores today and now we're onto sorting out house bills? Anything to escape

InvaderGIR · 30 Mar 2015 at 15:42

JoeF1 said:
So my beans and aeropress had arrived. Guessing the best way isnt to follow the instructions .

Could i be a pain and get some of your recipes? Going with the consensus the inverted method is the best. But what about grams and ml water?

Thanks

The amount of coffee depends on the bean you're using and the grind you're doing too but basically, follow the above and increase the dose slightly to suit your tastes. You may find it takes a little while to dial it in fully (correct grind and dose) and get the best extraction.

Johnathan is a great guy and he explains the best way to do it...can go a bit technical mind.

Indigo · 30 Mar 2015 at 21:54

Cheers for that InvaderGIR, just ordered an Aeropress myself and two packs of ground beans.

Only ever drank instant at home so looking forward to the change.

JoeF1 · 31 Mar 2015 at 08:43

Great! Cheers for that Invader & gED

Mobius 1 · 31 Mar 2015 at 13:35

didnt even know this thread existed! :eek:

i just recently bought a bean to cup coffee machine (posted a picture in the images of stuff bought thread - its a melitta cafeo ci)

whats a good bean to go for?!

uchuff · 31 Mar 2015 at 14:02

Looks swish.

It's been mentioned to death already but this one from Hasbean is really nice. The more adventurous / challenging beans they do are great as espresso but (imho) not really too suited for milky drinks, so depends what you like I think.

Siliconslave · 31 Mar 2015 at 14:03

Tauren said:
didnt even know this thread existed!

i just recently bought a bean to cup coffee machine (posted a picture in the images of stuff bought thread - its a melitta cafeo ci)

whats a good bean to go for?!

my current recommendations:

http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/ - the Redbrick is consistently great
http://hasbean.co.uk - the brazil fazenda cachoeira da grama yellow bourbon is a bit of a mouthfull, but very popular
http://ravecoffee.co.uk/ - Personally i like the Rwanda Karengera Red Bourbon

But it partly depends on your preferences (sweet, rich, acidic etc) and how you drink it (black, white etc)

Mobius 1 · 31 Mar 2015 at 14:45

thanks for the prompt replies chaps. i'll take a look at those beans/websites when i get home, and the reccomendations! i like a medium between sweet and rich, and black espresso usually is what i'd go for! or a very light splash of milk. i still like to taste the coffee!

NickK · 31 Mar 2015 at 15:14

Steamed a whole bean soya cappuccino yesterday.. not bad, the 'milk' does give velvet bubbles but it's easier to suck in a large dose of air compared to milk so you need to be weary of it (it will suck air down through the foam in the jug so the foam is lighter in weight). Taste is soya, no surprises, with a harder taste than milk is when it's steamed.

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You can see the larger bubbles caused by air suck down (it suddenly makes a void down to the tip through the foam).

A good experiment but I've gone back to the shot of espresso with hot water

LOAM · 2 Apr 2015 at 09:34

LOAM said:
Well Phillips/Gaggia are collecting ours on Wednesday for replacement/repair. Pretty painless to be honest, they asked if I had spoken to the retailer but as soon as Amazon were mentioned the chap more or less said "well good luck with that after 28 days, we'll sort it from here".

Hopefully it wont be out of action for long as I already miss it lol.

That's the report back from NESN, poor thing looks to have been in a bit of bother. The fact it broke after 6 months hasn't bothered me because of how great the after care service has been from Philips (arranged collection and sent all the packaging via DPD). It's on its way back having been de-scaled and serviced at the same time as the replacements.

For information, the original url where you can organise repairs is as follows;

http://www.support.philips.com/support/contact/contact_page.jsp?userLanguage=en&userCountry=gb

NESN which deal with all the repairs are on;
http://nesn.co.uk/

But you must go through Philips first.

Edinho · 4 Apr 2015 at 21:38

Lavazza 250g Asda have two for £5. Bought four, £10 for 1Kg good for general coffee and milk based drinks imo.

Good for experimenting without using top beans as well.