Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

woo - espresso machine is back and working, just need to redial the grinder back in - 60 turns back from pourover and its still too fast :( I wonder if this years the year to swap out the MC2...
 
Anyone had any experience with the Sage Barrista Express? Seems to review really well, looks well built.

Currently using a Gaggia Baby Class but looking to upgrade to something a bit more less hassle. My current grinder is crap looks like a mini blender (some delonghi one) and the milk steaming is crap on it. (although ordered the rancillo wand to mod it, before I seen the sage unit)

Can get the sage for under £400, built in burr grinder, good steamer all in one package.
 
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Craterloads said:
Anyone had any experience with the Sage Barrista Express? Seems to review really well, looks well built.

Currently using a Gaggia Baby Class but looking to upgrade to something a bit more less hassle. My current grinder is crap looks like a mini blender (some delonghi one) and the milk steaming is crap on it. (although ordered the rancillo wand to mod it, before I seen the sage unit)

Can get the sage for under £400, built in burr grinder, good steamer all in one package.
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uv has one and seems to like it. I imagine it will be a billion times better than a Gaggia Baby :)
 
Raymond Lin said:
So had some vouchers to use at Waitrose before they expire, picked up some of these to try. Looks interesting.
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The 360 beans aren't bad for supermarket beans & you don't know how long they have been sitting on the shelf. Them and Union are part of the same firm. In fact I picked up some Union Beans from the London Coffee festival last year. I asked one of the Directors of Union who was on their stall at the time, if they were planning on stocking their beans in Waitrose, as they supplied Ground Coffee to them at the time. He had no idea what I was on about? :confused:
 
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FrenchTart said:
I definitely have to recalibrate when moving from bean to bean (or even from bag to bag if they weren't ordered together) but not whilst on the same bag of beans. I have reasonably high standards but probably not quite as high as yourself I guess :)
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On this note, this is probably very obvious to a lot of people but I've noticed a huge difference since I started storing my beans in a sealed bag from Rave and only putting them in the grinder as I need them. It doesn't really add much hassle either as you can weigh the beans as the machine warms up and you can ensure you are grinding the right amount each time. As you say, it then means your grind stays right for the whole bag rather than getting worse every time you use it.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone else that was a bit stupid like me!
 
Jolteh said:
Gaggia Baby is basically a reskinned Classic with a very slightly small pump, so I doubt the Sage one would pull a much better espresso in fairness.
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Ah right - I thought it was a fair bit worse than that. Good to know.

One More Solo said:
On this note, this is probably very obvious to a lot of people but I've noticed a huge difference since I started storing my beans in a sealed bag from Rave and only putting them in the grinder as I need them. It doesn't really add much hassle either as you can weigh the beans as the machine warms up and you can ensure you are grinding the right amount each time. As you say, it then means your grind stays right for the whole bag rather than getting worse every time you use it.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone else that was a bit stupid like me!
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Yup, definitely the way to go :)
 
Loving the Rave Coffee fudge blend. Cheers :D

coffee.jpg
 
Got some "Altos de las nubes" from Pact Coffee yesterday. Absolutely cracking coffee, really nice sweetness to it, would definitely recommend.

Edit: Just had a call from Pact to make sure the coffee was delivered on time and if the coffee was nice... quite impressed with the service!
 
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I've got two bags of it to work through. So far I'm a little underwhelmed to be honest :( It's not bad by any means but compared to some I've had it's nothing special either.
 
That was my favourite but the last bag I tried I didn't really enjoy, may be my tastebuds has changed but I found it kinda ordinary.
 
Raymond Lin said:
That was my favourite but the last bag I tried I didn't really enjoy, may be my tastebuds has changed but I found it kinda ordinary.
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I've found in the past when I've gone back to the same coffee but from a different batch or whatever that it's quite often not always as good. At least with a blend rather than single origin they're usually a bit more consistent over time.
 
What's good from Hasbean atm?
I use an Aeropress and prefer 'choclotty" taste.

I used to buy from them, but have been using Square Mile recently.
 
Im just got myself a Hario V60 for work and use a french press and 6cup Bialetti moka pot at home and was going to get a few bags from Hasbean.

Now the question is, as I am going to be needing 3 different grinds would i be safer with a cheap hand burr grinder like the Hario, or pay the extra tenner and get the likes of the DeLonghi KG79?
 
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