Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Jolteh said:
You can definitely get more than 14g in a double basket. Also, supermarket beans that tend to be a little older are generally less 'fluffy' than newer beans so can seem to take up less space in the portafilter.
Click to expand...

That actually more depends on how dark a roast they are - the coffee i'm on at the moment (which i'm not a big fan of actually) is a super dark roast so is very very light, really staticky when ground, and takes up much more volume per gram so I only get around 15-16g in a double portafilter basket.
 
shez said:
Just dusted off my gaggia classic having not used it for a year after moving house.
Now i'm in search of a half decent grinder to hopefully up my espresso game.
From a quick peruse of the internet, the popular options are;
- Iberital MC2 - seems rather idiosyncratic/marmite option
- Sage BCG600 - shiny, bit cheaper than the MC2, not much feedback
- Rancillo Rocky - good feedback significantly more expensive

Appreciate any more feedback, thanks
Click to expand...

In an update to this, I picked up a second hand MC2 from ebay.

I feel I can't get anything better out of the pressurised filter basket now, so will purchase an unpressured basket.

I just need to decide about which filter to go for. Either a VST or IMS filter basket.

From what I've read the IMS basket works better with a slightly courser grind, so might be a better match to the MC2. Any thoughts folks?
 
Funnily enough I was looking at baskets today, but I haven't decided which to go for, currently leaning towards the VST, but only because I've found little on the IMS.

I've had the MC2 for a few days now and beside how long it took to dial in and figure out the timer, I'm very happy with it. The grind, once right is nice and consistent and fine enough too. But then to be fair I'm completely new to the world of home espresso and have no other point of reference.

I'm learning, but everyday is a school day with espresso!
 
if you look back a few posts had got the ridgless ims basket(video link), to try instead of ridged LM/VST (same factory lm/vst I thought) basket
~£15 ebay seller vs £25 VST. Make sure you get the right size w/clearance in pf base
... had not realised Gaggia sold exclusivley with pressurized Pf's, Silvias are not.

... Sage do not seem have made colourful/red versions on Barista or Pro, like for their double boiler
(maye KitchenAid copyrighted this marketting technique) which colour has better re-sale value ?
 
Last edited:
I have ordered a bottomless portafilter that comes with a 21g IMS filter basket for not much more than a VST basket. Hopefully this will be enough to get a decent espresso as the pressurised basket is trash!
 
I know this is not a true espresso but do any of you use an aeropress. How do you get consistent results with it. I follow a reasonably consistent procedure of using ~16-18g of freshly ground beans, 30s with twice the weight of water as there are beans then fill to the top and leave for another 2 min or so.

Sometimes I get a perfect cup of coffee that blows my mind and other times is just meh. When its a good cup you get that amazing feeling in your mouth that lingers for ages, it tastes amazing and you just want another cup straight away. When its not so good its a little bitter, doesn't taste that special and the lingering taste is the same.

Is it likely to be the water temperature that causing this. I try to let it cool a bit before I make the coffee but its a very variable amount.
 
Not familiar with aeropress, but seems to show same unpredictability as espresso -
where I would say shot distribution 40% great 40% average 20% poor (but I do not weigh coffee every time)

shez said:
I have ordered a bottomless portafilter that comes with a 21g IMS filter
Click to expand...
let us know how you get on, did not use mine as much as expected :
- shot is not as directed, so can partially miss the cup & I do not like wasting coffee
- need to warm a pf up, so cannot switch it in at whim, to experiment.
 
I seem to have missed the fact that the coffee can spray out of the bottomless pf, Doh! I had the choice of ordering it with a 14 g filter which I could have at least swapped into my spouted pf. Anyway I'm looking forward to having a play with it.
 
Anyone else doing the London Coffee Festival? Started on Thursday and ends on Sunday.
I've spent 2 days there and that's enough for me this year. More than the odd coffee has been partaken of. ;)

There's some interesting stuff there and some great coffee (and Starbucks too).

Also, visited the Hasbean popup in London. It's called [H]AND and it's great. Pretty interesting idea and some fantastic coffee. They're using the Baratza Sette 270W home grinder and Kalita wave brewers. If anyones interested, it's in the Uniqlo on Oxford Street. The one opposite John Lewis. Only going to be there for 12 weeks or so, but worth visiting. And while you're in the area there's Workshop, Curators Gallery , Patty&Bun, MeatLiquor... ;)
 
I'm super confused and a bit annoyed. A few months ago I checked for tickets for London coffee festival and was surprised to find they had all already sold out. I wrote it off for this year.

However I've just checked the website now and there's tickets available for the entire of tomorrow and there were evening session ticks available today...

How did it go from being sold out a few months ago to all these tickets being available? It does say '3rd Releaae' at the top, whatever that means.
 
Some events like to release their tickets in batches so perhaps they can gauge interest without planning for 50,000 people only for 10,000 to turn up. They cab release batches of 10,000 and then plan as they sell those batches.
 
Grimley said:
/\/\/\/\ Are you not on their mailing list? I bought my ticket in October last year when I got my early bird email. Saved £10 compared with paying on the door.
Click to expand...

I'm going to sign up now! :D I could have probably driven down this morning and attended the 10 - 7pm all day session but no one else was free on such last minute notice.

How does it work once you're inside? Do you buy the coffees from the stalls or do people give out free samples etc?


fez said:
Some events like to release their tickets in batches so perhaps they can gauge interest without planning for 50,000 people only for 10,000 to turn up. They cab release batches of 10,000 and then plan as they sell those batches.
Click to expand...

Interesting and it makes sense. I was just unaware! Ah well.
 
Just got a Sage Smart Pro grinder delivered to replace a hario skerton and it seems much better (which it should be for the price!). Also doesn't have a problem with static which was causing a lot of clumping in the hario.

More consistent grind but the main thing is that I don't spend 5 minutes grinding beans every time I want a coffee. Next on the list is an espresso machine but for the time being the aeropress is fine.

E: First cup I have made using the Sage has turned out really nicely. That could be entirely luck however.

E: I've made another 3 cups since then and they have all been consistently good. The grind from the Hario was pretty uniform and consistent from what I could see so I assume the issue was with the clumping it caused. Either way i'm very pleased with the Sage
 
Last edited:
TS7 said:
I'm going to sign up now! :D I could have probably driven down this morning and attended the 10 - 7pm all day session but no one else was free on such last minute notice.

How does it work once you're inside? Do you buy the coffees from the stalls or do people give out free samples etc?
Click to expand...

It has varied over the last 3 years. I didn't pay a penny for coffees in there this year though. I must've been the only person there in that session that brought their own coffee cup (I bought an ecoffee cup a couple of weeks ago, in order to make my own contribution towards cutting back on so-called disposable coffee cups, Costa gives 25p off if you bring your own cup so said cup will eventually pay for itself) some food stalls were giving out free samples too. In the 3 hours I spent there I paid the princely sum of £2.50 for a bit of cake (I did spend £40 on beans & Hario V60 & filters though)
 
jpaul said:
Not familiar with aeropress, but seems to show same unpredictability as espresso -
where I would say shot distribution 40% great 40% average 20% poor (but I do not weigh coffee every time)


let us know how you get on, did not use mine as much as expected :
- shot is not as directed, so can partially miss the cup & I do not like wasting coffee
- need to warm a pf up, so cannot switch it in at whim, to experiment.
Click to expand...

I've had my bottomless pf a week and it's taken 500g of coffee beans to find the right balance. Poured lots of bitter/sour shots. Getting the balance of tamp vs grind is tricky. I'm now tamping pretty hard each time and adjusting the grind, which gives me a drinkable double espresso in 25 - 30 seconds extraction.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom