Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Scottland said:
Not quite on the Espresso subject, but I'm in need of a Coffee solution for work.

Which do you think would be best between:
  • A decent Caffitiere
  • An Aeropress
  • Swissgold 'One cup'
  • Something else?


Any ideas guys?
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I'd go with either a Aeropress (which do have single use filters, but there pretty cheap and you can get/make a swissgold one...) or the Caffitiere (which i'd say are underrated personally)

If you wanted to go properly different you could get a chemex or one of those electric stove tops (http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/acatalog/Easy_Stove-top.html)

It sort of depends what kind of coffee you like, be it drip, espresso, pour over or stove top :)
 
Bes said:
Ok I am going to stop using this damn preground and get a grinder.

Is there anywhere in London that I might be able to get a decent Zass grinder?

Ta :)
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i think you'd be lucky, theres apparently a very good coffee place called the Algerian Coffee stores (http://www.algcoffee.co.uk/) that might do on (get an espresso if you visit ), but its a long shot.
 
manveruppd said:
I would seriously go for the used one on ebay over the new one. I'm not an expert, having only owned one, but I asked around before buying it and the folks on coffeegeek.com and other forums all agree the newer models aren't as good because the grading on the little knob that adjusts the coarseness of the grind isn't as fine. In fact, in the newer models it's stepped, whereas in older ones like the one I got it's a continuous grade.

On another note, I asked this earlier in the thread but no-one was able to enlighten me: How does the Aeropress compare to a stove-top espresso pot? As strong? Less? Does it do as good a job of not letting the grounds through into your coffee?
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aeropress is supposed to be pretty much espresso less the creama, however stove top does not give an espresso style coffee out - its more like a strong americano (~ 1:1 of espresso:water at a guess) the filters are supposed to be pretty good afaik, you shouldn't really get any grinds through

If no-one else is i might bid on that grinder... don't want to get in a bidding war though :)
 
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ThriceNightly said:
G00053.jpg


after a bit of research into cleaning hand grinders i present grape nuts!

i will be running these through my zass hand grinder (once it turns up from germany)

i got a packet of grape nuts from tesco for £1.19 a pack with the intention of running 1/3 of a cup through the grinder once every 3 months.

was also looking at 'minute rice' but this is not readily available in uk. (btw ordinary rice is not recommended)
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apparently this is great for cleaning grinders... really should do mine soon....
 
yer, bean storage seems to be a highly argued topic - the last blind test i saw done basically concluded that unless your planning on keeping for more than ~1 month its better to store in the fridge in and airtight container.

I'm storing mine in a vacuum at the moment for up to a month and its doing pretty well - better than just airtight / frozen, theres always a jump from the old to the new, but its surprisingly little in my current setup.
 
Bes said:
Wahoo- Just picked up a Zass here in Germany- lovely second hand thing... Is there a good demand for these in the UK? I got talking to the woman that owns the store here and she said she basically has loads of the things and doesn't sell an awful lot of them... I was under the impression they were very in demand in the UK? (Quality used ones).?
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could you drop me an e-mail (in trust) if you don't mind picking me one up... i could really do with a "work" one :)

Cheers
 
I'm biased but at the time of purchase the classic was the best machine around that price point - unfortunately its been discontinued and as far as i'm aware the replacement doesn't do it justice. If you can find one I'd get a classic....

Grinder wise i'd really recomend getting one from the start and learning to use it. Freshly ground beans will have a more positive effect on your coffee than anything else. Buying pre-ground will be very frustrating - whatever you do with it the only time you'd get a decent shot would be upto 2hrs after its ground - after that it will just get worse and worse :(

for £200 i'd be tempted to get a £100 grinder and a stove top / french press (and then get a coffee machine later...)
 
£50 you can get the dualit one (rebanded and resold through starbucks too...):
dualitcoffeegrinderfront.jpg

its good, but won't go fine enough (most of the time - you get some which do) so i'd really recomend going for the iberital mc2.... its grrrrreat (check back a few pages for a quote from the hasbean owner admitting that his more expensive machine wasn't as good :))
 
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