Hi all been advised to change to decaf for my flat whites, so looking for some recommendations I usually go for chocolate/nutty tastes and just nearly finished both rave decaf offerings as I usually ordered from them before signature/ Suarez but they weren’t as strong as the full caffeine beans, any help what to try next?
Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread
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I'm drinking quite a lot of decaf now because of migraines. Doc advised to reduce caffeine intake. I've tried quite few places and so far Square Mile has come up top and Iron & Fire also doing a good job. Raves offering is alright also but is noticeably a lower quality.
Thanks just ordered a kilo from extract but will try square mile next time, sorry but I have to agree with the rave decaf no real coffee taste just a weak blend
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Caporegime
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I think Rave has grown quite substantially in the last 5 years and it's not the same as when I was using them 10 years ago. Quality has definitely dropped a notch.
Totally agree. Part of the reason I moved away was bean variations weren't all that and they were just endlessly emailing me with pointless competitions and sticker awards etc. Blimey, just stick to your core business and stop with the marketing rubbish. Redber offer a large range of beans that I enjoy.
Rave just emailed me back after I sent them photos last night and simply stated 'sometimes this happens during the process'. They're sending me 2x bags of Monsoon again though so now I have too many beans to hand! I just need to get through this existing bag of messy beans.
/me facepalms
My 2x 250g bags of replacement Monsoon arrived today. I opened one bag and took out a handful...exact same thing. Both bags were roasted on the 2nd of Jan so it is clear they've got QC issues. I can't be bothered reporting back at this stage so I'll just avoid them outright now.
Their Chatswood blend of which I have 2x bags is totally fine - 100% actual beans
My 2x 250g bags of replacement Monsoon arrived today. I opened one bag and took out a handful...exact same thing. Both bags were roasted on the 2nd of Jan so it is clear they've got QC issues. I can't be bothered reporting back at this stage so I'll just avoid them outright now.
Their Chatswood blend of which I have 2x bags is totally fine - 100% actual beans
Caporegime
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Sounds like they either had a bad harvest of the monsoon this year or someone made a massive mistake in QC during roasting if the other beans are fine.
I wouldn’t try to get another bag of Monsoon from them this year, if I were to use Rave again, I’d wait for after the next harvest.
I've had the Sage Barista Pro for about three years now (thanks to someone on here posting a pretty significant promo code - so thanks again for that). Upgrading from a Pod machine there was exponential improvement of coffee quality, as you'd expect.
Since using the Pro I've fine tuned my espresso making and milk frothing (flat white is my drink of choice).
Scales, WDT Tool, Distributor, Normcore Coffee Tamper, various milk pitchers etc.
My preferred choice of bean is fruity, berry flavours, medium roast. There's a few times where I've tasted the same coffee bean at my local speciality coffee shop vs what I make at home and the level additional flavour and notes they manage to extract is markedly noticeable.
Now I'm aware I'm not going to be able to compete with a five figure coffee shop machine and grinder set up - but I suspect I can get a little closer by upgrading from the current in built Sage Barista Pro grinder.
Has anyone gone down this route - has it made the improvement you would have anticipated - if so, which grinder did you go for?
Since using the Pro I've fine tuned my espresso making and milk frothing (flat white is my drink of choice).
Scales, WDT Tool, Distributor, Normcore Coffee Tamper, various milk pitchers etc.
My preferred choice of bean is fruity, berry flavours, medium roast. There's a few times where I've tasted the same coffee bean at my local speciality coffee shop vs what I make at home and the level additional flavour and notes they manage to extract is markedly noticeable.
Now I'm aware I'm not going to be able to compete with a five figure coffee shop machine and grinder set up - but I suspect I can get a little closer by upgrading from the current in built Sage Barista Pro grinder.
Has anyone gone down this route - has it made the improvement you would have anticipated - if so, which grinder did you go for?
Caporegime
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DF53 or DF64 depending on your budget.
I restored the 2x google photos links in my initial post about them a few posts earlier.
When one orders whole beans, 95% of the time you get just that. This was just little bits of beans in various sizes along with a ton of chaff and whole beans.
So when you're measuring the beans out, the stuff goes everywhere and then when you're grinding, half the smaller bits just fly out everywhere. It makes an espresso prep stage a headache.
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This got a few recommendations on another forum when I was looking for decaf, but I haven’t tried it yet: https://www.beanbrothers.co.uk/coffee-shop/decaffeinated-dream-jeanie
I moved from Sage oracle's inbuilt grinder to a Eureka Atom 75 grinder. It was a bigger upgrade than when i then moved from my Sage Oracle to a La Marzocco Linea Micra (which is a blooming huge upgrade).
The atom 75 is a 75mm flat burr grinder, incredible quick and consistent. I also prefer the fruitier roasts and all of my favourite coffee shops use flat burrs for this (in line with everything I've read) so i landed on the Atom 75. I would've preferred the mahlkonig e65 but my budget didn't stretch that far!
The Atom 75 uses the same burrs as the commercial Mythos grinder that I'm 99% sure at least one of your favourite coffee shops will use/will have used (though they are all moving to mahlkonig now!)
and now with my LMLM:
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100% this
100% this - the grinder (well, and the coffee itself) is by far the most cost effective upgrade you can do - the better the grounds going in, the better the result coming out
100% this - the grinder (well, and the coffee itself) is by far the most cost effective upgrade you can do - the better the grounds going in, the better the result coming out
Soldato
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Agreed, this was the biggest step up for me and always my first recommendation to anyone interested. Just going to fresh beans and self grinding is huge.100% this
100% this - the grinder (well, and the coffee itself) is by far the most cost effective upgrade you can do - the better the grounds going in, the better the result coming out
Caporegime
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Which is why I dislike both all in one bean to cup machines and machines like the Sage (Breville) Barista.
Spend 50% of the money on a good grinder like a DF54 would be an enormous step up in coffee making.
Spend 50% of the money on a good grinder like a DF54 would be an enormous step up in coffee making.
The grinder on the sage is actually quite good in the 300 bracket. Just not as good as a £900 75mm flat burr grinder
Difficult to know how much a better grinder or machine would improve the quality ... unless you have a friend with a top setup to take your beans to and see what they can do,
(maybe if you could do a micrograph of the output grind .. there's an app way back in posts)
beans have become the expensive part of the equation, maybe not if you compare with those visiting Starbucks&co ... even if you are only spending £10/pw though that's a grinder in 2 years.
so is the adjustment on the Atom sensitive - I know rancilio you are talking 7/8s extraction change with one step, rotating just 10mm, so have stop at intermediate points.
(maybe if you could do a micrograph of the output grind .. there's an app way back in posts)
beans have become the expensive part of the equation, maybe not if you compare with those visiting Starbucks&co ... even if you are only spending £10/pw though that's a grinder in 2 years.
so is the adjustment on the Atom sensitive - I know rancilio you are talking 7/8s extraction change with one step, rotating just 10mm, so have stop at intermediate points.