Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Hamster · 6 Nov 2011 at 11:06

Youstolemyname said:
Yep, had some about a month ago. Nice coffee, nothing spectacular though.

That said, the bar has been raised somewhat stupidly high by the Machacamarca- nothing comes close to that

When did Hasbean start selling Machacamarca last year. I thought it was the end of the year but I may be mistaken. You're right though, it's probably the best coffee I've ever had from Hasbean.

-edit- actually looking back it seems to have been around February.

E61 Grouphead · 6 Nov 2011 at 13:24

Hamster said:
When did Hasbean start selling Machacamarca last year. I thought it was the end of the year but I may be mistaken. You're right though, it's probably the best coffee I've ever had from Hasbean.

-edit- actually looking back it seems to have been around February.

I seem to remember it being twice a year, though I may be wrong.

manveruppd · 6 Nov 2011 at 14:16

cainer said:
after looking at this thread i might have to get a good espresso maker, ive already spied a few on the bay. for the past few years ive just used either a cafeteria or stove top pot with this stuff, i like it.. any of you tried it?.. http://kancburo.ru/183/g_62617.html

Never tried those, looks expensive though! But you could save the tin for storing beans bought from Hasbean or Square Mile so might be worth it!

Seriously though, I use some £3/pack Sainsburys pre-ground as my backup coffee and I find it's not worth spending more on any kind of beans bought in a store. Even if they're genuinely better quality (which is doubtful), they'll have been sitting on those shelves for a month at least, so they'll be stale. I speak from experience, as before I started ordering from Hasbean I tried various store-bought brands, even spent £7 on a packet of ovepriced Illy espresso once, and I actually thought that Taylors (which retails for half the price) was better. If you want to spend more than £3/pack, order some freshly-roasted beans online: it'll have been roasted within a day or two of it getting mailed off to you, and the freshness alone puts it on a whole different league than any store-bought coffee. Try Hasbean's Jailbreak, it's (relatively) cheap and cheerful and works amazingly in a stove-top.

cainer · 7 Nov 2011 at 00:08

^^ its not too expensive, i started buying it ~ 6 years ago in Safeway's for £2.99 a can but within months of first buying it they stopped selling it and ive never seen it in the UK since, my folks go over to france once or twice a year though and they pick me up 1/2 a dozen cans at a time for ~4 euros a can.
i will however be going down the grinder/espresso machine route in the near future though, its just a case of deciding how much i want to spend on a decent set up

Flibster · 8 Nov 2011 at 13:10

Just a little coffee recommendation from me at the moment.

Hasbean's Malawi Maxwell Munthall Geisha 2011
Just full of citrus fruit acidity and is excellent as an espresso in milk. Lemon tart-ish. Great as a pour over too.

Wouldn't have it as an espresso on it's own though - pushing it too far.

Hamster · 8 Nov 2011 at 17:28

Flibster said:
Just a little coffee recommendation from me at the moment.

Hasbean's Malawi Maxwell Munthall Geisha 2011
Just full of citrus fruit acidity and is excellent as an espresso in milk. Lemon tart-ish. Great as a pour over too.

Wouldn't have it as an espresso on it's own though - pushing it too far.

I'm going to place an order this week. It doesn't appear to be available yet and Steve mentions in In My Mug that he doesn't think it's ready to sell yet!

Flibster · 8 Nov 2011 at 19:55

Huh.... Well, I bought a bag a couple of weeks ago.

Maybe I'm just special.

Youstolemyname · 9 Nov 2011 at 18:56

Any advice how to get the most out of the flavour out of the beans? I order fresh from Hasbean, grind myself and brew mostly in an Aeropress.

9 times out of ten I never get the flavours on the packet despite following the brew guides to the letter....

Flibster · 11 Nov 2011 at 15:27

Youstolemyname said:
Any advice how to get the most out of the flavour out of the beans? I order fresh from Hasbean, grind myself and brew mostly in an Aeropress.

9 times out of ten I never get the flavours on the packet despite following the brew guides to the letter....

Don't follow the brew guide exactly. It's what it says, a guide.
Try upping the dose by a gram, or lowering it, or brewing longer/shorter

Play. You may find you like heavier dosed coffee better, or that a certain coffee needs 56g/litre ratehr than 60g/litre.

I've got cupboards that are smooth gloss white and down the side of one of them I've got a dry wipe pen and have various brew doses scribbled all the way down the side of it.

Every so often, I'll take a photo and then clean it down ready for the next lot.

Hamster · 11 Nov 2011 at 17:29

Flibster, do you have a consistent method for the aeropress or do you change methods depending on the coffee?

beh · 11 Nov 2011 at 17:52

On the subject of the Aeropress, anyone have an opinion on the Coava reusable metal disk filter?

glitch · 11 Nov 2011 at 18:38

Siliconslave said:
In other news I got my coffee Joulies through yesterday (finally) and tried them out this morning. My initial impression is that the coffee seemed hotter than it usually was post commute however i had also finished it faster (probably because the Joulies take up a fare amount of space) - the Joulies were still giving out a fare amount of heat so i guess somethings working...

And what happens when you want to drain the last of the coffee from your chosen beverage holder? Are you just supposed to let the damn things slide down the side of the mug and bounce off your lips/teeth/mouth?!

Flibster · 11 Nov 2011 at 22:15

Hamster said:
Flibster, do you have a consistent method for the aeropress or do you change methods depending on the coffee?

I start with 17g of coffee @ filter grind
add 200g water and stir briefly
Add lid and leave for 45seconds then press out and stop before it starts pushing the air though.

Works for me, but I regularly change the dosage depending on what it is I'm brewing.

beh said:
On the subject of the Aeropress, anyone have an opinion on the Coava reusable metal disk filter?

Thats what I use, not tried the new V2 filter though. It's very good, but will allow some fines through the filter. You may also have to grind coarser and brew for longer.

Hamster · 11 Nov 2011 at 22:34

Flibster said:
I start with 17g of coffee @ filter grind
add 200g water and stir briefly
Add lid and leave for 45seconds then press out and stop before it starts pushing the air though.

Works for me, but I regularly change the dosage depending on what it is I'm brewing.

That's pretty much exactly the method (with inverted aerpress) that I use now after trying lots of different ways. Only difference is that I usually start with 15g coffee but a little more is needed with some beans otherwise i find the coffee can be a bit watery.

beh · 11 Nov 2011 at 23:39

Flibster said:
Thats what I use, not tried the new V2 filter though. It's very good, but will allow some fines through the filter. You may also have to grind coarser and brew for longer.

Cool, seems worth a punt for £12 from hasbean. Had previously considered the DIY method, cutting a swissgold filter to fit, but wasn't suitably convinced.

Been a while since I've ordered anything from hasbean, always used to wait for a 5% discount code but it's been an age since they've sent me an email newsletter, perhaps a bit old tech for them? Did my last order of beans from The Blending Room, stumbled across them searching for some puly grind. Quite like being able to order 125g bags, enables me to have a few different beans on the go as with larger bags I don't get through it quickly enough.

Scam · 12 Nov 2011 at 22:36

I've heard that magic 17g banded around a lot for the aeropress, but I don't have any scales. I usually use a big scoop from the spoon that came with it. How does that compare to the 17g just out of interest? I also use the inverted method (plunger at 1 and fill with water up to 4).

Hamster · 13 Nov 2011 at 14:06

Scam said:
I've heard that magic 17g banded around a lot for the aeropress, but I don't have any scales. I usually use a big scoop from the spoon that came with it. How does that compare to the 17g just out of interest? I also use the inverted method (plunger at 1 and fill with water up to 4).

The weight of a scoopful of beans will vary depending on other factors such as bean density and size. A £5 set of electronic scales from ebay is definitely worth the investment. Another ebay item worth investing in is a cheap thermometer.

-edit- I just used a scoopful of two different beans and weighed them. One type of bean weighed 15g and the other 18g.

Scam · 13 Nov 2011 at 18:33

Yeah fair enough. Nice to know I'm in the right ballpark though. To be honest I do find myself varying the amount according to beans and the strength that I fancy too

Flibster · 14 Nov 2011 at 02:10

Scam said:
I've heard that magic 17g banded around a lot for the aeropress, but I don't have any scales. I usually use a big scoop from the spoon that came with it. How does that compare to the 17g just out of interest? I also use the inverted method (plunger at 1 and fill with water up to 4).

Coffeehit is your friend.

http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/digital-lcd-mini-scales-1000g0-1g/p229 These are superb. My mains scales now, small and accurate.

Hamster · 14 Nov 2011 at 02:17

Too much coffee keeping you up as well?!!!

I've found with scales like these, you can get exactly the same but for half the price on ebay: 17061856737