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Coffee - do you and how do you consume it?

Repeatability breeds consistency.

With the wdt in hand I’ve now made 6 drinkable shots in a row over 2 days.

I don’t feel I’ve won any battles; not hanging a ‘mission accomplished’ banner from the espresso machine…

But it’s a good start.

Im pretty much through my local buddy’s beans and now it’s on to the light espresso blend from LaMill. We’ll see what shenanigans may ensue when I change over tomorrow.
 
xray said:
I think my old grinder produced more fines so the paper helped with that but the new grinder has a more uniform particle size distribution so I don't think I'll be going back to using the paper filter.
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I use a conical burr and this would track if you've switched to flats or a low-fines producing conical. I think the backpressure from a paper filter can always be useful for normalizing results, but I haven't used these nice huge burr sets people are talking about.
 
D!sco said:
I use a conical burr and this would track if you've switched to flats or a low-fines producing conical. I think the backpressure from a paper filter can always be useful for normalizing results, but I haven't used these nice huge burr sets people are talking about.
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My old grinder was an Anfim Best with 54 mm flat burrs. It's the 3rd set of burrs of questionable origin and quality. One of the reasons I switched to a new grinder. Here are some pictures of the 2nd set of burrs that were replaced. The 2nd and 3rd set were from the same vendor.
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All of my defects are at the top of the cone where they can do no harm. That's a nice camera you've got, though.
 
Alright.

After changeover shenanigans ensued, yesterday, going from my buddy’s local beans to the Ratio blend from LAMILL (a light espresso roast with an Ethiopian included), I feel like I’m back in the driver’s seat rather than a roller coaster to hell.

I was getting good results from his ‘galactic’ blend. Bean color looked pretty close, so when I switched to Ratio, I wasn’t expecting a big change.

But I was deep in choke-town. Hard-deep, or proper deep as some might say.

Where I was grinding 21g at 11, I ended up switching back to 20g and coarsening up to 14 on the grinder.

Crema and body are back. Extraction looks good.

I am now truly considering ordering up 1000 pk of filters a few puck screens. I can’t believe I’m typing that out loud, but there it is.

By no means am I suggesting everybody needs to switch! This is the true definition of YMMV. For me, right now, the combo of filter, screen +wdt is winning the day: no need to consider swapping burrs to Mazzer83mm.
:)

FWIW, I experienced this bean situation a long time ago on my Fisher-Price ‘my first espresso machine’ which was an upper tier entry level Delonghi. I tried several different beans, but only one blend of those I tried made a ‘good’ spro. When Blue Bottle stopped selling the Temescal blend, I was heartbroken. That, and moving, made me shelve the old machine and I didn’t make espresso at home again for almost 7 years. That is when I bought my Sylvia back in 2018.
 
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This shot blonded out a bit more than the prior, but still quite nice.
I’m seeing consistently good extraction signs from the portafilter and getting good shots in the cup. In all, pretty happy.

With all that’s happened to my coffee scene since late October, my only comment at this point…

As it regards the DF grinder, finite grind adjustments are much more challenging. The dial is a touch sticky and requires a touch more than the simple 1/4 turn which my old Lelit Fred would require.

The DF is more like turn once to get it moving, turn again to get it “back,” make your adjustment… and then hope your adjustment is correct.

Given the DF mechanism, I don’t know if/how they can refine and improve. Thus far it hasn’t shown itself to be a significant impediment to dialing in. So it’s just a minor critique.

With that…

Happy Merries and Merry Happies, folks!
:D
 
I found this while perusing the Decent espresso company’s YouTube channel and found it to be a very succinct and data driven way of organizing changes in shots. The real life example is probably done with a refractometer comparing total dissolved solids to the input size and the output yield. The output curve being the same for prep methods and having a result travel along it depending on time is a new and fascinating concept I need to look further into, though it makes sense.
 
D!sco said:
I found this while perusing the Decent espresso company’s YouTube channel and found it to be a very succinct and data driven way of organizing changes in shots. The real life example is probably done with a refractometer comparing total dissolved solids to the input size and the output yield. The output curve being the same for prep methods and having a result travel along it depending on time is a new and fascinating concept I need to look further into, though it makes sense.
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Cool way to think about the process.

I wonder what some of these cats would say about my house recipe?! :p
 
Even on days like today where the Espresso gods are being obstinate with bestowing upon me a good shot, I find myself still enjoying the process. Moreover, I really dig the Buck PF and the Unibasket I bought.

I think that in the utilitarian design, they still deliver a very thoughtfully crafted tool. It's not like I ever had an aversion to the OEM PFs that are available through Rancilio, but I find myself just enjoying handling the Weber gear. Best of all I think is the fact that it sits flat on your table! Fcuking genius!!! :D

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My Mazzer Philos arrived, and I'm quite impressed with it. It looks somewhat over engineered, but I imagine it's as close to zero retention as you can get and I hardly have any mess to clean up. I took Mazzer's advice and went for the I189D burrs because I hardly ever drink light roasted coffee. I'm currently using it with a moka pot, and have a new machine to use it with coming in a month or two. So, all in all, it works very well for my needs.
 
Was gifted this from a fellow coffee nerd this Christmas. Might eventually pursue espresso instead of just drinking Mr Coffee in the future :)

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ryanosaur said:
Even on days like today where the Espresso gods are being obstinate with bestowing upon me a good shot, I find myself still enjoying the process. Moreover, I really dig the Buck PF and the Unibasket I bought.

I think that in the utilitarian design, they still deliver a very thoughtfully crafted tool. It's not like I ever had an aversion to the OEM PFs that are available through Rancilio, but I find myself just enjoying handling the Weber gear. Best of all I think is the fact that it sits flat on your table! Fcuking genius!!! :D

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I really want one of those Bucks. Looks fantastic to me with the wooden handle and Weber is of the highest quality. I'll have to decide on a HE basket to go with it though so it'll be quite the outlay after all the toys I already have. Maybe next Christmas.
 
Oh good heavens, some of you really seem to apply the usual audiophile nonsense to the coffee world. The fancier, the better; the costier, the more tasty. Bullshit! None of this would survive a proper blind test, let alone a double blind one - and y'all deep down perfectly know it.

How about the good old Bialetti Moka Express?

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Made in Italy since 1933. Widely available for cheap, including spare parts. Proven design almost a century old. Bestest Italian aluminium craftsmanship and industrial production. Trust me (a German), they do excel at exactly that! And at coffee.

Look no further.
 
Moka Pots are the tape decks of coffee, and the users are the flannel wearing hipsters of coffee. Very reliable, easy to use and fix, compact and capable of providing a decent cup. Does not compare to a well crafted pour over OR espresso. It's extremely limited by the delivery of water through the top via steam and is easy to over or under boil with no control. Come back with an PID controlled heating element and a quality thermocouple and we'll talk shop.

I love my camping moka pot don't tell it I said all of those mean things.
 
D!sco said:
Moka Pots are the tape decks of coffee, and the users are the flannel wearing hipsters of coffee. Very reliable, easy to use and fix, compact and capable of providing a decent cup.
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I am definitely not easy to use, neither compact. Thank you very much. :D
 
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