For good superautomatics the two brands that people go for are Miele and Jura. I had a Miele CM5300 and it produced above-average espresso and coffee. The milk drink is a bit fussy - you need to connect the piping, rinse it after etc. But the convenience is great, and the consistency of the coffee was excellent. Wasn't too hard to dial in.

Are you looking to offload your Lelit? :lol

Any how, for me, this whole journey of espresso/coffee developed as a curiosity and money-saving measure (I spent way too much money at coffee shops.) It grew into a passion so that became the demise of me.

When I'm at my parents place visiting in Vancouver, I will have a Nespresso but the caffeine content is way too high and its a weird feeling from it. My father-in-law gave me an unused early-model espresso machine (Ikon, I think?) and the thing fucking broke on the third day. Needless to say, it was not worth repairing and he had the last laugh. :D

I legitimately tried some in Los Angeles and without any intentions of offending anyone, it was, by far, and hands down, the worst coffee I have ever had haha

Yeah, I see that the Miele CM6160 and CM6360 are both on sale for Black Friday. Did some reading over the past couple of days on machines in general, still unsure which one would suit me best.

James Hoffman reviewed some super automatics and recommended De'Longhi Dinamica Plus for the money, but the Jura Z10 was the best of the bunch (at a shit ton more money, lol).

I posted an ad on Facebook just as a feeler to see if anyone would buy my entire setup. Didn't even realized how much I spent on it until I tallied everything up and I was like :pokerface:

It never occurred to me until you mentioned it, but I've always known that the standard Nespresso capsules have only 5g of coffee (so less than 1/3 the usual double shot). However, the caffeine hit from when I used to drink Nespresso seems on par with how I feel now.

PM me your details of your ad or asking price. Something I can consider if it works out.

Bought my wife a Clever dripper so she can brew good coffee when I'm not around. She can use a V60 but it's really finnicky and results can vary

This thing is GREAT! I've been using it myself since then!

If you didn't know, it's a combo immersion/drip brewer, so you kind of get the best of both a french press and drip brewer. Quicker than a french press, more consistent than a hand drip.

Have made some excellent brews with this, and it's made me appreciate some beans I wasn't really into before. It's really idiot proof! Just put the water in first, and then stir the grinds in. This lets it pour more a lot more freely, which puts an end to the immersion as soon as you start dripping it.

Hario has their own version too that might be cheaper or nicer. The Clever is a big clunky thing lol

Def worth checking out as a gift if you know someone who is getting into specialty coffee.

The Clever Dripper made its debut among the early days of third wave coffee but never got the exposure or love it deserved because the V60 stole the show. I've only ever seen one in the flesh but otherwise, not many retailers carrying it in North America.

I'll let you know. I might just hold onto my current config. I haven't found a super automatic that seems to tick the right boxes for me yet.

That’s cuz it’s not coffee. It’s basically candy hahah. Delicious delicious caramel.

Yeah I've kind of wanted one forever but never really came across one until Amazon started offering free shipping and I could look there for stuff

Lol, it's like crack.

I used to work at a small Vietnamese shop during college. I once went to work with only an hour of sleep. Made myself a cup and was up for the rest of the 9 hour shift without a problem.

:fuckyea:

If I ever take another sip of this stuff on my own volition, I swear to God... :fuuuuu::die::chop:

I've gone through similar thoughts after I gave my Rocket to my parents for their cabin.

At one point, I was thinking that this hobby was taking up so much time and money. I mean, I think they were well-spent, but I wasn't sure whether I should indulge myself for so much dedication of resources onto one thing that serves mostly my wake-up drink in the morning. So, it actually came to mind about dialing it down significantly.

I tried making do with Aeropress, doing pour-over (V60), and even borrowing a K-cup machine during that time when I was without an espresso machine. But it wasn't the same. Once you have grown accustomed to a certain level of quality in coffee and the workflow, it's just so bloody hard to go any other way.

I don't mean Aeropress or pour-over are bad. I think they have their own space in coffee-making, but I was used to wake up in the morning, grab whatever bean I fancy for that day, grind, pour and make myself whatever drink I felt like. If I didn't like what came out of it, adjust and re-do.

Then I thought of superauto. So I went ahead and started going every morning to McCafe as they run everything on superauto. The first few days were fine... but then I just couldn't get over the idea that I had so little control on the coffee-making process.

Then I was thinking an entry-level machine... just the bare minimum. However, the thought of going back to how I started, like going back to driving a beater after years with a Ferrari... :fuckthatshit:

So, fuck it... let's go all or nothing.

I'm not saying that you should go all-in. But if you want to try the life of superauto, just do like what I did. Order McCafe every morning and see how you like that.

Traveling being allowed now means people bringing me coffee from all over the world :D

https://i.imgur.com/Jor7DAP.png

Sister brought this back from Taiwan, and it lives up to the name! Juicy strawberry notes on sip, and then it develops into more of a dried fruit with some bitterness. Started with a standard 60g per L but I'll try a lighter brew next time, I think it'll work even better that way

She also brought a dark roast which I'll try in a few days.. I want to drink this stuff as fresh as possible

The coffee came with notes saying that they inject nitrogen into the bag after roasting, and instruct you to shake the bag and let it sit for a few hours after opening it for the first time. I wonder if this really keeps it fresher longer before the first open? Haven't seen this before, but usually I buy coffee roasted and aged within a few days.

Thx for sharing. Adding another thing to ask my parents to bring on their next trip. :fuckthatshit:

The nitrogen is kinda an industry standard for many food items like potato chips and coffee. Nitrogen prevents oxygen from getting in contact with the beans causing it to age. IIRC, filling coffee with nitrogen allows beans to be stored for 3mth and stay relatively fresh. I could be wrong on the duration, but I think I read some figure like that while looking into coffee storage.

I love Taiwan's coffee scene. Some of the best roasted coffees in my travels and they take a lot of pride in their craft.

Re: Nitrogen - I used to aim for freshly roasted coffee and aim to consume within a 2 - 3 week period. But because I'm mostly just pulling shots, typically 2 or 3 per day, I find that it's becoming harder to go through the coffee quick enough.

If I come across any neat coffees at a location I don't frequent and the coffee is packed with Nitrogen, I'll take the risk and buy it and so far, so good. Never as good as super freshly roasted, but still acceptable.

I broke out the old V60 "Kasuya Version" which pours slower, and brewed that with using his 40/60 method and it was just about perfect! The smaller bloom amount and pulse pour seems to really enhance the sweetness.. Like blackberry juice! I only wish I had a better grinder.. This one is good for finer grinds, but when you try to go more coarse, it spits out some chunks of various sizes

Also tried the dark roast I got from them (which was cheaper for twice as many beans lol) and it had a lot of character dark roast. It's really hard to find a good dark roast for drip brew that isn't relatively bland, but they nailed this one. It's basically exactly what you're looking for in a "regular cup of Joe" but very fresh and flavorful and not burnt.

This place is great! The place I buy from here has some nice light and medium roasts, and they have one decent dark roast (an interesting combo of Ethiopian and Indonesian beans) but their other darks are not as great for drip coffee.

FINALLY we can find out how much caffeine is in the coffee WE drink, instead of relying on sketchy google results


TLDR: 18g coffee brewed to same extraction:
1 double espresso = 110 mg
300g cup of pourover = 170 mg

50% more caffeine from the same amount of coffee and same extraction!

Seems like time of extraction has a lot of effect on the caffeine amount. So the speed of an espresso pull means less caffeine is extracted

Also instant coffee has about half the amount as pourover (and that's using a stronger concentration than the instructions say)

He also does light roast vs dark roast, etc

my coffee has to be made with a De'Longhi because Brad Pitt is such a hunk.

i like good coffee but i'm also a lazy fuck.

i've been hearing for years that a good grinder is more important than the machine, but how cheap a machine does this apply to? what grinder and machine combo can make pretty acceptable espresso that is actually better than what you can get these days out of an $800 superauto from breville or philips?

prob gonna go the superauto route but just thought i'd ask the question

A good hand grinder ($100-200) and a Breville Bambino can make an excellent espresso.

Are good hand grinders decently quick to grind? When I first started my coffee journey I had a Hario hand grinder, and it took fucking forever. I have an affordable grinder that does a decent but inconsistent grind for drip coffee, but I wonder if I should get a good hand grinder instead. But not if it takes several minutes to do..

Yes, they grind much quicker than the Hario (I have one too, what a workout before I got a machine grinder). A Commandante C40 is about 1 min to grind a dose of espresso I think, when I used my friend's. Drip/pourover/aeropress should be quicker as you do not have to grind as fine.

Comandante grind time/efficiency?

Might have to hit up Santy Claus then

Edit: nm it's like $300 lol

I have a Breville Smart Grinder at my parent's place in Vancouver and use it with an old Breville Ikon. Shots have turned out better than I expected on such a POS machine and then the machine broke within days (grinder was probably too good for it.)

I'd pair it with a Breville Bambino but if lazy, get a super automatic lol
Getting a grinder and a machine - the learning curve is steep.
For what it's worth, next time I'm back in town, I'm picking up a Bambino for my parents place.

You can get cheaper ones like Timemore Chestnut or 1ZPresso. Timemore is out of China, might be cheaper there for you than here.