Coffee - how do you drink it and why?

[bcrdukes]

Re: Vietnamese Coffee

Given its cost at restaurants, I never order it anymore. Like Badhobz said, just dump some hot water over it in a Phin dripper and call it a day. The coffee used in most restaurants isn't anything special. It's just a dark French roast with "maybe" some spices (if any, mostly none) and condensed milk.

$6 no thanks.

[unit]

true, nowadays its no longer $3.50 or $4, its $5.50 or $6.
hard pass

[EvoFire]

Just did the Costco grindr with some kicking horse beans. It's like 1/3 the price of getting JJbean beans. I'm broke and need to save monies.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

I'm broke and need to save monies.

Says the guy with the grey M3.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Was with le woman at Walmart yesterday. We strolled by the coffee aisle, she just looked at what Nespresso capsules were on sale and grabbed them (some Tim Hortons one and some Lavazza one).

Box of ten for like $6.49 so 65c a drink, which is on par with my 5lb bags and 18g per shot - although I of course get significantly more coffee in my drink per shot since I think Nespresso is like 5g of actual beans.

Was a little bit envious when I remembered how easy it is for her to have coffee in the morning. I spent like 30 minutes earlier just weighing my beans and sealing them, lol. She probably spends less time than that making her coffee in an entire month!

[Badhobz]

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Says the guy with the grey M3.

So complains the person with a P car

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

[Hakkaboy]

anyone one here own or have experienced a bean-to-cup super automatic machine?

The prime day deal for the Philips Lattego 3200 peaked my interest, and since then have feel into a rabbit hole of spending more to get something better, and now I'm wondering if other machines are worth more than 2x (De'longhi Dinamica plus) or 3x (Jura E8) the price.

Yes I know there are even more expensive machines, but that's probably as high as I would go...

[unit]

are you totally against making your own espresso with a normal machine?
personally i wouldnt drop $2-3k on a machine like that only to get a worse result than a $1000 regular setup, even if it were more convenient. if it helps, usually i set my machine on a timer to preheat in the morning, and by the time i make a shot and steam my milk, then clean my machine, it's only about 5 minutes.

[Razor Ramon HG]

I tried the Philips LatteGo before I returned it. It was pretty ass.

[Hondaracer]

If you don’t want to have a seperate grinder I’m still loving my Breville 870xl I bought way back near the beggining of this thread

Having the hopper and grinder built in means all you’re doing is tamping really. Takes about a minute start to finish to foam your milk for lattes etc. and this machine can be had for 600-700 I think still.

I’ve never had or used a nicer machine but relative to the coffee shops I prefer, Moja, JJ, etc. I think I pull a pretty good shot and make a tasty latte for the price

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by unit

true, nowadays its no longer $3.50 or $4, its $5.50 or $6.
hard pass

I've seen iced ones go for $7 - 10 after tip and tax, feels like it's positioned similar to bubble tea pricing.

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

I've seen iced ones go for $7 - 10 after tip and tax, feels like it's positioned similar to bubble tea pricing.

yea...wtf is with BBT pricing these days

[Hakkaboy]

Originally Posted by unit

are you totally against making your own espresso with a normal machine?
personally i wouldnt drop $2-3k on a machine like that only to get a worse result than a $1000 regular setup, even if it were more convenient. if it helps, usually i set my machine on a timer to preheat in the morning, and by the time i make a shot and steam my milk, then clean my machine, it's only about 5 minutes.

5 minutes does seem very tempting, but how long did it take you to perfect your shot? I never really considered making my own simply because I wanted something simple that my wife could use as well

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon HG

I tried the Philips LatteGo before I returned it. It was pretty ass.

I've heard that it will take 30- 50 shots before the Philips machines are primed to begin to start making decent shots, and then you can start to experiment with settings to get it to your preferences

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

If you don’t want to have a seperate grinder I’m still loving my Breville 870xl I bought way back near the beggining of this thread

Having the hopper and grinder built in means all you’re doing is tamping really. Takes about a minute start to finish to foam your milk for lattes etc. and this machine can be had for 600-700 I think still.

I’ve never had or used a nicer machine but relative to the coffee shops I prefer, Moja, JJ, etc. I think I pull a pretty good shot and make a tasty latte for the price

Is your machine what is considered a "semi-automatic" machine?

[68style]

Gotta be semi-auto, full auto is banned in Canada... Trudeau took away Honda's full auto

[unit]

perfect my shot? good one

truth be told, using a semi auto machine will sort of become a hobby so if you don't want to put time into it or multiple people are going to use it, then it's not worth doing.

[Hondaracer]

I don’t think the 870XL is considered semi-auto?

I thought semi auto did the tamping but you had to dispose of the grounds yourself?

[bcrdukes]

lol noobz

semi automatic is anytime you need to grind your own beans and press a button or pull a lever and start/stop the shot yourself

full automatic / automatic is you press a button and espresso/coffee magically comes out

see you later fun boiz

[Razor Ramon HG]

Originally Posted by Hakkaboy

5 minutes does seem very tempting, but how long did it take you to perfect your shot? I never really considered making my own simply because I wanted something simple that my wife could use as well

Nothing too fancy is needed to get a decent shot even for a noob.

Grind beans, put grinds into portafilter, tamp, insert into machine, push button.

All you really need to do is to adjust your grinder until it's the right fineness for your beans where you get 36g of liquid in around 25-30 seconds (assuming an input of a standard 18g double basket).

If you get a bottomless portafilter, you can see if you have channeling (where the espresso is coming out from only one or a few spots rather than all equally down the middle of the basket).

I used to get a bit of channeling, but since I made the WDT tool (I posted it a few pages back in this thread) it's been pretty good.

If you're interested, you can try the Breville Barista Express. It's a good starter machine that also has a built-in grinder. Very popular machine and easy to resell if you decide to upgrade or it's not your thing.

For convenience, I'd probably skip the super automatics and just get a Nespresso. I did a lot of research several months ago and have yet to find one that really ticked the right boxes for me.

[Hehe]

From my experience from a cheapo machine from Walmart, to 870, to Rocket and to Slayer, the main difference on high-end machines is consistency and ability to deal with particular roast/beans.

Some beans needs a particular grind to really max out its potentials, but very often, we either don't have the grinder to do that, or the espresso machine gives too much inconsistency. So you can have one great shot to a shitty shot right after.

High-end machines have very well controlled components. The pressure is consistent, the water flow is consistent, the temperature is consistent... so on. You just take one guesswork out of the equation.

So, between shot to shot... there should be minimum difference (if any) between the shots. And you pay a great deal of money for that level of consistency.

After all, once you get a tool that you are comfortable with... and this can be a machine or an aeropress or whatever... the most amount of money is actually spent on beans. And I'd hate to waste even a gram of beans if I was using some good beans and more so if they are expensive.

[EvoFire]

I set the grinder at Costco to 3, it's not fine enough for the aeropress, probably need it set to the finest setting.

[Hakkaboy]

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon HG

Nothing too fancy is needed to get a decent shot even for a noob.

Grind beans, put grinds into portafilter, tamp, insert into machine, push button.

All you really need to do is to adjust your grinder until it's the right fineness for your beans where you get 36g of liquid in around 25-30 seconds (assuming an input of a standard 18g double basket).

If you get a bottomless portafilter, you can see if you have channeling (where the espresso is coming out from only one or a few spots rather than all equally down the middle of the basket).

I used to get a bit of channeling, but since I made the WDT tool (I posted it a few pages back in this thread) it's been pretty good.

If you're interested, you can try the Breville Barista Express. It's a good starter machine that also has a built-in grinder. Very popular machine and easy to resell if you decide to upgrade or it's not your thing.

For convenience, I'd probably skip the super automatics and just get a Nespresso. I did a lot of research several months ago and have yet to find one that really ticked the right boxes for me.

Thanks, I started looking at the Breville Barista Express Impress which is the model with the integrated tamper and dosage aid. The only thing missing I was looking for is the automated steaming of milk but then the next model up which has that was just released is the Touch Impress, but then it's an extra grand. Not sure if that's worth it but at least it's still a lot cheaper than the Oracle!

[hud 91gt]

I love my Breville too. My mom has a full auto from Seaco and it’s ok but you still need to Dick around with it and know what you’re doing to get a proper shot each time you switch coffees.

I turn on my breville. Get my grind while it’s heating (grind is one touch after setting). My cup gets pre warmed from the warm up cycle of the machine (it’s drip a shot or two of water during the warmup cycle). A few second later its ready to pour a shot. Top it up with hot water that’s built into the machine.

It’s 2 more buttons then my moms auto machine and I have the tamper the coffee myself. I don’t even buy JJ beans anymore. I buy the Costco Salt Spring pack and I get great creme’ at home.

[unit]

i dont get whats the big deal with tamping grinds... thats not in any way a tedious step. the part that kind of sucks is dialing in and also dealing with channeling. presumably with a fully auto system it still has to somehow dial in? how does that work?