What did postman bring today ?

Those ECM pf are quality

Cuprajake Yes. Always loved the look of ECM and with not going for the wood look it had to be the ECM bottomless after seeing it in Rinaldo’s,Kendal. Looks classy. 👌

Not a coffee related post day but a good one nonetheless.

Elizabeth left the kitchen this morning after serving me very well for the last 3 and a bit years. Evo arrived this afternoon and is up and running - going to be a steep learning curve (again) I think. The steam power is mental, just about gave me a heart attack on first use!

ST30B how are you finding them?

I took delivery of some blackcat coffee the other week. I had ordered the Colombia Dulima, but received the sugarcane decaf by mistake. So they said tomorrow the decaf and sent me some the correct Dulima.

I also bought their signature blend (not yet tried) and an Ethiopian.

Been brewing them all in an Aeropress for now. Grind setting 3.0 to 4.0 on a Fellow Ode Gen2. 2min brew plus 30second press. Initial stir then a second stir at 90seconds.

The Ethiopian is not a bright coffee, roasted darker than I expected. Not what I was expecting. Wouldn’t buy again.

The Columbia sugarcane decaf is roasted really dark, and has an odd lingering finish, I’ve never had single origin decaf before, so maybe it’s just a feature of sugarcane decaf coffees?

The Columbia Dulima I don’t mind, it’s the better of the 3 I’ve tried from them so far. Has flavour and has been reasonably enjoyable.

However I would say that all 3 of them have had a taste that I cannot put my finger on. It sort of reminds me of chewing liquorice root as a kid. I will of course be trying their signature blend once my current Southampton SO Roast blend is used up on the espresso machine. But I really hope it doesn’t have the taste I think is present in the first 3.

So all in all, I am not convinced I’d be buying any more sadly, I’ll go back to Rave, Wogan Roasters (Bristol based, but they have a shop in Cheddar, called Wyvern) and my brothers local roaster in Southampton for a couple of months. All have sold me some great coffees, to my inexperienced palate at least!

Ando Why is the steam arm on the wrong side? 🤣

Lovely machine, congratulations.Does this machine have all the bells and whistles like safety system, rotary pump and what nots?

That’s the stock configuration.

I asked for the steam on the right.

MediumRoastSteam Haha - will take some getting used to for sure. Yeah all the bells and whistles - it was the introduction of the dosing system which clashed with a mini mid life crisis that had me pulling the trigger.

Have had my eye on the Evo since it was released and came close to ordering / buying second hand many times.

A big flat parcel for me today

Igm45

Just a small insignificant upgrade from the Duo, eh 🫣😎☕

….. need comparison reports asap!!

Tal
Black cat has never let me down tbh.
It’s my first decaf and being used for a flat white and we like it.
The Colombian is decent enough for a flat white but prefer something else for aeropress.
The Maria Melva, Honduras was the best coffee I think I’ve ever had, unfortunately sold out. Spot on complexity as espresso and aeropress.
I’ve had a few SO from Black cat and always been spot on. Last year’s Costa Rican was a highlight.

ST30B Costa Rican Las Palomas purchased October 23. Could return later on this year and will be purchasing it if listed.
The more expensive SO from Black cat have always justified the extra price for me.

DavecUK Hi - I bought an SPTK-38 … I needed something small and alas got myself some tennis elbow which meant the Kingrinder K4 had to be parked for now. I am making Espresso with a cheap machine :) - The Gaggia Evolution (2023).
I watched your review and you seem to have the grinder setting at 24 … but when I tried today at 24 - it was way too coarse. So I went to the other extreme - 5 … and that chocked my little Gaggia Evolution. Went to 10 - it was passable but still too coarse - so I guess I am going to be between 5-10 - it looks like they have changed something in the grinder so that the range is not the 20s anymore for espresso. You also mentioned that it’s ok to have the dial in between numbers - do you think it will be consistent - I just wonder if my range is all in between 5 and 8 - i will need to go into the mid numbers to get to a good result (i might get licky with some coffees - but i noticed that Kingrinder needed often just 1 click of difference to get a good coffee). Thanks for any insight or tip!

massig They did, the conical burrset has changed and so whatever I had it on may be different now. I suspect you won’t need to go to half numbers and remember you can always fine tune by having 1g less in the portafilter…or using in between marks.

DavecUK Thank you - It is a gold looking set now with 7 points…

Tal David @BlackCatCoffee is a very friendly, responsive chap. I often contact him via email before placing an order on a new bean to get the lowdown. 👍