Welcome to Coffeetime. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your coffee journey too.

I'm a long-term drinker of filter coffee that's relatively recently moved into expresso, or more accurately, espresso-based drinks, and this seemed like a good place to chat and learn.

Welcome to our fledgling forum. You will find a wealth of knowledge available here.

I'm a jaded user of another forum, that needed a change 😆

Up until recently I was only marginally aware that there were people on the internet who chatted about coffee stuff all the time. I'm now over two and a half grand down and it's all your fault. 😅

@"dfk41"#4 grabbed me by neck and brought me here! 😂 Thx guys! Feel at home!

I'm not saying I'm paranoid or anything, but a few weeks ago I walked into a coffee forum, pulled up a chair and sat down; everyone else seemed to get up and walk out! 😆 My coffee journey started over 40 years ago when my wife bought me a Gran Gaggia for Christmas. That was before the internet was invented, so there was no information freely available about the need for a grinder. I made a mess and a lot of terrible coffee. I got into stove top coffee makers through a Romanian student I befriended, we drank a lot of good coffee together before he moved on. My wife decided we should buy an induction hob, so that put an end to my stove top coffee making and I switched to french press. After breaking the glass of my favourite press I decided to try one of those gimmicky Aeropress thingies; that was a real eye-opener for me and started to buy speciality coffee beans and a Baratza Encore. A couple of years ago I retired and started volunteering in a charity shop where I saw a La Pavoni Europiccola. Nobody seemed to know what it was, so I got it at a very agreeable price. I invested in a Eureka Mignon Specialita to feed the LP and have become obsessed with the coffee making process.

@"LMSC"#p138 It is our home now….

On the other forum too(BadBoyR), don't participate much, just been busy reading posts/reviews on a new dual boiler machine. Currently have a bean to cup, but would like a more manual machine, mainly drinking milky coffees or a small shot if doing some cardio fasted. Looking at the sage dual boiler, lelit elizabeth and ACS minima.....so undecided, but want to future proof myself for being able to control flow later as gain better experience.

Got funny looks when I first got my aeropress, bringing it to work etc. decided to try make better coffee about a year ago, started the research. My girlfriend complained(?!) she didn’t see me for a few weeks as I was stuck online researching this thing. Stumbled across this gang (in their/your former space), which made it so much easier to confidently choose an espresso machine and then help when it arrived not working correctly!! Thanks to all again and Dave your stated principles of this forum are so great in these times, must be applauded, cheers for such dedication. It would have been a much much more difficult journey to getting it half right without the help of you guys

Was on “the other coffee forum”, but thought I’d hop over and join you all here. I’ve liked coffee for a long time, with a progression through french press, moka pot, aeropress and Nespresso. I’ve now settled on v60 for filter and since Dec last year I’ve started making real espresso with a Rancilio Silvia coupled with a Niche Zero. I enjoy tinkering, so I fitted a PID almost straight away, and for Christmas I’ve got an Ito board coming so that I can play with pressure profiling (a bit like a decent on the cheap). While a single boiler might not be for everyone, I’m the only person in the house who drinks coffee, so it’s perfect for one. Easy to maintain and less energy use as I’m only heating one small boiler. It’s a bit slow when we have guests, but I can live with that.

New Members Introduce Yourself

MCMikey777

Hi everyone. New member here. Based in the Uk and trying to break my addiction to, dare I say it - “Nespresso”!!! Originally got into decent espresso many years ago after a work trip to Italy. At that time I bought a Gaggia Classic - got frustrated at my inability to get consistently good shots so got rid of it. Regret that now! That was when Nespresso entered the scene. Now looking to come back to real coffee. Got my 1zpresso grinder for Christmas. Got an Aeropress. Looking to get a second hand espresso machine as next step. Covid putting my career on hold means funds are limited! Recommendations always welcome. Here to learn.

BaggaZee

You’re on a slippery slope now!
The best advice I got when starting out was to concentrate on the grinder & beans first. I joined the forum looking for upgrade advice for my espresso machine and ended up buying a grinder (I was using pre-ground coffee like an animal :) ). It totally transformed my coffee.
Needless to say, I did end up upgrading the machine a few times and I’ve had a few grinders now too.
Hope the career hold doesn’t last much longer for you.

MRMC1114

Hi Everyone

Ive been French pressing for a few years & recently purchased A Niche grinder (still in its Box) with a view to purchasing an expresso machine, have a budget of around £1,500, I am considering the ECM Slim & the Bezzera Magica PID.

The ECM was recommended by a retailer after a 15 min chat, saw the WLL you tube clip on the Bezzera Factory & thought they looked like a quality build.

I suspect it would be used for about 4- 6 drinks a day espresso for me milk based for the wife.

Before I purchase any machine, I would like a better under standing of how you ‘know’ what the temperature is of the water coming out of the group head for the espresso?.

& how you would make an adjustment in temp for the type of beans being used?.

I suppose I am asking in relation to the two machines mentioned one with a PID & one without & alternatives that have the same/similar make up.

I have viewed many you tube clips & am still confused.

Any advice or thoughts on the machines would be greatly appreciated.

Waitforme

MRMC1114 , the machine I have my understanding is that the difference in temperature between group and boiler is through the offset programmed into PID.

So I set my temp to say 93 but the boiler will actual be at perhaps 103.

Others with more knowledge will no doubt be along to chip in …..

DavecUK

Waitforme So I set my temp to say 93 but the boiler will actual be at perhaps 103.

Others with more knowledge will no doubt be along to chip in …..

This is correct for all but Rocket machines, unless they finally changed their programming to have an offset. @Hotmetal will be able to tell you more about the Rocket system.

Hotmetal

I don’t know about later Rockets but my early R58 doesn’t have a programmable or factory offset, even though Dave recommended to them that they should build one in. So on mine, I have to set the “Group temp” (actually the brew boiler temp) to 107 to get 94 at the group. E61 machines can be fitted with a group thermometer, of which there are a couple available that mount in place of the screw on the front diagonal part. I have not bothered to do this but it’s not difficult.

darkstefano

Hello there!
New here, i lived with an Oscar II by Nuova Simonelli + Eureka Specialità, and now upgraded to ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva + Niche Zero.

Happy to be here and leam to get the best from coffee

pbg

darkstefano Have you found the switch from the Specialita to the Niche a noticeable upgrade for espresso?

pbg

I’m Paul. I’ve gone from Delonghi 155 and Cuisinart grinder through a Sage DTP and Santos 4 grinder and now I have a Greta Astoria with the Santos. I used to be on the ‘other’ forum if you recognise the ID

darkstefano

pbg unfortunately the Niche Zero will delivered in February

pbg

darkstefano I shall wait for your verdict. My thread asking which of those 2 has so far fallen solidly in favour of the Niche

Alexvs

Hi all, literally posted for the first time over at the other place today and then saw a link to here posted within a reply to someone so came on over. Seems much more active so glad I came. My (probably TMI) journey so far has been:

Wife and I had our first son, knew coffee would be needed in our life after never even liking the smell haha
Bought cheap £70 ish De’Longhi ground only espresso machine to get a taste, broke within a year
Upgraded to a De’Longhi Dedica (as a John Lewis warranty replacement + cash) convincing the wife we need something better
Visited brother in-law in France who had a Riviera & Bar (aka Sage) Barista Express and loved it. Took a second visit to convince the wife we needed one
Now have a Sage BE for last 2 years or so
Found a Columbian coffee we love from our local roaster who delivers on roast day and been using for last 6 months or so
After reading the other forum for a few weeks, decided to try single dosing, weighing, distributing and all that jazz after some purchases this weekend

I initially started searching for a coffee forum to ask for help about coffee scales and distribution techniques but ended up telling the wife we need to spend around £2k on new equipment if she wants better coffee 😆 not that she’s ever complained about what she gets to be fair. We have our 2nd son due in April so may have to wait till after that to get one though. I’ll definitely be back on here asking for help as no idea about grinders but loving the look of the Lelit Bianca as a potential machine upgrade. We don’t drink espresso…yet! I’m sure a second child will change that and I’ll be saying I need to make 4 espressos a day, what should I buy haha.

Anyway, thanks for the friendly forum, I can already tell it’s going to be better in here with all the experience from the old one.

DavecUK

Alexvs I initially started searching for a coffee forum to ask for help about coffee scales and distribution techniques but ended up telling the wife we need to spend around £2k on new equipment if she wants better coffee 😆 not that she’s ever complained about what she gets to be fair. We have our 2nd son due in April so may have to wait till after that to get one though. I’ll definitely be back on here asking for help as no idea about grinders but loving the look of the Lelit Bianca as a potential machine upgrade. We don’t drink espresso…yet! I’m sure a second child will change that and I’ll be saying I need to make 4 espressos a day, what should I buy haha.

Welcome to the forum….the CFUK one is a bit dead now, because we all left for here…you can read about it in announcemens and here in this post: https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/83-what-corporates-can-do-when-they-monetise-a-forums-data

I expect the 2K statement was a bit of a shock. It does depend on whether you want to buy new or used…I think you could probably get a nice dual boiler setup, with very decent grinder for £1500 although perhaps not a Bianca at those prices. I do think you would notice a very big difference with prosumer kit and separate grinder.

Pompeyexile Welcome to theeeee freindliest coffee forum on the web.

I like to think so, the lack of any commercial pressures to make it rather easy to be quite carefree about such things…and not to have to worry about upsetting advertisers (because we don’t have any).

Pompeyexile

Welcome to theeeee freindliest coffee forum on the web.

We had to choose, kids or coffee… we don’t have any kids.

Alexvs

Pompeyexile

Thanks it certainly seems so. Hahahaha love that!

DavecUK

Yeah she asked me to show her what I liked then said wow! Haha. It’s all good though, I hardly spend my money on much so she’s coming around to it.

I did look at the classifieds and saw an ACS Minima available where I live and thought, maybe she’ll let me have that instead but personally prefer the Bianca. I also like the look of the La Spaziale S1 Vivaldi or Dream as quite like the commercial look, but realise they’re plumbed only so would require additional filtering/softening. Will see how convincing the wife goes. What did help was when my local roaster mentioned he had a La Marzocco GS3 on Friday when he delivered and I explained how much they are haha.

FredericM

Hey everyone,

Came from the other forum and saw this one “mentioned” in the posts of DavecUK, was curious and liked the idea of what it is trying to be (and not to be) … so decided to join here!

I’m from Germany and heavily coffee addicted. I use a LM GS3 MP and HG1 to “liquify” my home roasted coffee which I “tan” in a modded Dalian Amazon.

Recently started to experiment with hand grinder and Bacchi (ogling a bit to a 9Barista) to see if I will be able to create a good espresso & latte also in a “camping” setup on a gas stove.

DavecUK

FredericM Welcome to the forum clearly, you take your coffee very seriously. Enjoy your time on the forum.

Mutepost

Hi All,

Just joined and first post - have been lurking around the old forum for the last year but have seen a bit of a change there recently! My setup was purchased as a direct result of Covid restrictions and not being able to go out to my local café and get a fix - an ECM Synchronika a Eureka Atom 65 and have now added the Eureka Single Dose.

Have decided that I really should contribute and take a more active part so here’s something I’ve learnt how to make with the Synchronika when the sun is over the yardarm - an Espresso Martini - Cheers!

DavecUK

Mutepost Just joined and first post - have been lurking around the old forum for the last year but have seen a bit of a change there recently!

Welcome to the forum…the change was most of us set up home here.

Funny enough, just the other day I was mentioning those old alcoholic coffee drinks with double cream floating on them (Schooner Inns). I used to enjoy them and your photo has reminded me to try and make one! 🙂

4W5

DavecUK I loved those Irish coffee type drinks and all the different varieties as a child! I don’t think I could drink it with all that sugar now!

« Previous Page Next Page »