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

Raziel

Yeah I’ve worked on forum based communities with top Google rankings and millions of posts a few times and had these offers come in. We always took it that it costs maybe £20-100 a month to keep the bytes running (pocket change) but that the pay off for the huge amount of time we sank into those communities was the community itself, which would inevitably die once transferred.

Anyhoo…glad to be here. Wife will be thrilled at me spending more money and spending more time faffing with equipment. :D

Raziel

LMSC If you are happy to stretch another £400, Bianca would be a great choice.

So I had the Elizabeth and Minima in mind, but good lord is that thing gorgeous

Penance

Raziel it’s a lovely machine to use. Had mine a week and absolutely no regrets.

TrampGeo

Greetings from sunny Arizona!

I have been lurking for a while but I thought I would fess up and register. Been making cappuccinos at home since about 2001 starting with a home PIDed Rancilio Silvia, then an Expobar Brutus and now an ECM Synchronika with the flow control. I use an ECM S64 grinder which seems to be nice except that it has a fair amount of retention. Most of the time we use Red Bird (Bozeman, Montana) espresso blend. I should confess I am not a sophisticate in selecting beans.

I do have one initial question about the new Nurri Leva, but I will post that in the Lever Forum.

About my login name. I am a retired geologist and my family and I spent some time as gypsies, while I worked at various mines. I fancied myself as a geo version of the the old “tramp miner”.

DavecUK

TrampGeo Welcome to the forum.

Raziel

LMSC There is a compact and a quiet Liz dual-boiler available here for sale priced at £900 with warranty here ! This will save you some cash to get a Niche priced at £500.

Out of interest, do people tend to opt for the Elizabeth over the MaraX? It looks that way having a skim, just because there is an offer here.

LMSC

Raziel @DavecUK review of Mara X is here.

MediumRoastSteam

Raziel - I t depends what you want. If you want back to back shots like you were alluding to here

Raziel So if I have 5 people around who all want a latte it is beyond tedious!

The MaraX might overheat as it’s not designed for that.

My advice to you is to read the reviews from Dave on the machines you want, taking your time, and understand the pros and cons for your use cases.

Cuprajake

for £50 id go dual boiler with the liz and take the hit on the visuals,

the link is a box shifter 2-4 weeks del

buy from a reputable uk supplier like bella barista

Raziel

LMSC thank you, had lost the link to that site!

ollymarsay

Hey! I’m Olly, I’ve been lurking for a while, but decided to finally sign up and jump into conversations.
I’ve been playing with coffee for the last 10 years or so as a hobby. I’ve been playing with filter for the most part, recently with a gen 1 Ode + SSP MPs. I made a jump into espresso with the Flair 58, but I’ve been playing with machines for the best part of 4 years and own a Mara X.

I just got myself a DF64P to tinker with, so if you’ve got questions, lmk! Just posted a quick initial impressions post in the grinders channel. If anyone else has one and has any tips of burr alignment, give me a shout!

DavecUK

ollymarsay Welcome to the forum

MattH

Hi, Oddly I have found myself here from a Watch forum (tz-uk)….. which had a couple of longish coffee threads.

My journey is right at the very beginning. Never a huge coffee drinker but discovered via a clothing website the moka pot and Passalacqua coffee.

A few (lots) of YouTube videos later - with tips on how to get the best from the moka, then the rabbit hole opened for hand grinders so I could try out local beans.

I do like to make milk drinks so have a basic milk frother - but it’s not the same as a wand - so maybe the next step will be an espresso machine in some way….

After a lot of research I ended up getting just recently the Mazzer Omega grinder, I have no comparison but so far liking it a lot. (Though the world of moka seems pretty forgiving so not sure If I have “dialled” in the right grind size yet.)

So far I have just got a few sample bags from Rave and a bag from a local roaster Kin Coffee in Staplehurst to try out.

Tbh I dont think I have the greatest taste as yet - and mixing with milk masks alot. Though I don’t mind a americano in the mornings so it will be interesting to see how my tastes develop and if certain coffee’s/blends become favourites.

I have started to takeover a corner in the kitchen - I think maybe a set of timore scales would be the next item.

Honestly I suspect if I can get to making good coffee on a machine I enjoy using then I will be done…. Famous last words huh!

Cheers

Matt

DavecUK

MattH Welcome to the forum, I know of the TZ watch forum…you will find much of what applies to watches, also applies to coffee 😁

Cuprajake

Welcome.

The omega looks a very good hand grinder,

jonasy

Hi, came here from .. another UK based coffee forum. I rekindled my love for coffee about 2 years ago when I bought an espresso machine, a MaraX, sadly it’s also the reason I am here now because it has some issues :( Otherwise it has been brilliant and gotten my fiancee more interested in coffee as well. I used to live in the UK for about 8 years but moved back to Sweden earlier this year.

titanium1

I have been lurking on the dark side for many years never introduced myself there, so thought I would here. Discovered this forum yesterday.

Coffee journey started many years ago (~20) when I wanted to get a coffee machine. Went to JL saw some basic consumer machines, was nearly going to get one. Then my wife advised I should do some research. Was thinking about it, went out the shop and came back later, and the machine I wanted had gone. Thankfully.

I did my research and got a Gaggia classic and grinder - it came from italy. This served me well for around 10 years, until i started filling it with tap water and it finally packed up. Gave me an excuse to upgrade. Got a Alex Duetta Mark 3 which I am still happily using.

I also do my own roasting and doing a really lousy job of selling some roasted coffee online as a side hustle.

Glad i found this forum!

DavecUK

titanium1 Welcome to the forum..

Kape17

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! My name is David from Southern California.
I just bought a second hand Vesuvius with S/N B00055, pretty old made in 10/2014. It is running ok but I also trying to find out where to buy the parts. I am thinking of refurbishing the lever.

Operating Cam, it pretty worn out but usable.
Cam lever gaskets

As well to get the magnet for the gear pump.

Thank you!

CoyoteOldMan

Kape17 Welcome, David!

Parts for the Vesuvius - I’d contact ACS directly, and ask if there is some appointed distributor for the US, or if they can help directly. sales@mevsrl.net

DavecUK

Kape17 Welcome to the forum. Lever spindle gaskets, (there are 2) are a standard part available from any Espresso parts supplier. Cam itself shouldn’t be worn, what makes you think it is?

The fluidotech gear pump magnet is again a standard part you can order, cheaper than getting it shipped from Italy. Your parts supplier may not even be charged for it for a pump of that vintage, as it was during the time when fluid o tech realised they had problems with some of the pump magnets in that year (incorrectly potted).

Kape17

CoyoteOldMan Thank you! Really appreciate your advise.

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