Favourite coffee

Howick is peaceful and most places are opening slowly. Curry's post area is quiet and business as usual. Midmar dam is very quiet but mostly down to the weather being a bit nippy, but the dedicated folk are out on the water. The N3 from Durbs to Howick is smooth with no issues today or the past few days
Thanks, the place I was looking at booking is still available later this week.
 
So this little machine looks very interesting. And not a terrible price at R3400 from YC (correct me if I'm wrong). Will just have to buy a decent grinder. What say you?

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I have one of these and it makes a decent tasting cup of espresso.

As others have mentioned it has a 15 bar pump (commercial pumps are 9bar) and a 51mm (commercial is 58mm) dual wall pressurized (commercial ones are non-pressurized) basket. I have read that the coffee between the first multi-hole layer and single hole layer reaches a pressure of 9bar before the coffee starts extracting. So is it ****? no, not at all. It obviously won't makes an espresso to the standard of most 10K+ machines but I have already got it making espresso which is more to my taste than what I could buy at most coffee shops. With it being pressurized, its also more forgiving on grind inconsistencies and is also more forgiving with coffee ground using a blade grinder. I also prefer it for lighter roasts. There are various 3rd party non-pressurized filters available but I tried them and the 15bars of pressure just pushes the water through the ground coffee at such a fast rate no matter what you do. I did figure out my own hack for this issue though, the hack allows me to get the 25 second extract time but I go slightly over the 1:2 brew ration to about 1:2.5 or 1.3...I prefer this.

So in summary, its good for people who don't have a good burr grinder (most standard burr grinders cannot grind fine enough for espresso) and want to either use pre-ground or a blade grinder and don't have a clue about dialing in their espresso. It also works really well with ESE pods if you ever use them.

Also please DO NOT apply too much force when tamping with pressurized filter. Too much pressure will cause the detachable first layer to collapse and sit flush against the single hole layer and block your pump...I found out the hard way after. Use a distributor and tamp lightly (5kg of force max). I also recommend setting the water temperature to high (default is medium).

I find the coffee with the standard pressurized filters to have more clarity and smoothness. The non-pressurized filter produces a richer espresso and i can taste the oils from the beans.

If you can afford it, I would recommend a rancilo silvia home or pro.
 
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I have one of these and it makes a decent tasting cup of espresso.

As others have mentioned it has a 15 bar pump (commercial pumps are 9bar) and a 51mm (commercial is 58mm) dual wall pressurized (commercial ones are non-pressurized) basket. I have read that the coffee between the first multi-hole layer and single hole layer reaches a pressure of 9bar before the coffee starts extracting. So is it ****? no, not at all. It obviously won't makes an espresso to the standard of most 10K+ machines but I have already got it making espresso which is more to my taste than what I could buy at most coffee shops. With it being pressurized, its also more forgiving on grind inconsistencies and is also more forgiving with coffee ground using a blade grinder. I also prefer it for lighter roasts. There are various 3rd party non-pressurized filters available but I tried them and the 15bars of pressure just pushes the water through the ground coffee at such a fast rate no matter what you do. I did figure out my own hack for this issue though, the hack allows me to get the 25 second extract time but I go slightly over the 1:2 brew ration to about 1:2.5 or 1.3...I prefer this.

So in summary, its good for people who don't have a good burr grinder (most standard burr grinders cannot grind fine enough for espresso) and want to either use pre-ground or a blade grinder and don't have a clue about dialing in their espresso. It also works really well with ESE pods if you ever use them.

Also please DO NOT apply too much force when tamping with pressurized filter. Too much pressure will cause the detachable first layer to collapse and sit flush against the single hole layer and block your pump...I found out the hard way after. Use a distributor and tamp lightly (5kg of force max). I also recommend setting the water temperature to high (default is medium).

I find the coffee with the standard pressurized filters to have more clarity and smoothness. The non-pressurized filter produces a richer espresso and i can taste the oils from the beans.

If you can afford it, I would recommend a rancilo silvia home or pro.
Same as the Breville Cafe Venezia which was my first machine. I could make a better cup with that than the shops with commercial machines but didn't know how to use it. Even with my limited experience and knowledge. Downside is you have very little control over the timing of the shot.

The delonghi looks prettier though. Wonder if we ever going to see the Breville Bambino.

Blade grinders are messy and not that great, so I got a cheap Severin Conical Grinder when I still used the Venezia. Much more consistent results and the dual wall baskets are forgiving.

Obviously the Rancillios are much better, but it is a different class and you need a very good grinder as well. So it's the difference in spending between 4/6K and 18/20K.

If I was on a tight budget and just wanted something simple, I'll buy one of these machines again.
 
What "hack" did you use?
Increase the pressure in your basket, but all hacks come at a cost.

These machines are made to be used with pressurized baskets. I see a lot of YouTube videos of people putting non-pressurized baskets and getting the brew ratio and timing right but I believe they are making compromises along the way - either they are grinding way too fine, increasing dosage or having to tamp really hard.
 
homo_prodotti_1-8b51480a.jpeg


is anyone familiar with this brand? i saw it at the local spar and it looked intriguing. Priced below a R100.


Also picked up this little delightful one cup moka pot for R149. The 3 cup was only about a 100 more.
image_big_177560106.jpg



Also got this deloghi grinder for R899 at Hersches and it grinds fine enough for espresso. At its finest setting it grinds to almost a powdery granularity

picture20181002155320
.
 
homo_prodotti_1-8b51480a.jpeg


is anyone familiar with this brand? i saw it at the local spar and it looked intriguing. Priced below a R100.


Also picked up this little delightful one cup moka pot for R149. The 3 cup was only about a 100 more.
image_big_177560106.jpg



Also got this deloghi grinder for R899 at Hersches and it grinds fine enough for espresso. At its finest setting it grinds to almost a powdery granularity

picture20181002155320
.
Hi so I bought this bad boy at checkers for 140 bucks the other day, here's to another couple months of hassle free coffee6001068323906-1-pdpxl.jpg
 
As someone who really enjoys Jacob Kronung, which flavour of Douwe Egbert do people recommend?
 
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