General coffee thread

FiestaST said:
Circle back with us after a ± month for a "long term review".
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Yeah dude, the review should probably be even further away than that, because I want to use this as a test-bed for techniques. When i am ready to take the plunge, I need to get an unpressurized basket, burr grinder and gram scale. For now, this is just basically "better than a nespresso" (which I had), so it scratches the itch of having a bit more control and some tamp and portafilter fun.
 
Smiggles said:
Will still be better and cheaper than a Nespresso or Dolce Gusto
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Of course, but one should keep in mind one machine requires the other (and both brings up or down the endresult). I'm probably going to replace my n00b grinder with a new one and then get a dedicated coffee and brew scale instead of abusing my current ADE one.
 
The_ONE said:
Series 800


View attachment 1908936

Any thoughts on this mac hine?
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EDIT: See below regarding better deal on Amazon for the 2200. It's a great price for a new one, and its the cheapest "bean to cup" experience you'll find in a while.

It is however the entry-level of the whole range, so it doesn't have a milk carafe which would automatically steam milk for you (so you're going to be doing some fussing with steaming milk rather than just pressing one button and walking away).

The grinder you find built in also won't be as good as the nicer bur grinders you can get standalone, so if you're a coffee purist that's another consideration. But if you're a coffee purist, chances are you'll rather go for a basic portafilter brewer instead so you've got more control over the variables.

Personally I think you'd be a lot better off with a Delonghi with a milk carafe at around R8000-R9000, but at that stage you're paying double for more convenience (and arguably stronger coffee from the delonghis instead of the phillips).
 
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Foxhound5366 said:
So after months of bemoaning the cost of high-end espresso machines, this afternoon I picked up one of these at Checkers for only R2000:

I did some research before pulling the trigger (see video below for a good walkthrough of the unit), and first impressions are very positive. In the end I just wanted something that let me play around with different flavours of beans, and this really works.

View attachment 1908755

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Please keep us updated. In the market for an espresso machine.
Send a pic of a cup of your espresso?
 
SeRpEnT said:
Please keep us updated. In the market for an espresso machine.
Send a pic of a cup of your espresso?
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Well I'm more of a latte and cappuccino guy rofl. For that, this works like a charm. Turn on to start preheating (takes about two minutes to ready), prep portafilter, fill milk, then press button twice to get desired drink for the "double shot" option. Without much practice I've gotten start to finish down to ten minutes, including washing up, sooooo that works for a nice little coffee routine. The flavour is really good (I got two Colombian single origin coffees - I love that flavour), so it works for me. The biggest issue is have now is my glass is too big for the cappuccino and a bit too small for the latte, sooooo gonna have to get a new glass (can't adjust drink sizes although you can handily froth more milk without brewing coffee as a top-up or to make hot chocolate if desired).

It's only day 2, but I don't find anything wrong with the machine for the price. It's better than you'd expect for R2K, and if you really want to treat yourself Checkers has a Breville Barista clone from Morphy Richards going for R4500 currently (i.e. it was a standalone grinder built in). I was very tempted by that, but decided to be harsh on the budget and rather work my way up gradually.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
EDIT: See below regarding better deal on Amazon for the 2200. It's a great price for a new one, and its the cheapest "bean to cup" experience you'll find in a while.

It is however the entry-level of the whole range, so it doesn't have a milk carafe which would automatically steam milk for you (so you're going to be doing some fussing with steaming milk rather than just pressing one button and walking away).

The grinder you find built in also won't be as good as the nicer bur grinders you can get standalone, so if you're a coffee purist that's another consideration. But if you're a coffee purist, chances are you'll rather go for a basic portafilter brewer instead so you've got more control over the variables.

Personally I think you'd be a lot better off with a Delonghi with a milk carafe at around R8000-R9000, but at that stage you're paying double for more convenience (and arguably stronger coffee from the delonghis instead of the phillips).
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I'm getting the Phillips 800 for R2500, not worth it? Guy says he used it max 5 times in the 2 years he has has it.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
I shared my thoughts in the post just above that one. I haven't personally owned that one but I think there are some good reasons I shared why you might want to consider your goals and fuss tolerance.
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I thank you kind sir, I have read thru them now.
 
The_ONE said:
I'm getting the Phillips 800 for R2500, not worth it? Guy says he used it max 5 times in the 2 years he has has it.
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Then I hope the guy is telling the truth ;) Probably worth getting a descaling kit and running a full cycle, just to clean out the internals. The way I'd look at it it: its all going to be about the beans you get. Make sure you get something special and keep experimenting until you find what kind of flavour profiles you like. Let us know how you feel about it after your first couple coffees, I'm keen to hear your experience with the machine!
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Then I hope the guy is telling the truth ;) Probably worth getting a descaling kit and running a full cycle, just to clean out the internals. The way I'd look at it it: its all going to be about the beans you get. Make sure you get something special and keep experimenting until you find what kind of flavour profiles you like. Let us know how you feel about it after your first couple coffees, I'm keen to hear your experience with the machine!
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I hope soo. LOL.

I have citric acid for the descaling.

I bought this, got delivered today, will be trying out evryling tomollow

1779124746997.png
 
Foxhound5366 said:
@SeRpEnT

Tell me this doesn't look appealing for the price:


View attachment 1908951

There's even a whole video:
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Very nice. Sure looks the deal. Need to google some reviews.

Already have a bean to cup actually - Delongi Caffe Venezia. Decent for quick cups in the mornings and milky stuff you prefer but the espressos are horrible. Ten second time extraction and zero way to make changes so useless as an espresso machine.
 
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