London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

http://www.squaremileblog.com/2009/0...e-topmoka-pot/

There's more options shown here (thanks bombcup for the orginal link):
http://www.brewmethods.com/

Just watched that video, thanks, I shall try that tomorrow and hopefully all shall be well.

One concern- I did buy Espresso coffee, pre-ground stuff as I have no grinder.

If the grind is too fine then what is the best way of using it up?

lower the dose/tamp until it works or do what i do and use it in the cafetiere.
never had anything that's been so fine that my machine can't cope with only stuff that's not fine enough.

Bicycle Coffee dude (from SF) is back in town. Pretty good stuff. If you're by 14 and ask they have some. Good for Americana.

Isn't convex vs flat base a matter of preference? So I'd heard anyway.

Would be interested if you find a place to get a tamper as I need a new one and would like to buy somewhere in town if possible.

I heard tell that it depended on the shape of your basket. The closer the surface of the tamper matched the shape of the bottom of the basket, the more even the tamp.

This is the kind of thing I tend to take with a pinch of salt though. My tamper is flat. Sits nicely on my counter without rolling around.

what the double post?

I've just been given an espresso gear convex tamper as a gift and I love it. Nicely ergonomic powder coated alu handle with a very heavy stainless piston. I just really like the convex base as it seems easier for me to get the tamp nicely level. With my dose in a Synesso double basket the top of the piston finishes level with the rim of the basket so by feeling your fingertips across the top of the tamper and the basket rim you know it's square all around. I've now replaced my flat Reg Barber with it.

For the coarse ground espresso problems - if you want to bring the coffee to Maltby St I will check it has been ground correctly and replace it. We calibrate the espresso grind on our commercial machines, but some home machines have their pump pressure set very high, particularly if they originally used a crema-enhancing basket. If the grind checks out OK it may be worth investigating how to turn down the over-pressure valve on your machine.

it felt grainy in between my fingers even though visually it looked quite fine.
we have talked about this before and i appreciate the grinder gets set at different grinds as people order stuff so it gets moved about a lot during the day.
i think my machine is fine as stuff that espresso room grind is perfect as is monmouth it's just that about 1 in evry 5-6 bags i buy will be off (i do check they grind it for espresso, and asked again as i paid today)

if i have time i will pop some round but what i usually do is just use it in the cafetiere if it's too coarse, it's actually really nice brewed this way

the real solution is to buy a grinder :-)

yes grinder yes. sorry it's not right :(

^Yeah...........if you are taking the time and effort to get really good coffee then buying it ground is just wrong. The Hario Skerton is a fantastic hand grinder, great for everything bar espresso, and is £37 at Hasbean. If you are willing to throw down the monies for Square Mile, at least do the coffee justice and grind it fresh

I broke a cafetiere today. :-(

Just had a cracking mug of Mellow Birds.

I've had this problem with monmouth too (not exactly a problem, but anyway) – my assumption is that they don't want to risk choking people's machines so they set the grinder to the coarsest setting they can get away with for an espresso grind. The last batch I bought I asked for slightly finer than what they would normally do for espresso and it's come out OK, could maybe go down another notch or two (extractions are about 10-15 secs) and that was at 2.0 on their machine. The girl was happy to adjust to my needs and told me to ask them for 2.0 in the future, so just talk to them about it next time you go in, I'm sure they would be happy to advise.

Can anyone help me —I want to buy an espresso machine for my house - but I don't want it to cost the earth, budget of below £200.

I know a fair bit about coffee and have worked as a barista in the distant past, but I know nothing of consumer coffee machines, I know at that price point it's not going to be incredible coffee, but I want something better than a stovetop or cafetiere.

p.s - I'd rather avoid nespresso, we had one in my last office and it was fairly good but I don't think I'd ever get round to buying those silly capsules. I also hate how much un-recyclable waste they create

^ and it's dull as fuck to use

worse are the cafe ricard machines... we've just switched to them at work. The little pods are wrapped in their own packets. total joke.

so that video further up the page recommends a coarser grind for stovetops. I thought the received thinking was fine like espresso?

stovetops need to be coarser than espresso to allow water to pass through the coffee bed without burning it. Espresso grind will offer such resistance that the water temp required to produce high enough steam pressure to drive the water through the coffee will scald the coffee on the way through and give a bitter brew.

The brew in that vid looks a bit pissy to me, if you you're not going to get a bit of viscosity from a stovetop brew then there's not much point IMO, but you need to be somewhere inbetween.

yeh, I've got the hang of finishing the brew before the last bits come out (starts bubbling and hissing and yes, tastes v bitter), but I'm just using shop bought ground espresso.

Next step = grinder and experimenting. No space for a rancilio silvia and a rocky grinder in the kitchen (according to the wife, that is), but I can probably squeeze just the grinder in.

This is lovely Wayne, really lovely.

What typeface is that?

cheers Dan - the font is based on 'Buttermilk' by veer

bit of fiddling on the P and I've thickened the face a smidge so it's a tiny bit beefier…

[need to tail off the bottom of the 'l's to match the top, sort out the spacing round the ampersand and then it'll be finished properly]

ahhh.. Veer :D

I was looking for something similar for an I.D I'm doing at the moment, so ta for the lead

I LOVE their typefaces... I used to get lots of free stuff from them at Grafik, alas no more.

Totally agree

no suggestions for affordable coffee machine? Or should I just stick to the stovetop?

I do realise that asking if a sub £200 machine is more-or-less the same as asking someone to recommend you a geared bike for less than £200, but still....

something second hand.
i paid less than £100 for a baby D (some parts missing) and £150 for a classic with all the bits.

We break one (well, the cleaners or the dishwasher does) every few weeks.
There's a stream of them through the kitchen.

Gaggia Classic

Shop nearest victoria that sells drip-cups and grinders? My new workplace is addicted to instant ><

Was particularly sad as i happened within minutes of walking through the door to my new job... and I did the same thing on the first day of an old job last year. Same cafetiere too.

Where do you pick up the replacement glass? I got it from Sainsbury's before but it seems my local store doesn't stock them. It's a bodum btw.

bodum do spares online or try john lewis.
i got a spare glass from smith bros in tooting my local kitchen/homeware shop.

Ta, I figured they'd do online, just a bit slow today and don't know any of my local shops!

50 pages too much to read!

Kenya Gethumbwini Peaberry has been keeping me happy for the last few weeks.

Met the guy who runs www.wearecoffeefix.com at macclesfield treacle market, website since tells me he rides fixed in Manc - wonder if posts on here?

^Looks good, uses hasbean coffee. Is he busy?

One of the other guys grabs Bodum glass off amazon I think.

cheap tesco plastic cafetiere FTW, mine's survived 5 years of camping, may be very slightly sludgier because the filter isn't quite as good quality. Grind coarser steep longer for a clean brew.

BC are you in maltby street tomorrow?
i might swing by with the coffee i had ground last week if you are.

From what chat we had it's going well. They're opening a cafe near stockport soon so i'll pay it a visit at some point.

Yes mate, what time you thinking?

will be in farringdon till 11-11-30 then i'm done so 12-12:30 or if that's your lunch hour then when you get back from that?

Cool, I'm roasting tomorrow which doesn't give me much chance to chat but I can sort you out some replacement coffee and I'll take a look at the ground stuff on monday and let you know.

cool. see you late morning.

thanks for sorting the coffee out (and showing me your big hot shiny machine)
had to lower the dose a fair bit (a good 5mm from top of basket after a light/medium tamp) but get a nice long consistent pour and masses of crema.

will get one of these sometime soon

Pret a Manger's idea of flat white is jokes. Also, the man called me "mate". Do not like.

Was a pleasure Gary, go get that grinder.

Sparky, that's an interesting point, I always address people as sir or madam when I'm serving them, it sometimes feels a bit cheesy but I figure it's best to start formal and back it off if they become familiar.

It's all about subtle cues. If I'm being served by someone polite, and we've had some small talk, it might be OK. But today the bloke just rushed through the whole thing, took my money, then pointed three feet behind me and said "wait there mate". Ridiculous. Plus my coffee was there 5 seconds later, so I made a show of taking three deliberate steps forward and collecting it. Crappy place. I just really like their ham and eggs bloomers so sometimes cave in.

Pret make a lot of noise about their coffee, but every coffee I've ever had there has been burnt and generally unpleasant. I've frequently watched them open the steam valve into the milk and walk away.

What is it and is it any good? I'm in the market for a grinder and that looks like it might be a suitable size for my kitchen (the Silvia already dominates, not sure my flatmates will tolerate much more coffee paraphernalia on our already limited worksurface).

ascaso i-mini steel. they do one slightly cheaper in black or silver. the one in the picture is a bit more because it's stainless. i too am short on space so want something with a small footprint

you get some idea of it's size here

How are you going to get the dose consistent with that if you grind right into the basket?

well i don't have the grinder but i guess by eye.
i get consistent results by just spooning a certain amount into the PF once i have a new batch of ground coffee i usually only need to make 1-2 shots before i get it right then i get it near enough spot on every time until the batch runs out.

Okay, I guess. I'm still to make good espresso really so I'll take your word for it (and not worry too much about dosing in the future).