RE: Coffee Connoisseurs

sadgit said:
I have this one
De'Longhi Eletta ECAM 44.660.B Bean to Cup

I love it, It is £500+ but we got ours a few years ago via amazon warehouse. It was basically open box and got it for £270. Best buy I've made. Drinking a strong latte right now.. My wife is having a flat white.
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The coffee blog expert that I've been reading also recommended this one and the magnifica 👌
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
I have this, and apart from having to go back to the manufacturer for a couple of repairs it's great. You do get through a fair amount of beans with it though, and so a coffee subscription is a good idea too:-


Great espresso, and a decent steam wand for milk based drinks too.

I had a Nespresso pod machine before this and always found the coffee was never hot enough.
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Look amazing but about £400 out of my price range 👌
 
Yesterdays_Jam said:
I've got a mocha pot that I use now and again and a Nespresso Vertuo which does make a great espresso but the cost of them is soaring. My Gaggia broke after 15 years of great service and have been on Nespresso ever since. I've never grinded my own beans though only ever used paper Esse pods or ready ground coffee.
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I use a hand wound grinder, cheap enough and does the job.
 
Brian Marwood said:
I've been in the coffee industry for over 30 years so more than happy to help. If you want to drink espresso and just black coffee then you should get a bean to cup machine, if you want latte etc then you need something more with more bells and whistles. For a budget, Melitta make very good bean to cup machines and I've just seen one at Curry's for only £169.

If you go down this road then avoid coffee from the supermarket shelves and source from small roasters who have a passion for quality instead of churning out terrible blends from cheap green but don't get stuck with buying from just one roaster as they will have their own preferences and you might want to experience more.

I've got a small roaster in my garage and access to the very best green coffees from around the world so very much spoiled and this is as much a hobby now instead of just drinking coffee.

If you're going to make milk based drinks like latte then just buy any old crap coffee blends as you won't get to enjoy the different flavours that each country and region gives. What you're essentially doing is similar to buying a very fine wine and then mixing it with vimto and ice cubes.
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These are my thoughts. I like a latte/cappuccino but I’ve never invested in an expensive B2C or bought the the finest grounds as I’m drinking 2/3 frothy milk with it most of the time.

I have known people cough up big bucks though and do the same as me.
 
Our standard Nespresso machine is probably the best thing we ever bought, pound for pound.
Don't bother with the milk frother.
The coffee gets a froth anyway.
Our lass isn't happy with the increasing price of the pods though.😲
 
Brian Marwood said:
I've been in the coffee industry for over 30 years so more than happy to help. If you want to drink espresso and just black coffee then you should get a bean to cup machine, if you want latte etc then you need something more with more bells and whistles. For a budget, Melitta make very good bean to cup machines and I've just seen one at Curry's for only £169.

If you go down this road then avoid coffee from the supermarket shelves and source from small roasters who have a passion for quality instead of churning out terrible blends from cheap green but don't get stuck with buying from just one roaster as they will have their own preferences and you might want to experience more.

I've got a small roaster in my garage and access to the very best green coffees from around the world so very much spoiled and this is as much a hobby now instead of just drinking coffee.

If you're going to make milk based drinks like latte then just buy any old crap coffee blends as you won't get to enjoy the different flavours that each country and region gives. What you're essentially doing is similar to buying a very fine wine and then mixing it with vimto and ice cubes.
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A mate of mine has a Melitta and swears by it...I'm just old fashioned in a way that I don't like spending money on things that are plastic and lightweight...daft I know but I reckon the Gaggia Pro is what I'll head towards...had much experience with the new one?
 
For context, I'm not a pro, but have watched more videos on this than I can remember, and having tried to perfect it I realised it's never going to be perfect when there are so many variables, so I've gone back to being a bit more basic.

Depends how "pro" you want to go, but you would get better results more often with a separate grinder, a separate espresso machine with plenty of settings and a separate foamer, probably cheaper too (for a good setup). But then you also need to be weighing the beans and messing about with timings and pressures too, it's certainly not easy, and it easily explains why most coffee places **** it up.

The consistency of the beans changes a lot, with type and freshness (i.e putting a full bag in a bean to cup will change a lot over 4 weeks etc), so with a bean-to-cup machine which tend to rely on grinding time (I think) you can end up in a loop of never having the settings right, as they constantly need to change, where as doing it manually you know you've got the right amount of beans at the right consistency, it at least ticks one box.

Another problem on bean to cup machines is that the milk frothers can be ****. I've got a Sage machine which was about £1,000 and the milk frother is crap compared to even a £200 pod machine with milk frother, it's annoying. I can upgrade the steam wand mind, but never did with it being under warranty etc.

Saying that, weighing out the beans and sorting pressures and timings soon gets boring mind (especially at 6am), so I'd still advise just going for a decent bean-to-cup machine, and accepting that it's never going to be perfect, but still pretty good.

There's a bloke on Youtube called James Hoffman, he's like the daddy of coffee and you will learn more than you will ever need to know on that channel.

If you (or anyone) like black coffee, get an aeropress, they're cheap, really good and zero faff.

To get the best results (after a bit of a faff sorting out settings) don't buy coffee which doesn't have a roasting date on, so basically, that means you can't buy beans from a supermarket. There's places online like Rave etc which are really good, albeit not cheap.
 
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Andy_W said:
Depends how "pro" you want to go, but you would get better results from often with a separate grinder, a separate espresso machine with plenty of settings and a separate foamer, probably cheaper too. But then you also need to be weighing the beans and messing about with timings and pressures too, it's certainly not easy, and it easily explains why most coffee places **** it up.

The consistency of the beans changes a lot, with type and freshness (i.e putting a full bag in a bean to cup will change a lot over 4 weeks etc), so with a bean-to-cup machine which tend to rely on grinding time (I think) you can end up in a loop of never having the settings right, as they constantly need to change, where as doing it manually you know you've got the right amount of beans at the right consistency, it at least ticks one box.

Another problem on bean to cup machines is that the milk frothers can be ****. I've got a Sage machine which was about £1,000 and the milk frother is crap compared to even a £200 pod machine with milk frother, it's annoying.

Saying that, weighing out the beans and sorting pressures and timings soon gets boring mind (especially at 6am), so I'd still advise just going for a decent bean-to-cup machine, and accepting that it's never going to be perfect, but still pretty good.

There's a bloke on Youtube called James Hoffman, he's like the daddy of coffee and you will learn more than you will ever need to know on that channel.

If you (or anyone) like black coffee, get an aeropress, they're cheap, really good and zero faff.
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Cheers Andy 👌
 
Andy_W said:
There's a bloke on Youtube called James Hoffman, he's like the daddy of coffee and you will learn more than you will ever need to know on that channel.
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His videos are strangely addictive. My fave is the instant coffee tests - the wife hates the slurping noises :ROFLMAO:
 
MolteniArcore said:
His videos are strangely addictive. My fave is the instant coffee tests - the wife hates the slurping noises :ROFLMAO:
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My missus hates slurping too, and as I can't drink stuff which is hot (missus could drink molten lava I think), I do the slurping thing as a tester, and then go way OTT with it, to wind the missus up more, she's going to stab me one day :LOL:

I love the video where he wins the competition thing, and how it all started, it's mesmerising.
 
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