Everything to do with Coffee

[Spider!]

My son has used this modded gaggia heavily for years. He's looking at the new Mi coffee and the breville bambino plus.

[flyweightnate]

That's high on the list...

[BLachance75]

The Mii Coffee machine looks nice but I’d wait for the second or third version. Everything try make takes a few versions to get all the kinks worked out.

[Spider!]

Yes. My son was telling me about the way their grinder evolved with some open source community parts. I think he plans on modding it as well.

[flyweightnate]

So I ignored you all and got a Gaggia Brera super automatic - a lot like Siress's, with a simple interface and a little door to let you remove and clean the brew unit. It's refurbished, but was a hair under $300. Given my current pod habit, ROI was under 8 months.

It's disappointing. Good coffee, but it's supposed to be espresso. Great bloom, a nice dry puck, low maintenance, but the nuances of flavor aren't there. Very drinkable caffeine, but not something that makes me excited to go get a cup.

Now to see if the wife will go for the return, and upgrade to a Breville Express. A friend has one, and for $560, it's quite good. Can't seem to find a well-priced grinder to accompany the Gaggia Classic.

[Tracker]

flyweightnate i have their V1 Ode grinder with upgraded burrs and am very happy with it. they are very different from one another, BUT, it will be seriously quiet which is a rarity in a lot on nice grinders, and, the opus have a much better range than mine, 4 big steps with like 11 indexes per step (mine is just 11, and the spinal tap reference was intentional) so thats where the 40+ grind settings number comes from

[flyweightnate]

Yeah, I could get behind quiet. If it means coffee before the kids wake up, instead of waking up the kids to make coffee...

[flyweightnate]

Tracker An opus is on its way. I'll report back!

[flyweightnate]

A 2013 Gaggia Classic (adjusted to 9 bar) and the Opus grinder are a significantly better combination. Real espresso, instead of extra thick drip coffee.

[Spider!]

I just got a new classic Evo pro. My Mii df64 2 was about the same price. I'm gonna play stock class before I get into modding the Gaggia.

[flyweightnate]

The coffee paradox: until I've had my coffee, i don't function. I need to function to make my coffee.

This morning, i went to refill my coffee maker with water. I poured it into my grinder instead. It may have been a very expensive mistake.

[thirp]

I used a moka pot for years and always enjoyed it

[BLachance75]

I was just thinking about decaf coffee the other day then saw this today. I ordered a kit to give it a try.

[flyweightnate]

I was just thinking about decaf coffee the other day then saw this today. I ordered a kit to give it a try.

That's a cool idea. I love experiments that are well- designed; I also love coffee.

It brings up a question. I've been using Costco's Swiss water beans for decaf espresso in the evening on occasion. I think it's fine. My wife says it keeps her awake all night.

Any theories? (My grinder holds over <2g typically, so it's at best 11% caffeinated. Probably much less.)

[BLachance75]

That's a cool idea. I love experiments that are well- designed; I also love coffee.

It brings up a question. I've been using Costco's Swiss water beans for decaf espresso in the evening on occasion. I think it's fine. My wife says it keeps her awake all night.

Any theories? (My grinder holds over <2g typically, so it's at best 11% caffeinated. Probably much less.)

This will be my first time trying decaf. What pushed me to do it is that it is light roast. At this point I pretty much only drink light roast coffee. My daily coffee is a light roast washed Ethiopian from a local roaster. I buy the beans in 5 lbs bags. They also have a light roast Columbia that is natural processed that I will also buy to have some variety.

I wonder if your may be more sensitive to caffeine. My wife is pretty sensitive to it so she limits her caffeine intake and rarely has it past afternoon. I'm not sensitive to it but I also don't necessarily want to be having it at 9 pm.

Lately I've been wanting a coffee at night after working out but haven't been having it. If I can find a good decaf that will allow me to have one and not worry about the late night caffeine.

[Jonnydread]

I think most decaf coffee still has 5-10mg of caffeine per serving so if you’re sensitive to caffeine you may still feel it.

[BrickHaus]

The tale of two roasters. The duller beans are from Onyx Coffee Labs. These are some of the last of my beans that redsquirrel graciously sent me as a gift. I've been sparingly using them as this is my last batch of Onyx on hand.

The shiny beans are organic velvet moon espresso roast from Cameron's Coffee. camerons is local so a 32 oz bag at costco is $12 . Its a really good bean for the cost, but I was about 15 grams short of my 40 gram cup.

I tossed some of the Onyx in to make weight, and the stark contrast made me chuckle.

[redsquirrel]

Glad to hear you’ve gone through it. You’ll have to let me know what your favorite was.

[BrickHaus]

redsquirrel. I would say the "New Belgium" was King. I want to say it was a costa rica honey. I have to say, the XL bag of Colombia was also so frigging good.it was hontestly a surprise as to how tasty that was. I was glad that I had so much of that to burn.

The bit I have left is the echelon Panama elida estate. It's awesome, and sports that signature Onyx profile Ive come to love in doing advent calendars. It likes to clog my paper filters though, which is why I still have a bit. I've got to use it in my pure over. I could try an espresso shot, but I haven't yet.

[BLachance75]

I do the same thing when I get to the bottom of a bag. Although it's usually all light roast so the difference isn't quite as much.

What I find really interesting is the roast level that different roasters consider light, medium and dark.