Coffee Machines

[christo]

My wife is the coffee junkie in our house.

I'm sure i'll be labelled a blasphemer but.....

She bought a Tassimo coffee maker for those one or two cup days. The Gevalia Crema pak makes a tasty cup to me.

My boss has a steam driven expresso machine and the lattes that come out of that are wonderful - the machine is bigger than my microwave!

Christo

[james]

Pizza, coffee and a good baguette -- the staples of life. :-) That and red wine.

I have a four year-old Rancilio espresso machine, and got a Rancilio grinder a few months ago. Grinding fresh beans as you need them makes a big difference. But finding good beans at a reasonable cost is difficult. The Italian coffees (Illy and Lavazza) seem to be stale by the time they get here. I've been experimenting with U.S. blends.

Getting great crema and perfect milk froth is as hard as making pizza napoletana. :-)

James

[Ken524]

Coffee Gurus:

I received a 9 cup Moka Express and Cuisinart blade grinder for Christmas. I've tried different sizes of grind (fine to course) but always seem to get a bit of powdery coffee grinds in my cup. Is that the norm or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

[sammy]

Great gifts! That is awesome!!!

I think that might just be one of the downfalls of some blade grinders. Blade grinders chop at the beans at high speeds where burr grinders shave the beans at lower speeds. Due to the way they work, the blade grinders introduce some heat and inconsistancy in the grind. Just like anything you put in a grinder, you will have some stuff that gets pulverated while some is still chunky.

Before I got a burr grinder, I would pulse the on-off switch while I shook (lightly) my grinder to try to get a more consistant grind. I also would wait about a minute before I started to drink my coffee (to allow the grounds to settle and the coffee to cool) and then I just didn't drink the last sip or two (since there would be grounds on the bottom).

I think you are going about it right, though - you want to go fine enough that you get a full extraction while not so fine that you get a ton of grounds escaping and settling in your cup.

I am at a conference, but pass on your mailing address and I will send you a pound or two of some really good coffee to celebrate :-) ssiegel@amesic.com

[Ken524]

Thanks Sammy! I'll play with the grinder a bit. I also noticed that I can let the Moka sit for a bit and let some of the powder settle before pouring.

Thanks for the offer of the coffee! Where do you get it? Do you roast your own? Do you sell coffee?

[sammy]

I do roast....for a handful of local customers (and myself, of course). The offer is open if you want some... :-)

[james]

Sammy,

Let's trade coffee for Caputo flour. Why don't you offer you your coffee in the Barter section? I'm in.

James

[gjbingham]

I do home roasting with a Hot Top Roaster. I order my beans from Sweet Maria's (.com). It's pretty easy to do, but the roaster puts out tons of smoke and cleaning it every six or so roasts is laborious, especially when you can only roast 500g at a time. It sure is nice to have truely fresh coffee every day though.

[sammy]

Huh....I guess I never really noticed the barter section. I will go check it out. Do you still spend time in the states from time to time?