Northern_Monkey

Ta, I will give @coffeechap a message.

Hi, I’m looking for a black handled (preferably anodised aluminium) tamper for my millennium La Pav to use with a 51mm IMS basket. Is the optimal size around 51.5-51.7mm, or have people gotten away with using a 52.0mm one which means there is more choice? I think @joey24dirt was selling some turned down ones in the past or someone else on the forum with a lathe? Thanks.

Also put up some automated eBay searches for things like “Mazzer grinder” or “Luigi grinder”, plus any other ones which might let you catch a slightly mislabelled bargain if it doesn’t show up in most people’s searches. They may require a lot of work though! Normally they seem to pop up here in the forum for sale quite often, pricier but you get greater certainty on it working as expected.

Still use mine occasionally, love the design though but the old smooth handles looked so much nicer than the modern textured ones! 1. Visiting my parents with my wife - she has gotten used to stronger espresso based milk drinks and prefers that to aeropress/cafetière 2. Making a big batch of Irish coffees for people, really quick and with a 9-12 cup you can get a lot of strong short coffee quite easily. With the cream, whiskey and sugar it doesn’t have to be 3rd wave fruity coffee perfection! 😂

Started out with a used Gaggia Classic instead of a new Delonghi machine, which turns out to have been a good choice! I’m glad you are missing out the cheap hand grinder phase, it made everything take an age. ? If you can afford it a Mara is fab, also good enough in my view that most people would only upgrade to a different kind of machine i.e. a dual boiler or fancy sprung lever. If you ever want to start manual pressure profiling you can add in the paddle kit from the Bianca as it is compatible across models. Mignon is a good grinder but slightly larger burrs make a bigger difference than you expect... Upgrade path: 1. Skerton hand grinder + Gaggia Classic 2. Mignon + Gaggia Classic 3. Mignon + Mara 4. Mazzer SJ + Mara + La Pav

Good suggestion, will have a think about the trade off with the coffee dusting or wipe marks. Yes I have 250, 450 and 1,000 grit wet and dry for the prep and any rub downs between coats.

Noooo! You might be right though. I can see this turning into the coffee forum equivalent of a mumsnet “am I being unreasonable” thread. I may have to relent and go for the colour she preferred, as she has been very good on counter space and putting up with a lot of coffee kit chat... ?

Hi, finally getting round to painting my old SJ now the weather is warming up. I have all the bits for it in terms of primer, gloss lacquer, kniffing putty etc. So I just need to find a suitable colour coat. All home aerosol as I don’t have a sprayer. Unfortunately my other half has rejected House of Kolor Lime Gold and Ultra Orange Pearl that I bought after spraying some samples. She wanted Wild Cherry but I couldn’t live with a pink grinder... https://www.jawel.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=155_253 So any suggestions on good quality paint that is a bit different looking or gives an interesting finish? Teals, oranges, blues, purples and metallics preferred. Reds, browns or greens would be a hard sell.

I’m assuming it’s stuff like E. coli from the beans, dust and dirt and other contaminants since greens are patio/bench dried and all typically touched by hand in the sorting. So you can get the things on people’s hands coating the beans, like bacteria and potentially parasites. Pretty much the same scenario of mixing raw and cooked food for storage I reckon, especially as you couldn’t effectively clean them without spoiling the coffee.

Old thread with a vid of the Bellman steamer etc.

@Mark70 Hi, I started off on a Gaggia Classic which was great and has now been passed on to someone else as it did make nice espresso. The main reason i upgraded to a HX machine was for the milk steaming, which was a massive improvement. For your budget you might want to consider a few different combinations if multiple milk drinks are your priority, I don’t think a Classic on its own would be up to it really. There have been some amazing grinder and machine deals in the for sale section, keep an eye out as £1,000 could go a long way? 1. Used Gaggia Classic and buy a separate stove top milk steamer like a Bellman. Would be under £300 for both even if it has had a PID added or other upgrades? https://brewtool.co.uk/products/bellman-stovetop-steamer 2. Get a Sage DTP, seems to steam well but not as repairable and more electronic components etc., about £300 ish I think 3. Look out for a used HX or dual boiler on the forum, great milk steaming, hopefully repairable and more open to mods etc., likely to be £500-1,000.

Well that is how I am currently justifying it to myself ? Hopefully it will still be like the Old Gaggia Classics in terms of spares availability, even with the buy out by that bigger company...

The last bit arrived in the post this week so it seemed like a good time to put this up here. I bought a used Europiccola millennium from @coffeechap in November, it was in great condition. Really a whim as I was pretty curious about how it would compare to my pump machine. It’s been great so far and I’ve finished kitting it out to make it a bit more flash looking... The coffees are shorter and more ristretto like than I’m used to, I’ve quite liked the difference really in terms of being more punchy and syrupy. Once I got the new steam tip on it was pretty good and more powerful than I expected in terms of frothing. Brew pressure gauge and temp strip made a massive difference in terms of repeatability, really impressed at the results people get without using them though. Upgraded bits: - Coffee sensor boiler and brew pressure kit, plus temp strip - Stainless bottomless portafilter with IMS basket - Metal drip tray - Single hole steam top - Spalted tamarind handles

Tried it at 14.5g in my Pavoni this morning, not quite sure on the weight out. Worked well with a 5 count lever up, then drop the lever to first drip and lifting the lever again for a 6.5 bar ramp up. It was pretty good and more intense due to a shorter ratio I think, I even got some tiger striping! Definitely tasted better than it looks though... ?

15g VST, I had to stop using the 18g in the mornings as it was making me too caffeinated for my own good sometimes...