Fez

Only the 15g. The 18g is my friend

I found a night and day difference when switching from those to a VST

Ok ok the 3 coffees I've had there were extremely sour and acidic. They tasted under extracted to me

Unfortunately I haven't had great experiences there. I went on 3 separate occasions, each time a few months apart and every time the coffee was horribly under extracted

VST 18g basket

I have no experience with a push tamper but was under the impression that it needs to be reset each time you change beans/dose. So therefore makes more sense in a commercial environment in my mind as I change beans frequently. Have you considered something like the decent self leveling tamper? I own one and although I don't use it exclusively, I am quite happy with the results. The bed will always be flat but there will be variance in pressure - some might argue that pressure has far less of an impact than an uneven bed.

The ZM is fantastic - I've got the manual one (no digital display or timer), but it's fantastic at single dosing so I don't miss the timer. They very rarely come up used though

This can be moved to sold

It's yours @Timmyboy I'll send you a PM to sort out the details.

Brand new - Gasket, shower screen and replacement screw - £15 delivered

They are in quite a predicament in regards to water and were very close to running out a couple of years back. Yes it is indeed a beautiful place, sadly the way the country is run leaves a lot of lines in the cons column but then again the same can be said for most countries!

Yes they are @DavecUK , as far as I know these should still be accurate for the area I'm going to be staying in, but I can't say for sure. The report seems to be done at year end, fingers crossed a new one will come out soon and save me having to buy a water test kit.

So I have actually managed to find a breakdown for the water in Cape Town, it's a year old but I doubt much has changed. I can't seem to find bicarbonate on it. The alkalinity seems to be quite a bit below your recommended range @MWJB so I'm guessing based on this the water won't be suitable?

Great thanks for this info. Unfortunately South Africa being a little less developed than here it's hard to check water stats online. Will have to wait till I'm there and physically look at bottles in stores. I'll look into the API and red sea kits. Am I right in assuming that if I bought one of those kits I wouldn't need the TDS meter? Or would I need both?

Thanks - I will probably have to order the one for £7 that has prime delivery as I leave in 2 weeks