Search the Community

Hi all. Been lurking for a while and learned some useful tips. I have been using Aeropress for a few months and have recently started experimenting with the 02 size plastic V60, which I think I prefer, partly due to the larger volume of coffee it can make. I have been alternating between a Dualit 75015 electric grinder and hand grinders, namely the Rhinowares mini grinder and a Hario Skerton I picked up cheaply on a whim. It could be psychological, but I think the flavour from coffee ground manually is a bit better than when using the Dualit. I wonder if the effort of hand grinding makes me "think" it's better! Whilst the Dualit is more reliable than some of the other cheapie grinders I've come across and I have been fairly content with it for a year or so, I wonder if a more expensive model would make a significant difference for pour over? I have seen a second hand Baratza Virtuoso on a well known site. I only make brewed coffee and have no plans to do espresso at home. I know the Dualit doesn't have the greatest rep compared to the more upmarket models available, but it seemed reasonable at the time, just wondering whether the grind quality on a Virtuoso or similar would really make a noticeable difference in the cup? What do you folks reckon? Jon

I have only tried it once before and the burrs seemed to gum up with bits of bean which led me to believe that these grinders really were not designed to do this. However I know there are people on here that do it (so it must be possible) and I'm sure people who can offer some insight into the pros and cons of it. Does it work well, and crucially are the results in the cup better than hand grinding? For example will grinding for v60 with a set of 83mm flats be better than hand grinding with a small conical burr set? The main downside of doing it seems to be the need to switch between grind settings constantly. Needing to re-dial-in espresso etc. etc. However, in my case I have recently come across a solution which would negate this downside. Tl;dr Is it worth investigating grinding for brewed on a Royal?

Looking for something to replace the cheap single mug press I use in work and advance my coffee enjoyment there a bit more to bring it up to speed with home 'a bit'. At home its all, well pretty much all espresso but work will be a piece of equipment to accompany the now in residence Porlex for making something with a splash of the old moloko. Sooooooo this is where I ask for your help from those who have used some different types of things in comparison. I don't know need to keep it simple and easy to clean if poss as hey its work "and time is money" at least that's what 'the man' says etc......but want good flavours and possible improvements on the little press I have if poss. Money I dunno up to and around the thirty quid mark so will include the likes of Aeropress, Chemex, drippers etc I suppose. It's the experience of people on here of the above methods and others I may not have thought of in comparison to each other and a possible best without me having to buy them all to try them! As well, you see I'm starting to trust all of your judgements and advice after being here a while and realizing just how mad and obsessed you all are by it now So there, throw your thoughts, advice in and help my working life a little more bearable with a more refined cup of coffee than I am experiencing at the moment. Thanks!!!

I've been tinkering with espresso for the last 6 months or so, constantly checking grind size, tamping, input, output etc. and getting a bit obsessed with the whole thing. Due to a postal f$_€ up, the only beans I had in the house this morning were some green Nicaragua finca el bosque. So, I chucked some in the popcorn popper, roasted and cooled them, ground them and brewed them up in a caffetierre. The whole process took me about half an hour and the result........the most satisfying cup of coffee I've had in a long time!

Hi there, Looking for an electric grinder for brewed as I have no patience with the Hario Skerton I have. Something like the Baratza Encore. Ideally not too big or ugly. Let me know what ya got. Ta, Mike

Do people have experience of this grinder? Is is capable of grinding from brewed coffee to Turkish?! Where is it good and where less so? It is a good price on Amazon it seems. Thanks

Hi All, For sale is my Wilfa Svart Grinder (Purchased from Square Mile - May-17). Boxed/Instructions and maintained in fantastic condition. A great brewed grinder, surplus to requirements. £75 delivered - perfect condition Many Thanks Andy

I'm in Mumbles for the week and although I hav1e an aeropress and a bag of good beans I'd like to be able to have a good coffee out. Particularly brewed if possible... Any shoutouts would be very helpful, I'd be particularly pleased with any medium and light roast options

I was wondering how many people take milk with their brewed coffee and if so, how? I'm thinking that it probably flattens out a lot of the more subtle flavours in good coffee and for me personally the point of drinking good coffee is to taste these flavours. Should I therefore be thinking of ditching the white stuff? (I realise it's ultimately personal preference but this is more about how to optimise the flavour that I'm working hard to achieve) I'm currently using an aeropress and feldgrind/sage sgp but looking in to a kalita and chemex potentially

I've had a Vario for a good few years and whilst I've gotten a lot of good use out of it there have been a number of quality/build issues. Had to switch the motor out about 5 months ago and recently the new one burnt out too, so think it might be time to move on. I mostly make brewed coffee at home - Kalita wave, v60, chemex, aeropress, french press. I do have a Gaggia Evolution for espresso that still ticks along okay although also getting on a bit, but I do enjoy making espresso on the weekends. In looking for a replacement I'm hearing some concerning things re the Sette, which might have been the obvious replacement. What I am understanding generally is that there isn't going to be a good solution for both brewed and espresso grinds, so I may need to move to a two-grinder set up instead. Looking for any advice or recommendations anyone can share. Not keen on going down the hand grinder route for brewed, mostly as I think others in the family might struggle with making adjustments for different grinds, and I'm a bit lazy in the mornings! Have heard good things about the Wilfa Svart which goes for £105, so would leave more cash to go towards a separate espresso grinder. Or would this be a big step down for brewed from the Vario? If so, any suggestions for better alternatives. Think that at the moment for grinders my total budget would be around £500, so £100 for a Wilfa would leave £400 for an espresso grinder. Obviously more spent on the grinder for brewed means less money for the espresso one. Anticipate I'll probably get the itch to upgrade the espresso machine in the long run too, maybe able to spend £500-£700, so am thinking the investment in the separate espresso grinder might still be worthwhile even if it's overkill for the current set up. Thanks in advance!

Hoping to move soon so having a bit of a clear out. As a result, I'm selling this 1-3 cup Chemex bought from the forum last year. I've only used it 3-4 times as I much prefer espresso based drinks. It comes with ~80 papers. I'd like £28 posted, please. Happy to post up any more photos.

I haven't got one of these but have seen good reviews and is clearly a competitor for the Hario electric gooseneck. Perect for pourover. This is the best price i've seen! http://coffeehit.co.uk/brewista-smart-brew-digital-kettle-1-2l-1135

I recently got hold of an Atago Pal Coffee TDS in order to look at extraction yields of my brewed coffee. I already had a cheap conductivity meter, a £40 ish HM EC/TDS/TEMP COM-100 bought from Amazon so out of curiosity I tested 4 of my brews plus for fun, 2 espressos. As the Com-100 contacts need to be submerged in the coffee I used a shot glass to test. The sample for the Atago was taken from this glass as well, which was allowed to cool down to 20-25c so that the coffee was close to the device temperature. One brewed sample, was watered down with a known qty of water to and tested as BREW4 Also two espresso were done, one measured as is, one filtered via a dry V60 paper as I don't have the specialist filters. Below are the results ___________ATAGO. _______COM-100 _______TDS. ___EY. ______TDS. ___EY BREW1. 0.87%. 13.65%. ___0.89% 13.96% BREW2. 1.41%. 19.96%. ___1.40% 19.82% BREW3. 1.35%. 19.32%. ___1.39%. 19.89% BREW4. 0.63%. 17.37%. ___0.69% 19.03% (WATERED) ______________Atago_____________Com-100 ESPRESSO_____TDS____EY_______TDS____EY 1 UNFILTERED. 12.04% 19.22% ___6.33%. 10.11% 1 FILTERED. 12.27%. 19.59%. __6.27%. 10.01% 2 UNFILTERED. 12.51%. 22.17%. __7.30%. 12.94% 2 FILTERED. 12.10%. 21.44%. __7.05%. 12.48% I didn't expect the Com-100 to be close to the Atago in the brewed range. However, for espresso I think the numbers are so far out from what is designed for that the only way you might get reasonable measures is to do a controlled dilution to bring the TDS number more in range. I may try this later to see if it makes a difference. I will continue to measure my brews with both machines to see if this pattern continues. If it does, then it might be a cheap way to get measuring extraction yields as long as the variances are within your own personal tolerances. After a while I'm sure I can see how close the Com-100 is but probably only use it when the Atago is not around.

So I have just bought two batches of Ethiopian beans from Rave: Ethiopia Hunkute #3 and Ethiopian Yirgacheffe G1Natural Konga One is obviously washed and the other is natural. I have a classic and the espresso I get from these is fine but I just can't help but think that a lot of the more delicate fruity notes do not come through in espresso so I'm missing out. Therefore I went ahead and ordered a Hario Skerton hand grinder in order to attempt brewed. Now I am wondering what is the best way to do this? the only brewed-related instruments I have at home is a cafetiere and a vientamese coffee brewer thingy. What do you guys recommend for getting the best out of these beans? as a side note, I will be the only one drinking it so would basically need to be able to make one cup at a time. Thanks.

Anyone used one? Seems to be identical to the Breville BCG450XL. Wondering how it compares to something like a Baratza Encore? They're both conical but it doesn't seem to be stepped like the Encore?

Hi All, I'm looking into electric grinders for use with aeropress or other brewed methods (non-espresso basically). Given that a lot of these brewing methods seem to work best with a specific amount of ground coffee (give or take), I'm confused about how it's possible to get the right amount with either a doser or doserless grinder, without wasting too much coffee. Is it really the case that you can only get multiples of the dose weight from a grinder with a doser? Or that you have to just eye things up or keep returning to separate scales to weight what you have ground with a doserless grinder? The only grinder I've seen so far that seems to simplify this is the Baratza / Mahlkonig Vario W, which grinds by weight. I'm curious what grinders those of us who use brewed methods have, and how they ensure consistent amounts of ground coffee with each brew. Cheers, Jon

Amazed I never found this whilst searching so If i missed it apologies, but using my chemex more again now I have 2 grinders ( MC2 for chemex) so whats your best recipes for 1-3 cup chemex?

Bodum Chambord French Press - 8 Cup/1 litre in chrome. Sitting in the back of my coffee cupboard for a while, used only a handful of times. £18 posted RM 2nd Class

I seem to find that certain brew methods suit certain coffees (i.e. a given bean/roaster combination). I think you can probably get a satisfying cup using any method with enough care and tweaking, but this can be a long process - I might have to vary a lot of params to get the balance right - temperature, grind, speed of pour, dose etc. James Hoffmann talked a bit about this here:- http://www.jimseven.com/2012/01/28/discussing-brew-methods/ Having only just started using different roasters (I used HasBean almost exclusively for the last 8 or 9 years, and usually with a Chemex), I'm finding that cupping the coffee before I brew it is helping me to decide what to do with it. Does anybody else do this before they start brewing a coffee, and how do you decide what the best way of brewing a given coffee will be?

I've just finished reading 'The Curious Baristas Guide to Coffee' which i thought was excellent. Which other books (history, espresso or brewed) would you recommend to go alongside it?

After a series of satirical articles about third wave coffee someone on the Grauniad has obviously decided to even it out a bit… so a straightforward article about brewed: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/australia-food-blog/2015/jul/14/step-aside-barista-how-to-make-a-decent-cup-of-coffee-at-home

Hi chaps, Wondering if someone could suggest grinders to look at as an upgrade to the MC2 - I've not made espresso in a while so would like a grinder that's going to be suitable for aeropress/chemex/CCD where I can switch between grind settings more easily. Suggestions welcome

There's such a focus (on forums as well as in shops) on espresso I feel like brewed doesn't get as much attention as I'd like! I've certainly been to many shops where the espresso is tasty but the quality of brewed coffee is lacking in comparison. That in mind it would be great to pick all your brains for coffee shops you think are producing great stuff. I'll start the ball rolling with: UK: Colonna & Smalls, Bath Established, Belfast Abroad: Barista Parlor, Nashville Panther, Miami Axil, Melbourne Filter, Melbourne

Chemistry beakers and bits for those of you who like to make a science of things: http://www.scientificglass.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d2.html

I'm selling this grinder as I haven't used it since buying the EK (as you might expect). I bought it from HasBean and think I've had it for around 14 months or so. It's got a nice simple way to adjust the grind by turning the hopper and can grind from espresso to coarse grind sizes (I've never used it for espresso). It's had relatively light use, as I've always had a dedicated espresso grinder and switched between having mainly espresso or brewed over time. Their isn't really much to show of the grinder itself, hence I'll put up one picture for now - if you're interested let me know and I can post others. I have the espresso attachment fork to rest a portafilter on (not that I've ever tried to use it) and the original box. If purchased to be delivered, I'll double box with some form of packing in between. It may take me a day or two to get it posted, as I don't think I have a suitable "outer" box at the moment. If you're close enough feel free to collect or I might be able to drop it off.