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Hi all, so a little background to me joining here and apologies for such a long post - feel free to ignore it. I've lurked for a few months now and finally felt it was time to pull the trigger and join. I've been a long time (good) coffee lover and it seems each day I get taken further down the rabbit hole and now it's snowballing! There's so much to learn and its really got me excited. The more I read and learn the more I realise how little I know! I recently did a home barista course at Extract Coffee in Bristol which I would absolutely recommend if you're pretty new to all this - though I warn you it will make you spend more money on coffee and equipment! My long term goal is to start my own roastery - I know big ideas but you've got to start somewhere right? (oi! no eye rolling!) I have worked in the wine trade now for over 20 years and the more I delve into coffee and the industry around it the more I see how strong the similarities are to wine: flavour profiles, climate, altitude, cupping, processing etc. Which is great as it makes me feel pretty much at home already. Wine is also getting squeezed more and more by price increases from duty and currency fluctuations, (dare I mention Brexit?!?) health scares, Dry January and just far more choice – Gin, craft beer etc. So it seems time to dip my toe. This is going to be a gradual move - I'm not going crazy and buying a 30kg Probat - yet! Baby steps. I've got so much to learn and it seems there's a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum that could hopefully help me with advice. Soooo, finally to the point of this ramble - I'm looking for some advice on equipment, specifically espresso machines. Along with a V60 I have a Breville Cafe series (I'm guessing this is the older version of the Sage Duo Temp?) and until recently I had a Delonghi conical grinder hacked to grind fine enough for espresso. This was ok but its evenness of grind was not great and I'm now the very happy owner of the Niche Zero. And wow the difference is night and day with the V60, but of course - you guessed it - now my Breville is not up to the job and I'm really noticing its limits. I need a dual boiler with a PID that would see me for a good few years to come. I need to learn to make better espresso based coffee as I am now starting to understand that having a successful roastery is about far, far more than just roasting great coffee. It will be used at home for now but will possibly go into the roastery if/when I get it off the ground so could be used to showcase my coffee to prospective customers. How much it costs will depend on when I can get it, I don’t have loads of cash lying around but I’m not in a massive rush – I want to do this right. The ACS Minima or Expobar Leva both seem like a good start but would I outgrow them in a few years? Or how about something like the Profitech 700 or ECM Synchronika? They seem very good technically proficient machines. Then there’s the Lelit Bianca. (you can see who's reviews I've been reading!) this pulls at my heart strings more than any of the others. Would this actually help me with my end goal though? I need to produce consistent shots to show off the bean to its fullest with the minimum of fuss. Well that’s me. A lot of me – perhaps I’ve had a bit too much coffee today! Any advice more than welcome.

Used Bunn grinder for sale, reliable and efficient. Does 250gr in about 12 seconds on filter setting. Suit micro roaster for pre ground orders. £150

A friend who works in Birmingham has just suggested I might enjoy a trip to Quarter Horse Coffee next time I'm in Brum. Looks good, and it looks like they're also planning to start roasting in Birmingham in March, which is quite exciting.

If you'd be traveling tonight and wanna bring some fresh local beans on a budget to a friend that really likes espressos and ristrettos which roaster would you recommend? I know there are tons of threads on the topic, but wanna read some updated and variated feedback ...

We are a new cafe/roastery outside Vancouver. We are excited about joining this online community. More...

Hello, I've been in and out of the forum for the past year, and pursuing better espresso the entire time. As the one year mark is approaching, I'm extracting espresso far superior to that of any high street chain (he says) and I'm now taking the financial plunge into rounding off the experience with a IberItal MC2. The question is...Is it worth looking into coffee bean subscriptions or are these a way of roasterys shifting slow moving beans (maybe I'm a great big sceptic) Has anyone had experience with sub's in the past. My gf does work a few seconds walk from the Nude Espresso coffee shop/roastery in London, would this be a better option and PAYG?

Okes folks. ..., on with my journey of stepping out of the box. A bit. Over time. When I started home roasting some years ago, it didn't even feel like it was such an infectious thing. Obviously, I began for a reason, namely for the sake of decent espresso. Intrigued by all the different taste notes there were to discover, I dug deeper and deeper into the topic - reading, roasting, talking to roasters, buying greens from around the world, reading cupping notes where available, helping out in cupping sessions of Quality Management and Product Development at a coffee company (they would employ a contract roaster, so no hands-on experience there). Every time we had guests over, we received appreciation of some kind for what nice coffee we would serve them. It got me thinking. And investing Home roasting becomes a somewhat expensive hobby, once you reach a certain level (of equipment that is). And if you want to take something with you along the way, education-wise, then roasting one batch every two weeks doesn't get you that far. So I started sharing roasts with interested friends and family, accumulating a >3kg weekly average. Some asked me why I wasn't selling the stuff... one of them being a dear friend who runs a nice little restaurant around the corner. He offered to list my coffee, exclusively. Well, that got me thinking again. And calculating. A couple months back, I decided to give it a shot. And that's where it all got a bit complicated. Not in a totally bad way, but dealing with officials can be as frustrating as a power outage approaching second crack. So everything took a while, first and foremost I needed to obtain a permit to build a plant. Planning to roast in a dedicated space in our house, there was discussion around applicable designation of areas. Per se, local legislation will not distinguish between a small craft business and a fully automated industrial roasting plant with an hourly output of several tons. Nobody wants such a monstrous facility next door in a residential area, however, we were lucky to have exception handling processes in place. Gotta love my country for that! So the verdict is in: I may roast up to 1,000kg per year, up to 10hrs a week. It might sound a lot to folk like me, but I know we wouldn't be able to make a living from it alone: growing beyond these limits means moving out to an industrial quarter nearby. But hey, it could be worse! Working a side-job from home, earning local reputation, learning how to actually run such a business at minimal risk... The goal is to provide freshly roasted coffee to the region we're living in. Local roasteries are scarce, as is decent coffee. Our little business will not pivot around beardy hipsters in the first place, but rather focus on a coffee-to-the-people approach. Finding the balance between quality and pricing is key. As we don't need to stress it, marketing/sales/distribution shall stay super low-key. I'd like to rely on word of mouth and see where it gets us. Now, on paper the company is up and running. Until construction is finished, no selly selly. But I've got plenty of other things to clarify, anyways: - Business plan - roughly done. - Floor plans: done. (needed to obtain permit) - Collect building and equipment offers: done. - Apply for (subsidised) financing: WIP. - Obtain bean samples: WIP (one supplier missing) - Sample roasting, cupping, selecting: WIP (one supplier missing) - Company name: done. - Logo/CI: done. - Website: WIP. - Email address: done. - Business phone line: WIP (split business from private, what a crucial bit!) - Choose packaging: WIP (almost there) - Order branded cups* - WIP (two samples each ordered last week) - Book keeping: currently outsourced (due to lack of profound knowledge, Mrs. Hasi will learn along) * espresso, flat white/americano, cappuccino - can't enter gastronomy without around here. Please feel free to point me towards anything I could be missing or wishing to have thought of before Also, I might simply have forgotten to put it down. I'm going to post further progress as it happens, looking forward to any responses along the way!

The team at Extract Coffee Roasters have offered up a raffle prize of a barista training / roasting day (at their roastery in Bristol) for one lucky forum member and a partner (or +1) with all proceeds going to the forum. Entry is £2 per ticket - limited to 50 tickets There is also a chance to win a bag of beans from Extract. A second chance draw will take place and the winner will receive a 250g bag of beans of their choice from the Extract Coffee Roasters webshop (http://shop.extractcoffee.co.uk/) The draw will take place once the 50 tickets have been fully sold. Simply add your name to the list below. Thank you for supporting the forum and thank you to Gary Dyke for organising this raffle.

Popped into Edgecumbes new roastary open day on the way to a party. A gleaming new Giesen roaster. An interesting addition to the West Sussex coffee scene although they have been at it for many years. This was an open day to celebrate the new premises and well organised. A good selection of coffees, teas and equipment. The technique could use a bit of work but the flat whites we had were better than OK.

After some sound advice from forum members and from Marko at Bella Barista, I picked up what I hope will be my last big coffee purchase yesterday. Paired with the EK I picked up from @EricC a few weeks ago, I'm hoping this combo will last me a very long time. Technically it's not quite my first setup, but it's the first "proper" espresso setup I've owned, which definitely qualifies as jumping in at the deep end I think. The whole buying experience from BB was great, Marko threw in a whole bunch of extras above and beyond the bundle they already offer with new machines, including a kilo of coffee (4 x 250g bags from BB's newly branded "The Roastery") and 2 milk jugs. It sounds like BB are going to be getting more into the roasting business, so far I've tried the Peru beans and they're very tasty as espresso and as a capp.

Girlfriend is headed over to New York at the end of the week for a fortnight and has offered to bring back a few things from the US with her - anyone have any roasters they'd recommend? She'd be happy to pick up anything in NY but can get something delivered from anywhere in the US in that time so despite a very poor knowledge of roasters over there I'm still taken a back by choice! I'm generally a fan of fruity, light roasts but am open to anything to be honest - mainly drinking espresso at the moment but regularly brew as well. Also if there's any coffee gear over there that's not readily available over here I might be able to persuade her to further load up the suitcase - any suggestions?

On a short visit to Berlin with my wife we stayed at a hotel on Uhlandstrasse and quite by chance walked past this coffeeshop and roastery. My wife is on a low-caffeine regime for medical reasons (I know, I know... I'll miss her) so I only managed one quick visit before we left. It's a very multi-talented cafe - they roast their own beans on site so you have the option of buying something you like the taste of. There's an extensive menu of nearly 40 coffess with single origin and various blends. They also do a wide range of tea and other drinks as well, plus chocolates and cakes (Oma's Apfelkuchen was delicious). The entire beverage menu was nearly 70 pages and more than half of it is coffee and tea. I'm afraid the limits of my German and time pressure meant I didn't get details about their roasting and equipment but this is clearly a place that takes their coffee very seriously and is well worth a look. It's just off the busy Kurfurstumdamm shopping street, near Uhlandstrasse U-bahn station. Here's a link to an English review site, which also has the shop's website for those who sprechen Deutsche.

Does anyone know of a good place to buy good quality coffee beans in Geneva please? I will be staying there for a few days next week (at the Palpexpo conference centre)& would be interested in sampling a local roastery if one is recommended. Also, any recommendations for nice cafes? thanks very much!

Like the circus that never leaves town, 2% Jazz is coffee mayhem throughout the week and entices a weekend visit by offering FREE espresso shots on the weekends. The 2% Roastery location is confidential. And if I said Langford you wouldn't dare think about going anyways. More...

A great little roastery in Shrewsbury, Shropshire - Iron & Fire Coffee Roastery I went to a coffee tasting evening when we were camping in Shropshire (I'm not from Shropshire myself) but it was great! It was only meant to be a little holiday activity but it's what lead me to get into coffee a bit more and join on here! I don't know all the technical terms yet, but I know good coffee when I taste it!

I've recently been to New York City where I found the "third-wave" coffee shop espresso blends were more chocolate & nuts than the fruits & florals I find in London shops. I brought back a bag of Joe Waverly blend http://joecoffeeshop.myshopify.com/collections/coffee/products/the-waverly-joe-espresso but now that's gone I'm wondering if I can find a similar blend from a UK roaster. Suggestions would be appreciated. Matt

When I know I'm going somewhere I always do a little coffee shop research before arrival. My girlfriend thinks I'm an anal nerd but hey, I love good coffee and I want to be able to enjoy good coffee wherever I am. Come to think of it, I never see her complaining when she's sipping back a tasty long black! Anyway, we were in London last weekend and travelled into Euston so I knew I wanted to go somewhere nice around that area. We wanted some decent food to complement our coffee too so opted for Caravan Restaurant and Coffee Roasters which is just behind Kings Cross/St Pancras stations in Granary Square, what seems like a new development. Caravan definitely didn't disappoint. Its situated in an old Victorian Grain store and is a big open space with loads of seating. It had a great atmosphere, good music and friendly staff. Plus, we managed to get a table for two on a busy Saturday lunchtime with no hassle which was great. Coffee was extremely tasty. Pretty sure they were serving their Daily Blend which is freshly roasted on site. Bit fruitier than your traditional espresso but really interesting. They also had a choice of 2 filter coffees (one blend and one single origin) and provided supporting material so you could read about each one and make an informed decision based on cup profile. I really like it when places do this. We ate off the brunch menu and food was a bit pricier than I'm used to in Chester but I was happy to pay the extra seeing as the quality was so good. Think it cost us around £27 for the two of us and it was definitely worth it. Left with a smile on my face, feeling full and satisfied! You can buy their freshly roasted espresso blends and single origin beans on site and you can stare lovingly at their beautiful Probat roaster which is on display if you're a geek like me. Highly recommend this one.

Apologies if this has been asked a million times before. Going to take my love of coffee up a notch from my trusty moka pot to a Gaggia Classic and burr grinder. I currently get Italian roast from Cardews in Oxford and have signed up for an introductory offer with Pact coffee. I like a bitter taste with chocolate and nut notes, but would definitely like to expand my tastes to something different. Any recommendations for for beans and/or where to buy from?

Merdeka Coffee began small in Indonesia and are now doing the same (beginning small!) in Auckland , NZ. While licensed to provide a range of food, the roastery is initially focusing on doing what is its core business- roasting Indonesian coffee for wholesale and retail demand- whilst also supplying the standard Flatwhites, shortblacks and Cap's over the counter through one of the Wega or Astoria machines on display. More...