$$$$$$ Coffee!!!

[Mitsu3000gt]

I made two batches of coffee today in my French press - one at 150F and the other at 160F, used a cooking thermometer to confirm temp. In my opinion there was literally no difference in taste, and both still had detectable acidity/bitterness not present with the same grinds used in a cold brew. For me personally anyway I preferred the overall taste of the cold brew.

[ExtraSlow]

The used coffee machine fairy dropped this off at my house today.


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[ThePenIsMightier]

^That looks good!
Not good enough to get experimentally penetrated to Phil Collins's music, but still good.

[ExtraSlow]

Very pretty. Need more training on espressos though.

[ExtraSlow]

Well, it's pulling the shots far too fast, no matter how hard I tamp the grinds. And the steam wand has really weak flow so it's hard to properly froth the milk. Previous owner did tell me it wasn't working right, which is why it was free.

Any tips before I toss on Kijiji?

[dirtsniffer]

Single or double wall filter basket? Coffee might not be fine enough for a single wall.

No idea on the steam wand

[ExtraSlow]

Looks double wall to me. Lotsa holes in inner basket, one tiny hole in outer basket.

[Strider]

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Well, it's pulling the shots far too fast, no matter how hard I tamp the grinds. And the steam wand has really weak flow so it's hard to properly froth the milk. Previous owner did tell me it wasn't working right, which is why it was free.

Any tips before I toss on Kijiji?

Grind finer (and maybe use more grinds) for the first issue, descale for the second issue.
I have a large bag of food grade citric acid for descaling if you want some.

[mr2mike]

Picture looks like you've got water breakthrough on your coffee flood.

Pack the coffee tighter?

Better call a rock sniffer.

[prae]

Giving the unit a thorough descaling may also help a lot. I can hook you up with a tablespoon of Cafiza which should be plenty enough to do that machine a few times over.

That may help with your steam wand situation.

Agree with the comments on grind. if you want I can also give you a little baggie of espresso ground rosso if you wanna try it out with a finder grind before you commit heavier.

If you are serious about making decent espresso at home I would call it a $1500 minimum investment, but since you have a possibly functional maybe okay machine, a $200-300 grinder (e.g. baratza virtuoso) might be the only additional outlay you'd need to find more success.

HMU with a PM if you wanna take me up on my offer; I think I'm close by in Cambrian Heights.

[ExtraSlow]

I'm absolutely not serious about expresso at home. One big downside is that I'm up before the rest of ym family 7/7 days a week, so that first coffee can't be noisy as hell, and the espresso machines are noisy as hell, so I'm sticking with pour-over for cup#1 in any case. Then, cup #2 is usually a to-go for me to drink at work. Then I'm drinking cups 3-4 at work.
So, really, the only time I'm going to be able to sit down and enjoy a latte is weekends, assuming I'm not away. Probably not worth it.

If anyone wants to buy a Breville Cafe Roma machine, PM me. Otherwise, I'll play with it for a bit and see if I can get it working to my liking for a few weeks anyway.

[Strider]

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Giving the unit a thorough descaling may also help a lot. I can hook you up with a tablespoon of Cafiza which should be plenty enough to do that machine a few times over.

That may help with your steam wand situation.

Agree with the comments on grind. if you want I can also give you a little baggie of espresso ground rosso if you wanna try it out with a finder grind before you commit heavier.

If you are serious about making decent espresso at home I would call it a $1500 minimum investment, but since you have a possibly functional maybe okay machine, a $200-300 grinder (e.g. baratza virtuoso) might be the only additional outlay you'd need to find more success.

HMU with a PM if you wanna take me up on my offer; I think I'm close by in Cambrian Heights.

Cafiza is an excellent cleaner, but it's not a descaler. Dezcal is the descaling product made by Urnex. Or you can just use pure citric acid.

[prae]

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Cafiza is an excellent cleaner, but it's not a descaler. Dezcal is the descaling product made by Urnex. Or you can just use pure citric acid.

ah- great point, thank you. I opted for cafiza as Rocket was very explicit in their documentation- no descaling.

I had good success using citric acid with my old Silvia.

[mr2mike]

Nissan Silvia?

Been a long time since this forum talked about tuner cars. ��

[ThePenIsMightier]

Someone should take the plunge and buy the insane 10L jug of Durgol for a few hundred bucks and sell it by the cup to us. It's such an agonizing rip off in the tiny, 4oz bottles.

[bjstare]

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I'm absolutely not serious about expresso

That is apparent.

[ExtraSlow]

Just messing about. Turned my Hario down to the finest grind size. Coffee is totally powder at that point and not granules at all. A geologist with a set of sives might be able to quantify it. Anyway, drip is slower. So that's that I suppose.

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That is apparent.

Winkyface.jpg.

[killramos]

Wouldn’t a geologist just put it in their mouth?

[ExtraSlow]

Anyone want that Breville cafe Roma just pm me an offer.

[ercchry]

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Anyone want that Breville cafe Roma just pm me an offer.

Are you flipping a free machine?? Or was it “free” ... aka, hand stuff