AFF Coffee Thread

[DBourne]

Originally Posted by Sox

I reckon I'm pushing to have 10 coffees a year. I drink mainly water.

I don't mind coffee, but can barely tell the difference between cheap instant and all the fancy stuff that you buy and my mates try to shove into me with their fancy uber expensive machines.

I like this stuff, pure magic...

image

Lucky man! If instant is your choice then sweet, makes life easy

[Spudz27]

Originally Posted by Sox

I reckon I'm pushing to have 10 coffees a year. I drink mainly water.

I don't mind coffee, but can barely tell the difference between cheap instant and all the fancy stuff that you buy and my mates try to shove into me with their fancy uber expensive machines.

I like this stuff, pure magic...

image

Wow I have never heard someone say they like international roast. I went to a cafe once and they made my iced coffee using it, it was grey not caramel in colour. Took one sip and just got up and left lol.

[The Yeti]

my father inlaw drinks it, loves the stuff

I cant go near it

[hendrixhc]

Now theres nothing wrong with an instant coffee.

This is one that i made at work using an auto machine. I had to rewrite the configuration software so the machine would produce a premium quality latte with excellent presentation, taste and texture.

Now i hate instant coffees but i could actually drink this as it wasnt far off a proper latte in all respects.

[JACK250]

Originally Posted by adrianb

I have a Nespresso machine at home for simplicity and convenience.

Lucky enough to work in the Melbourne CBD and absolutely love some of the great coffees I can get from coffee shops in the city with beans from local roasters. My favourite coffees come from these roasters:

- Market Lane
- St Ali
- Social Roasting Company
- Proud Mary
- Seven Seeds

I've always had a soft spot for Illy coffee too but there's been a huge swing towards quality local roasters and fresher beans.

Proud Mary are good, but I've boycotted them because of their attitude. They seem to have this mentality that "we're good and we know it", I was left standing there waiting to be allocated a table with no service what so ever one too many times.

Seven seeds are good, and there are a lot of other small cafes that do a good job, Melbourne is great for coffee I've found!

[GasoLane]

The words International Roast and Coffee should not be used in the same sentence !!

[blueoval]

Thought I'd revive this old thread.

I've bought a DeLonghi Primadonna XS automatic machine 5 months ago. Mainly for the reasons so family members can make their own brew without me being the main go-to guy for coffee in the morning.



Im still experimenting with different milk frothing techniques. Im trying the manual way of milf frothing as opposed to the auto froth jug. Finding the consistency to be silkier with the manual way. I just need to learn how to slow the extraction process down for the beans.

I went to a place here in Adelaide called La Crema who specialize in Italian and Spanish manual machines as well as roasting their own beans etc. Really top blokes, and very helpful if you are looking to improve your technique. Plus their blends of beans are amazing. Its the only coffee I can drink without sugar. I took a mate with his mrs last night as he is looking to buy a machine. He loved the look of the SAB semi-auto machine.



Im not sure on this brand but from what the guys at La Crema said, it's a top entry level manual machine which will give great consistency and quality, as well as last decades. Quality made machine according to them. Does anyone have any advice on a machine like this?

In the mean time, Im loving my auto machine. Consistency is up there. I have to descale quite regularly which can be annoying but good at the same time. Quality from the machine great depending on the bean you use. I can also make top quality affogato's with it too which is cool.

How's everyone going with theirs?

PS. La Crema do their own universal pods to suit popular pod machines from 45c per pod which I believe is great pricing and they aren't filled with nitrates unlike the popular pods of today, so if you are getting tired of being ripped off on pod capsule prices, you can speak to them about the pod blends they have and are doing for the future.

http://www.lacremacoffee.com.au

[GasoLane]

We have a Nespresso/Delonghi machine (coz I'm lazy!) and I picked up some Coffee and Capsules from The Coffee Works at Mareebra Nr Cairns on our last holiday.
https://www.coffeeworks.com.au

Noice Coffee but range is enormous and it's a bit of mucking about filling 150 capsules !!

[blueoval]

Oh man I am a big fan of coffeeworks beans. ive been there before as well and yes their range is gigantic. I tend to spend $100 every few months on their beans delivered to SA. It's costing me a fortune, hence going local with La Crema.

[GasoLane]

It's worth going there just for the Coffee pot museum

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

It's worth going there just for the Coffee pot museum

Totally, I was in that museum for an hour on its own. I had my daily intakes worth of coffee in that visit alone.

The chocolates arent bad either.

[MAGPIE]

Originally Posted by blueoval

Im trying the manual way of milf frothing

Please tell us more

[ronnas07]

hahaha Magpie you made me chuckle... and now i want a milf, or maybe ill settle for a coffee instead

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by MAGPIE

Please tell us more

Ah S*** sorry, I should have proof read that before I posted.

Im finding it difficult to type while PMSL

[prydey]

hey shav, don't get too caught up in how good the espresso machine is. it is important, but a good grinder is even more important.

i tend to steer clear of la crema as they don't do 'roast on' dates.

as for manual v auto, i will take manual every time but i realise not everyone has the time or patience to use that option.

i get my coffee from merlo in brisbane, or 'red berry espresso' if i get sick of paying for postage.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by prydey

hey shav, don't get too caught up in how good the espresso machine is. it is important, but a good grinder is even more important.

i tend to steer clear of la crema as they don't do 'roast on' dates.

as for manual v auto, i will take manual every time but i realise not everyone has the time or patience to use that option.

i get my coffee from merlo in brisbane, or 'red berry espresso' if i get sick of paying for postage.

They did with me. If I wanted a certain blend, they will roast it specially for me and have it ready for when I want to pick it up. They will have the date and time written on the bag and all.

[uranium_death]

[QUOTE=rednose;4824759]Just stumbled upon this thread, and have just made a coffee at work with my pod machine.

Tell me what you think?




That's our machine...Blue Pod.
Saeco LB2302. Lavazza Blue.

Solid machine. Only issue is the steaming wand and the brew units (which go over time).

Glad to see you enjoying it.

[hendrixhc]

Ive been working on a lot of POD machines lately and must say for the consistency of pour and the quality of coffee i am quite impressed.

I will be seriously looking at ditching my espresso machine in favour of one in the near future purely for cleanliness, ease of use and footprint.

[noddy383]

While I love a good hot coffee, I don't own a coffee machine, I tend to cold brew at home. It's a slow way to brew, but it results in a fantastically strong, but really smooth flavour. This is probably aided by sourcing beans from my cousin, who is passionate about all things coffee-related.

My cold brew kit cost me about $15-20, including 2 big Sistema containers, a funnel, filters and a packet of Chux. Low tech.

It produces a rich coffee that I generally use for iced coffee, but it can also be added to hot water for a regular hot coffee. The difference is that because of the cold nature of the brew, less acid is drawn from the beans, which takes the edge off the strong coffee and means it's nicer straight and I've never needed to add sugar.

Has anyone else here done much cold brewing?

[trentski]

Originally Posted by blueoval

He loved the look of the SAB semi-auto machine.


Im not sure on this brand but from what the guys at La Crema said, it's a top entry level manual machine which will give great consistency and quality, as well as last decades. Quality made machine according to them. Does anyone have any advice on a machine like this?

Haven't heard of them and did a quick google and couldn't find much info on them. How much are they asking for it? There was nothing on their website.

For the same budget there are probably better buys out there.

[trentski]

interesting on those pods only being 5grams. A traditional single shot is 7 grams with a double being 14grams. Most in Australia use a larger basket and 18gram doubles are common and some even use 21gram triples as double shots.

The point of that? You'll need to use 3 pods to get a normal cafe double shot taste

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by trentski

The point of that? You'll need to use 3 pods to get a normal cafe double shot taste

Not when you taste their Coffee

[trentski]

Who's coffee?

[MAGPIE]

Originally Posted by noddy383

While I love a good hot coffee, I don't own a coffee machine, I tend to cold brew at home. It's a slow way to brew, but it results in a fantastically strong, but really smooth flavour. This is probably aided by sourcing beans from my cousin, who is passionate about all things coffee-related.

My cold brew kit cost me about $15-20, including 2 big Sistema containers, a funnel, filters and a packet of Chux. Low tech.

It produces a rich coffee that I generally use for iced coffee, but it can also be added to hot water for a regular hot coffee. The difference is that because of the cold nature of the brew, less acid is drawn from the beans, which takes the edge off the strong coffee and means it's nicer straight and I've never needed to add sugar.

Has anyone else here done much cold brewing?

Never heard of this, tell us more it sounds interesting.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by trentski

Who's coffee?

Coffeeworks, as per the link above.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by trentski

Haven't heard of them and did a quick google and couldn't find much info on them. How much are they asking for it? There was nothing on their website.

For the same budget there are probably better buys out there.

They wanted $1990. It's an Italain made machine. They gave him free lessons in how to use and maintain it properly. Ive tried coffee from this machine and am very impressed with the quality.

http://www.svitalia.eu/en_nobel.php
http://www.yahava.com.au/product.php?id=128
http://cafecorporate.com.au/sab-nobel.html

[MAGPIE]

I have just read this entire thread, lots of great tips but damn it makes you want to drink more coffee (I try to limit myself to one per day).

I have had a Breville BES860 for about 18 months now and love it, I have the grind coarseness and amount nailed, the puck comes out perfect every time and the coffee tastes great, so good in fact I have been able to significantly reduce the amount of sugar I add.

What I have started doing in the interests of good health and diet is to reduce the amount of milk I use by adding water to the milk in the jug before steaming.

One thing I'm not sure about is what type of milk should be used for making good coffee and whether adding water like that will adversely affect the process and/or taste (it hasn't yet).

Thoughts ?

[blueoval]

Generally full cream milk is the choice used for frothing purposes, but a decent barista can froth pretty well with nearly any milk used. Soy is the hardest to get a decent silky froth with, followed by skim.

I use A2 milk here in SA and it froths nicely without it getting to 'airy' or heavy. Not too bad for the waist line either.

[Ross 1]

I agree with Blue Oval, after a lot of experimenting the A2 milk is the best. I use a Jura Impressa j9 touch, paired with Campo beans. It seems a lot of money to spend on a coffee machine ($3000) but at our small office in 18mths its made over 5000 barrista quality coffees. With simple cleaning the last tastes as good as the first.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by blueoval

Generally full cream milk is the choice used for frothing purposes, but a decent barista can froth pretty well with nearly any milk used. Soy is the hardest to get a decent silky froth with, followed by skim.

I use A2 milk here in SA and it froths nicely without it getting to 'airy' or heavy. Not too bad for the waist line either.

Ok, I give up. Just what is A2 milk ?

Personally I hate frothy milk (I like a cup FULL of Coffee) but The Dragon Lady says that lite milk froths better than full cream.