Coffee

I love my new Rocket Milano, but it buzzes like craaaAAzy when making a shot. I understand the pump buzzes, but it also sounds like there is bare metal hitting metal inside, like a metal tube is rattling against the metal case. Is this normal?

Happy International Coffee Day, everyone!

I accidentally picked too large a cup size and realized I have no idea how to stop the brew. I remember this happening once at an office Keurig and we just opened the lid making a hot mess everywhere. Is there really no way of emergency stopping the brew?

A lot of people already know this, I'm sure, but it's a bit counterintuitive, and here's hoping it helps any beginners scrolling through.

This is particularly the case for pour over and drip coffee. I long assumed that an astringent flavor/feeling, sorta mouth-drying and unpleasantly mouth-watering at the same time, with a biting aftertaste, was a result of over-extraction, since it can feel sorta similar to bitterness. With that, it seemed to make sense to grind coarser, which obviously didn't help.

In the end, going significantly finer brought a much fuller and sweeter extraction, minimizing the astringency without increasing bitterness at all.

A caveat, of course, astringency can indeed come from over-extraction, so this isn't a guarantee. If you're already coarse, try finer. But if you're grinding super fine, the opposite might go for you/those beans.

TL;DR: if you are having issues with astringency, it might be intuitive to go for a lighter extraction with a coarser grind, but try going finer for richer flavor instead.

Hi everyone. I recently bought a Breville Bambino. It's my first espresso machine, and I'm quite happy with it. I love the fact that it has a thermoblock which means that I don't have to wait for the water to turn on before I can enjoy my coffee. I've been able to pull some good shots with it, but the exact same technique sometimes gives me inconsistent results. I'm thinking it's my grinder.

I have a Timemore C3 manual grinder. It's great for most other brewing methods e.g. aeropress, V60, French press etc. But I don't think it's the best for espresso. I borrowed a Baratza Encore from a friend and it gave me more consistent results.

Now, I do like the Encore, and would buy a new one, but I looked at this chart and it looks like it doesn't go too low in terms of grind size. Do you guys think that it might cause problems when I upgrade my machine in the future?

Also, if you have any other suggestions for grinders, let me know. I'm willing to spend around $200 on it right now. (I guess I can go up to $300 if it's worth the extra $100.)

Thanks for taking your time to read this. I really appreciate it.

TL:DR Need a simple but not too crappy solution for heating/frothing milk - ideally one that my kids could use safely.

Apologies for the length!

OK - first a little background. I make coffee everyday with an aeropress and I'm happy with the coffee I'm getting from that. I also, however, enjoy milky drinks and want to add hot milk - ideally steamed/frothed to my coffee. Another key factor is that I live with chronic illness which causes pain and fatigue. Even just making my coffee can be tiring and/or aggravate pain so I want to keep things as simple as possible.

Until a couple of months ago, my milk routine was to simply microwave some milk in the mug and then press the aeropress into that. Then my wife dug out my old espresso machine (Ascaso - I can't remember the exact model.) It's not a great machine and, anyway, the gaskets have gone on the group head and it leaks terribly. I did, however, use it to steam milk. Again, it's not really good enough to get great results, but it was still the best milk I could make myself and I was having fun doing it - although it was pushing me right to the edge of what my health would allow me to do.

My kids also loved watching me do it and started asking me to make them mugs of "fluffy milk". I didn't mind doing this, but, again, it was exhausting and I certainly couldn't do it just after I'd made myself a coffee - which is when I got most requests.

I then began to wonder about an electric frother such as the Nespresso Aerocino. I hoped this could produce milk that, while not as good as steamed, was still good enough and was also simple enough to use that my kids could safely make their own "fluffy" milk.

I borrowed an aerocino from a friend and, I have to say, I'm very disappointed. As I said, I knew it wouldn't be as good as steamed milk, but even my worst steaming attempts were better. The capacity is too small and the froth is way to dense - it's a pain having to scoop it all out into the cup and it sits in a mountain of foam on the top and not integrated into the rest of the milk at all. About the only thing it seems to get right is the temperature of the milk. I may have opened a pandora's box, though. My kids love it and love being able to make their own milk drinks.

So - what all this is leading to is to ask for suggestions on a milk frothing/heating solution. An electric one at about the same price as the aerocino would make the process easier for me and would suit my kids, although I'd have to compromise somewhat on quality. I'm fine doing that, but not really to the extent I'm having to with the aerocino!

Ideally, for myself, I'd get a stand alone milk steamer, but these all seem to be either too expensive or are stove top - which makes me nervous in a kitchen that has children, my wife and myself wandering about in.

As I say, I don't mind compromising a little on quality, but I'd need a bigger capacity than the aero, better foam - much less dense so it can actually be poured out of the unit without needing scooping out!

Maybe just my "traditional", but tbh I never enjoy the "alternative" post-harvest methods (i.e. honey, carbonated, etc). My heart will always to the traditional full- or semi-washed beans.

Has anyone tried this brand? What are your thoughts ln it?

I picked up a bag of SANTUARIO and it has taken me about 5 brews to get out right with my French press setup.

Taste good and is a light roast. Fills the house with coffee smell, which is nice. I noticed while brewing, about 99% of the grinds drop during the brew, so thats different.

Can say that it was very fun and tasty =) One of them tasted like tomato soup...honestly

(also no idea why the photo is upside down)

Very interesting grinder for those that like to experiment with different burrs as it supports both conical and flat burrs. I think only the niche zero with a 3rd party kit did that so far?

Can't say it would replace multiple grinders with just one for me as it still takes too long to switch over but I could definitely see myself switching burrs when I change over bags once or twice a month.

For those like me interested in the Pulsar brewer, I am considering trying a similar poor-man’s setup based on the Oxo compact cold brewer. It also has valve actuation for blooming, and you can sandwich a standard aeropress filter in after its metal filter but before the valve for a cleaner cup. The only catch I can think of is that the valve actuation requires a bottle neck of a fairly specific size, and the bottle it comes with only comfortably holds around 500ml.

Enjoying the Leonid Ramirez from Pulp coffee roasters in San Antonio. This is one of the rare ones that seems great in pourover no matter how finely I grind. Advertised tasting notes did not align with my experience, there is a mild tartness up front but overall I just find this to be a perfectly delicious and round coffee. This is the least chaff I’ve ever dealt with, I see almost none when grinding.

Stopped in to the roasting facility and was given a small tour and friendly updates about their recent roasts from the owner. Was invited to share a roaster’s test brew with the fellas in the shop.

I'm going to have a small French press for my coffee, as I've spent a little more than I wanted to on my first hand grinder so I'll be saving my pennies for a good while. What's your preferred ratio of water to coffee when making a French press? What's your technique for brewing? I prefer a light roast, if that matters (?)

This is the 800ml server from Hario. I make 600g water / 30-35g coffee in it every morning.

I drink my coffee slowly, and really like it hot. When I made a single 300g cup of coffee, I'd time my consumption wrong and it would be lukewarm before I finished. I didnt necessarily mind this, but now that I've been using this server I get hot coffee on demand, very conveniently.

I downsized my regular mug for a teacup, so I always get just enough hot coffee to sip and enjoy before it loses too much temp. So now I drink a lot of small teacups worth instead of a regular mug. I recommend you try this style of serving coffee and see if its for you.

Bonus: this has been so helpful when making for multiple people, since I dont always know when others wake up or come downstairs. Since its a huge insulated server I never worry about not being able to serve my roommates hot coffee.

today i tried pouring my remaining wet cold brew grounds remnants through a small sieve. i had read some years ago that this was the best trick for catching the grounds but wrote it off, as i thought i didn’t want to have a sieve full of grounds to clean. well, it worked a treat, and was easy to tap out the grounds and quickly clean the seive.

a reminder to myself that heeding the advice of those who have done something before, especially those who have done it for a living, is well worth the time.

I swapped out the momentary switch for a standard on/off switch from Amazon for my Eureka Mignon Filtro grinder.

The tiny act of not having to stand there pressing the button in the whole time you are grinding coffee seems petty and ridiculous but genuinely results in a better routine overall. I am now free to focus on other aspects of coffee prep and as a result the routine, even if just for the short time the beans are grinding, is improved

I like multitasking. What can I say.

Found this moka pot at a friend's relative's house, they said it's been in their family for a bit over a decade. It just broke about a week ago, but it seems like it means a lot to them. Unfortunately they're a little too old to check out how to get it fixed, so I'm thinking of doing it for them in the near future just as a gesture.

Question is, is it possible? If so, what needs to be done/replaced?