beanbay. whats a good strong coffee to buy?

[Rocky]

Ha! my mistake! OK, let's say you are in W.A.s coffee capital!
There are a number of ways to acquire a bit more knowledge of things related to coffee & your machine. I just did a quick Google search using terms like 'coffee enthusiast Perth' which could provide some ideas. Retailers of quality espresso machines (not talking big retailers like HN here) are also a good place to start as they are usually owned by enthusiasts who often run courses & have connections with other coffee enthusiasts. Barista courses are worth the time and money, and again you meet people who, if they like you will often be willing to help.

[justyou81]

I live in perth WA

[Rocky]

Hi Justyou - welcome to Coffee Snobs.
Don't be offended by any of the comments - some of these guys are so funny they should be on the stage (the next one out of town).
I would echo Attilio's comments - don't get into roasting just yet, work on getting the best out of your existing equipment.
If you are using beans from Beanbay then you know your beans are great - so you can forget about that as the source of your problems.
It is all about understanding your machine and what it takes to make it work properly.
This includes getting your technique right as well.
This can take a lot of experimenting with different grinds and doses (assuming your machine is working properly).
Straight shots are a better way to perfect your pours than making lots of big double-shot cappuchinos as you can taste exactly what you are pouring without all that milk to hide its faults.
You are in Australia's coffee capital so I would be surprised if there wasn't someone you could contact to help you sort it all out. Good Luck.

[Thundergod]

http://coffeesnobs.com.au/roasters/2...ng-popper.html
See my guide in post #6

[richard_m_h]

now i need help on best way to roast coffee on a cheap budget.

popcorn popper for $20 or so. a search here or google or youtube will tell you how

[justyou81]

i figure out the if i double shot of espresso with froth makes a good coffee from my machine, I new to this and felt some people were makng fun of me. now i need help on best way to roast coffee on a cheap budget. I have 1-2 cups a day.. thanks for your imput...

[Fresh_Coffee]

just takes under 30 secs to do expresso. i like to have strong coffee in a mug size. cappucino. I thinking maybe buying a roaster and buying raw beans from you? but not sure what roaster to get and what beans....

Dear justyou81....- // -............please dont do that.

If there already is a problem in that you may not be understanding & setting up your equipment properly, why add the extra problem of not having the foggiest about coffee roasting? Adding another variable / problem will not fix the first problem...

If you like a "strong" coffee in a mug, then with an auto you need to select a "double" coffee from the touch pad and use it as your black coffee portion in the mug, because a mug is usually double the size of a standard coffee cup, and a standard coffee cup is what your auto is designed around. But I suggest you first work out how to get a good standard size coffee with your machine which for a cappuccino, would be in a std coffee cup or given the constraints of being faced with a miriad of different size cups to buy in this market, something around 160mls and certainly no larger than 180mls (after that you get into standard TEA cups which are bigger and make your coffee weaker). ie get yourself worked out to make a good std size cup, then press the double function to make your muggacino.

I dont see that we've received any feed back from you following the last round of advice, which is not really helpful if you are hoping that we will give you the advice and keep helping !


May I add, I dont believe it is particularly helpful for others to advise those that are having trouble to basically ditch their equipment and buy something else.....because then they can go from not understanding and using the first piece of equipment, to exactly the same scenario with the next lot of equipment!


justyou81, the principles of good espresso making are the same no matter what equipment you use. My advice is to forget about adding more and more variables to your scenario, and deal with the first one until you get a satisfactory coffee happening. There is no reason why you shouldnt be able to get a satisfactory coffee from your machine. When you get it worked out (ie when you "get it" wrt espresso) the world will be your oyster and you will be able to upgrade to whatever equipment you please.

Hope that helps,
Attilio
very first CS site sponsor

[Vinitasse]

just takes under 30 secs to do expresso.

Please don't do that... it makes my eyes hurt just reading it!

[chokkidog]

Start at the beginning, buy a Behmor from Andy, he'll throw in some beans and away you go.
My son has just ben kitted up and he's flying, loving it.
Check out the Behmor thread on this site, read about all the happy people, look at their awesome 1st roasts!

As far as strong coffee goes.......... what is strong to you? Strong = acidic/bright?
Strong = rich and full bodied? Strong = big caffeine hit? There are beans and blends to suit all kinds of strong!

But like seamed says, compare the same beans through a good grinder and from a good machine, you might be more than surprised.
Roasting your own beans, although I would encourage it, won't solve your "express" o problem.

[seamad]

Personally i would think your biggest impediment to getting the best shot at present is your machine. Get some good quality freshly roasted beans from some different roasters and see what you can get out of them with your machine before getting a roaster. If you are not happy with the coffe still, ditch the auto and get a grinder and machine that will do the job. Imo you will get better coffee out of the cheaper sunbeams/ breville combos than you will ever get out of an auto.

[justyou81]

just takes under 30 secs to do expresso. i like to have strong coffee in a mug size. cappucino. I thinking maybe buying a roaster and buying raw beans from you? but not sure what roaster to get and what beans....

[Lasanmarcomelb]

beanbay. whats a good strong coffee to buy?

I too laughed out loud at that one. Funnily enough, temple brewery next door to my work in Brunswick are straining there scarlet sour beer through hibiscus flowers. Maybe coffee is next.....plenty of hipsters in Brunswick!!!

[micktha]

In which case you definitely have issues with your extraction!


It would appear that you are attempting to use a hydrangea to produce your coffee...

Hey Using Hydrangeas to extract coffee is all the rage with hipsters these days! Also, people in my office are now staring out me strangely after I laughed when reading your comment

[Fresh_Coffee]

Morning all.

There are two kinds of common bitterness in espresso. a) That caused by the type of beans used, and B) that caused by using equipment that is not correctly set OR by not getting the ratio of espresso to milk right in the cup (ie caused by the operator).

Your automatic coffee machine does not extract coffee in the same way as a conventional espresso machine, but that doesnt mean you wont get a good coffee out of it as long as you work out the best settings for any particular type of beans used. This means you have to work out the grind and dose every time you change from one blend or single origin to another. This is because the density of the beans varies, and it is exactly the same principle as per a conventional machine and grinder.

Bitterness in your auto will be caused by two things, and it wont be the beans in this instance. Your grind will invariably be too coarse, and your dose may be too small. Also you may be making the espresso portion of your coffees too long (?). That said, my experience tells it will be grind / dose first up.

Fix them, and your coffee will smooth out. Most people go "the wrong way" when they are trying to cure the bitterness that they (the operator) induced into their brew through using incorrect setings, and that is by trying to weaken out the coffee.......INSTEAD of going the other way and making it stronger (usually some combination of finer grind and larger dose). This has the effect of smoothing out the brew, because it resuts in more coffee oils extracting out of the grinds into the liquid.

The usual simple rules of espresso making for conventional machines and grinders are NOT relevant to home use automatic machines. That is, there is no point in you trying to achieve the "25 mls in 25 seconds" type of pour with your auto, because you simply wont be able to jiggle the settings to get it. You will however, if you do a good job on the settings, acheive a faster flowing and mellow result in the cup (compared to same beans in conventional equipment). It will not be *bitter* if you get it right.

I suggest you stick with the one type of beans, read the booklet, and adjust the settings until you get the best coffee out of it that it can deliver. The best result, will be achieved by experimenting with different grind settings VS different dose settings to find the compromise between them that works best for your beans.

Hope that helps,
Attilio
very first CS site sponsor

[Andy]

Thanks for the vote of confidence everyone!


While it's possible that I mucked up your roast I expect that someone else would have contacted me direct to let me know so I too would point the finger at the machine settings.

Let us know:

How long it takes to pour an espresso?
How much volume you have after the pour? (how many ml?)

Those two things will give us all an idea of what to try next.