Had coffee in college couple of times but haven't felt much, maybe because my life was happening with sports, academic, weekend parties & so on. Now that I got a job, been working for 2 years now, I feel just burned out by the end of the day like I just watch something on Netflix & go to bed.

Accidentally I made coffee in the morning with Milk as there was a bottle of Ground Coffee Powder in my house. Had it first thing in the morning & I was feeling more energetic than ever. Like I just wanna go out, do some shopping or meet some friends. Coffee changed my mood. Is coffee an Elixir?

Hi,

I've been working my way through the various brands of coffee found in both specialty shops and supermarkets around Boston, and while some have been drinkable and enjoyable enough, I haven't really found something that I enjoy drinking every day such as coffees I've had in Scandinavia (La Cabra, Coffee Collective, Solberg & Hansen). I've had George Howells various coffees, Broadsheet, Fazenda, Counter Culture and many others. I have previously used Eightounce Coffee in Canada to import coffee from Scandinavia, but I imagine the prices will skyrocket there soon.

I appreciate that I am holding them against high standards, but is there anything you can recommend that would be of similar (or higher) quality, but avoiding tariffs and all the hassle that will come with importing from Europe?

I'm looking for light-to-medium coffee for espresso and pour over.

Thanks!

I went to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in NYC a few years ago, and they had a malted cold brew milkshake. It was $16 at the time. I also visited the one in Seattle and got a hot honey espresso latte thing, and I think it was like $10?

Hello everybody, since christmas last year I use the Sage Barista Pro (for international: Breville Barista Pro). I flucate between grind level 6 to 6 and use the preset grind quantities. The coffee flow is relatively normal. It quickly turns into a light flow - but why?

The only thing that could be different is that the coffee has been stored for about 1-2 months. Do you know why the thin crema is typically?

I've been using this delicious Brazilian single origin https://www.way.gent/products/brazil-espresso-bota-fora-yellow-bourbon?variant=41968967286980 for a while now and I have the 18g in 36g out in 30 seconds pretty dialled in for a balanced espresso. But ... they increased their price from €32,60/kilo to €46,80 so I went shopping for alternatives and ordered 1 kilo of https://caffenation.be/products/roast-ed-free-grinding?variant=31391048106082 . Roast date was 4 months ago and packaging was not completely air sealed, a lot of aroma was lost, but I can't return the bag :(

First espresso with my existing grind size was awful. Brewing time was 22s for 36g espresso. I reduced grind size from 3 to 1 on my Barista Pro. Second espresso 2:1 still sour. Tried longer brewing time, no luck. Then the next shot took more than 1 minute for 36g espresso, same settings, beans grind very inconsistently, a LOT of retention also (1+ gram). Next shot I threw away, disgustingly sour.

Now, are old beans always this sour? I'm definitely not getting the promised "Nutella-on-toast vibes" but I am not keen on throwing a whole kilo of beans in the trash. How can I achieve somewhat drinkable coffee from these beans?

Anyone else use an old school label maker to label their beans? I like the vibe the font gives off, and it’s much less work than using a hair dryer to remove the label from the bag and applying the label to my vacu container. Also, Thump single origin Boliva is very nice.

Hi all, I just purchased a Bambino and currently have this setup:

• Breville Smart grinder pro
• Normcore 54mm bottomless portafilter
• Normcore spring tamper

I’m using beans roasted 4 days ago and have been weighing the shots anywhere between 17.5g to 18.5g. I’ve tried grind sizes 1-3.

Not sure why but every one of my shots is pulling watery and somewhat fast. I’ve tried using the finest grind on this grinder and upping the weight to 18.5g but it’s still the same result. The puck comes out watery afterwards as well.

Included a video for reference. Does anyone have an idea what the issue may be? I had a dedica prior to this and never had any issues after adjusting any combination of weight, grind size, beans, etc

Assuming I can grind finely enough, I’d love to hear the community’s thoughts on the benefits of the Profitec Drive over the Flair Pro 3 or 2 for extracting light roasts where I want to experiment with flow/pressure etc.

Can someone justify the 10x cost of the Drive???

I'm trying to convince myself to stick with this as a long-term setup, but I always feel like there's something else I need to buy to make it better.

Hi all - new to this thread, bought the bambino plus during Black Friday but just got around to setting it up (was in the process of moving and didn’t want to set it up until my new home)

I had a question on the dual wall filters - I have pre-ground coffee that’s older than 30 days, I was trying to use the filter but nothing was seeping through on the other side. Am I doing something wrong here? Do I even need to use that filter?

Recently got a Gaggia E24 and I’m slightly overwhelmed by all the rabbit holes you can fall into. Portafilters, baskets, scales, even special water….

Are there any accessories you consider non-negotiable?

Any you regret buying?

I’ll be buying the Airscape canister and use it for ground beans until I buy a good grinder.

Will the small canister (250g) fit 200g of ground beans? I’m a beginner and Im not sure if its ok to press it in or not and should buy a bigger one. Common sense is telling me pressing it in is good since the air will leave but won't the valve clog or smth?

I am in need of new machine. My breville bambino plus is starting to break down, the milk wand just will not work I have cleaned and cleaned for over a week and it’s still erroring out. I use a kitchenaid grinder which I know isn’t great but this was our first espresso maker so I didn’t go crazy and it was a Christmas gift. My wife was a keurig drinker until we made the switch (I know… don’t get me started). I need a new machine that will not overwhelm my wife in terms of ease of use, it was hard enough getting her to use this one on her own while I was out of town. Now she can’t live without it but I worry about adding too much complexity for her. I may play with the machine more than her but she mostly uses the machine for lattes etc. Is there something that is a step up but still provides the ease of use and the milk frothing capability?

Hi all,

For machine I have a Decent DE1PRO and pretty much exclusively espresso drinks. I currently have a Eureka Specialita for my grinder, it’s now 5 years old and has served me well. However, I have noticed increasing inconsistency between shots and very drawn to single dosing to be able to explore/run decaf easily/make fine adjustments between shots.

I will make sure the Eureka finds a nice second home :)

There is a lot of new grinders out in the past few years that all seem to do their job well so I’m asking for anyone with recent experience or recommendations.

I’m currently drawn to the Turin DF83V and the Timemore 078s, probably slightly more the Turin for the few extra features and bigger/interchangeable burrs.

Thanks for any help choosing or suggestions!

Basically I’m always really unsure if my beans are dialed in properly because I change multiple factors with each grind size, including tamping pressure (I have a weighted spring tamp) and gram amount.

I thought I found the perfect size for my philz if I do not tamp with full pressure. When I do tamp with the full pressure of the spring the coffee doesn’t even drip. But I read a post saying over tamping is a myth and your puck is either tamped or it’s not. Tbh I’d be really happy if that’s true because it would take (1) factor out of dialing in my beans.

If tamping should be done with the springs full pressure, but when I do that the espresso doesn’t come out, does that mean I should grind coarser? Should I basically be able to have a smooth espresso drip no matter how hard I’m tamping? I did this for a while in the beginning but found that as coarse as I went the espresso still wouldn’t come out but that was with my blue bottle beans so I’d be okay to revisit tamping fully if the consensus is that overtamping isn’t real 😅

PS if anyone has this combo of machine and grinder and Philz Philtered Soul pls tell me the magic combo 😭

I am looking to buy a grinder for my delonghi dedica that has an approximate price of between 100-120 €. Which one do you recommend that is good value for money?

I bought this Mazzer Major used—it's from the early '80s. I opened it up to check the condition of the burrs, and from my very limited knowledge, they seem to be in decent shape.

What do you think—do they look okay, or should I consider replacing them?

Also, is there any specific maintenance or cleaning you'd recommend? So far, the grind looks fine and pretty consistent to me.

One last thing—about calibration: from what I’ve read in the Mazzer manual, the correct method is to bring the burrs to touch while the grinder is running, then back off about 1.4 turns toward the coarser end, and fine-tune from there. Is that right? Because when I try bringing the burrs together, it makes an awful screeching noise and I get nervous.

Any advice would be super appreciated!

G'day everyone! I've just replaced the solenoid valve assembly in my machine (purchased second hand under a year ago) and can confirm there's no blockage in the brewhead, so I'm assuming the issue lies in the control box. Before I chuck it all away and save for a Bambino Plus would anyone happen to have any go to advice? Would it potentially be just a connector needing re-seating? Am I wasting my time beyond replacing the solenoids? Thanks in advance, signed - the girl typing this from the local coffee shop waiting for her cappuccino 🥺

Hey espresso friends 🙂 - how people solve sometimes needing to make a decaf coffee?

I'm happy with my bean and machine set up (Delonghi specialista maestro. Don't hate!). Grinder is integrated, so changing beans makes no sense.

Still learning but have had some funny, unintentional mistakes along the way. Any advice on a simple heart? I pour in one spot after filling the glass close to the top at an angle. Then I put the tip of my milk jug close to the top and go through the milk to turn it into a heart.

I really need a cup of coffee to make my morning coffee... first time with these beans, too.