Coffee: we drink it or we get angry.

Therein lies a (recent) tale. About a week ago, I left my roaster (a Gene Cafe’) in its usual spot (on the rear screened/glassed on three sides porch which is upon a larger deck). Unfortunately, we didn’t remember to close the glass slider (leaving only screen) one rather (extremely; heck, it brought down a 12” Oak) big storm soaked into the porch and the roaster (no it was not plugged in). So since it’s been drying out (carefully) before I attempt dissection/diagnosis/remedy(if needed).

Main storyline: gotta find roasted beans in SW rural NH. Starbucks (in past) could be counted on for a passable “Italian Roast” (not roasted to my preferred profile, but not terrible either). Suddenly, the first 3 I went to had nothing roasted to more than what I would call City (let alone City+ or Full City). WTF?

Finally found one that still had their Italian.

Now I’m praying tomorrows test-roast with the Gene Cafe’ will be successful and I can return to predictably awesome coffee.

PS: been ordering and surfing Sweet Maria’s Green beans and home roasting for over 20 years now. More than achieved positive ROI.

 

Agreed that WHEN I can find dark roasts at the ‘bucks, they haven’t changed their individual roast profiles.

But, it is a new phenomenon that many Starbuck’s locales now don’t HAVE any of the darker roasts available.

That said, I gave my roaster 2 weeks of airing/drying out time, and it’s working back like it’s old workhorse self now…. <phew>

 

Unexpected coffee update for me. I came across an unused Gaggia superauto at a local pawn shop and ended up pying $120 for this $600 machine in new condition. Mainly was thinking of using it for on-the-go lungos when in a hurry and sort of a better version of a Keurig for my wife. Took some troubleshooting to get the pump primed initially but now it works perfectly. The lungos are not bad at all but I changed out the panarello style wand for something I could actually make some real microfoam with. After some experimentation with grind, coffees and whatnot I am actually able to make a pretty darn good small cortado. I was surprised TBH. It’s much more than I expected from it.




Gaggia makes pretty decent stuff. All made in Italy. I started out on a Gaggia semiauto that was budget but actually had a 58mm portafilter and sometimes rewarded with a really good espresso. Then I ended up moving up to a legit setup with Mazzer grinder and an E61 style machine. I sold it all before we moved overseas and simplified with a pourover setup. I could scratch my espresso itch with excellent local coffee shops but it’s nice to have an espresso option in-house again.

 

Nice find

 

the same pawn shop also has had a Wilfa Precision brewer sitting in there since before this machine showed up.

 

Last year James Hoffman did a pretty cool kind of survey/study and he released the results a couple of months ago. They sent out 5000 samples of 4 different types of coffees/roasts to people in the US, had them sample and compare (blindly) and then answer some questions about them. The majority of people’s favorite coffee was a funky, fruity natural processed (and I’m guessing lighter roasted) bean. While it was the most popular it was also the most polarizing. Some very interesting gender differences too. There are some other interesting results summarized in the video and he said the full results are accessible to anyone.

shorter summary on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2C8bwMLmIV/?igsh=ZDE1MWVjZGVmZQ==

full breakdown and discussion on Youtube


Big respect to Hoffman for doing a very good job on this with the data, interpretation, and process.

 

I can't wait to watch this! I watched his V60 video after a friend posted. Been really enjoying coffee!

 

I've upped my coffee game by investing in a real grinder. My friends have been getting into espresso pretty intensely and I felt left out, so I needed to buy something irrational. I live above a coffee shop, so as infrequently as I need an espresso I can just walk downstairs and have a depressed college student make it for me. Or, I could use my Nespresso which I actually love for about $1.50 or less per drink. I WFH so I felt like I should really treat myself and up my French Press game. I watched a lot of Youtubes from James Hoffmann, Lance Hedrick, and some others. I really liked Hoffman because he seems like a real pretentious prick. Perfect to reinforce coffee snob stereotypes.

I went with the Fellow Ode 2 with SSP burrs. Based on all of the single-dose grinders this one seems to fit the bill for robustness, design, manufacturer origin, and general vibes. It is also very quiet compared to my old grinder. I decided on the SSP burrs simply for their longevity. As I said above, I will walk downstairs if I need an espresso so I actually like that the Ode does not do espresso grind. This should keep me from impulse buying an espresso machine in the future. There is some residual, but you can just run the grinder empty and slap the little disruptor tab on the side and most of the leftovers come out. The anti-static turbocombobulation plasma generator actually does what it says; nearly zero static. The magnetic base for the catch cup is perfect when you're groggy in the morning and do not have fine motor skills.

My old grinder was a Cuisinart DBM-8P1 which is like $60 on Amazon. I've had two of them. One died after about 4 years. The second one was an Amazon open-box I got for about $28 and it still works 6-7 years later. These are fine, but I would try to acquire it for as cheap as possible. There is definitely no consistency and I would imagine there are better systems out there for under $100. It's loud AF and creates an unbelievable amount of static. I did not know until recently that you don't need to suffer such poor quality in a grinder.

 

Nice! If I my Baratza Vario broke beyond repair (however unlikely) I would def consider an Ode as replacement. I like Hoffman a lot. He has a great way of breaking things down, a solid methodology, and a good sense of humor. He’s good for the coffee community that often digs itself into a lot of bullshit.

I don’t live above a coffee shop but I got rid of my espresso setup a few years back after we got a ton of awesome coffee shops in town. I used to have a Mazzer Super Jolly and then a Mini and an Expobar E61 style espresso machine. I decided to focus on non-espresso methods and scratch my espresso itch as needed at one of the local shops.

Recently though I came across a Gaggia super auto unused at a pawn shop for $120 and couldn’t pass that up. I still get espresso drinks from the shops because they do a great job but the Gaggia can summon up a surprisingly good cortado (I steam and pour the milk myself, that part isn’t auto).

 

After a break, I've been using my expobar office HX machine again, making espressos on weekends. I modded my expobar so I can control pump power like they can do on much more expensive machines. I've been trying med light roast beans with it, and am pretty happy with the shots. Nearest good coffee place is about 30 mins round trip, so that doesn't happen.

A few weeks ago I had to work for a week at a place 30 mins away from my company. While I was there, I went to a few places and tried shots from each place. Of course the last place I tried was the best. But it was fun to try shots from coffee places.

Randy

 

yes! We used to have nothing in Waco but now I’m seriously spoiled for coffee shops and roasters around here and it’s fun. There are ones that are supposed to be really good that I haven’t even made it too because there ar eso many now. Most have La Marzocco machines. One has a Modbar which is pretty cool and when they opened was apparently the first one in Texas. Another that just opened has the Poursteady automatic pourover machine. That was fun to try out. I wish someone had a Slayer around here. That’d be cool.

post a pic of the mod on your Expobar. Is it a paddle?

 

I have the first model Ode and it taught me about grinder static. Made me start spritzing water on my beans.

 

On my modded expobar, I'm an engineer, and made an over the top mod to my machine.
Info on the entire mod here
I control flow/pressure in my expobar by controlling power to the vibe pump. That part is explained here.

And no, its not the paddle version as you can see in the pics, its the office control model with buttons to start the shot. It has a an electronic solenoid to open/close the group flow instead of a lever. I guess my mod would have worked with a lever model too, but it worked out fine with my office control.

As for local coffee shops, I was working in Fullerton and liked this place (Buena Park location) the best of the 4 I tried. Maybe it was a little expectation bias, was the only one where you could choose from SO or blend, I had the SO. Also only place that gave me a real cup for the shot with a glass of water without asking for the water.

Also still not really used to post covid prices, I started roasting again because I can't bring myself to pay as much as $2/ounce for roasted SO beans. Shots were all around $4.

EDIT: My latest thing is I'm seriously considering getting a Flair. I've wanted to try some kind of lever for a long time, Flair is the cheapest entry point.

Randy

 

I’ve long used my extra Zerostat gun… also helps in other areas in the kitchen in winter static season.

“See, honey, my hobby has hidden values”

 

Maybe you're being sarcastic/ironic, but I find him totally unpretentious and very no bullshit, down to earth.

 

I meant it in an endearing, fun kind of way. Such that it is entertaining to watch and makes his opinions seem truthful and based solely on his personal experience.

 

That looks very interesting, thanks. Have bookmarked it to check back in the fall.