HemiSam

We had a track rental for today. Weather got the better of us...need to swap back to the street tires on my piggy. Bummer... The good thing is I can start my drink a bit earlier...LOL. This cold and wet weather is overrated for most things, but brown liquor compliments it. HS

Took delivery of a couple of coffees from my local roaster, Memli. The Guatemalan Alejandro Lainez Chejoj I had him roast for espresso (not as dark a roast as most the espresso I've bought thus far but definitely darker than his pour over roast). It made a lovely shot just now. I look forward to trying the Kenyan Kiunyu AB Kerugoya Kirinyaga for my pour over in the morning. HS

Grateful Dead 6-part series on Amazon: A Long Strange Trip. All of what one might imagine. I think it is well made and provides telling insights into how the broader group evolved into what they became. Jerry was something… HS

Very exciting and those amps look fantastic. Best of luck, Kerry! Sam

Paper towel, toilet paper...whatever it takes for proper caffeination. Powa' to the peeps! HS

That option-o is uber modern. Looks like an impressive piece of kit. I have not gone down the rabbit hole on grinders as for whatever reason the Niche just spoke to me so I jumped in when it was pointed out here a long while back and haven't looked back. The Lunar has pointed out I can lose about .1 grams or not in back to back espresso grinds. Covered Ears - I have no problem whatsoever if you want to post tea stuff here. It's not my jam, but I find it interesting to read about it. Had a couple of friends at work that were really down the rabbit hole on aged, very strong smelling teas and then I converted them to proper coffee...LOL. Two chem-e's so they went down hard and started making roasters, boards for the timers on the roasters, etc... Jacob - I'm using the Lunar in mode 1 to weigh the beans and mode 4 for brewing. I agree...there is a lot of functionality there. I enjoy using it more if I keep it simple...was driving myself a bit nuts at first w/ it. I'm profiling with some nice results on the Bianca. Taking it to 2 bar for a few seconds and then ramping up to somewhere around 9-bar, then I bring it way down right at the very end of the ~2:1 ratio (20 in 40 out). Very nice with the medium-dark roast Nigerian beans from Memli that arrived. I need to adjust the pump pressure. For some silly reason it came with a default of almost 12 bar....odd. HS

I'm lower. 14 - 15 is always too coarse. After I opened it up, cleaned it (all per the Niche video) and put it back together I was at 11-12 to the a medium dark Ethiopian bean about where it needed to be. HS

^quality programming...major flashback! Godspeed, Howard... Thank you for all the laughs. HS

Good stuff, Jacob. Great to see you pulling so many fun shots. Took the day off and started with a nice chemex pour over. Boy it beats getting up early and drinking crap at the office. Going to take the espresso machine for a ride after lunch. I'm having a bit of difficulty dialing in the Niche. I am at way a lower grind setting than most to get the pressure I would expect at the group head. I did find the tip over limit where it was so fine it stifled the shot. Backed off and went too far in the other direction. A bit frustrating, but the coffee is quite good so I think I just need to get over it. I'm going to clean it again today and recalibrate just in case I did something weird the last time around. First world problems FTW... HS

8 months....woof. Can't say I'm surprised but once you order something one pretty much wants their paws on it. HS

For those that are curious, a good friend ordered a Durango Hellcat (sometimes referred to as a Hellrango...). It took 5 and a half months from order to delivery. I am told it is usually closer to a month and a half... Go supply chain... HS

Oat milk is decidedly not for this camper. It has a funky taste that I could not get past in the espresso/cappuccino. I made another with cow's milk just to be certain it wasn't my mind playing tricks on me and it was markedly more to my liking. The better half is plant based whole food centric and hopefully it will not go to waste. HS

Thanks for the info, Jacob. Sipping an El Salvador Santa Rosa pour over...lovely. Damn Onyx Coffee Labs...LOL. I tasted the Oatly Barista oat milk this morning straight up cold....what one would expect of oat milk I think. A bit sweeter than I expected but pleasant enough assuming one likes the taste of oats. Nutritionally they contain similar calories, fat count although the cow's milk definitely has more saturated fats, sugars/carbs higher on oat milk and protein markedly higher on cow's milk. I used my frother (not the steamer on the espresso machine) and whipped up the Oatly. It does a nice job as far as creamy texture so clearly the added fat from the expeller oil does its job. I'll brave it in a cappuccino this afternoon and see how I feel about the flavor in coffee. Interesting experiment thus far. HS

I'm very curious to try the barrista oat milk this weekend. I have some espresso beans that should make life fairly easy on nailing the shots within a reasonable range so I can focus on the steaming. The Bianca has plenty of horsepower. One fail on my part is I purchased a pitcher to accommodate multiple drinks. I need to get off my arse and get a smaller one that will allow me more control / flexibility for the singles I almost always make. HS

I scored some Oatly barrista oatmeal milk today. Am very curious to see how I like it. I feel like I'm fixing something that's not broken, but then again if I don't explore new things I'll never know... HS

That is a bunch of BS, Augsburger. Sorry to see you're still dealing with this. Hopefully PayPal comes through for you. HS

I'd call it sharing, Jacob. I'm down to one coffee left in the Onyx advent calendar. Bitter sweet ending... At the risk of bringing up K-cups, I have a bunch of Nespresso pods in a shopping cart as I work through the old inventory. BUT...I did find a compostable K-cup from San Francisco Bay Coffee. A friend at work generously gifted me a couple and they were pretty tasty as far as this stuff goes. HS

I did a lot of reading about the Silvia and took a hard look at it, ER. I think it would be a solid choice based on what I have seen. A serious community out there using and improving up on it. Should be fun. HS

Bought some espresso beans earlier this week. They are a week off roast. Made a great flat white I believe one would call it. Soooooo much easier to produce good coffee with a bean that caters to the machine. HS

Augsburger, I would be equally upset in your shoes. That appears to be a high end grinder and you should fully expect a unit that functions day one, certainly within the provided settings. Really sorry you had that experience...I'd be pissed. Clive was good to me. I had one of the walnut knobs on the Bianca that wasn't right...they made it correct by getting another to me. A young lady was very helpful with this. Then there was a fitting that was supposed to be included so I could plumb it to my water source. The gent wasn't as outwardly friendly as the lady and less communicative via email throughout the process but low and behold the fitting showed up promptly. Shame they did not treat you equally well...it's a high end coffee shop where it's all about products and service IMO. Sipping an Ethiopia Work pour over. Damn the Ethiopians are blessed when it comes to coffee... HS I use the pre-folded filters and once I do the bloom and follow up with another 200+ grams of water I just give the slurry a good stir with a metal straw or the like and I don't have to do anything else assuming my grind is reasonably coarse, J. For what it's worth. HS

Sorry to see this, Augsburger. Never fun when you spend good money on bad service/merch. I had a good experience with them on my espresso equipment fortunately. I hope they try to make it correct for you. HS

Godspeed, Michael Lang... Co-founder of Woodstock. HS

I do not take as many photos as I use to at racing events, but this caught my eye and I would be remiss not sharing. At last October's Texas Mile I had the pleasure of drooling over this Koenigsegg Regera. Truly an engineering feat....and...it comes with its own tuner (a breathing one with a charming accent...). The owner appeared disappointed with his speeds and left before the wind shifted to our benefit but we did get to see it make a few passes. HS

Holy moly. I feel like I need a cigarette after watching and I don't smoke...

LOL. Hope you didn't get burned, J. I've got the Niche set past the coarsest marked setting for the Chemex. I have far fewer issues with the pour over or French press than I do the espresso grind settings. Largely my own fault as I'm working through my coffee advent calendar still so I'm on constant rotation (left over beans from the morning pour over). The back to work schedule has me enjoying far less great coffee... Java du jour is a Columbia Juan Jimenez. Very easy cup to sip...sweet and sweet. HS