Coffee Drinkers? (or other hot beverages)

[EdipisReks1]

I just about have my holiday weight gone, so my second best cat is doing grind duty, pour over and espresso. 

The Orphan OG is far and away the best grinder I’ve ever used. Nobody ever talks about them. Have they sold 12, or something? 

Edited January 19, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

I’m trying to make espresso here. 

[EdipisReks1]

So much for zero retention. And this was with bellows, on the Niche. The OG is truly zero retention, but this is autistically good enough, so I’m going with it.

Two beans, maybe?*

*there ended up being about .1 grams stuck on the inside of the dosing cup.

9 hours ago, Augsburger said:

I bought the VST as well but it is sitting next to the Flair while this Mignon grinder debacle is getting sorted out.

I’ll tell you one thing: the VST basket grabs the niche dosing cup. Aggressively. Be prepared for it. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

40 out in 45 seconds. Max 7 bar. Slow ramp down. VST basket. It’s… a nice cortado. First pic is shot, second is cortado with Bellman oat. No bitterness or sourness. Sweet lemon.

Outrageously good. I honestly don’t think I could make a better cortado. 

Niche at almost (slightly finer than) 15 with the Counter Culture Apollo blend. Various normal puck preps thingies. 

I like this basket.

Edited January 19, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

If I had to have only that cortado, over and over for the rest of my life, and only that, I would be happy. 

Lingering. Milk drinks never linger. Now the question is whether I can do this tomorrow morning. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

Gonna have me a Gesha-off once the new one has degassed a little (was roasted Tuesday, and the Levercraft was frozen after two weeks).

Edited January 21, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

Coconut latte with Counter Culture Apollo. After doing oatmilk only the last few weeks, I had forgotten how coconut-y coconut milk is. 20 in, 40 out in 40 seconds (not including the inevitable pre-infusion with this). As nice a pull as you could want. I’m consistently getting a quick 7 bar peak and a slow, even drawn down at slightly finer than 15 on the Niche with this bean.

I have the coffee bar workflow pretty well down, now: with dialed-in coffee (I took Covered_ears advice and am just doing one bean consistently right now), I can go from yawning to a latte in about 10 minutes. Most of that time is waiting for the Bellman to come to pressure.

This isn’t anymore inconvenient then using the Breville, really, though that would allow me to pull two drinks simultaneously, so it’s not leaving the table.

Edited January 21, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[Covered_Ears]

On 1/18/2022 at 7:08 PM, Augsburger said:

I bought the VST as well but it is sitting next to the Flair while this Mignon grinder debacle is getting sorted out.

Sorry to hear that; like Jacob said, espresso is already a pain, so this type of issue is salt in the wound. I've heard the others talking about this issue (albeit for the Oro single dose. Perhaps the same design flaw since they're both from the Oro Mignon lineup? the comments seem split between "well mine is working perfectly fine" and "yeah I'm getting the same issue") -- of course, no excuses for Clive there regardless. If this is an issue with the new Oro Mignon lineup, Clive probably knows about it but wants to discourage you from returning it. Which is worrisome to say the least.

[Covered_Ears]

Warning that the linked video is pretty rambly with a bunch of tangents. Watch at risk of your patience!

[EdipisReks1]

I think that is a good video, Alex, and good commentary.

I’m in a foul mood, so OG it is. 

[EdipisReks1]

Going old school here. CAFEC light filter. Like 1360 on the OG.  Hoffman special beans.

Edited January 23, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

That was outrageously good. 

[EdipisReks1]

Getting ready for espresso. 

[EdipisReks1]

Orphan makes the correct adapter. This is with the IMS basket. Will do the VST next.

Edited January 23, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

Could have done art. Cashew milk. 9 bar max, Niche at 14.5, 20 in, 45 out in 38 or so, not including pre infusion. 

This was real good. 

Edited January 23, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

I’m aware that I’m showing off, but this is what I have in my life. 

Edited January 23, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[HemiSam]

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

[Covered_Ears]

1 hour ago, HemiSam said:

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.

My dad actually has a pretty different coffee habit from mine, and since we live in the SF Bay Area, the most recent bag he bought was French Roast from San Francisco Bay Coffee. I think someone from the conservatory I went to also recommended it. AFAIK, they're one of the second-wave craft roasters. Not going to find a lot of particularly forward thinking coffee there, but, often quite good all the same.

[Augsburger]

So Clive received the second Mignon XL and the rep informed me that yes the grinder did not grind coffee when she first booted it up but then messed with it a bit, changed the settings to a coarser grind and got it to grind again all the while emphasizing that I should not use the full range of grind settings since the finer ones will make the grinder stop working. This is Eureka's flag ship grinder and it is normal for it to not work on first use and for the operator to not be able to use the full range of settings? Kind of like buying a Lamborghini Aventador and being told by the factory after you received it that you should not exceed  100 Kph or the car will stop working. 

So Clive accepted my return and will refund me my purchase...less a $100 restocking fee.

I sent this debacle to PayPal to sort out. Clive Coffee sucks at ethics and customer service.

*Forgot to mention, when the second unit arrived I noticed that it had been double taped, the original Eureka package tape and a second different packing tape. I didn't think anything of it at the time but when I brought this up to the "non-service rep" complaining that if they had taken the time to open the package why didn't they check to make sure it functioned she changed the subject awkwardly. I am now suspicious that maybe this was a return/restock which they shipped to me as new. 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Augsburger

[n_maher]

The restocking fee is complete BS, Greg.  Here's to hoping PP sees the light of day. 

[HemiSam]

That is a bunch of BS, Augsburger.  Sorry to see you're still dealing with this.

Hopefully PayPal comes through for you.

HS

[robm321]

Got tired of doing manual pour over at least twice a day, every single day. So...

[EdipisReks1]

Nice coffee maker, Rob! It looks like it should do a very credible job of producing a pour-over like cup. Is the carafe compatible with paper filters, in case you wanted to use it for manual?

That’s garbage, Greg. “We got it to work when we repaired it, and it doesn’t work as designed” isn’t… ideal. I bet it gets sold as new. 

My only coffee news today is that the best part of Ember mug is probably the stickers (I like stickers).

[robm321]

Thanks. Yes, I use it with paper filter. My Kalita Wave manual pour over tastes better, but I am surprised at how good this is for an automatic. 

[EdipisReks1]

12 hours ago, robm321 said:

Thanks. Yes, I use it with paper filter. My Kalita Wave manual pour over tastes better, but I am surprised at how good this is for an automatic. 

I’m not surprised, but only because I bought my partner similar machines, and I was also shocked at how good they were at mimicking pour over. 

Speaking of pour over: beyond how convenient it is to have my coffee stay warm, the ability to know exactly the temperature of the liquid, in real time, is the game changer here. In this case I brewed directly into the mug using the Brewista Tornado, from a PID kettle set at 210.  Four pours, but the kettle was set to maintain that temperature. Brewing into a warm mug (set to the default of 135) the coffee was 177 degrees upon uncovering, and had gone down to 168 within 20 seconds. Keep in mind that this was a best-case pour over scenario, as the Tornado is dual wall.

Recommended. Plus you can make the LED glow any color you want. 135-140 is pretty ideal, and this bean has tons of chocolate there.