Life is too short for bad coffee - The Off Topic thread

adrian522

Who can help me fix my espresso machine?

Kenilwoth Electric weren't much help as it is a brand they don't ervice (La Spazialle)

Steam boiler not working, seems to be some blockage in there somewhere.

Bought it from the UK o don't really want to return it.

murphyebass

adrian522 wrote: »

Who can help me fix my espresso machine?

Kenilwoth Electric weren't much help as it is a brand they don't ervice (La Spazialle)

Steam boiler not working, seems to be some blockage in there somewhere.

Bought it from the UK o don't really want to return it.

I know this’ll sound stupid but I had a major blockage in the pump of my gaggia classic. Unfortunately had to replace it. It was due to not rescaling it often enoug. We live in a seriously hard water area.

Would it be worth giving it a descale if you haven’t already done so or haven’t done it as often as you’d have liked?

I had descaled mine but nowhere near enough.

Again sorry if that sounds obvious

adrian522

murphyebass wrote: »

I know this’ll sound stupid but I had a major blockage in the pump of my gaggia classic. Unfortunately had to replace it. It was due to not rescaling it often enoug. We live in a seriously hard water area.

Would it be worth giving it a descale if you haven’t already done so or haven’t done it as often as you’d have liked?

I had descaled mine but nowhere near enough.

Again sorry if that sounds obvious

Descaling on this machine is difficult as you have to get the descaler into the steam boiler which is not easy. They generally recomend against descaling but I could put from Dezcal through it to see if it makes a difference.

donnacha

adrian522 wrote: »

Who can help me fix my espresso machine?

Kenilwoth Electric weren't much help as it is a brand they don't ervice (La Spazialle)

Steam boiler not working, seems to be some blockage in there somewhere.

Bought it from the UK o don't really want to return it.

Nightmare. Mine is a year or two older than yours and never had an issue. The odd time I knock off the steam boiler by accident which I assume isn't your problem?

Planet X

Wow.....wasn't aware of that difficulty at all re: descaling steam boiler, but after just reading,
https://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/descaling-double-boiler-espresso-machine-t15438.html

it seems like a faff alright.
Sorry to hear.

Autochange

adrian522 wrote: »

Descaling on this machine is difficult as you have to get the descaler into the steam boiler which is not easy. They generally recomend against descaling but I could put from Dezcal through it to see if it makes a difference.

Take the top cover off the machine. Use a funnel to pour decaler in with some boiling water. Leave it half an hour. Drain the boiiler

Definitely have the machine cold and plugged out of course!

adrian522

donnacha wrote: »

Nightmare. Mine is a year or two older than yours and never had an issue. The odd time I knock off the steam boiler by accident which I assume isn't your problem?

No, You hit the boiler button and it sounds like its starting up then all the lights go off except for thew boiler light, then if you hit boiler again it turns off the steam boiler. So its espresso only at the moment.

Have you descaled at all?

Planet X wrote: »

Wow.....wasn't aware of that difficulty at all re: descaling steam boiler, but after just reading,
https://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/descaling-double-boiler-espresso-machine-t15438.html

it seems like a faff alright.
Sorry to hear.

Yeah, its a bit of a pian.

Autochange wrote: »

Take the top cover off the machine. Use a funnel to pour decaler in with some boiling water. Leave it half an hour. Drain the boiiler

Definitely have the machine cold and plugged out of course!

Yeah, I'll give that a go.

donnacha

adrian522 wrote: »

No, You hit the boiler button and it sounds like its starting up then all the lights go off except for thew boiler light, then if you hit boiler again it turns off the steam boiler. So its espresso only at the moment.

Have you descaled at all?

Nope, I haven't descaled at all
Since reading about your troubles I've started paying attention to the noise the boiler is making on start-up ... I'll have to look into doing this soon.

murphyebass

Did of routine cleaning on the Gaggia classic today. Cafiza’d and descaled.

What wasn’t routine was when I changed the burrs in my Gaggia MDF. Can’t remember how old the machine is but must be over 5 years.

1 espresso done at a grind setting of 4.

Up to today I had to have it with the burrs nearly rubbing together to get anything close to an espresso.

So all in all, result. I must say I love how easy it is to do maintainence on both the classic and MDF. Neither are top of the range but are still going.

Between pumps and burrs I’m becoming a bit of a Gaggia mechanic.

caviardreams

Anyone else tried the Bailies Christmas blend? Am a bit disappointed but I probably need to tweak the grind a bit. Last year's was lovely I thought but this seems to lack something.

caviardreams

I take it back, after fiddling around with teh grind, the Bailies Christmas blend improved a lot and was very nice (though not as nice as last year imo)

Got a present of the much-lauded on here Nick's Sweet Espresso for Xmas which is lovely and my first time trying it. Does he roast it himself? I just noticed they were relabelling Bailies Xmas blend and reselling it so wondered if they also sourced their Sweet espresso from them perhaps?

https://www.facebook.com/NicksCoffeeCompanyLtd/photos/a.316302158495468/1779989365460066/?type=3&theater

Slaphead07

caviardreams wrote: »

Got a present of the much-lauded on here Nick's Sweet Espresso for Xmas which is lovely and my first time trying it. Does he roast it himself? I just noticed they were relabelling Bailies Xmas blend and reselling it so wondered if they also sourced their Sweet espresso from them perhaps?

They do. AFAIK They blend to Nick's specifications.

caviardreams

Been rocking my way through a bag of this from Bailies - really nice, very milk chocolatey. Good price too.
Will be reordering!

https://www.bailiescoffee.com/collections/coffee-beans/products/brazil-mountain-mogiana-natural

uck51js9zml2yt

Just ordered a kg each of blue mountain Kenya beans and java ground from Adams & Russell. £32

caviardreams

Merrick Gorgeous Gynecologist wrote: »

Just ordered a kg each of blue mountain Kenya beans and java ground from Adams & Russell. £32

Really must order from them - the cuban piqued my interest but it has a weird message on it about not being able to order through the website. Actually looked a bit dodgy as I can't understand why some beans would be different??
https://www.adamsandrussell.co.uk/products/coffee/serrano-1kg/

uck51js9zml2yt

caviardreams wrote: »

Really must order from them - the cuban piqued my interest but it has a weird message on it about not being able to order through the website. Actually looked a bit dodgy as I can't understand why some beans would be different??
https://www.adamsandrussell.co.uk/products/coffee/serrano-1kg/

That's odd but having ordered from them before I wouldn't have any issues with them.
The blue Kenyan is a repeat order for me.
The velvet blend flavours looked interesting(originally said java..it's Brazilian)

https://www.adamsandrussell.co.uk/wholesale/products/coffee/velvet-espresso-blend/

Slaphead07

Merrick Gorgeous Gynecologist wrote: »

That's odd but having ordered from them before I wouldn't have any issues with them.
The blue Kenyan is a repeat order for me.
The velvet blend flavours looked interesting(originally said java..it's Brazilian)

https://www.adamsandrussell.co.uk/wholesale/products/coffee/velvet-espresso-blend/

Good site that, nice selection of green beans

milhous

Ordered from these: https://dreambeanscoffee.com
I'm in Louth and have previously picked up off green bean in dundalk. I like their stuff.
Free delivery over 30 quid so I ended up ordering a kg bag and a 500g bag. They say they are roast to order so will see how long it takes to receive and how nice what I ordered is.

mad m

milhous wrote: »

Ordered from these: https://dreambeanscoffee.com
I'm in Louth and have previously picked up off green bean in dundalk. I like their stuff.
Free delivery over 30 quid so I ended up ordering a kg bag and a 500g bag. They say they are roast to order so will see how long it takes to receive and how nice what I ordered is.

Joining their mailing list and get 15% off first order

uck51js9zml2yt

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Good site that, nice selection of green beans

Am I right in thinking you need to roast the green beans yourself?

caviardreams

milhous wrote: »

Ordered from these: https://dreambeanscoffee.com
I'm in Louth and have previously picked up off green bean in dundalk. I like their stuff.
Free delivery over 30 quid so I ended up ordering a kg bag and a 500g bag. They say they are roast to order so will see how long it takes to receive and how nice what I ordered is.

Cheers - never come across them before so will be interested to hear back!

Would prefer a bit more info on the blends though e.g. Mocha
"The beans and origins are a secret. It’s 100% Arabica but that’s all we’re saying" :rolleyes:

caviardreams

Merrick Gorgeous Gynecologist wrote: »

Am I right in thinking you need to roast the green beans yourself?

Yes, but they sell them roasted too.

Slaphead07

Merrick Gorgeous Gynecologist wrote: »

Am I right in thinking you need to roast the green beans yourself?

Yep. There's a few methods for doing that, a fan oven, a wok, a popcorn maker (wait for Aldi to sell them again) or a home roasting machine.

uck51js9zml2yt

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Yep. There's a few methods for doing that, a fan oven, a wok, a popcorn maker (wait for Aldi to sell them again) or a home roasting machine.

Cant see why you'd want green beans but not everything in life is simple :rolleyes:

milhous

caviardreams wrote: »

Cheers - never come across them before so will be interested to hear back!

Would prefer a bit more info on the blends though e.g. Mocha
"The beans and origins are a secret. It’s 100% Arabica but that’s all we’re saying" :rolleyes:

And the descriptions were all kind of generic too, each one paraphrasing the last.

Slaphead07

Merrick Gorgeous Gynecologist wrote: »

Cant see why you'd want green beans but not everything in life is simple :rolleyes:

It's simple. So I can have freshly roasted coffee to my own taste.

milhous

milhous wrote: »

Ordered from these: https://dreambeanscoffee.com
I'm in Louth and have previously picked up off green bean in dundalk. I like their stuff.
Free delivery over 30 quid so I ended up ordering a kg bag and a 500g bag. They say they are roast to order so will see how long it takes to receive and how nice what I ordered is.

Ok so ordered Sunday, they were dispatched Wednesday and delivered today. Came in a pretty big box, plenty of shredded paper for protection. Packet is stamped as roasted on the 21st. See pics attached. I'd say it will be tmo, maybe Friday before I get tasting.

shanec1928

Merrick Gorgeous Gynecologist wrote: »

Cant see why you'd want green beans but not everything in life is simple :rolleyes:

fresh roasted beans are lovely

Effects

milhous wrote: »

Came in a pretty big box, plenty of shredded paper for protection.

Got forbid they might get damaged ahead of grinding them. :pac:

Bawnmore

milhous wrote: »

Ok so ordered Sunday, they were dispatched Wednesday and delivered today. Came in a pretty big box, plenty of shredded paper for protection. Packet is stamped as roasted on the 21st. See pics attached. I'd say it will be tmo, maybe Friday before I get tasting.

How are these going? Payday this week so might treat myself to some beans I haven't tried.