adkm1979 wrote:

The popular face of drug addiction.

Heh, I fucking love coffee but I've not made a pot since last week. I never got this addiction to it that other people seem to get.

I won't stoop to drinking the machine based stuff that pretends it is coffee at work though, rather have a nice instant.

We aren't allowed kettles here, gosh knows why.

Getting a flask at the weekend to bring in stuff.

I work for bastards then, pure and simple.

@Turtle: If the grind is fine enough and you tamp it down slightly (ignore the instruction manual), you should get some crema, nothing like an espresso machine though.

When you do decide to get an espresso machine I can recommend both the De'Longhi EC330S, and the Gagia Cubica Plus, as fine entry level machines.

The De'Longhi has quite a cheap looking plastic body, and rattles a lot when the pump's in action, but the espresso it produces more than makes up for this. Lots of lovely crema. I had mine about four years before the pump died, it really should have lasted longer.

The Gagia is what I'm using now, and it's a belter. The whole thing is made to a much higher quality that the De'Longhi, and while the pump is still noisy, the sturdy metal body stops any vibration. The coffee is superb.

Oh, and again, make sure the grind is fine enough for an espresso machine, otherwise you won't get that sweet crema, and you'll just be making expensive filter coffee.

Heh, that must have been too heavily tamped. Just try compressing the coffee slightly, it'll take a bit of practice but it works.

An espresso machine would be better though .

I leave my stove top to fully cool before I remove the coffee holder for cleaning, the coffee goes hard and comes out in one go with a good whack, or you could just stick the holder under the tap. Remember, just rinse to clean, no washing up liquid.

Mocha from Starbucks in Bristol. They did not ask my name.

Bristol is winning

g.man

Fixed.

Hahahaha

gold

g.man

stormyskiesahead wrote:

Heh, that must have been too heavily tamped. Just try compressing the coffee slightly, it'll take a bit of practice but it works. An espresso machine would be better though .

Right, clear something else up for me. For this crema-oozing tamped method to work in a stove top, I'm assuming that the coffee has to be level with the top of the holder thingy after you tamp it down, so there is no air gap when you screw it together? I'd imagine that tamping does does nothing if the holder is half full of coffee as the pressure would just lift up the tamped coffee and loosten it all as the steam came through, thus creating no "extra" pressure to get the crema out?

If that's the case, you'd have to make a seriously strong cup each time or make it for two people. I have the smallest Bialetti stove top you can get, but absolutely packed in, it would do 2 strong cups.

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

Even in the succession of shitty jobs that I've had in the past, I've always had access to a kettle and some free and vaguely palatable instant coffee, if nothing else.  Machine coffee (especially in workplaces) is almost invariably rank though, unless you're high enough up the food chain to have access to one of those poncy fresh-coffee-dispensing machines.

Our Pro VC has a sweet espresso machine in his office. We've been known to abuse our access to it when he's not around...

Every so often the internet creeps in here.

@Turtle: The coffee doesn't have to be level with the top of the basket, just put the same amount in as usual and gently tamp. You'll get some crema, but I stress, it'll be nothing like the quantity or quality you get from an espresso machine.

So buy an espresso machine

I'm sure it will come off looking like a Norsca ad or something.

The grinder. It's a little on the large side. I might find a new top bit for it, because really, when am I gonna fill that at home? Was having trouble getting the grind fine enough the other day, and then today I just twisted once and boom. Espresso machine next on the list.