 Poster: A snowHead
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| Mr Blue Sky wrote: |
| DrLawn wrote: |
I've been a tradionalist and always made the espresso in those little pots that hiss and bubble on the gas ring for 8 minutes.
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Although sometimes referred to as an 'espresso stovetop' (or similar) the device that you describe is actually a 'moka pot' and what is produced isn't technically speaking espresso. |
It works by forcing hot water under pressure through the coffee grounds, which, technically speaking, is the actual definition of espresso.
FWIW we have a number of small Nespresso machines in our apartments, all of them just work, very simple, very easy, much of a muchness. We also have, as a backup, a Dolce Gusto one that was in the house when we bought it. That one is never used, the quality of the end result was just not up there, even compared with Nespresso.
For ourselves we have (and have had for some years) bean-to-cup machines, currently an inherited top-of-the-range DeLonghi with a raft of extra containers and stuff which we have never used, in one house, and a relatively cheap (chf300 or so) one, also a DeLonghi, in our ski apartment.
I will never go back to any form of capsule or pod. Even the ones that are the same brand as we use (Chicco d'Oro) just don't taste half as good as freshly-ground proper espresso.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Chaletbeauroc wrote: |
It works by forcing hot water under pressure through the coffee grounds, which, technically speaking, is the actual definition of espresso.
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Notwithstanding the etymology of the word, many in the coffee world would disagree. The standard pressure considered necessary to get the proper extraction for a true Italian or French cafe style espresso has generally been considered to be 9 bars of pressure (although some baristas question whether it needs to be quite so much). A moka pot however will generally only produce about 1.5 bars of pressure resulting in a very different extraction and product from what would considered to be an espresso in terms of what one expects to get when ordering in a decent coffee shop or continental cafe. Moka produced coffee is certainly something I enjoy and I am not saying it is inferior or superior to espresso but it is certainly different. It can still rightly be called 'Moka Express' / 'Moka Espresso' or 'StoveTop Espresso' etc... but it is not a classic / traditional plain 'espresso'.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Mon 4-11-24 16:05; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Chaletbeauroc, & @Mr Blue Sky, My head is now spinning with this coffee stuff.
Too much caffeine, I think.
I hope I've not started a coffee war ..
I want to thank you all for your contributions ...
I noticed there was a similar thread to this a couple of years ago, and we are still getting milage out of it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Mr Blue Sky, that wasn't Dr Lawn, it was @Chaletbeauroc, who makes a strong case for freshly ground coffee. I wonder how much difference this makes, as opposed to the type of machine used.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Origen wrote: |
| @Mr Blue Sky, that wasn't Dr Lawn, it was @Chaletbeauroc, who makes a strong case for freshly ground coffee. I wonder how much difference this makes, as opposed to the type of machine used. |
Corrected now 
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I think I'll go and make a cup of tea now 
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I have used the Lavazza capsule machines they work perfectly well. The capsules are not as easy to find as Nespresso. Waitrose used to sell them in the UK. Easy to find in Italy, where the Coop sell their own brand capsules to fit Lavazza machines. You can get the best Lavazza coffee Qualità Oro as capsules but not sure if in UK. I now have a Gaggia Brera machine which works well (keep the old capsule machine to take on holiday etc), choose whatever beans you fancy. Cost is not that much considering (if you use it a lot the cost of buying soon covers itself versus the cost of capsules and better for the environment) I guess around £300. Not as nice as a Jura though.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Mr Blue Sky, agreed, V60 is a fantastic way of making proper coffee simply and (relatively) cheaply.
I had a Gaggia Classic for a couple of years with a Mazzer Mini grinder. Drove me mad - it would take three or four wasted cups for each new bag of beans to dial in the grind setting, and then the machine's temp fluctuation meant probably 3 or 4 out of ten cups were cafe-equivalent, another 5 or 6 were passable and at least one was undrinkable. There's a reason people train to be baristas 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| narbs wrote: |
| ... Drove me mad - it would take three or four wasted cups for each new bag of beans to dial in the grind setting, and then the machine's temp fluctuation meant probably 3 or 4 out of ten cups were cafe-equivalent, another 5 or 6 were passable and at least one was undrinkable. There's a reason people train to be baristas |
Yeah... there's no getting around that. Roasteries seem to be fairly consistent batch to batch though - modern roasters have sophisticated control systems. And then I tend not to change beans that often, plus I have a little list of the settings for each bean taped to the side of my grinder.
There's a reason commercial machines are big lumps of iron which they leave switched on all day.
Decent machines have an alternative approach which I think is a game changer, but not relevant here and you still have to dial them in.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Siemens EQ6.
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FAQ
Type of coffee used, how freshly ground and the degree to which it is ground will definitely impact the outcome. Depending on how deep you want to go, James Hoffman (a complete coffee nerd whose videos can be somewhat of an acquired 'taste') has not just a youtube video about it but a mini youtube series! 
