Question for the coffee aficionados

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mathepac

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OutIn Claro Coffee Scale

Modern round design Outin Claro scale. Protects splashes and excessive heat. Enjoy hassle-free brewing with 0.1g accuracy.Espresso with coffee beans beside it.
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This flashed through my Facebook ad feeds for a "from the bean" portable coffee grinding system.

I like my coffee although I'm not an aficianado. I use the Tassimo Columbian capsules for preference which have recently shot up in price to >€7 for 16 capsules locally. I sometimes buy the pre-ground Columbian coffee from LIDL/ALDI and use my press cafetiere or filter machine for a change.

Last week I had a few days away and had the luxury of a Nespresso coffee machine in my room. The coffee it produced was substantially better than what was served at breakfast. Machine was [EDIT] something like this one but with 3 cup sizes and the option to produce boiling water for making tea,

Is "from the bean coffee" substantially better in taste than any of the systems I've used and does the extra work justify the improvement if any?
 
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I've totally given up on Nespresso, as I find it overpriced junk.

For perspective, I find most hotel breakfast coffee terrible too. For some odd reason, coffee in B&Bs tends to be much nicer.

I find cafetiere coffee hard to beat
 
Personally I think grinding your own coffee is only worth doing if you buy high quality beans. If you’re buying stuff from supermarkets it’s generally over roasted and I’d say you’ll feel Nespresso or Lavazza capsules taste as good or better.

The problem with buying good beans is that your €7 for 16 cups might start to look like a steal!
 
I had given up on Nespresso because of the cost. Did use a classic coffee machine for a good few year. I have now started using Lidl capsules with a Nespresso machine and find it good. But I tried a few capsules from other shops that I don't like.
 
mathepac said:
had the luxury of a Nespresso coffee machine in my room
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Household bought one of the Nespresso models about 18months ago and we find it fantastic. Really enjoy the coffee from it and there is a wide selection of coffee pods, some better than others. I prefer strong coffee, and there are quite a few options for such. I'm not a big coffee drinker ( 2 per day most of the time), but I do want to enjoy those cups. There is no comparison in the quality / taste with coffee offerred in the coffee shops - nespresso is far , far better.

One thing I do have a gripe about is the cleaning of the nespresso machine, in relation to descaling it - it's worked through the app and it can be "problematic" at times - I've lost hours trying to get it to work. Also, I don't use tap water (hard water area), so just bottle water in the machine.

Also have the option of recycling the pods, via a collection service (free of charge as far as I am aware) - so we usually order a number of the bags with the coffee pod order, and when the bags are filled, just arrange a collection date for those.

If / when this gives up the ghost, I'll be ordering the latest model of it.
 
Competitive prices - and a wide range of flavours - for Tassimo, Nespresso, Lavazza and various other makes of capsule can be found here:

Kaffekapslen.ie | Buy coffee, coffee pods, and capsules - easily and at a fair price

Your one-stop shop for coffee since 2011. Explore our large, budget-friendly selection and find all your favourites in one place - all from the comfort of your home.
www.kaffekapslen.ie www.kaffekapslen.ie

Free delivery too, by An Post, if you're willing to lash out €59 or more.
 
Unless you want milk-based drinks, the best option is to get a good quality drip system. I use this one: https://cloudpickercoffee.ie/products/moccamaster-kgb-select

Pair that with a good grinder, I use this one: https://cloudpickercoffee.ie/products/wilfa-classic-aroma-grinder

Then you can sample beans from various good quality roasters around Ireland. I mainly use Full Circle, Carrow, Calendar and New Kid. Kenyan beans have been magnificent for the past couple of years, they're my go-to.

Yeah the initial outlay is expensive, but it is for any good quality system. The links above may not be the cheapest, so shop around.
 
Once the beans are ground the oils within start to evaporate and those oils contribute a lot to flavour and the texture/ viscosity. How much of an issue that will be to anyone will be down to the sensitivity of their palate and personal preference. I've never found the capsule coffees to pack enough flavour, they often only contain 5-6g where the pros will tell you you need 7-9g for a single shot.

I like gadgets but weighing the beans is a step too far for me, my sense of taste isn't so sensitive that I would notice a gram either way.
 
Very much not a coffee aficionado but I do like my coffee and have in the past drunk it by the gallon each and every day
Nowadays I only drink one type, black and usually just one cup with my breakfast although that cup is 20 fl oz
I don't drink instant anymore so I use a Russell Hobbs Bean to cup brewer with Lidl's Bellarom ground coffee
and to make sure I get the same cup each and every day I weigh the coffee and measure the water
Obviously for some this wouldn't make the cut but for me it makes a relatively decent and cheap cup of coffee
 
A lot depends on what type of coffee you like and quantity.

We have a Kitchen Aid drip coffee machine that takes ground coffee. Use Melitta paper filter so easy to dispose of the used grounds.
You can time it so the coffee is ready when you get up \ back from a morning walk.
It has a 30 minute keep warm setting so especially if you drink coffee black can get a lot of cups out of it.
Also, immediately after it has brewed I fill a flask so that will stay warm longer.

It also has a mode for single cup brewing.

I had started out with Illy ground coffee, still have the tin which I transfer open coffee bag contents into.
Now gravitate more to lighter blends eg Bewleys Gold Cafe Blend or Colombian coffee from LIDL.
I have a little measuring cup \ scoop so I've an idea of how much coffee I'm putting in.

I would say this gives you the most decent coffee for minimum effort\time and expenditure. The pot is just sitting there.

I descale it about once a month with white wine vinegar (stinks!), it has a special cleaning mode and give the 'carafe' etc a proper cleaning.
 
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Jazz01 said:
One thing I do have a gripe about is the cleaning of the nespresso machine, in relation to descaling it - it's worked through the app and it can be "problematic" at times - I've lost hours trying to get it to work. Also, I don't use tap water (hard water area), so just bottle water in the machine.
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That's a problem I've had with the Tassimo machines as I'm in a very hard water area. The machines were clogging up even with aggressive cleaning and descaling schedules with the proprietary tablets and strong white vinegar based water mixtures - no app for these low-end machines. They sat there blinking red lights at me and refusing to do anything else.

That was until I rescued the old Brita jug from the back of the press and found these:

IMG_2911_1.jpg
No extra spend, no extra plastic bottles to dispose of, longer lasting coffee machine, and better tasting coffee.

The issue now is if I switch to the cafetiere or filter machine, heating water in the old crusty kettle, will I lose the benefit of the cheap filtered water?
 
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mathepac said:
The issue now is if I switch to the cafetiere or filter machine, heating water in the old crusty kettle, will I lose the benefit of the cheap filtered water?
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You can fill the carafe in the filter machine from the Brita filtered water, it heats it up when brewing, no need for kettle.
 
Bought a delonghi ‘bean to cup’ style machine some years ago and would highly recommend it.

All of the benefits of freshly grounded coffee with the press of a button. No messing around with levers, handles etc. Just keep topped up with water and beans.
 
Zenith63 said:
FWIW I did a coffee making course with 3fe years ago, 5-6g/100ml is what they recommended too. That’s for cafetière anyway, not sure for espresso.
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For those of us without precise weighing scales/equipment, what is 6g/100ml in old fashioned teaspoon measurements? Let's say a mug is ~300ml, so 18g recommended, is one heaped teaspoon about right?
 
Ceist Beag said:
Let's say a mug is ~300ml, so 18g recommended, is one heaped teaspoon about right?
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Just measured for you, 6 heaped teaspoons is 18g. That is coarse ground coffee which you use for a cafetière, if you’ve bought pre ground beans in a shop they’re likely finely ground for making espresso, so you may only want 3-4 heaped teaspoons as it is denser and will brew much stronger in a cafetière.

FWIW 3fe would say you add this to the cafetière with your boiling water for 4m:30s then stir and leave for another 4m:30s before plunging.
 
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