Yup. For now, it's all about the manual for me. I'm actually considering either a Silvia or Gaggia if I was ever forced to go semi. Whichever is the most available is fine by me. I'm pretty good at improvising. ;)
Enkerli Said:
Have you tried the Presso? Again, a friend swears by it. In fact, he lent me one. But it seems to be leaking. Sounds like there are problems like these with many of them but, when they work, they can produce something really good. Especially if you have a good kettle. (I have a Pino kettle, that I use for “steep-and-release pour-over drip” as well as for gaiwan tea…) Not sure how easy it is to get the Presso. But it's unexpensive and very hands-on. Somewhat more portable than an electric machine, too.
Oh man. I could've sworn I've seen that thing before but I forgot if it was from a store window or google images.
Anyway. When it comes to portable brewers, I'm considering the Brikka, Mypressi Twist, or that Presso thing. Mypressi could've been a top contender because of shot quality if only I didn't have to constantly buy spare cartridges for it. Plus, I don't know any store here that sells it. Like I mentioned, I've already forgotten where I've seen that Presso before so I really wouldn't know where to look. So yeah, Brikka is still at the top of the list.
Enkerli Said:
As for the Maison machine, do keep us posted. Are you able to pull 20s shots?
Haha. Actually, I'm still waiting for the stocks of Hario Slim to arrive at the local store. In fact, I haven't touched that Maison yet ever since that day they asked me how to use it. I'll do the fun stuff once I finally get a grinder.
Jaulk Senior Member Joined: 23 Apr 2011 Posts: 28 Location: NJ Expertise: Just starting
Posted Sun Jul 3, 2011, 11:15pm Subject: Re: Confessions of a Brikka Lover
After having my Moka Express malfunction on me (leaking water/steam?) yesterday and burning my hand on it, I was almost ready to swear off it for good. When those things mess up your morning coffee you want to break walls.
But of course I came back and tried again today. My method seems to be working for the most part- first I put cold filtered water in the bottom chamber and preheat on the highest gas heat while I grind the coffee. I time it for 4 minutes, then turn the heat off, prepare the coffee in the basket and screw on the top tightly, put it on medium high for an additional 2 minutes, then bring it down to low heat for the remainder. I take it off as soon as it starts rapidly flowing out (gurgling). I get a more complex, flavorful coffee with almost no bitterness. Much more smooth then my old method of medium high until coffee started flowing out, then turning it down.
I'm going to try and tweak it a little more. I might run it 4 on high, screw everything on, medium high for only 1 minute, then low. The only reason for the preheating on high is to get the water going, more or less. I'm trying to get the whole process down to about 10 or 11 minutes without sacrificing taste. So far my method seems good, but like I said, always room for tweaking. We'll see.
frankthecrank Senior Member Joined: 22 Sep 2010 Posts: 102 Location: niagara falls, ny Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Mon Jul 4, 2011, 6:04am Subject: Re: Confessions of a Brikka Lover
Jaulk Said:
After having my Moka Express malfunction on me (leaking water/steam?) yesterday and burning my hand on it, I was almost ready to swear off it for good. When those things mess up your morning coffee you want to break walls.
But of course I came back and tried again today. My method seems to be working for the most part- first I put cold filtered water in the bottom chamber and preheat on the highest gas heat while I grind the coffee. I time it for 4 minutes, then turn the heat off, prepare the coffee in the basket and screw on the top tightly, put it on medium high for an additional 2 minutes, then bring it down to low heat for the remainder. I take it off as soon as it starts rapidly flowing out (gurgling). I get a more complex, flavorful coffee with almost no bitterness. Much more smooth then my old method of medium high until coffee started flowing out, then turning it down.
I'm going to try and tweak it a little more. I might run it 4 on high, screw everything on, medium high for only 1 minute, then low. The only reason for the preheating on high is to get the water going, more or less. I'm trying to get the whole process down to about 10 or 11 minutes without sacrificing taste. So far my method seems good, but like I said, always room for tweaking. We'll see.
Jaulk Senior Member Joined: 23 Apr 2011 Posts: 28 Location: NJ Expertise: Just starting
Posted Wed Jul 6, 2011, 12:40pm Subject: Re: Confessions of a Brikka Lover
Popping back in with another quick question.
I noticed today while cleaning my filter basket that one of the edges is very slightly bent inward. When placed inside the bottom chamber, there is a couple of millimeters of space between the basket edge and the bottom chamber opening, meaning it isn't completely closed off by the basket. I really haven't noticed any problems, but could this cause leaking at the midway point or long brew times?
Good to know. Only tried it a few times and I didn‘t notice any improvement in taste. As it's considerably more complicated and, as is being exemplified, more dangerous than the normal method, I'm unlikely to use it. Glad it works for others, though.
Enkerli Senior Member Joined: 1 Aug 2004 Posts: 711 Location: Montreal, Qc Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: (At cafés, not at home) Grinder: Hario hand grinders Vac Pot: (Moka Pot) Bialetti Brikka Drip: Steep and release pour-over Roaster: iRoast-2
Posted Wed Jul 6, 2011, 8:07pm Subject: Re: Confessions of a Brikka Lover
Jaulk Said:
When placed inside the bottom chamber, there is a couple of millimeters of space between the basket edge and the bottom chamber opening, meaning it isn't completely closed off by the basket.
Not completely sure what you mean, but I think I have the same thing on my Moka Express. It doesn't sound like it can really impact anything as it doesn't affect the seal between the two chambers. Maybe it causes some pressurized water to push on the rubber gasket, but that's unlikely to have any effect, right? Usually, problems are rather easy to notice, with moka pots. If you don't get any noticeable issue, it's probably not a problem.
Jaulk Senior Member Joined: 23 Apr 2011 Posts: 28 Location: NJ Expertise: Just starting
Posted Wed Jul 6, 2011, 8:14pm Subject: Re: Confessions of a Brikka Lover
Not to be redundant, but what is the "normal" way, as I've heard many conflicting reports of the norm...
I've heard
-keep on high flame until it starts coming out, then immediately turn down low
-keep on a medium flame until it starts coming out, then go low
-start on the lowest setting and keep it there (which I've tried, would probably take close to a half hour...)
The problem for me, and it could just be my pot, is that without some sort of "push" in the beginning or when the coffee is ready to come out, it just bubbles up and sits at the opening of the spout, not really going anywhere. Then I have to flip it on high for about 1-2 seconds, and that sort of pushes the coffee out, it begins flowing, and I can turn it back to low. The isn't as much of a problem with cheaper coffees from the super market, perhaps it has something to do with fresh coffee.
And if I don't have some kind of high heat, either with or without the coffee screwed on, like I said, it'd take an unrealistic amount of time. I'm willing to wait to take 11 or 12 minutes to make a pot, but anything more and it's getting ridiculous.
Somewhat unfortunately, there isn't a norm in terms of heat level. What I meant by normal was about screwing on the top part before putting the pot on the stove. Preheating the water (separately or in the bottom part) is non-standard in the sense that it's meant as a way to prevent a perceived problem with the normal method.
The “normal” method does require a bit of experimentation but, in my experience, there's usually a sweet spot in a given setup (more specifically: with a given stove) where the heat is high enough to create pressure in a reasonable amount of time and low enough not to affect the coffee itself. With such a setting, I'm able to take the pot off the heat while coffee is flowing. There are occasions when doing so stops the flow but I then put it back on the stove for a few seconds and get an extraction level that I find appropriate.
What you say about fresh coffee makes sense, from my very fragmentary understanding of chemistry and physics. Fresh coffee produces “bloom” and it would make sense that bloom has an influence on flow. Funny that I never realized this. Maybe because I don't tend to switch between fresh and old coffee, very often. But it's also the case that I don't really get problems with coffee not flowing out, even with coffee that is fresh off the roaster.
So, in your case, it sounds like you might need to use slightly higher heat. On an electric stove with 10 levels, a setting of 7 is usually fine in my case, but YMMV. On a gas stove, it really depends on the width of the flame and I've had good experiences with lowest flame as long as it covered enough surface. Then again, other things may come into play such as the density of the grounds (how much water pressure do you need to get through the basket) and even barometric pressure (hey, you never know). Haven't ever been very scientific about any of this, which might be an issue. But it actually seems to me like it's easier to tweak your method by free experimentation instead of relying on precise control of individual factors.
Posted Thu Jul 7, 2011, 7:21am Subject: Re: Confessions of a Brikka Lover
I just got a bag of Kenyan beans fresh from the local roaster and started brewing a batch immediately. For all the bad things I'm gonna say about the Maison later, one good thing about it is that it's a good benchmark on what grind size I can use on my moka pot (that's 1-2 clicks coarser from a proper espresso extraction). Another thing I did was measure out the basket. My 4cup pot that can dispense 3 double shots (remember, folks. There will always be an ounce or two of water left in the boiler after brewing) can handle 20 grams.
For the method:
- I pour preheated water on the boiler. - Put the 20 grams of medium fine ground on the basket, giving it light tamps to fit them all in. - Start brewing.
I can't say that everything went smoothly though. The first two cups poured out as pure crema but the last cup clearly had a hard time getting out. Oddly enough, the outcome didn't taste overextracted. In fact, it was bloody awesome. The citrus notes of the Kenyan were very pronounced without any hint of excessive bitterness. All of these made me conclude that I might not have created enough steam pressure to last throughout the brewing process. This was duly noted and, on my next brew, I plan to do the switch from medium to low heat at a slightly later time rather than immediately after the first drop. This should create a proper steam pressure buildup that can last throughout the process while I'm slowly reducing heat by lifting the pot.
Enkerli Said:
As for the Maison machine, do keep us posted. Are you able to pull 20s shots?
No, I'm not lying. There really are a lot of bad things I want to say about this thing. It's a complete PITA to use. First and foremost: The baskets. The largest one it has can barely hold 5 grams which makes pulling shots WAY harder than they need to be. The interior ridge is also so uncomfortably close to the dispersion screen that going half a millimeter over the edge and you're already hitting the dispersion screen and ruining your distribution. The worst part is that the tamper can only reach the very edge of the ridge making it almost entirely pointless to use because when you can actually tamp the grounds, that simply means that you've already put too much in the basket. I actually get better results by just using a teaspoon to do my distribution and tamping. The portafilter itself is just alright. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't lock onto the basket which makes knocking out the puck pretty difficult. Speaking of the puck, it's an absolutely muddy mess. That's completely understandable though since the machine doesn't have a 3-way solenoid valve. It makes cleaning a pain though.
As for the machine itself, there's always a need to flush out steam before shots even when you're just warming it up after starting. The steam wand has a single-hole spout and is surprisingly competent at frothing. I don't even know why they included a rubber frother with it. The wand itself does just fine. Fortunately, the frother is easily detachable so I took it off immediately. There's a warming plate on top. The water tank can hold quite a bit. The drip tray is easy to remove but can probably handle 2-3 shots at most. However, I always take it to the sink after each shot. It's just something I do along the way when I clean the basket (Yes, the basket is so hard to clean that taking a trip to the sink after every shot is an absolute requirement). The frame is built from stainless steel so I guess that's another positive thing about it.
What else....I guess that's about it. The machine is meh but fine enough for the very cheap price. Honestly, the baskets and plastic tamper are mostly the source of the pains. As for the shots, there was 1 out of 10 I did that actually tasted pretty good and was way better than anything I've ever had in our cafes. In fact, that shot was probably the moment I realized that an espresso can actually taste sweeter and hardly bitter. So yeah! My first Godshot came from my efforts at Forrest Gumping a super budget machine. That's probably the most awesome as well as the most depressing thing I can write on the history books.
So that's my experience with the Maison Espresso Machine. This event happened last week after buying my first ever bag of Colombian whole beans. Since I just bought a fresh bag of Kenyan today, I'll be doing all of these again tomorrow (it's already evening at the time of posting this).
All bad things considered, I still look forward to my concentrated shot of Chocolate Lime Juice. :)
I once mentioned before about my future investment in an Espresso machine. Sadly, it looks like La Pavonis and Rancilios are non-existent here. However, Gaggia apparently distributes their Baby Class machines here so I guess I finally found my proper introduction to Espresso. My local roaster also sells backflush/descaling solutions so I'm guessing that I'll probably get atleast a 4 year usage out of the Gaggia. That should be enough time to save up for an E61/Heat-Exchanger upgrade.
This country is so weird about coffee culture. There's absolutely no middle-ground between Entry Level and Prosumer Machines. It's like you're either a cheapskate or a complete geek. :/
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 