Posted Sat May 19, 2012, 12:52am Subject: Re: Attn: everybody coming in to Demitasse on Sunday, May 20
i'm planning on coming out with my gf.
any interest in me bringing my cheapie modified saeco via venezia? i have the naked portafilter and just hooked up a dimmer switch for pressure profiling. I've been playing with it all night and it's been really really fun.
Posted Sat May 19, 2012, 9:41am Subject: Re: Attn: everybody coming in to Demitasse on Sunday, May 20
frank828 Said:
i'm planning on coming out with my gf.
any interest in me bringing my cheapie modified saeco via venezia? i have the naked portafilter and just hooked up a dimmer switch for pressure profiling. I've been playing with it all night and it's been really really fun.
There are a couple of people brining a +1 so to speak, which is great! I would really like to mess with your modded Venezia, I've been thinking of buying a used one for exactly that purpose. I'm think we currently have more gear than the circuit at Demitasse can handle, so if you do bring it please be prepared to not use it or only use it a bit. I'm not sure what people are going to be most interested in.
Would it be interesting to do some sort of budget gear charrette? Maybe "$500 Espresso" thing with machines and grinders that can be paired to fit in that budget? Might be a nice opportunity to show off some mods.
LACoffeeClub Senior Member Joined: 22 Apr 2012 Posts: 8 Location: Los Angeles, CA Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sun May 20, 2012, 12:44pm Subject: Re: LA Home Coffee Meet-up, AKA a " coffee charrette"
SO MUCH FUN!
We had, yes we did! Want to put a big thanks out to Russel & Cafe Demitasse as well as CoffeeGeek.com and everybody that showed up this morning! It was awesome meeting you all, and after 7 shots - Antone can't stop dancing, I'm gonna start calling him Kaldi! For those who could not attend, you really did miss out - We brought beans from Groundwork - the Angel City Blend.
I think I counted at least 3 different home espresso machines that were brought in, and at least 4 or 5 grinders. Lots of really intelligent coffee conversations were had and we learned so much!
Posted Sun May 20, 2012, 1:15pm Subject: Re: LA Home Coffee Meet-up, AKA a " coffee charrette"
Very enjoyable morning. Ty Cafe Demitasse, LACoffeeClub, Russel, Wayne and everyone who brought in espresso grinders and machines for show and tell. It was a great opportunity to learn and a chance to pull shots on a variety of machines. We very much enjoyed meeting some of the Coffeegeek members in person.
Posted Sun May 20, 2012, 4:18pm Subject: Re: LA Home Coffee Meet-up, AKA a " coffee charrette"
What a gas! Great people, great coffee, great time. Plus, Demitasse is a very cool little cafe. I had a cappa while waiting for all the machines to warm up and Jack built a sweet one on a really nice shot of the single origin Columbian (I think he said Colombian, at least) they were doing for espresso. Also went home with a couple of their house mugs, which are quite a nice design, and a 12 ox. bag of the Ethiopian Sidama Ardi they had, just because the beans smelled absolutely amazing. It was great to meet everybody, Russell, Ryan, Adam, Antone, Wayne, Cammie, and the folks whose names I didn't get firmly ensconced in my brain. Wayne's got his technique on the ECM down to a science, and it showed in the shot quality. The other two shots I had were from Russell's Stradavari and Ryan's Ponte Vecchio Lusso (Yeah, I'm a lever kinda guy), and they did fine jobs likewise. The Stradavari shot was ground in the Pharos, and now I've got gear lust for a modern hand grinder to complement my collection of vintage German ones. Not to mention a renewed lust for a Lusso as a counterpoint to the Caravel. Probably should learn to do mile drinks one of these days, and you need a steam wand for that.
The Groundwork Angel City Blend was quite nice - a modern, American espresso with a lighter touch on the roast. I liked it enough that I'll have to pick up a bag and spend a little time getting to know it. The biggest downside of home roasting is that sometimes, I'm so concentrated on refining my own roasts that I forget to taste what other folks are doing. It's not good to get so isolated that you start to lose track of what's good out there. Besides it's always good to remind yourself of what targets there are to aim for.
Really looking forward to whatever and whenever the next one is. If you couldn't make this one, I strongly recommend doing whatever's necessary to make it to some future event. Well worth while, it was.
addendum: Susan, sorry your name didn't spring immediately to mind as I was writing this. After the meet-up,I went for a 27-mile bike ride and had a whole series of adventures involving headwinds, quadriceps cramping and a pretty spectacular rear tire blowout. Probably hurt my concentration.
pittsbri Senior Member Joined: 9 Apr 2009 Posts: 55 Location: Santa Monica Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Olympia Maximatic Grinder: Fiorenzato T80 Roaster: Poppery 2
Posted Sun May 20, 2012, 9:56pm Subject: Re: LA Home Coffee Meet-up, AKA a " coffee charrette"
I'm so sorry I missed the charette. I was looking forward to it but thought that the date would be in June. haven't looked at this thread In awhile. I apologize.....I was to bring a machine and so forth. oh well, was looking forward to meeting everyone. Next one then!!!'and I'll check the thread more frequently and get email notifications on thread posts.
Posted Sun May 20, 2012, 10:06pm Subject: Re: LA Home Coffee Meet-up, AKA a " coffee charrette"
Hi everyone.
The "Home Espresso" Charrette went very well today. I want to thank Cerridwyn for showing up bright and early. I want to thank Wayne and Ryan for bringing all of the gear that they did. I too was pleasantly surprised by the Groundworks' Angel City Blend that LA Coffee Club so kindly provided us. I haven't been very impressed with their regular espresso blend, but this one was much better. Demitasse was really great, and some unsuspecting customers got a bit of an coffee geek eye-full.
I'm starting to work on the next charrette and have lots of questions for those who came to this one and those who are interested in coming to a future one. First, I would love to know what anyone thinks can be done better. I have some obvious logistical improvements to make. The overall tone was casual, which is perfect for the first time. How geeky do you think you would like your charrette? I would like it geeky some of the time and to that end was thinking of having a slightly more focused and narrower topic. The following are some ideas:
"home roasting exchange" "brew methods (hot) and tasting" "brew methods (cold) and tasting" "espresso by the numbers (the time we measured everything)" "lever espresso" "espresso sans pumps and motors" "espresso under $500" "grinder shoot out: conical vs flat"
I'm looking into the 'home roasting exchange" right now. I would love any feedback or ideas concerning topic, venue, logistics, timing, frequency, and whatever else you've got.
Also, for future reference, there's parking in Demitasse's building, and on Sunday (and maybe Saturday) it's free/$3-$5.
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