Another coffee machine thread!

ThePrettyDamned

thermionic said:

Did I mention I bought a new machine a few months ago? My trusty Gaggia Classic was on its last legs after many years of daily use, so I got myself a Rocket Giotto Evoluzione R. Fantastic machine.

https://i.imgur.com/93qGFif.jpg

Wow, colour me jealous! Lovely machine, and a nice upgrade. Happy New machine day! 

Kittyfrisk

Impressive. The last time I saw anything like that a bloke was using it to drive a steam train.

Johnnyseven

viz said:

I don’t like strong coffee, it tastes like over-compressed digital music, so we just have an old bean grinder and a plastic tea strainer; put a spoonful of grounds into the strainer, strainer rests in the mug, hot water poured in, it makes a delicious cup of fresh coffee. Rinse the strainer, pour some fresh cream into the cup, yum. 

I just bought a Kalita Wave which essentially a slightly more fancy version of your method. It's a cup top filter coffee thingy. Coffee from it tastes great to me!

notanon

I bought a £30 Dolce gusto, felt environmentally guilty about the pods so bought some reusable pods and cheap grinder.

My wife is very very fussy about coffee and I'm now the same since ditching milk and sugar. I use 2 pods of Starbucks espresso beans in a lungo with Aldi Columbian beans. All other coffee now tastes like it needs milk and sugar. I only have one in the morning and possibly one in the evening, more than that could be an issue but absolutely gorgeous coffee.

A £500 guitar, fine, given the the need to check quality. £500 for a coffee machine, erm, . . . not for me thanks.
The pods are a faff, if the £500 machine streamlined the process and had a lifetime warranty, maybe.

Nice coffee is a Godsend.

sev112

I have tasted loads of different coffees from all the chains, from independents, from people at work with the little metal moka things, and fri new with big machines, and organic coffee put into caffetiere and I don’t think I have ever enjoyed any of them to the detriment of most of the others.  It is after all flavoured hot water,   I buy 99p filter coffee from pret , which seems a not unreasonable price for a big cup of flavoured hot water. 

Roland

ThePrettyDamned said:

... I hate nespresso machines on principle - delivering sub-par espresso-like drinks with a disposable machine ... 

yes, the coffee is nothing special: cheap beans which have been ground months ago, albeit sealed in a plastic container. The cheap machines irritate me too. More landfill 

dano

thermionic said:

Did I mention I bought a new machine a few months ago? My trusty Gaggia Classic was on its last legs after many years of daily use, so I got myself a Rocket Giotto Evoluzione R. Fantastic machine.

https://i.imgur.com/93qGFif.jpg

Thats an awesome looking machine ! How does it compare with the Gaggia ? My Classic is coming up for 20yrs old and is getting quite sick now ...

thermionic

Totally different league. There seems to be a few manufacturers making similar machines from similar parts (the classic E61 group head for example), and I suspect they're almost all based on the same industrial estate in the outskirts of Milan.

Mine is a heat-exchanger machine, meaning that you can heat water for espresso at the same time as steaming milk. Better than a single-boiler type, but not as expensive as a dual-boiler. The R represents a rotary pump (as opposed to the cheaper vibrating pumps) and can therefore be plumbed in to a water supply - although I'm just running it with filtered water in the reservoir.

fields5069

sev112 said:

I have tasted loads of different coffees from all the chains, from independents, from people at work with the little metal moka things, and fri new with big machines, and organic coffee put into caffetiere and I don’t think I have ever enjoyed any of them to the detriment of most of the others.  It is after all flavoured hot water,   I buy 99p filter coffee from pret , which seems a not unreasonable price for a big cup of flavoured hot water. 

I couldn't say the same.

I could live without most of the chains, I would agree that they're not worth the money, but I've had very good coffee from some Coffee #1 branches. The best I've had is from The Plan in Cardiff, though that does, or did, have a very good barista there during the week. He won Best Espresso at the UK Barista competition one year.

fields5069

thermionic said:

Did I mention I bought a new machine a few months ago? My trusty Gaggia Classic was on its last legs after many years of daily use, so I got myself a Rocket Giotto Evoluzione R. Fantastic machine.

https://i.imgur.com/93qGFif.jpg

Nice!

The Rancilio Silvia I had suffered from a cheap thermostat, in fact PID kits are all over eBay. As long as you warmed the machine up for 30 minutes or so, and counted the seconds after the boiler light went out, then the temperature was OK. I made some stellar shots with it, but also some dross.

sev112

fields5069 said:

sev112 said:

I have tasted loads of different coffees from all the chains, from independents, from people at work with the little metal moka things, and fri new with big machines, and organic coffee put into caffetiere and I don’t think I have ever enjoyed any of them to the detriment of most of the others.  It is after all flavoured hot water,   I buy 99p filter coffee from pret , which seems a not unreasonable price for a big cup of flavoured hot water. 

I couldn't say the same.

I could live without most of the chains, I would agree that they're not worth the money, but I've had very good coffee from some Coffee #1 branches. The best I've had is from The Plan in Cardiff, though that does, or did, have a very good barista there during the week. He won Best Espresso at the UK Barista competition one year.

We have a coffee#1 near us - i’ll Give it a go

EricTheWeary

sev112 said:

fields5069 said:

sev112 said:

I have tasted loads of different coffees from all the chains, from independents, from people at work with the little metal moka things, and fri new with big machines, and organic coffee put intolerance caffetiere and I don’t think I have ever enjoyed any of them to the detriment of most of the others.  It is after all flavoured hot water,   I buy 99p filter coffee from pret , which seems a not unreasonable price for a big cup of flavoured hot water. 

I couldn't say the same.

I could live without most of the chains, I would agree that they're not worth the money, but I've had very good coffee from some Coffee #1 branches. The best I've had is from The Plan in Cardiff, though that does, or did, have a very good barista there during the week. He won Best Espresso at the UK Barista competition one year.

We have a coffee#1 near us - i’ll Give it a go

Out of the chains I'd say Coffee#1 and I can sneak in a Welsh cake as well. 
Not one near where I live but there's one on the patch at work so I've occasionally made it in. 

thermionic

fields5069 said:

thermionic said:

Did I mention I bought a new machine a few months ago? My trusty Gaggia Classic was on its last legs after many years of daily use, so I got myself a Rocket Giotto Evoluzione R. Fantastic machine.

https://i.imgur.com/93qGFif.jpg

Nice!

The Rancilio Silvia I had suffered from a cheap thermostat, in fact PID kits are all over eBay. As long as you warmed the machine up for 30 minutes or so, and counted the seconds after the boiler light went out, then the temperature was OK. I made some stellar shots with it, but also some dross.

There’s a PID in the Giotto, hidden behind the drip tray. Takes one variable out of the equation. Some argue that putting a PID in a heat exchanger machine is pointless though.