Coffee thread

[Ginpopy]

I've been looking into making espresso at home and it's come down to either a La Pavoni lever machine or a 9barista. What I like about the 9barista is it's comparative simplicity and the availability/affordability of spares here, as it's produced in the UK. I'm also attracted to the idea of buying a used La Pavoni and renovating it along with any custom add ons I might want. Can I ask what grinder you use and what level you grind to? At the moment I use both a cafetiere and mokka pot, both ground fairly coarsley using a 1zpresso K-Max. That shot in your picture looks very good!

Edit. Forgot to ask how quick you can make back to back shots with the 9barista, if you do that.

Hello magirus. Total time on the clock this morning 6 minutes 14 seconds but I work in parallel. I set up the water for boiling before grinding the beans. I use the Comandante manual grinder set pretty fine grade. I clean the grinder with a soft dry brush as well as the working station and tidy all up in that 5 to 6 minutes. Cheers



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[magirus]

Thanks for the replies gents.

If the 9barista is as the marketing says then it is nothing like a La Pavoni. One is repeatable via design the other is down to the randomness of various parameters. It depend what you want out of the experience. I have a La Pavoni that I got off these good forums that was pre pimped out and it is a fun experimental thing that you gradually strive to master. But a Hario Switch still gives me a quicker easier drink day to day :-)

I use a K-MAX btw which is more pour over coffee oriented based on the burr adjustment but it does a good enough job for me with the La Pavoni

Obviously I'm aware of the differences between the La Pavoni and the 9barista, at the moment it's about do I want to get into espresso and if so how to do it. On another level I find the prospect of stripping down a used La Pavoni and doing a complete rebuild/refurbish very appealing. Re the K-Max, have you figured how to get the calibration at 0 after cleaning every time without further adjustment?

Hello magirus. Total time on the clock this morning 6 minutes 14 seconds but I work in parallel. I set up the water for boiling before grinding the beans. I use the Comandante manual grinder set pretty fine grade. I clean the grinder with a soft dry brush as well as the working station and tidy all up in that 5 to 6 minutes. Cheers

Thank you for that!

[reecie]

Thanks for the replies gents.
Obviously I'm aware of the differences between the La Pavoni and the 9barista, at the moment it's about do I want to get into espresso and if so how to do it. On another level I find the prospect of stripping down a used La Pavoni and doing a complete rebuild/refurbish very appealing. Re the K-Max, have you figured how to get the calibration at 0 after cleaning every time without further adjustment?
Thank you for that!

Tbh it has barely gone out of calibration since I have had it and I just blow and brush it out every so often rather than taking it fully apart. Open the burrs as far as they go and use the blower and brush you get with it. The calibration is pretty easy to do anyway if you need to do it. It is a very good grinder and I really enjoy using it. My scales tend to show what goes in tends to come out so there seems very little retention based on what I see left from cleaning.

Sounds that you like a project. In which case the La Pavoni is a good option since there is the sport of the hunt for one and then all the bits you can upgrade and improve. There's a whole cottage industry for spares etc. It makes great coffee when you nail it.

[magirus]

Tbh it has barely gone out of calibration since I have had it and I just blow and brush it out every so often rather than taking it fully apart. Open the burrs as far as they go and use the blower and brush you get with it. The calibration is pretty easy to do anyway if you need to do it. It is a very good grinder and I really enjoy using it. My scales tend to show what goes in tends to come out so there seems very little retention based on what I see left from cleaning.

Sounds that you like a project. In which case the La Pavoni is a good option since there is the sport of the hunt for one and then all the bits you can upgrade and improve. There's a whole cottage industry for spares etc. It makes great coffee when you nail it.

I now disassemble the K-Max once a month for a good clean, although to be fair there's not much comes out. I found the supplied blower ineffective, and even the much more powerful Rocket blower I have in my camera bag doesn't do much. Also the supplied brush is excellent for cleaning around the underside of the burrs without disassembley, but is far too large to get inside the body when the main shaft is removed. I bought a cheap detail paintbrush with a slim handle, bent the head to a suitable angle, and trimmed the bristles at an angle so they brush properly rather than slide across the inside parts.



After reassembly, when recalibrating, I found that even with a good finger pressure on the bottom of the burr shaft a fine adjustment was needed as the 0 would be just off either way in relation to the red marker after tightening the top nut. What I do now is stand the grinder resting on a wine cork and push it down with decent force whilst tightening the top and this gets it bang on every time. Re refurbing a La Pavoni, it's ironic that I'm considering this in the middle of getting rid of clutter and "stuff", as I'd end up with a box of parts and probably some soldering gear! Coffee could be quite a rabbit hole.

[drmarkf]

An Aeropress is a good first recommendation for most people who want to try better quality coffee and it’s usually my first suggestion for anyone who asks (although I do check first if people just want good coffee with the minimum of hands-on faff, in which case they’re really better off with a beans-to-cup solution as long as they want to afford a decent one).

Aeropresses make a good enough brew that you can try out a lot of brewing variations and check whether you can detect them and decide what you like: putting aside beans, roast, grind and weight, you can fiddle around with water temp, volume, time, stirring, right way up or inverted, and with a bit of care the results are reproducible.

I began like that around 5 years ago, and I haven’t felt the need to move on (plus we don’t really have space in the kitchen).

My gawd they’ve gone up in price though - my cousin bought one at my suggestion a couple of years ago and I think he paid 25 quid. Current prices are 50% higher, it seems, despite several clones providing competition.

BTW I recommend these guys, who I’ve used mail order since we left London: https://algeriancoffeestores.com/

Several local roasters have started up here in the past few years, and I’ve just started trying them: local would be good if I can find the right people.

[MattH]

Well I did buy a 9barista which is great fun - and then jumped upto a linea micra - its a perfect size for my space and makes great forgiving coffee!

More steam than you could ever use and very quick to get to heat. The only possible downside would be the length of the steam wand if you wanted to use huge jugs - though for the 3-400ml size I find I only need to have the power set to 1 the lowest steam setting !

If there is interest in a 9barista I will stick an ad up in SC - as I am not using it anymore 😂

[gerrudd]

BTW I recommend these guys, who I’ve used mail order since we left London: https://algeriancoffeestores.com/
.

Thanks for the recommendation. I wanted to try some new coffee. I've ordered a kilo of the Algerian Special.

[Owren]

BTW I recommend these guys, who I’ve used mail order since we left London: https://fabulacoffee.com/

Thanks a lot for the recommendations. I was just looking for some new coffee tastes.