Lavazza coffee machine

rookies said:
Yes Lakeland are brilliant for all their stuff
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Agreed but I get the impression they have a lot of negative reviews on the website.
 
sphexx said:
Interesting. I’m currently drinking “Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Ethiopian Sidamo Fairtrade Coffee” and though given ’strength’ 3 it seems much a fuller roast. Sainsbury’s own brand is the best of the supermarket brands IMHO, they have been using the same roaster for >100 years I believe ;)
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I'm really enjoying their beans, I'm aware that the fresher the better so I'm hoping their beans will have a high turnover. I've tried a local roaster a few months ago with two separate selections which had only arrived the previous day (and were over a tenner a bag) but I wasn't particularly impressed to be honest. I think I'm going to stick with the Sainsbur'y beans for just now and try out the rest of their range.

Do you use a cafetière?
 
We have a Nespresso machine, get used twice a day, every day. We have one with a milk frother... I've given up with their own coffee's as they got expensive, we now buy "Lor" aluminium capsules from the supermarket and they have a reasonable range. We only have the higher strength coffees as we always drink them as a late'.

Wouldn't be without it now, I can't face mornings without my coffee!!
 
gman said:
I'm really enjoying their beans, I'm aware that the fresher the better so I'm hoping their beans will have a high turnover. I've tried a local roaster a few months ago with two separate selections which had only arrived the previous day (and were over a tenner a bag) but I wasn't particularly impressed to be honest. I think I'm going to stick with the Sainsbur'y beans for just now and try out the rest of their range.

Do you use a cafetière?
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No, basic DeLonghi espresso machine. Do sometimes use cafetière or Bialetti Moka stove top pot.

Fresh roasted is really the way to go requires but real devotion :) . I grew up buying coffee from a shop that roasted the coffee beans in the shop and filled the high street with the aroma — “Tea Importers“ Bromley & Beckenham, Kent. I was pleased to find when I moved north that there was a shop in a Leeds arcade that did likewise but they soon shut down. It’s very disapointing that Taylor’s of Harrogate don’t do anything similar :( .
 
I used to buy my coffee at the “Algerian Coffee Stores”, Old Compton Street W1, it seems they are still going strong since 1887. I’m not sure why coffee sellers have such misleading names as “Tea Importers” or “Algerian etc” :), maybe it’s just my experience. At least “Taylor’s of Harrogate” aren’t “Tailors”.
 
Never really got on with any of the Taylor’s coffees. These days I get mine from Exchange Coffee - they have shops in Blackburn, Skipton and Clitheroe - they also do mail order. It’s quite common to go into their shops and see the open roasters going - amazing aromas! Think most of their stuff is fresh roasted at their roastery in Blackburn rather than being a bulk roaster where you never know how old the beans are.
I make a monthly pilgrimage to the Skipton shop for my kilo of French Roast!! [emoji477]️[emoji477]️
 
Krisstiffer said:
Never really got on with any of the Taylor’s coffees. These days I get mine from Exchange Coffee - they have shops in Blackburn, Skipton and Clitheroe - they also do mail order. It’s quite common to go into their shops and see the open roasters going - amazing aromas! Think most of their stuff is fresh roasted at their roastery in Blackburn rather than being a bulk roaster where you never know how old the beans are.
I make a monthly pilgrimage to the Skipton shop for my kilo of French Roast!! [emoji477]️[emoji477]️
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Thanks for the tip.
i don’t like Taylor’s partly because they have those silly names :(
 
Garry Edwards said:
Very easy. I can clean it in the 30 secs it takes for the microwave to get it really hot.
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Was just looking at this again, is that just one cup at a time? I originally looked at it on my phone and though it was a larger jug.
 
gman said:
Was just looking at this again, is that just one cup at a time? I originally looked at it on my phone and though it was a larger jug.
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It's a jug, which theoretically can hold 4 cups, which equates to 2 of my mugs:)
 
Well.

I’ve been abs got a beans to cup machine. Jura ena 8. What a brilliant kit and it makes fab coffee
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
The reviews on the aeropress?
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Yes. Everyone’s taste is different! I should say the ”ritual” of coffee/tea making is important to me so perhaps the aero press doesn’t appeal to me anyway. I’m sure I would like the “Flair” though but I’m not in the market for one.
 
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sphexx said:
I was unaware of this manual pumped machine till now :
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/review/flair-signature-espresso-maker
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You can get the basic model (no shiny metal) for a lot less, shipped from France:

https://www.maxicoffee.com/en-gb/flair-espresso-maker-lever-espresso-machine-p-82059.html

I've used this company - they even threw in a couple of espresso glasses and a bag of nice coffee beans. As for the Flair, I've yet to get to grips with it properly - I'd thought I might use it at work, but it seems a bit too fiddly (though that may change with practice). One misguided attempt with too fine a grind ended up with me being amusingly showered in coffee grinds. So when I've only got a kettle, I'm still using a Swiss Gold filter:

https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2015/06/pure-gold-for-pure-coffee/

(the current model is no longer gold, apparently).

At home it's a Bialetti Brikka:

https://www.bialetti.us/coffee/stovetop/brikka-c-1_7_24.html

or (less often) an old version of the Gaggia Classic:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaggia-Classic-RI8161-Machine-Professional/dp/B0000C72XS

(around 2015 they changed everything for the worse but kept the name, though they've apparently reversed most of these changes in the current model).

I've tried an Aeropress, but with the paper filters the coffee tasted a bit too 'clean' to me. Might try one of the third party metal mesh filters that are now being made if I can find the Aeopress - yes I have too many coffee gadgets!

Grinders are an Iberital MC2 for the Gaggia:

https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0866-iberital-mc2-auto.html

a cheap Krups thing that's good enough for the moka pot or filter, but useless for espresso:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Krups-1500813248-Coffee-Mill/dp/B00004SPEU

and a Knock Aegrind that's handy for travel, and fine enough for something like the Flair:

http://www.madebyknock.com/store/p52/Aergrind.html

I sometimes use the Algerian Coffee Stores (a real Soho institution that it's worth visiting for the atmosphere of the tiny shop with its 19th century counter, and the cheapest decent espresso in the area). But they tend to roast too dark for my taste. Monmouth are a good bet:

https://www.monmouthcoffee.co.uk/

as is anywhere that sells Square Mile Red Brick:

https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/red-brick

Try this and you'll never go back to supermarket beans. It's very fresh if you order directly from them - I've had a bag that was roasted the day before delivery.
 
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Retune said:
You can get the basic model (no shiny metal) for a lot less, shipped from France:

https://www.maxicoffee.com/en-gb/flair-espresso-maker-lever-espresso-machine-p-82059.html

I've used this company - they even threw in a couple of espresso glasses and a bag of nice coffee beans.
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That‘s a very good price, I might be tempted :)

At home it's a Bialetti Brikka:

https://www.bialetti.us/coffee/stovetop/brikka-c-1_7_24.html
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I’ve got more Bialettis than I can shake stick. Interesting model — I used to use them with lid open to preserve the schiuma, bit tricky/dangerous :)

I sometimes use the Algerian Coffee Stores (a real Soho institution that it's worth visiting for the atmosphere of the tiny shop with its 19th century counter, and the cheapest decent espresso in the area). But they tend to roast too dark for my taste.
.
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Ah, the Algerian Coffee Stores was where I bought my coffee for years, as I plugged earlier, almost only original shop left in Old Compton Street.
 
sphexx said:
I’ve got more Bialettis than I can shake stick. Interesting model — I used to use them with lid open to preserve the schiuma, bit tricky/dangerous :)
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I had an early version of the Brikka that had a clear plastic piece with a knob in the middle of the lid, and I used to get away with leaving the lid open regularly. Then I bought the redesigned version that just has a hole in the centre of the lid, tried it with the lid open, and bad things happened! Managed to avoid a face full of coffee, but I leave the lid on now. One thing I try to do is take it off the heat and pour as soon as it starts to gurgle - leaving it longer seems to let more bitter stuff through.
 
Retune said:
I had an early version of the Brikka that had a clear plastic piece with a knob in the middle of the lid, and I used to get away with leaving the lid open regularly. Then I bought the redesigned version that just has a hole in the centre of the lid, tried it with the lid open, and bad things happened! Managed to avoid a face full of coffee, but I leave the lid on now. One thing I try to do is take it off the heat and pour as soon as it starts to gurgle - leaving it longer seems to let more bitter stuff through.
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Yes, I’m not completely daft ;) I put an inverted tea spoon over the outlet with lid up!
 
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