First Taste

I've looked at this several times, wondering whether to comment. I'm a little handicapped by not really knowing what any of the objects are, apart from the cup and this makes it trickier for me. I'll refer to them as "the post", "the ring" and the "lens cap" taking them clockwise, ending with the cup.

I like the way that the light reflection on the base of the post meets up with the reflection on the cup's rim which carries my eye round the frame. I also found the reflections on the cup handle interesting. I like the colour palette, and the balance between the yellow cup and metal base of the post, and the muted colour of the ring which allows it to be part of the background, rather than assuming prominence (and being distracting, as out of focus areas are always larger than in focus ones, and can dominate).

The points I wasn't so keen on are the way that the out of focus post interferes with the very similarly coloured ring, and prevents the full circle from being followed round. The cutting off of the top edge doesn't bother me as much, which seems illogical. I would have preferred to see the ring moved closer to the lens cap to effect a separation between post and ring, and possibly another shift to give a small be clear distance between it and the cup. There are two small reflections that I find distracting, the one on the lens cap, right hand edge, bottom, and the one on the lego brick surface to the left of the cup.

The reflection at the six o'clock position inside the cup takes away from the overall round shape of the rim.

Finally, I wish I could do as well with still life subjects as you do!
 
Thanks Stephen - brilliant critique as always.

Unusually for me, this was actually a complete throw-together shot - i'd been having trouble with my home espresso machine and after repairing I wanted to get a video of the successful working machine pulling a single shot - purely as a follow up on social media, to confirm the repair and thank the people who'd helped me...

and, while I'd got the camera out to make the video, I decided to just "snap" a photo of the "impedimenta" of making a coffee, and the results. So, the "post" is actually a Tamping device for the coffee - to flatten/compress the grounds into the brewing head or "portafilter" of the machine. The "ring" is a funnel that fits on the portafilter, so that you don't spill any of the accurately measured 18.0g of coffee as it comes from the grinder. And, the "lens cap" is actually another bit of coffee re-arrangement kit - used to ensure that the coffee grounds are completely level before tamping to compress them. For good measure, the Lego brick mat is a cheap rubber mat from Ikea that stops me damaging my worktop by contact with the metal portafilter, when I tap/tamp the grounds.

Looking at it, the funnel definitely needed to be maybe 1 set of "blocks" on the mat towards the RHS of frame, and the Espresso Cup moved down almost to the edge of frame in this crop - I did have a little to play with on that score in the uncut image. That'd have stopped the upper edge impinging on the funnel quite so much, and strengthened the seperation of the DoF effect. The reflections however were purely down to the shot being lit entirely by a completely bare kitchen window - if it'd been a "setup" shot I'd have brought my diffuser out of the cupboard and set it in the window to soften the light a little more - the odd shape in the reflection on the cup inside handle is basically window frame "furniture" - diffusion might have helped there. Tiny reflection on the Coffee Leveller is simply that the base is polished stainless steel, and that glint is from a "corner" on the device - rotating the whole thing even 5-10 degrees would have killed that one.

But, my simple "get out of jail free" card here is, this WAS my first coffee of the day, and it's an espresso - my sip had lowered the level by maybe 6mm - that'd be less than 10ml of coffee. The entire cup only holds 40ml tops!. Frankly, I'm amazed my eyes were actually open on so little Caffeine!

Maybe one day I'll actually set the shot up in my normal more exacting way and re-shoot.
 
Certainly looks more fun than a spoon in the jar ... but you are a mucky drinker! :LOL:
 
Magic - I like rituals and routines, they help to keep the world going round. I also struggle with the inconsistency of coffee making in commercial establishments. A coffee shop can give you a near perfect cup of coffee, and then one which simply isn't, even with the same barista.

Your photo reflects all of that - the importance of the task, the need for consistency in approach, as well as the end product and the first morning sip for us caffeine addicts.

Unfortunately my morning ritual is a long way off yours. A moka pot is the extent of my development to date.
 
Many thanks for the enlightening video. I never realised how much effort, and how many steps, went into making a "simple" coffee. On the other hand, despite the steps, I think it was overall faster than it takes me to make a tea, given the kettle boiling time! I console myself with the thought that (as an unreformed imperialist) my tea is served in a one pint mug which has the Paul Klee quotation in my signature written on it. :)
 
gramps said:
... but you are a mucky drinker! :LOL:
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sorry - missed that - yeah, I know, i'm terrible - had a crash on the bike when I was about 18 years old, and basically bit through under my bottom lip, nerve damage means there's a chunk of my lip that's numb, so I can't tell if theres any foam on there as I move my cup away - i'm same with beer, crema on coffee, even squidgy fillings in sandwiches - basically anytime I eat I need a healthy supply of napkins. Mostly I don't think about it, but every now and then I get it pointed out to me by someone just in case living with it for nearly 40 years it'd somehow slipped my memory.

I would probably have cleaned the cup up, had it been one of my more "studied" shots, but honestly, I quite liked the honesty of how it looked.
 
I like this image.

I have the same grinder but I use a Sage machine. I expect it was cheaper than the Gaggia.
It has no timer so I usually use a measure.
As I normally have cappuccino then measurement is not critical.
 
Nebulous said:
Magic - I like rituals and routines, they help to keep the world going round.
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That's the very thing - it is a morning ritual - the key to decent coffee, especially with budget kit like I'm using is definitely consistency - get everything else exactly the same, and the only thing you need to amend as the beans "age" is making the grind marginally finer after about 8-10 days after roast date when they've mostly off-gassed - I should really buy in smaller bags than a 1Kg one, but there's no decent roasters around here that I can collect from, so it's mail order, and postage kills me if I'm getting 250g every week...

Nebulous said:
Unfortunately my morning ritual is a long way off yours. A moka pot is the extent of my development to date.
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Honestly, that's my fall-back if the Gaggia is out of commission for any reason - and, my brewing method of choice on holidays of course. Nothing wrong with the old Bialetti - got 3 of them from the little 2-cup through the 4 and 6 cup versions (plus an ikea one that's absolute crap and I keep meaning to sling in the recycling bin...)
 
Peter123 said:
I use a Sage machine. I expect it was cheaper than the Gaggia.
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the machine in the video was second hand, from e-bay and cost around £150 - the brand new version that's a fair bit better than mine, is nearer £430 - if going second hand, try and get one of the pre 2015 models as they've got a better boiler and have a 3-way solenoid valve that removes waste water from the brew head at the end of the brew cycle, so you get nice neat "pucks" of coffee, not soup, and it stops drips from the portafilter for the next 2 hours... Don't worry about them being a bit old, everything in there is completely serviceable and theres parts available for pretty much everything.

Peter123 said:
It has no timer so I usually use a measure.
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normally for me, everything's measured - I dial in the grinder to get an 18g "double shot" of grounds (+- the .2g or so of retention thats inherent in this grinder). The Output is weighed, aiming for between 1:2 to 1:3 extract ratio depending on the roast (nearer 1:2 for dark espresso roast beans, up to 1:3 for lighter roasts - depending on taste in this case) - so output of between 36g to 54g of Espresso in the cup. Ideally I'd be looking for the shot in 30 seconds from starting the pump to switch off at desired output weight. (reason we use weight rather than volume is down to the "crema" - foam on the top of the coffee liquor is obviously less dense, so takes up more volume, but it's mass is the same. So, for consistency, we use g rather than ml.)

Espresso does kind of attract the obsessive/compulsive nerd side of me, I'll admit.

Peter123 said:
As I normally have cappuccino then measurement is not critical.
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I very rarely drink milky coffee's if I'm honest - largely, through the day my normal would be a double shot "long black" - water in mug first, and pull the double into the mug - rather than an "americano" - which is a double in the mug and "watered down" which kills any crema that may occur. If I do make myself anything it'll likely be a Macchiatto - and even then, that'll probably be because I've got a tiny drop of already steamed milk left over from making someone else a Flat White or Cappuccino...

don't get me started on Latte art though - i'm unremittingly crap at it :)
 
TheBigYin said:
sorry - missed that - yeah, I know, i'm terrible - had a crash on the bike when I was about 18 years old, and basically bit through under my bottom lip, nerve damage means there's a chunk of my lip that's numb, so I can't tell if theres any foam on there as I move my cup away - i'm same with beer, crema on coffee, even squidgy fillings in sandwiches - basically anytime I eat I need a healthy supply of napkins. Mostly I don't think about it, but every now and then I get it pointed out to me by someone just in case living with it for nearly 40 years it'd somehow slipped my memory.

I would probably have cleaned the cup up, had it been one of my more "studied" shots, but honestly, I quite liked the honesty of how it looked.
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Ah, okay ... well it wasn't my intention to rudely point out a disability, I had no idea and it was an attempt at a bit of humour, as indicated by the smiley.
 
TheBigYin said:
Espresso does kind of attract the obsessive/compulsive nerd side of me, I'll admit.
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When I read up on some ‘mindfulness’ exercises recently it struck me that some were very like what I do with coffee or tea making etc which hitherto I would have characterised as OCD ;). So maybe don’t knock it!
 
This has been an exceptionally eye opening thread for me, as a tea drinker to whom coffee is either instant coffee, or involves a filter paper. :)
 
StephenM said:
This has been an exceptionally eye opening thread for me, as a tea drinker to whom coffee is either instant coffee, or involves a filter paper. :)
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Nothing wrong with filter coffee and there are some advantages.

Instant isn’t really coffee imo though I suppose the stuff that has ground coffee in it technically passes muster.

Tea drinking has probably more rituals and greater variety of product than coffee but does involve less ‘machinery‘ — the only thing I can think of is a special kettle to get water to precise temperatures below boiling. I think there are even “investment grade” teas of the pu’er fermented
(ie mouldy :LOL: ) type.
 
Peter123 said:
What grind size do you set?
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corny answer but that's a bit like asking what aperture you shoot at... the only answer is "the appropriate one"

for most dark roast espresso type beans it's usually around 7-10, for medium dark generally 4-8 and medium roasts can be right down from 2-6. Caveat: i've got the internal bur adjustment "opened up" one notch from what the grinder shipped at, because even at 1, on a medium dark, under 2 days from roast, the extraction was coming out way too fast - call it 55-60g of output on 18g coffee in 30seconds. Problem is with budget grinders like the Sage, while they're relatively consistent of themselves, I'd not put money on them being consistent across a single batch of 10 consecutive serial numbers off the production line. So, there's only really one way to go, and that's dialing in for yourself...
 
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