Aeropress!

[jeral Profile]

I had the joy and delight of selecting a Nespresso espresso pod and watch it trickle into a cup. I don't know what came out into the cup but in a blind taste test I'd never have guessed it was even coffee. (Mine was from a guest machine in a reception foyer.)

Is it me, or just me?

[Joanbunting Profile]

You only get out of a Nespresso machine what you put into it in the way of the capsuleand vanilla to name but 3I am astonished at the range of wierd and, rarely, wonderful combinations avaialble. Caramel, bergamot and vanilla to name but 3.

We buy L'Or, because we like the coffee and also because the capsules are recyclable.
We have lungho strength 8/9 first thing or mid morning and restreto strength 11 for after dinner - or should I say lunch because neither of us drinks coffee after about 4.00 pm. Hate decaff and hate instant even more

[jeral Profile]

Well, I chose the richest or darkest espresso pod from the few offered (no fancy ones). TBH I'm wondering if the pod opened or the machine just washed out whatever residue was left in it. As it's not my machine, I've no way of knowing. it's good to hear that you're happy with your machine though

[Renee Profile]

There's one of those machines at my Toyota place. I chose the darkest one but I wasn't very impressed. I much prefer to grind up beans or to roast my own. I like coffee to taste like coffee and very few seem to.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Yes I have the new grinder for my aeropress and beans, but I don't go as far as roasting them, Renee. Although I've just run out of beans.

And I have bought 100 pods for my Lavazza.
They're a bit intense, but that's to be expected with an espresso machine.

I switch between the two methods, as one becomes favoured over the other one.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I am a bit torn over pods

Until they make them recyclable I’m not in favour; in fact I understand they are recyclable but too small to get picked up as aluminium in mixed recycling

My main beef is that you are tied in to buying whatever coffee they choose to sell at a price that means you are paying several times as much as you need to for each mug

Having said which, Nespresso can make good coffee, I’ve had it in various places and as my eyesight gets worse they might be a good idea

[Joanbunting Profile]

I was not in favour either Sue but now in this area aluminium capsules have special re cycling points. There is one in the supermarket and at various recycling points.

They do produce a good cup of coffee. Well coffee as I like it anyway.

[Pampy Profile]

This site is involved in setting up recycling opportunities for different products. L'Or and Tassimo can be recycled at present but they're always adding new schemes so might be worth keeping an eye on for other manufacturers pods. https://www.terracycle.com

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Thanks Pampy

I think the plan is to keep going until my current espresso machine, a classic DeLomghi, expires and see what the situation is then

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Excellent article The Case for Bad Coffee; quite American but well-written Serious Eats is a pretty good online magazine imo

https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/the-case-for-bad-coffee.html

[jeral Profile]

Re Bad Coffee article, there's no doubt that some in cafés etc are tasteless (to me) and certainly not worth the big bucks charged but it has to be said that instant coffee has come on leaps and bounds since the almost silvery bitter powder days.

I get the impression though that the writer suffers more from her personal guilty feeling about turning her back on the good stuff. I wonder if that's how former Waitrose and M&S customers feel when shopping at Aldi and Lidl...

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I thought the bonding with his (it’s a chap I think; the name is Keith) stepfather slowly, over endless cups of rubbish coffee in chain diners was rather moving, clearly the stepfather’s intention.

Yes instant is better than it used to be, but I like the real stuff

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I had the joy and delight of selecting a Nespresso espresso pod and watch it trickle into a cup. I don't know what came out into the cup but in a blind taste test I'd never have guessed it was even coffee. (Mine was from a guest machine in a reception foyer.)

Is it me, or just me?

I've just bought a "coffee pod" packet of Nespresso intense #9 ground coffee, and it barely produced coffee.

I'm considering making the tweak to my grinder, as it produces gritty coffee on the finest level setting, and I need to get powder style coffee.
Or I forget about the grinding of coffee and use it as a spice grinder.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Looking back on your old posts, you mentioned a grinder in passing in March (which I missed completely), but you don't say what it is

My Delonghi has done about 3000 grinds now, and no longer does a "powdery" grind. I'm torn whether to use the tweak I posted the YouTube video of way back (although that may not work if burrs are worn out), or get new grinder burrs - you can replace both top and bottom ones for about £7 each last time I looked.

May have to take my machine apart anyway to assess the state of the burrs. I have that £1 B&M Italian groud coffee waiting in the wings, which should last me about 10 days, should give me time to do the deed!

A pod seems too tiny for a decent cup of coffee, is the coffee compressed in a commercial one?

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I've got the delonghi kg49. It's the round shaped machine, not the box shaped one in your video, Sakks.
So I don't even know if the youtube hack will work.

I'll have a look inside at some point this week..................

& pods make very strong coffee, yes. The Lavazza espresso machine pod takes 9g of compressed coffee.
Seemingly the Nespresso and other brands have 7g inside their pods.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Aha! I use 10g for a mugful, used to be 12g but that was a bit too strong for me.

I had a look at thos plastic disposable single-cup coffee filters yesterday (I used to buy them occasionally as a special treat way back in the day), and realised that a pack of 10 only contains 70g of coffee, and an awful lot of plastic.

EDIT: Looks like it's a blade not a burr grinder, so doubt there's much you can do other than grind it longer if you are able to.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Of course! It's a blade grinder, silly me.
I'll just make do.

I've also bought the metal filter disk that goes in the aeropress.
That's been great for a year so far. I thought it would bung up or buckle, or leak. Not a bit of it.




I used to think that those coffee filter cups were so classy.
Rombouts.

[scullion Profile]

i bought a set of three reusable filters for the aeropress, from amzn, about four years ago. so far i've only used the fine one - it's still going strong, no problems.
i had some of the reusable 'rombouts' filter cups from lakeland a few decades ago. they were ok but the coffee was invariably a bit on the cold side when it had finally dripped through.
i love the aeropress. great for avoiding bad coffee in hotel rooms.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Scullion, are the 3 discs different in "meshness"? I don't know the word.

I can only imagine you need a fine one, to stop the debris getting into your cup of coffee.

[scullion Profile]

yes, they are. i bought them as a set of three as they were the cheapest option at the time - ridiculously.
the fine is very fine and works with espresso grind coffee (i use lavazza), so i assume the next one(s) up will be ok with caffitiere and coarser grinds - when i use them.