Coffee: we drink it or we get angry.

dude awesome! i got my phd from ut austin a while back, and it's an exciting place to be in many ways.

Houndstooth was my fave spot when i left back in 2012ish. lots more places to try now it seems! i'm with you on overly-citrusy espresso. it's an unfortunate trend, especially in the bay area, to put out increasingly citrusy espresso... thankfully verve in santa cruz makes amazing espresso (verve's sermon blend is my current favorite of the bay area places). i've heard good things of temple in sacramento but haven't tried them yet. and chromatic out of san jose is solid too.

there are lots of ways to get into espresso. one is to try out lots of espresso at good places and see what you like. the second tip, which can't be stressed enough, is don't underestimate the power of the grinder when contemplating a home setup. at least as important as the machine itself. looks like there are quite a few good options for a solid setup for not a crapton of money.

 

@brencho is so right about the grinder.
There's this old article (dunno how old--they didn't date it) that suggests budgeting 50% of your total budget for the grinder, unless your budget is >$1000: http://coffeegeek.com/guides/howtobuyanespressomachine/getagrinder

I've only had the one grinder for espresso, but going from pre-ground to freshly-burr-ground was an immense jump in the quality and consistency of my shots. My coffee from a cheap Krups was immediately improved, and the grinder has continued to hold its own when I upgraded my machine to a Gaggia Classic.

 

grinder upgrade order placed, now excitedly waiting for production and delivery of this here bad boy, a kafatek monolith conical:

 

Are we talking about Texas schools and coffee grinders now? I use a Kyocera hand grinder.

Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Coffee Grinder, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003S9XF7K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Q5F-xbS50ZRYD

Can grind any size you want precisely all the way down to a fine power. For a French press it's kind of annoying because you need to turn awhile to get enough grinds. But for espresso shots it's not that much work and it's far better then my electric grinder. I knew someone that attached a drill to their grinder so maybe I'll do that.

Speaking of French press, I am trying to figure out why it's called that because no one in France uses them. Everyone drinks espresso here.

I went to UH for undergrad. Back when I went we had a laughable football program. I am very surprised that the highest ranked Texas football school this season is UH! Go coogs!

 

Hah, I have seen them used in both France and Italy (as well as Nordic countries and the UK). It took me ages to work out what the hell a "French Press" was; we just call them cafetieres mostly.

I generally just use an Aeropress, after a long and expensive series of replacements of the inner cafetiere glass, after they got broken (usually not by me). It's much harder to break an Aeropress! My first one was a gift, and lasted me more than ten years, so they turn out to be good value.

Likewise, I use a Hario Skerton hand grinder, which is remarably good quality for the money. It takes a few minutes to grin enough for a couple of people, but that's all part of the riutal.

 

Well considering espresso grinders can easily go into 4 figure territory, this at $500 doesn't seem too over the top. I'll look forward to your impressions when your preorder ships.

And how will this be for coarser grinds like French press?

 

Are you in the part of France close to Italy? I hear that part is extremely Italian influenced...

 

Unfortunately, that's not the price:
"Total price not including shipping will be $1950 US dollars"
(I really wish it were 500 USD. I would order one in a heartbeat if it were.)

 

Oh holy crap, that's just the deposit....

Thanks for the correction.

 

I live in Brittney which is literally the opposite side of that part of France. I did live in the south for a little while but most of my observations are based on Parisiens and whatever my family did. Espresso has been the most common but I have also seen drip coffee, Bialetti pots and even vacuum pots. The only person I know of that uses a press is my cousin who is a coffee nerd. I don't doubt that the press has origins in France or that there is still some part that uses the press on a regular basis. But whenever I mention to people that the French press is never used in France, no one really challenges me and it seems like an uncontroversial statement.

@Kattefjaes - I mentioned it earlier but the press I use is metal.

http://espro.ca/espro-press/

They have all sort of sizes and it's suppose to be good for camping.

 

According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia:

Not sure why I have never tried to find out before

 

I did the home espresso thing for a while. I had an Expobar Office Pulser and a Mazzer Mini. Then after having a couple of top notch coffee shops in town for a while I decided to sell the espresso set-up. I can scratch my espresso itch at the shops now and then. At home on workdays I grind with a Baratza Vario with the stainless steel ditting burrs mod and a Behmor Brewer. Makes an awesome cup. On weekends I do manual pourover with a Hario V60. I use a variable temp electric bonavita gooseneck kettle for the water. I also have a press, a vacuum brewer and Aeropress but V60 trumps them all for getting the best flavors out of the natural ethiopians that I prefer.

For travel I use an Orphan Espresso Lido E-T for grinding. It's about the best possible hand grinder you can get at that size. Does an amazing job.

I use to be a coffee roaster as well but these days I often order from Topeca Coffee or Counter Culture. Sometimes I buy from the local roasters as well. Topeca is, to me, a shining example of what can be accomplished with a great direct trade seed-to-cup program. They've been doing it in El Salvador for a long time and the results are great.

brad

 

These are actually the same grinder, they're identical besides the branding. Not to knock anyone's budget or anything, but I've used this grinder before and IMO it's very, very bad as far as grind quality goes, especially at coarser levels. Apparently the bearing mod improves things, but investing in a better grinder will really do wonders for cup quality.

I used to browse reddit's /r/coffee a lot, and it was a pretty standard recommendation combined with the V60, which IMO is a terrible combination because the V60 is very exposing of grind quality and brews will be muddy and overextracted because of how many fines the grinder produces. The same goes for a press brew; the large amount of fines will overextract quickly compared to the rest of the coffee particles, which aren't that consistent themselves. The interesting thing is that Hario's Mini Mill, which is a cheaper and smaller sized product to the Skerton/Kyocera, actually produces higher quality grinds. It does, however, have a smaller grind container.

Either way, hope this doesn't come off as knocking anyone's choices, but in the spirit of upgradeitis that is so common in audio, it's good to know what's best to upgrade.

Personally, since I got my Lido 3 and posted a while back about how great it's been, I've sold off my old electric Baratza Encore. The grind quality was so much better and the resulting cups tasted so much better that I had literally no desire to use the Encore anymore, despite it having the convenience factor of electric. The Lido 3 has also become easier to use as the burrs broke in, which is typical according to Orphan Espresso, the manufacturers. It turns easier and it grinds quicker.

 

It does rather, yes.

 

I'm just keeping it real. You said it's a great value for the money, but their cheaper grinder performs better. I've tasted a few grinders in this price range and I disagree that it provides a good value/money proposition. (It's definitely better than spending the money on an electric blade grinder, of course, so it's still a better choice than a lot of options.)

Coffee is different than audio in this way, there's more objectivity involved. It's a fact that the Skerton throws a lot of fines when grinding and doesn't have good particle size consistency.

edit: Link to comparison, mentioning the superior spring loaded burr technology in the Mini Mill

 

Just going to put this out there, the Hario Skeleton really does suck. It was my only coffee grinder for 2 years, and it took around 5 minutes to grind enough for one cup at a modestly course grind. I've purchased a Bunn G1 and it grinds my beans in a matter of seconds and has a much, much more consistent grind. The Skerton always fucked up my chemex brews as it would take forever to drip out cause all the fines would clog the filters.

Like take said, I'm not trying to knock anyone and the Skerton is better than a blade grinder, but if you are making coffee on a regular basis, I would highly recommend spending ~$200 on a good grinder.

 

I have the Lido E-T. I would have gotten the 3 but they were sold out and I needed it quickly for a 3 week China trip. Same great grind and travel features but finer adjustment. Great grinder but I still use my Vario with stainless burr mod for day-to-day. Grinding with the Lido is a dream for anyone who has previously used other hand grinders! So fast!

 

Is anyone familiar with the Gefu Lorenzo coffee grinder?
Mostly looking for a grinder that goes from French Press to a Bialletti.

 

I don't see many reviews of this online at all. It's got ceramic burrs of unspecified size. I'd be concerned about the ability to dial in different grind sizes, since it only has 11 settings on the adjustment wheel.