Coffee: we drink it or we get angry.

Btw, that was a joke. Melbourne has a great coffee scene, but alas not as good as Wellington. Anyways, I like to drink my coffee while eating pavlova, the Kiwi national dish.

 

@Jeb the mazzer mini really is a marvellous piece of equipment, maintenance free going on eight years for us (save for occasional cleaning). The grind is just consistently excellent and can be adjusted in incredibly minute increments. Getting the grind dialed in just right for a given bean, and subject to the level of freshness, makes pulling beautiful shots easy.

As far as mess, I just use the doser lever repeatedly as the beans are grinding so the doser never actually fills or dumps too much. This lets me eyeball just the right amount of grounds for the rancilio portafilter, and I never grind more than I need. Avoids the mess and the waste of pricey beans. I do this all 1 handed most mornings, including the tamping, because our little one likes to be held (read: is furious if you set him down) early in the day.

I thought it was going to be overkill when we bought it, but it is probably my favorite appliance in the kitchen.

 

Can you please give me a couple of names for a good espresso/coffee and pavlova in Wellington? Cheers

 

I use this funnel to lessen the mess which the wifey approves!

http://www.orphanespresso.com/OE-Aluminum-Portafilter-Dosing-Funnel_p_2415.html

 

I really like Fidel's on Cuba Street, but it's hard to go wrong if you guy do a non-chain cafe.

 

@dubiousmike wow the price on that Mazzer is steep! But it gives me something look forward to when my grinder finally gives out.

For @Jeb and in case anyone was wondering what a bottomless portafilter is like, I took this shot just now. It's not a perfect pull, but I guess that's precisely what makes something like this useful. You can see a "hole" next to the spout, which later filled up but the striping was a little too blond by then.

 

An extraction using a bottomless portafilter I have taken couple of years ago. Apologies for the lighting - quite dark.

 

IRVING FARMS: Trying the Amaro Gayo you suggested here. Interesting: I get spicy/earthy tea qualities like a bit of pu-er and cinnamon spice with an equally present juicy fruit acidity as it begins to drop in temp...it's not exactly berry-like to me, but a bit citrusy & "round" (not sharp/peaky like lemon). Maybe an orange acidity?

Have tasted this now twice and the Amaro's slightly darker roast (than a lot of what I have been ordering lately) presents more earth/spice up front when hot but then reveals some very juicy fruit acidity that is not too bright. Apple-lime-ish??? Darn, hard to pin down for me. Overall, interesting nice cup that does earth/spice and fruit/acidity nicely plus fun to try. Thanks!

BAR NINE: Would love to visit Bar Nine in Culver City. Check out that space. Friend just turned me on to them and I just picked up this to try. Kenya Muranga- the Blue Bottle I recently had that was so good was Muranga. Check out their blog on pressure profiling here. Custom pressure/time curves with Modbar equipment.

 

I don't drink coffee, but here in NYC there was a blind taste test of 6 local coffees and McDonald's won, hands down. They crushed starbucks and the McD coffee is $1 or something.

 

If I have to do Starbucks, I'll do their blonde roast which tastes less burnt to me than their other brews.

At home, it's Blue Bottle subscription beans. Anyone on the east coast found a better subscription option? Cheaper but still as high quality?

 

I drank my coffee and I am still angry. What now?

 

Angry music. Play it and get it out of your system.

 

Good call. Time for some Megadeth. Or maybe Slayer.

 

If I have to be at Starbucks, I'd rather take their brewed coffee (black). Cheaper, and sans the insane amount of sugar in their other drinks.

 

Starbucks only has two good coffees in my opinion: their medium roast filter coffee and their flat white.

I consider every other coffee there as garbage. Starbucks seems to lack the old European touch to make good basic coffees. Whenever I see a place with Illy or a proper machine I rethink the few Starbucks options.

 

Try King Crimson, tends to calm you down...

 

I like to hack my own coffee at Starbucks. Next time you go ask for a breve with an extra espresso shot. If they don't know what breve is then ask for a latte but substitute half and half instead of milk. I haven't had a breve since i moved to France but it is honestly my favorite way to drink coffee.