Coffee Maker Recommendations

[pixelated]

I have a Baratza Precsio, which is similar to the Virtuoso with a slightly fancier adjustment mechanism, it has worked well for me, and makes a nicely consistent grind. I grind for a French press each day, and most days also brew a small pot of either drip or expresso, so I get a lot of use of the grinder's adjustment range.

Baratza offers good product support on their website, including parts. They also sell refurbished grinders for a good price.

 

[zapdafish]

haha, glad I saw your post, was getting swayed

been thinking about getting this.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JE36GLQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2EPN08Z0FPLG4&psc=1

any other suggestions?

Late to the party, but: Get a french press.

Inexpensive (both in initial expense and per use), relieable, makes good tasting coffee and works as long as you have access to hot water (whatever source, might be a campfire). Available in different sizes, down to one cup per press in case you're not a heavy coffee addict.

Given no gravity assisted encounter with the floor (for the models made out of glass) it'll likely outlast any electric thingy.

 

[Dane]

French Press is certainly a cheaper option- but not necessarily any less trouble on the brewing front.  Grind beans, boil water, pour water, wait 4 mins, press, pour into another vessel.  It's the cleanup that really gets me with the French Press- for whatever reason I find it maddening trying to get all those grounds out of the mesh and the canister without resorting to washing them down the sink and ruining my plumbing...

Also- French Press gives you one of the most acidic brews of any of the options, you press all those oils out into the coffee, lots of folks cant take it on the stomach.  Immersion brewing is a good option- I had a Cafe Solo for years and that made some pretty awesome coffee.  Till it cracked.

 

[GoingMyWay]

I have a Baratza Precsio, which is similar to the Virtuoso with a slightly fancier adjustment mechanism, it has worked well for me, and makes a nicely consistent grind. I grind for a French press each day, and most days also brew a small pot of either drip or expresso, so I get a lot of use of the grinder's adjustment range.

Baratza offers good product support on their website, including parts. They also sell refurbished grinders for a good price.

Maybe the Baratza Encore is actually the way to go - it's still $44.96 cheaper than the Virtuoso, even with the 20% discount.  I think the main difference between the Encore and the Virtuoso is the Virtuoso has a timer, which I don't know that I really need.

Also- French Press gives you one of the most acidic brews of any of the options, you press all those oils out into the coffee, lots of folks cant take it on the stomach.

Maybe that's the primary reason why I didn't like the French Press coffee.

I have the coffee grinder from the above video on the right (no LCD).  Its now in a box.  It never worked very well, made a mess, and made lots of fines that just stuck in the container (until the moment some of them did not).  Over time it kept jamming (not feeding beans thru).  Got to where I was shaking the thing.  Finally gave up.  When I boxed it, I took it apart and cleaned it really well. I think the issue was fines where clogging the whole thing up.  It needed a cardiologist.

I now have a Hairo Burr grinder.  Get a quick arm exercise in with it. Just have to grinder faster than the microwave heating up water.

That's good to know about the Cuisinart Grinder.  Does a hand grinder work as well as an electric grinder?  I was looking at pepper mills yesterday and mistakenly started looking at this "grinder" thinking it was a pepper grinder:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004Y69...ef_=pd_luc_rh_crh_rh_sbs_02_01_t_img_lh&th=1.

 

[pixelated]

The timer helps some, but is not essential, grinding for a 8 - 10 cup pot is probably 45 seconds +or-, for some that may be a long time to keep your thumb pressed on the button. It takes a bit of trial and error to flip the timer knob to just the right place to get the desired volume of ground beans. I weigh the grind, but that's probably much too anal for most folks.

 

[GoingMyWay]

I actually have a kitchen scale so I was planning on weighing the beans.  That's one of the reasons why I was thinking the timer wouldn't be very useful for me.  Oh you actually need to hold the button down?  I was thinking it was like an on/off button - in that case, maybe the timer would be better than holding the button.

 

[Gregor]

haha, glad I saw your post, was getting swayed

been thinking about getting this.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JE36GLQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2EPN08Z0FPLG4&psc=1

any other suggestions?

I have one from bodum. Upsides: cheaper than the full metal knockoff (new 1L one is

 

[Dane]

FWIW, I think the timer on the grinder is key.  I can get the rest of the operation almost totally done while the beans are grinding.  Rinsing out the machine, filling the reservoir etc.  maybe my morning are more hectic than most with three kids to get fed, packed and out the door, but that 45 seconds seems to be an eternity if I’m standing there holding a button.

 

[GoingMyWay]

My mornings aren't really hectic, but I am lazy so being able to set the timer and walk away sounds better.

 

[bertv]

I used to buy ground coffee (mind you: freshly ground in the shop), but a couple of years ago Esken (who owns that shop) suggested I try the Nemox Lux grinder. And it has served me well. It costs around € 140 over here.

My method is quite simple: after I have set up for the correct coarseness of the grind (mostly around the same mark, but it depends on the batch of beans), I weigh the correct amount of beans, put that in the empty grinder, start the grind and count till all beans have been processed. After that I never weigh, but just count out (twenty seconds…).

I always make two cups of espresso at the same time, because I prefer flat whites… " )

There are a lot of grinders that seem to be just variations on the basic design of the Nemox Lux. I wonder whether they all use the same grinding wheels. The price differences appear to be unjustified by added features (is a added timer worth a hundred bucks?), but I have not done extensive research, so, who knows?

 

[GoingMyWay]

Thanks again everyone for the coffee grinder recommendations.

I picked up the Baratza Virtuoso Grinder from the Williams-Sonoma Outlet today.  It came out to $195 even with tax.  I'm just about out of the LavAzza coffee so I ordered a half bag of the Blue Bottle Beta Blend whole beans.  I also ordered a bag of Dark Sumatra from Coffee Bean Direct.  That is the low acid coffee that my former coworker drinks.  Neither of those beans are going to arrive before next week so I plan on stopping by a Starbucks to pickup a bag of the Blonde Roast.

Now the question is - should I have them grind it or should I grind the Starbucks at home?  Maybe that's a no brainer since I just bought a grinder but my only concern is, do I need to "clean" out the grinder when switching between beans?  I don't want to cross contaminate the grinder with 3 different beans.  Maybe it's not that serious...

 

[Lou in DE]

Congrats on the new grinder -  once you develop a system it is a pleasure in the morning.

My system takes only a few minutes from bean to brewed coffee with the Moccamaster:

1. Pour filtered water into the machine (I use a Brita pitcher that I set up the night before)
2. Weigh out the beans (my preference is 10 g per 6 oz water)
3. Grind the beans while you set up the filter (I pre-wet the filter) - my grinder (Capresso) takes about 1.5 minutes for 100 g beans
4. The Moccamaster will have your brewed coffee very quickly (as you already know)

We have tried about a dozen different beans so far and I would suggest trying Peets Major Dickason Blend - it has become a real favorite of ours. Others we enjoy are Lavazza Grand Filtro and Dunkin Donuts House Blend. For the occasional decaf the try Don Pablo (Amazon).

As for cleaning your grinder, I don't bother except about once a week - I take it down to the shop and use my CT26 and a small dedicated bristle brush - works great. As an added benefit the shop smells like fresh coffee every time you use the vac  [big grin]

Lou

 

[GoingMyWay]

Thanks!

I've just been using the filtered water from our LG Fridge.  Your ratio is very close to the ratio that [member=3078]Dane[/member] recommended.  I guess most ratios are generally going to be pretty close to the so called SCAA "Golden Ratio."

I've heard/seen about pre-wetting the filter, but I didn't really want to get into too many extra steps - same with folding the #4 cone filter at the seam?  I just opened the filter up and pushed it down into the basket.

I had seen Peet's Major Dickason Blend when I was searching for different coffees at Peet's.  I'll have to check that out.

Aren't there also some oils from the beans that can collect on the burrs that need to be cleaned out?  I think I had heard about running some kind of cleaner through the grinder to absorb those oils?

 

[pixelated]

Good choice on the grinder, I like mine quite a lot.

I rarely use anything but French Roast, but on the odd occasions where I may have something else, I don't clean the grinder between types (aside from possibly emptying it from the previous roast).
However, the Baratza grinders are very easy to empty if you need to, and brushing any remaining dust off the burrs is easy too. If you want to purge it, just grind a tablespoon or so of the new beans and discard, you'll be good to go.

 

[Dane]

Hm.  As geeky as I can be about coffee- I’ve never cleaned my grinder.  I figure the next round of beans basically pushes the old grounds through and it’s not enough to impact the flavor.  Be worth experimenting, I suppose.  Honestly, I’d just have Starbucks grind the blonde.  Throw it in the freezer for the week.  Probably won’t see a perceptible difference.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Hm.  As geeky as I can be about coffee- I’ve never cleaned my grinder.  I figure the next round of beans basically pushes the old grounds through and it’s not enough to impact the flavor.  Be worth experimenting, I suppose.  Honestly, I’d just have Starbucks grind the blonde.  Throw it in the freezer for the week.  Probably won’t see a perceptible difference.

That’s funny  [big grin]

 

[GoingMyWay]

Good choice on the grinder, I like mine quite a lot.

I rarely use anything but French Roast, but on the odd occasions where I may have something else, I don't clean the grinder between types (aside from possibly emptying it from the previous roast).
However, the Baratza grinders are very easy to empty if you need to, and brushing any remaining dust off the burrs is easy too. If you want to purge it, just grind a tablespoon or so of the new beans and discard, you'll be good to go.

Cool! That's good to know.  Did you wash grinder parts before you ground your first beans?

Hm.  As geeky as I can be about coffee- I’ve never cleaned my grinder.  I figure the next round of beans basically pushes the old grounds through and it’s not enough to impact the flavor.  Be worth experimenting, I suppose.  Honestly, I’d just have Starbucks grind the blonde.  Throw it in the freezer for the week.  Probably won’t see a perceptible difference.

Sounds like it would be a good test to compare.  I'll just have it ground at Starbucks then and see how I like that.

That’s funny  [big grin]

LOL!

 

[bertv]

If you are concerned about *nasty* things happening with the partially ground beans left behind, you could just weigh out the amount needed for every serving, grind that till the grinder is empty of beans and go to sleep at night with a sound mind.

 

[GoingMyWay]

Won't there still be some residual grounds left even if I grind exactly 60 grams of whole beans or am I worrying about a minuscule amount of grinds?

My Dark Sumatra Beans arrived today instead of the estimated delivery date of Monday.  I'm going to grind those beans fresh tomorrow morning.

Last night I saw an ad on Facebook for Henry's House of Coffee.  Anyone familiar with their Bella Finca?  It sounds really yummy.

 

[Dane]

I'm pretty picky- and i have never noticed any negative repercussions from not cleaning my grinder.  I grind exactly the amount that I am using every morning and, as I mentioned, I am pretty sure the next morning's beans clear out any minuscule residual dust.  That said, I do use roughly the same roast every day, so maybe if you were putting a really oily roast through there, it might affect the flavor of the next grinding- but I seriously doubt it.