I know nothing about coffee, other than that I like drinking real stuff. I have seen that this forum seems to be frequented by experts in the field. Can you please tell me what to buy within the following criteria:

– Not an Aeropress
– Simple
– I like a full cup of coffee, if I were to get an espresso machine is it just a case of add water/ milk?
– Quality construction, minimal shiny plastic attempting to be metal
– Pods give me the heebie jeebies. I can’t help it. I just don’t like them
– I have tried a stovetop pot. I must have tried 30 combinations of water/ coffee/ timings. Every one tasted awful. I really wanted it to work as it is quite a romantic way to brew I feel. But it didn’t.
– Budget 150 quid absolute maximum, I don’t mind second hand/ refurbished.

Thank you.

Thought about a non-aeropress press or cafetiere? I’ve got an Aeropress but not a fan and hardly ever use it, prefer espresso. At work used a cafetiere, made good coffee, not a lot of faff and well within your budget

Thanks BBSB… tried one but the coffee always seems to be cold by the time it gets to my mouth.

Machines aren’t your friend for a good old full cup of coffee, Americanos shouldn’t exist. I won’t recommend an aeropress then but how about a Hario V60? Very cheap and a quality cup of coffee. My view is you either need to spend £1000 or £5. (The v60 is £5).

Use some scales or a hand grinder too if you like, pouring kettle maybe. Depends how far you wanna go.

Also I hate pods but have just bought some of the Colonna nespresso compatable pods for work (Google Colonna coffee, the guy knows what he’s doing) and they’re incredible. Manually stop it (bout half of the nespresso espresso setting) and it tastes like a cafe quality spro.

Thanks BBSB… tried one but the coffee always seems to be cold by the time it gets to my mouth.

Really? Not sure what’s going on there. Consider a v60 a quicker easier less faf aeropress but equal end product. (Less body more clarity if you wanna be a coffee nob).

the solution to that problem

tried one but the coffee always seems to be cold by the time it gets to my mouth

You should always boil more water than you need for just the coffee, and use that to warm the cup.

Insulated cafetieres are not a good idea: as a general rule of thumb cafetiere coffee should be allowed to brew for around 4 mins. If you leave coffee effectively to stew in the cafetiere, the water will ‘over-extract’ from the grounds and the resulting coffee will not be as nice. However, you could use an insulated cup.

I like a full cup of coffee, if I were to get an espresso machine is it just a case of add water/ milk?

Unless you want to drink espresso or espresso based drinks such as cappucino, getting an espresso machine in order to make long black coffee would be a waste of money and kitchen space.

I know nothing about coffee, other than that I like drinking real stuff

If possible I would suggest you try coffee made using the different brweing methods, e.g. cafetiere and one or more of the various paper filter methods (on which note, why not Aeropress, unless you have a specific aversion to the taste of coffee made using an Aeropress?)

An advantage of preferring filter style coffee over espresso, is that means you can get more bang for your money by spending it on a grinder and on better quality beans, rather than on an expensive espresso machine.

If I were in your shoes, I would buy an electric grinder rather than manual grinder and a cheap brewer (whether V60, cafetiere or Aeropress). I don’t know if this is the best price or even if it is the best ginder at your price point, but Hasbean sell the Baratza Encore for £149.

Edit – Hasbean’s brew guides will give you some idea of the various brewing methods.

Another solution?

Walking around a local charity shop recently i noticed they were over run with coffee machines of many varieties due to the madness of consumers wanting the posh pod things.
All under 20 euro too.
So try a charity shop near you .

At work, I use a decent hand grinder ( Feldgrind ) and a Sowden coffee pot. You can change variables to get results to suit your tastes. Totally simple and very forgiving, always get good results. It does take a while to brew but that doesn’t bother me. Highly recommended and should be in budget, could always get an electric grinder but IME the results will be better with a hand grinder.

Any reason why not to get a decent filter machine?

toofarwest – Member

Another solution?

anyone that has some real life experience with these
bobble presse

using an aeropress now but the fact that you can drink straight from the presse is appealing (because i’m lazy)

Heat your cup under the hot tap first.. coffee will stay warm till it hits your mouth!

For simple but no pods, id up your budget a bit if possible and grab that delonghi bean to cup machine on Amazon, reduced from £450 to £200 in black? Otherwise your looking on eBay for a second hand bean to cup.

Good shout above on charity shops. Great for old manual ones.

Moka pot, decent coffee and learn how to use the bloody thing!

Buy my Gaggia Classic

Having a grinder is more important than having a good machine.

Hard to beat a cafetiere or simple filter machine if you just want good ordinary coffee with minimal fuss.

I have this. Very happy with it. Comes in around £150

Whats wrong with the Aeropress? Pretty sure my other half has got me one for xmas.

Whats wrong with the Aeropress? Pretty sure my other half has got me one for xmas.

Nothing. We have one that gets used daily and it’s great.

I got a delonghi esam magnifica a few yrs ago bean to cup for about £230. It’s been great. Used daily but needs a service now and using an insulated cafetière now. Some suggest brwpewing for 9 minutes is optimum. Even if you only leave it 4 minutes, it’s still warmer when you pour it than a non insulated pot. Depends how cold your house is! Warm the pot and warm the mug.

Americanos shouldn’t exist

@Rogan – why?

I have the same as burnsybhoy and am very happy with it. Comes with single or double shot holders, steamer, cup warmer and it’s easy to use.

edit- should read the quote feed more carefully.

Americanos are just horrible watery oily over extracted tasting things, if you want a black coffee a filter coffee is far nicer, and if you like milk then likewise. No need for it to be espresso based like a flat white/cap etc.

Hmm, I get an extra shot in mine to remove the wateriness, and only buy it small and only buy from decent coffee shops who can make a good cup. Adding off boiling water to a double espresso at home also makes a decent cup for me. I don’t go in for this milk in coffee lark.

I’m not a coffee aficionado though.

Toby1 – Ye fair one, you’re doing the right things then! If you find a brew shop with a really good filter on offer too then I’d definitely suggest it as a better cup. Although you may know / prefer and I’m being patronising.

And yes, milk is for babies!

I’m selling a Gaggia Classic in the Classifieds if your interested..Read online reviews I think they are the best bang for buck machine ever made by some way.

Decent coffee? Don’t want to spend a fortune? Like a mug of coffee? Don’t get an espresso machine. Or one of those pod things. Instead, go filter.

Get a good grinder.
It will take all the faff out of wondering ‘do I want coffee’. The Baratza Encore will be great for filter and should do you for starting in espresso. If you do go espresso then you’ll likely want something more grindery. I have a Mazzer Mini EL for espresso and a Porlex for filter. Only because I take the easy route for espresso most mornings and got the Porlex for traveling. I’m tempted to get a Baratza for home too so I don’t have to repeatedly tweak the Mazzer espresso grind. Not enough worktop space though.

Get a simple filter coffee thing
I have a Kalita. It’s really similar to the coffee fiend’s favourite the Chemex.

If you’re after something fancy and automatic then Behmor make one. But my guess is that most any reasonable drip filter machine will work fine.

If you are tempted by espresso then the Silvia is great. The Gaggia classic is fine. But you might want to hold out for something more. eBay often has restaurant machines with 1 or 2 group heads for fair prices. Or check out the UK coffee forum for the singletrack of coffee.

most importantly: Get fresh beans
Depending on where you are there may well be some local roasters. Getting fantastic coffee by internet/mail is really easy though and you could set yourself up with a weekly subscription to try different coffees.

Don’t buy pre-ground. And never buy coffee without a recent ‘roasted on’ date. It’ll likely be stale.

Great thread for ‘coffee snob bingo – it’s all here, but bonus marks to Rogan Josh for being fantastically patronising and dictatorial. I bet you make beautiful, beautiful coffee. The best coffee. Coffee so good. We will make coffee great again.

I’m a little perturbed that no-one has mentioned the crucial importance to world peace of only using freshly roasted beans ground less than 30 seconds before you brew up until the last post. And there’s no troll telling you that good instant coffee is on a par with espresso if you know how to use it.

Which it is. Erm, bingo!

BWD beat me too it, I love coffee threads for the terrible posturing snobbery. Fabulous. 😆

anyway carry on…

I bought the Bobble Presse for work after it was recommended on here a couple of weeks ago and I like it.
The coffee is the same bodum cafetière I used to use but no grinds pass the seal.
It’s not messy to use, and it’s easy to clean afterwards.
I don’t drink from the cup though as I don’t like the silicone lid but that’s just my preference.
I don’t claim to be a coffee expert, I have a nespresso at home and I have no idea how to use a proper machine!

Jeez, you two sound bitter.

Me?
I’ve no bitterness he asked for any real world experience of the presse ¯\_(?)_/¯

I think he means us (me an’ BWD)

it must be the beans I use… 😆

Come on OP you know full well that When you tire of all the faffey snob-tossery and gadgets clogging up your kitchen you’re just going to end up going back to this:

But do enjoy your adventure with consumerism…

Jeez, you two sound bitter.

Just a little over-extracted. A better grinder is the answer, a Robusta Experienza de Luxe Pro Extreme Crematon can be had – if you poke around with a digital stick – for less than £3,500 these days and produces exquisitely ground coffee with gradations to the nearest micron. I wouldn’t bother with lesser grinders, they will RUIN YOUR LIFE – block caps for emphasis. I cannot stress just how important the correct grinder is to proper coffee arguably more so than the coffee itself.

Speaking of which, I suggest growing, roasting and grinding your own coffee beans even if it means switching continents to do so. I found it a worthwhile experiment and it has markedly improved my coffee.

This. Exists. 😯

Oh happy, happy, joy joy!

Great thread for ‘coffee snob bingo – it’s all here, but bonus marks to Rogan Josh for being fantastically patronising and dictatorial. I bet you make beautiful, beautiful coffee. The best coffee. Coffee so good. We will make coffee great again.

I’m a little perturbed that no-one has mentioned the crucial importance to world peace of only using freshly roasted beans ground less than 30 seconds before you brew up until the last post. And there’s no troll telling you that good instant coffee is on a par with espresso if you know how to use it.

Which it is. Erm, bingo!

and the irony is that BadlyWiredDog is himself a bigger coffee snob than Rogan Josh; he’s simply at the other end of the spectrum with the sort of inverse snobbery these threads often attract. In both cases, the snobbery usually stems from people’s own insecurity, which manifests itself itself in a need to denigrate other people’s choices and preferences. Somehow, the idea that other people like – or dislike – instant coffee, freshly ground coffee, espresso, chain shop coffee, coffee with milk, coffee without milk, coffee with sugar or coffee without sugar, upsets them in way that other threads about beer, whisky, wine or food do not.

The only criterion that really matters is your own personal preference and taste. Equally we are all different, so other people don’t have to like what you like to somehow validate your own preferences.

and the irony is that BadlyWiredDog is himself a bigger coffee snob than Rogan Josh; he’s simply at the other end of the spectrum with the sort of inverse snobbery these threads often attract.

La, la, la… actually I have an espresso machine, a Porlex hand grinder and use freshly roasted beans from the likes of Rave and Hasbean and Grumpy Mule. It’s nice to make good coffee. But people take it ridiculously seriously, that’s why these threads are so entertaining.

I’m happy with my choices, I’m happy with yours, but when people start telling you that you need to spend £1,000 on an espresso machine and that adding milk to coffee is completely unacceptable, you have to see the funny side.

Or maybe you don’t? I’m not a ‘coffee snob’, or an ‘inverse coffee snob’ even, I just have a sense of the ridiculous.

taking the piss out of people getting frothy (see what I did there) about the over-consumerisation of making a drink is not snobbery, inverse or otherwise.

Americanos shouldn’t exist.

is snobbery