Thanks to reading STW coffee threads over the few years I’ve been on here, I’ve been making coffee with a Gaggia Classic (pre 2015 of course!) and Sage Smart Grinder Pro for the past ten months.

I read a little bit about how to extract my coffee and froth my milk and watched videos about frothing milk (oh the good old days) when I first got it but yeah just got on with making coffee since then.

My regular drink is a double espresso (in a bottomless portafilter) extracted into mug, then hot water so it’s about half to two thirds full, then topped up with frothy milk (hopefully closer to latte microfoam than cappuccino froth).

If the OH wants a coffee too then I use a triple filter basket into a small stainless jug and attempt to roughly split myself a double and her a single after extraction. Which reminds me, when I first had the machine, I thought the double basket was a single and the triple basket a double. Had vastly more frequent visits to the toilet for the first week or so.

So it’s not a flat white. Not a cappuccino. Not an Americano. Not sure what it is other than a coffee which gets drunk pretty quick.

Sometimes I can’t be bothered with frothing the milk so will just make an Americano with a splash of milk from bottle.

What is your regular coffee made with your espresso machine? Any recommendations for me to try? Do not suggest syrups!

Shuddering with the STWness of the following:

I go for a couple of ristretti every morning, the OH makes soy latte.

Hard to get decent coffee out here during lockdown. Appears that roasteries were not classed as essential so have been shut for 6 weeks. The least-worst I can get is the supermarket Starbucks stuff which according to the pack was roasted last year.

Just been looking at the other thread on here about where to get coffee from and ordered some from Rave coffee, which was recommended on that thread along with a couple of others, and they were showing stock. Also a 15% discount if you sign up to their news letter.

I’ve given up on the machine and using a stove top espresso kettle, warming up milk in microwave and then using handheld frother. combine the two and sprinkle some chocolate. Bingo!

Regular morning drink is a fat white. It’s two double shots with about 200ml of microfoamed mik. Home machine is a rebadged La Pavoni lever – so a double shot is smaller than standard (51mm basket). Grinder is a 64mm electronic doser made by some lesser euro brand I can’t remember.

Afternoon would be a std. flat white or cold brew. Recently bought a Hario cold brew jug for that, using a Knock Feldgrind for that.

Beans for both currently from Rave, but looking forward to trying the Snowdonia coffess from the STW Specials thread.

Same coffee machine / grinder set up as I have (standard portafilter but with the steam wand upgrade though).

I have either cappuccino of flat white or the occasional espresso with a spoon of sugar in.

Warm milk in mug plus a couple of “long” shots from our delonghi bean to cup machine. Cant be bothered with the hassle of anything more complicated.

J

Ooo welcome to another level of gear freakery…. Mine’s a Rancillio Silva with a Macap M4 grinder.

I start with a tea (Yorkshire in a bag in a mug plus hot water and red ‘milk’) then have a couple of flat white/Latte whatsits which are a double espresso and half a mug of nuked milk. If I’m a good boy, I might have another one with lunch then more tea in the, afternoon.

No more coffee ’til a double espresso after dinner.

Beans are ‘Brazilian blend’ from Happy Donkey. They’re a bit difficult to handle as the come in a long thin strip…

Dualit coffee machine. little manual coffee grinder. Beans currently either from a local roaster (Crafty Smuggler – liking the Eithiopian beans at the moment) or the house blend of a coffee shop I like.

Just drink double espresso.

Regular is just a double espresso from an ancient, leaky delonghi. Espresso is probably the wrong term for what comes out of it as it can’t get up to pressure now.

But as of today, I have a Rancilio Silvia -woohoo!. Well I have had it for a week, but the water tank was cracked, but a replacement has just turned up. So here we go, trying to get it sorted. My grind isn’t right yet… but I have stupidly drunk a bit too much already and still have work to do today. Can’t quite concentrate so will give it a rest for a bit and go again a bit later with an even finer grind.

Pretty much always a flat white. Sometimes espresso if my wife isn’t having a coffee. Consumption has certainly increased recently, but it’s been a blessing to be able to enjoy a decent cup. Currently on Stronghold blend from Origin coffee, which makes for a great chocolatey flat white, but just ordered Foundation from Union coffee which is similar. I’ve got an 8 yr old ECM Mechanika and EK43 which will outlive me.

I go for a couple of ristretti every morning

Had that accidentally from McDonalds in France last year. Bleurrghh!

According to Wikipedia it’s 60ml from a 20-30s extraction…. Reminds me I never got around to calibrating my extractions properly. I had been using a grind size of 12 on my Sage but by chance went to size 10 and the extractions seem better – it usually starts with 3 spouts merging to 2 then to one nice big spout in the middle – the larger grind would usually have lots of little spurty off shoots splattering the wall. Not measured how much volume comes out, but I usually go for around 25s extraction time.

Double ‘spro. Some days with about 3oz of extra water in, other days as it is.

17-17.5g of coffee in about 35-38g out.

Actual beans are from Square Mile monthly subscription or Butterworth & Sons at the moment, I like to vary the beans.

Hard to get decent coffee out here during lockdown. Appears that roasteries were not classed as essential so have been shut for 6 weeks.

My cafe is shut (possibly permanently) and I have some 1kg bags that were roasted/delivered just before lock down. It’s a really good coffee used by a lot of good restaurants in the North West.

https://www.adamsandrussell.co.uk/products/coffee/continental

Happy to sell them at cost (£12 delivered)
Pm me if interested

Gaggia Classic with the pressure modification done.

2 Iberital MC2 grinders.
Mine, filled with Happy Donkey Brazilian (sometimes Italian) blend beans. Double shot basket, bottomless filter, espresso.
Mrs BigJohn’s filled with happy Donkey Costa Rica beans, Single shot, standard filter, into a cup half filled with frothed milk from the wand.
I just run water through the head after frothing to bring it back down to temperature.

First drink of the day is a large mug of Assam, made in a pot, using Saino’s TTD Loose leaf Assam. Strong, malty goodness.

Next up is another pot of tea, same again.

Then a flat white made using either Lavazza or Sainsbury’s espresso beans ground in an Iberital MC2, then made in a Gaggia Classic. Double shot espresso in a 250ml mug topped with steamed whole milk.

After dinner it’s a double espresso.

I make no apologis for enjoying Sainsbury’s espresso; Thing about having a not particularly **** palate means not becoming distressed ‘cos the cheerful Mule is on furlough………. 😉

Either Tarrazu or Cafe Feminino from Wogan Coffee. Like Yak I had a buzzy day the first day my Silvia arrived along with the Rocky grinder. Getting the grind right took a bit of time.

I drink double espresso, using filtered water as ours is really hard.

When my espresso machine died I bought an Aeropress, it makes an amazing cup of coffee everytime.
Beans are Modern Standard, their Ethiopia/Konga is my favourite and just £4 for a 227g bag at our local Sainsburys. You can order it direct from Modern Standard. It is really good!

Almost always a cross between a flat white and a latte.

Occasionally an Espresso, or a Cortado (basically a latte in a much smaller mug so its stronger)

At the start of the lockdown I bought a kg of coffee from Coffeelink after seeing a Facebook advert, its a bit ‘meh’, fine to drink but not interesting. I didn’t spend much time choosing it from the options they had, but a decent coffee roaster doesn’t bother selling the ‘meh’ stuff do they. Will go back to the expensive 250g bags from Pact.

Run out of milk this morning so going without!

‘cos the cheerful Mule is on furlough

Nooooooo! What will I do? Wa, wa, wa, wa, etc 😕

<edit>

I call bolleux ya cheeky monkey. From Happy Donkey just now:

“Coronavirus update

Happy Donkey remains open throughout following government guidelines as an online food and beverage retailer. Stocks of all coffee blends currently correct and updated 23/04/2020”

I’ve been using nespresso for years but have got myself a gggia mdf grinder and a 2011 gaggia classic on its way to me at the moment. Looking forward to getting started!

Ours is a battered Dualit Esspressivo, but with the original pressurised basked swapped over for a Krupp unpressurised one plus a sophisticated paper clip spacer under the lip of the basket to stop the seal from blowing. Never blow seals if you can help it is my advice. Grinder is a Knock one and ace.

So… in the morning it’s a flat white made with Peak Bean Eccles Pike – local roasters who drive past our house on the way to work and drop the beans off en route if we order. They used to run Rosies in Hayfield.

Finally got the crappy Dualit steam wand to work by using a pixie-sized milk jug. Economies of scale and that. Daytime brew is generally a double Americano, often made with Rave Fudge Evolution blend, though sometimes a bastardised, large-sized flat white if I’m in the mood.

Mrs BWD has an odd penchant for a lungo in the morning, but I think it’s mainly because she’s too lazy to turn the flow off and top up with water. I find it too harsh.

In an ideal world, I’d maybe have a posher machine, but feed it freshly roasted, decent beans with the right grind and warm it up properly first and the result is very drinkable. Plus I think I’d rather ‘invest” in a FlareMAX than a glorified lump of shiny stainless steel with gauges on 🙂