Coffee Snobs Enter Here

Off Topic
1

this should probably be a category…j/k…not everyone is a coffee snob

…but to those that are, new crop of panama elida is hitting all the “outlets”

also, el salvador finca kilimanjaro is excellent if you haven’t tried it

2

Glad to know I’m not the only coffee snob out there.I appreciate the information. I will definitely try out the Panama elida.

3

I think you could easily call my family a Technivorm fan club now… Our collection:

4

That’s very nice. I’m thinking Christmas present to myself. :slight_smile:

5

these days, I pretty much only do espresso, I use a lever

I didn’t have a single cup of coffee when I was at the conference :astonished:

6

What lever Espresso Machine are you using? I use an aeropress daily, but would love to do espresso, just can’t justify the more automatic machines I want. So I’ve looked into a couple lever machines before but couldn’t decide what to do. Had looked at restoring one from the 60-70’s. I guess I’ll need to upgrade my grinder as well. Good thing I get rich working at a church, oh wait…

7

Unfortunately, lever machines are pretty pricey. I suppose since this thread is titled coffee snobs enter here, we can discuss pricey options though. :slight_smile:

I have a Bezzera Strega which I bought when they first became available. It is a ‘hybrid’ lever. There are a few US/CA shops that import them.

However, if I were buying one today, I would go with a Londinium. They weren’t available when I bought my machine. I’ve actually wanted one since they became available but I just can’t justify the purchase since there is nothing wrong with my Strega. :wink:

There are other options like the Olympia Cremina, etc etc…each with their pros/cons. If you are into restoration you can get your hands on some really cool level machines that are no longer manufactured.

I would definitely make sure I had a decent grinder before upgrading my machine. At the very least you would want something like a Baratza Vario. I haven’t tried their new Sette line but it looks good too. I’ve gone through a few Baratza grinders but I mostly use my manual grinder these days because of the burrs. Baratza is a great company to deal with BTW, really good customer service.

My main manual grinder is an HG-1. It’s the top-of-the-line in the manual grinder world though and outside of most people’s budget (or they want electric). They are actually developing an electric grinder now so the price on the manual grinder has dropped dramatically from when I bought it. That being said, even the lower price is really expensive. If you dig manual grinders there are some lower cost solutions out there like Orphan Espresso.

Becoming a coffee geek and appreciating/wanting excellent coffee can be an expensive endeavor.