Lots of coffee, lots of patience, do not get a pound of coffee, get two or three. You will burn through them very quickly when getting everything dialed in.

cannonfodder wrote:Lots of coffee, lots of patience, do not get a pound of coffee, get two or three. You will burn through them very quickly when getting everything dialed in.

If you don't use at least a 1/2 pound the first day... you didn't try hard enough (seriously)!

And do not get three different one pound blends. Keep it consistent until you have a grasp on the process. Get three pounds of the same blend. About the time you get things set, you run out of what you were using then have to start all over with another blend. If you really want to go high on the hog, get a 5 pound bag, separate it in mason jars or one way valve bags, keep two pounds in the cupboard and freeze the rest. Just make sure you get the frozen batch out of the freezer a day before you plan on using it.

Ok, I have gone through 3 lbs of coffee with my new equipment and I thought I would follow up with what accessories I found have helped me the most as a beginner- here's the list:

Gotta haves:

-Solid comfortable tamper (you gotta grip and push pretty hard)
-Scale that reads in 0.1 gram increments and stays on for at least a half a minute before going to sleep (after I got a scale I found I was way overdosing with the routine I had developed)
-Yogurt cup and paperclip (for the WDT - very quickly eliminated the squirts!)
-Measuring cup (for measuring flush volume)
-Calibrated shot glass (for measuring shot volume to dial in grinder)
-Stop watch (for measuring shot time to dial in grinder)
-Knock box (a royal pita trying to expel hot stuff into trash without being able to hit something)
-Electrical tape doser mod on mini mazzer grinder (works WAY better)
-Patience (the guy who came up with "if at first you don't succeed, ...." was probably a newbie making espresso)

Nice to haves but could have done without:

-Bottomless pf (it does less for me now but it did help me get the hang of dosing/tamping in the very beginning)
-Thermometer adapter (I have since come to learn that volume/time flushing is pretty darn accurate but it helped me learn that and I like how easy it is to be able to read just one factor to get a repeatable temperature)

Found I didn't use:

-Small brush for grinder (doser on mini mazzer is a pita to clean out and I don't know how you clean out the grinder chute with disassembling the doser - found it way easier to just run a small amount of fresh beans through, empty doser and throw away)
-grouphead cleaning brush - seems like a flush, a dish towel wipe, second flush and second wipe works easier


I haven't played around with frothing milk yet but I assume a pitcher is a must have and thermometer is a nice to have while learning. Gonna have to get me something other than the skim milk in the fridge to work with when I get to this.

Hey all,

Gonna drop the dime on my first espresso machine....a quickmill Anita. Now I need to know which items I should get. Actually I know what I need, just looking for brand preference I guess.

1. Knockbox...I will make my own

2. Tamper..convex/flat?

3. Bottomless portafilter...does brand/type matter?

4. Cleaning stuff..brushes/cafiza..etc..

5. And of course a few demitasse cups and capp cups/saucers.

If you all can think of anything else I should get/need please let me know. Appreciate all the info I have received here on this site. Thanks again,

Ron

0. grinder ?
1. cool
2. close fitting
3. nah
4. pulycaf cleaner
5. great

a 0.1g accuracy scale is useful to ensure dose is consistent.

pitcher for steaming milk

thermometer for steaming milk

kitchen timer and 60ml graduated container

rferoni wrote:Now I need to know which items I should get.

I merged your topic with another on the same subject. In addition to the items suggested above, see Accessories to Consider from Mark's How to Buy an Espresso Machine.

rferoni wrote:Actually I know what I need, just looking for brand preference I guess.

1. Knockbox... my favorite is the Bumper knockbox because it's big.

2. Tampers... check out the HB Tamper Roadshow.

3. Bottomless portafilter... the Verna original sold by Chris' Coffee.

4. Cleaning stuff... JoeGlo brush is a must-have.

5. Cups... my latest is the black Nuova Point from Great Infusions. See preferred espresso cups for other suggestions.

So I posted the above in another forum and it got moved here. Somehow I missed this thread. I guess my questions have been(were)answered before I even asked them!

Man you guys are fast...

Ron

the erics thermocouple adaptor.

jon