This is my first post...but I've been reading the site and forums for about 6 months. I have been known to ramble a bit on other forums that I frequent, but this story was just too good to keep to myself
I must say I've always loved coffee, but as many people start out, my impression of a "good" coffee was an average coffee at best to a coffee afficionado. At home, my idea of coffee perfection was a Gaggia Titanium automatic machine, and before that, a simple Lavazza pod machine.
I started working full time in the central business district of my city (Perth, Western Australia) around 12 months ago, and found out that others that worked in my company were self-proclaimed coffee snobs. I was introduced to a cafe called Velvet Espresso ( http://abstractgourmet.com/2006/10/velvet-espresso/ ), which I found out was quite an institution around where I worked.
When I first went there, I noticed a flashy machine (A Synesso Cyncra as I later found out) and guys that looked liked they knew exactly what they were doing. Justin, the owner, really seemed to take care with his coffee...and used a tool that I've never really seen before (a Reg Barber tamper as I later found out!).
I was hooked, and the coffee was to die for. Sweet, even without sugar in it, honey like consistency with a dark crema. The latte art in the milk based drinks was fantastic too! I couldn't get enough! I soon started realising how sh** coffee was coming out of some cafe's, and when I had a coffee from an un-named coffee chain over the Christmas holiday period (Velvet was closed
), and the coffee was dark, burnt and with no crema, I decided not to drink it....I left it. This was when I realised I was a true coffee lover.
A few months on, and after getting to know Justin and the rest of the crew (including the well known Johnny Nease, a fairly well renowned Perth Barista), I wanted to know how to do this at home...I needed to get my fix when I wasn't at work.
So I started searching the internet, and doing what I do best....absorbing as much information as possible about making coffee at home, different machines, grinders, tools, beans, etc. I came across a few forums, including this one, and I read non-stop for months.
After working out I wanted to spend decent money but not massive money, I settled on a tried and tested Silvia/Rocky combo with the stainless base. I realised this could get me good results, and the learning curve would help me build my technique.
So I bought the setup brand new off eBay about 6 weeks ago, and got to work. I didn't quite have an easy time to start with, as the beans I was using were off the shelf, and as such, fairly ordinary. Could get pretty good results, but not quite what I was expecting. On the flip side, my milk steaming was getting there...I could get beautiful microfoam, but unfortunately, the average quality coffee I was making wasn't a good match up for it.
I was lucky enough one day to borrow a naked portafilter from Justin at Velvet Espresso, as he had a Silvia at home and the naked porta was a modified Silvia one, so it fit my machine perfectly
I now knew why my coffee was terrible...distribution and tamp was ALL WRONG! The stainless tamp I got as a free gift with the machine was about 1mm too small, and was kind of curved around all the edges (looks good but doesn't work great) meaning I could never get a great tamp out of it.
So I've decided to bite the bullet and step it up...today I picked up a few bags of freshly roasted coffee from Five Senses, which is a well known local roaster, and I threw out the sh** I was using previously. I also grabbed a 58mm flat bottom Reg Barber tamp with polished handle.
All I've got to say is...BINGO.
A friend of mine came over tonight. He is a trained chef but is now a bank manager, and used to work across the road from Epic Espresso, which is probably Perth's best known coffee spot....basically, he is spoilt for choice and knows what a good coffee is.
The Silvia was warm, and I bled off some water to get the boiler going. Whilst I was waiting, I put some of my Five Senses Australian Capricorn blend in my Rocky, and set the grind to a few notches off the finest grind possible, hoping it would be correct.
Bit of a knock on the basket and some light distribution got the grinds in the right spot. I then tamped, and realised how wonderful the Reg Barber is. It feels good, and the perfect fit meant all grinds were tamped properly rather than leaving an untamped ring around the edge of the basket like my old one.
Locked her in, and once the temp was spot on I hit the brew switch.
I must say, I've never seen such a liquid come from that machine. The coffee began to bead up on the basket in the naked porta filter, and then it created a rich brown stream of thick goodness with some textbook tiger striping, and absolutely no channeling. Once it started to blond, I flipped the switch off and admired what had come out.
Apart from a slight Guinness effect due to the beans being a bit fresh, the look of that coffee and the aroma that emanated from the cup was near perfection. I don't know what a god shot is yet, but at that moment thats what I'd thought I'd done!
My friend was super impressed with his coffee, and said it was the best he's had in a very long time. Now I realise why there are thousands of others like me on this site, who can't get enough of making coffee at home. Once you nail it, its addictive.
Thanks everyone for the great advice on this forum (The Silvia FAQ series was so helpful!) and I'm looking forward to chatting more about coffee!
Joe
