Lever machines, only you using it? - Page 7

A haven dedicated to manual espresso machine aficionados.
BSdV (original poster)
Posts: 62
Joined: 2 years ago

#61: Post by BSdV (original poster) »

Maolo wrote:Thanks for posting your story. It is lovely to see your journey to espresso. I hope that you continue to find joy in using your machine...and that you won't be too disappointed in your V60s.
You're very welcome..
The espresso part I absolutely love. I'm also really happy to have gone with the lever machine - this version of the Pro800.
But it also changed my palate completely, and that I'm less happy with. Onboard/at work before starting the workday the first thing I did was to brew a large, close to 500ml, mug of V60 from freshly ground beans. Sort of a "zen" moment if you could call it that..But where before the whole espresso journey I could distinguish the subtleties and nuances in the different V60 brews, these now tastes totally awful, or maybe better said, I can't taste almost anything..

My wife still enjoys her filter coffee. Hasn't actually used - a bit to my regret - the espresso machine almost at all since I left home end of March.
But I seem to have lost my taste for filtercoffee completely. Would like to get it back though..

Because of this, I also made sure to buy a cafelat Robot before going back to sea. But it's a bit less convenient in use with regards to workflow in my cabin onboard. And although I'm getting drinkable shots every time, it's far from consistent. Mainly due to the fact that all quantities have to be estimated. I found that to be much easier with V60.

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drgary
Team HB
Posts: 14348
Joined: 14 years ago

#62: Post by drgary »

Ben,

If your palate is more sensitive as you've proceeded with the espresso journey, are you taking care to dial in your V60 method? For starters, if it's bland you could updose. I've thought that some of my coffees weren't as well-roasted as they were until I dialed them in better. In my case, I'm using a HG-1 or an early LIDO 2 paired with a Chemex, an AeroPress or a Brazen Brewer. And then it's best when it's cooled and the flavors open up.
Gary
LMWDP#308

What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

BSdV (original poster)
Posts: 62
Joined: 2 years ago

#63: Post by BSdV (original poster) »

Frenchman wrote:What about a lever and a small Nespresso machine? The latter *will* give decent results with zero effort, has tons of varied sources of coffee in pods form from both Nestlé and third parties (and at least Nestlé makes reclying those very easy), and most importantly maybe can be small enough that you could have both easily.

Edit: Saw that you got a machine. Congratulations! The Pro 800 does look beautiful instead. I hope it will bring you and your wife much joy and good coffee.
A small Nespresso machine would have been a good option as well, yes. But yet again another machine.. We tend to use only a small number of different coffee beans and for each of these I have made some notes where I think the grind settings should be, making it very easy for her to get close to roughly the correct grind setting.
Also this lever machine is a breeze in use, and luckily my wife is getting on with it pretty well.

Reason for her not using it now is that she likes to have a big pot of coffee. Really almost any coffee will do, as long as it's a fair amount. When I'm home I start the day with making one or two quite large americanos made from 2 double espressos each, for the both of us.
Now when I'm away for work for a few months she's gone back to the moccamaster filtercoffee and is happy with that. Little fuss, plenty coffee. She's not as demanding/critical of her coffee than I am, of which I'm sometimes a bit jealous now..I wish I could still appreciate good filtercoffee..

As far as the Pro800 goes. I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. The new V2 model looks a bit fancier with the wooden handles, but I prefer the black sides from ours and ours also came with the joystick type valves. So yes, very happy with the unit indeed.
What I like less is that the whole tray needs to be removed when filling the reservoir (it's not plumbed in) and the amount of time that's required for warming up. It's not a very ecological machine in that aspect. Other than that, it's pretty awesome and doesn't leave me wanting anything more in an espresso machine. Definitely had my best cappucinos ever with this machine (granted, the bar was not set tooo high) and probably the best espressos as well.....or...well, perhaps my best espresso shot was actually made on the Robot...not sure about that.. :wink:

BSdV (original poster)
Posts: 62
Joined: 2 years ago

#64: Post by BSdV (original poster) »

Hello Gary,

I updosed a small amount, but not very much. Maybe it's worth experimenting more with that. Have to admit that after a handfull of not so tasty V60's I've not tried anymore.
Didn't really consider updosing as I used to find that it was very flavourful already. Definitely worth a try.
Drinking cold coffee comes naturally. I arrive in my office with a fresh brewed coffee or espresso, but as soon as I open outlook I tend to forget to drink it.. That's what you get when distance from "home" to work is about 20 seconds....

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zix
Posts: 484
Joined: 18 years ago

#65: Post by zix »

BSdV wrote:I was looking at the Niche Zero, but found them only at silly prices. Also it absolutely annoyed me that I would have to pay for UK VAT as well as the German VAT when purchasing this from Niche Zero directly. And some importing/customs cost on top of that.. On principle I, or really both my wife and I, just didn't want to go with that. Don't know what's up with this..when buying a cafelat Robot from the UK the VAT is also deducted when it's shipped to the EU.
That sounds so weird (with the pricing on the Niche site). This is from www.nichecoffee.co.uk? It shows up as 499£ for me when looking at that site. But I am in Sweden, not in the UK.

My biggest problem is that as someone living in EU I still can't order spares from Niche.
LMWDP #047

BSdV (original poster)
Posts: 62
Joined: 2 years ago

#66: Post by BSdV (original poster) »

Yes, that's coming directly from Niche UK.. but it's all good now. Very happy with my current grinder.

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