What is your most unexpectedly useful accessory? - Page 3

#21: Post by **klee11mtl** » November 18th, 2021, 1:00 pm

I pull singles directly into the cup but double lattes require the use of a shot glass. The hockey puck is the perfect combo of height, diameter, and material for use between shot glass and scale. Also the LED pen light (HDX brand from Home Depot is shown but I also have a CAT brand from Amazon) is useful if you are a mirror user.

November 18th, 2021, 4:01 pm

Cool!

Although it's a bit culturally specific - I've just stuck a cricket ball on my drip tray and it's resulted in quite a mess!!

#23: Post by **Gordo44** » November 19th, 2021, 6:26 pm

This little multi-needle WDT stirrer is one of my best. Previously I used a single surgical needle stirrer, and wasn't expecting much difference moving to the multi. But it was like for the first time I was tasting the espresso as it was meant to be, distinctive fruit notes I'd never had represented before and so much more enjoyable. Mind blown.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1078722 ... hare_v3_lx

#24: Post by **JB90068** » November 20th, 2021, 5:11 pm

It's a toss up between a pair of Weber Blind Shakers or a Weber Spring Clean. I like having two shakers because I dose and RDT into one and grind into the other. The Spring Clean makes backflushing effortless.

#25: Post by **Jeff** » November 20th, 2021, 5:21 pm

klee11mtl wrote:The hockey puck is the perfect combo of height, diameter, and material for use ...

... as a tamping stand for a bottomless portafilter as well.

#26: Post by **TomC** » November 20th, 2021, 8:39 pm

My big AWS scale that I bought over 10 years ago. I use it for every aspect of brewing, siphon, pour over etc. Plus it pulls double duty as a precise food scale. Can't beat it at the price I paid. It works for pretty much any task I have where mass is involved.

#27: Post by **patrickff** » November 22nd, 2021, 1:01 pm

Note to self: Stopping reading threads like this - otherwise less money and less space

Note to everyone: Thank you

November 23rd, 2021, 12:30 pm

TheodorAdorno wrote:I was wondering, amongst all the expensive gadgetry people accumulate, whether there are any accessories that you've grown to really depend upon?

Mine are:

A rubber bar mat (supposed to use it for making cocktails) - it has proved really useful in protecting all my glassware, portafilters etc. etc. It's helped me avoid a divorce because it stops spills spreading and the little ridges let you rest puck screens and various small filters (e.g. metal aeropress filters) vertically so they can dry off.

Metal Chopstick - I find myself using this *all* the time for stirring, digging out discarded puck screens in my knock-box, tissue on the end to help clean the hard to reach bits on my shower screen and quite a few uses I've probably forgotten ...

Anyone else got little helpers they didn't realize would prove to be so useful when they first got them?

Best,

Paul.

image

easily the Aeropress funnel, I bought a second one because of how useful it is. I find myself grabbing that funnel for many tasks.

#29: Post by **jpender** » November 24th, 2021, 12:15 pm

I'm not sure anything I use that is useful has turned out to be unexpectedly so. Maybe the tiny wax paper Dixie cup that I use to weigh beans. It's got Winnie the Pooh characters on it. I just replaced it with a new one (Tigger on this one) after I realized I'd been using the same dirty looking cup for over a year. I don't know how I'd weigh my beans without one.

The Aeropress funnel has just one, singular use in our house. We use it once every couple of weeks to transfer freshly roasted and cooled pine nuts from a bowl to a glass jar. That's it! The other two funnels I got with previous, now dead, Aeropresses went quickly into the recycle bin.

#30: Post by **mkane** » November 24th, 2021, 12:33 pm

Vacuum. Grinding coffee's messy.