Your favorite gear of 2018 - Page 2

#11: Post by **rimblas** » January 2nd, 2019, 9:34 pm

By far, the Decent Espresso machines!
2018 was the year the DE shipped and for some of us espresso became something amazing and fun.

January 3rd, 2019, 2:26 pm

Since 2018 was my rewiring year there's lots of great gear I could list, but that's on my profile.

My favorite gear of the year is from @cannonfodder, and its my bean dosing rack. The rack holds 18 doses and it allows me to put up small cards with the information on the coffees. When the wife wants her coffee instantly, and not instant coffee, it's a pleasure to have this rack. Thank you David for making it for me.

#13: Post by **CwD** » January 3rd, 2019, 3:33 pm

Got a few new things this year.

These are listed more or less the order of importance

Tungsten SSP burrs for my EG-1 - Absolutely massive quality upgrade for brewing, and substantial upgrade (though less dramatically than for brew) for espresso. Also no static for some reason.

Melodrip - Can push brewed coffees so much further with this thing, and maintain clarity even at higher strengths.

Inkbird PID - Makes the Strietman temperature more easily adjusted, as well as more stable.

Origami dripper - The first dripper I've found I like better than the v60. Geometry of flat bottom filters, but without the flow restriction of flat bottom drippers that I hate so much. And the way the ceramic is fluted keeps the filter flutes from folding over like they do in the brewer they were designed for. Looks great too.

STC Turkish setup - Really shot Turkish up to being a favorite method of mine for certain coffees.

Fellow EKG - It's silly, but the fact I don't need to press hold EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I pick it up like on the Bonavita is a big upgrade to me.

Centrifuge - Can take more accurate tds measurements of shots and Turkish without the expensive filters. Useful for someone like me that logs data for every brew and shot.

VST - Already had an Atago that did everything as well, but the VST is less fussy and generally nicer to use.

These are listed with no regards to order, and are not necessarily lower than the first list, just hard to place

Vacmaster - Not really directly coffee, but lets me more easily share coffee samples and keep coffees around longer before degradation. Makes it easier to try more.

APEC RO system - Again, it's not just for coffee water, but it's a great convenient base for coffee water.

Lilydrip - Really digging this for the few v60 brews I've done since I got it, but I've not used it enough yet to rank it since I've overwhelmingly been using the Origami with Kalita filters.

#14: Post by **lagoon** » January 3rd, 2019, 3:42 pm

Espazzola is my nomination for the best bit of kit acquired in 2018.

Obviously a very simple device, but it excels at its task.

January 4th, 2019, 8:47 pm

Robot for sure!

January 4th, 2019, 9:05 pm

the kafatek grooming tool, made leveling super easy.

#17: Post by **Monsoon** » January 4th, 2019, 10:47 pm

To soften the blow of turning 70 my wife gave me a Monolith Conical and a Linea Mini which have worked synergistically to take my game to a new level.

#18: Post by **tyfabes** » January 5th, 2019, 12:17 pm

This isn't new for 2018, but I did get a 16oz Zojirushi thermos and I am absolutely blown away by how well it insulates a hot drink.

I made some pour over around 6:45AM and put it into the Zojirushi to bring to work. Had a cup when I got to work around 7:45AM and then came back to finish it around 11:00AM. Still just as hot as when I put it in. Haven't experienced that in any previous thermos before. I love it.

#19: Post by **IamOiman** » January 6th, 2019, 4:23 am

I made quite a few upgrades in 2018 (and now have no spending stuff on equipment funds, but that's another story

).

The biggest acquisition I made was my new Bosco Sorrento with orange paneling and wooden knobs/portafilters that I got a comparatively great price since I live 20 minutes from the Bosco factory!

After that it was my grinder upgrade to pair with my Bosco as my Lido E is great but simply would not be able to keep up with the number of shots I intend to be pulling on the new behemoth. It's a lightly used Olympus 75 I purchased here on HB that I got for a decent price. Until my Bosco is fully setup it will be used with my Elektra MCAL, which will not make this list as I got it new year's eve of 2017!

My second favorite purchase of 2018 would be the money spent on my barista certification, which if I were to go into the Italian bar business I would go for the Master of Coffee course (there are three total: Assistant Master of Coffee, Master of Coffee, Instructor of Coffee).

Finally I purchased some spare parts to refurbish my Pavoni and Elektra along with some barista accessories!

This year saw a lot of upgrades for me, from where I started initially with a used electric moka pot that I got for 5 euro.

#20: Post by **Stanic** » January 6th, 2019, 5:02 am

The Portaspresso HC-P, which I found second hand for little over half the price of a new unit