Why I love HB - Page 4

Offer your ideas on how to improve the site or report problems.
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Marshall
Posts: 3444
Joined: 19 years ago

#31: Post by Marshall »

TonyM wrote:If anyone knows a local teacher for lessons (private or class) other than Heather Perry, I'd appreciate the info as I'd sure like to shorten the learning curve.
Ask the baristas at your favorite local coffee bar(s). But Heather gets around the West Side pretty often for wholesale accounts, if distance is a factor. [Disclosure: Klatch is a client.]
Marshall
Los Angeles

DJF
Posts: 787
Joined: 14 years ago

#32: Post by DJF »

I just want to say how grateful I am to Stefano, coffeeparts and all the others for unselfishly allowing schematics and diagrams to be so readily available. They have truly saved my, and other's I'm sure, bacon and sanity innumerable times.

And thanks to the Jims and everyone else who are so generous with their advice.
"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I don't think so."

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Dieter01
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 years ago

#33: Post by Dieter01 »

I've got a few hobbies and enjoy using forums to meet people with similar interest. Some of those forums are quite popular and have a large number of users. I regularly get annoyed that they are so cluttered and poorly organized though. This is the forum to measure all others to, Dan does such a great job administrating! There are so many examples but the visible yet non-intrusive way advertising banners are integrated, limited use of sticky topics (but instead making one sticky with easy to find, topic sorted favourite threads), excellent moderators, ability to embed quite large photos, what info is included in each persons profile for each post, limiting and allowing the "correct" things in signatures, pleasing esthetics, not cluttering up the main frame with useless information that requires you to scroll, scroll, scroll before you get to the interesting stuff etc... The list goes on forever, I just love the way this place is organized and the layout that has evolved. I must admit that I am an organizing nut that almost have to fold up dirty laundry before I wash it so I might put more importance on these things than others but still...

Thank you for an excellent arena to discuss espresso Dan! :D

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Randy G.
Posts: 5340
Joined: 17 years ago

#34: Post by Randy G. »

My Vote in this Caucus:
Easiest to navigate forum: HB
Most options for users: HB
Easiest on eyes: HB
Best administration: HB
Best user population: HB
Best signal:noise ratio: HB
Most useful information: HB
Best layout: HB
EspressoMyEspresso.com - 2000-2023 - a good run, its time is done

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Chert
Posts: 3532
Joined: 16 years ago

#35: Post by Chert »

I was thinking today about how these threads on HB have really taken my coffee and espresso fascination beyond what would have ever happened in a WWW-less world.

I know many people are responsible for the sites quality and exchange of ideas.

But I just want to say thanks to Dan Kehn and to anyone else who got it off the ground and continue to keep it alive! That includes the sponsors.

Readers like me might be interested in a summary of how it began almost 7 years ago it appears. (Feedback is welcome! - very early thread?) Let me know if such a piece is already out there.
LMWDP #198

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HB
Admin
Posts: 21981
Joined: 19 years ago

#36: Post by HB »

Thanks for the kind words. :D
Chert wrote:Let me know if such a piece is already out there.
I don't think it's readily linked anywhere, but this About Home-Barista.com explains how this site got going. Frequently I think about how many people through acts small and large led to what's simply known as "HB" in online espresso circles today. It wasn't that long ago that when someone mentioned it by that moniker on CoffeeGeek, the response was "What's HB?" :lol:

PS: The thread you linked was the first public thread; the others before it were tests only.
Dan Kehn

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yakster
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Posts: 7319
Joined: 15 years ago

#37: Post by yakster »

Dieter01 wrote:I've got a few hobbies and enjoy using forums to meet people with similar interest. Some of those forums are quite popular and have a large number of users. I regularly get annoyed that they are so cluttered and poorly organized though. This is the forum to measure all others to, Dan does such a great job administrating!... Thank you for an excellent arena to discuss espresso Dan! :D
I second this, Dan does a great job, even taking the time to split topics off, when necessary, so that each thread stays relevant, and updating FAQs and Favorites so it's easier to find the gold in the threads when your looking for something in particular.

Thanks, Dan for a great site!
-Chris

LMWDP # 272

mitch236
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Posts: 1231
Joined: 14 years ago

#38: Post by mitch236 replying to yakster »

I'll third this, as Dan will also delete posts made by loved ones who think it would be funny to post "something amusing"!!

Thanks Dan!!

chachi
Posts: 49
Joined: 12 years ago

#39: Post by chachi »

Just wanted to say thank you to all who contribute here...especially those of you who have for a very long time.

As a life long tinkerer and espresso lover (since our honeymoon trip to Tuscany in 2006), my recent Silvia/rocky purchase is proving to be one of the more humbling/time sucking experiences in recent memory. There is so much information here that any new machine buyer should have to come here and read all they can for a week, and then take a week off to digest it.

I had a small epiphany yesterday and all of the information I read here (and linked to from here) finally started to become more clear. The best part was that what I finally came to realize was an incredibly simple concept...but I wasn't able to see it until I stepped away from everything (read: My espresso machine and the Internet) for a while.

I decided to heed all of the "dude, check your beans" commentary and go in search of a known entity here in Austin. I decided to try out Houndstooth, the latest spot I have heard about. The word was they served Black Cat (something seemingly mentioned in every Silvia thread) and figured I needed to set a baseline and that was it. Turns out they don't serve intelli beans anymore, but I was able to try both espresso offerings, one of which I liked very much (counter Culture's Rustico).

Long story short, it dawned on me that that the real purpose of the espresso machine is to be part of the baseline. Everything exists at the barista's disposal simply to make everything as repeatable as possible, save the beans. The grinder is the throttle, nothing else. Sheesh. I love the moments in life where I realize I am a dumbass.

So, thank you. Thanks for hanging around here for so long, helping all of the dumbasses that have come before me and are sure to come after. I know it can't be easy to see the same questions asked over and over. Rest assured that while my espresso still is only slightly more worthy of consumption than a sink shot, you have helped someone see the light a little bit.

Thank you

-Jason
Jason

rahimlee54
Posts: 4
Joined: 12 years ago

#40: Post by rahimlee54 »

Hi guys around a month ago I joined and got in contact with a member here at HB to get a nice espresso setup going here at home. My wife was pushing me hard on this so I did what usually takes me a couple of months in a couple of weeks. It was pretty painless once I got together with Mike, who pointed me in the right direction. I ended up with a nice lightly used compak k10 wbc and a silvano. After all the totals were in I had doubled my projected budget, which is about par for myself, but I'll probably never upgrade grinder and the only reason I'd upgrade my machine is so I can plumb it and get top end milk performance. I'd also like to give a node to chriscoffee, I had a couple of issues which after some back and forth they took care of, I'd buy from them again. The coffee is pretty good and I am still learning all the time, but I am getting very good results with few throw away shots. I thought today would be a good day to post since I made what I am calling a semi-heart.



Thanks for all the info and if you guys are in need of advice on what to buy I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Mike.

I hope to be able to pass on anything I learn at some point, because this place has been very valuable to me with the search.

Thanks
Jared