Haha, I put spent coffee pucks at the shoe area, sprinkle them over my garden as fertilizers and to keep cats from shitting on my grass, expired beans in tea bags and place in car, and also good for wardrobe. Many usage actually

This post has been edited by mel5582: Jan 6 2015, 09:10 PM

I put in my fridge only. Cant tahan the smell of fridge haha. Btw I went to an old kopitiam around my college this morning and saw a menu board which offers espresso based drinks and I am curious what machine they use to make the espresso and milk based drinks and keep peek at the kitchen only saw those old kopi O brewing tools and suddenly I saw this Brevile double boiler box above the soft drinks fridge. then I was like wah need use this high end machine meh cause I guess there are only minority of the customers will order since there kopi 'peng' already very nice. The price of single shot espresso is RM3.50, and for milk based is RM5


This post has been edited by wadthehellz: Jan 6 2015, 11:35 PM

Hi Guys, glad LYN have such thread, anyone of you are cafehoppers?

I personally is a part time barista and love to hop around in cafes, and I love making lattearts and make people smile at their drinks.
not sure anybody has the similar hobby over here?

Wow, your nick name

Anyhow, yeah, I think most have the similar hobby here. Have the skill or not is a different story altogether

Need some help here. I haven't try how a good espresso shot should taste like. I've tried shots that I pulled but comparing to what I read from other articles, I don't think it came anywhere close to what some call a 'god shot'.

My shots taste bitter and sometimes sour, strong bodied yes. What I read was that good espresso shots don't taste bitter or sour at all. Some would put it that the shots should taste like a concentrated scent of the bean, only that it would be tasted with your tongue instead of nose.

I went to some claimed 'good' cafes to try their espresso but they too taste like IMO similar to what I pulled.

So am I alone in this dilemma? I know it'll be length-ly discussion if I go into the details of the process, so I'll leave that out until later. Oh, my brew ratio is usually 30%. Should I take it higher?

This post has been edited by Keng: Jan 7 2015, 11:12 AM

Hi your answer could be various and wide for your shot.
before could be;

1. Sour = insufficient of coffee dose/machine under pressure/tamp too light on the coffee ground & etc
2. Bitter = your coffee ground grind size too fine/overdosed of coffee ground & etc

FYI, commercial espresso machines (9-10 bar pressure), most of the home-use espresso machines (15 bar pressure).

some might be the profile of the coffee beans/blend, but sour definitely not the profile, Acidity is.

But after all the so call "God Shot" can't really define by one person.
for example I like to calibrate the shot has body stronger but my colleague loves his shot higher acidity, but we're both using the same blend. it's a personal preference at the end.

Hope this you would have a clearer picture.

Sometimes I get that too. But most of the time it's dry.



Oh ya. I tried using Aeropress on the same ground (aging) and Aeropress brews better coffee sia. At least I like it that way. On Poemia it's like dull and lifeless while on Aeropress, it's quite chocolaty. Dunno how to describe but smooth and more GAO. Aeropress use almost double the ground though.

Depending on the beans, but bitterness could also be caused by early blonding.. that's why some would updose or grind finer and do a short stop to balance bitterness with acidity.

I've experimented with 16 up to 18 grams. All of them I output to 2oz which gave me approx 30% brewing ratio. There are just way too many guidelines out there and worse is that they're not the same . Some guideline would say use 14gm and stop when achieve 28gm shot for a 50% ratio.

Oh my, that gives me reason to modify my Saeco to pump at 9 bar instead of 15 bar

Hmmm, this does sound like my issue. So the blonde color is what carrying the bitterness? Blonde color can be pretty subjective, I mean it can be blonde for 1 but not blonde enough for another. I'll try my best to pay closer attention at this.

I'm wondering if there's a meetup for forummers on this hobby?

recommended coffee machine for beginner?...hope to learn how to brew different types of coffee and possible latte art.

This post has been edited by jenli_84: Jan 7 2015, 05:06 PM

Actually guidelines are just guidelines.. Most important is the taste. You could even do a 35 seconds extraction and still taste awesome

Early blonding will have a watery, fast flow.. Maybe 15 seconds and you'll see that the yellow is transparent.. This will cause your cup to be bitter and ashy..

Try grinding finer.. I'm doing 12g shots and 32 seconds from pull to finish, including 7 seconds pre-infusion and the blonding just started when I stop. Technically, it's still 25 seconds.. But no blonding in cup, and my espresso weighs 19g.

Remember to taste the shot.. After all, taste is all that matters. If you can work with a certain specified weight of beans, try adjusting other variables like grind size, tamping force, and extraction times to suit it to your taste buds.

Haha, newbies like me is desperate for guidelines for somewhere to begin with. I wanna fall back to the basic, which is espresso coz I'm really curious how most Europeans can drink an average of 8 cups daily. And that Slayer machine test video, the barista claimed it tasted like butter, I just have to taste it for myself , no more milk to cover the imperfection

Can I assume that your 19gm is approx 19ml? I know crema weigh less and takes up more volume.

I'll try a 16gm tomorrow and aim for a 32gm shot, no pre-infusion until I modify the machine in the near future. I guess I should aim for 50% for now and I'll take it from there. Its gonna be a long long journey later.

This post has been edited by Keng: Jan 7 2015, 10:12 PM

try reading
http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/09/coff...-equipment.html

Spend some time watching this at the 7 min mark to 11min.. and the 16-18min mark is good info, 36min mark talks about grinders


This post has been edited by patryn33: Jan 7 2015, 11:42 PM

Here I've documented a few photos of my extraction. 12.1g in and 12.1g into the PF. Extracted to 19g of 25ml espresso within 32 seconds. Pre-infusion at 7 seconds and brew temp within 91c - 92c. Beans used Pacamara P3 blend.

Might have some difficulty to see the weight because its lit up


Attached thumbnail(s)

I tried this morning,

Attempt 1: 15gm in .....none came out LOL
Attempt 2: Coarser, same 15gm in ... 30ml out in like 40s. Very sour lol.

mel's procedure is a ritual. I dun have that much time, grind roughly the amount i know i'll need, dose all (useless doser grinder), finger level roughly nyia, knock to the mat abit to even it out, tamp light, tap pf,tamp firmly until that point I think its okay, pull shot. Done. Kalau timing lari adjust grinder for the next pull. Usually lari because of cofee getting more stale.

Actually my workflow not so complicated la.. I'm just showing the weight throughout. If your grinder has zero retention, it simplifies the whole process.

I normally just weigh the beans, grind, dump into PF and tamp. No need to WDT or anything. Lock and extract.. The key thing is to be consistent, and able to replicate the variables to get the exact cup.

This morning

15gm in, 28gm out in 25s, slightly less than 1oz

Something different is I cut it off when it turned blonde. Taste wise, still sour but more drinkable. When top off with steam milk, it taste more nutty

This post has been edited by Keng: Jan 9 2015, 10:41 AM

Have you tried to extract another 2 seconds? Make it 27 seconds and see what it tastes like..

Tried it again, less acidity. Know what, I realise I mixed up the taste of sourness and acidity. Man, I get confuse with these 2 all the time, I still do.

I think I'm beginning to understand espresso more now, I think. The experience is getting more enjoyable.