Hi peoploids,

Decided to stop lurking and speak out....

Just got a Philips Saeco Poemia as an introduction to home espresso....been on Aeropress before, with some explorations with pourovers (V60), french press (Bodum), moka pot (Ikea) and turkish (old beat-up steel pot). So far only pulled a half-dozen or so shots.... still experimenting on technique.

I expect quite a number in this forum have had much more experience in using the Poemia or other pressurized portafilter espresso machines; was wondering if you could share your "recipes"....

So far my favourite is:
- 12gm Mister Coffee Classic, ground to fine salt texture on an FeiYing/YangChia/xxx 600N
- flattened (with minimal pressure, definitely not tamped) with the supplied plastic scoop
- 70ml output, in about 30sec

Tried, but less favourable:
- holding the portafilter in its "cocked" position for the first few seconds, to build up the pressure
- increasing the dose to 14gm
- not flattening out with the scoop, but just levelling off (similar technique to moka pot)

I'm a cafe latte person for the most part, but my wife is more a long black/americano.

Anyone interested/tried home roasting? Getting green beans is tough though.....

You can try Mister Coffeel. They are Johor based but courier for free throughout the peninsula for orders above RM60.Their espresso blends go from RM 30 to RM 49 for 500gm. I'm happy with the freshness although they don't stamp the roasting date; I'm getting lots of bloom when doing pour overs and good crema with my new Poemia.

You should be getting the beans very soon... these guys are crazy fast in fulfilling orders.

Would be interested to know your impressions once you try it out. My current favourites are their Royal & Classic blends.

You brew with a moka right? What's your technique? That was my go-to method using an Ikea pot, but can't seem to 100% remove that slight "burnt" taste.

What I used to do:

- grind to slightly above fine table salt level
- fill the filter to a slight dome... no tamp
- start with room temperature water
- gas stove at medium
- stop the brew just as it blonds by immersing the bottom of the pot in cool water

I usually ended up getting about 210-240ml of strong coffee.

Thanks for sharing... will crack out the moka & try out your technique.... I still appreciate the moka because it has a high yield (yes I'm cheapskate) & brews six shots in one go.

If you like a medium bodied coffee you might like using an Aeropress. That is my go-to for long blacks.

Still experimenting with the Poemia for lattes... haven't nailed down the recipe yet.

Anyone tried an Arduino-based hack (for PID mostly) in this forum?

Try Mister Coffee at http://mistercoffee.com.my/buynow/index.ph...&product_id=113

hmmm.... this is my second post pointing to this vendor. Need to see if they give any introducer incentive.... heh heh....

Mmm... can you elaborate?

Are you looking for the filter mechanism? High probability you can find it at those shops in Brickfields selling quality steel cookware.

Are you looking for the coffee beans?

Are you looking for restaurants that serve decent indian-style coffee? I like what Saravana Bhavan serves (Bangsar branch, not sure about the rest).

Robusta is what we use as kopitiam coffee here, right? Serious caffeine high if so.

I notice the beans from Ikea are a blend of arabica & robusta. When a batch comes in fresh they are nice. Too bad it looks like they only restock every 6 months or more. Dirt cheap beans; good to try cold drip/brew.

Me! Me! Got mine at GM Wholesale City Klang for less than RM 300,from what I can remember.

Dunno woh.... I read some blog review on the grinder some time back and it was mentioned that it could be found at GM Wholesale City. I attended a course at Shah Alam and decided to try my luck to see if I could get one. It's sold by a shop on the 4th floor.... Luxury Composite.... dealing with restaurant equipment.

The number to call to check :+60178718138 or +60333251713.

Based purely on the photo of the burrs, they look identical to the flat burrs in the FeiYing/Feima/whatever 600N.

Anyone here have an Akira? Wanna try a grind-out?

Gut-feel I would agree with you. That being said, I've been using the 600N for everything from French Press to Aeropress/pressurised portafilter to even Turkish with results good enough for me. My biggest complaint is the retention. I would expect the Akira to have the same problem.

Just got a Skerton as an off-site alternative. Really time-consuming grind! Two minutes for just 12gm..... need to look into that electric drill mod....

What.... is that?!

Absolutely intriguing......

Coffee beans (MisterCoffee, Antipodean mainly) = RM20 to RM32 per 250gm ... let's say on average RM27 per 250gm

normal double shot (75ml yield) I use 13gm, so that works out to be RM1.40, not inclusive:

- water
- milk
- electricity

I have problems packing in more than 15gm into the Poemia (53mm) pressurised portafilter. At 15gm it's a full dome already... people say that you are not supposed to hard tamp a pressurised, so how to fit so much grounds?

Furthermore, even at 15gm I seem to get some overextraction/bitterness. When I increase the grind size, I seem to reduce the body. For me, 13gm at the grind setting I use gives a nice balance.

I was hoping to get some advice from people who have been using the Poemia for a while on how to max out the taste. Lately I've been holding the portafilter in the "locked" position until the coffee begins to dribble out, which seems to increase the infusion time by a couple of seconds; however along with the increase in body, a bit of bitterness creeps in (which in a latte/macchiato is well controlled).

Now I'm seriously considering hacking the machine (and thus voiding the warranty) and piece together a PID controller to keep the temperature more consistent throughout the brew cycle. This involves a HUGE learning curve for me, as I have never done that serious an electronics project before.

Poemia & other single boiler pressurized gurus, please advise.

Hi amirasri89,

As you have noticed, there's lots of methods to brew a very good cup of coffee :

(cheapest equipment)
- pourovers
- moka pot
- Aeropress
- syphon
- espresso machine
(most expensive)

Also, you need to seriously consider a grinder, either a manual (cheaper) to a electric (from slightly more expensive to way crazy).

These days you can try most of these brew methods at the better artisan cafes before you fork out big(ger) bucks. And please don't think cheaper means poorer quality; the best method to savour single origin is unquestionably pourover, which you can technically do using an RM5 filter holder and a pack of paper filters (also costing RM5) both from Daiso.

However, some more experienced coffee "snobs" here may have a different opinion.... heh....

Ah.... effectively you are doing a Turkish coffee. You don't even have to put the grounds in a bag, if you don't mind letting them sink to the bottom then you don't drink the last part.

I am in the midst of convincing my office to get a superautomatic espresso machine (yay!!). It's a very small office (in terms of staff & physical area) and as expected the budget will be miniscule.

Any suggestions? Of course please suggest something that can easily be purchased in Malaysia (not some legendary brand that has zero representation here).

Much thanks in advance!!

or... or... how about if the beans come from different trees but from the same farm? Would the size of the farm matter? If the farm was on a hillside, couldn't the differing light conditions affect the taste profile?

How anal retentive can us coffee geeks get?

heh heh.....

1) How do they taste? And if positive,
2) Where did you get them?