Hah! I saw drift immediately, Sam. Every grinder is going to need calibrating sometimes. The process is super duper simple, but I was having to do it every time I used the grinder. The Niche is great, and very well designed. I think this was just an issue of rushing to get product out.

Anyway, It’s just not going to replace flat burrs for me for filter. I’m weird and actually prefer conical for espresso, but I like that flat burr distribution for filter (I grind pretty fine for filter, but I want a different fine, if that makes sense).

Edited December 16, 20214 yr by EdipisReks1

Chemex is sort of special for me and Heather, so Esteban Garcia it is before I go see her for the first time in a month. 16:1. I do the chopstick trick with Chemex. Bloom, draw, then fill to desired water weight.

This is some active coffee! Ground off frozen on the SSP. I seem to have finally gotten a good grind size with Chemex though: usually it’s either slow or fast. I don’t time Chemex.

It’s also a fucking good cup of coffee. Lemon and cream and chocolate for miles. Super clean (Chemex, after all). Chocolate (again). No bitterness. The lemon brightness is not acidic at all. Soft on the palate. Sweet. I’ll miss this coffee when it’s gone. SSP burrs a little coarser than I do V60. 

 

Edited December 17, 20214 yr by EdipisReks1

Making me sad as I sip my K-cup at the office...LOL.

OK...for those other sad souls that are stuck with K-cups at work, etc... I'll offer a few of the ones I prefer.  Sipping Gevalia Columbian and it is good for what it is.  Gevalia's Signature Blend is better IMO. 

My favorite when I can find it is Laughing Man Ethiopian Sidama.  Hugh's Blend and Dukale's Blend and Columbian Huila are pretty good as well.

HS

Maybe get these instead for work 😁

Cometeer - Earth’s First Hyper Fresh Coffee

Edited December 17, 20214 yr by blubliss

I have wanted to try Cometeer, but I don’t really have a use case for even very good instant coffee here at home.

Ode converted to stepless. Super easy. 

On 12/17/2021 at 8:39 AM, HemiSam said:

Making me sad as I sip my K-cup at the office...LOL.

OK...for those other sad souls that are stuck with K-cups at work, etc... I'll offer a few of the ones I prefer.  Sipping Gevalia Columbian and it is good for what it is.  Gevalia's Signature Blend is better IMO. 

My favorite when I can find it is Laughing Man Ethiopian Sidama.  Hugh's Blend and Dukale's Blend and Columbian Huila are pretty good as well.

HS

You lost me at K-cups at work.  UNSAT.  Make coffee at home, put coffee in thermos. Tell K-cup to fuck off, with prejudice. 

1 hour ago, n_maher said:

You lost me at K-cups at work.  UNSAT.  Make coffee at home, put coffee in thermos. Tell K-cup to fuck off, with prejudice. 

Your point is not lost on me.

I wake at 5:30am five days a week and I am not to the point where I make coffee before arriving at the office. No excuses. Just where I am.  

HS

8 hours ago, HemiSam said:

Your point is not lost on me.

I wake at 5:30am five days a week and I am not to the point where I make coffee before arriving at the office. No excuses. Just where I am.  

HS

I solved that by having a grinder, an electric kettle and a french press at my desk, back when that was my schedule.  I'd probably do pourover today.

8 hours ago, HemiSam said:

Your point is not lost on me.

I wake at 5:30am five days a week and I am not to the point where I make coffee before arriving at the office. No excuses. Just where I am.  

HS

Like Dan suggested, there are solutions is brewing at home is not.  Honestly, I'd rather brew the night before and rely on latent heat and a little reheat at work to bridge the time gap than deal with k-cups.  For me it's mostly the insane waste generated by k-cups that rub the most and if no other solution exists for you, maybe get a reusable one and bring good ground coffee in with you.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.  I have a reusable K-cup I've toyed with.  

I have been with my company north of 30 years and always had an office.  Now I work on a trade floor and literally have what I call a 4x2.  One file drawer on rollers.  No excuses as I don't feel the need to apologize.  Just not much space for my things so I keep then in my briefcase that comes in and out with me.

On to our regularly scheduled programming...  Onyx Honduran Edgardo Reyes via the Chemex.  A very nice cup with some tropical fruit notes..some nuttiness and pleasantly sweet.

HS

I'm such a pleb.  I was cleaning out my car, and found some 3 year old coffee from when I went to the office.  Ground.

I tried them.

The Allegro Organic Sierra Espresso was fine.  Tasty even.  I'll finish that, and probably buy some more.

The Wegmans Organic Specialty Espresso was not fine.  I threw it out.

I'm not really tasting anything off with the decaf, but I don't drink that by itself, so I will continue to use it.

I know, y'all are cringing right now.  Sorry.

coffee in a grocery store is often fairly old. You just lose the more subtle flavors as it ages. 

The coffee I bought today was from a grocery store and was roasted on December 12th, but it was not a regular grocery store…

11 hours ago, HemiSam said:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.  I have a reusable K-cup I've toyed with.  

I have been with my company north of 30 years and always had an office.  Now I work on a trade floor and literally have what I call a 4x2.  One file drawer on rollers.  No excuses as I don't feel the need to apologize.  Just not much space for my things so I keep then in my briefcase that comes in and out with me.

On to our regularly scheduled programming...  Onyx Honduran Edgardo Reyes via the Chemex.  A very nice cup with some tropical fruit notes..some nuttiness and pleasantly sweet.

HS

If k cups are what works it’s what works. But I really would look into Cometeer. People I trust say it’s very good for what it is, though it has the same sort of waste issues that a Keurig does. 

Edited December 20, 20214 yr by EdipisReks1

Nespresso has a nice selection of coffees which taste far better than the K-cups, brews the coffee at a higher temperature and they recycle the used K-cups. Friends don't let friends drink K-cups.

Boy did I ask for help...LOL.

Nespresso is a more practical suggestion for me.  I'll do some research.

Separately, I've got a love hate with Onyx Coffee Labs.  They went to a Neiman Marcus style she-she packaging and cut back on the coffee provided.  I stepped away from them for a long while but they put me back on the mailing list and hooked me with their 2021 Advent Calendar.  Damn them...they know how to choose beans and roast them, though.  

Today's morning coffee is an Ethiopian Negusse Nare that's amazing via Chemex.

HS

I'm currently playing mentally with the idea of a spring lever machine.  Since I don't want to move espresso machines between my house and my girlfriend's house twice a week, I'm tempted to get a spring machine for the girlfriend's house.

That seems a very purist option.  Fun.

HS

It's kinda the opposite of the DE, so I'll have covered all the bases.

3 hours ago, grawk said:

I'm currently playing mentally with the idea of a spring lever machine.  Since I don't want to move espresso machines between my house and my girlfriend's house twice a week, I'm tempted to get a spring machine for the girlfriend's house.

The Flair Pro 2 is great for travel.

yeah i’d rather just leave whatever permanently set up 

6 hours ago, grawk said:

yeah i’d rather just leave whatever permanently set up 

Flair 58 is even more wonderful, and it is a permanent device. And you can use all of your 58mm stuff with it. 

I'm 99% going to get a Bezzera Strega.  I just asked whole latte love to price match amazon.

Reviews of early production Eureka Mignon Oro single dose are trickling in. I had been interested in this grinder. I am very happy with the decision to jump on the Niche when they were available. 

Just thankful to have been keeping up with this thread. I had been getting complacent with my Breville, and had been making some admittedly mediocre espresso. As with all the other shortages out there, I had to make a change in beans. This thread inspired me to revisit grind and dose size and tamping pressure, and really got it dialed in this morning. By far the best espresso I’ve made in a long time.