My apologies - fixed.The other link didn't work.
They also sell them at Bed Bath & Beyond, and you can often find 20% off coupons for that place.
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Espresso Enthusiasts
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They also sell them at Bed Bath & Beyond, and you can often find 20% off coupons for that place.
It's not super-high-end, but it's a very nice grinder for a reasonable price. It doesn't spill grounds everywhere, it is consistent, you can remove the hopper while beans are in it, and so on.Looks like a nice burr grinder with plenty of settings. I have an Amazon Prime account which looks to save about $50. Also, I have a friend who works at BB&B and she can get me an employee discount too.
There are far better grinders, but none I know of in the price range of this one. I've had it for almost 2 years, and it's worked well for me. However, there might be even better recommendations in this list.
Looks like some good coffee. Lavazza is very popular and has a great reputation. I'm really interested in reading your impressions of the coffee!
First, Hi and welcome to the thread of total coffee insanity!
And since you mentioned a hand grinder, take a look at this...it's too amazing both aesthetically and mechanically.
We'll keep working on SBG to get a grinder. He has a good palate, and will notice the difference immediately! He is, of course, right that if you're going to get a grinder, especially for espresso grinding, the cost is significant. A grinder for press or drip can be an inexpensive one...but if you're going to use it for espresso...it definitely costs for one with adequate adjustments for fine tuning extraction time.
I'm still waiting for my birthday present to arrive...
Oh, gee...and I was planning on a really nice bag of Starbuck's coffee. I guess I'll have to start saving now...after all, it is I who pushed the grinder, so it's my responsibility!
RIGHT!
I thought I had established, somewhere in this thread, that I didn't really care for Starbucks coffee that much. That of course, unless, I mask it in an espresso-based drink like a latté or cappuccino.
So, you're still on the hook for the aforementioned grinder!
I thought I had established, somewhere in this thread, that I didn't really care for Starbucks coffee that much. That of course, unless, I mask it in an espresso-based drink like a latté or cappuccino.
So, you're still on the hook for the aforementioned grinder!
Oh, silly me! I completely forgot about the Starbuck's thing! (You know how it is with the elderly!)
I'll get on the grinder thing immediately...if you promise to hold your breath while standing on one leg until it arrives...it should all work out just fine then.
I've had this one! (Though not in my current location, but here, in addition to the more standard LavAzza, I can also buy really good Illy, - a steal at almost 10 per tin - and I do).
Anyway, LavAzza is indeed very good, but the quality does vary a little depending on the precise product offered. Re the LavAzza Tierra - I had it last year in Georgia (Caucasus Georgia, that is) and it was actually quite excellent. I will forebear to mention the price I paid for a few tins - and indeed will not mention either the cost of the French-made French press I bought at the same time in which to make the coffee...... (Well, in common with every else who posts in this thread, I like my coffee, and few sacrifices are too great for a decent brew in a godforsaken part of a distant country). Suffice to say that pot and tins (both of which were left behind as a farewell gift to my superlative and deeply grateful staff) cost well into three figures......
Anyway, this is one of the better offerings from LavAzza; I can confirm that it is really good.
Sounds really good. I am interested in learning what it tastes like, and indeed, what they actually offer.
Just be aware: the beans are whole. I've got one of these to grind it, and it works well, although I'm sure the posters on this thread would be split between "too expensive" and "not good enough".
To be fair, I've also got this for travel, and it works well too at about 1/7 the cost - it just takes longer.
Two very interesting links; for now, neither are applicable, but I can certainly ponder them for the future.......
Just be aware: the beans are whole. I've got one of these to grind it, and it works well, although I'm sure the posters on this thread would be split between "too expensive" and "not good enough".
To be fair, I've also got this for travel, and it works well too at about 1/7 the cost - it just takes longer.
That Breville grinder looks nice...I looked at it on Amazon. I had a Breville espresso machine for a while, and thought it excellent for the price. Breville has a good reputation for well priced, well made, equipment.
Do you find your travel hand grinder gives you a good grind for espresso, or do you use it for press or drip only?
That's good to hear! I basically went to the site last night and went to the brew coffee section and sorted by most popular (or something like that) and this brand appeared as the top choice. So I figured that I would order it and see how it goes.
Prior to that, I was looking around at http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com again, where I had purchased the Black Cat espresso coffee a few months back. I looked at their brew stuff and saw that it was all flavored type coffee and that made me leery of ordering anything. That's why I went to Whole Latté Love instead.
I'm sure the flavored coffee from http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com is good, but I'm afraid to spend a lot of money on flavored coffee. (A lot of money being relative to local, regular coffee prices). If they had regular non-flavored blends, I'd be more willing to try it.
But I'm not closed to the idea of trying their flavored stuff. I would love to hear someone's first-hand experience with some of them, and I know someone in this thread has, so I would have an idea where to start. There are a lot of choices with descriptive, yet vaugue, flavors and I am lost in it all, not knowing what to choose as a starter.
No, my quest has been for non-flavored coffee and have avoided the flavored stuff. Perhaps I am mis-understanding something here.
I think you will enjoy the LavAzza Tierna, I certainly did and so did my staff when I used to make coffee for us most mornings.
On this thread, oh, a number of months ago, and many, many pages ago (was it 25 or so?) I recall two rather good sites which were referenced where one could buy ethically sourced, high quality single estate coffee beans which could be sent to one's home......has anyone any idea of 1) what page I might find these references on or better 2) if we none of us suffer from memory loss, can anyone actually remember these names and/or links?
This time, I shall remember to write them in my (paper) diary (yes, I still use one - actually two - of those; invaluable, in fact, and used daily; my silly antique Lenovo keeps putting wrong dates and times for meetings....)
One of my colleagues has an adoring spouse, who personally selects and orders premier quality (single estate) coffee beans to their home, either gets them roasted or roasts them herself (this detail was inexplicably unclear), grinds them, (or gets them ground) and despatches them - weekly - to where we are. His benign expression of insufferable smugness as he described this weekly ritual had a number of us speechless with envy. "She really loves you," I told him. "Of course she does," was his unblushing reply.
On this thread, oh, a number of months ago, and many, many pages ago (was it 25 or so?) I recall two rather good sites which were referenced where one could buy ethically sourced, high quality single estate coffee beans which could be sent to one's home......has anyone any idea of 1) what page I might find these references on or better 2) if we none of us suffer from memory loss, can anyone actually remember these names and/or links?
This time, I shall remember to write them in my (paper) diary (yes, I still use one - actually two - of those; invaluable, in fact, and used daily; my silly antique Lenovo keeps putting wrong dates and times for meetings....)
One of my colleagues has an adoring spouse, who personally selects and orders premier quality (single estate) coffee beans to their home, either gets them roasted or roasts them herself (this detail was inexplicably unclear), grinds them, (or gets them ground) and despatches them - weekly - to where we are. His benign expression of insufferable smugness as he described this weekly ritual had a number of us speechless with envy. "She really loves you," I told him. "Of course she does," was his unblushing reply.
Was it any of these?
http://www.sweetmarias.com/index.php
http://www.borealcoffee.ch
http://www.borealroasters.ch
http://www.carasso.ch
http://www.hasbean.co.uk
http://silverbridgecoffee.com
http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com
http://www.vervecoffeeroasters.com/collections/coffee
http://www.bluebottlecoffee.com/t/categories/coffees
http://www.ritualroasters.com/store
http://www.wholelattelove.com
https://www.philsebastian.com
http://www.caffefresco.us/index.php
http://www.metropoliscoffee.com
http://redbirdcoffee.com
http://www.ccmcoffee.com
http://www.coffeegeek.com
http://www.home-barista.com
Then there is this post of yours. https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17044259/
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No, my quest has been for non-flavored coffee and have avoided the flavored stuff. Perhaps I am mis-understanding something here.
Sorry, I must have misunderstood.
I was responding to this...
For what it's worth, as SBG listed, I get my green beans from http://www.sweetmarias.com. They have an incredible selection of single source beans, and as a bonus, treat the farmers with great respect.
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I'll clarify. I'm leery about trying flavor-added coffee, but open to the idea if I see enough trusted, first-hand, testimony about a particular brand. But mostly, I am interested in non-flavor-added blends.
Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to unearth all of this (my post, too); actually, the hasbean site is one of the two I had in mind, so thank you for that; the other - I seem to recall - was an ethical & at times organic US site which promoted dealing directly with the producers, paying them a decent price, and seemed to be able to source varieties that I hadn't come across. Both sites were first mentioned here, (and not by me, as I hadn't heard of them until I came across references to them here)....
An aside to coffee lovers everywhere: I have noticed a proliferation of Nespresso type pods for sale in a great many shops (even to the extent of squeezing tins of decent stuff - LavAzza, Illy etc - almost out of sight...) I can see the convenience of Nespresso, but - sigh - must it replace the sometimes difficult to obtain, and better quality stuff?
Sorry...I misunderstood.
I just supplied the links on the possibility that instead of pre-flavored coffees recommended by others on this thread, the alternative was to flavor your own coffee to see if you like it.
Anyway, sorry again for the misunderstanding on my part.
Thank you, Shrink, for the sweetmarias link; that was another link that I recall. Th website looks fascinating.
(And yes, there was yet another somewhere in the mists of the recent past, that had starter packs, and set of varied coffees that one could sample.....)
(And yes, there was yet another somewhere in the mists of the recent past, that had starter packs, and set of varied coffees that one could sample.....)
This is the only other link I found besides the one I mentioned a few posts ago.
http://silverbridgecoffee.com
http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com
So the coffee arrived this last week and despite it saying that it was for drip, it was ground for espresso. On the side of the tin it said it was "ideal for espresso" and "suitable for drip." Seems like it was a marketing strategy for them to sell it and that is disappointing.
What the order said:
What the tin showed:
I ran it through the drip machine and it worked, but when I cleaned the gold filter the coffee looked more like mud than grounds. haha
As for the taste, it was okay, but had a twang (?) to it, I don't know, that I didn't care too much for. I decided to use it for my espresso-based drinks instead where the milk covers up the twangy taste!
I'm still going back to Tim Horton's brand coffee for drip. It just has a fantastic smell and taste to me and its become my baseline for judging other coffee brands for my own tastes.
So the coffee arrived this last week and despite it saying that it was for drip, it was ground for espresso. On the side of the tin it said it was "ideal for espresso" and "suitable for drip." Seems like it was a marketing strategy for them to sell it and that is disappointing.
What the order said:
Image
What the tin showed:
I ran it through the drip machine and it worked, but when I cleaned the gold filter the coffee looked more like mud than grounds. haha
As for the taste, it was okay, but had a twang (?) to it, I don't know, that I didn't care too much for. I decided to use it for my espresso-based drinks instead where the milk covers up the twangy taste!
I'm still going back to Tim Horton's brand coffee for drip. It just has a fantastic smell and taste to me and its become my baseline for judging other coffee brands for my own tastes.
Well, it was worth a try. Unfortunately, Lavazzo misrepresents their grind.
As you found there is no such thing as ground for drip and espresso. As you well know, espresso is a MUCH finer grind than drip. If one uses espresso grind in a drip machine you tend to get soup. If you use drip grind in in an espresso machine, it will be much too coarse, and the extraction will be much too fast and you get under extracted production.
If Lacazzo says it's for both espresso and drip I don't understand because the grinds are so different.
What I read is that it's "ideal for" espresso, which means it's too fine for proper drip. The grinds for espresso, drip, and press are VERY different. To suggest one could use a grind for espresso AND press is ridiculous. Lavazzo is trying to sell coffee, and what they are saying on the tin is ludicrous. The grinds for the three different production methods is just flat wrong and I'm really surprised and disappointed that Lavazza would claim such nonsense.This is not just me being a picky coffee freak this is basic the grinds are just completely different.
It reminds me of coffees that say they are "espresso roast" on the bag. There is no such thing as "espresso roast" it just doesn't exist. There are names for various darknesses of roast but "espresso roast" isn't one of them.
Anyway you know that you like the Tim Horton, so you're all good.
So the coffee arrived this last week and despite it saying that it was for drip, it was ground for espresso. On the side of the tin it said it was "ideal for espresso" and "suitable for drip." Seems like it was a marketing strategy for them to sell it and that is disappointing.
What the order said:
Image
What the tin showed:
I ran it through the drip machine and it worked, but when I cleaned the gold filter the coffee looked more like mud than grounds. haha
As for the taste, it was okay, but had a twang (?) to it, I don't know, that I didn't care too much for. I decided to use it for my espresso-based drinks instead where the milk covers up the twangy taste!
I'm still going back to Tim Horton's brand coffee for drip. It just has a fantastic smell and taste to me and its become my baseline for judging other coffee brands for my own tastes.
Um, yes. On reading your post, I have just checked the sealed packets of LavAzza in my room, and they show the exact same interesting picture on the packet. Oh well. When I was in the Caucasus, it worked because I used a French press, as I didn't have an espresso pot with me (nor had I the means to hand to make espresso with the espresso pot). Same situation here, alas, (I'm using a French press and a standard electric kettle) although, reading your post, and examining my packets (and the picture of your tin) of Lavazza I'll readily grant that it is a bit rich to try to be all things to all people 'on the tin' as it were.
For what it is worth, my tins of Illy simply say (in Italian and in English) 'ground coffee', which is exactly what is in the tin.......