Chemex - check
Rancilio rocky - check
Chemex unbleached square filters - check
Bonavita gooseneck variable temperature kettle - check
Hario combined scale and timer - check

What could possibly be nuts about that when it makes incredible coffee? Wait til your friend gets into espresso

 

We have a restaurant/brew pub/coffee bar here “Band Of Bohemia” .. they just picked up a Michelin Star. I have never ever tasted espresso like the one I had last time I was there. Espresso maker recco @jimmyd13?

 

$19.99 Llama Wal-Mart said they are for "valentines day" but my dog loves it LOL.

 

It all depends on your budget and how serious you are. You can start at £500 for an espresso machine and go up to £15000. You'll want over £300 for a grinder that's consistent enough to grind for espresso. If you want to make espresso and drip/french press/pour over I always recommend two grinders (because it's a pain in the arse switching grind settings and you lose a fair amount of coffee dialing back in between grinds).

So, if you want the lowest cost entry, either go for the Breville (also branded Sage) barista express; or, gaggia classic (but recently they changed the internals and replaced all the brass fittings with plastic, so not sure if I can still recommend) with a baratza preciso grinder.

If you want to move up a level, for the Americans (because it's American made) I hear lots of good things about the Astra Pro. You can't go wrong with a Rocket or a Linea Mini. But at that point, you're going to be spending more than £4000.

 

Yikes .. I fear Mrs S is already annoyed at the Breville grinder so I think I will enjoy better coffee for now!

 

New iPad Pro since the kids have commandeered my old one

 

Coffee nut myself.


Tried a lot of machines over the years more expensive and cheaper and my personal opinion is the Rancilio silva is the best coffee machine going.

Actually started manual grinding with a ceramic burr Porlex just before each coffee.


And the coffee is even better

 

The Porlex grinder is ridiculously good. It's far better than £200+ grinders at handling espresso grinds, but the amount of work for each cup..!

I had one with me on my tour to Afghanistan years ago. I brought a Handpresso Hybrid:




And a set of Illy "Art Collection" cups:



and enjoyed perfect espresso in Camp Bastion. For half a year, I probably served the best cup of espresso in a radius of 1000+ miles

 

I may need to pick up a handpresso for camping!

 

Camping you need the ( I use on a boat )



https://espressounplugged.com.au/products/rok-espresso-maker

 

I confess I am a bit of a dabbler in the kitchen and decided it was probably about time I had myself a cookbook
Jamie Olivers' 5 Ingredients is right down my street and already have a few meals in mind over the coming week

 

Let us know how you get on - Charlotte bought a copy before Christmas, and I think once I'm back up to eating proper, the recipes within shall be regular dinners!

 

You can always spend £200 then spend another £100 on new seals and cleaner and pull in favours from all directions to get a vintage machine up and running ... I've had this one for months and it's still an ongoing project:

I never got on with the Silvia but that Rocky looks just like the one in my kitchen

 

Certainly will, five ingredients is probably about my max.

Hopefully you are going to be tucking in soon

 

If you want more time with the dogs

 

I can't help but think that this one might not go down so well here ...
My favourite recipe in there does take about three days to make ....

 

Four or fewer certainly worth investigating

 

We got us some cookbooks ... I enjoy the process and the results. Wish I had more time to dig through these.

 

Two pair of good wool socks, not very sexy but man are my toes warm.

 

Finally gave up my Android phone and went back to iphone 8 +. I like IOS much more than the alternative.
64gig in black. Otterbox case on the way.


The salesman in the Verizon store tried hard to sell me add-ons. First he offered $200 off the price of an ipad. I politely declined.
Then he said, "Will you adding the Apple Watch to your purchase today?" I laughed and said as I lifted my left arm to his eye-level
"No, I wear a real watch" and showed him this....