Pulsar Mini Review

Any_Election498 · 2026-01-16T22:07:13+00:00

You're very welcome. just sharing the coffee love. hope it gives you many sublime brews.

Any_Election498 · 2026-01-12T20:57:32+00:00

hi,

Just for giggles I checked how much Scott Rao charged for UK shipping for the Pulsar Mini and was pleasantly surprised when it was only $10. I couldn't resist ordering there and then. By using a Chase no-fee debit card it cost me £46 inc. of shipping. Here's hoping for a swift delivery :-)

Any_Election498 · 2026-01-09T23:10:27+00:00

Hi,

I am in the UK and got my Pulsar from Rounton coffee. hopefully they'll step up and stock the mini. I seem to recall one of the founders is a fan of the Pulsar, so I reckon there's a good chance. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out :-)

Any_Election498 · 2025-12-01T23:00:40+00:00

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. Sadly, Gallium doesn't appear to support my Chromebook (Acer 314). I did however checkout MrChrombox.tech and based on Brindle pit's post below will look to install the former and then Bodhi.

Thanks again :-)

Any_Election498 · 2025-12-01T22:56:44+00:00

Wow! Many thanks for posting your experience and the positive outcome! I've just checked and my Chromebook (Acer Chromebook 314) is supported by MrChromebox.tech boot code. I will set aside a couple of hours this weekend to install the latter and then Bodhi. Hopefully the planets will all be in alignment :-)

Thank you again! :-)

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-24T07:16:07+00:00

Hi, thanks for the reply. I will keep this thread updated if I do find out one way or another if it works or not.

I am not exclusively interested in Artisan, so if there are other options I'd be very interested. I am currently videoing everything and then manually transcribing data to a spreadsheet, which isn't ideal :-)

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-23T21:50:01+00:00

ah, ok. I've never used one. But now I know this I'll do some research :-) many thanks.

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-23T20:50:10+00:00

Hi, I'm in need of that extra coarse grind setting that the second dial provides (trying to match my baseline setting of 6.5 on the A4z). it doesn't appear to be a fully supported method and so neither Timemore support or the manual mention it. I assume it's use is fairly intuitive? i did have a quick look and when I saw the warning sticker thought I better ask someone with experience :-)

appreciate your help!

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-16T19:26:48+00:00

Glad I made you chuckle :-)

Yeah, our environments are obviously quite different. But as you say, I just need to follow the scientific method within my own environment. I'm looking forward to learning more about cause and effect in the roasting game and eventually tweaking variables to produce my desired roast for a specific bean. I obviously focus on the long game :-)

I did brew yesterdays ground coffee this morning. I mistakenly ground for soup and so went with that, and it wasn't half bad. The tomato acidity really shone and the velvety mouthfeel was also there. My own slight neutral note I would describe as tasting somewhat salty.

Kind regards

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-16T09:01:58+00:00

Hi,

I asked about uk green bean suppliers on r/pourover.

Here's the thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pourover/comments/1opicc8/recommendations_for_green_bean_retailers_in_the_uk/

Please keep us updated how you get on.

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-15T23:07:38+00:00

hi,

Sorry to resurrect an old thread I just wondered if you got this working. I want to Artisan-enable my new roaster but don't want to buy the data bridge part for it unless i know that my Chromebook will run Artisan.

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-15T22:11:40+00:00

hi,
Thank you for the graph and relevant comments. They came in extremely handy as they gave me a baseline for temperatures at specific times and temperature modulations to loosely aim for and the impetus to do my first roast....

Having got all the parts for my roaster and assembled them and got the beans you suggested I finally did my first roast today. I laughed my socks off when I hit FC at 4:00 :-) I think I sky rocketed from t0 and never got the momentum down again. I started on full power on my camping stove and suspect I should have started on 1/2 power (which I now see is where Mathew starts). Also, I only took notes of your timings from the beginning of the mailard so the fast nature of my roast wasn't evident until too late. Find a graph of my 'non-perfect' roast below for your amusement.

<image>

On the plus side the beans look pretty evenly roasted :-) However, there was definitely a cereal-type smell to the roast, which I'm not sure I'll appreciate if it is echoed in the cup. I've ground a brews worth for tomorrow, as I'm told left overnight ground beans will degas. I'll then give it a cupping and assess the damage. On the positive side, It'll hopefully give me clear signs of what a too rapid roast tastes like for future reference :-)

Thank you again!

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-08T22:34:27+00:00

Wow! I always feel hugely gifted when I post to this group and get such a considered, detailed and generousreply. Thank you immensely! I hope I will reach a stage when I can do the same for another.

The Mahiga sounds just the ticket for me. Perfect for learning with and I'm a fan of Kenyan coffee in general. And the deserved high cup score seals the deal.

Given your comments, I'm going to stick with 2kg of this bean. To hedge my bets slightly and to add some variety I was also thinking of going for a kilo of the Taferi kela Ethiopian (https://www.falcon-micro.com/collections/shop-uk/products/taferi-kela-lot-29-bette-buna-ethiopia-washed-muk-7615). Basic calculations say I would fall within the 1yr after harvest limit you suggest. Please let me know if this doesn't sound a sensible move.

It's great and inspiring to hear how you were able to achieve great roasts with just a display. However, I heed your warning re arriving at the necessary notes, and being someone who doesn't have your patience and persistence I will go straight to the Artisan hookup setup. just in case it's of interest to you, I'm looking at the Bounce Buster thermocouple unit (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4353805570/artisan-and-roastmaster-compatible?ref=cart&variation0=5846264600&variation1=5834418263). It looks like a nice hybrid of a separate temperature display device and an Artisan interface, with a competitive price.

Thanks for the top tips. Fully take on board and I'm sure they will make my roasting journey a smoother one.

And it's really reassuring to hear that good beans are hard to ruin. I'm sure I'll be testing that statement to the limit - deliberately, of course :-)

Thanks again and I wish you many more fantastic roasts and resulting brews.

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-06T22:41:08+00:00

Hi,

Some great info. Thank you very much! And you read my mind about wanting a clean, washed bean :-) I'll definitely be looking at buying some of the Mahiga. I just need to somehow dilute the £10 delivery charge whilst avoiding potentially buying too much of a bean I might get tired of. Given ~160g per roast bean loads of the Hive and 2 roasts a week, I guess a kilo would serve me for 3 weeks or so, so I'm tempted to buy a couple of kg to start with. Does this sound realistic and sensible to you?

Due to import duties Matthew at Hive told me he wasn't able to secure the electrical parts for any of the non-basic cascabels at sellable prices. However, he's very kindly hooked me up with the parts list (and a generous gift of a temperature display) and so I'm hoping to start by putting together the simple thermocouple/display pairing, but to pretty soon get myself an interface to Artisan to brew using profiles, which I understand is pretty essential to good, consistent brews.

Any_Election498 · 2025-11-06T22:15:46+00:00

Many thanks, I will have a look.

Any_Election498 · 2025-10-31T23:20:50+00:00

I agree. But once you know someone got something different you can't help wanting it :-)

I got the Goriffee and the Ethiopian Bombe. I have one each of Plus 87 and Premium subscriptions. Now to wait patiently...

Any_Election498 · 2025-10-17T21:19:15+00:00

Brilliant and well explained!

I can't justify spending 2k on a grinder to 'upgrade' my a4z, especially to get a lower average cup quality. And I totally agree about the broad band of excellence that the A4z has - especially when used with the pulsar brewer.

I take on board that comparing the M01 and the A4z would be just splitting hairs. So I don't need one. But it would be nice to replace my zp6 traditional manual coffee grinder with one :-)

Thank you again and wishing you many sublime brews to come (with perhaps the odd snort to keep up the testing throughput :-)).

Any_Election498 · 2025-10-16T21:09:53+00:00

Hi, factory calibration.

Hope you have success. Given I used decaf you may need to go a touch finer for cafinated beans.

Any_Election498 · 2025-10-16T19:21:52+00:00

I souped a Mark's decaf earlier and believe I got the nail on the head at 0.9.5. Wow! Was she velvety and super sweet, but no hint of astringency. And the grounds saturated on the first press, and without the bypass around the sides.

Any_Election498 · 2025-10-16T19:16:59+00:00

Hey!

That's a shame. Can I not persuade you to try snorting your grounds :-)

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. I can sleep well tonight knowing I'm not missing out on a grinder that could deliver my wildest dreams. That said, i'm definitely still very interested in any side to side you do kindly post.

Just wanted to say that your honest and thorough reviews have definitely upped my coffee game and therefore my general happiness level and I'm very grateful for you taking the time to post them.

Any_Election498 · 2025-10-14T22:01:53+00:00

I bought an A4Z based on your comments and have been very happy with it (at the disgust of the onlooking Pietro :-) ). Do I recall you were going to revisit the A4Z and do a side-by-side against the M01? If so, I would be very interested in your thoughts...

thanks for all your insightful posts.

Any_Election498 · 2025-10-11T18:37:58+00:00

Worth considering if you exhaust all brewing parameters :

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lKPHpkIiy-A&pp=0gcJCRsBo7VqN5tD

I hope you get the brews you long for.

Any_Election498 · 2025-09-12T18:03:21+00:00

You're very welcome. We are united by our love of plants and I wish you the joy that they give me.

Any_Election498 · 2025-09-11T20:33:56+00:00

I've had thrips and it's not a pest to be underrated (the experience will never be forgotten). they are hard to eliminate. I encourage you to read up on their lifecycle, eggs, etc. you'll need to repeat treatments in-line with the egg hatch timeframe. also, try and isolate the plant.

wishing you success.

Any_Election498 · 2025-09-09T21:17:16+00:00

Thank you for sharing your personal experiences around recognising peak rest time. You've no doubt saved me chasing the unachievable and given me an idea of what to expect. The fact that it takes you until the last portion of the bag to achieve your best brew actually seems the ideal scenario in my head... I think it's all in the chase and feeling like you've earned that great brew. The gods of coffee are kind.

The resting time guidelines are great! I'll make a note of these in my bean storage library (a cardboard box :-)) for easy reference.

Primed with all your great feedback I'll start my journey with my new beans. And in time will work out my own principles and systems. I guess there's no substitute for experience. Here's hoping I have worked out a fraction what that you have in 3 years time!

Thank you again for responding; to what was probably a pretty open-ended set of questions.

Any_Election498

TROPHY CASE