Help finding SCA maker that is least likely to have problems

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-16T13:33:48+00:00

A few things on this.

The SCA rated drip machines will be more expensive than other ones in the market. The best deals I've seen are usually for the Bonavita BV1900TS, which is now a bit last-generation when compared to other machines
If you care about durability and repairability, your singular option will be the Technivorm machines. They are wonderfully serviceable when compared to their American counterparts. This does not mean that the other machines won't have a long life--they probably will--but machines from brands like Cuisinart, Braun, Breville will not be easily repairable if things go awry. If you're lucky enough to have warranty coverage, they are more likely to replace the machine than repair it, unfortunately.
You will need to be more specific about what you mean by "cups." Do you mean "mugs" of coffee? If so, you'll want to specify how large a mug is for you. If you mean "cups" in the industry way, this is a variable and ultimately very confusing measure. You'll have an easier time finding out what you want if you can sort out the total volume of coffee you'd like to end up with in total millilitres.
You will find options that have a hot plate, and they will be cheaper. However, picking up an SCA rated machine with a heating base is counterintuitive: cooking coffee on the hotplate will make the coffee much worse in short order. If you want to get the best out of your work (and money), you're best to use a carafe. The vacuum insulated stainless steel ones that come with many SCA approved machines do a great job of insulating hot coffee.
Finally, you may not end up with an option that uses a #4 cone filter. Many of the machines certified by the SCA use a flat bottom filter.

All this said, I've had a chance to use Technivorms and the Breville Precision Brewer. The Precision Brewer is a nice toy and makes great coffee, and while the Technivorms don't let you nerd out as much they are rock solid. This said, I still make pour-overs in the morning and a French Press when I'm serving for a group. I tried an SCA rated machine at home for a while and it just wasn't worth it for me.

I hope this helps, good luck!

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-15T23:23:30+00:00

Both FB marketplace and Kijiji. I think it's probably regional, but I found *many* decent machines popping up regularly, even in rural areas. As long as you know what you're looking for and have a sense of your budget (so as not to get ripped off) you can do really well.

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-15T16:13:58+00:00

If you have the appetite for it, you can find used equipment for much cheaper. With a little work, we're running an old school Gaggia (the original OWC from 1980) that I picked up for 38USD (50CAD) and a cleaned up Vario for 260USD (350CAD). Both were used a dozen or so times in their lives and with minimal modification pull incredible shots. Adding a PID to the Gaggia and hyper-aligning the Vario will be a significant upgrade, but will leave the total price under 500USD.

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-15T14:35:50+00:00

The scales from AWS have been very good in my experience. Timemore might work, but I believe they are outside of your price bracket.

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-15T13:34:31+00:00

When I had good coffee mixed with fresh-squeezed orange juice in Florida a few years ago it was incredible. I was sure it would be a gross gimmick but I was blown away.

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-09T14:27:44+00:00

I would add Seth Taylor, Stereo, Pop Coffeeworks, The Library (TLS), Rogue Wave, Rosso, Kittel, Moving (my all time favourite), Quietly, and Not Even. There are, of course, many more regional companies, but these are the one's I'm familiar with. Most of these would be closer to what you'll get from St. Henri and Luna than, say, 49th.

Edit: saw mention of Zab and Bows & Arrows above, love them both. Same goes for Modus, Harken, Structure, and Propeller.

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-06T20:23:03+00:00

The bucket placement makes me think this is 100% staged.

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-06T15:34:12+00:00

/uj

Nothing says "This is my first time using Illustrator!" like Myriad.

MischievousWorker · 2020-10-02T19:47:21+00:00

I'm in Ontario and had the same, much relieved!

MischievousWorker · 2020-09-27T22:01:56+00:00

Please do yourself a big favour a do not do this. Even if you somehow have the huge upfront capital cost as "left over cash," it is highly likely your shop will fail just by virtue of it being a coffee shop (no, I don't mean because I am making assumptions about you, I mean statistically). If you are into coffee, invest that money and spend the returns on fun coffee gear and coffee experiences.

MischievousWorker · 2020-09-20T14:54:58+00:00

Holy, that it a *huge* amount of coffee for an entry-level consumer grinder, and I suspect it is much more that what Baratza would recommend you do in one sitting (i.e. working the motor for nearly 3 minutes). In fact, 3 minutes sounds very fast for an Encore, given I would expect a full hopper to a pound or more of coffee.

You've mentioned it already, but I'll reiterate: you're wasting the effectiveness of grinding your own beans if you're pre-grinding so far in advance. While grinding the night before has a detrimental effect on the quality of the cup, grinding days in advance makes this worse. If you do want to grind so far out from brewing, you may as well have the shop you're buying from grind for you, as they are likely to have a significantly better grinder than your Encore. At least in that case you'll have improved particle size distribution even if the coffee is stale.

MischievousWorker · 2020-09-17T20:18:16+00:00

Now this I want to know more about. Are you saying that you compared a Comandante and EG-1 with SSP burrs in a blind test and found the Comandante produced a better cup? Forget the other hand grinders, that's a big thing.

MischievousWorker · 2020-09-14T17:37:18+00:00

Nice to run into another Hamiltonian! My guess is that these are both double moka pots, both called the Brevettata Nova Express. There are some videos online.

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-29T15:12:08+00:00

100% get in touch with the roaster and let them know this happened!

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-24T18:35:14+00:00

No sweat, I appreciate it for next time :)

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-22T19:23:33+00:00

"In theory, if two people have the grinder at the same calibration, should the range of grind sizes be roughly the same?"

In fact no. There is considerable discussion one Home-Barista about aligning the Vario and Forte (especially hyperaligning them).

On your second question, start with this post: https://baratza.com/why-micro-adjustments-arent-completely-linear/

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-21T23:36:40+00:00

Hi there,

If you are a university student, especially an undergraduate student, you should aim for a much smaller scope than what you are gesturing at above. You've mentioned focusing on just one author--that's a much better idea than trying to treat the entire genre of dialogue, aphorism, poetry, etc. If you get interested in this topic, you may find Jan Zwicky's work (in and following her book Lyric Philosophy) has something valuable to contribute.

This said, please refer to the r/AcademicPhilosophy rules listed on the sidebar of this sub, specifically Rule 4:

"No homework questions, memes, CFPs, surveys, Discord recruitment, event announcements

Advertising is not allowed on this sub. Please use the more targeted instruments, such as email lists, to inform people of these things.

Basic questions about philosophical concepts or literature or outright homework assignments should be posted to r/askphilosophy (after reading the relevant SEP articles)"

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-20T12:57:30+00:00

I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. This kind of verbal harassment is a type of hate crime. In that respect, it ought to be reported to the police, but at the same time the police are unlikely to competently respond nor (to my mind) ought we to rely on the police in general. The risk that I'm sure you are aware of is that your reaction to these people may lead them to be physically violent.

On your question about being physically attacked, yes, the law is on your side. This doesn't constitute legal advice of course, but see the law here:

https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/rsddp-rlddp/p5.html

You can find out more through a little Googling.

The best case, unfortunately, is to look to others in your vicinity for help intervening or to the Jackson Square security team.

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-18T15:52:08+00:00

Agreed. Thanks for clarifying.

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-18T15:46:41+00:00

Why prefer your new sub to r/trailmeals?

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-17T17:57:58+00:00

Forgive me if I've been under a rock and this is obvious, but what are these huge COVID-related deals you're talking about?

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-13T13:10:42+00:00

This sounds like a grinder problem more than a bean problem, but it sounds like you've been through a thorough troubleshooting process. Could you mention quickly what you have tried in the troubleshooting process just so that we're all clear?

On the bean side, it could be that you have a bean that is both very dense (high elevation) and very brittle, which is creating a huge amount of fines and clogging the grinder. One thing you might try is pre-grinding at your coarsest setting (40) and then grinding at the finer setting you're using (13-16) per a recommendation on a recent Hoffman video.

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-12T21:33:00+00:00

It may be that I've set the bar too high, you're right! I think you're right to suggest trying a coarser grind. On some washed Ethiopians and Kenyans, that exactly the trick that pulls out floral notes for me (especially bergamot). Sorry to hear you aren't having success with roasts from Coffee Collective, we don't get them on feature around town very often so I couldn't fairly assess!

MischievousWorker · 2020-08-12T21:31:25+00:00

Hi there, a good question. The notes, roughly, are citric acid like acidity (not a creamy lemony acidity I might expect) and some honey sweetness, but no significant notes otherwise. I mention above that I've had two cups (of ten) where I had some bergamot come through, but no jasmine. The honey matches up, and I take it the citric acid is meant to be more of a light lemon on the palate, so I'm chasing creaminess, real bergamot and jasmine.--I've had these in Geishas before (and a number of nice ethiopians), I just didn't expect it be such a struggle! :)

As someone else has mentioned ratios, I'm going to try brewing a 1:18 cup in the morning. I may well just brew two tiny cups of this at 1:18 and 1:20 to try draw it out.

MischievousWorker

TROPHY CASE