espresso making mags?

[jono]

I know this flavor. Need to upgrade the travel mug. Obviously there are ceramic ones, but this got me curious about different stainless steels, too. 316L should be better than 303 (aka 18-8), which is cheaper and more common. The Kleen Kanteen stuff in my cupboard says 18/8 and none of the others say anything.

[tgapp]

oh and also i am definitely putting some serious thought into a coffee club. right now i think it would make sense to pick two different coffees and to "fill" slots on them (ie, i have 10 bags available for coffee X, who wants in? roast date is gonna be 2/17). i can tell you why i like them or why i think they're interesting coffees, but i'm also open to people suggesting things they wanna try. i would try to pick one cheaper option and one more expensive option, if there's enough of an appetite for that.

for example:

https://royalcoffee.com/product/3427097000009443909/

and

https://royalcoffee.com/product/3427097000009444143/

would make a great compliment to each other, since one is a "by the numbers" washed ethiopian, and the other is some weird-ass processed sidamo. drinking them side by side (or just having one of them) would be really cool. one is $13/lb and the other is $7/lb - neither are cheap necessarily, but if there was enough interest it could be fun - that $13/lb offering is very easily in the $35/bag range, and coffee club would make it considerably cheaper.

there are cheaper distributors than royal - royal is just really, really good. sweet maria's is perhaps one step down, but for most of us (myself included), their coffee offerings are excellent enough that we'd likely be past the point of diminishing returns - this coffee, for example:

https://www.sweetmarias.com/ethiopia...nisa-6971.html

looks to be solid, and at $6.20 shipped (when bought in 20lb quantity), it's a decent value.

for the real fucking nerds, we could do something like this:

https://royalcoffee.com/product/3427097000010940049/

which might be appealing because my costs are fixed, and so there isn't a proportional increase in my overhead with a much nicer coffee. at $22/lb (green cost) it is NOT cheap, but considering the fact that Dragonfly is selling a very similar coffee right now for $80 for 8oz roasted, it could be an interesting proposition to some of you.

anyway, i'm noodling on this - i would want enough to cover costs and maybe get free coffee out of this (like any good drug dealer), but also to explore the feasibility of actually opening a business. i would not want to make money, not in a real sense. i have a great job.

let me know what you think

^^^Curious how durable those Fellows mugs are? I don't expect to survive a 6 foot drop to concrete, but my wife isn't gentle on things. And I hate the stainless taste.

ZZZ - those mugs are pretty durable, or at least, just as durable as any other double walled mug. i've dropped mine a ton of times, and the biggest consequence is that if they get dented, they lose heat retention and don't stay warm for as long. this is true of all double walled mugs. the ceramic interior is a coating, not solid ceramic - so it won't shatter if you drop them.

[Doremite]

I will seriously consider the flow control kit for my E61. Thanks, T.

I am down w the bean bus. I think for me it would come down to logistics of participation. Personally I would want to go higher end even if just from time to time and I would expect you to skim something out of this. Free coffee at a minimum in my mind. I am paying ~$1-1.25 per ounce now as a general sense of my budget and (household) consume about 3 ounces daily. So I have like a $115/month burn rate. Sometimes better not to do math.

[tgapp]

could I get a mag to design a tgr bean bus logo?

in my mind it would look like a short bus with the words FKNA on it

I'll get a custom stamp made if someone can make a graphic

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[jono]

When you say short bus, you mean like one (back) row, right?

[abraham]

Ha, yeah I pictured a few beans sitting in the back of an otherwise empty short bus.

Also I'm in for the ride.

Interesting about the stainless, I pretty much exclusively drink out of ceramic mugs. Occasionally glass at the office.

[caulfield]

I'll take a seat on the bean bus with whatever logistics. This is a good slice of the internet.

ZZZ, I've never dropped my fellow mug from overhead, but I've dropped it from hand and truck height many times and it's fine. Their skinny one is a bit big for some cupholders, but it works.

[jm2e]

In

Don’t even let us pick. Then we’ll turn into whiny bitches. And you’ve got enough of that to deal with!!
It’s like you’re the artist, and we’re your Patrons. Do what inspires you!

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[Doremite]

In

Don’t even let us pick. Then we’ll turn into whiny bitches. And you’ve got enough of that to deal with!!
It’s like you’re the artist, and we’re your Patrons. Do what inspires you!

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I think this is right. I just trust my local roaster with bean selection and work off their menu. If they just put out one bean option per roasting cycle I would go with whatever they had in stock. I’ve tried a few tgapp roasts and they were super fun and unique. I would take whatever he throws at us.

[MontuckyFried]

Don’t even let us pick. Then we’ll turn into whiny bitches. And you’ve got enough of that to deal with!!
It’s like you’re the artist, and we’re your Patrons. Do what inspires you!

Well said! I'm in too. I won't be picky. Something tells me that even what tgapp would consider his worst effort would most likely destroy just about anything found commercially.

[doebedoe]

Thirded that we'll be whiny bitches. You pick. We pay.

If it makes your life easier logistically -- seems like patreon memberships could manage some of the $/logistics for ya.

[MontuckyFried]

If it makes your life easier logistically -- seems like patreon memberships could manage some of the $/logistics for ya.

Oh! Excellent suggestion! I want it to NOT be a PITA for tgapp. Whatever's easiest for sure. Maybe run it through a gofundme for mags suffering from crippling caffeine addictions?

[tgapp]

cool, you guys rock. i'm gonna put together a basic google form to indicate interest and see what people are into, and then i can work on a proposal

stoked to do this. gives me something to take my mind off of some of the shit in my life rn - really appreciate it.

thanks guys. now if i could get a graphic to turn into a stamp.

[jm2e]

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[Doremite]

cool, you guys rock. i'm gonna put together a basic google form to indicate interest and see what people are into, and then i can work on a proposal

stoked to do this. gives me something to take my mind off of some of the shit in my life rn - really appreciate it.

thanks guys. now if i could get a graphic to turn into a stamp.

Bean Distracted …..just spit balling branding ideas here.

[tgapp]

Bean Distracted …..just spit balling branding ideas here.

I still vote the FKNA short bus, cuz, you know, we're all a little developmentally delayed around here

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[Doremite]

I love bean roasted? Sorry just bean silly.

[jm2e]

I still vote the FKNA short bus, cuz, you know, we're all a little developmentally delayed around here

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I think that could look dope on a coffee bag.
(But so would “I heart titties and coffee!”) haha


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[puma]

Speaking of developmentally delayed...

I was noticing shots were not being pulled as well. Pressure was down on what was a good load and a good tamp pressure. That got me thinking...I seem to remember reading it that manual I glance over upon arrival of the matching something about regular maintenance on the machine? hmm, something I think I forgot about there. Anyway, took the "thingy" (group head?) the coffee "thingy" (Portafilter?) attaches to, and notices a very nice sticky film over it that was surely effecting flow down to the coffee. Yeah...I now notice regular maintenance is a good thing. I look forward to the lunchtime coffee being better (Not that it was bad by any means)...I've also ordered another filter as I'm getting close to that being needed to be replaced.

I am CLEARLY a massive newbie and this was pretty much embarrassing to admit, but I post here in the hopes that maybe I'm not alone. (or maybe I am more than just developmentally delayed...and I am alone in this regular maintenance neglect.) Or at the least, entertainment for you veterans to laugh at my newbness...

[old goat]

There are tablets you can put in the filter that will clean the accumulated oils.

[frorider]

‘Flickin the Bean’ also has TRG roots.

[neufox47]

The Flair 58 arrived today. I’m still a super long way from getting it dialed but I really like it. Only complaint is the the cables for the heater could definitely be better. I’ve never seen so many connections and mandatory “disconnect this before this” instructions.

One interesting thing was just how much finer the coffee for the flair has to be compared to my old Breville. Guessing it is due to the smaller but deeper porta filter on the Breville.

Tgapp I’d be in for some beans.


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[old goat]

My coffee roasting adventure with the beans my son brought back from Yemen has been reasonably successful.
I roasted them in a cast iron skillet--definitely got them to first pop but it was taking a lot longer than You Tube said it would so I quit rather than risk burning the beans. The beans are quite a bit darker and more uniform than the flash-lit photo shows. The important thing is, they espresso tastes just fine. I'll try again after the next time he gets deployed to Yemen, which is hopefully never. BTW, how are the coffee beans in Ukraine?

[tgapp]

My coffee roasting adventure with the beans my son brought back from Yemen has been reasonably successful.
I roasted them in a cast iron skillet--definitely got them to first pop but it was taking a lot longer than You Tube said it would so I quit rather than risk burning the beans. The beans are quite a bit darker and more uniform than the flash-lit photo shows. The important thing is, they espresso tastes just fine. I'll try again after the next time he gets deployed to Yemen, which is hopefully never. BTW, how are the coffee beans in Ukraine?

Looks great man! Well done!

Any of the beans that are SUPER light - like blond colored - should be picked out and discarded. They represent fruit from unripe cherries, which is common for any coffee that is naturally processed (all Yemeni coffees are naturals), and they don't taste good. Otherwise, a cast iron skillet is 100% the OG way of roasting Yemeni/Ethiopian coffee. Very true to form.

Those beans will need a LONG time before they reach their peak. Give it like 10 days (7-8 minimum) after roasting for them to really come into their prime. Yemeni coffee is high-grown and dense as fuck; it needs time to breath/release CO2 after roasting. It'll be fine now but much better with time.

---

I'm still working on a coffee club, I haven't forgotten. The biggest problem is, I buy all of these really fucking cool coffees and then I get selfish and I don't want to share them with anyone! I should probably just buy more of those really cool coffees.

I just got 10#s of this coffee called Bourbon Pointu - it's not decaf, but it naturally has 1/3 to 1/2 of the caffeine of standard Arabica coffees. I'm really stoked to try it out.

Drinking a lot of Kenyan espresso lately. 18.5g in, 30g out, 88 second shot time, 204°f.

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[old goat]

tgapp, thanks for the advice. None of the beans are what I would call blond IRL. The camera lies. I waited for 3 weeks after roasting to start using them.
I'm sorry to say I'm not hooked on roasting my own. Ive got too many other pandemic time sucks as it is. And the pandemic is over.