So, what is the difference between coffee blends and Single Origin coffee? Its something that a lot of people are unsure about and also a little afraid to ask about. That's perfectly normal, we often fear the unknown!

Think about a Single Origin coffee as a coffee that is grown in one region, or more specifically, one coffee farm - it is then processed, bagged, transported to the exporter, shipped internationally to arrive at the roaster, to then be unpacked as a raw green coffee bean into a roaster and roasted according to that roasters specific style and specification, too then be packaged up for the customer to enjoy. You then have a bag of fresh roasted Single Origin coffee, sometimes referred to as S.O. Coffee. Popular regions of Single Origin Coffee might be Ethiopia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Kenya, Costa Rica, Indian, PNG. Each Single Origin bean will have its own characteristic, such as;

• Ethiopia and Kenya typically produce very fruity, citrus and bright flavoured beans
• Colombia and Brazil typically produce bold coffee flavours with a great mouthfeel
• PNG (Papua New Guinea) typically produce mild coffee flavours but a great aroma

As you can see, a Single Origin will be very specific in one particular flavour, but that comes at a cost of a balance of flavour. A Master Roaster invests time and experimentation time in to then blending the best coffees from the world to produce a signature blend that might bring the boldness of a Colombian bean, with the aroma and mouth feel of a PNG bean and the highlights of a Kenyan AA bean, all in specific ratios, roasted to their own specific roast profiles to deliver an exceptional cup of coffee.

When you next enjoy your Bay Beans coffee, try and pick the different flavours in the coffee - you can even see in the whole beans as they sit in the hopper, the different sized coffee beans that make up your blend. Compare the flavours to the other Bay Beans varieties and see if you can discover which variety is more pronounced than the other in different ways. As a clue, Espresso Master has more South American beans compared to Forte which has more Central American beans.

I am the very proud Owner of a Giotto Rocket Premium Plus which replaced my earlier version of this same machine in 2013, the Premium (3 versions earlier model). It’s a classic Italian design using a commercial e61 group with gauges for both boiler pressure and extraction pressure. It’s fairly simple and straight forward internally and each new version of the Rocket range carries over much of the preceding design but adds some features. This model added an insulated boiler, plus a second gauge and new materials, and the following model added a PID controller.

This morning, I walked up to the machine, but the machine was cold. Everything appeared ok, as in the green light was on, but there was no boiler temperature and that was indicated on the left hand gauge. If I hadn’t noticed that, I would likely have attempted to extract my morning coffee and received a cold cup!

After removing the top cover held in place with 4 small Phillips head screws and then removing the right hand side cover held on with 4x 7mm hex bolts, I was able to inspect and test the components with the power cord disconnected.

Found the culprit! The heater element measured as open on the multimeter. A good Heating Element for 230v 1200w is 49ohms. An open circuit is just like a blown light globe. Getting the old Heating Element out is not an easy task, a spanner won’t fit in that restricted space and the terminal prongs interfere with a standard 27mm socket, so a long reach socket is required.

At this stage I chose to lay the machine on its left side so the heater Element is facing up. It eliminates the flood of water that would come from removing the heater Element with the boiler at operating water capacity. It’s still a good idea to be aware of water that can evacuate from the bleed valve or the group if that valve is opened in error, which is easy to do.

After removing the connections from the terminals, breaking the initial bond with the socket and driver is somewhat difficult, but once that has been achieved, unscrewing the Heating Element is pretty straight forward. Reinstalling the new Element is the reverse process - particular attention should be paid to the seal around the boiler to the Teflon gasket and the Teflon gasket to the Element, especially at operating pressures.

I chose to keep the Element connectors unplugged after a test run, to allow the boiler water capacity to recharge so the Element is not exposed to the air (low water situation) on the fist power up. After I was satisfied the boiler was full, I cut power, reconnected the terminals and refit the panels.

It was time to go over the machine, install a new group head seal, clean the group head and portafilter with espresso machine cleaner and back flushing.

Mission accomplished!

Its a fair question, how many coffees can I make from a 1kg bag of coffee beans? Stay with me, I am going to break it all down here;

• 1 Kilo of coffee is 1000 grams of coffee, regardless of if it is whole bean or pre ground. 
• a typical shot of coffee is obtained from extracting the espresso from a single 7gram basket

So, based on that very basic principle of 7 grams of coffee per single shot (resulting in 30mls of liquid coffee in the cup), you could make 142 single coffee shots. 

Its not always like that though, some single coffee baskets are 8 or 9 grams capacity - and if you're like me, you rarely use the single shot basket and instead always reach for the double basket. So, now we are up to 18 grams (2 x 9 grams) per coffee. Then there are triple baskets, which have a rating of 21 grams (3 x 7 grams), and people will push the limits to make that 22 or 23 grams of coffee ground per coffee extraction. 

Saying all that, the most common extraction is is from 16 - 18 grams of coffee (2 x 8 grams or 2 x 9 grams). 

So, when you do the math, a double shot could be 16 grams resulting in 62 double shot coffees and a single shot is 8 gram resulting in 124 single shot coffees. If we base it on the traditional 7 grams per shot, and you consider that half of your coffees might be singles, and the other half doubles, we can split the difference to arrive at an average of 94 coffees per kilo of coffee (47 doubles and 47 singles), including an allowance for some wastage - more or less depending on your preference.
 
The main thing to take away here is that coffee flavour, strength and feel is all very personal - it's what makes the difference between a disappointing coffee and an outstanding coffee - with fresh beans, you are in total control; use as little or as much coffee as you like, ground as course or as fine as you like, extracted for as short or as long as you like - perfectly tailored to your own taste!

Caveat: all this assumes you are using an Espresso machine - there are many other ways to make coffee, so if you're using a Plunger, Drip Filter, Pour Over, Percolator, Stove Top, Pressi, Cold Press, Cupping or any of the many other methods, you'll get a different result, and flavour.

I LOVE COFFEE!

Have you been looking for the best quality coffee beans available online in Australia? You're in great company, check out what Bay Beans customers have to say about the quality of our coffee beans, the speed of our service and the impressive customer service. We are proud to bring great quality coffee with excellent customer service for more than 10 years!

In Italy, Espresso is the main form of coffee enjoyed at cafe's and usually drunk standing up at the counter, before getting on with your day. Some Italians will ask for their coffee with a small dot of milk foam, just enough to stain the Espresso, called Macchiato - ordered easily here in Australia almost anywhere, though it usually ends up resembling a Piccolo Latte (small strong latte), with too much milk added to be a true Macchiato. At the end of the day, I am not too concerned with what the drink is named, its just helps in getting what we imagined might be delivered. 

Another popular coffee, the Capuccino is easily ordered in Italy, but it is considered a morning drink and very rarely ordered in the afternoon. 

Decaf is well known and easily ordered in Italy, however a Frapacinno will be met with a blank stare. Italians don't usually add sugar to their coffee and do not add syrups either, which is a main ingredient of a Frapuccino. The have been known to add liquor though, resulting in  il caffé corretto, though thats usually North of Italy and using liquors such as grappa, sambuca, brandy or cognac.

Dr. Karl (Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki), whom I've been a huge fan of for about 20 years, does a Triple J hour long Scince segment broadcast nationally in Australia and available to the world any time of the day or night through his Podcast, Dr Karl had a listener question about how its best to store coffee beans and then went on the say that he personally has  "a coffee grinder that has a spinning blade to smash the beans apart" and is looking at a conical bur grinder to replace it. 

​Being a fan of science and Dr Karl, I'm going to answer this in a scientific way.

​A blade grinder is also known as a spice grinder and can be had for about $20 almost anywhere in Australia. These grinders are pretty much okay for drip coffee, or peculated coffee, but not so much for Espresso coffee, and any kind of precision coffee process like cold press or pour-over for the same reasons. A spice grinder will smash the beans creating irregular particles, but an added enemy to your coffee is the heat generated that will destroy the coffee flavours before its had a chance to be extracted in the coffee extraction process.

The conical grinder and flat bur grinders are a significant upgrade on a flat blade grinder . The former brings two metal plates together that will grind the coffee slowly and in a precise way so that all the resultant coffee grounds are of uniform size - this is especially important when making espresso with an espresso machine as any irregularity in the coffee grinds will allow for hot water, under pressure, to channel through the grinds and there will be a whole bunch of coffee that has not been affected by water and your coffee will be weaker and have less volume and crema by comparison. ​

Dan Meijer Torino. At least it looks more like a classic Giotto.
David Elliott Um, that's a Breville Barista Express. 
I have an Oracle, it makes consistently great coffee with minimal effort.
Bay Beans Coffee Beans The oracle certainly did shake things up when it was launched - I don't think anyone saw that coming! A relatively easy to use machine that makes fantastic coffee!
Perry Johns Sunbeam. I prefer a separate grinder. Easier to clean and service if there is a problem.
Martin Sinnott I have an oracle, easy to use and love the bay beans through it
Troy Gustini
Bay Beans Coffee Beans A picture says a thousand words!
Ben Sam Have the Oracle and have had for years. Next machine will be the Sunbeam. Enjoy the complete manual process of beans and milk design :)
Maryanne White I have the Breville Barista Express, and I love it..makes a great coffee...but you can have the best machine on the market, but if you don't use good beans it means nothing...glad I found you James..💞
Bay Beans Coffee Beans Is this the one Maryanne?
Ricky Howell i have the bes920, the non lazy mans oracle :) and love it!
Bay Beans Coffee Beans Lol! It also give you a sense of accomplishment, though you can't blame the machine when you pull a foul tasting coffee, which I've done more times that I care to admit!
Chris Hall I chose whichever machine helps me make the best coffee in the easiest way!
Bay Beans Coffee Beans Are you more inclined towards a manual or automatic ?
Bernadette Charalambous I have the oracle. It makes wonderful coffee ☕️
Bay Beans Coffee Beans Did you have a machine before the Oracle?
Tara Tessier Torino hands down.
Zol Tan Well I won't know till you drop them off will I?! 🤓
Rod Heinz Breville Oracle by a country mile!

It's generally accepted that a light roasted coffee retains more caffeine, however, that is because the light roasted coffee is more dense - retaining more of the oils that contain the caffeine. The catch though, in making the same coffee with a dark roasted bean, you'd actually use more coffee by volume to obtain the same grounded coffee by weight, and so the caffeine content ends up being the same, unless your measuring by volume, then the light roast does have more caffeine.

Surprised?