Milk-based coffee beverages such as lattes, flat whites, and cappuccinos have become a staple in many people's daily routines. However, the quality of the milk used in these beverages is often overlooked. Many coffee shops and cafes use low-quality milk in their coffee drinks, which can have a significant impact on the taste and texture of the final product. In this blog post, we will explore the problems with using low-quality milk in milk-based coffee drinks and why it's important to use high-quality milk.

What is low-quality milk?
Before we dive into the problems with low-quality milk, let's define what we mean by "low-quality." Milk quality can be influenced by many factors, including the breed of the cow, the animal's diet, and the handling and processing of the milk. Low-quality milk is typically sourced from cows that are fed a poor diet or are treated poorly, which can lead to milk that is thin, watery, or has an unpleasant taste or odor.
Problems with using low-quality milk in coffee

1. Inconsistent texture

One of the most noticeable problems with using low-quality milk in coffee drinks is the inconsistent texture. Low-quality milk may not froth or foam properly, resulting in a flat, unappealing drink. In contrast, high-quality milk will froth and foam consistently, resulting in a smooth, velvety texture.

1. Unpleasant taste

Low-quality milk can also have an unpleasant taste, which can overpower the coffee's flavor. This is particularly true in specialty coffee drinks like lattes and cappuccinos, where the milk is a significant component of the drink's taste. Using high-quality milk can enhance the coffee's flavor and create a more balanced taste.

1. Health concerns

In addition to the taste and texture problems, low-quality milk may also pose health concerns. Milk from poorly treated cows can contain harmful bacteria or antibiotics, which can be harmful to human health. High-quality milk, on the other hand, is typically free from these contaminants, making it a safer choice for consumption.
Why use high-quality milk in coffee?
Using high-quality milk in coffee drinks can have several benefits, including:

1. Better taste

High-quality milk will enhance the coffee's flavor, creating a more balanced and enjoyable taste.

1. Consistent texture

High-quality milk will froth and foam consistently, resulting in a smooth, velvety texture.

1. Healthier option

High-quality milk is typically free from harmful bacteria or antibiotics, making it a safer option for consumption.
In conclusion, the quality of the milk used in milk-based coffee drinks like lattes, flat whites, and cappuccinos is essential to the final product's taste and texture. Using low-quality milk can result in inconsistent texture, an unpleasant taste, and potential health concerns. On the other hand, using high-quality milk can enhance the coffee's flavor, create a consistent texture, and provide a healthier option. So, the next time you order a milk-based coffee drink, be sure to ask about the quality of the milk being used.

Coffee is a popular beverage enjoyed by millions of people worldwide. While some prefer instant coffee, others enjoy freshly brewed coffee made from freshly roasted coffee beans. If you're a coffee lover, you may want to consider ordering fresh roasted coffee beans online and having them delivered to your home, café or business. In this blog post, we'll explore the benefits of fresh roasted coffee beans delivered straight to your doorstep.

Better Taste
Fresh roasted coffee beans have a better taste than pre-packaged coffee beans. When coffee beans are roasted, they release oils and flavors that give coffee its unique taste. However, these oils and flavors dissipate over time, making coffee less flavorful. By ordering fresh roasted coffee beans, you can ensure that you're getting the best taste possible.

Higher Quality
Fresh roasted coffee beans are of higher quality than pre-packaged coffee beans. This is because fresh roasted coffee beans are usually roasted in small batches, which ensures that they're roasted evenly and at the right temperature. This results in a higher quality coffee bean that produces a more flavorful cup of coffee.

More Nutritious
Fresh roasted coffee beans are more nutritious than pre-packaged coffee beans. This is because coffee beans contain antioxidants that can help protect your body against free radicals that can cause disease. However, these antioxidants begin to break down as soon as the coffee beans are roasted. By ordering fresh roasted coffee beans, you can ensure that you're getting the maximum nutritional benefits from your coffee.

Fresher Coffee
Fresh roasted coffee beans are fresher than pre-packaged coffee beans. When coffee beans are roasted, they begin to release carbon dioxide. This process is known as degassing, and it can take several days to complete. During this time, the coffee beans are still fresh and full of flavor. By ordering fresh roasted coffee beans, you can ensure that you're getting the freshest coffee possible.

Convenience
Ordering fresh roasted coffee beans online and having them delivered to your home, café or business is incredibly convenient. You can choose from a wide variety of beans and blends, and you can have them delivered directly to your doorstep. This means that you don't have to go out and buy coffee beans, and you can have fresh coffee whenever you want it.

In conclusion, ordering fresh roasted coffee beans online and having them delivered to your home, café or business is a great way to enjoy the best-tasting, highest quality, most nutritious and freshest coffee possible. So, if you're a coffee lover, why not give it a try? You won't be disappointed!

A customer wrote to me asking for any advice on how to get the best coffee experience from their new Gaggia Classic Pro espresso machine, paired with a Breville Smart Grinder.

The Breville smart grinder is a grinder that performs better than the asking price and will definitely grind fine enough and consistent enough for your Gaggia Pro. 

The numbers for grind settings are not matched from machine to machine, so use recommendations as a guide only and be prepared to deviate from any settings recommended to you. Some machines may not grind fine enough, but that is an issue that has pretty much now been eliminated at the factory. The Breville fix was to provide a thin spacer that is placed between the lower burr and the motor spindle. Keep in mind that this only affects a small number of machines and give it consideration only if you feel like you're still not obtaining sufficiently fine grinds at its lowest setting. 

The Gaggia is a proven classic italian machine that will give you years of trouble free pleasure. Don't be surprised if it outlasts your demands of it and the only reason to move it on will be a case of upgrade-itis for something that you feel may be shinier or better, but that is going to be very difficult to justify at even twice the price. the coffee obtained from your Gaggia vs a $6000 e61 machine will be hard to tell apart. 
I recommend using the Double basket only - they are already unpressurised. aim for 16-18grams of coffee, extracted over 30 seconds and 60ml of espresso base. Adjust your grind to compensate rather than adjusting your tamp pressure or dose size. 

Any effort you put into the technique of your milk steaming will pay dividends. I've got a couple of blogs and videos on the topic that will help as a guide. Also checkout Youtube. 

Enjoy!

James Axisa. 

My personal Giotto Rocket Espresso Machine is in for service.. current turnaround time is 10 days.

I have backup manual equipment and a spare coffee machine to use, but I wonder if most people skip the annual servicing mostly because of the inconvenience? I know I have done quite a few services myself over the years for that exact reason.

What do you do?

People often say that dark coffee is stronger, with the implication that stronger coffees contains more caffeine. 

One thing to understand is the relationship between the raw coffee bean and the roasting process. Compare it for a moment to your breakfast toast using two different breads. If both breads are both cooked to a low roast level, the flavours of the bread, will shine through. If however, both breads are instead toasted/roasted to a much darker level, the flavours of smoke and the toasting process is the dominant flavour with both breads tasting more like 'well cooked toast', than 'toasted bread'. 

The same thing can be said for BBQ food. and the same is true of coffee beans. 

Caffeine is reduced during the roasting process as it accelerates chemical interactions which also breaks down caffeine compounds. 

Dark roasts are also known as French Roast or Espresso Roast, which relates to the roasting level, rather than the bean which can be the same. 

Thinking about our neighbours in Queensland, Northern NSW and Sydney who are affected by flooding, in some areas severe.

This will affect delivery times to surrounding areas. There are also COVID related delays in some suburbs of Perth. I'll continue to send you tracking information for your deliveries same day as your coffee is dispatched. Depending on services, I may choose to send your delivery by a different method than usual in an effort to reduce any delays.

If you have any questions, or would like an update on your delivery, please get in touch anytime.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

James. ​

A customer asked me about getting a better extraction using their sunbeam conical burr grinder. 

Andrew wrote:

Thank you very much, James. I have been drinking your Espresso beans, and am very satisfied with the result. My machine is a Sunbeam Mini Barista and the grinder is a Sunbeam conical-burr. I realise the limitations of this setup. For example, when I fitted a non-pressurised filter basket, the coffee has no crema and the taste is nowhere near as good as when using the original pressurised basket, even when I lower the grind all the way to setting 1.
Regards
Andrew


James replied:

Hi Andrew.
Thanks for your email.
You’re on the right track I think - the grinder is grinding a little too coarse for your machine and flavour preference.
There are things you can do without spending money just yet.
One thing you can do is upside your coffee by a gram or two, another is to tamp more firmly. Check that your tamp fits the portafilter fairly tightly - if not, tamping on the edges can be the weak point. To get around that, try rolling the ramp around the edges softly before doing a tamp. It will put pressure on the sides and help with your overall tamp.
The last thing you can do is a modification to the grinder. Sunbeam grinders are all built to a tolerance, so one setting on one grinder can be different to the same setting on another grinder. The end result is your not able to grind to the maximum fineness that the machine is capable of.
Imagine that when you adjust the grinder settings, You are bringing the two groaning burrs closer together. At the maximum setting, the green burrs are still not close enough. The modification comes in to play by doing the following. By removing the grinder Beccaria you will have access to the grinding the main grinding burr. That burr is held on with a hex nut. By removing the nut and also the Berger you can add a thin shim/washer, which one reassembled will force the birds to come closer together at the same setting as previous. Of course make sure your machine is disconnected from the power before attempting to do any maintenance, also be aware that the bird will now be closer, and potentially so close that it will meet the face of the carrier burr, So keep an ear open for when you first adjust the grinder settings from maximum to minimum and back off if you hear any metal to metal contact on the finer settings. There was a Sunbeam technical bulletin about this a number of years ago-if you search Google, I’m sure you’ll find it.
I hope that helps
James Axisa - 0428 555 535. Chief Espresso Officer - baybeans.com.au

You can purchase your coffee beans using Bitcoin BTC and have your coffee beans delivered fast and fresh for free via Courier or Australia Post. Bay Beans has been providing Australian homes, businesses and Cafes with fresh roasted coffee beans since 2006. 

Grab a bag today ! 
https://www.baybeans.com.au/bitcoin-coffee-beans.html

Great news! While Australia Post has experienced delays over the past two months across their network, their workforce is catching up with demand. We should be back to normal again soon.

You may have received your coffee delivery via alternate delivery partners as we will sometimes change partners depending on localised delivery timetable status updates. ​

Thank you,

James Axisa
Bay Beans Coffee Beans

I love coffee and I love my Aeropress - I am also impatient at times, especially when all I want is my morning coffee! Don't get me wrong, I love to experiment and spend quality time alone, but when I'm not in the mood, Give Me Coffee, NOW! 

I’m all for making the Aeropress as simple as possible, so I have settled in the James Hoffman style (recipe). That is to brew standard (not inverted), pour the water vigorously up to the 4th marker without stiring - let the water do the stirring and its one less thing to clean up. I then put the plunger in just a little to create a vacuum and reduce dripping, wait two mins, then swirl  the Aeropress on the cup to agitate the coffee grinds and after 30 seconds go ahead and plunge.
I use water off the boil about 90-95c and get to that by boiling first, then preparing my Aeropress rather than timing anything.
I don’t preheat the Aeropress and I don’t rinse my paper. I don’t use the funnel and I don’t use the stirrer.
Inverted styles I reserve for times when I've got more time to myself, and I am not feeling clumsy. 

What is your favorite method, variation or recipe?

James. 

You can now Buy Now, Pay Later your coffee beans at Bay Beans coffee!

Partnering with an Australian market leader, with a customer base of 9.1 million customers in Australia, PayPal has launched the Buy Now, Pay Later service named PayPal Pay in 4, enabling interest free payments as a major difference to Afterpay and Zip pay who charge late fees. 

To take advantage of this service, simply purchase your coffee beans as you normally would and select the PayPal Pay in 4 option to have your coffee beans roasted, dispatched and delivered to you right away. 

 I wanted to ask what is cold brew coffee and why that is different to just brewing coffee and then putting it in the fridge for ice coffee? I have seen cold brew being sold as a separate thing.

That's a great question about cold brew and how cold brew is different to brewing an espresso and putting a long black coffee in the fridge to chill. Its the difference of allowing espresso coffee to become cold, vs coffee brewed specifically for cold. The main difference is the brewing process, as you already no doubt guessed. Espresso preparation is actually quite harsh when you think about it, your taking coffee beans, grinding them fairly fine and then forcing 1.5 atmospheres of pressurised water, at 92 degrees to extract the coffee and coffee oils from the ground coffee. Its a great way to make a delicious coffee in around 30 seconds, but brings with it its own flavours. 

By comparison, cold brewed coffee is very gentle. The coffee grounds are ground more coarsely compared to espresso machines, also there is no water pressure involved and the brew is performed over a 24 hour period with cold water.  What is absolutely amazing is the flavour difference. Cold brewed coffee will bring out completely different flavours compared to espresso. The flavour is much more delicate, smooth to drink and almost tastes tea like. Its very hard to describe and I can guarantee you will be amazed at the transformation. 

The best news is no specialist equipment is required to give it a go. Simply grind 80 grams of coffee for a litre of water (or 40 grams for 500ml). The grind size is quite coarse, more like cracked pepper consistency. Add your coffee grounds to a suitable jug, add the required amount of water, stir and then cover your container and pop it in the fridge overnight. When you're ready to enjoy your coldbrew coffee, simply pour the coffee into a glass and enjoy. Be gentle in the pour so as to not stir up the grinds that have settled and you wont need to filter the coffee. 

Pour into a glass over ice, add milk if you'd like and enjoy!

Hi James
Do you have any tips for the setting on the coffee machine for these beans to extract the optimum brew.
As mentioned we like the coffee to be smooth and flavorsome.
The coffee machine is a De'Longhi Magnifica.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Look forward to tasting!
Cheers Robyn

​
Hi Robyn

You're fortunate with the machine that you have, while it is a semi automatic bean to cup machine, it provides you will lots of input if you want to take advantage of it. Please forgive me if I am telling you information that you already know, but just incase;

1. your machine has a dial on the front - that is used to increase (or decrease) the amount of coffee beans used for each shot. more beans will result in a stronger flavour
2. you also have a bean grind adjustment located in the bean hopper. A finer grind will result in a more intense flavour
3. you can adjust the amount of water used for each button press on the front panel. Ideally, standardise on one button for your most favorite. You can adjust the amount of water used per button press by programming the machine - hold down the button to start the extraction, and release to stop the extraction. the time you've held the button down will be stored in memory for future button presses. 

So, now that explains the advanced features of tyour Delonghi Magnifica, its time to think about how these adjustments can be used to create the flavour of coffee you are looking for. You say smooth and flavoursome, so we want to focus on bringing that out, and I recommend what is known as a Ristretto base. It uses the first part of the coffee extraction, leavig the second part behind. It is the second part of coffee extraction (and anything beyond that second half) that introduces bitterness, which we want to avoid for your flavour preference. 

Ristretto is just the first half of the coffee extraction, so we need to determine what is the correct normal extraction, so park the idea of Ristretto for now. You want to aim for a coffee extraction that lasts for 30 seconds, creates 60ml of coffee, from approx 16grams of coffee (you wont be able to measure the grams with your machine, so just adjust your front dial to 75% and leave it there. The only adjustment you will make from here is the dial in the hopper - make it finer if youd like to decrease the extraction time, or coarser if we need to increase the extraction time. You'd adjust this if it takes less than or more than 30 seconds to make 60 ml in the cup, or with the Delonghi, if the machine appears to struggle to create coffee (or gushes coffee, which is too coarse). 

For these tests, you'd be using the bottom right button for extraction - that's a regular coffee extraction using a double shot. (the button above is a single shot (weaker). The buttons on the left side are Ristretto, both single and double shot, but with less water and less time, to create that ristretto we were talking about. 

I know this may seem like a lot to take in, but take your time. Once you have your machine dialed in to your preference, it will be an easy process. It's really just science, so it is repeatable.

I hope this helps, get in touch anytime and I can go over anything in more detail or explain further. 

​James Axisa.

Stainless steel features heavily in the components and body of most mid to high end prosumer coffee machines such as those made by Rocket, Vibiemme and Lelit. Its a hard wearing and easy to clean material found in commercial kitchens. 

I usually use a small amount of dish soap, mixed into hot water and clean the stainless surfaces with a microfibre cloth. Adding a small amount of baby oil to the mix will help prevent smudges and finger prints. I guess that is good for stainless fridges and benchtops, but I'm pretty fussy when it comes to my coffee machine, so stray finger prints arent a problem - no kids around the coffee machine, and its hot, so maybe that helps keep the fingers away. Not that I am at all lazy, but I've found that Glass Cleaner does a terrific job and its ready to go at a moments notice. 

Are you in lock down and craving delicious fresh roasted coffee beans? I have the best news EVER!

Bay Beans has been delivering fresh roasted coffee beans to homes and businesses all over Australia for 15 years and they are not only pioneers in online retail, but experts in what they do. Your coffee is roasted fresh the day you place your order, and delivered fast by courier to your door - covid safe and without any fuss. 

Don't miss out on your favorite part of your day, your morning coffee, and grab some delicious Bay Beans coffee beans. Start with Espresso Master if your new here, you wont be disappointed. You can check out the entire range here - why not, you've got time! 

Wacaco Company Ltd, is bringing their most compact and pro-oriented portable espresso machine to market. From that heritage and know-how Wacaco has developed a product that marries the convenience and versatility of an espresso maker that fits in the palm of your hand with the design and capabilities of a high end cafe quality machine.

Worldwide leader in portable espresso makers, Wacaco Company Ltd, is bringing their most compact and pro-oriented portable espresso machine to market. The Picopresso is a high end manual espresso machine based on Wacaco's patented and groundbreaking piston-driven espresso machine technology, as seen in the Picopresso’s predecessors the Nanopresso (released in 2017) and Minipresso (released in 2014).  The original Minipresso was the first of its kind and redefined the category of hand held portable espresso makers.

From that heritage and know-how Wacaco has developed a product that marries the convenience and versatility of an espresso maker that fits in the palm of your hand with the design and capabilities of
a high end cafe quality machine. This specialty coffee machine features a naked portafilter, so users will see delicious creamy espresso flowing directly from a standard 52mm 18 gram stainless steel filter basket during the brewing process. With the Picopresso there are no shortcuts. Each home brewer must master the art of manual espresso making by dialing in the correct grind size, tamping, and perfecting pulling technique – their reward; an authentic cafe-quality espresso that will rival any expensive high-end machine.

“The world of manual home espresso enthusiasts is growing, and Wacaco is positioned to be at the forefront of this movement,” says Hugo Cailleton (co-founder). “Our machines have enabled millions of our customers to adventure and brew remotely in some amazing locations.” This new brewer is an assembly of quality; dedicated to elevating and extracting the essence of each coffee bean in flavor and character.  With the Picopresso home baristas will have the opportunity to master both the artful and scientific aspects required by the “ritual” of espresso making.

The Picopresso is set to retail at $129.90 USD and will be offered at a discount of $99.90 USD during the launching period of June 15th - 31st via https://www.wacaco.com/pages/picopress

I was flicking though some old photos and spotted this one, an early small batch roast which failed. If you look at the right side of the photo, about half way down you’ll see a dot - that’s a bean that has over roasted and cracked - we call that second crack when the coffee is exothermic - just past the point of optimum roast for this bean. The coffee begins to loose its origin flavour and take on a roast flavour - kind of like steak cooked on the BBQ can change from having its desired texture and flavour to taking on the flavour of char grill - its a personal choice but I prefer to allow the coffee origin to shine through.

The benefit of a coffee subscription serves both convenience and variety. You'll never be without delicious fresh roasted coffee beans when they arrive at your door step automatically each month. Wine companies have offered a similar service in the past that has proven to be a hit with their customers, now coffee lovers can experience the same feeling!

One of the market leaders and pioneers of online coffee beans is Bay Beans, established in 2006, they've been offering their coffee bean subscription service for over 15 years now. There are a few ways you can join in the fun. You can select from either weekly, fortnightly or monthly deliveries, as well as select either your favorite bean or the most popular option is the random selection - its a different bean delivered to your door each month. 

Here is a list of the options available;

1. Classic Blends, just $27.26 per delivery. You can select from three coffee varieties;

• Forte (a cafe favorite)
• Espresso Master (this one has won a few awards!)
• Super Crema (for the strong coffee lover)

2. Specialty Blends, for only $31.06 per delivery

• Mocha Prince (caramel and chocolate tones)
• Fairtrade certified coffee (100% certified in Australia)
• Decaf ( quality Swiss Water Processed coffee removes most of the caffeine naturally)
• Premium Reserve (a special limited edition coffee)
• Random Variety (the most popular choice, which contains every variety in a rotation schedule)

The last option is by far the most popular choice - it provides for a different coffee for you to try each month. Its also great for offices for the ultimate variety. 

Every variety comes in different sizes to suit your needs, from 500g bags, through to 1kg bags and boxes containing 10x 1kg bags or more. 

As a general idea, if you are making 2 coffees a day, you'd consume 500g per month - if there are two coffee lovers in your household, opt instead for 1kg - you'll also save significantly by choosing 1kg. 

Delivery is free to anywhere in Australia and you have complete freedom to cancel or suspend deliveries at any time - there are no lock in contracts. We've been offering this flexibility for over 15 years and you benefit from the freedom of choice. 

"is your Bay Beans Creamy Chai Gluten free?"

​I didn't know the answer to your question, so have compared the ingredients list of the Creamy Chai (ingredients list below) with those listed on celiac.com as their Gluten Free Food List (here is the link; https://www.celiac.com/articles.html/safe-gluten-free-food-list-safe-ingredients-r181/ ) and also cross referenced the items that do not have an item name listed, such as COLOUR (150C), which is listed as CARAMEL III on the Australian Food Standards list (link: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/additives/additiveoverview/Documents/Food%20additives%20-%20numberical%20May%202019.pdf )

None of the ingredients are flagged as having Gluten as far as I can tell. I am no expert on this though, so I've included the reference material I've used above for you to refer to.

Here is the ingredients list of Creamy Chai;
Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Vegetable Oil, Sodium Caseinate (Milk), Emulsifier (471), Stabiliser (340), Anti-Caking Agent (551), Beta Carotene, Dextrose, Milk Solids, Tea Extract, Spices, Colour (150c).


I hope that helps. 

 "Do you have or can you source decaf chai latte powder? I dont mind purchasing 1kg+ Thank you"

What a great question, and one I haven't been asked before. 

Straight to the point, I don't sell 100% decaf chai, however I thought it might be helpful to go into some detail for you, to help make the right decision for your needs. 

There are two kinds of Chai, one is known more broadly as Chai Tea, which is prepared by infusing spices in water, similar to brewing tea. Caffeine from this traditional Chai Tea is usually around 80mg - that number can be manipulated by the time you steep your tea for - a shorter duration will result in a more mild tea, as well as less caffeine, as low as 50-60mg. 

The other kind of Chai, is known as Chai Latte, and is the popular non coffee beverage in Australia. The Chai Latte mixes I have on the website, both Bondi Chai and Creamy Chai are more tailored to the Australian market for flavour.  The caffeine in these is closer to 25mg per serve - while not a decaf, it is a lower caffeine alternative. 

When you compare that to coffee, non decaf is around 130mg, while even the decaf coffee contains caffeine, a lesser amount at a rate of around 10mg. 

So, while the Chai Latte has caffeine of around 25mg, it is around 1/4 of the caffeine found in traditional chai, similar to the comparison of coffee and decaffeinated coffee.

I hope this helps, Here is a link to the chai's;

Regards,
 
James Axisa
Chief Espresso Officer

www.baybeans.com.au
Mobile: 0428 555 535
Voicemail callback: 02 8208 3477
 
[I reply to all emails personally]

"Please tell me one thing. If I will order my coffee beans right now on your website, when can they be delivered to Baulkham Hills 2153, NSW? 

Also, I have a Jura Automatic Machine. Before this one we had a DeLonghi for almost 5 years but it needed to be replaced. I wanted to buy something manual (not automatic machine) but we are really lazy and again we bought an automatic machine. However, I really hope that Jura S8 will be a good choice and the coffee will taste great. How should we set the grinder to grind the coffee?"

With your coffee being roasted fresh this morning, if you order by around 11am, I am able to package your coffee and lodge it with the courier today - they can deliver it to Baulkham Hills tomorrow.

I completely understand your choice of automatic machine, in fact, it can be a better choice than a standard machine. With the automatic machine, you, your wife or visitors can make a great coffee at ease, whereas with a manual machine, perhaps you will always be tasked with the responsibility and you wouldn't enjoy it as much. 

For the coffee grind setting, it is individual to each machine, even of the same type. Aim for a grind that allows your coffee to extract in 30 seconds. If it is longer than that, you'd need to make your grind a little more coarse to allow the water to pass through more easily. If it is gushing out too fast, make your grind finer. 

"Could you help me choose a good coffee bean variety for home usage? I'm not a full expert as I'm using Jura s8 expresso machine but still I love great coffee. I need a minimum two types of coffee; One for my wife - can’t be strong or sour and needs to be delicate and good for cappuccino. Second for me - I’m in love with espresso. Coffee can be strong, slightly sour with good crema. We both prefer 100% arabica (not with robusta) with some additional aftertaste (like cocoa etc). Are you able to propose something for our first coffee beans purchase in Australia?" 

Hi, thanks for your email. 

I am happy to help! The Jura S8 is a great automatic machine and will love and care for your coffee needs - you've made an excellent choice to seek out fresh roasted coffee beans. It sounds to me like your wife will really enjoy Forte (I'll send you the links below). It is a mild to medium coffee with that classic brazil and Colombian flavour profile that brings out some chocolate tones. Mocha Prince steps that chocolate up a little, but does also tend to make the coffee a little more mild, but that could be a good thing here. 

For yourself, I have to give you two recommendations - Espresso Master is my favorite for espresso and long black coffee with a perfectly balanced flavour profile. If however, you're looking for something a little more adventurous, you'd have to give Super Crema a go - it really is quite bold and full of flavour, and that crema is really something! 

Here are the links to the different varieties - I hope it helps. 

Regards,
 
James Axisa
Chief Espresso Officer

www.baybeans.com.au
Mobile: 0428 555 535
Voicemail callback: 02 8208 3477
 
[I reply to all emails personally]

"We are having debate in the office about dual wall or single wall filters (we have the Breville dual boiler manual machine). What is better with your coffee beans? Also – for the large filter basket how many grams should we be using for one coffee, and how fine?"

That's a pretty advanced debate, it's a pretty small percentage of coffee lovers that care to think about it. 

The answer comes from why Breville introduced the Dual Wall portafilter at all.. the idea behind it is that it pressurises the basket then forces all the coffee out through a tiny nozzle, to then relax again and drip into the cup. its a fake internal bottom with its sole purpose to force coffee through a small hole, which in turn aerates the coffee. That aeration is what creates a foam like look to the extraction, which then mimics quality coffee with crema. The problem was that most of Breville's customers at the time were buying supermarket coffee, which was sometimes 12 or more months post roast (minimum 3 months), where the crema is dissipated after 6 weeks usually. This problem was compounded by companies like Lavazza who would leave their roasted coffee out to go stale before packaging it, so that the bags could be formed into bricks, and retain that shape during transit - wasted air means higher transport costs. 

So, that's the reason the dual wall was invented, and it doesn't really cause a problem with fresh roasted coffee at all, except it creates an unnatural path for the water under pressure to flow through the puck - water will take the path of least resistance and so it will head for the middle and not so much the sides - will that result in a weaker coffee? Will that reduce the flavour of your coffee? 

A traditional single walled filter allows a more natural path for your water to flow through the puck, and could mean your coffee tastes fuller. The only downside is if you are using coffee that is not fresh roasted, you will end up with a flat looking coffee. Its important to note that while double wall filters are intended to improve the look, they cant improve the flavour, and I think they can contribute to a decrease in flavour, both by the aeration process and the problem of water taking the shortest path and lastly by encouraging channeling of your coffee puck, like erosion on a dirt road. 

As far as to answer how many grams of coffee should be used in a basket, the Italians traditionally used 7 grams per shot, so that's 7 grams in the single basket, and 14 grams in the double basket. They also tended to grind extra fine and tamp very lightly. As coffee has evolved, we tend to up-dose a little, so 8 (or even 9 grams) per shot. So that's 9 grams in a single and 18 grams in a double - the trick will be to grind a little coarser and also tamp a little harder with about 15kg of downward force. Its all an experiment! I usually only use a double filter, or triple filter paired with a bottomless portafilter handle. The bottomless is opening up an entirely new world of coffee technique and training - the main idea with a bottomless filter is as a training aid, so the user can determine by sight if there is any channeling in the coffee puck or unevenness in the coffee grounds distribution. It certainly looks pretty during extraction, so it adds to the aesthetic, but when a shot goes wrong, you can end up with a squirt of coffee shooting out at your business suit! 

I hope this helps a little - let me know if I can explain anything in more detail.