Urgent help needed with Americanos please

Equipment, technique, or just drinking the stuff

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Postby alans » Wed Mar 03, 2004 2:43 pm

So Phil doesn't think I'm just having a go at him, I'll have a go at myself.

Alan's work coffee experience (posted to the SM list a few years back):

So let me start by saying I only recently got a Bodum one cup filter for work and I haven't got around to getting a little hand grinder yet so I'm using an old (early 60s I would guess) chopper. It's a very cute little chopper with a little on/off button on the side of a white cylindrical body, bought more because I liked the look of it than as a serious grinder, but hell it's the smallest grinder I've got in this hemisphere, so to work it goes.

Have you noticed how when you start grinding your own coffee in an open plan office everyone thinks you're mad? This isn't really assisted by an old whirly blade that has to be shaken a lot to get any sort of grind and is noisy as hell.

Especially when the cord isn't very long so you have to move right in to the corner of your cubical and hunch over with the grinder between your knees and shake like hell. In short it does not look like something that should be done publicly. After a few comments I found a way to get the grinder on to the desk.

So there I am a week later, everyone now well and truly sure I'm mad, looking smug with 14g of ground fresh Ethiopian, I take the top off the grinder and inhale the aroma of the great coffee to follow. Remember how I said it was a cylindrical body with a very small on/off button? Well that on/off button is right near the middle of the grinder so as I grab the grinder that little switch is in the middle of my palm and before I can stop myself it's pressed.

Me, the computer, the desk, the chair and just about everything for 2 meters covered in coffee! People came from all over the office to point and laugh.

Luckily I had 14g of beans left so I just dropped it in and started again, but the cred is gone.

Any work grinding/brewing experiences that can top this?


And that's why I got the Zass Turkish!
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Postby phil » Wed Mar 10, 2004 10:40 am

Going back to the original topic, this Americano thing continues to vex me. I visited PeterJ last week and he pulled me an absolutely top notch Americano on his "office" La Spaziale. Whilst I'm very pleased with the espressos and ristrettos I pull, good Americanos continue to elude me. Not that I've tried all that recently.

I guess practice makes perfect. :oops:
La Spaziale Spazio 2 group semi-auto

La Spaziale Lusso grinder (espresso),
Macap MC4 shop grinder (brewed coffee)
Three Thor tampers
Two Hottops, first since Feb 2003
No partridge, no pear tree either
Conas, Zassenhaus hand grinder....
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Postby Sunnyfield » Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:28 pm

The extra long shot 'Americano' that Neku mentioned is what I know as a 'Cafe Lungo'.

I have the same problem as Phil. Most of my Americanos are rather dull and sometimes outright disgusting. I remember I posted months ago about an 'espresso' roast that was rather foul, but tasted very crisp as an Americano. My must admit I only tried Americanos with a dark roast.

I have tried a Lungo once and will never do it again. The result was absolutely terrible: bitter and almost made me gag.

I still prefer filter over Americanos, but perhaps we are doing something wrong.
La Marzocco GS/3, Elektra Nino, Feima 800N solid drum gas roaster
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Postby phil » Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:31 pm

Sunnyfield wrote:I still prefer filter over Americanos, but perhaps we are doing something wrong.


Me too. Perhaps we are. Perhaps Kingseven or PeterJ would be good enough to write us a short "American How To" for publication?
La Spaziale Spazio 2 group semi-auto

La Spaziale Lusso grinder (espresso),
Macap MC4 shop grinder (brewed coffee)
Three Thor tampers
Two Hottops, first since Feb 2003
No partridge, no pear tree either
Conas, Zassenhaus hand grinder....
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phil
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Location: Swindon, UK

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