Get 50% off 1 month of Trade at http://drinktrade.com/mdc
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00:00 Hello there!
01:04 Caveat time
01:45 The tools you NEED
13:32 The tools you DON’T
Items shown in video (non-affiliate)
Baratza Encore ESP: https://www.baratza.com/en-us/product/encoretm-esp-zcg495
Kingrinder K6: https://www.kingrinder.com/store/products/k6
Third Wave Water: https://thirdwavewater.com/products/1-gallon-espresso-profile?srsltid=AfmBOopWf1z6q5txF5Q5PaXYm2PRU-h1GfTvoLyoM2b2elaAQI-lTNTy&variant=32477449289774
Cafiza/Puro: https://a.co/d/fesHyTR
MaestriHouse Scale: https://a.co/d/iOxqfXT
Ikape self-leveling tamper: https://a.co/d/1x4QA9N
Subminimal WDT: https://a.co/d/4JSt3ay
54mm Breville funnel: https://a.co/d/7egWKul
Slow Pour Supply x WPM pitcher: https://www.slowpoursupply.co/collections/latte-art/products/copy-of-15oz-slow-pour-supply®-x-wpm-pitcher-with-wide-spout-in-cinder
38 Comments
Glad to be back in the new year! Lots of fun stuff to come in these next few months (and I’ll explain what I’ve been doing for the past year soon). If you want to explore new coffees and support the channel, you can get 50% off 1 month of Trade at http://drinktrade.com/mdc
Good stuff! What do you think about blind shakers instead of or before WDT? Budget ones from AliExpress?
I have a very cheap espresso machine that I was given, it was OK but never great. K6 grinder and a replacement bottomless portafilter made a massive improvement. After that a WDT, decent tamper and a scale. Of course some nice beans too. The result is espresso and milky drinks that are so enjoyable. Even the Mrs has noticed a difference. Had always wanted an expensive machine but don't feel that is necessary now so more cash for great coffee beans.
I got really nice crema after using a puck screen. Unfortunately I unknowingly disposed it with the puck in the trash 😂
A great new video, very down to earth as usual. Christmas here started off with the kitchen drains blocking completely solid. This took about a week to get sorted out. We decided we might as well replace a tired tap on the kitchen sink while we were at it. This quickly escalated into having to remove the entire sink unit to get the old tap out! Suffice to say, by the time Christmas day came around, we were ready for a break! Looking forwards to more videos 🙂
Great video as always Morgan.
Personally I never invested in a self levelling tamp and still use the dodgy one that came with my Barista Express. I utilise a $5 WDT that I found online and a $20 distribution tool, find that that's worked quite well.
I will say that investing in a digital scale for coffee (probably about $25) has been an absolute game changer in my kitchen, I use it for ALL my cooking.
Thanks again 😊.
1. Upgraded from a Delonghi Dedica to a Breville dual Boiler
2. Ate great food 3. spend cozy evenings with my girlfriend.
I am terribly tempted to get an espresso machine.
Holiday period summary:
1: Tumbled out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen
2: Poured myself a cup of ambition
3: And yawned and stretched and tried to come to life
4: Jumped in the shower and the blood started pumpin'
5: …then went back to bed, cos it's the holidays… 😉
There's an edge case where a knock-box or some kind of container for pucks is very useful, which is if you compost your grounds. I'm lucky to have a municipal composting program in my city, part of which is collecting the food scraps in a separate bin with special compostable bin bags. And the thing that makes them compostable is that they decompose with heat and moisture… which is exactly what you get if you knock the pucks straight in there.
Thank you very much for this video! Just subscribed to your channel! ❤
I think puck screen is must have thing for home espresso machine. For it's cost, the reduction in cleaning after brewing is gigantic. In coffee shops though no one will play with it.
What happened to the "Sliding into Frame" Intro? Good vid to reference for the forums. I just did most of these tools all over again in 49mm. Who doesn't like another coffee fidget tool.
🎉🎉 Thank you for posting always I always get my knowledge of coffee from u
👍⭐️⭐️⭐️👏
16:04 on the other hand a puck screen is very cheap compared to other pieces of gear, and I found it especially useful when you're learning and messing up – before you dial in your grind settings for a particular coffee it makes cleanup easier, and in general for the price I personally found it makies a noticeable difference. Probably not as much when someone has a better technique in general, but for me it makes it a great beginner friendly accessory.
Like your hair style!!
Regarding bottomless portafilters – they are much easier to clean, so I definitely recommend it even for beginners. And regarding the puck – if you have cheaper espresso machine (I have Delonghi Dedica as an example) – it substantially increases quality of your espresso and decreases chances of channeling. Can't explain how, but it does. Also, for the portafilter – I have to preheat it with boiling water before pouring to have any chance of a nice extraction, so as bottomless also has less mass, it heats up much better. I agree with everything else in the video
Morgan, welcome back! It seems like the holidays treated you well – you look well-rested and amazing!
I am such a dork. I love videos such as this. You are right. Luckily, I found an Open Box "As New", and very well made Gevi Espresso Machine with a 20 Bar ULKA Pump, Analogue Pressure Gauge, Variable (Heating Coil) Programmable Temperature with both PID and NTC temperature control, and both OPV and Solenoid Valves (the former fixed at 9 Bars), and can be easily upgraded with the Dimmer Mod for Blooming Shots. All for – here it comes: just under $200 U.S.
Oh, and it has a bitchin' (does that date me? I'm old) – but it has a bitchin' Steam Wand for hot water, and very dry, ridiculously powerful (almost rude) three-hole steam nozzle.
And it's not like a "Baby's First Espresso Machine". It is a Tank, weighing-in at over 20 lbs, and with a heavy, well-designed 58 mm Porta Filter (now my go-to Self Defense Weapon in the event of a surprise attack), and a solid steel Tamper that fits the Porta Filter perfectly.
My "value" inspired Conical Grinder is actually an Amazon-branded model that appears to be identical to the Tuni G1 Grinder, which is nice and quiet at low RPMs, with a motor that is unaffected once beans are added. You can tell a lot about the quality of a motor on how it sounds under load…
Most importantly, however, is that it provides exceptionally well distributed ground Coffee – no static. So I literally just drop that heavy Tamper on top, spin it until the coffee is level, and then tamp.
(But within minutes, I become a heretic, because I load as much Coffee as is possible, I double-pull every Puck and make a 30 oz. Coffee – because that's what I drink, all day, every day. Not sure, but I probably average somewhere between 12-15 cups a day. I am not an Espresso Snob – I am a Coffee Whore.)
But, as someone who has had a major, involuntary life change (due to the sudden, unexpected death of my partner), and as someone who is currently broke, it satisfied the unexpected luxury of a very high quality, feature-rich, long-term Espresso Machine on-the-cheap, so I could put the savings into an acceptable electric burr grinder.
Because, even as "a poor" right now, Coffee is probably the last thing I would ever compromise. (That, and good Audio for Music.) I began drinking black Coffee back when I was in 10th grade, at fifteen. And it's virtually all I drink. Healthy? We'll see. However, Coffee is both the Engine, and the Spice of Life…
Dune Coffee Roasters mentioned…1 mile from me haha!
Love the new hairstyle! We all look forward to you videos – be well! The Sedona Baristas.
As someone who did everything the wrong way.
1. Make sure you can buy high quality light roast coffee every week or month.
2. Your grinder is 10 times more important than your espresso maker.
3. Get a coffee machine with flow control
4. WDT or blind shaker
5. Self leveling tamp
6. High flow basket
Puck prep is much more important than you think if you don't have a precise grinder
Wait people don't use knock boxes?
Did Morgan and Lance switch channels today??
Thanks for the video once again. Currently in my Rorschach phase of latte art. I make something, show it to my customers, and ask them what they think it is. Whatever their answer is they are always correct. Tips have greatly improved.
The Baratza Encore ESP grinder is prone to ring burr holder breakage. If you order one I advise to include an extra or two of that part. They are $5 USD each on Baratza website.
Or another grinder in the price range etc etc. Just wanted to give a heads up. The grinding when functional seems fantastic.
I personally struggle to keep the space around my coffee setup clean, so I include everything you need to keep tidy in the "must haves". For me, that's a knock box, a tamp mat, and a kitchen/bar towel. Similarly, one of the reasons I prefer a bottomless portafilter is that it's much easier to keep it clean.
50$ for a pitcher?😆That is one of the reasons this hobby barista shit is very unappealing, people burning money on expensíve machines and accessories without understanding the basics of coffee so they can flex pics on Insta.
I don’t understand how people still don’t understand the purpose of a leveler. Leveling the surface before tamping means fewer peaks and valleys being compressed inconsistently.
How did dude (3:11) get to the other side so quick (3:33) ?
I'd add a water sprayer. If I don't do a couple of sprays on my beans before grinding the grounds get really static and clingy causing clumps and small sticky coffee dust coating my grinder and the immediate surroundings. As far as I know some grinders are more staticky than others.
I love the puck screens. So much cleaner and never worry about a stuck puck
I'm knee deep in the espresso world with a Breville bambino. I know that if I'm buying special minerals for coffee water I'm too far gone. Until then I'm gonna rely on that sweet aquifer water.
you don't need ANY of these things.
Welcome back! And a great video to start off the year!
Over the winter holidays, I:
1. Graduated undergrad! Wooo!
2. Winter holiday down to Florida, USA for warm beach vacation
3. Started grinding coffee beans for coffee time
4. Went back to using Moka Pot for coffee
5. Enjoying daily coffee lattes from various places while i job hunt. :3
15:45 There was definitely a time when I used a distributor and a WDT tool and tamp. But now it has been narrowed to my Spirograph wdt and tamper. Coffee rituals get very personal sometime, and it can take time to accept the fact you have to move on to something better/more advanced.
1.) a lot of nothing
2.) a lot of delicious coffee ☕️
3.) more nothing
4.) more coffee ☕️
5.) disassociating because of current events (thank you for acknowledging in your recent email😢)
Why do you call a "leveler" a "distributer" ? I noticed on Amazon they are also now all called "distributer"? When did they change the name & why ? They don't really distribute like a WDT "rake". They "level" hence the original name "leveler"