# My little corner of the kitchen



## robashton (May 9, 2015)

We all know what a Sage DB and EK look like so there isn't anything particularly shiny here.

View attachment 15124


What I'm pretty happy with is the workflow, weigh beans, throw in hopper, attach glass to catch coffee, throw in basket without any fuss through catcha, couple of taps horizontal, couple of taps vertical, add/remove coffee if needed with second weigh (usually need to bang 0.2g out of the chute), gentle tamp with two fingers - nothing fancy, attach portafilter, slide cup on yet another weighing scale under basket and get cooking.

No I'm not married and I don't have a partner - I suspect taking up nearly the entire kitchen with coffee stuff would be somewhat harder under those circumstances.

Having three sets of coffee scales is pro game


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Nice set up, lots of space to work in.


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

I need it, I'm such a messy barista - it means I have a very small amount of room to cook with but let's face it - coffee is more important


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Yeh, foods not gonna wake you up in the morning!


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

Open invite to any of the Glasgow folk to come around for coffee and play time of course - that offer has been given to all my favourite town baristas, I aim to help up all our games as we learn together!


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## glevum (Apr 4, 2013)

Prime spot by the window


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

glevum said:


> Prime spot by the window


That was a killer this afternoon actually - dialled in at what my spreadsheet told me was right for the coffee I'm using and had to drop .5 on the dial, then the sun went down and it went back up .5 again - madness.


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## Zephyr (Apr 19, 2015)

sweet setup, that grinder is so cool.


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## Obsy (May 21, 2012)

Spreadsheet? Is this something you've created?


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

Obsy said:


> Spreadsheet? Is this something you've created?


Yup - I keep a spreadsheet with all the details of every shot (good and bad) that I've poured through this set-up (varietal, country, roaster, age, roast darkness (by eye, nothing scientific), pressure, temperature, dose, yield, tamp, basket, etc etc).

It just makes it easier to work out where I need to go on the dial when I open a bag of coffee and it means in a few more months I'll have some pretty graphs to share!

I've not made coffee in the sun before now, so I guess my spreadsheet is only good for ambient summer-time room temperature...


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## Obsy (May 21, 2012)

Love a good spreadsheet - it's the accountant in me am sure. How are you finding the Sage DB? I'm getting ready to upgrade and was swaying heavily towards Rocket R58 but the Sage has piqued my curiosity, especially with the lifetime guarantee from Lakeland. Am in awe of the EK though! Shame I wasn't closer, would love to see them both in action.


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

The Rocket R58 was my other choice - it's so beautiful compared to the Sage.

The reason I went with the Sage was the built in timer (that and I got a hefty discount by buying it at the coffee festival) - I'm a practical person and little things like this make all the difference. Other than looking pretty boring there wasn't much difference between the two machines. (Think the steam wand on the Sage is unbeatable though)


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Fantastic set up. The Sage and the EK is a great combination, I've had some fantastic shots on the same set up round at Gary's.

You'd struggle to improve on the shot quality in that coffee corner


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## risky (May 11, 2015)

robashton said:


> Open invite to any of the Glasgow folk to come around for coffee and play time of course - that offer has been given to all my favourite town baristas, I aim to help up all our games as we learn together!


I may have to take you up on that offer. Although I dare say you'll be learning very fast with that setup!


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

What size is that green cup??


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## Obsy (May 21, 2012)

I've not got the patience for keeping the Rocket shiny, which wouldn't be a problem with the Sage. I've heard great things about the steam wand on the Sage, which is right up my street as I don't drink espresso.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

Obsy said:


> Love a good spreadsheet - it's the accountant in me am sure. How are you finding the Sage DB? I'm getting ready to upgrade and was swaying heavily towards Rocket R58 but the Sage has piqued my curiosity, especially with the lifetime guarantee from Lakeland. Am in awe of the EK though! Shame I wasn't closer, would love to see them both in action.


The SDB is a great appliance to produce excellent espresso and milk. Its functional and it has so many nice features that you won't get with the R58. Its not an Italian handcrafted piece of art. I don't regret my choice of machine. If you get it from Lakeland and it doesn't float your boat. Return it. I know dfk41 did just that.


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

jeebsy said:


> What size is that green cup??


8oz

yes I drink my espresso from a latte cup, I don't even heat it up - all the better to smell and taste!


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## Obsy (May 21, 2012)

ridland said:


> The SDB is a great appliance to produce excellent espresso and milk. Its functional and it has so many nice features that you won't get with the R58. Its not an Italian handcrafted piece of art. I don't regret my choice of machine. If you get it from Lakeland and it doesn't float your boat. Return it. I know dfk41 did just that.


Function has to win over form for me at the moment. I'm getting increasingly frustrated with my setup and upgraditis has been hoovering for a long while now. The R58 looks good but I'd rather be able to produce consistent results in the cup. Looks like the machine decision is made - now to tackle the important issue of which grinder!


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

risky said:


> I may have to take you up on that offer. Although I dare say you'll be learning very fast with that setup!


Always welcome - just shoot me a PM. I work from home so I'm nearly always here which is why I've been comfortable telling everybody to just come around haha.

Next week I'll be doing Rocko Mountain, the various Limoncello Caturras and the Limoncello Pacamara if that helps anybody


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

Nice set-up. I'm allowed a chunk in the corner of the kitchen (which I'm very happy with) as my partner knows I'm very into my coffee and appreciates how much time it takes me to prepare a shot. I daren't push it that far lol

As far as a journal goes, I only write the grinder setting on the bean packets for reference (and noticed tonight that that can change a bit).


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

Rhys said:


> As far as a journal goes, I only write the grinder setting on the bean packets for reference (and noticed tonight that that can change a bit).


I'm entirely clueless if I'm honest - coffee seems a fickle beast and I was hoping that by writing everything down I might gain a clue. So far this doesn't seem to be the case!


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## forzajuve (Feb 2, 2011)

How are you finding the EK43 for espresso? Enough range to dial in and any extra tamping tekkers needed e.g nutation?


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

Absolutely fine - my biggest problem really is that I don't always want 50g mega shots but that's where I often need to pull to before I reach the sweet spot. Suspect smaller dose and baskets could help.

i have a whole digit to play with - most coffee comes through at about 1.9-2.1 on the dial (that would give me 40g in 30s ish) and I dont nutate (I used to on a borrowed EK but I zeroed these burrs as soon as I got it)

in fact my tamp is very light, I try to do minimal basket prep - sitting in the school of "the more you fiddle, the more you'll break"

pours look like this

View attachment 15157


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

Following on from this http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?25001-Feeeeeeeedbaaaaack&p=320651


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## Nobodysdriving (Jul 4, 2015)

robashton said:


> but let's face it - coffee is more important


I SO agree with this


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

robashton said:


> We all know what a Sage DB and EK look like so there isn't anything particularly shiny here.
> 
> View attachment 15124





robashton said:


> I've not made coffee in the sun before now, so I guess my spreadsheet is only good for ambient summer-time room temperature...


1. Depends on your definition of shiny .

2. Don't worry, it's unlikely to be a major issue in Scotland ;-P.


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

jlarkin said:


> 2. Don't worry, it's unlikely to be a major issue in Scotland ;-P.


This last week has been a nightmare and seen me drop half a digit on my pours, back to being cool this morning and I'm up that half a digit again. Wish I'd stuck an ambient room temperature column in my spreadsheet.


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