# What got you into serious coffee?



## Greenblood (Jun 8, 2017)

As it says on the tin. I am curious how you folks ended up spending thousands(in some cases) on kit to make the perfect cup?

cheers,

steve


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

Having an awesome espresso


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

This forum.


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## Rakesh (Jun 3, 2017)

A few bags of Sainsbury's finest coffee beans and a French press


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I think i though i always enjoyed coffee , but there were a couple of stand out moments that made me go , awwww that's the coffee people talk about ...

An Ethiopian espresso at what is now my local cafe that was a fruit punch to the mouth , and a Chemex made by systemic off here, that was again a African coffee but just opened up the whole world of delicate flavours that filter can offer.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

I blame @Snakehips myself.


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## Greenblood (Jun 8, 2017)

Personally, I am really only now getting into coffee enough to take it seriously. Spent a grand on a bean to cup some years ago and was never impressed with it so kind of put it to the back of my mind.

roll forward a few years and now an expat in france, where coffee 'normale' is common and I have, on occasion, had some nice ones. So my mind starts thinking about coffee again.

Past experiences of French press and drip coffee has been pretty awful to be honest. Like drinking from an ashtray...smelt of but tasted yuk. So never figured the French press out. Have watched the vids on hasbeen's YouTube on how to do it and it's more complicated that just spooning a tbs of ground into the cafetière if u do it properly! So lots to learn. But the smell off coffee is so enticing! I love it! Can't wait for my adventure to begin propa!

cheers

steve


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

Making fresh from the roaster coffee in a jug with my dad on a Saturday morning when I was young. There followed an odyssey through every type of domestic coffee maker. Ultimately I arrived at absolute frustration with espresso steam toys and illy coffee. I bought a brewtus 3 in a near tantrum.


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## 4515 (Jan 30, 2013)

Had a meal at a local restaurant http://thevenusrestaurant.com/index.html and finished off with an espresso. It was the first espresso that wowed me - smooth, intense and a lingering after-taste.

I then found this forum and intended to make a similar drink by spending £300 on coffee stuff. Well, if the devil smiles when we make plans, he had a big grin on his face right then ! A few years later, a few changes of equipment, a few quid over my original budget and I'm blaming it all on this forum.


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## UbiquitousPhoton (Mar 7, 2016)

Mine was kinda weird. I got into coffee by giving it up...

So I had to give up coffee, due to overdoing it, and caffeine issues. I did this, and it was all fine, but I kinda missed the taste of coffee (I was drinking herbal teas now).

So I tried normal freeze dried decaf. And that was a no.

So I tried expensive freeze dried decaf (yes, such a thing really exists) and that was less of a no, but still not great.

A friend who was into coffee suggested I try proper decaf coffee, and so I got an aeropress and a porlex, and started getting beans from HasBean. This was a yes.

I got tired of grinding by hand, so when I got a bonus at work, intended to buy a grinder, but 'accidentally' bought a Sylvia as well. I was getting normal coffee for my missus at the same time as getting decaf for myself, and of course I had to try it, and discovered that it was nicer, so came back to caffeine, but in a muchly reduced quantity (but this allowed me to focus on quality)

I then sort of worked my way up - better tampers, VST baskets, etc. during which time I also joined up here whilst looking for a fix for my Sylvia (a leak had caused one of the SSRs to die). This was probably my biggest mistake...

Not having a coffee machine for a week or so got me to thinking that if I had to replace it, what would I replace it *with* .... and so on. Slippery slope that involved a day out at LCF, and some rather nicely timed sales on here, and there we are.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Greenblood said:


> Past experiences of French press and drip coffee has been pretty awful to be honest. Like drinking from an ashtray...smelt of but tasted yuk. So never figured the French press out. Have watched the vids on hasbeen's YouTube on how to do it and it's more complicated that just spooning a tbs of ground into the cafetière if u do it properly! So lots to learn. But the smell off coffee is so enticing! I love it! Can't wait for my adventure to begin propa!
> 
> cheers
> 
> steve


If it was a short steep French press 3-4 mins and was bitter that's more likely a function of poorly over roasted

Coffee tbh


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## Scotford (Apr 24, 2014)

The community that cafes and the cafe culture brings to the table. The coffee, for me, is actually second to that.

Not by much like, but still.


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## Slee (Jan 2, 2011)

I liked coffee but then one Christmas my dad bought me a Gaggia viva machine and I slowly started to get more interested in how to make coffee. I found a local roaster who did some training where I could take my machine. My machine went bang when i tried to fill the portafilter. I then found this forum looking for help where I then purchased the silvia and I was hooked. I ended up with coffeechap as my barista at my wedding and 3 years on I have the sage db and all learning and really enjoying it.


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## Norvin (Sep 10, 2014)

When I was a student in the mid 70's I used to hitch hike around France during the holidays (should never have read Kerouac). One of my treats was to stop off at bars and have a coffee. They were typically made with ground coffee using lever machines and tasted sooo much better than the coffee we had at home at the time, Nescafe, Mellow Birds etc. I was hooked, and have had a taste for real coffee ever since.


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## Greenblood (Jun 8, 2017)

It seems time was taken in the olden days to make a decent cup, there was a pride in it. Nowadays it just seems to be another mundane task of a waitress unless you are very lucky....even in france!

steve


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## beany (Aug 25, 2013)

LOVE... I had a boyfriend with an espressomachine . I enjoyed his morning cup he made for me... after separating I missed the coffee but not the boyfriend. So I get started with "serious" coffee.


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

beany said:


> LOVE... I had a boyfriend with an espressomachine . I enjoyed his morning cup he made for me... after separating I missed the coffee but not the boyfriend. So I get started with "serious" coffee.


Damn. That's cold


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## beany (Aug 25, 2013)

Obnic said:


> Damn. That's cold


 Not cold







-hot love !!!!!! - he cheated me with my best friend.


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

beany said:


> Not cold
> 
> 
> 
> ...


at least you stayed with the good stuff


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## Obnic (Jan 14, 2014)

beany said:


> Not cold
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hope you took his espresso machine then.


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## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

Im not really sure what first made me want to search out good coffee. Its always been there, since i first started drinking coffee.

i do though remember walking into a coffee shop in amsterdam ( the kind that sells beans, not the other kind) when there on my first trip when i was about 17. After that i regularly visited Amsterdam for years and called into that shop along with one or two in London and the north of England until the internet took off, then obviously the amount of info and beans available exploded to the point now were we've gone from a handful of roasters to literally hundreds all over the country. I found out years ago that although the beans i was buying in the dam were nice, they were far from the freshest.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Driving down to Torquay in 2005, I stopped at a services and sent my son to grab me a coffee. He came back with a cappuccino that you made yourself on a bean to cup but it just tasted better than things I could remember. So, we stopped several more times! When we came home, I asked around at work and ended up buying a refurbed Classic from Gaggia UK with a Starbucks burr grinder. In under a year I moved to a Mignon and Fracino Heavenly and the rest, as they say, is history


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## Mister_Tad (Feb 9, 2015)

My dad brought me back a moka pot from a business trip to Italy when I was around 13, and that was it.


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## Mmiah (Feb 13, 2015)

my family own a restaurant and each time i visit i always have some filter coffee, then we got an espresso machine so started on that, enjoyed it so much that i started to try real coffee at home

first i was using a french press, but i like my milk based drinks too so had a look online and found this forum, bought a gaggia classic and a hand grinder, few drinks in my hand was dead so bought a mignon grinder, but still use the hand grinder for the french press

anyone who visits my house asks for real coffee now


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

The smell in the local coffee roasters in Norbury London in 1970 aged 4 - oh yeah and the large coffee choc sweet we got


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## Greenblood (Jun 8, 2017)

jimbojohn55 said:


> The smell in the local coffee roasters in Norbury London in 1970 aged 4 - oh yeah and the large coffee choc sweet we got


I remeber there was this kid at school that was pals with my brother and gave him dark chockolate coffee bean shaped chocolates cus his dad worked in some chocolate factory. They were rich, creamy and strongly coffee flavoured, I loved them! Not come acros anything similar since.

steve


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

Greenblood said:


> I remeber there was this kid at school that was pals with my brother and gave him dark chockolate coffee bean shaped chocolates cus his dad worked in some chocolate factory. They were rich, creamy and strongly coffee flavoured, I loved them! Not come acros anything similar since.
> 
> steve


These were the ones I was given as kid - Quite rare I the UK https://www.belgianchocs.com/catalog/cote-dor-milk-chocolate-bouchee-8-x-25g-c-78-p-289.html an I remember them as having a coffee flavour but we are talking 46 years ago!


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## YerbaMate170 (Jun 15, 2015)

For me it was when I was at university, and I realised one day that I should probably visit a "nice" cafe - up until then, my only coffee experiences had been big chains and instant, and I just assumed there wasn't much more to coffee. This also was annoying because I'd always been a big foodie, so figured I should explore the world of coffee...

I then went to a local speciality place and basically fell in love with coffee. The rest is history/ongoing.


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## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

Nero's reawakened my interest. (I know, don't laugh...) Then a couple of independents. Bought a De Longi and wasn't satisfied. Found this amazing forum and bought a Vibiemme single boiler and a Pharos grinder. Began to learn... (Still learning) and to buy decent beans. Then along came a Rocket with a Eureka grinder that was too good to resist. I've managed to avoid upgradeitis for almost 18 months but I do have a yen now for a Mythos and maybe an L1. I'm frightened to try the latter because I think it might prove to be very expensive...

My wife was skeptical initially but is now completely hooked and comes in from school howling "coffee!"


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## Goram (Jan 6, 2017)

Finding yourself getting deeper into the coffee world is an inevitability for a rugby player. Training will normally finish for the day around 2pm so when you're all done you look round to your mates and go hang out in a coffee shop for a few hours. I just happened to be playing/living near Sheffield so the local options were near endless so spend a fair amount of time in Steamyard, Foundry and Tamper. I then became interested in brewing higher quality at home and so the story has unfolded and continues to unfold from there


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## Grimley (Jan 18, 2015)

2001 = First trip to Costa

2005 = Bought first espresso machine £30 from Woolworths.

2012 = Discovered Artisan Coffee, courtesy of Honey & Harvey Woodbridge. Bought a Gaggia machine & porlex grinder that year.

2016 = Gaggia Classic.

2017 = Rancilio Silvia with PID, Eureka Mignion. that's it.


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## Lefteye (Dec 30, 2014)

Got one of those espresso/drip machines at uni. Drank loads of filter but never made the espresso bit work ( didn't know how). Then got a nespresso and enjoyed it. Got into drinking in cafes and found here. Went to see @dfk41 and his stuff then saved up and got the gear. Basically I think david owes me serious money.


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## Rom (Jan 20, 2017)

I'm just an idiot who wants to do it the right way If I'm going to do it at all. Along came coffee, then about 3 years ago this forum and the rest is an expensive but good education...

edited to add:

i never even liked coffee years ago but then when I tried s black coffee 9 years ago I realised it was the milk I didn't like. So the journey began, Shame it took until 3 years ago to find this place


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## Phil104 (Apr 15, 2014)

I didn't drink coffee at all until 2013 and a caffee corretto in Venice and watching Inspector Montalbano using his Bialetti moka pot.


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## guy.woodall (Aug 18, 2013)

Finding the Monmouth coffee roasters around 1989 and teasing a yigacheffe in the tasting room.


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## MSM (Mar 12, 2015)

. Instant coffee was the start - still drink Frappe when in Greece

.. Cafetiere filter - pre-ground coffee

... Nespresso - not enough coffee choice

.... Gaggia Classic - still happy with it

..... V60 and Aeropress

...... La Pavoni - not had a massive amount of use tbh

....... Fracino Cherub


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## Split Shot (Sep 24, 2016)

For me its a clearly identifiable moment:

I had enjoyed French Press coffee for a number of years, but it was just another part of breakfast...

Then I had a small cappuccino from the coffee bar at Aire de Rely (a service station on the French motorway, just past Calais). It was, to me, simply exquisite. I think they were using Illy beans. It became a ritual for me when visiting France - coffee and a croissant sitting at that humble coffee bar in a service station. Amazing!

They've more recently 'upgraded' the building and changed things.... its never been the same since


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## Stevie-heathie (Jun 21, 2017)

Proper coffee I enjoyed in Nairobi as a kid.


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## Hungry Chimp (Jun 21, 2017)

I spent 10 weeks in Melbourne about five years ago, which opened my tastebuds to proper coffee. Incredible coffee and coffee culture out there imo.


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## offtheground (Jul 15, 2015)

Only about three years ago, a friend made me a coffee while I was on holiday that I insisted I would hate, but really enjoyed. A few months later my sister and brother-in-law were given an espresso machine as a gift and made me a (terrible when I look back) espresso macchiato. Then I went to tamper in Sheffield, got quickly obsessed, bought an aeropress and then it got real!


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

I think I have just remembered a defining moment from back in the 80s.

I sent a letter to Woman's Own magazine about something-or-other. It was chosen as the Star Letter - I won a cafetiere (still have it!) so I shot of to the supermarket for some beans. The grinder I used was an ancient wall thing (Spong probably) from Timothy Whites. All that wasn't enough to put me off!!!

More recently (2010 probably) I won a bottle of Bollinger for another winning letter (Country Life!!!)! I gave it to a friend - I didn't want to get hooked on that too!


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## Greenblood (Jun 8, 2017)

Women's Own to Country Life in 30 years, there must be a book in that somewhere


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## thesmileyone (Sep 27, 2016)

Country Life...look at you







Tatler next?


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## Richard_severn (May 3, 2017)

Pact offering a bag of coffee for a pound or 6 pounds and a free v60, it was a slippery slope after that!

This forum definitely pushed me into getting an espresso machine though. Until I bought the machine I had never had an espresso..... now anything other than an espresso tastes weak and thin


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## soundklinik (May 31, 2013)

Greenblood said:


> It seems time was taken in the olden days to make a decent cup, there was a pride in it. Nowadays it just seems to be another mundane task of a waitress unless you are very lucky....even in france!
> 
> steve


I like the: "even in France"

LOL are you serious? ....or on a sentimental journey?

France never had good coffee, it's an illusion and nowadays, decent coffee is in big cities only.

But I got into serious coffee after working in Coffee Connection in Boston in 80's...

Best coffee and he proved that there is life after Folgers.


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## safirseo1 (10 mo ago)

I had never tried specialty coffee; 3 months ago, I bought a pack of specialty coffee from a local store, and the taste was great!😍😍
If the quality matters to you, try single origin coffees.
you can taste coffee from around the world and appreciate the nuances in flavor between different countries
Thank you Etude 🤩🤩🤩


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## Bhodgson (11 mo ago)

Mine started after a holiday, in Spain, introduced me to Cafe con leche. Though it was a couple of decades later, before I bought a machine and started making it myself. 
someone on gave me one of those seam espresso machines. I tried it and dumped it after the first shot. But it started a search for a proper (I use the term loosely) machine. I scored a Kenwood v3.16. Close but no cigar. 
Research showed a Gaggia baby or a classic, was a logical next step. A classic came up at a silly price, £50, in 2013, and i been happy since.


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## truecksuk (Sep 22, 2011)

my wife bought me some "blue sumatra" beans back in 2011. I have been hooked since.


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