# Old member now lockdown barista.....



## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

So after 4 years of not drinking coffee very much, taste buds changed etc although I do still enjoy a really good milk based drink, but rare to find (rave is too far away) .... I find myself wfh, which I have done for the last few years, no bother.... however now SWMBO is now also wfh... and has a really bad coffee habit ie drinks really bad coffee a lot from works coffee shop, I've tried it, it's awful and makes Starbucks taste like gourmet.......

However laced with vanilla syrup who cares right....

Anyway so as she classes as vulnerable she was sent home from work sooner than most and after a day really missed the coffee but also the social aspect of going to the coffee shop (office has circa 3000 people capacity) chatting etc.

So I went to the shed and dig out my classic, cleaned descaled it, ran a tank of water through and set off to a decent local coffee shop, for coffee (made), bag of ground, bag of beans..... (can take beans back to have ground.....)

That was 2 weeks ago.... the back of ground has gone, no problem back to the shed and retrieve the little used mignon grinder she bought me a few xmas ago...... clean that and grind fresh, not as clumpy as I remembered......

So far so good.... SWMBO is happy, made space in kitchen (just about) for classic and grinder (and knock pot) one main reason for it languishing in the shed was new house has much smaller kitchen than before.

So the little bottle of syrup has gone, the first bag of grounds has gone and the bag of beans has almost gone......looks like there are a few months yet before retail coffee is available and SWMBO is back in the office.....

So to the Internet! 1l of syrup delivered 1kg of beans ordered, in fact it's 1.25kg but a small bag of a different roast, and with practice technique is getting better....

However the coffee is still poor.... I kind of know what I need to do, but not sure I can be bothered.... but potentially have time to get to grips with it....

So classic is standard apart from a Rancilio steam wand and I am using the Gaggia basket the pour is fast 8-9 seconds the crema looks good. The new beans are closest they had to the old el corozo beans from same roaster. So I have a normal style basket (not a VST) and a standard porta filter......

Was thinking of an opv mod but will this mean the pressurised baskets can no longer be used?

Can I use standard portafilter and normal basket just without the pressurised basket and plastic nozzle?

Can I go back to the old Gaggia method without opening the machine up? if I mess about and SWMBO doesn't get her coffee well.........how does one extract a grinder from the posterior without a trip to A&E?


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## Batian (Oct 23, 2017)

Great re intro!

"how does one extract a grinder from the posterior without a trip to A&E?"

Just make sure they spell grinder correctly .......


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

So bit of an update still in lockdown, bean through 2kg of coffee, 🙃 done the opv mod on the classic, spent an age faffing with shot times, grind adjustments etc to the point I don't care anymore, all without hitting the magic golden ratio thingy, and BTW espresso tastes god awful.... but then I remembered I don't actually like espresso don't like coffee really, that's why it spent 4 years in the shed!

However the person who drinks the majority does like them and even commented on how much they liked them. when we were comparing beans, having been though plenty of coffee, Clifton el corozo (the first bag) was still top of the list, village not so much, rave signature not great, Italian job better, I Daren't tell her There is another bag of signature (and 3 others) to get through before I will order from Clifton again!

I guess the important thing is *you* are enjoying your drink, 3 months ago I would have drunk a McDonald's cappuccino and got shitty with the costa muppet for telling me "an americano is just the same as a filter coffee" now I kind of miss them, did I mention I don't actually like coffee

now anyone know how stop ants getting into the syrup pump???


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## allikat (Jan 27, 2020)

On the syrup pump front, a baking tray full of water as a place to put the bottle works. You could even put something in the middle of said moat to put the bottle on.


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

Is it worth asking if it's had any Puly Caff/backflush cleaning cycles done?

Failing that it might be worth offering the unwanted bags for sale on here if they're still in date, would definitely save SWMBO serving them to you for dinner with a nice chianti...


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

allikat said:


> On the syrup pump front, a baking tray full of water as a place to put the bottle works. You could even put something in the middle of said moat to put the bottle on.


 Yes Syrup island as it is now known works well and since have been no ants ejected from the pump into the morning latte 😆 🤢 ( i shoot syrup first)



Deegee said:


> Is it worth asking if it's had any Puly Caff/backflush cleaning cycles done?
> 
> Failing that it might be worth offering the unwanted bags for sale on here if they're still in date, would definitely save SWMBO serving them to you for dinner with a nice chianti...


 The beans are all getting used and consumed Rave italian JOb leading the pack.

Machine was Puly caff'd when removed from storage with some old Puly caff that wasn't great and has since been done properly a couple of times every couple of weeks and water back flushed a few times as well, Grinder has been stripped and cleaned (grind chamber) a few times too now.

I bought a Motta tamper which is a better fit but hasnt made a huge difference 😆 in fact based on todays results no difference!


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