Archive for the ‘New Products’ Category

What’s the use of a Thermal Cafetiere?

Friday, May 21st, 2010

We’ve just started stocking a range of thermal cafetieres and it got me wondering what’s the actual point of them? Yes, I know they keep your coffee hot for longer. This new cafetiere claims to keep it hot for 3 times as long. But if you leave your coffee in the cafetiere doesn’t it keep extracting?

thermal cafetiereThis is something I’ve read and heard many times but never got around to testing for myself. Does coffee really keep extracting even when the plunger is down? So I conducted a test using a TDS meter, measuring some coffee immediately after I’d finished brewing and then again 5 minutes later. The results showed that the coffee which had been left in the cafetiere was indeed stronger, by 6%.

This might not seem a lot, but the aim of brewing is to extract all the desirable flavours from the coffee whilst leaving the undesirable ones behind. So if all the desirable flavours have already been extracted by the time the brew has finished, than this extra 6% of strength will be from the undesirable flavours.

Therefore, keeping your coffee hot for longer isn’t a good selling point for a cafetiere. If you leave your coffee inside it, it’s going to keep on brewing, and when you come back to it, it will taste darker, bitterer and will contain more caffeine.

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Ascaso Update

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Yes I know that Ascaso upgraded the spec on its espresso machines back in September 2009; so this isn’t exactly new news. But still I though it was something worth talking about. So I decided to compare the equivalent pre-upgrade machine against a brand new Pablo (before the Update this used to be called the Basic).

So what’s changed?

As standard, Ascaso now fits all of its espresso machines with a solenoid valve. But also: the UK distributor for Ascaso, Fairfax Coffee, has chosen to switch from importing machines fitted with the ‘versatile’ system (which can use both ground coffee and ESE pods) to the ground coffee only system.

Now the versatile system uses ‘supercream’ pressurised portafilters. Which Ascaso boost: guarantees a creamy coffee (no matter how badly you prepare it! – okay I added the last bit myself). The coffee only machines, like their commercial counterparts, don’t have this cheat.

groupheads

Old versatile grouphead on left. Uses rubber o-ring to help pressurise portafilter. New grouphead on right. Notice the shower screen is much finer for a more even wetting.


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Rattling Cup Holder

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Travel Mug
Recently I decided to take advantage of the Government Scrappage Scheme and swap my old beast for something a bit more refined. Everything is great with the new car, except for one thing, it makes a slightly annoying rattle when I used the cup holder.

Now I used to use a stainless steel Planetary Design travel mug; which is brilliant at keeping my coffee hot (possibly too good). I’d make it half an hour before leaving home, for it to be at a drinkable temperature 20 minutes into my journey! After an hour and a half, it would still be reasonably hot.

As this travel mug is made from metal, I thought this might be part of the problem. Stainless steel is fairly resonating. So I decided to try using a different travel mug. As we had just taken delivery of some new porcelain travel mugs, by Sagaform, I chose to use one of these.

Unfortunately, this didn’t solve the problem. I still have a rattling cup holder. But rather than a high pitched ‘ting ting’ my new porcelain mug makes a low grumble.
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Handpresso Intense Portafilter – Part II

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

handpresso domepodIn the previous post, I was testing the new Intense portafilter on the ESE version of Handpresso’s portable espresso machine. Now it’s the turn of the Domepod (ground coffee) version.

As I said previously:

I’m not quite sure of the advantage yet (of the Intense portafilter), as flow rate can already be controlled by altering the grind size of the coffee.

I did come up with a theory however – that using the Intense portafilter may slow the loss of pressure when compared to simply grinding finer. For some reason the Intense portafilter would be better at stopping the pressurised air from escaping and consequently the coffee cake would be under higher pressure for longer. So to put this to the test I made several ristrettos (yes you can make these with the Domepod), some using a coarser grind and the Intense portafilter and some using a finer grind with the standard portafilter. But I couldn’t detect any difference between the two; so that was my theory out the window!

Back to the drawing board; my big assumption was that everyone has an espresso grinder, with access to 24/7. But that’s not the case. Once I realised this (stupid me) I came up with a list of scenarios where the Intense portafilter is beneficial:

  1. If you do have a grinder but it doesn’t grind fine enough for espresso.
  2. Or if you buy pre-ground coffee but and again the grind size isn’t fine enough.
  3. If you’re going out for the day, and want to drink both espressos and ristrettos, but don’t want the hassle of making up and labelling which pods have which grind size in it.

I’m sure there are other scenarios. Please feel free to suggest any.

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Handpresso Intense Portafilter

Monday, February 8th, 2010

handpresso intense portafilter
We’ve recently started to stock an alternative portafilter to the standard one shipped with Handpresso espresso machines. So I thought it would be a good idea to put the new Intense portafilter through its paces.

Intense Portafilter

Intense portafilter - fewer holes

The Intense portafilter is designed to slow down the flow rate for a more intense (hence the name!) extraction. The difference between this and the standard portafilter is that this one simply has fewer holes – i.e. fewer holes the longer it takes for the water to flow through.
 

I can immediately see the point of this portafilter for the ESE version of the Handpresso. The biggest problem with ESE pods is that they brew too quickly, resulting in an under-extracted brew. So something that slows the process is going to be beneficial. However with the Domepod (ground coffee) version, I’m not quite sure of the advantage yet, as flow rate can already be controlled by altering the grind size of the coffee.
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