Rancilio Rocky pour over

111 was totally an coincidence

First morning with my new rocky grinder, I made some pour over in the Chemex V60 with a Kone metal filter per daily routine.  I find that the pour over (or drip if you will) brew method gives me a cleaner and smoother cup than french press, making it the preferred morning coffee routine.  What you see there is the initial pour, where the coffee should bloom to around the 1 minute mark.  I was supposed to pour to 100g... but wasn't really awake yet so.. we got 111.  After bloom, pour in rest of water (I used 24 g coffee with 400 g of water) which should take you to the 2 minute mark and let coffee flow through til 2:45 -  3:00.

Presso manual espresso machine pt2

With my Rocky in hand, it's time for part 2 of my Presso trial.  Using the same equipment aside from grinder and same coffee as before, I dialed in the grinder.  I few tries later, here's what I got

Rancilio Rocky Arrival and Initial Impressions!

There she is!

My finally arrived!! There it is sitting on the counter top awaiting its maiden voyage. First impressions of the machine: it is bigger and heavier than it looks in the pictures! but feel really solid and well made.  There were some coffee grounds on the unit but this is NORMAL! These grinders are tested by manufacturer so if yours comes like that, don't fret.  As you can see the default setting is at a 10, which seems like a common starting point for espresso.  The unit comes with nice quality user manual in different languages.  The packaging was very secure, so much so i had to spend some time just to take it out. There is a switch for main power, switch for turning on grinding (you have to hold this button down), and a button you hold down to adjust grind setting. Last thing I want to note about this grinder is it's stepped, meaning the grind settings are discreet step and not continuous.  This means if your dialing in you shot, you may get stuck between two grind setting and although this can me remedied with changing tamping strength it's not ideal.  Personally, I chose stepped since it'll be an all purpose grinder, I wanted to be able to change between drip, press, espresso easily.  I didn't jump to the Presso next to it immediately since I wanted to just try out the grinder first.  Found out what it's first usage was after the break...

Currently Drinking: Ethiopia Tukant

What you're looking at is the lovely lid of my coffee container.  What's inside is the Ethiopia Tuktant from Blue Bottle in San Francisco.  If anyone's visiting SF I highly recommend it, there's a store in Mint Plaza and one in Ferry building. The lines can get pretty longs though, but they do have a online coffee store

Presso manual espresso machine pt1

One of my most recent toys is the Presso espresso machine. It's a budget manual espresso machine costing around 150 dollars, making it great for beginner home baristas.  It does not require electricity, which makes it a great thing for camping.  It's a simpler espresso brew method and as you can see from the picture, you pour boiling water into the water storage at the top, put in perfectly tamped (major issue! and lots of failed attempts) coffee in portafilter and press down on the two arms.

Welcome to my Coffee World!

Hey everybody! With this blog I hope to share all the fun and enjoyment (and sometimes frustrations) from my coffee endeavors.  Being an avid coffee drinker, I predict this blog will be filled up quickly.  The goal here is really to share my experiences to help anyone looking to get into the art of coffee.  Without further ado, let us set off with high spirits and a jittery hand!