Olympia Cremina group seal replacement

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Mar

The mighty Pharos 68mm conical burr hand grinder from Orphan Espresso

We knew the Pharos was a peerless product the moment we produced our first shot with the Bacchi from it.  In only a few short months a lot of other people have come to the same conclusion.  As a result Doug & Barb at Orphan Espresso are unable to assemble them fast enough.  Unfortunately this means that Orphan Espresso see little point in continuing to offer the Pharos to resellers like Londinium Espresso until such time as they are at least able to meet the demand they are experiencing from their own customer base.

So while it is disappointing for us, we fully appreciate the situation Orphan find themselves in; indeed it is a high class problem and testament to Doug's ability to create products that successfully identify and address gaps in the market.

So… while all of you who have pre-ordered the Pharos will have your orders fulfilled, we are unable to offer any more Pharos for sale for the foreseeable future.  If Orphan decide to ramp up production in some way then you can be sure that the Pharos will be more than welcome to return to Londinium Espresso.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Mar

We finally upgrade our October 2003 Olympia Cremina so the mater pressure-stat sits up the right way

A few weeks ago I posted a blog entry with a few images of the upgrades that we would be making to our October 2003 Cremina to bring it right up to date with the current model.

I can't remember whether I posted that my efforts to complete the addition of the 'u-bend' copper pipe to turn the p-stat up the 'correct way' were thwarted by discovering the wires connected to the p-stat were too short on my machine to allow me to raise the p-stat up the new position it now needs to be in.

Anyway, we obtained the longer wires as used on the current production model Cremina and finally had a chance to finish the mod today.

As usual the photos tell the story far more succinctly than words, so without further ado, here are the necessary images.

Before: (note that the adjustment screw is on the underside of the mater pressure stat in this image)

Bother!  (Wires too short to reposition)

Short red wires replaced with longer ones, allowing the pressure-stat to sit up the right way.  Note:  there is only 2mm between the pstat and the boiler and another 2mm between the other side of the pstat and the casing (when fitted) - so you need to get it positioned in exactly the right spot before you tighten up the olives on the brass pipe.

After: You can see clearly that it is a snug fit, so positioning is critical if you are to avoid the pstat to sitting against the boiler, yet be able to get the cowling back on.

As you can see from the before and after images it is now a lot easier to adjust the p-stat as we no longer need to remove the cowling, just the top plate.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb

Clumping coffee grinds don't cause channelling and don't mean your grinder is poor

More heresy from the house of Londinium!

We see so much angst expressed on the internet whereby people are dismissive of a grinder on the basis that they have seen ground coffee come out in clumps from it.  Clumps I say!  Clumps do you hear?  Clumps!  Clumps! Clumps!  The end of the world is nigh!  Channelling supernova imminent!  Stand back everyone!

In our experience clumping doesn't produce channelling.  You can test this for yourself if you get a clump of ground coffee fresh from the grinder that you think is responsible for your channelling woes, and allow a single droplet of hot water to fall on it.  You will be able to observe that the coffee grounds are hydrophilic, and therefore absorb the water droplet.  As a result the coffee grinds swell, causing the clump to self destruct.

If you think about the manner in which water enters the portafilter from the shower screen it becomes obvious too.  When water first enters the portafilter basket from the shower screen it does not immediately pressurise in the way it would if the ground coffee was an impermeable substance like wood.  Instead the dry coffee grounds are highly absorbent until they become saturated, and so they soak up water almost as fast as it leaves the shower screen.  As the grounds soak up the water any clumps you might have in your coffee puck are literally 'blown apart'.  After a few seconds of water entering the portafilter the ground coffee in the top half of the puck at least becomes saturated and so the inflow of water exceeds the rate at which the ground coffee is able to soak it up, the headspace between the top of the ground coffee and the shower screen fills and then, because liquids are not able to be compressed, you finally get water pressure increasing against the coffee grounds and the espresso extraction process commences in anger.

If you are having issues with channelling try grinding your coffee more finely and reducing the dose.  We think you'll find life a lot easier.

A Mazzer robur will happily produce clumped coffee grounds if you have very fresh, moist coffee grounds and are grinding fine.  When we hear and read of people expressing dismay that a Robur is producing ground coffee with clumps and offering this up as a short coming or criticism of the grinder we have a chuckle.  The Robur is one of the finest espresso coffee grinders made, and you can rest assured that we won't be disposing of ours in the foreseeable future, even though we can make it deliver grinds in clumps.  Why?  Clumping is not responsible for channeling in our view.

Run a few tests for yourself and see if you come to the same conclusion as we do.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb

The Spanish Inquisition

From: tomasinventa@.com

Subject: Re: Londinium

Date: 16 February 2012 15:16:27 GMT

To: lespresso@mac.com

Hi Reiss.

Second shipment arrived today just on time as I had only 8grams of Java left.

Some thoughts on the first month. First a great WOW.  All three coffees were superb, way better than anything I had tried at home before, way better than illy's red blend that I can get in several coffee shops near home.

My wifes order of preferece goes: India, Java, Ethiopia.

I prefer both India and Ethiopia to Java (which I enjoy a lot also).

India and Java IMHO share qualities I have associated with good coffee but much better: good body, long long taste, never too bitter, nor too little, great dark chocolate aftertaste and a aroma to die for. 

The African coffee has been kind of difficult to extract, but at the end it is so different and so rewarding. The closest thing I have tasted in coffee to Lagavulin Malt Whisky  (absurd comparition, but both have the quality to surprise me and break my precoceptions of what coffee (malt) tastes and smells like) A great surprise.

From second batch we had this afternoon our first taste of Guatemala. I believe my wife has a new favourite. So delicate and drinkable.

I know that my  equipment (Modified Saeco Aroma, Electrolux (Sunbeam) burr grinder) is way below to what is needed to prepare your coffee to its full pontential, but even so I am enjoying it so much... so let me apologize for the poor equipment and thank your for a great product.

Regards.

Andrés.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb

Guatemalan San Francisco Tecuamburro + Bosco

Shots like these aren't unusual or rare on a Bosco.  Come and prove it for yourself.  A super sweet treat to close out the evening's roasting.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb

If your Londinium espresso isn't sweet your espresso machine is too hot

I'm fairly confident in asserting that I've got the sweetest tooth of any coffee roaster in the business

Secondly, it isn't a democracy we run here, I only sell roasts that I like, which ties in nicely with the first point; I like sweetness in my espresso, but without resorting to sugar

So… if your Londinium isn't sweet it is because your machine is running too hot

As Londinium roasts are less acidic than the competition you don't need to have your machine running as hot to kill the acidity

Similarly, we recommend more traditional dosing of between 7 and 8 grams per shot, which also helps to reduce the brightness in the roast, and the reduced mass of coffee means a lower specific heat capacity, which again means you do not need the water entering the group at as high a temperature as the coffee is not going to suck as much heat out of the water when the two come into contact

Oh, and did we mention that a lower dose means a finer grind (to maintain an extraction time of around 25 to 27 seconds), which means the much written about issue of channelling all but disappears

Try making the above adjustments and experience a revelation in your enjoyment of espresso

If all that fails, just get on the phone & give us a call

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb

Pharos shipment update

Just off the phone from speaking with Orphan Espresso

The delay in filling our order has been the result of a wait to get one or two parts for the Pharos

The good news is Orphan Espresso will be shipping our Pharos order to us next week (w/c Monday 20 Feb 2012)

I will post here again when they are shipped

I apologise for the delay, but the Pharos is well worth waiting for

We'll be FEDEX'g these ones so they aren't subject to the vagaries of Parcelforce incoming international mail service

If you've even used it you'll know exactly what I'm grizzling about

Reiss.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb

The origins of up dosing and when it is appropriate

The origins of up dosing are closely tied to a cafe's pursuit of profit.  If you want to increase the average customer spend one way is to offer larger portions (of anything) as the most incremental cost of the additional ingredients is nominal and there is no increase in the primary cost element, which is the labour.

This approach works particularly well with coffee.  The incremental cost of the milk (as it almost always is milky drinks in a cafes outside the small number of countries that have coastlines touching the Mediterranean) for a grande/supersize me coffee is nominal, as is the coffee cost, and the labour cost is no greater as it takes the same length of time to prepare as a small drink.

The trouble is as you move beyond a 200mL cup of say cappuccino, a traditional italian dosing of 7-8g per shot becomes drowned in an ocean of milk.  It very quickly degrades to a coffee flavoured milkshake, and indeed this suits many cafes just fine as you can use any old coffee from a bucket roaster, and everyone's happy.

As the so called 'third wave' coffee blossomed in North America with roasters and high end cafes wanting their customers to taste the efforts of their labours that had gone into the bean selection, roasting, and preparation the only way to achieve this in a land where large portion sizes are very much de rigour, was to increase the dose.  As a result you now have many machines designed to drive water through monster triple dose baskets, easily holding 22 or 23 grams of coffee.

And that's a perfectly understandable response to the problem; if you must drink a bucket of hot milk every time you go need a cafe then you need to find a way to get more coffee into the bucket.  No issue there.

Where it becomes an issue for us is when the disciples of the third wave begin to sniff, oh, you only dose with 7/8g (single) or 14/16g (double) for espresso.  Well our response is yes, and as a result we use a finer grind and enjoy hardly any issues with channeling which you seem to spend an awful lot of time fighting.  Secondly we make our espresso to the traditional 30mL (single) 60mL (double) measures and therefore the lower dose is more than sufficient.  Finally, we don't like our espresso to taste like a cup of lemon/lime/other freshly squeezed citrus fruit, which up dosing tends to accentuate as you grind more coarsely to compensate for the larger dose and you then run higher temperatures to damp down the acidity.

We like our espresso to be complex, smooth, refined, sweet, and with an elegance that caresses our taste buds rather than yells at them.  The bottom-line?  Up dosing was developed as a response to gluttony.  Whether you think the gluttony is driven from the supply side or the demand side is a moot point, but not necessary to determine here.  When you are back to the pure pursuit of elegant espresso up dosing is as inappropriate as a rhinoceros at a performance of Swan Lake.

There's no shame in the old ways.  Consider the possibility that our fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers may have known a thing or two; a lot was achieved before we were born.

Don't confuse the message here as one of being a slave to all things Italian.  We would be among the first to acknowledge that in many cafes in Italy the coffee has become commoditised and it is flat, stale and lacking in complexity as a result.  But it is annoying to read the thinly veiled inferences that there is nothing that Italy can teach the latest generation of baristas about coffee.

There is a deep rich lore of coffee in Italy with the opportunity to learn so much from so many people practising their craft in so many different parts of Italy.  Indeed it seems that Italy is entering something of a renaissance in espresso; there is a growing awareness that they may have been surpassed in some aspects of coffee that that previously ruled without question and there is a growing motivation to win the mantle back.

So many Italians in particular, and Europeans in general, have taught us so much about coffee that we are very happy to sit back, listen, and learn.  We don't think we'll be implying they've got it all wrong any time soon.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb

Customer testimonial from Spain

We've got a whole email folder full of customer testimonials but we've seldom published them as we think they might be perceived as a bit 'Reader's Digest'.

Anyway, lets post this one and see what you think, as its not just us that think espresso shouldn't be bright & brassy:


The email came with the above imaged attached.

• Reiss Gunson
• 2012 Feb