Coffee Hit

Black Teflon Pitchers

2011-07-27T00:34:00.000-07:00

Our custom black Teflon pitchers were a huge success at TEDinburgh 2011. We have a brand new pitcher arriving mid August and we plan to Teflon coat these.

The real benfit of these pitchers is just how easy they keep clean. Just a rinse under water or wipe with damp cloth. Our first production run of green Teflon pitchers about 2 years ago are still in use in busy cafe's in London.

We still have green Teflon pitchers available. Which are great.

See our friend Sang Ho using the black pitcher here.

TEDGlobal 2011 Edinburgh

2011-07-14T00:58:00.001-07:00

This week begins the TED 2011 conference in Edinburgh. An event where industry leader's from around the world talk about important topics facing the world's future and important current events and trends.

To help promote a better understanding of coffee and coffee production an organisation was formed called Coffee Common. Their aim being to help raise awareness of speciality coffee and it's route from farm to cup to attendees. The hope being the attendees go away from the conference with a little more knowledge and awareness of coffee and how special a product it is and can be, from farmer to consumer.

We were asked if we would like to provide barista tools for the barista's participating at the Coffee Common event at TED 2011. We were delighted! A chance to work with some of the world's best roaster's, coffee professionals at such event doesn't come around often.

Here is a list of item's we provided:

Black Teflon milk pitchers

Espresso Gear tampers

EPNW Pitcher Rinser's

Espresso spoons

Bar towels

Grinder brushes

Bar brushes

You can find more about Coffee Common and the list people working with them here: www.coffeecommon.com and follow them on twitter @coffeecommon.

New Website

2011-06-09T23:40:00.001-07:00

After 3 years we have decided to upgrade our website. The new site will require you to re-register if you already have on the old site.

We hope you enjoy using the new coffeehit.co.uk website, weve put a ton of work into it and feels it offers load of new and exciting features.

Please let us know your feedback and what you think. Send emails to paul@coffeehit.co.uk.

Thank you for your support, we really appreciate it.

Many thanks.

Paul

The Curtis Hot Water System

2010-03-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

The Wilbur Curtis brand is pretty much unknown in the UK, hailing from the States it has a much broader following. They mainly do commercial bulk brewing equipment. Ive seen it a few times and was always impressed by the build quality and each piece seemed to have an innovative little feature.

The Curtis Hot Water System was no different. The feature I refer to in this case is the Aeration System. Every 30 minutes the Curtis will pump air into the tank to re-invigorate the tank of water. The problem with heated water sitting in a tank is it loses oxygen, therefore losing a lot of the taste and end up going 'stale'. By introducing air into the water it keeps the water invigorated and fresh. The user can also manually aerate by pushing the Aerate button.

Other cool features are Digital Display of Boiler Temperature, Digital Display of Water Tap Exit Temperature, easy to adjust Digital Display and nice slow flow tap to control flow and dose.

As you can see in the above picture, and as usual, we wern't happy with just leaving the thing alone. We could make it better!! So ive added a stainless steel box to reduce the drop of the water to the vessel. Ive also added Water Scales. These scales measure volume of liquids. The benefit of this is if you know your serving size, eg 350ml, you accurately dispense 350ml into your pouring vessel. Genius! Not us, the scales!

So lets recap, we have accurate, controllable, displayed temperature. We have an aeration system to make sure the water stays fresh. We have scales to control the amount of dispensed water. We have 22L of water capacity, we have a 23amp engine which keeps the water at a very stable temperature. This sounds great!

Testing..

I wanted to see firstly how hot the water was at the bottom of my Hario Buono Kettle. I Used a Fluke with the supplied probe.For me a good brewing temperature is around 88-93c. So I set the boiler temperature to 94c.

The result was a steady 90.5c, i put 3 litres through and it never varied more than 0.3c. My next question was how long does it hold above 88c for? It took 3 seconds to walk from the Curtis to my Hario Pourover Station and start pouring. But ideally you want to have completed pouring just before 2 minutes, this includes the pre-pour bloom, then to be all done at around 2:30.

At a minute it was reading 89.4c,

At 2 minutes it was 88.4c. Not forgetting these temperatures are at the bottom of the Buono. I fed the probe through the spout and was just poking out the bottom, it wasn't touching the base though. If you wanted a higher brewing temperature then just nudge up the Curtis Boiler Temperature.

Next was to test the water exit temperature from the tap.

You can see the probe (very poor photography, as usual) just below the exit. The Boiler Temp was set at 95c, its showed a tap water temperature of 94c and the Fluke showed a temperature of 93.5c. The Curtis only shows temperature in whole numbers, so it could be rounding up, but either way pretty accurate.

But for me the aim of the exercise was to see if we could provide a water delivery system that met our high expectations and was affordable. I think we've achieved both goals.

With the introduction of our Brew Stations, Hario V60 Coffee Drippers we are finding more cafes are offering pour over coffee as an alternative to espresso. its relatively cheap to set up, easy to put away and a great way to introduce customers to different types of coffee. Its a very interactive experience.

All the equipment is available to see/use/abuse in our showroom. Just make an appointment and come down.

Teflon Coated Portafilters

2009-10-09T02:44:00.000-07:00

I'd seen Teflon coated portafilters before. So I wasn't coming up with any ground breakingly new product. Customers had asked me about them so I made some enquiries. After falling off my chair id call my customer back and tell them the price then they would fall off their chair.

To pay that much for something that may or may not work, or not sure how long it will last was a lot to ask for. As one customer put it 'If it lasted for 10 years then id pay that, but there's no guarantee'.

As I asked around and spoke to experienced baristas who had come across them and used them there were several points that came to light.

The whole portafilter head had been coated. This was causing portafiters to slowly unwind from the group head when brewing.
The top of the portafilter was getting scratched. Due to the basket being taken out and then placed back in the portafilter the friction was causing the Teflon to scratch at the top.
I cant see if its working. Because most Teflon (think pots and pans) is black or dark grey this had been used to coat the portafilters. The problem here was coffee oils are dark and get darker still the longer you leave them.
Spouts were left uncoated. Also the abyss, my term, was uncoated. The abyss is the area between the hole in the centre of the portafilter and where the coffee exits onto the open spouts. Have you ever seen in there? You would need a medical device to see what goes in there! Could be a whole family down there??!
Cost. Ouch!

So the fun began.

Once I knew how the Teflon portafilter could be improved I set about finding a specialised company that would coat several portatfilters for me in different grades of Teflon. Teflon can be more non-stick, but less hard wearing through to less non-stick to more hard wearing. After months after searching we found our company that would do it for us. Great!

So we set about 'fixing' the problems that I listed above.

We would leave the outside of the head clean, uncoated. Only coating the inside of the portafilter.
We would leave the 5mm above the grove for the spring uncoated. This is where the basket was rubbing against the head. We would even go as far as leaving the ridge uncoated in case the customer removed the spring the potential for the metal spring to scratch the Teflon when the customer placed the spring back was too great.
I decided on a colour that was, at a quick glance, easy to see if the Teflon was clean. Even if it was just to reassure yourself that the Teflon was working. No holding the portafilter up to the light, moving it around to get a reflection. We also wanted a colour that was 'food-safe'. That is if for any reason it chipped and went into a customers drink either you would see it or your customers would. So green it was, Kryptonite Green as i like to call it! The colour allows you to see if you need to wipe out your portafilter very quickly.
Having the spouts coated seemed so very obvious. Coffee touches the portfilter head, it touches the spouts as well. We were so lucky with the company we use for the coating, they take their profession very seriously and the craftsmanship to coat the spouts is amazing. Like the heads we didn't want the outside of the spouts coated, only the insides. This took skill and care. But that wasn't enough what about the abyss? That part of the portafilter no-one has probably ever seen. The black hole between the centre of the portafilter and the little length of tube that the spouts screw onto, then the little part of the spout where the coffee exits from. We had it all coated. So now we every part of the portafilter that touches your delicious espresso is coated in Teflon. Easy to clean. And best of all better tasting coffee!
I knew I could do it for cheaper. I wanted to be able to walk into any cafe explain the Teflon portafilters and make it at a price where it was affordable. Mission accomplished.

Field Test

Now I needed to test the various Teflon coats in a real world environment. Me making a few coffees with them and going 'ohh look, nice and clean' wasn't going to be enough. Could they stand up to the daily abuse of a busy cafe and with a barista that prides themselves on cleanliness. Up stepped James at Dose. James is one of the UK's finest barista (even if he is a NZ'er). To say he likes things clean is an understatement. Even though he is busy all day producing delicious coffee he still cleans every part of the coffee making process at least once an hour. That meant for us taking out the basket regularly, would that stand up? Cleaning out the portfilter head regularly, which Teflon coating was best?
After a few months of daily use we had our winner on the Teflon coating but more importantly we had seen that it worked and was a real joy for the barista to use.

Cleaning

To clean the Teflon coated portafilter all you need is damp, clean soft cloth. No scrubbing with abrasive clothes. No soaking in chemicals. Just water and cloth.

To help the Teflon stay intact, some other tips are to keep the portafilters apart if you do soak them in hot water. Don't allow them to bang together. Just rinse in hot water, wipe with soft clean cloth and load back into your group head. Easy.

Available now from Coffee Hit

Anfim Modifications

2009-10-08T04:18:00.000-07:00

We have been asked by several customers over the last few months to modify stock Anfim Super Caimano's. So I thought id write about and show some photos of the modifications we carry out and why customers are asking for these modifications.

Firstly, why the Anfim Super Caimano?

Many you may not have heard of Anfim never mind the Super Caimano. The stock coffee grinder for many cafes and restaurants up and down the country is the Mazzer Super Jolly. The Super Jolly is very well built and priced right. So it has been the grinder of choice for many espresso machine companies and roasters to package with their equipment up for their customers. It wont break down, its strong. Job done.

...But its messy!! If you have used one you will know that the area around the base of the Super Jolly by mid morning service will be covered in coffee grinds. A big waste of coffee but also money. If you look even more closely you will see that most the flying grinds are on the left hand side of the grinder. This is caused by the motion of dosing the chamber of ground coffee. The dosing veins sweep around and push the coffee out to the left as they rotate in a clockwise manner.

Now when thinking of your coffee costs, i.e. what you pay for whole bean coffee, you think what you pay per kg right? Well lets also add in wastage. That is the coffee that ends up around the base of the machine, on the floor, removed from the doser after the service or cafe has closed. This can be quiet significant, in fact as much as 30% can be wasted. So say you prepare a double shot of espresso and you use 16g of coffee for that double, once you account for the flying grounds you actually need to grind about 21g to achieve your 16g dose. Ive tried it many many times and these numbers stack up. So your £8.50 per kg bag of coffee is really costing you over £11.

... Well how is the Anfim better?

Answer: The Doser! Whether by design or fluke (im guessing design) the Anfim doser drops the coffee straight down into your group handle. Not to the left, not to the right, but straight down where it should. It is also a very clean doser. That is after you have swept the coffee into your group handle there is very little coffee left in the dosing chamber. This allows the next cup to have fresh, delicious coffee and not a couple of grams of stale grounds from the last cup.

OK so we now have a grinder that doses very cleanly and will save me money, wastage and my freshness per cup served will improve. That's great by why the modifications then?

The Digital Timer

The first modification we did was to add a Digital Timer to the Anfim.

The original dial timer was removed and a square machined out to allow the digital timer to slide in and occupy the space under the motor. The timer basically allows you to run the motor for a pre-determined length of time. You can see on this shot we had it set for 7.4 seconds. It is very easy to programme. Hit the yellow arrow key, this makes the numbers flash from right to left and use the up and own arrow keys to increase or decrease the time. The red number above will show the time in operation when you start the timer. So it starts at 0.0 and counts up to, in this case, 7.4.

Why do I need a Digital Timer?

The reason you would install a digital timer to an Anfim is to control the amount of coffee ground at each coffee preparation. Once you have set up your timer to say produce a 16g dose, you only need to start the timer and you know the grinder will grind for long enough to produce a 16g dose. No more, no less, no wastage! This also allows you to grind on demand with the added benefit of a doser to declump as you dose the coffee through the chamber. So now you can tell your customers you grind to order. Not grind for day or grind for the next hour or ten minutes. We grind for each individual cup! Fresh, delicious and less wastage. better for you and your customers.

The round Stainless steel button you see activates the the timer. So when you need to grind, you place your portafilter on the forks under the doser, hit the button and start dosing. This is an anti-vandal type button that is water proof and no coffee will enter. It is also tested for 3 million + presses, so will last!

The black button at the back turns the whole grinder off and on. It also turns the timer off and the fan. (if you have one installed)

My shop gets through a lot of coffee...

In busy cafes the grinder can be in heavy demand under contestant work. It gets hot! Very hot! The burrs work better and the whole grinder functions better when there is a bit of heat in the machine, just like your car. But under heavy work load, also heavy revving in your car, it heats up. But unlike your car which has a water cooled radiator and the advantage of the car moving through air to aid in cooling, the grinder just stays hot and once the the large brass burr holders get hot they stay hot! So to assist it keeping the grinder cool we fitted a fan to the back of the grinder just behind the burrs.

This small, powerful fan extracts air from the motor and burr chamber. It operates when you turn the grinder on in the morning until you turn it off at night. This pulls the hot air generated by the grinding action out of the grinder not allowing the whole unit to heat up excessively.

The fan is nice and quiet as well.

Conclusion

So here we now have a grinder that grinds fast, sweeps the doser clean, doses straight into my portafilter, grinds on demand, improves my freshness per cup, keeps cool under heavy workloads, creates less mess and saves me money. Ill take two!!
Once you workout your yearly spend on coffee, say £4500 and our calculation shows you will save about 30% on wastage, that's £1350! So now you can actually afford two!!

Other mods we can do on your Anfim, or any grinder for that matter, is apply powdercoat, paint or chrome. You can choose a paint colour and we will have the body powder coated. We can also apply decals, that could be your logo, a design or you favourite tattoo design!!

If you would like to discuss the Anfim or the modifications we do just call us on 0800 033 7970

Next up the BNZ Conical...

Mazzer Doserless Kits

2009-07-20T00:00:00.001-07:00

We have added Mazzer parts to our site to make your Mazzer grinder a doserless model. If you have an old Mazzer lying around or have picked a bargain on eBay or just want to convert your current doser Mazzer to doserless, we now have all the parts you need.

The Mazzer conical chute, the motor cover, the anti-static screen and gasket.

To see all the latest Mazzer items head over to latest items category and get modding!!

Mobile Espresso and Coffee Components

2009-06-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

We have added a new category to our Coffeehit.co.uk store, its called Mobile Espresso and Coffee Components. In here you will find everything you need to start a mobile coffee business, or if your old equipment is failing or needs updating you will find the latest and most reliable products to suit your requirements.

We have teamed up with Shurflo who having making pumps for many years in the USA. They offer the best solutions for the mobile coffee businesses. As we expand our range we will add these to the site.

We have also added Everpure water filtration systems to our site. Everpure have a vast array of filtration systems to suit all types of requirements. We have chosen the ones that suit the espresso industry and offer the highest quality solutions.

See our new category for Mobile Coffee Units here
See our range of Water filtration systems here.

Cheaper Shipping

2009-06-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

We've added a function to our site where the weight of each product is used to calculate shipping costs. This took great effort to weigh every single product on our site, but was worth it.

It will mainly benefit non-UK customer who previously paid £28 for any order to be shipped overseas. We now have weight based pricing and makes it much more attractive for non-UK customers to buy the products from us.

For UK customers we have reduced the shipping for orders under 300g to £2.95. All orders over 300g will be charged at our one low rate of £3.95.

We will always look to make savings on shipping and pass them onto our customers.

Reg Bases and Reg Handles Now Available Seperatly

2009-06-23T05:12:00.000-07:00

We have 2 new categories on our site. Reg Barber Handles and Reg Barber Bases.
We get a lots of enquiries asking for just bases or just handles and we would do this over the phone, but now they have their own home.

If you have a Reg and the handle looks a bit tired or you just want a change then head over here and choose a new handle.

Or perhaps you have some new baskets or a new machine that wont take your existing base or you'd like to try a different base shape then head over here and choose your base.

Paypal Accepted

2009-06-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

We now have updated our site to accept Paypal. Along with our secure online payment system provided by PayPoint you can also use your Paypal account to pay for purchases.

ACF Cups Price Reduction!!

2009-06-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

With the British Peso finally gaining some ground back against the Dollar and the Euro we can afford to pass those savings onto you. We have reduced prices on all ACF Cups and Saucers buy 10%. If your old cups are looking tired or you just want some really quality cups and saucers from the Official WBC Cup Supplier the head over to our ACF section on Coffee Hit

Some Goodies from Espresso Parts.com

2009-04-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

Ive been talking to Terry and Brian at Espresso Parts.com for a while about bringing some of their innovative products over to the UK and Europe.

Well our first package arrived yesterday (07/04/09) and was opened within 30 seconds of being signed for!

First out of the box was the Scace temperature device. We used one at Ristretto on Joes Synesso Cyncra. Straight away we knew it was an invaluable tool for engineers, cafe owners or coffee geeks. With the prevelance of PID double boiler machines it also offers a useful tool to calibrate your PID reading with the actual brew point temperature. Weve given buyers two options, it comes in either a E61 naked poratfilter, or a custom OEM La Marzocco naked portafilter. We have found an engineering company that is going to convert OEM factory portafilters to naked for us. We will also be offering a service where you send in a spare portafilter you have lying around and will make it naked. We hope to have this service up and running on our site in 3 weeks.

For more details on the Scace and its capabilties see EspressoParts.com

The second product out of the box was the Custom Steam tip for the La Marzocco. Espresso parts have been engineering this tip for nearlly 2 years. It prvides much more control over the steaming of milk.

Next item was the Elvinator. This doser mod for Mazzer dosers elimantes the curse of the Mazzer throw. It now allows the Mazzer to dose smoothly and cleanly into your portafilter.

We also brought over some of their famous tampers. This one is the Lava Deluxe tamper. Its has a 58mm convex stainless steel base. A really nice feel to it.

We'll continiue to work with the guys at Espresso Parts to offer UK customers the latest in espresso innovation.

Mahlkonig Vario

2009-03-05T06:26:00.000-08:00

Today (4/3/09)I got the chance try out the new Mahlkonig Vario home grinder. This is not meant to be comprehensive or technical review, but should be enough to give you some impressions on what this grinder is about. The test was conducted at Ristretto’s training room in Wimbledon. Joe is the guy to turn to for fantastic mobile coffee.

The first indication that a lot of thought had gone into this grinder was the packaging. Most grinders come in a big box with some foam or cardboard at the bottom and top ‘holding’ the grinder in position. The foam encasing was fully surrounding the grinder and inside were three separate compartments, one for the grinder, one for the hopper and another for the portafilter holder. No chance for the components to bash each other and break. The most likely part to break during shipping of a grinder is the hopper, so the packing reassured me that we won’t have too many broken hoppers reaching customers.

Out of the box this thing is small. At only 370mm tall and 125mm wide it is by far the smallest grinder in the home grinder category. The size is perfect for kitchen work tops. If ever your wife (or husband) complains that your coffee grinder is too big on the kitchen worktop then this will keep them happy.

As can be seen on the left photo the at first glance the control panel can look daunting but once you try it out and get used to it its very easy to operate. There are 3 buttons labelled Espresso, Filter and Press, by default they are set at 10, 20 & 30 seconds respectively. They can be individually programmed. They control the amount of time the grinder will run, they don’t adjust the grind, you still need to change the macro setting to your chosen brewing method. There is a little bit of playing around to get your times how you like it then once you have worked your times make a note of them on paper. Because if you unplug the machine it will reset back to factory settings. To set the grind time you just use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the tome on the display and then keep pressed the button (espresso, filter or press) for 3 seconds and it will programme that button.

There is also a manual option. You press the manual button hit start to start the grinder then start again to stop it.

The Sliding levers on the sides of the control panel move the grinding burrs to adjust your grind. There are 10 macro (right hand slider) settings and 20 micro (left hand slider) settings. One notch on the Macro equals 20 notches on the micro slider. You only need to adjust the micro slider to dial in espresso. When you want to grind for other methods just move the macro slider.

Now for the coffee….

My first instinct with this grinder is that it wouldn’t grind fine enough for espresso. So my first test was to take it to the finest possible setting. I ground and levelled off a Double basket in a La Marzocco portafilter.

I locked it into Joe’s 2 group Synesso Cyncra and turned the paddle to extract and…well nothing. I let the pump try to ram water at 9 Bar through the coffee for 25 seconds but not even a drip of coffee was visible. Well it past that test, it choked a Synesso Cyncra. Impressive. Now id tried to see how much I had to back it off to get the extraction I was looking for 50ml in 25 seconds.

I took the Macro slider back down 3 full settings from the top and the micro slider one up from the coarsest setting.

This is what I ended up with. I’ve levelled the basket but not tamped.

A really nice grind that looked about right. This is what it produced.

This shot produced about 65ml in 25 seconds. A little too course.

To get what I was after, 50ml in 25 seconds, I had to go to the very middle of the left slider and 3 down from the top on the right slider. Here's the result.

Taste was amazing. Joe’s coffee certainly helped on that front but the grinder certainly held up its part of the equation.

So to answer my initial question can it grind fine enough for espresso the answer is a resounding YES!! There even more than enough leeway as the burrs become dull to go finer.

Onto the accessories. The grinder comes with a portafilter holder and a bin for use when grinding for press or drip.

They both slide securely into the grinder, but another nice touch is that it’s not crucial for either one to be in place to start the grinder. Fantastic if you have a naked portafilter or don’t want to use the attachments. The portafilter holder can be adjusted via a screw to adjust for your style of portafilter. The idea is great and it holds your portafilter quiet ingeniously.

A problem with a lot of grinders is grind retention. That is coffee that is left behind in the grinder and will come out when you next grind, but is stale and therefore affect the taste of the coffee. After grinding for 25-30 espresso I wanted to see what the retention was like. Here’s a shot of the chute.

Looks OK there. Id call that nearly zero retention.

Next test was to grind for Drip and Press. I didn’t make any adjustment to the micro slider. All I did was move the macro slider to the positions marked on the grinder corresponding to drip and press. Here the shot for Drip

Nice even grind that could be improved with some adjustment. And the shot for Press.

Could be a little courser for my liking, but I hadn’t moved the micro setting to the most course setting.

Conclusion
This grinder won’t be leaving my kitchen. It makes my wife happy and it makes me happy. It truly is an amazing grinder. The quality of the grinding is first class with the least amount of clumping ive seen from a doserless grinder. It’s a great all round grinder in a small package.

Highly Recommended.

Grinder Price Increases

2009-02-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

Come the New Year come the price rise.

Nearly all grinder and espresso machine manufacturers have increased their prices for their products for 2009.

But I say nearly all...Anfim manufacturers of the Super Caimano, Caimano, Best and Haus have kept their prices at last years levels.

The Anfims have been a slow burner in the espresso industry but have really started to get noticed.

From their home/light commercial range the Anfim Best is, in our opinion, up there with the Mazzer Mini but at nearly £100 cheaper is certainly a grinder to put in the mix when deciding your grinder. This grinder is very solid and has the famous Anfim dosing compabilities.

For commercial premises the Anfim commercials will save you money. By our reckoning you could save between 10%-20% on coffee wastage because of the neatness of the Anfim doser. And no im not exaggerating!! And when compared to other grinders in its categories the Anfim at this price is a great choice for your cafe.

If you would like to discuss Anfim or any other grinder we have listed then give is a call.

Quantity Discounts for Everyone!!

2009-02-10T02:18:00.000-08:00

Previously our bulk order discounts were only available to trade customers, we now have opened up the discounts for everyone to enjoy and take advantage of. Whether your a cafe or a group of friends you can now buy larger quantities of our products are greatly reduced prices.

We have also added a Web Specials Category where we place items that are at greatly reduced prices for a limited time.

Head over to Coffee Hit and take advantage of these great prices.

Rattleware

2009-01-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

Coffee Hit are pleased now to be offering the Rattleware range of products in the UK. Rattleware are makers of some of the finest and most innovative coffee wares available.

They make everything from Cafe Organisers to Frothing Pitchers to Aprons. All products are of the highest quality and better than nearlly anything availbale in the UK today for the speciality coffee market.

To see our full range of Rattleware products head over to Coffee Hit.co.uk

ACF Cups

2008-12-22T00:59:00.000-08:00

I first came across these cups on a trip to Rome in a Rome department store, I then had the pleasure to drink out of one at a restaurant in Rome. They are the most lovely cups, I think, you will ever touch.

We got in touch with FAC Spa about getting these cups to the UK. They have been extremely helpful and excited to help us.

We're really excited about bringing these cups to the UK market. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

To see and purchase our range of ACF cups then head over to Coffee Hit.

Mazzer Mini Grinder

2008-09-16T02:48:00.001-07:00

Next up is the Mazzer Mini Coffee Grinder. This version we will take a look at the timer version. It also comes in an Automatic version and an Electronic version.

The timer version has a timer knob on the side which if you turn fully on will grind coffee for up to 1 minute. To end the grinding process early just turn the knob back towards you.

As with all Mazzer grinders it well boxed and packaged. Hopper and grinder in their own separate housing and well protected.

If you've worked on or seen a Mazzer Super Jolly first thing you will notice is how much smaller it is. But you straight away notice the Mazzer body which is pretty standard shape for Mazzer.

Out of the box it will take a little work to get it dialled in. With the Super Jolly you can pretty much set it to the mid-point and it will produce something close to 50mL is 25 seconds. With Mini it took a little while longer and while with the Super Jolly you only need to move the adjustment collar a few minutes on the collar the Mini took a turn of about 5-8 minutes.

Once set up and locked in its is a great little grinder. It would work perfectly as a quality home grinder or for a small restaurant or a low volume location that wants to add coffee to their menu.

Its a very strong, solid grinder that will withstand years of abuse. Parts are easy to come by making it a great investment.

See the Mazzer Mini grinder at Coffee Hit.

Grindenstein Coffee Knock Box

2008-09-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

The Grindenstein is knock box for home espresso enthusiasts.

It is designed and produced by Australian company Dreamfarm.

First thing you notice out of the box is the colour. Strong, durable looking colours.

The next thing you notice is how compact it is. Or should I say small..!

But it is very sturdily built. It feels like you could drop it from a tall building and it would still survive.

When using the bar to knock out your puck the sound is deadened by the use of heavy rubber and thick plastic walls. it will hold about 4-5 pucks before you will need to empty it. Which may not sound like a lot but for home use it will probably last a day and then just empty the contents into your compost.

The Grindenstein is dishwasher proof and it comes out looking like new every time. The other thing with it being compact is that it can sit on your drip tray, out of the way.

The Grindenstein is the perfect knock-box for home users. A good investment that will last a long time.

See our range over on Coffee Hit.

Coffee Taste from Different Regions of the World

2008-09-04T01:49:00.000-07:00

In this blog I will highlight the different coffee producing regions and try to describe what the coffees taste like from these regions.

This will of course be a very general overview and taste will differ from farm to farm and crop to crop. But it will arm you with a general overview of what tastes to expect when you purchase coffee from a region, you can then explore the region country by country, farm by farm and discover all the taste's available in coffee.

First of all lets discover what makes a coffee growing region. Coffee trees like a moderate amount of sunshine and steady reliable rain. They like the temperature to stay around 20c - 30c. They also like the soil to be rich and porous.

Most coffee growing occurs around the equator and between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. These area's provide the rainfall and rich soil needed. But often these areas are too hot so most coffee growing is done at altitude, mostly above 1000ft. This moderates the temperature and gives good rainfall.

Africa

The two biggest producers of coffee in Africa are Ethiopia and Kenya. Most coffee producing nations occur on the East coast of Africa.

Coffee from Africa tends to have a wine like flavour, also some citrus and floral fragrances. They have good levels of acidity which leave a lingering taste in your mouth.

Central and Southern America

Coffee from this region are mild, smooth and easy to drink. Most people will be familiar with coffee from these parts. They have low to medium acidity levels so they lack the floral and wine punch of the Africans but they are smooth in your mouth.

Indonesia & Surrounding Islands

Coffees from this part of the world are very heavy bodied and very low acid levels. The major taste characteristics are of earthy flavours, like mushrooms and strong dark fruit flavours.

India

The famous coffees from India are the Monsoon coffee's. These are full bodied with low acidity. They give a big mouth feel. They have woody flavours with some having spicy notes.

As with most things the best way for you to discover the different tastes of coffee from different regions is to buy some and get brewing!!

For our range of specialty coffee visit Saints Coffee page on CoffeeHit.co.uk

Pallo Coffee Tools

2008-07-30T23:48:00.000-07:00

Having been a user of the Pallo Coffee Tool we had no hesitation in stocking the product on Coffee Hit.

The Pallo Coffee Tool comes a variety of colours. We went for the one that caught our eye the most. The deep red is Ferrari like in colour. A great match for your Italian Espresso Machine.

The tool is really three tools in one.

Its first and primary use is as a brush for the grouphead. The stiff black bristles come in a cartridge that can be unscrewed from the brush and replaced without having to buy a new tool.
The handle is perfectly angled so the face of the brush sits flat against the shower screen if your grouphead. It also has several fins on the handle so that hot water get deflected and doesn't scald your hand when cleaning.

The way to use the brush is by removing your portafilter from the grouphead. Perform a backflush, then hit the manual button on your grouphead keypad so that water runs continuously out of the grouphead. Now take your brush and vigorously brush around the grouphead, paying particular attention to the shower screen and gasket area. This will remove all the left over coffee and oils from the grouphead.

The second use of the Pallo Coffee Tool is to clear the holes from your steam wand tip. During service these can get clogged and effect your steaming capabilities. Take the little black cap off the needle and poke into the steam tip holes to clear.

At the end of the tool is the third use. The spoon. Use the spoon to measure our your backflushing powder. Use one heaped spoonful per backfklush.

Whether you make coffee at home or in a coffee house this great little tool will help keep your equipment clean and your coffee tasting great.

To see and buy the Pallo Coffee Tool visit Coffee Hit.

Mazzer Super Jolly

2008-07-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

The Mazzer Super Jolly is probably the most used grinder in coffee outlets. Either as a main grinder or a back-up grinder for high output locations. I liken it to the mid-point of the coffee grinder solar system, its what everything else is judged by. When evaluating a different grinder people will ask 'How does it compare to the Super Jolly?'. Mainly because everyone has seen or used a Super Jolly.

And for good reason. It really is a a workhorse of a grinder. It wont let you down. Parts are easy to come by and every coffee technician worth his salt has good knowledge of a Super Jolly.

First thing we noticed is how well Mazzer pack the grinder and hopper in its box. The hopper cracking is the biggest complaint when shipping grinders. We've never had a Mazzer hopper crack on us, no matter hard couriers throw the box around..!

As for setting up the Super Jolly it really is Plug & Play. Set the grinder up next to your machine near a standard 13 Amp plug and plug it in.

The default grind setting is pretty accurate too. We set it to the default arrow and got good results straight away. We ended up turning about 1 minute finer and that was perfect, just turn the lock-in screw and it wont budge. As the room warmed up and and we noticed, especially if your near cooking kitchens, you will need to turn it about 2-3 minutes finer to compensate for the increased humidity.

The movements to adjust are very small but they make a noticeable difference. When we set it up in 'ideal' conditions, low humidity and about 19c it was extracting perfectly (55ml in 25seconds). As the humidity rose we adjusted the grind finer to compensate, then next morning with the grinding setting still in the 'humid' position, the extraction time blow out to 50 seconds and that was only a 2 minute turn of the grind setting.

The Super Jolly looks and feels well made and solid. The doser handle feels solid to use, although it does occasionally seem pull air then catches the dosing mechanism again. The ground coffee look nice and fine with only the smallest amount of clumping.

The one complaint I would make of the Super Jolly and is true of all the Mazzers is the doser. When you pull coffee from the doser it tends to throw the coffee very noticeably to the left. You can compensate this by putting a slight angle on your portafilter and moving it as far left as the forks will allow but really this shouldn't be necessary on a grinder of the quality. I estimate for every 18g of coffee you dose into the portafilter you waste about 2g, about 10%. Which is great for coffee roasters but not so good for commercial business. To illustrate if you go through 10kg a week I estimate you will waste about 1kg of coffee.

Of course the solution is to sweep up the spilt grounds and throw them back in the doser. But if you have any pride in your coffee and coffee making this doesn't cut it. What if you sweep up some foreign objects and they go into your coffee! Not too mention the staling process may have begun on the coffee.

But overall I highly recommend the Mazzer Super Jolly. If you were looking for alternatives to the Mazzer I would also highly recommend the Anfim Caimano. A fantastic grinder with a superior dosing mechanism. But that's for another Blog time.

To view and buy the Mazzer Super Jolly visit CoffeeHit.co.uk

Reg Barber Tampers

2008-07-03T09:05:00.001-07:00

When we were looking for a tamper supplier our first choice was Reg Barber. We had used them ourselves in professional and home environments and had yet to hear or read nothing but praise for his tampers.

When we received our shipment of our Reg Barber Tampers from Vancouver in Canada we were very excited!!

The first thing that hits you as the lovely weight to the tampers. Not too heavy or bulky, not too light, just well ... perfect. Easy to achieve the right tamp pressure. When you place it in your hand its like slipping on your favourite pair of gloves. It fits beautifully into the palm of your hand.

We decide to go with all Stainless Steel bases. We'd used aluminum and know that it dings very easily and in a busy environment does not last long at all. Especially if you drop it a couple of times. The stainless steel gives the tampers good weight. We see Reg Barber is now doing Brass and Copper bases along with Stainless steel and aluminum. These would be interesting to try. We might order some in our next shipment.Id be particularly interested in the brass base.

The tamper handle and the bases come separately so you are able to completely customise your order. Once you have specified you handle and base requirements we put your tamper together and ship out complete.

The packing is simple but effective. A simple black cardboard box with the RB logo in silver on it. Inside is padded out by light brown tissue paper. This makes all the packaging recyclable and is a nice touch. Also inside, as you open the box, is a simple slip of paper with instructions on how to look after your new investment.

Reg Barber Tampers have 4 different base 'shapes'. You can have flat, US/Australian curve, Euro curve and C-Flat. We had heard of and used all the options except for C-Flat. So we did some research and read the boards on users experiences and everything we read was positive. The benefits of a curved base are reputed to be better compacting and sealing at the baskets edge. So we deiced to order flat and the new C-Flat bases.

For experienced customers either flat or c-flat bases will be fine. If your just beginning your coffee journey we would recommend the c-flat as it will aid in your tamping and hopefully eliminate some channeling from your basket.

We've gone with several colours and finishes of handles. All of them look fantastic.

If you'd like to check out our range of Reg Barber Tampers have a look here.

Attento Click Mat

2008-07-02T03:12:00.000-07:00

We finally received our long lost Espresso Gear Click Mats!

After being lost by a courier firm I wont name, we finally received our replacement shipment from Espresso Gear in Sweden. Thanks Lars and Fredrik!

The Mat comes in a branded box, which looks nice but is probably unnecessary unless retailing in shop.

First thing I noticed was an included Allen Key. I was expecting to make adjustments using a coin turning a screw on the mat. The use of an included Allen key is a much more user friendly option. This will make it easier to make adjustments to achieve your desired tamping pressure.

Also in the box was a spare rubber disc. The rubber disc is placed in the centre of the mat. The rubber discs are quiet thin, im guessing so as to not add to much weight, but seem a high quality and pretty strong. Nice to know ive got a spare though. Also the rubber discs will be available separately.

The Click Mat has a diameter of 107mm. The rubber disc tamping area is 75mm so will easily take a double spout. The bottom is polished stainless steel and held on the worktop by four rubber stumps. Gives it a good strong grip to your work surface.

When you remove the rubber disc it exposes the hex nut that adjusts the pressure the mat emits the click. As you press down on the Click mat when the pre-set pressure is reached it emits an audible click.

To calibrate the Click Mat we found the best is to get a set of bathroom/ kitchen scales, something with a flat sturdy top, digital is even better. Place the Click Mat and your filled (with ground coffee) portafilter on the scales and adjust your scales to read zero. Now tamp as you would normally on the scales until you hear the 'click'. Note the reading on your scales. Ideally you want 30lbs (13.5kg) of pressure. If your reading is under 30lbs you will need to insert the Allen key and turn anti-clockwise in 3 minute segments until your scales read 30lbs when you tamp. If your over 30lbs turn clockwise.

Once you have set your Click Mat to your desired pressure replace the rubber disc. You can now eliminate you tamping as a variable in pursuit of espresso perfection.

In the commercial environment the Click Mat is a fantastic training tool, to show staff what 30lbs of tamping pressure feels like.

To purchase the Espresso Gear Click Mat Click here!

Attento Thermometer

2008-05-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

The next item out of the box from Espresso Gear is the Attento Thermometer.

This is one of the most innovative products we have seen in a while. 95% of people use a thermometer when frothing milk to make sure the milk is heated to the correct temperature. They are a great tool to assist in standardising your coffee making and making sure you don't burn your milk. Traditional thermometers work by a probe sitting in your milk and a dial or face indicating the temperature. Thermometers specifically designed for milk frothing usually have a prime frothing temperature marked on the dial to let the user know when the optimum temperature has been achieved. They are attached to the jug via a clip.

Some of the downfalls of this method is the thermometer can get in the way when you want to look in the jug to see the swirl or volume of your progress. The clips are usually quite loose and as you tilt the jug the thermometer moves around meaning you usually have to hold your thumb on the clip. The other issue is hygiene. All thermometer have a clear plastic cap over the dial over time milk gets in between the cap and the base of the dial and this becomes mouldy. Doesn't matter if you clean your thermometer everyday milk getting in these little spaces is inevitable. There is also a noticeable lag between what the actual temperature is and what the dial reads. It can be as much as 5-10 seconds. This can cause you to over heat your milk and burn it.

The Attento Thermometer gets over these obstacles by uniquely sticking itself to the outside of your frothing jug. The label has 'windows' that turn bright green as you heat your milk. It starts at 40C and the last window reads 70C which is the prime temperature for your milk based drinks. The liquid crystal windows are very responsive. A huge benefit is it allows you to see into your jug without competing with a thermometer and your hand. Also the product is very hygienic. They can be placed into a dishwasher to to be washed.

We think its a great product and a worthy addition to our range of barista tools.

To see the Attento Thermometer check it out on CoffeeHit.co.uk

New Tampers!!

2008-05-23T03:51:00.000-07:00

This week we received our brand new shipment of Espresso Gear coffee tampers!!
We have two styles.

The first is the Luce. It weighs in at 175 grams. The handle is made of a really nice hand gripping plastic that really grips in your hand. The base is a highly hand polished stainless steel. We ordered the base to have a slight convex shape. This we feel gives better seal to the edge of the basket and helps in avoiding channeling. The other great thing about the Espresso Gear products are the colours!
We stock the full range of colours. They are priced at £24.95 which is a great price for a tamper that will last for years.

The second and bigger brother of the Luce is the Barista. The Barista weighs in at 270 grams. It has a really nice weight to it. The handle is nice and rounded and fits nicely in the palm of your hand. It has some soft grip like plastic in the handle that provides good grip. Again we have ordered the slightly convex shape to aid tamping. All the colours are available.
A nice touch with these tampers is the ability to reduce the handle length by 5mm. Just below the rubber grip there is a stainless steel ring that can be removed to shorten the handle.

Espresso Gear by Xpressivo are really coming out with some great innovative products. We have some more of their products which I will detail in a later post.
In the mean time check out our range of Espresso Gear tampers over at
CoffeeHit.co.uk.