Pallo Coffee Tools

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

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

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

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!