Selecting a Great Super Automatic Coffee Machine – Item 3: Accessibility

Usage

When you purchase a super automatic coffee machine one item that is often neglected is what ill it be like to use every day. Every super automatic has at least three items that you need access to:

1. The coffee beans hopper
   
2. The water tank
   
3. The spent grinds container
   

Depending on the coffee machine you may also need to consider

• Accessibility to the server shoot for maintenance material,
  
• If there is a powder shoot, and you plan to use it, how easy it that to gain access to?
  
• If it has a automatic frother, is it removal, how easy is it to clean (they need regular cleaning)?
  
• If you plan to make two cups at a time, how accessible is it to place two cups on under the spout?
  
• If it has program settings how easily accessible are they?
  
• Does it have an automatic service computer?
  

… more coming --- draft

Gr8 site for coffee reviews

I have found an "independant" site that does coffee cupping reviews, and the great thing is that some of the coffees are available in South Africa.

So here is the site: http://www.coffeecuppers.com/ and they have a mailing list that you can subscribe too. I have am will report back in due course.

How to tell if you coffee is off

Coffee Bean Freshness

If you do not already know coffee beans are freshest up to 2 weeks after roasting, some extension of the freshness can be achieved by freezing, as has been proved by many a specialty coffee lover the grandfather being Mike Sevitz.

How to you the consumer know if it is off, or past its most enjoyable date. Now remember I am talking about beans here, not grinds, if you are using ground coffee it is stale!

Stale what is that

As coffee beans (or grinds for that matter) leave the roaster, their aging process first affects their aroma (what you smell) or nose), then their taste (tongue, mouth...). However there are many who have become familiar with the dulled down flavours and they do prefer to have less bright flavours and aromas. Let us not assume that you are one of these J. As the coffee ages all the flavours become duller and duller, then the oils in the bean start moving to the top of the bean, and that is when the coffee is really stale

Sensory Tests

Here are the senses you can use to test the coffee is fresh or beyond its enjoyablity date

Eye Test

If you can see the oils discolouring the coffee bean then the oils are exposed, or about to be exposed, do not go forward destroy beans, least they come into contact of other human beans (beings). No proper roaster EVER exposes the oil, the oil produces crema and the crema is the sacred grail of coffee – especially for espresso

Touch Test

Rub the coffee bean between two fingers, and see if any oily substance is left on the fingers. If there is then see eye test regarding human beans, otherwise proceed to next test

Smell Test

Smell the bean, if you are still getting strong flavours citrus, chocolate or cigar then it is probably fresh otherwise you got this far may as well try the next test

Taste Test

Last but not least is the taste test to determine if coffee is stale, is to try and eat a coffee bean of the coffee you are concerned about. If the bean does not dissolve or tastes flat, it is off.

Crema Test

No purely sensory, but look at how much crema the bean produces a nice solid amount is normally a guide to it being fresh (or blended with Robusta, but then the taste test would have failed ;))

I recommend coffee at its freshest from the roaster so make sure your coffee supplier marks the roast date and you grind the coffee to order to ensure that best flavours from coffee bean are exposing completely.

What makes a good automatic coffee machine – Item1: Brewer?

In the next few posts I will look at what makes a good automatic coffee machine is a question I have heard before.

First we will look at what brewing mechanisms and crema

Intelligent Pre Brew?

The best super automatics, have intelligence that produce great crema. The best way to test crema production is to look at how the coffee settles in a glass cup. Take a whiskey glass and pour a produce a coffee with the machine and if the crema settles to the point we it is nice and thick (about 1cm) at the top.

The all the flavours of the coffee, are trapped underneath the crema, so the more there is of this sacred oil the better.

For a one-button coffee machine to produce great crema there are a few things it needs to have

• First and foremost fresh roasted coffee is best
  
• Then the machine must grind the coffee on demand, so that the grinds are fresh
  
• A machine that pre-brews or pre infuses the coffee grinds produces more crema. So make sure that the machine pre-brews its coffee speciality
  
• The next important item is that the spout height must be adjustable so that the coffee travels a short distance to the cup, reducing the cooling time, and exposure to air before the cup can protect it
  

Once you find a machine that produces great crema, you are on the right track to find a great automatic coffee machine

A machine with a brewing unit that is secure in the unit normally produces the best crema

Next time we will look at the grinder…