Hey guys, bought one of those coffee machines from amazon (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/383852 Delonghi Magnifica )
Any idea what beans to get? I just bought some from woolies, and they seem fine, but any idea where I can get (what might be considered) better coffee beans?
Any tips on making the coffees?
Thanks guys! I have no idea what im doing./
Beans* damn autocorrect
Not Manna, unless you like lucky dip (rubbish beans). Try finding a local roaster and buy small samples to get the bean taste you like.
Fresh beans, always. A decent grinder and practice.
Perfect post OP have the same was researching exactly this tonight! Hope we get some answers…
I was thinking Aldi Lazzio medium roast based on what I read tonight…in the cheaper supermarket variety
Beyond thst apparently the much more expensive ones come into play.
Friend also likes his Robert Timms in his (different machine to ours) but I have no idea personally!
So per OP's note any help will be much appreciated!!!
I’d also recommend visiting the ‘Coffeesnobs.com.au’ forums. Plenty of knowledgeable folk over there. Can purchase beans through there as well.
Wife recently had coffee training at work. Learnt that coffee should be creamy. All about pressure and whatnot
I could recommend you to some places if you were in Sydney. But I'm not familiar with roasters in VIC. Try asking at https://coffeesnobs.com.au/ for local roasters etc. Otherwise you can order freshly roasted coffee directly coffeesnobs (Beanbay) as well
Most coffee shops are happy so sell you a bag of their whole beans.
Supermarket sells stale beans .. period. And as mentioned above, from what I have heard .. as a general okish supermarket variety is the 1kg whole beans from Aldi ..
Tips on use: (disclaimer, I dont have this machine, but I am a coffee snob and know how they work)
- dial down to the finest grind setting (which is still not fine enough)
- set your water temperature to max (which is still not hot enough)
- max dosage (strength) usually gets u 10grams
- Preground coffee, when using preground coffee in the bypass doser, ONLY put in 1 scoop (10grams)! I have heard people accidentally fill it up with preground, thinking is holds ground coffee like the bean hopper~
- never use oily beans on automatics
- In the magnifica, a Double shot does not equal to double dosage of coffee, but double the amount of water going through the same puck, so if you want a long coffee or a particularly weak coffee that's when you use that 2 cup option. In order to get a double shot you need to actually press single shot twice. (although not exactly a double shot, but stronger coffee if this is what people are after)
- Milk frothing - for the size of this machine, if you use a 250ml-300ml milk jug, you will get better results with milk texture
- Descale - their proprietary descaler is expensive for what it is. So when it tells you you need to descale, you can run the full descale function with filtered water without any descaler solution so that the machine works again. I have heard people do this up to 3-5 times before actually using descale solution, esp if they used filtered water .. the machine will tell you to descale unnecessarily often, and delonghi tends to void warranty if your machine goes to them with other chemicals in it (i.e from other descale solutions or homebrew solutions)
- the machine runs an automatic cleaning function everytime you power up or power down the machine. Put a plastic container to catch that water, it is so much easier to empty the container than it is to empty the shallow water catchment tray everyday.
Youtube - watch reviews and demonstrations from Seattle Coffee Gear & Whole Latte Love based on your machine
Thank you sincerely for such as detailed and informative post, appreciate it so much being a total noob at this!
So much great advice, thank you Sofie519! Love your attention to detail, can see it come through on your words…legend!:)
Can't thank you enough!
Great coffee snobbery! I mean.. advice..! :)
We've tried a lot of beans over the years but keep going back to the roasted sample pack from coffee snobs bean bay.
Thanks for the nice tip!
Aldi's Lazzio Dark Roast Coffee Beans are my daily grind
I did some blind tasting tests at work for our staff, several of whom are serious coffee gurus. The Aldi Lazzio coffee beans came out tops everytime! The main reason it seems is that they are fresh - the local store sells 2 boxes every day. The price is about half that of the top brands at Woolies.
Most of the Woolies beans are quite old by the time we buy them.
We have a Delonghi machine too.
We started with a mini porlex hand grinder but soon upgraded to an electric one.
We gave up for the most part on supermarket beans as mostly they don't have roast dates and beans hit their peak 2 weeks post roast. Aldi beans aren't too bad.
Sensory Lab is expensive although you can get good deals on OzB. Manna Beans are also good and arrive within a few days of placing an order.
Although we've both done a fair amount research we also went to a barrista course to learn in a more hands on way. There are heaps of cheap ones run in the cbd.
We buy these, have done for about 5 years, tried others, but keep going back. No affiliation to the seller.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MIFEIA-Gold-Medal-Espresso-Coffe…
5kg's is a bit of a mother load! :) Are you happy with the way they keep? Any storage tips? I typically buy 1kg at a time, 2 max, to keep them as fresh as possible whilst still buying at a reasonable price.
Sign up to three thousand thieves for the best coffee beans in Melbourne.
Cottle coffee South Melbourne Roast beans
Just tried Coffee Hit 4 blends. Excellent so far. Was an OZB deal for 4 x 500g blends for $60 delivered.
I'd suggest start off with some whole Veena from Aldi - Lavazzo.
Once you get the hang out it check out 'Manna beans' post.