Making decent coffee at home

[Jukeboxtardis]

How much do I need to spend to be able to make a really good (strong) oat latte at home? I can't seem to get it right with my current range of stove top espresso thingy, cafetière, dualit milk frother. I buy Monmouth coffee so I don't think it's the coffee that's at fault. It always either tastes too weak or too wet.

I have a Lavazza Desea and use their passionale pods. Makes a fabulous espresso or cappucino/latte. Bought it during lockdown 2020 because the only thing I missed from being in the office was a decent cappucino. It has been going strong ever since, making from 2 to 8 coffees a day. No grinding, no faff. And it was free as I took out a 9 month coffee subscription at the time which allowed me to try various pods and decide which one was best. There's a pod recycling service too, although you need to check your area.

I love my mokka pot it makes really strong coffee, you definitely need the correct grind. I love bialetti, which annoyingly you seem to only be able to buy in John Lewis but it's divine!

I’ve never managed to make decent coffee with a moka pot, a cafetière or a filter. Our bean to cup machine never fails to deliver, though, and it has kind of paid for itself eventually as I don’t feel any need to buy coffee from coffee shops any more.

We've had the smaller sage espresso machine but could never get it to really sing iywkim, even with a custom grinder. Then we tried the original nespresso machine which was pretty good but they discontinued it. Now we have this Grind machine which is really excellent. The pods we use are Lidl or Aldi's strongest nespresso-compatible ones. We don't bother frothing the coffee because the crema from the espresso machine is so intense we don't miss it.

@BoobyDazzler Haven't tried the Lidl coffee but we have settled on their Assam tea bags, which are cheaper and nicer than both M&S and Booths.

You really don’t need to spend loads to get a good bean to cup machine!
my sage one is £550

Peak Mumsnet.

Wow it's a thing of beauty 😍

Yeah right ! £500????? Def peak Mumsnet. 🤣

I am not saying it’s a bargain but a nice cup of coffee makes me happy and I am now not tempted to buy takeaway coffees.

I'm not saying you're not entitled to buy something that adds to your life. You don't need to defend that. I'm glad it brings you joy.

But seriously, saying that £550 isn't loads of money, is one of the most middle class Mumsnetty things I've seen on here!

Italian here. A moka is all you need. Just make sure the coffee is the correct type for a moka and a decent one - Lavazza and Illy both good, fill the water to just below the valve, completely fill with coffee but don’t press it down or heap it up, put on a low flame and when it’s come through stir it with a teaspoon as the first bit through is the strongest and last the weakest so you want it to be mixed.

I was assuming that post was in response to the poster who claimed that you needed to spend at least a couple of grand to get to decent home espresso machine. So, in that context £550 isn’t loads of money. My home espresso setup was similar cost, maybe a bit less as the grinder especially was over half price (Sage Bambino Plus and Smart Grinder Pro) and when people are talking about spending multiple thousands of pounds I’d say mine is faurlt inexpensive. If the context is a cheap hand grinder and an aeropress (which can still make great coffee with), then yeah I have a pricy set up.

Morning coffee lovers. Ironically I've still got no coffee in the house at all but dh is off to Lidl...

Another vote for the Sage machine and I think beans DO make a massive difference.

I really like the Rave Signature Blend.

We have a Sage bambino plus + a sage bean grinder which I 100% recommend! We've totally stopped going out for coffee as none of them are as nice as what we make at home. We absolutely love it.

If I had a house with a big kitchen and was well off, I'd totally have Sage stuff. I love my coffee.

But in the absence of both, you'll have to wrench my aeropress from my cold, dead hands

Fair point. Thanks.

We get our coffee from an amazing local grinder. We get through a lot so tend to buy the big bags a.

If anyone fancies trying I've put a referral code on the promos board under money which gives you £5 off a £10 order (I'll get the same as account credit) the it's a few quid postage unless you are also local and I believed they still do free delivery Fridays to local postcodes

www.stmartinscoffee.co.uk

@saraclara we have very limited counter space in our kitchen which is why we went for the Sage Bambino plus. It's footprint is not much more than a pod machine, if bigger at all.

I bought ours in a black Friday deal in Harvey Norman's & it was dh's Christmas present that year. I bought a €20 dualit grinder which we used for a year & I bought dh the sage grinder the next year as his Xmas present

I get that they're an investment but you can get deals etc & they're v neat compared to most coffee machines imo

Let us know what you think of the Lidl Gold ❤️

Ooh forgot to update. HUGE improvement with Lidl beans freshly ground and a bit less water in the moka pot. Dh is impressed too. Thanks all this will very much do for now 🙂