👋 Hey everyone, Nicky here. I’m delighted to step in as your new host for this community! I’ve already been in touch with some peeps via DM, and in the background I’m sending an email out to all our fab members so nobody misses the update. My aim is simple: continue the amazing work that @Luke Gilbert started, keep this community buzzing with good conversations, practical brewing tips, and a place to share what we all love - coffee. ☕ To kick things off, I’d love to hear from you: where are you sipping from today + what’s in your cup? Drop a quick comment (pic welcome!) so we can get a roll call going. Looking forward to getting to know you all. 🙌 Nicky ps: I'm in Ireland. My first of the day WAS a Rebel House Espresso from javathehutt.ie roastery. It's a fab bean from Brazil. We also serve it in our converted horse box coffee trailer which is parked up at our local football club full time. I'm fully caffeinated and ready for the day!

What is your favorite dairy substitute for milk drinks? I have used almond, soy, oat and pea. In my experience pea came close to milk, but carb heavy. Second was oat. Almond was not that great. Now settled for soy. Tends to curdle if I heat it too much. Suggested temp is to keep it under 150, too cold for my taste. These days switching between lactose free low fat and soy. The milk shoot’s up my sugars while with soy it is more controlled.

building a little more on the discussion of water from this last post If you work with an espresso machine in particular what water filter do you use if any? I'll share in the comments about the one I use...

OK so you'll notice that these are all from a more Australian menu list. I will share the PDF in the first comment below, that gives the detailed coffee Ratios & Recipes created by Artisi Coffee Roasters. Pick your favourite and tell us why 👇

I use a pretty old vibimme domobar, think it must have 12+ years now. This one isn't the most precise espresso machine when it's coming to pressure and temperature. So it's quite challenging to get the same perfect espresso out of it using the exact same setup twice. 😅 So, what I asked myself over and over again is what's more important: time or weight? Well, I've learned in this post, that many baristas agree on the perfect time being about 28 sec aaaand most prefer the 1:2-ratio with 18grams in and 36 out. But, with a machine that's not toooo precise you may choose one of them. most of the time I'll end up at about 30-36 grams in between 25 and 30 secs. But sure taste varies as well. 🤷🏻‍♂️ What do you guys think is more important: