[rkhl]

Nice to meet y'all @ Fresh Coffee while I wait for Landy & Shing's bean roasting last Sat evening.

They got Expobar, Krups, and 2 set of Rancilio espresso machines. Take a look: [url=http://freshcoffeentea.no-ip.info/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=74_75]

[jayinhongkong]

Thanks for posting! It was nice meeting you too. I know they used the Expobar quite a few times. Did they have a Gaggia too?

I was quite impressed by their water filtration set up. They had one filter for large particles, then a carbon filter and finally a water softener. Do you treat your water Bob? I use a Brita jug at home.

[boblam07]

Originally Posted by jayinhongkong

Bob: Forgot the name of the machines they used, but I believe they used three different ones! I was up until about 4:30 am last night after all that delicious espresso. lol

4:30AM! Sound like you had a good time there.

You said they used three machines. Hopefully, there's a krups in there. If that's the case and if you happen to like coffee, it means that even the inexpensive krups can make a decent espresso. A good thing, isn't it? But I think they either used Mazzer Mini or Feima 600N, the latter is much less expensive. This further implied that grinder is very important factor in good coffee. In real estate, it's location, location and location. In coffee, it's grinder, grinder and grinder.

Water, I'm in the same boat as you Jay on the Brita jug. No special treatment. There's two schools of thought. One used the most purified water to prevent the rust and thing on their espresso machine. Others used tap water with minimal treatment like Brita, allowing the mineral in the water to complement the coffee. One can easily try which is better using the green Watson water and water from Brita to see which is better.

[jayinhongkong]

Britas actually do remove a good portion of the mineral content, but they definitely don't remove everything. Still, Brita water tastes pretty good, and my distilled water comes in polycarbonate (so I don't touch it).

[goodfood]

Yeah that was a wonderful session at Hkcoffee last Saturday. Quite a team - Landy, the Master, Nelf ( did I get thta right) and the 17 year old guy whose name I forget. The espressos were lethal.

Great meeting the Geoexpat coffee connoisseurs though I was sorry to disappoint Jay who had apparently imagined me to be a Chinese girl !

Waiting for Nelf to contact us for the classes

[jayinhongkong]

lol well another member told me she knew you and I seem to recall her telling me you were a Chinese woman. Either way, you have great taste in all things culinary so it was a pleasure meeting you! Can't wait to check out that Belgian place you mentioned.

I wonder what happened to Nelfin!

[boblam07]

Originally Posted by goodfood

Quite a team - Landy, the Master, Nelf ( did I get thta right) and the 17 year old guy whose name I forget. The espressos were lethal.

Nelf makes a very good espresso.

[jayinhongkong]

Originally Posted by boblam07

Nelf makes a very good espresso.

I can honestly say the espressos I had there were the best I've ever had. I had one at Starbucks on Tuesday and the crema disappeared pretty quickly. When I had one of Nelf's, there was still crema left in the bottom of the cup after I got done! Amazing.

BTW, they have the name of their bean 'source' on the plastic bags their green beans come in and they have airmail packages lying around. I now know where they get their coffee. They should probably keep that under wraps, although I don't think anyone else is going to open up in direct competition with them anytime soon.

[goodfood]

Originally Posted by jayinhongkong

Can't wait to check out that Belgian place you mentioned.

The Belgian palce I was referring to - definitely the best Belgian beer joint in town - is Frites.
Queen's Place, 74 Queen's Road Central. On the stairway behind H&M
http://www.frites-beer.com/

60 different types of Belgian beers last time I checked. I am happy to say that I have tasted all of them.

[jayinhongkong]

I've seen the place on my way home over the last week. I'll try and get over there some time soon for some frites and a unique Belgian brew of some sort. :P Do they do mussels too?

Just checked out the menu. Sounds really good!