How are your coffee beans lately? Mine are AWFUL!

When it comes to grinding, I have the Aldi $100 automatic jobbie which does a great job. Set it to the finest setting, push the button and away it goes - won't start if the catcher isn't in place. Quantity is also selectable. The down side is that it's very messy, and using plastic elements in the construction makes the static charged coffee spread around the bench, and elsewhere. (and it's a very dry climate up here - tool steel hanging on the wall in the shed doesn't rust...so that contributes to the static charge).

I make 2-3 Moka pots per day, and each yields a mug for two people, plus a very small follow up. There is no way I'm going to grind up for each brew - it's in a different room, it's a messy operation. I'm not into the ritual of it.

I may be regarded as a philistine for this but.....
So I usually grind up about ½kg at a time which lasts about 7-8 days. I have a professional standard Orved 12 vacuum sealer so I can properly vac-pack the remaining beans. I pack down the ground coffee with a tamper to get the air out of it as much as possible, and keep it in a jar in the kitchen.

I can't say that I've done a head to head taste test of ground-one-week-earlier verses freshly ground, but every time I do a grind I do have a brew, and I'm blessed if I notice any difference in the flavour.

There's no "Oh, that tastes better" moment. As I said earlier, some of the best coffee I've had has been from these week old grinds, and reheated after being brewed 2-4 hours earlier, possibly overnight.

Can anyone say with conviction that they notice a difference? If so, how much? Or is it more of a part of the ritual?



Follow up on the Dark: So I ditched that last "tea" brew and made a fresh pot of Lavazza - which I regard as ordinary, only just passable - ....and it too now tastes of tea, so I think it may take a while to flush the crap flavour out of the pot somehow. If this is the case, and it sure seems like it, then this is what was throwing me off a couple of weeks ago when every blend I ground and brewed seemed to taste of tea. This was why I left the Dark alone for a good long while, so that the crap flavour would be well flushed out - and I noticed that the flavour got better. Time to do a couple of coffee-less boils to flush it out.

Coffee oxidises with air. The higher the surface area, the quicker the oxidisation. If stored as whole beans, it goes at a certain rate - if you grind it (say coarse, for plunger/filter coffee) then it oxidises faster; if you grind it even finer (moka) then it oxidises faster still. It also out-gasses faster, the volatile aromatic gasses that are most pronounced in the first weeks of the coffee after roasting tend to get lost as time goes by.

I prefer to grind to order - just to maintain peak quality. If you are OK with the results, then I say do what works for you. If you can't detect a change, great ! I am spoilt because I roast my own and always have fresh coffee available (although I only roast at 4 weekly intervals) but if you're managing your supply appropriately and not using excessively aged coffee (eg stuff roasted months ago) then you're good. Some commercial roasters will use nitrogen flush to remove oxygen from the bag so it's "peak" is longer if it's unopened....

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Originally Posted by poundy

Coffee oxidises with air.

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That figures, and is why I try to tamp out as much air as I can. When things have stabilised I might have to try some experiments with week old, freshly ground, and perhaps ground and vac packed.

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Originally Posted by poundy

Some commercial roasters will use nitrogen flush to remove oxygen from the bag so it's "peak" is longer if it's unopened....

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My Orved vac-pack has that facility as an accessory, but I didn't add it to the purchase. I usually just vac down pretty low, unless it's a product that can be crushed.

O'course I could dump a little Argon in the jar after I get the coffee out....

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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

That figures, and is why I try to tamp out as much air as I can. When things have stabilised I might have to try some experiments with week old, freshly ground, and perhaps ground and vac packed.
My Orved vac-pack has that facility as an accessory, but I didn't add it to the purchase. I usually just vac down pretty low, unless it's a product that can be crushed.
O'course I could dump a little Argon in the jar after I get the coffee out....

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A mate of mine used a soda syphon - the one that uses little CO2 cylinders - to displace any air in the bag during opening. He claimed a difference but I could tell. I've often thought of setting up a Tee piece on the SodaStream line plumbed into a 6kg CO2 bottle under the house.

Freshly roasted coffee will continue to emit some CO2 for a few weeks afterwards, most CO2 is emitted in the few days so if you have a sealed bag you will notice the bag puff up. Serious roasters will provide coffee bags with a one way valve that release the excess CO2. This excess CO2 will help reduce the likelihood of oxygen turning the beans rancid. To get the same volume extraction in the same time the grinder settings needs to be changed about a week after the bag is opened and then another change about a week later, after that changes are much slower. 1kg bags of regular coffee rarely last more than about 2.5 weeks. SWMBO's 1kg bags of decaf last her about 5 weeks.

Yes! Argon!

One of my favourite gasses. :)

I've never understood why its not used more in the household... paint cans, un-finished bottles of wine*, coffee....

Its impossible to impart flavour, drives out the oxygen, wont react with anything and is cheap as chips. An argon dispenser in the kitchen would be excellent.


FF, Bee-a-letttti.... say it with soul man! Its music! It sounds so much better in Italian. :cool:

With the pot, perhaps boil it in a big pot with some sort of cleaning solution, like BiCarb or a coffee-machine cleaning sauce/powder? Dissolve all the crap off it and get it nice and fresh again?

FF, I have a spare breville 800ESXL coffee machine if you'd like it. I can courier it up. All yours, free. Its sitting in a box, down in the storage and will never be used. It might be a decent change of coffee type occasionally?


On coffee and how it be had... whatever works! There is far too much wank around how it "should" be done. If it tastes great and makes you feel good, this is what counts. I will say, in defence, I do love to grind my beans fresh each time.



* A mythical thing, to be sure, but its only a hypothesis. :)

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Originally Posted by woodPixel

FF, Bee-a-letttti.... say it with soul man! Its music! It sounds so much better in Italian. :cool:

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Ha! Yes, Lola and I have a lot of fun with the authentic pronunciation of Tchaikovsky which is Chee-korrv-ski, and the voice drops to a Russian low on the second syllable.

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Originally Posted by woodPixel

With the pot, perhaps boil it in a big pot with some sort of cleaning solution, like BiCarb or a coffee-machine cleaning sauce/powder? Dissolve all the crap off it and get it nice and fresh again?

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Maybe. I put a couple of blank boils through it, but I must say that the Lavazza I had after it was desperately ordinary. Campos has been the best so far, so we are pretty keen to try the Silicia you recommended. (gotta make sure the third "i" is in that word, to be sure!)

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Originally Posted by woodPixel

FF, I have a spare breville 800ESXL coffee machine if you'd like it.

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TVM for the offer - I'll keep that in mind.

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Originally Posted by woodPixel

Yes! Argon!

One of my favourite gasses. :)

I've never understood why its not used more in the household... paint cans, un-finished bottles of wine*, coffee....

Its impossible to impart flavour, drives out the oxygen, wont react with anything and is cheap as chips. An argon dispenser in the kitchen would be excellent..

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Heavier than air gases in domestic situations come with some risk. If one discharges its guts in confined space it could suffocate people. My 6kg SodaStream cylinder of CO2 is under the house but my son's is in his kitchen cupboard, fortunately his hose is large and open plan so the likelihood of this problem is reduced.

But the dispenser doesn't need to be 6kg - even soda stream size bottle (600ml) would be handy.

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Originally Posted by BobL

Heavier than air gases in domestic situations come with some risk. If one discharges its guts in confined space it could suffocate people. My 6kg SodaStream cylinder of CO2 is under the house but my son's is in his kitchen cupboard, fortunately his hose is large and open plan so the likelihood of this problem is reduced.

But the dispenser doesn't need to be 6kg - even soda stream size bottle (600ml) would be handy.

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True, I didn't consider that. Its the same with LPG for the BBQ, no bottles inside and no cooking inside.

So many gasses to do us in!

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fortunately his hose is large and open plan

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Lucky lad.

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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

So in the absence of Aldi CPB...
cetera cetera
Made a blend...
Overall price of $15.35 for 1195 grams is $5.14 for a 400g jar - considerably more than Aldi's, but it's a result.

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Originally Posted by Optimark

The American style peanut butter from Aldi, made in the USA, has 374mg per 100g. This is the smooth version, which I believe is the best tasting peanut butter around.
Choice magazine did a test on peanut butters sometime ago, the Aldi USA smooth version came out top of the lot.

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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Yep, that's the one. Crunchy for me, which may reduce the salt a little (there is LOTS of crunch!). The inclusion of a small hit of molasses is a master stroke.

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Whilst I am not unhappy with the blend that I made, it's not as cheap nor as good as the Bramwell PB from Aldi that Mick refers to. Just been shopping and still no Crunchy PB....so....

Attachment 479768


I WILL get satisfaction dammit!

Just have to rub the salt off a small quantity of nuts and crush them. The PB is $3.50 for 500g which makes it the second cheapest of all that I tried. Even after adding premium peanuts it will still be cheaper than the blend I made, and a better flavour.

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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Attachment 479768


I WILL get satisfaction dammit!

Just have to rub the salt off a small quantity of nuts and crush them. ...
Even after adding premium peanuts it will still be cheaper than the blend I made, and a better flavour.

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"rub the salt off" -- you philistine ...

what's wrong with the UNSALTED peanuts from Kingaroy the "peanut capital of Australia" ?
AUD $5.45 from here: Australian Unsalted Peanuts | J.C.'s Quality Foods to name just one source




"nibbling Nobby's [salted] nuts" can only take you so far ...

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Originally Posted by ian

"rub the salt off" -- you philistine ...

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:D

Aldi had no peanuts whatsoever, so across the road to Woolies and I wasn't going to buy their probably stale, probably average generic brand, so it had to be Nobby's Salted. :shrug: The I came across the third section of Nuts in whole foods, but couldn't see peanuts there either. Also I only really wanted to buy a snack sized packet (not available) because I know what will happen to the balance of them after I crush perhaps 70-80 grams....

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Originally Posted by woodPixel

FYI - just bought 3 lots of the four-bag samplers (250g x 4) from Sicilia Coffee | Freshly Roasted | Buy Online | Delivery Aus Wide

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Ev, how long did delivery take, and which option did you select? Can't see their address anywhere and an 08 phone number could be Adelaide or Perth.

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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Ev, how long did delivery take, and which option did you select? Can't see their address anywhere and an 08 phone number could be Adelaide or Perth.

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Overnight. I ordered Tuesday (late), shipped Wednesday, here (Canberra) at 10am Thursday morning. It was their cheapest option.

It was only $5 for delivery as well.

Its an Adelaide biz.



I'm enjoying the new ones. The current, just finished, sampler is "Di Lusso". Enjoyable. I've now 11 baggies to go :)

Though, this is bad, I've had so many coffees each day that I was a bit worried! My hand was shaking, my heart was thudding.... time to trim it back a bit :)


(Edit - Days delivered, plus Fastway tracked courier. Still was only $5)

Rightio, I've ordered 2 x 4 Sample packs from Sicilia.

Currently the Moka pot is disassembled and boiling away in some dilute vinegar, for maybe 15 minutes or so. I'll flush it off then and repeat the boiling with some Bicarb Soda.