This is the World’s first Domestic twin Boiler espresso machine

STOP PRESS!

Expected to go on sale from mid-August 2011

COFFEEGUY / BREVILLE PRE-ORDER PROMO

With the release of the Breville BES 900 growing imminent, Coffeeguy is offering a package deal, strictly limited to Pre-purchase BES900 units and very limited in numbers. so don't hesitate! If your looking for a new espresso machine or to upgrade your existing machine nows the time!

OFFER INCLUDES:
BES900 Twin Boiler Espresso machine $1500.00
Barista Domestica (tailored for BES900) $160.00
1 x 500g Coffeeguy Coffee $18.90
BCS800 Intelligent Grinder $ 300.00
Total $ Value $1978.00

OUR PRICE $1,650.00

Click here to preorder before it is too late!

Some Key points / Features:

• Twin Boiler (Not thermoblock)
• Volumetric controls (waterwheel)
• Digital temp control Boiler
• Adjustable extraction temp control
• 9 bar pump…. Yes 9 bar vibratory pump (will explain in blog)
• Pre-infusion adjustable (time and pressure)
• Heat exchange unit
• Brew timer
• Pressure Gauge (not resistance gauge)
• Automatic on and off

 

Many many more details but this is the juicy stuff!!! 

So these are just a few of the features seen at the exclusive launch of this machine in Sydney last night.

RRP - $1499

Release date - July

I’ve been privy to a lot of this info for several months now after having been invited by the guys at Breville to come down to see what they were working on and allowed me to look at there series 1 prototype. I’ve been busting to be able to tell all about it.

There are all the feature and benefit that make this a great home machine for the entry level “Barista Domestica”, Simplicity of use, aesthetics and delivery of consistency. But there are other features that make me believe that the BES 900 is a revolutionary domestic machine as was the EM6900 was 7 years ago.

Here are some snaps I took with my Iphone.

The first is a cross section of the machine that allows clear vision of what lays inside this beast. Note Steam leaver with ball valve (not solanoid)

The second Is a cross section of the Extraction dedicated boiler.

The third is a cross section of the steam and water boiler.
(note the heat exchange unit running through)

I have uploaded some Video footage to YouTube and you can watch this at the bottom of this blog post, so check it out!

So why is it a revolutionary machine?

I see 3 main reasons:

1. It has 2 BOILERS. These are NOT thermo-blocks! The EM6910 has twin thermo-blocks. The BES900 firstly has a boiler dedicated to steam and water (pic 4). This will give you instant steam pressure delivered through a ball valve not a solenoid (pic 2), as well as hot water. There is no delay as compared to the thermo-blocks that require time to get to optimum temp. Second is the extraction-dedicated boiler (as opposed to a thermo-block) (pic 3). This should be more stable as water is extracted for a shot and is refilled with cooler water as its larger capacity acts as a buffer. The Boffins at Breville have also run the water replenishing tube through the steam and hot water boiler (a heat exchange unit) to increase the temp of the replenishing water so it doesn’t shock the extraction dedicated boiler as it refills during an extraction this preventing temperature fluctuations.
2. The pre-infusion technology that has come about over the last few years has allowed baristas to massage the normal standards of espresso. So…what does that mean? Since espresso coffee was developed, the pressure generated on the leaver of the original espresso machines (by forcing a leaver to generate water pressure through fine ground coffee) was found to be on average 9 bar. Most commercial machine became mechanized and have had rotary pumps. These pumps generally set at around 9 bar. This removed the variation of the operator abilities in order to deliver a more consistent extraction. By allowing a small amount of water to “ready” the coffee, a change in flavour profile is delivered to the extraction of exactly the same coffees. Machines that are able to do this are prized and command in excess of $25,000. The BES 900 has this facility.
3. Price….. So for $1500 a dedicated barista can pick up an espresso machine that not only has a stability in the boiler of less than 1 degree which can be adjusted, he can also play around with flavour profiles delivered by adjusting pump pressure during pre infusion as well as duration of pre-infusion. Steam pressure is instant and overall feel is beyond its Price tag.

This machine is a turning point for the budding barista to gain an understanding of setting changes to machines that till now, have only been able to gain by working on these other extraordinary commercial machines that have been developed.

 

 

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Drink for flavour not effect

Every day someone apologizes to me prior to softly ordering decaf, they approach cautiously, waiting for a moment when the coast is relatively clear, bracing themselves for the obligatory bagging or under breath mutter from their barista, about why they shouldn't bother ordering a coffee.

They are probably surprised by the acceptance of the order in a coffee specialist house.

 I believe if your product is fresh, and well made it will rival a vast number of coffees being served out there in cafe land.

So I'm likely cop flack from the supposed purist coffee aficionados, for supporting "sex on the beach" style coffees, there...... "something".........near water...but I feel that if the decaf is chosen well, roasted with care and prepared as a beverage when it is fresh, it will scratch an itch that cannot be satisfied by any other beverage.

In pregnancy our decaf has been godsend to many of our regulars, even my wife, enjoyed decaf for several months. Admittedly I had stamped as a regular roast.

I've many customers with heart conditions that have been serious coffee drinkers, when told to cut down their caffeine content, I've snuck them a decaf micky, when they were adamant that they would never drink decaf.  After letting them know what I had done, they've happily made the switch.

Don't be silly enough to expect to get any great coffee from anyone who dismisses the way you like it it.

Now Chai........ Thats another matter! ;)

Daniel Salter, the ‘CoffeeGuy’ has over 20 years hard-earned experience in all facets of coffee.  From a starting point in bars and cafes he became fascinated with coffee, did some basic coffee operations courses and then found a passion for the beans!  He’s since been involved with purchasing green bean, roasting, blending, an equipment technician, wholesale, retail and produced well over half a million cups of coffee for discerning consumers.

Introduction

I had been waiting for three months for my favourite bread to arrive from France because I couldn’t find what I wanted here.  I was in anticipation of that crisp, toasty aroma, thin crisp crust covering a soft light fluffy centre. Much to my dismay, when my package arrived, I opened it and found a dry shell of what I remembered I used to buy at the local patisserie in Canne.  My bread was nothing like I expected, how could I possibly eat something so stale!

Of course it’s not a true story but it illustrates a thought process in purchasing roasted coffee from another country. Roasters may try to justify their packing processes but it comes down to one thing.

Bread tastes best fresh – and so does coffee.

As someone who knows about coffee I am asked a recurring question,”What is the best way to store my coffee?” They are usually surprised when the answer is quite a long one. You see, it all depends on many factors. Despite my willingness to answer correctly people often just want to hear a two to three word answer. This may explain the confusion that most people have on this topic and the contradictory advice that is given to consumers.

Unlike humans, oxygen is the worst thing for coffee to come into contact with. Oxygen causes roasted coffee to oxidise and stale. My analogy has always been, like bottle of wine, by pulling on the cork and removing it, the wine will deteriorate faster than if you had left the seal or cork intact. A fairly obvious fact!

Now that we understand that O2 is the bitter enemy of roasted coffee all other aspects are logical.

Well, not really!

There are many things to consider about trying to maintain the “freshness” of your coffee and so over the next week we will be providing 6 tips to help you maintain the freshness of your coffee.

Follow us each day via Twitter, Facebook or this Blog on the website and will be providing a new "tip for the day" as part of our "6 tips to maintain the freshness of your coffee".

COMPETITION
Once all 6 tips have been published we will be running a competition to test your memory and knowledge. Simply answer our question correctly and you will be in the running to win our "CoffeeGuy Mystery Prize".

Tip 1. Do you know when the coffee was roasted?

If you know skip this and wait for tip number 2 on Monday. If you don’t, ask! If the proprietor / salesperson can’t tell you its not a good start. Coffee should be consumed within two weeks of being roasted. Buy smaller quantities more often, make the effort you will be rewarded.

Tip 2. How was the coffee cooled?

Your coffee supplier should be able to tell you how their coffees are cooled. Most use air cooling but some use a water quench method which sprays the coffee with a fine mist of water to assist the cooling process when the coffee has been dumped into the cooling tray. The result is that freshly roasted coffee comes in contact with water which is a catalyst of the staling process, water contains oxygen, and also leaves a residual moisture in the roasted beans.

Tip 3. How long after roasting was the coffee packed

Many coffee companies use a process called “De-gassing” to enable them to pack coffee in bags that have no one way valve, this reduces their cost. The reason they use the “De-Gassing” process, is to ensure that the chemical reaction that occurs in freshly roasted coffee has stopped occurring! 1/2 a kilo of coffee will produce around 7 litres of Co2 within a 7 day period, at least 50% of this will be discharged from the beans within the first 2-3 days after the roast. I once had a client ask me to pack his coffee in tins, against my advice and using standard tins we ran a line of 200, 200 gram tins. The coffee was de-gassed for 3 day and the result, every tin buckled from the pressure generated from the C02 trying to escape. Needles to say they were unsaleable, and we continued to use small one way valve bags.

The closer to the roast time coffee is packed greatly reduces the effects of O2 on the coffee one way or another. I will explain this!

Tip 4. What type of packaging has been used

If you can see the beans through the packaging it’s not a good start. Only foil packs prevent O2 passing through the bag over time, this is why potato chips and biscuits are now widely packed in foil bags - they stay far crisper for longer. Look for the valve. If there is no valve the coffee must have been stale before going into the bag or there may have been a hole punctured in the bag after packaging to ensure the bag doesn’t explode. By puncturing a hole in the bag, Co2 & O2 molecules are able to pass in and out as they please. The most cost effective method of packing coffee properly at present is the foil, one way valve bag. But there are also two styles of these. I have hade best success with the disc style as opposed to the flap. Coffee has also been packed by companies in high pressure, specially designed tins that are the pinnacle of packaging technology but these are very, very cost prohibitive.

Tip 5. Has the coffee been Vacuum seal, nitrogen flushed?

Wow, doesn’t this one get heated reaction when brought up around a table of passionate coffee connoisseurs! Why? I guess motive and opinion! I look at this again from a logical point of view. The objective is to keep the evil oxygen menace away from our beloved coffee. By vacuum sealing or nitrogen flushing you are insuring that there is no or very miniscule residual O2 in the bags, Here comes the interesting bit. Companies that use “de-gassing” ironically use one or the other of these methods (brick packs) to pack their coffee to prolong what is left of the flavour of the coffee after the“de-gassing” silly hey! However, by packaging coffee that has just cooled from the roaster in either a nitrogen or vacuum environment you are removing the troublesome O2, and allowing only the inert CO2 and the aromatic molecules to fill the bag. Now if we do the same but don’t draw a vacuum or nitrogen flush, there is still a residue of O2 in the bag. Roasters that pack this way are hoping that the de-gassing will displace the O2 from the bag, and there is a good percentage that may be displaced, but we can’t be sure can we? Some roasters may argue that vacuum sealing may draw out some of the vital aromatic molecules and this may well be, but the nitrogen must be the best possible way to pack coffee!

Tip 6. What environment has the coffee been stored prior to your purchase?

Here is a good indicator of the care that has gone into the “maintenance” of the freshness of you coffee. If you are buying from a silo or hopper, there has been little or no effort gone into ensuring you can maintain a level of freshness. Despite being a romantic notion of purchasing fresh coffee from the coffee hoppers at the local deli or your local roaster you are buying coffee in a way that resembles going to the bottle shop and purchasing a case of wine that didn’t have their corks put in! O2 is attacking your coffee in every way! Some suppliers place their coffee into cooling to ensure that the coffee is maintained at a low temp, humidity free in their store, but when the beans are bought they are then put in a bag and thrown in the hot car, (not taking in to consideration that the coffee was still being attacked by O2 in the fridge) the beans sweat, and moisture is gobbled up by the dry beans. This doesn’t make sense to me! 

So I still haven’t answered the question that is “where should I store my coffee” have I?

But what I have done is made you think about how fresh your coffee is at the time that you purchased it.

Here is my short answer and why!

Ground coffee – If you have to buy ground coffee, the optimum method is place the coffee bag in an air tight container in the freezer. When making a coffee, take out what is needed and replace in the freezer immediately, so the coffee doesn’t have time to sweat. Ideally only have a week or two’s worth in storage.  If you leave it longer it will be ok but will slowly deteriorate.

Coffee Beans – Try to only purchase 2 weeks worth at a time and ensure that its close to the roast date. Keep it in either a vacuum canister or rolled down valve bag, remove as much air as possible and store in cool dark place, like wine.

 

No different to a neurotic chef being fanatical about the quality of their produce used in their dishes, I’m extremely particular about all the ingredients that go into producing and in the drinking of our coffees to heighten the experience.

I was introduced to La Parruche sugar, by Philip Johnson’s ecco, where my wife worked for several years. At first I just loved the raw, rustic look that it has. But then found it to be very distinctive in flavour and quality that harmonized and contrasted beautifully with coffee.

Taken from the La Perruche web site:

“Sugar cane is a wild reed thought to have originated in Bengal. Today La Perruche cane sugar is cultivated in Reunion Island, a tropical paradise of flavours and fragrances. The sugar canes soak up all the aromas and goodness of the rich soil in the North and East of the island which enjoy generous rainfall and are aired by the trade winds.

Harvested and pressed from July to December, the sugar cane produces a sweet liquid that thickens into syrup before the formation of the first crystals. It is this sweet gold that secured the reputation of the island, then known as Ile Bourbon, back in the 19^th century.

Ten centuries ago, the French discovered the sweet taste of cane sugar during the Crusades. But the earliest reference dates back to when the Persian Emperor Darius set out to conquer the Indian subcontinent and discovered a plant, which he allegedly said “”gives honey without bees””. This luxurious and rare gift of nature, which was initially called a “spice”, is still considered as an exceptional product”

La Perruche sugar, both brown and white is served with our coffee.

Next time your in, take a second, and think how you want your sugar to perform in your coffee.

Add a white lump and a clean sweet light toffee will caress you coffee. A brown will give an added dimension of rich molasses, to me, matches perfectly in a risretto after dinner.

Over the last 15 years I have always been very particular about the milk I use to compliment my coffees. It's such an important component, seeking out the very best, it just happens to be local and family run. Here is a little about the company.

Maleny Dairies is a family owned business situated in the picturesque hills of Maleny. We have been farming on this property for 3 generations, (since 1948). With the advent of milk industry deregulation, and the resultant drastic drop in income, (cut by half), we considered giving up farming. However, we decided to fight back by building a milk processing plant - not only to help ourselves, but the other farmers and their families in the local area. With the combined efforts of parents Harold & Dorothy, brothers Ross and Keith, and sisters Kay and Beth, we embarked on the massive task of bringing our plans to fruition. Thus Maleny Dairies began operations in December 2002, and the immediate positive response by customers to our products was amazing.

THE COWS
The Guernsey, (originally from the Guernsey Isles), is genetically a very old breed which has been tested and shown to have around 95% Beta Casein proteins. Guernsey's produce milk that is high in Protein and Butterfat and has a creamy appearance and taste. We constantly hear this comment... "This is how milk used to taste when I was a Kid!" We have had the Guernsey's on this farm since first starting in 1948. Why stick with the Guernsey's? Simply because their milk is the best. Not only does it taste good, but it is good for you too.

God blessed us with a cow called 'Belladonna' which became a Guernsey world champion, breaking the records in milk, butterfat & protein. Belladonna peaked at an amazing 70.5 litres of milk in one day. Considering that an average cow gives approx. 15 litres in a day, she truly was an amazing cow.

MALANEY DAIRY TOURS
Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's by appointment, and every Saturday at 10.30am and 2.30pm. During the week, please phone to find out what times the tours are on that day, as it varies depending on bus groups etc. (Generally around 10.30am and 2.30pm)

Saturday's are on at the set times, though please phone to confirm they are still on if the weather is very wet. School Holidays - Qld - Tours operate Monday - Saturday at 10.30am and 2.30pm - Though to avoid disappointment; please phone to confirm times.
CLOSED: CHRISTMAS DAY
For more info call the office on 5494 2392 or visit www.malenydairies.com

I bought the my first aeropress about 4 years ago from the internet.

Unimpressed with its plastic and rubber constuction, i didnt expect much. I'd seen it and read the reviews on it, and thought there is no way it could be as good as it was described.

A USA frisby company should not dabble in espresso machines.

 

I figured, its got to be an american week insipid drip filter style coffee. Receiving it in the post was no exciting affair and figured the product would be very average.  I sat down, with my fresh ground espresso coffee and began to follow the fairly simple intructions.

Securing the filter, adding the ground coffee, placing the elephant size syringe mechanism on the cup, adding the water and then inserting the plunger and depressing it, the aroma was right but there was only a small amount of creama, lighter in colour to espresso and less syropy was the result but it was quite a shock at how well it represented the coffee.

 

I was astonished  at the result I achieved on my first extraction and have been recommending them as a brilliant coffee brewer ever since. The ease of cleaning this is another selling point, unscrew end push plunger and the coffee puck ejects perfectly into the bin, wipe and its done.

This is the perfect indestructible coffee machine, ideal for camping, hiking etc....We sell a lot that are sent to Afghanistan for the soldiers over there by there loved ones, as well as people wanting something better than the instant at work and they have broken several plungers.

At $49 you cant go wrong, put one in the camping kit, one in the boat or caravan.

It is a perfect gift item too!

Take the link to our demo video on youtube or buy online.

Daniel Salter, the ‘CoffeeGuy’ has over 20 years hard-earned experience in all facets of coffee.  From a starting point in bars and cafes he became fascinated with coffee, did some basic coffee operations courses and then found a passion for the beans!  He’s since been involved with purchasing green bean, roasting, blending, an equipment technician, wholesale, retail and produced well over half a million cups of coffee for discerning consumers.

Introduction

I had been waiting for three months for my favourite bread to arrive from France because I couldn’t find what I wanted here.  I was in anticipation of that crisp, toasty aroma, thin crisp crust covering a soft light fluffy centre. Much to my dismay, when my package arrived, I opened it and found a dry shell of what I remembered I used to buy at the local patisserie in Canne.  My bread was nothing like I expected, how could I possibly eat something so stale!

Of course it’s not a true story but it illustrates a thought process in purchasing roasted coffee from another country. Roasters may try to justify their packing processes but it comes down to one thing.

Bread tastes best fresh – and so does coffee.

As someone who knows about coffee I am asked a recurring question,”What is the best way to store my coffee?” They are usually surprised when the answer is quite a long one. You see, it all depends on many factors. Despite my willingness to answer correctly people often just want to hear a two to three word answer. This may explain the confusion that most people have on this topic and the contradictory advice that is given to consumers.

Unlike humans, oxygen is the worst thing for coffee to come into contact with. Oxygen causes roasted coffee to oxidise and stale. My analogy has always been, like bottle of wine, by pulling on the cork and removing it, the wine will deteriorate faster than if you had left the seal or cork intact. A fairly obvious fact!

Now that we understand that O2 is the bitter enemy of roasted coffee all other aspects are logical.

Well, not really!

There are many things to consider about trying to maintain the “freshness” of your coffee and so over the next week we will be providing 6 tips to help you maintain the freshness of your coffee.

Follow us each day via Twitter, Facebook or this Blog on the website and will be providing a new "tip for the day" as part of our "6 tips to maintain the freshness of your coffee".

COMPETITION
Once all 6 tips have been published we will be running a competition to test your memory and knowledge. Simply answer our question correctly and you will be in the running to win our "CoffeeGuy Mystery Prize".

Tip 1. Do you know when the coffee was roasted?

If you know skip this and wait for tip number 2 on Monday. If you don’t, ask! If the proprietor / salesperson can’t tell you its not a good start. Coffee should be consumed within two weeks of being roasted. Buy smaller quantities more often, make the effort you will be rewarded.

Tip 2. How was the coffee cooled?

Your coffee supplier should be able to tell you how their coffees are cooled. Most use air cooling but some use a water quench method which sprays the coffee with a fine mist of water to assist the cooling process when the coffee has been dumped into the cooling tray. The result is that freshly roasted coffee comes in contact with water which is a catalyst of the staling process, water contains oxygen, and also leaves a residual moisture in the roasted beans.

Tip 3. How long after roasting was the coffee packed

Many coffee companies use a process called “De-gassing” to enable them to pack coffee in bags that have no one way valve, this reduces their cost. The reason they use the “De-Gassing” process, is to ensure that the chemical reaction that occurs in freshly roasted coffee has stopped occurring! 1/2 a kilo of coffee will produce around 7 litres of Co2 within a 7 day period, at least 50% of this will be discharged from the beans within the first 2-3 days after the roast. I once had a client ask me to pack his coffee in tins, against my advice and using standard tins we ran a line of 200, 200 gram tins. The coffee was de-gassed for 3 day and the result, every tin buckled from the pressure generated from the C02 trying to escape. Needles to say they were unsaleable, and we continued to use small one way valve bags.

The closer to the roast time coffee is packed greatly reduces the effects of O2 on the coffee one way or another. I will explain this!

Tip 4. What type of packaging has been used

If you can see the beans through the packaging it’s not a good start. Only foil packs prevent O2 passing through the bag over time, this is why potato chips and biscuits are now widely packed in foil bags - they stay far crisper for longer. Look for the valve. If there is no valve the coffee must have been stale before going into the bag or there may have been a hole punctured in the bag after packaging to ensure the bag doesn’t explode. By puncturing a hole in the bag, Co2 & O2 molecules are able to pass in and out as they please. The most cost effective method of packing coffee properly at present is the foil, one way valve bag. But there are also two styles of these. I have hade best success with the disc style as opposed to the flap. Coffee has also been packed by companies in high pressure, specially designed tins that are the pinnacle of packaging technology but these are very, very cost prohibitive.

Tip 5. Has the coffee been Vacuum seal, nitrogen flushed?

Wow, doesn’t this one get heated reaction when brought up around a table of passionate coffee connoisseurs! Why? I guess motive and opinion! I look at this again from a logical point of view. The objective is to keep the evil oxygen menace away from our beloved coffee. By vacuum sealing or nitrogen flushing you are insuring that there is no or very miniscule residual O2 in the bags, Here comes the interesting bit. Companies that use “de-gassing” ironically use one or the other of these methods (brick packs) to pack their coffee to prolong what is left of the flavour of the coffee after the“de-gassing” silly hey! However, by packaging coffee that has just cooled from the roaster in either a nitrogen or vacuum environment you are removing the troublesome O2, and allowing only the inert CO2 and the aromatic molecules to fill the bag. Now if we do the same but don’t draw a vacuum or nitrogen flush, there is still a residue of O2 in the bag. Roasters that pack this way are hoping that the de-gassing will displace the O2 from the bag, and there is a good percentage that may be displaced, but we can’t be sure can we? Some roasters may argue that vacuum sealing may draw out some of the vital aromatic molecules and this may well be, but the nitrogen must be the best possible way to pack coffee!

Tip 6. What environment has the coffee been stored prior to your purchase?

Here is a good indicator of the care that has gone into the “maintenance” of the freshness of you coffee. If you are buying from a silo or hopper, there has been little or no effort gone into ensuring you can maintain a level of freshness. Despite being a romantic notion of purchasing fresh coffee from the coffee hoppers at the local deli or your local roaster you are buying coffee in a way that resembles going to the bottle shop and purchasing a case of wine that didn’t have their corks put in! O2 is attacking your coffee in every way! Some suppliers place their coffee into cooling to ensure that the coffee is maintained at a low temp, humidity free in their store, but when the beans are bought they are then put in a bag and thrown in the hot car, (not taking in to consideration that the coffee was still being attacked by O2 in the fridge) the beans sweat, and moisture is gobbled up by the dry beans. This doesn’t make sense to me! 

So I still haven’t answered the question that is “where should I store my coffee” have I?

But what I have done is made you think about how fresh your coffee is at the time that you purchased it.

Here is my short answer and why!

Ground coffee – If you have to buy ground coffee, the optimum method is place the coffee bag in an air tight container in the freezer. When making a coffee, take out what is needed and replace in the freezer immediately, so the coffee doesn’t have time to sweat. Ideally only have a week or two’s worth in storage.  If you leave it longer it will be ok but will slowly deteriorate.

Coffee Beans – Try to only purchase 2 weeks worth at a time and ensure that its close to the roast date. Keep it in either a vacuum canister or rolled down valve bag, remove as much air as possible and store in cool dark place, like wine.

 

CoffeeGuy Single origin

Well….We are now out of our much loved el El Salvador single origin, and in its place we have a NepaleseTerai Supreme.

Medium to high flavour, Medium clean acid and medium rich full body which moves into a long sweet syrup textured finish.

Nuances of toffee, candy with a subtle dark dry Dutch cocoa bitter sweet background which is long lasting. Great intensity with exceptionally smooth well balanced cup. Very well suited to a Single origin espresso that is strong full and sweet.

A little background info…..
Coffee in Nepal is grown on the foothills of the Himalayan Mountain range, between the altitude of 3,000 and 6,000 feet. These areas are mainly in the districts of Palpa, Gulmi, Kavre, Lalitpur and its surroundings. The Arabica variety of coffee grows best at these altitudes. The variety of arabica beans that are grown consists of bourbon 60%-70%, typica 20%-30% and remaining pacamara. Coffee has been grown in Nepal and sub-continent for hundreds of years. Many of the present tea plantations first planted coffee.

Tea was the natural choice since it is resistant to the rust disease. In the 1980's coffee was replanted in the Terai and the hill regions of Nepal. The new varieties have thrived and are producing fair amounts of coffee.

From the mid-seventies, coffee was grown as an income-generating crop and nurseries were also established for commercial purposes. During mid-eighties, the coffee production rose fairly high.

However, during late eighties marketing problem and poor returns from the crop forced many farmers to cut down their mature trees and plant other crops.

With the popularity of Nepali coffee among the tourists and expatriates, the demand of Nepali coffee in the domestic market improved from the mid nineties, creating renewed interest and the growers started planting coffee in an extensive way. There is no reliable data available on the production and productivity of coffee in Nepal. However, the area under coffee, dry cherry production and number of coffee producers in Nepal is in a constantly increasing trend.

Try the new single origin - Nepalese Terai today while stocks last - CLICK HERE BUY ONLINE TODAY!

The common issues that most people seems to struggle with regarding coffee is storage.

“Coffee experts” tell people so many different things without understanding why this expert wants their coffee taken care of in a certain way.

Things to remember:

• Oxygen is the no 1 enemy to coffee.
• Water contains oxygen
• Co2 Is a by-product of roasted coffee, 14 litres of Co2 / 1kg over 5 days
• When a product is removed from a cold (say below 10 degrees) and placed at room temp (say 21 degrees) the product will gain condensation (H2O) on its surface.
• Freezing products can preserve its goodness value for longer periods provided that they are not freezer burnt or misstreated.
• Vacuumed sealed or gas flushed coffees do not require freezing while the bag is intact or unopened
• Beans or ground coffee that has been frozen can be brewed immediately but remember that the coffee bag must only be out for a few seconds. Grab what you need and put it back in the freezer with gusto!

If a “coffee expert” tells you to keep freshly roasted and packed coffee in the fridge, ask them “why”. All coffee is roasted fresh, Keeping it fresh is the hard part!

If their response is it keeps “it fresher” you will know that they have decided that the cost of using a superior packaging technique is not justified.

Maybe they even take shortcuts with the quality of the coffees they purchase because they think you won’t notice this either!

Personally I would like to keep the product that I am passionate about, as fresh as possible after the care we take to have it roasted to perfection.

This is a great machine with great bench appeal that delivers more than I expected.

The key features to the BES860 are its solid, compact, very attractive, tidy in its delivery of the coffee and very user-friendly.

I guess the BES 860’s competitor would be the market dominating EM6910 (RRP$799), and its mated Grinder EM0480 (RRP$199).

Peoples biggest gripe with the EM0480 seems to be the mess that is left after dosing coffee from the grinder.

Although the sunbeam has a duel boiler set up and is designed to appease the budding barista, and does so very well, I think the integration of the grinder in the BES860, its user friendly interface for adjustment and ability to deliver ground coffee without having a portion left on the bench make for a very practical machine for the discerning coffee lover, that wants to enjoy a well made café quality coffee easily, without a large dedicated coffee area on the kitchen bench

This machine would suit and office situation perfectly.

All our staffs played with demo model supplied to us from Breville and have been pleasantly surprised at the pleasant experience in using this machine.

We will have the demo model in till the end of the February so please feel free to come in and try it.