My glass V60 broke recently, and I've wanted to try the Suiren since it was released, so I made the plunge. I got the rainbow version to add a splash of color to my otherwise black monochromatic coffee counter.

Probably the biggest question for me was how much heat it would lose given the lack of walls. But interestingly enough, I haven't noticed a difference. I guess if I got a temperature probe in there, I could see the difference, but I just can't tell.

Compared to my glass V60, I've noticed two challenges though. First is the paper filter sagging between fins. It's not horrible, but as you can see in the first photo between the two white fins and the white fin and yellow fin, the paper is sagging a bit. I've found it's a lot harder to get a flat bed by the end of the brew as a result. I haven't noticed a taste in flavor, so it's probably fine, but it bothers my OCD.

Second is the increased brew time. I'm used to a 4:00 draw down, but now I'm consistently seeing 5:30-6:00 which has me worried about over-extraction. It seems to start stalling around the 4th of 5 pours. In the glass V60, I could swirl the bed and get the fines up against the walls, but that technique is more challenging here.

Honestly though, the end result is good, great even. I'm brewing the same or very similar taste I was with my glass V60, so it's doing its job. The lack of walls and the bright colors make it a fun talking point also when guests visit.

Just out of curiosity, how do you keep notes on the coffee you prepare?

I found this coffee journal on Amazon and began keeping track of the beans I use to understand better what I like and what I don't like.

As a follow up to my early impressions post I’ve again been comparing my C40, K-Ultra and S5, partly because I’m considering selling one of them.
The Pietro Multipurpose could have been in the mix too, but as its flat burrs and a table top (not hand) grinder I decided not to.

For today’s test, I used a medium-roasted washed Ethiopian coffee that’s honestly a little darker than I usually prefer. I wanted to see which grinder could make the most enjoyable cup out of beans that are a bit dark for my taste as it sometimes happens that a roaster roasts darker then I would have hoped for.

I used the same brewing recipe and approximately matched the grind sizes.

First, ergonomics and grinding speed (10 g):

C40: 21 seconds. Easiest to load beans into thanks to its wide opening, but the least comfortable to hold because its so wide. It also tends to make a mess when transferring grounds into the dripper. Grounds get caught around the catch cup, and I often spill some when unscrewing or transferring. A growing annoyance.

K-Ultra: 13 seconds. So fast! By far the most comfortable to grind with. The narrower, contoured body and longer handle make grinding feel effortless compared to the other two.

S5: 22 seconds. Slightly slower than the C40, but more comfortable to hold. It feels extremely solid and like heavy metal/iron, and I really enjoy using it. The C40 feels a little plasticky in comparison and the K in between, maybe like a light metal/aluminium. Sometimes on lighter roasts it can grind a bit janky, getting stuck, but its not a big problem and on this medium it was smooth.

Now, the cups:

C40: Rounded, blended, medium body. Some bitterness and roastiness remained quite noticeable. The texture felt a little coarse/rough compared to the others.

K-Ultra: Slightly lighter body, less bitterness/roastiness and a nicer balance of sweetness and acidity. It did a good job of making the roastiness less noticeable. Flavours are a bit spread out like the ZP6, but not as much of course.

S5: Probably my favorite texture of the three. A little softer, smoother and more silky. Taste notes integrated in a a nice way without being muddled. The integration of tasting notes and silky texture reminds me a bit of the A4Z, but haven’t side be sided them yet. Good sweetness, slightly more noticeable acidity than the C40, (but a tiny bit less acidity than the K) and also like the K, less emphasis on the roasted notes, which is important to me. A quite enjoyable cup.

The differences were small though.

All three cups were quite similar, and none was bad. The S5 and K-Ultra were particularly close in overall experience, although their textures and acidity differed a tiny bit.

This also fits some of my previous comparisons.

I’ve often found the C40 to be very rounded and blended, sometimes at the expense of nuance. On one Kenyan coffee from Prolog, for example, the K-Ultra brought out significantly more complexity, while the C40 made the same beans taste somewhat less interesting.

The K-Ultra has consistently impressed me with its lively acidity, medium body and versatility. It rarely disappoints.

The S5 is still relatively new to me, but I’m starting to recognize a pattern: sweet, smooth, integrated and very pleasant. Sometimes a little less expressive, but with a lovely texture. And I genuinely enjoy the physical experience of using it. It feels so heavy and robust and makes the other two feel almost more like toys.

I love the Comandante partly because of its legacy. It’s an iconic grinder, and I still truly appreciate its signature sounds and history.

But increasingly, the things that used to charm me are being overshadowed by small frustrations: counting clicks without knowing the current setting and the mess left by grounds from around the catch cup. All other eight hand grinders I own have figured this out - the only other grinders that does leave a mess when transferring grounds is my Pietros and that can be avoided with technique unlike the C40.

My current conclusion: I’d probably keep the K-Ultra and S5 and sell the C40. Not because the C40 is bad, far from it, but because the other two seem to suit my preferences better, both in the cup and in daily use.

Me and my wife decided to go to Colorado since we are working through our United status match so we did some pickups and Prodigal and had drinks at Verb.

I thought this was some clickbait fake profile, but no, this was a real ad I just saw on insta from the official Timemore page.

This is my pour over station on top of one of the dog crates in my dining/living room. I have two dogs and posted the espresso crate in that subreddit :D. I am new to fancy coffee and had bought too much light roast and no skills to make it taste like anything but wet hay. Enter cheat-code xBloom and now I know what I'm aiming for! So much fun.

Just discovered a new (to me) roaster from Nagpur and thought they are pretty awesome and worth a share.

They have reasonable prices on their coffees and that is something very important to me. I had ordered one of their micro lot coffees and thought the roast level was a bit more than what was described.
So I contacted them about this and they immediately called me and first listened to what I had to say and how I brew my coffee and then suggested that I should brew as per recipe provided on the website with that particular coffee and it actually helped. But going above and beyond this they shipped out a fresh bag from a different roast batch for the same coffee to see if that one is better.
I think in a day when roasters are popping like mushrooms everywhere trying to sell mediocre coffee at premium, these guys are trying something genuine! Good luck!

What’s one peace of gear under say 50-75 bucks that changed your game? Can be anything from water to filters to that little tool that helps your filters stick. Just curious and feeling like buying something interesting

here until monday and i would love some good coffee!

i understand it's usually necessary to do so but i'm never sure for how long usually if it's at least 2 weeks off roast i start brewing it now i understand it'll change with the bean but is there a way to generally know?

for example i have M22 from module rn and it's very nice i can't remember how long off roast i think about 30 days now. i recently went to a cafe we were talking and i mentioned it and he said how he loves modules stuff but it needs a solid couple months of rest. am i potentially missing out on more flavour. he also let me smell the bag and mentioned how fresh it smelt is this an indicator?

another example is DAK mango tango i've never really gotten a great brew from it and i can't tell if i'm just doing it badly or if it's just a bad bag of coffee but now i'm thinking maybe it needs more resting. for context it's about 30 days off roast too give or take 5 days or so

Hey folks, I thought I’d source the community for your favorite approaches to some of my S&W breaks. I just opened a bag of Ethiopia Worka Sakaro Anaerobic Wine Process Natural. It’s three weeks off roast. How have you all approached this coffee to get your favorite results?

Thinking of buying the xbloom studio. Interested to hear from any uk owners, how’s easy was it to dial in new beans ? Are there any roasters that provide recipes in uk or Europe?

Any recommendations on where to purchase, looking for a white unit.

Also do they have offers on, could wait a few weeks if so. And does anyone know if a new model is imminent soon?

Thanks in advance

Does anyone have experince with the Acaia Orbit?

I've always been very interested in the Orbit, but I see very few people with it. A couple youtubers have videos on it, but I'd love to hear real world feed back from owners.

What’s the main difference between a Kalita Wave, Origami and V60? I own a Kalita and a V60, I’m just curious what’s the main difference in them? Do they produce a different cup of the coffee? Can you treat a Kalita wave recipe the same to a Hario v60 recipe?

Hello, it seems coffee got stuck or something and now I can't even remove the burr to be able to deeply clean and re-arrange everything..

Any tips? As you can see the center is misaligned but I haven't been able to align it...😔

I am new to pour-over, maybe 2-3 months. I have had lots of poor cups, as I tried to linearly scale published recipes from around 255 ml to 650 ml. Mostly they were astringent and bitter, and sharp. It was not easy to figure out the grind was WAY too fine, and the cup was over-extracted.

Eventually I did set the K-Ultra at around 13.2 for 650 ml water, and 38 g coffee in the Kalita Wave Tsumbe 185. Water temperature is 200 F. RO water with in-line mineralization filter, not a big difference with third wave water in RO. Very good cups. Not very many (less than 6) so far with this recipe.

I had a chance to try No_RIP 's flat bottom pour over recipe today (above), with the grind set at 7.5 Now I can tell it was over extracted. Maybe it was because I did the even, circular pour wrong? I did not add the last 155 ml slowly, it took maybe 20 seconds, and the dripper was maybe half full. It did draw down in about 2:1.

I did see some good advice on the internet. When dialing in, start with the cup under-extracted. If it is over-extracted it is hard to know what to adjust.

I now have some control over my roasts, using the ProController and the Artisan PID. If I follow the curve and drop at the same time, will I still have to adjust the pour-over for each roast? And, as the coffee ages, it changes. Does the pour-over recipe need to change too?

I signed up for the Onyx Roasters Choice subscription and my first coffee was this Ultra Light roasted 4 days ago. This is my first Ultra Light, what’s everyone’s recommendation on brewing temp and rest time?

Hello all,

I recently got an Xbloom Studio when suddenly the grinder stopped working. At first, the machine would restart every time the grinder was about to start. I unplugged everything, emptied out the beans and confirmed there are no blockages. Now, I hear the grinder motor spinning when trying to grind, but no beans come out and it gives me the "+BEANS" error message. I tried removing the burrs and inspecting, doing the grinder recalibration and restarting many times but nothing seems to be working. Has anyone else had similar issues?

Going from the Chinese MPs (black/DLC coated on the right above) to SSP UMV1s (brew) in the ode 2 with slow-feeder has been quite a trip.

On light to ultralight washed it's a clear step up and at best when dialed in it's up there with EK43, EG-1 etc from shops. But also harder to dial, with more astringency when it isn't right. Considerably cleaner than ZP6, but fussier and more brutal too. As a home roaster these burrs aren't kind to variances in roasts or rest periods Still, may be a keeper for these types of coffees.

On clean naturals it is absolutely not it. I want juicy fruit, and I get fruit-scented tea. And I have some anaerobic Ethiopians (clean compared to Colombians still!) to roast and don't want them anywhere near these SSPs as I know they'll kill the fruity sweetness and highlight any hint of funk.

For now, I'm using the slow feeder with the Millab E01, opened up a little beyond the first rotation. The slow feed really improves the E01, which is the c3 burr, powered. Gets it cleaner, plenty of fruity body, but these burrs are still a bit weirdly blended for me, so I want something else for these naturals. Current contenders seems to 078 as front-runner, followed by possibly one of the A4Z, Millab 01 or Pietro, on which much Reddit has been written.

Speak, oh wise ones.

I’ve been trying to get a hold of the fembook A4Z for the past two weeks, but has been out of stock on their website. Anyone know if it’s available anywhere?

It's a pretty simple set up, but this is how i've started to brew my own coffee at home