Senseo with Coffee Duck or Aeropress

flangemeistro

Just a quick question for the experts on here, at the moment I'm using my Philips Senseo Quadrante with a coffee duck and I grind my Badger and Dodo beans every morning.
It's nice don't get me wrong but for the last quarter of the pour it's basically water coming out of it, I've googled and some people recommend packing the grounds into the duck tighter and others recommend looser but I've tried all variations and still can't get it to pour coffee for the full duration of the two cup button.
I'm just wondering for anyone on here using an Aeropress would I get better results from that or will I just stick to what I'm doing?
And I know a bean to cup machine would be better but I'm not dishing out more money.
Cheers.

uberalex

Depending on the coffee type that you like, I would definitely recommend an Aeropress. They're probably not a ton more work than what you're already doing with the self-fill capsules. You can try the conventional, or invert method and different grinds depending on whether you want more espresso-like or more filter-like.

One caveat is that the Aeropress is not the same as espresso: it's just not got the pressure for that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oIMgGuVt3k this might help.

vienne86

I have an aeropress, just for travelling. You don't get the pressure of another machine, so it is not a real espresso, but it is very handy for making proper coffe in a hotel room when all that's on offer is instant. I used to travel with a small cafetiere, but the aeropress is much easier to clean out, and of course had the advantage of being able to make something approaching an espresso.

flangemeistro

Thanks for the replies but from the above video and based on what both of you have said it looks like a lot of work for someone who doesn't have any type of machine or someone who travels a lot and wants more than instant, whereas I have a see senseo with a coffee duck which is a means to getting something similar to espresso and I don't think an aeropress is going to give me any better results.

Zagato

flangemeistro wrote: »

Thanks for the replies but from the above video and based on what both of you have said it looks like a lot of work for someone who doesn't have any type of machine or someone who travels a lot and wants more than instant, whereas I have a see senseo with a coffee duck which is a means to getting something similar to espresso and I don't think an aeropress is going to give me any better results.

I am pretty lazy, and find the aeropress quick and easy, it sounds like what you are doing is more complicated, tbh. No mess, puck goes straight in the bin. What are you using to grind?

flangemeistro

Zagato wrote: »

I am pretty lazy, and find the aeropress quick and easy, it sounds like what you are doing is more complicated, tbh. No mess, puck goes straight in the bin. What are you using to grind?

Well at the moment I don't have to put a filter in, I don't have to pre soak anything, I don't have to let it brew.
I fill my senseo water tank, grind my beans in a bodum grinder, throw the grounds into my coffee duck, close the lid and press a button. Afterwards I just dump the grounds from the coffee into the bin the same as they are dumped from the aeropress.

Zagato

flangemeistro wrote: »

Well at the moment I don't have to put a filter in, I don't have to pre soak anything, I don't have to let it brew.
I fill my senseo water tank, grind my beans in a bodum grinder, throw the grounds into my coffee duck, close the lid and press a button. Afterwards I just dump the grounds from the coffee into the bin the same as they are dumped from the aeropress.

The only thing that takes me time is waiting for the kettle to cool a little bit. putting the filter does not take any time. You only have to pre soak it for the inverted method, and that's just to get it to stay in place. Anyway, all I'm saying is it's pretty quick way of making a nice cup of coffee.

flangemeistro

Zagato wrote: »

The only thing that takes me time is waiting for the kettle to cool a little bit. putting the filter does not take any time. You only have to pre soak it for the inverted method, and that's just to get it to stay in place. Anyway, all I'm saying is it's pretty quick way of making a nice cup of coffee.

I have no doubt it makes a good cup of coffee and I would get one in a heartbeat if I was coming from instant but I just don't think I'm going to achieve much better results than I'm getting with my senseo and coffee duck combination.

Brian?

I honestly feel the aeropress is badly marketed as an espresso maker. I've stopped making espresso on it and make what is basically a steeped coffee. A damn fine cup of coffee.

The key is to ignore the instructions that
Come with the aeropress. Do the inverted method.

Also, don't use fine ground espresso. You want a grind somewhere between an espresso and a French press.

Google "aeropress world championships", I've used some of the methods on there and they all work well. I do weigh the coffee but I don't temperature check the water. It makes superior cups of coffee over any machine I've tried and ok espresso.

flangemeistro

Brian? wrote: »

I honestly feel the aeropress is badly marketed as an espresso maker. I've stopped making espresso on it and make what is basically a steeped coffee. A damn fine cup of coffee.

The key is to ignore the instructions that
Come with the aeropress. Do the inverted method.

Also, don't use fine ground espresso. You want a grind somewhere between an espresso and a French press.

Google "aeropress world championships", I've used some of the methods on there and they all work well. I do weigh the coffee but I don't temperature check the water. It makes superior cups of coffee over any machine I've tried and ok espresso.

When you say it makes superior coffee than any machine that you've tried, are you referring to espresso machines or pod machines I.e the senseo, tassimo, dolce gusto, nesspresso?

Brian?

flangemeistro wrote: »

When you say it makes superior coffee than any machine that you've tried, are you referring to espresso machines or pod machines I.e the senseo, tassimo, dolce gusto, nesspresso?

Any home machine I've tried, the pod machines above included.

Zagato

Brian? wrote: »

Any home machine I've tried, the pod machines above included.

I 100% agree with Brian, I don't make espresso with my aeropress either. 17g of coffee + 250g of water filter grind, inverted method, leave it for 60s and then plunge

Speaking of which I have to admit that I when I moved to London last week, I didn't bring it (which I regret) Chemex 6 cup instead so that me and OH can fill our travel mugs in the morning. The last week has been tough until FedEx man just rang the doorbell.

adrian522

I don't get the advantage of inverting the aeropress.

What benefit do you get from it?

Brian?

adrian522 wrote: »

I don't get the advantage of inverting the aeropress.

What benefit do you get from it?

Coffee steeps longer. Simples.

uberalex

adrian522 wrote: »

I don't get the advantage of inverting the aeropress.

What benefit do you get from it?

I tend to use it for larger cups of black coffee, rather than their recommended espresso-style. The invert method means a longer steep, coarser grind and a smoother coffee like that imo.

adrian522

Brian? wrote: »

Coffee steeps longer. Simples.

Coffee steeps as long as you let it whether upright or inverted?

adrian522

uberalex wrote: »

I tend to use it for larger cups of black coffee, rather than their recommended espresso-style. The invert method means a longer steep, coarser grind and a smoother coffee like that imo.

I'm completely lost here, How does the inverted method involve longer steep, coraser grind etc?

Surely you grind it whatever way you like and use as much water/coffee as you like either way? Actually I'm sure you can fit more water in when it's not inverted giving a more filter style anyway.

I normally go 240-250 ml water/15g coffee or thereabouts and it's very much filter like brew.

Inverted I find that 240ml of water fills it right to the brim and coffee goes everywhere when I try to plunge.

Conba

I had my Aeropress for 18 months before the penny dropped and I figured out how to get a consistently excellent cup out of it. Invented method. Fairly coarse grind. And the key.... steep for 4.5 to 5 minutes. Perfect.

Brian?

adrian522 wrote: »

Coffee steeps as long as you let it whether upright or inverted?

If you do it the standard way the coffee seeps through the filter as soon as you pour water in. This doesn't happen with the inverted method.

James_R

Conba wrote: »

I had my Aeropress for 18 months before the penny dropped and I figured out how to get a consistently excellent cup out of it. Invented method. Fairly coarse grind. And the key.... steep for 4.5 to 5 minutes. Perfect.

4.5-5 minutes!!!!! :eek:

Batesy

I'd be on my 2nd one by then!

donnacha

flangemeistro wrote: »

Just a quick question for the experts on here, at the moment I'm using my Philips Senseo Quadrante with a coffee duck and I grind my Badger and Dodo beans every morning.
It's nice don't get me wrong but for the last quarter of the pour it's basically water coming out of it, I've googled and some people recommend packing the grounds into the duck tighter and others recommend looser but I've tried all variations and still can't get it to pour coffee for the full duration of the two cup button.
I'm just wondering for anyone on here using an Aeropress would I get better results from that or will I just stick to what I'm doing?
And I know a bean to cup machine would be better but I'm not dishing out more money.
Cheers.

OP - I'd suggest that if the last quarter of the pour is basically water then you haven't ground the coffee fine enough. What grinder are you using? Can you grind any finer? I had a look there to see what a coffee duck is and it appears to be a filter basket of some kind - you should definitely be tamping down the coffee before you attach the portafilter to the group head.

I would add that I don't believe a bean to cup machine would be any better to your current set-up - in fact it could actually be a step back as you won'yt have the ability to manually dose the right amount of coffee per shot.

flangemeistro

donnacha wrote: »

OP - I'd suggest that if the last quarter of the pour is basically water then you haven't ground the coffee fine enough. What grinder are you using? Can you grind any finer? I had a look there to see what a coffee duck is and it appears to be a filter basket of some kind - you should definitely be tamping down the coffee before you attach the portafilter to the group head.

I would add that I don't believe a bean to cup machine would be any better to your current set-up - in fact it could actually be a step back as you won'yt have the ability to manually dose the right amount of coffee per shot.

Hi, I ground the beans as fine as my bodum grinder would let me and it was like a fine espresso dust and I tamped it down into the duck and tried that but what happened is what was predicted on other senseo forums, I only got just over half a cup of coffee as the machine doesn't have enough pressure to push the water through fine tamped down grounds.
So I ended up with a strong half cup of coffee.
Thanks anyway.