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Hey Tyson, it was slightly bitter but overall wasn't too bad :)

aww man haha we thought we were embodying cafe vibes. guess not🥲 thank you! we've practiced heaps to get to where we're at now🤗 - zee

Ayee, thanks! hahaha - zee

our daily POVs are daily reminders to make a cup a coffee😉 - zee

hello, thanks for the suggestions! :) - zee

Hey, thanks for the suggestion. Shaker seems expensive at this stage hahah. I've been using WDT and getting good results but somehow I didn't do it right this time, never seen this before haha - Jon

@@thegroundedduo you can get cheaper shakers than the Weber workshops one. They work just as good.

Hey Ishaan, hmm.. yeah, I might not have done the distribution well. May have missed something here lol - Jon

Right?! Felt so restrictive but all good, I just wanted to try a different angle cause who knows what I'd prefer🙃 taking out the tray sounds like a brilliant idea tho!! - zee

Hey Rizal, thanks for the tip! I'll try to introduce more air next time and hopefully get better milk for cappuccino haha - Jon

Hey, thanks for your input. Ever since we started on this journey, we quickly learned that parameters such as ratio and timing are nothing but guidelines. The 1:2 ratio with 25-30s that you mentioned is a well-known concept introduced to people in this hobby but we have since realised that we do get nice tasting shots outside of this 'guideline'. We have also mentioned before that we are dialing in based on our taste preferences and we completely understand that it may not be the same for you. Glad that you've found the parameters that work for your taste buds. I'm not too sure if the reason for channeling has got anything to do with the dialing in process (I don't think so..). The shot that we got during our dial in tasted good. For this bag of beans, we actually weren't being creative. The ratio 1:1.6 was provided by the roaster and the timing they recommended was 29 seconds. Considering they are a pretty well-known roastery in Australia, I'm sure they would know better. In this case, we were dialing in to the 1:1.6 ratio by finding the right grind size (which affects extraction time) to bring out a well-balanced shot, instead of dialing in to the usual 1:2 ratio and then pulling a 1:1.6 ratio shot. So, I'm not too sure what you meant by saying the recommended time for 1:1.6 is different. As much as we are still early on in this journey, I find that we are grasping most of the concepts pretty well. Although I agree that we may have gotten lucky (in terms of grind size) during our recent dial-in, I feel like our understanding of how dial ins work definitely played a bigger role in this than just luck. :) - Jon

hello, there’s no brand to it, just got it online :) - zee

hahah yeah it’s much lighter than the standard rancilio portafilter. But doesn’t feel cheap if that makes sense👌🏻 - zee

Hey Eric! Glad to hear you decided to go with the profitec go, i'm sure it's gonna give you great tasting coffee and sounds like a fun ride hahaha. cheers to more good coffee and welcome to the rabbit hole😂☕️- zee & Jon

hahahah guilty as charged. But! we go through them so quickly, from daily off-camera coffee and filming for youtube, instagram and tiktok😂 great tastebud training tho🙃 - zee

Hey Yianni! thank you for your kind words and encouragement. We're glad you feel that way as that's one of the biggest reasons we started this channel🤎 We felt very intimidated when we first started on this journey, especially with how critical people are about the things we do and with all the big names on youtube, it can be overwhelming. trying to create a little community of like-minded people, who don't take things that seriously but love coffee as much as we do hahahah. Positive vibes only and we're all here to learn from the good and bad🤗 - zee & Jon

Hey Anne, as much as it's possible, and with my limited knowledge, I feel like it's still more of a luck situation than skills to get it right on the first try hahah. Although they do provide a recommended recipe, I guess it still depends on the right grind size setting to get the right taste. I may be missing something but I think it's pretty hard to guess the correct grind size for a brand new bag of beans hahah - Jon

@@thegroundedduoHaha. Straight on guess… it is challenging. But sticking within drink-able taste range is easy enough so long I don’t sway the grind size much. Perhaps it is also a manual espresso machine thing… for Cafelat Robot, the grind size can easily change the shot time for the same parameters. Perhaps it is because I have to manually press the shot, so with my limited muscle strength, so long the shot passes in 20-30s, the taste is always nice. Just a different kind of nice for 30s compared to 20s. Maybe that’s the nice thing about having feedback manually. For example, I saw that your Ristretto shot was chocking the machine (the liquid struggled to form a single stream and kept swirling around, passing through in 3-4 streams at once) but the machine insisted on pressing through. I would think that’s why it didn’t taste as nice. If you want a better cup of Ristretto, you can change the grind size and dial in for it. 😅 On a manual machine, I may not get that shot through at all. So, in a way, if I do manage to hand press a shot, the likelihood is that the coffee will be drinkable but it doesn’t work this way with electric machines. 😂

The recipe of a roaster should only be seen as an orientation, as factors like the grinder, water, the age of the beans, and of course personal taste play an important role. That’s what makes this hobby so interesting - in the end, it’s all about your own taste! And even professionals don’t get the first shot perfect and have to work their way towards it.

There are about 3 million roast level videos from actual experts 😂. 😊

Hey Ishaan, thanks for the suggestion! We are still learning about it ourselves as we dial in different types of beans but maybe one day we can make a video about it hahah :) - Jon

it is better to watch roast videos from professional roasters; most award-winning baristas like Lance Hedrick (latte art) and James Hoffmann (presentation) are also not as knowledgeable as actual roasters are Roasting is a lifetime of learning sometimes by literally being burnt. 😊 On the other hand, many roasters are not award-winning baristas.

Hey Charlie! we're currently using a Brazilian and Colombian blend, medium roasted beans :) - zee

@@thegroundedduo Nice!I have been using medium to dark Italian-style roasts from a local roaster. Lots of crema, and it makes for easier latte art.

​@@CharlieWellnessIdk how people drink dark roasts

hey there, hmm would that make the portafilter too hot tho? Hahah I don't usually steam at the front of the machine just that some have suggested doing so as it helps with consistency. I usally do it diagonally and i have to agree that it's easier to steam that way with bigger pitchers!😊 - zee

Hey, yeah seems like it :( not too sure if it's my tamping method but most of my extractions lean towards the right (feels like I put more pressure on the left side of the puck as I'm left-handed). I'm trying to shift my weight more to the right to see if it helps☹️

Hey Anne! we are, just that there's a mix of shorts and videos recently. Been a little busy with life and CNY prep hahah. But we'll be back with more soon!😊 - zee

@@thegroundedduo🎉Thank you!

hey shayne, I was this close to stop filming after I almost wrecked my coffee twice😂 lucky I was in a forgiving mood and decided to soldier on hahaha - zee

Hey Rizal, thanks for following us on our journey! Thanks for the tip, will take note of that next time :) - Jon

Hey Rizal, aww thank you! yeah, we’ve been going back to our older rounder cups so fingers crossed!!🤞🏻- zee

Hey there, we used to weigh the beans after grinding, but we realised that we have been getting consistent weight as the grinder is doing a good job in terms of retention. Hence, we stopped weighing after grinding to save a step. We have also changed our coffee bar setup since and are no longer using that table, so our counter is definitely levelled now. Thank you for your input though. - Jon

@thegroundedduo you're doing great job you guys, i have varia too you right but i noticed sometimes there's deference because you know physics just don't always trust varia i always scaling my bean you know 0.1 make a difference

Hey, it's called 'Mischief' - Jon

Hey Yoda (hahah), thank you for following on our journey! It's still a long way till I master my skills but I'm glad you are enjoying it! :) - Jon

Hey Anne, I've watched a lot of videos but it's so different when I'm actually doing it hahah. But yeah, maybe I'll go check that out to see if anything clicks. Hahah I did mention in my reply the other day but perhaps you didn't see it. It is too squeezy to have the tamping station in front of the machine and it would be more inconvenient to reach to the back to lock in the portafilter. Since we have more space now, we thought it would be a waste to not fully utilise it. We also decided to leave space in the middle so that we have room for other stuff (eg. drip tray cover when we empty the drip tray, cups, etc). That way we won't have things in our way. I understand that it may seem more logical to do it the way you suggested. However, we do use the coffee bar very frequently and have found that the space in the middle works best for us without knocking things over hahah. So I guess, we will be sticking with this for now but I appreciate your suggestions though! - Jon

Hey Tyson! Oh, that's interesting.. How did you know your steam valve was faulty? I hope you get it back soon too. It's hard having to turn to other options (like instant coffee) when you don't have the machine hahah! - Jon

@@thegroundedduoit was weird. First few days opening the valve was normal, only had to turn it a little to open the valve slowly. Then got to a point where I was having to turn clockwise nearly two full turns and when the steam came on it was fully open and would blow milk everywhere and little pieces of black rubber started showing up in my milk. Guessing it was some sort of gasket that failed and was blocking up the valve somehow. Seattle Coffee is sending me a new one, hopefully it will arrive soon. I have had to go back to the aeropress for coffee at home. 😂

oh.. black rubber showing up definitely isn't right hahah! Hopefully, you will get a normal working one when it arrives. Aeropress sounds better than instant coffee hahah - Jon

Hey there, thank you! We've been one of the lucky ones who have yet experience the drifting of the dose dial. someone else mentioned that you could contact your supplier to get a new set of springs, which could potentially be more rigid and hopefully prevents the dial from moving too much☺️ - zee

Hey Andrea, hahah thank you! Jon chose it but it reminds me of elevator music for some reason🤣 - zee

hey Sebastian, hahah I can't decide if I love it yet. But all good, happy to try it out and see which I prefer after a while ;) - zee

Hey there~ we're really enjoying the new scale, not because it was sent to us but we genuinely think it's so helpful😊 we did use the 100g weight that came with the scale and it is very accurate. Hahah gosh, our other scale from timemore's great as well. It's rechargeable and accurate, altho it can be quite sensitive to slight changes. Does cost about $50-60 (4 times your current amazon one) and seems like it's available on amazon too☺️ Fun fact: Jon and I have been joking about moving to Canada as the exchange rate is the same as Singapore and the weather seems closer to what we like. But many people have mentioned the harsh winter weather and you've just confirmed it hahahah. Maybe you could have a short trip to southeast asia to warm up a little (or defrost hahaha) 😂- zee

@thegroundedduo was looking at the time more but it's sold out everywhere here. Prob for good reason. I got a whitebird Kc230 recently but it's way our of calibration (0.6g @400g weight). It's also give different reading from left to right. Will keep using the Amazon scale till I find something better that actually works a d is in stock. Thanks for the reply. Keep up the great vids

Hahaha oh my, that actually sounds rather tempting altho not so much for our wallets. If we did do that, we'd be the one of the first😮 It's like a his and hers coffee machine😍 - zee

and my heart sunk too😭 - zee

Hahaha mannn, I guess. But the humidity could calm down a little🥵 - zee

Hey Shin, hahah this was our OG cup but we were struggling to find the perfect espresso to milk ratio so we haven't been using it as often😅 - zee

@ but that’s THE CUP!

Hey Charlie, hahah we don't know about famous but yes, we used your comment as an example. Hope you don't mind! :) - Jon & Zee

@@thegroundedduo Not at all!!!

Hey, the amount of coffee beans we weigh and grind is usually for one shot of espresso. (eg. 18g in 36g espresso) If we were to use a double spout and split the shot, we would only have 18g espresso in each cup which would taste different to the 36g espresso. However, if we pull 36g espresso in each cup, that means we would have extracted 72g espresso from 18g beans which would also taste different. As for the milk, yes we could steam milk for both at the same time and split it. However, we like to practice our milk steaming technique, so we are doing it individually at this stage. - Jon

@thegroundedduo if you’re pulling 1:2 ratio of espresso (18/36) 36gr is called double shot (not single shot) Try to use 18gr of espresso with smaller 150ml cup (cortado) instead of 220ml cup for the usual capp. Maybe u’ll like it 😁

woah that sounds boujee but looks somewhat similar to rocket and lelit bianca altho much more sophisticated at the same time😂 and danggg the price is... steep. we'd be happy to hear your thoughts about it when you do get it🥹 - zee

@thegroundedduo yes it does have a steep price tag. Profited has a new dual boiler called "Move" which looks nice

Hmm.. although it does look fun, I think it might be pretty intimidating to people who are just getting into this hobby. There are already many intricacies about the art of making a cup of coffee, so I guess the Flair may not be the best choice for beginners in my opinion hahah although I understand the flexibility you can get with the manual machine. - Jon

Hey Brandon, thanks for sharing! Great that you can enjoy coffee with your family! hahah tamping in mid air is wild.. We do have time to make coffee such that we don't have to rush. I guess that's the beauty of having a machine at home haha. Thank you for your nice words, appreciate it! - Jon

Hey there, thanks for your input. However, I don't think there is a 'right' or 'wrong' when choosing a machine to get. Everyone has different living circumstances and budgets. We have been using a boiler machine for a couple of months now, and I don't think it's 'wrong' for home use. There are also several others out there with boiler machines at home. I understand you may have your own opinions towards boiler machines, but I don't think it's fair to say it is the 'wrong' option. You may have been in this game for a longer time and have more fixated opinions. But we are just offering empathy to others who are also just starting out like us and putting suggestions out there to help weigh the options. :) - Jon

Hello there! Thank you, yay to great coffee!☕️ - zee

Hey Eric! Hahaha we had similar comments (but couldn't seem to find the rest for some reason) so just thought we provided a little insight🤓 hope you enjoyed it! - zee & jon

Hey Sebastian, that's great to hear! Always interesting to find out there are others out there making coffee at home with their partners. Hope you guys are enjoying your machine and the process! :) - Jon

This

hahah but we are not even good at making coffee with our machine yet! 😂 We do want to get into pourovers, but we feel like we still have room for improvement with our espresso machine. So, we would like to get better at it before moving on to the other brewing methods. Otherwise, it will feel like we are all over the place, and not able to master either hahah - Jon