Instead of an aeropress you can also use a manual milk frother, it will give you much more control over the milk consistency. Cheap and to be obtained in household stores or sites like Amazon
Excellent!!! Plus the biggest benefit... not to mention cost...is reliability of mechanical device vs potential trouble of electromechanical devices and elimination of descaling procedures. Well done!!
Nice routine and well explained. Lot's multitasking and the extra basket speed the things up. If there is someone who helps you out with the grind and preparation of the basket, you can serve a bunch of people after dinner. Maybe let the guests grind their coffee one by one, and they would appreciate the coffee even more.
thank you Michael! after much searching, this is the first and only video I've found that actually shows how to use the Flair NEO espresso machine, with every step of the process. most videos take shortcuts and focus more on the inputs and outputs. given that the NEO offers a low-cost, highly-manual option to pull espresso shots at home, you'd think there'd be more step-by-step tutorials like Michael's to assist beginners. not saying i don't appreciate the well-produced comparisons of different coffee grinders with NEO.. just that other videos are not as helpful when you're getting started.
Thanks for a great video. You set a great example for anyone who just wants to pull a great shot. The fact that you were able to do a milk drink with a French press that didn't cost much amazes me. I've never seen that technique. And no timer! I can see where a timer could come in handy for fine dialing but in the end, it's not necessary.
@@michaelporter000 Oh, thanks a lot! I ordered a Bodum French Press!. hehe. I saw that Bellman and can't wait to watch your review. At the rate you're going, I'lll end up with a La Pavoni. Can I blame you when my wife comes after me? Actually, she'll enjoy it if I can do as well as you appear to be doing. Nice work.
Oh, that's exciting. It's most important to heat everything up well (e.g. fill and dump with boiling water 3 times) and then assemble and fill with boiling water and pull without any delay. I also think it helps to press lightly for 15 seconds and then press hard and slowly back off the pressure to try and make extraction quite long, like around 45 seconds.
@@michaelporter000 great ideas. I like smooth flavors that are rich nd complex and little bitterness so I'll give the first pull just as you say and practice and vary it. Thanks for all of this. it appears complex but not with your clarity added. Thx
Preheat well and you should be fine. Pre-infusion with low pressure for 15 seconds is a good idea followed by a slow extraction. I go as slow as possible while keeping a constant stream.
You did a great job.Just what I was looking for.Real time to make espresso.I also like how you compared the Flair to the expensive Breville.Also,the hand grinder is a lot cheaper than a decent espresso grinder machine.I very well might take the plunge soon.Thanks
Thanks for the feedback. Make sure you pre-heat that flair as hot as possible. I use steam from the kettle to heat it now. I bought a silicon funnel and sit it on the open kettle with the brew chamber in the funnel so it heats when the kettle boils. I cut off the spout of the funnel to let more steam in.
That’s what it appears like I’m planning on experimenting with a budget burr grinder if it doesn’t give me the ground quality to work with the stock portafilter I may consider the pressurized portafilter Esque attachment. I wouldn’t mind any recommendations for a proper grinder to figure out what I might need to budget for. Also thanks for the reply. It’s awesome you engage with your commenters :)
@@gunnarman97 It could be a waste spending money on a budget grinder and later spending more on a better grinder. I initially used a Porlex mini grinder with my Flair, and that was able to grind fine enough to work, but not consistent enough to taste the best - which is frustrating. Something with steel conical burrs rather than ceramic and definitely not a blade grinder would be less likely to be a waste of money than a budget grinder. Pre-ground coffee (if you were considering it) is probably worse than a budget grinder. It would be nice if money wasn't an issue - but it always is!
Beautiful. Once I get a flair of my own I think I'll make a video about a coffee recipe or something useful like you did. Thanks for the video and for the inspiration :)
This was great, gives you a proper idea of what the process looks like to use the thing and how it compares to a machine for newbies like me just wondering if they even want to get into the whole rabbit hole of coffee nerdery. One suggestion: Throw in a little note for those "special" people to not put french presses with a metal basket in the microwave ;) You could also let us know what wattage your microwave is so we can adjust the time up or down a bit if ours is different. Cheers!
Great video! I agree there aren’t enough flair videos. I have one of the new entry level models on order from their kickstarter campaign, but I see myself definitely upgrading to a model similar to what you have, and purchasing a comandante grinder. Thanks for making this! Cheers!
Mine was the "entry-level" Flair (before Neo) too. The more expensive Flair units give you the gauge and a larger shot volume. I am very happy without either of those. The Comandante grinder made a huge difference from my previous cheap grinder. Since this video, I have found that stirring the grounds with a straightened paper clip before tamping and a longer pre-infusion of 20 seconds and a longer extraction time of 40 seconds or so usually produces better results. Enjoy!
Michael Porter interesting! I’ll try those tips. I wonder what stirring with the paper clip before ramping does. I definitely need to upgrade my grinder. It’s currently a porlex clone with abysmal consistency.
@@Rnwhite8 The paper clip is all about distribution. It removes any inconsistency where a channel might form - and channels are bad. Pre-infusion also helps to stop channels. I had a Porlex grinder, and the improvement when I upgraded to Comandante was very easy to taste.
Michael Porter ahhhh ok. So you still tamp after the paper clip stir. This just helps remove channels that may have been formed from some clumping when being transferred to the portafilter from the grinder?
@@Rnwhite8 Yup - that's it! I found some fine sandpaper and rounded the end of my paper clip to make sure it wouldn't scratch the portafilter too. Just enough so it doesn't feel sharp when you scrape it against your finger. Bend the other end a bit to make it easier to grab hold. It's all a bit OCD but it's easy and it may help.
I have the exact same FP, it was ~5 USD in Tesco. Best coffee purchase I've ever made, makes really good milk. If I had a DB or HX machine I would steam, but I don't :D
great workflow explanation, bravo, barista! one critical flaw though, i thought it's mandatory upon grinding, to give it that one bump for a couple of spins freewheeling on that comandante 😅
I'd say if I'm doing just espresso I can get two of them out in about 5 mins, pretty awesome tasting, and you can put it away whereas a big machine stays out all the time. And like you said it's literally just a lever so it's not going to break and the only real maintenance is cleaning the portas. I've had it for 4 years of daily use and have yet to see the need to replace the o-rings on the brew heads/pistons, although I have purchased new porta screens as the rubber edges started to fray but the newer ones are better.
I ordered a flair and it seems like my timemore grinder can't go fine enough for espresso So I decided to buy a c40 It takes ~40 secs to grind for a shot?? wtf really omg this is so fast compared to my current grinder(takes 10 mins for a fine grind, and even then, its still too coarse) Guess it'll be much faster for the other brew methods I like to use Nice!! cant wait to receive it
All has been said above.Thanks so much. I'm saving up for a hand grinder,was undecided between Commandante or 1zpresso k-max. At the moment i'm perfecting my bialetti skills with a hario grinder,quite inconsistent results,but better than what i thought possible. Going to go with Commandante. Question now: Cafelat robot or flair...only time will tell.
I do the similar two latte routine since a year now although with one portafilter and the same type of Flair. I grind the beans with ROK and I use Bellman stove top for milk frothing. It is only a weekend exercise for me but it takes more like 20+ mins to get the two lattes ready. I use boiling water due to the heat loss. I did some trial by stirring the water with a temperature probe before pulling the shot and the water dropped to 93 C-is (200 F).
Great video and great job on the coffee! I’m looking into a similar setup with the flair 58 and was wondering how long it would take to do multiple shots so this is very helpful. I will be borrowing your milk frothing technique so thank you 🙏
You're welcome! The latest video I've seen of someone copying my technique (better than I can) was Lance Hedrick on th-cam.com/video/WeNoDCWezls/w-d-xo.html That is worth a watch too!
Agree with the "success of flair is how well you pre-heat". I boil the brew chamber with the water I use for coffee. Since I started doing that, the difference was Heaven and Hell.
I measured the temperature of the water in the brew head when I was aiming for 93'C and was experimenting with how long to let the kettle cool after boiling and discovered that no wait at all was the answer. i.e. I preheat the brew head twice by filling it with boiling water and leaving for a minute or so, then re-assemble, and then boil water a third time and immediately pour it in. Any delay there resulted in lower than 93'C brew water. This explained why I was getting a sour result every other attempt.
what i now do to get frothy foamed milk is pour the full cream milk into a 1.25 litre plastc bottle screw the cap on and shake the shit out of it for about 2 minutes . the foam that is produced doesn't dissolve or clump up.
I was told that e.g. for the Gaggia Classic or the Lelit Anna or the Sage Bambino at least 15 minutes of preheating were necessary so for a single man the flair would be accurate also enjoying the whole procecure... You stated that your espresso machine in the window only would need less than two minutes.
Yes, 2 and a half minutes until it lets me pull a shot. That is the fastest possible but you are correct, it is not well heated yet and waiting 10 minutes would have a better result. The point I was making was that the overall time with Flair is not too bad in comparison.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy mine! Actually, I couldn't afford the Pro 2 - maybe one day. Most important tip is to make everything as hot as possible - e.g. fill 3 times with boiling water beforehand. I currently heat by putting the brewhead in a silicon funnel that sits in the top of my kettle that has the bottom cut off to leat more steam in. It is faster that way compared to filling and dumping boiling water.
Nice video. I just bought secondhand flair classic model without pressure gauge same as yours. Hopefully I can make good tasting espresso with tight budget using my baratza encore.
That grinder should be ok. The most important thing for new users is to heat the brew chamber as hot as possible - if you use the method of filling it with boiling water then do it 3 times. Using steam is even better if you can find a way to hold the brew head over your boiling kettle using a silicon funnel or similar. This machine is so good that you can really taste the difference between fresh beans and old so it is worth the effort to get beans roasted within a month. Enjoy!
Thank you! Great tutorial. I wonder how much milk you used per latte. I'll be making my first latte tomorrow using the Flair Classic and my french press.
Funny enough ive found that putting the brew head inside my kettle while the water heats up and then grabbing it with a pair of tongs and mounting with a hand towel is the most effective way of pre-heating lol.
Mine is about 350ml. I bought it from Kmart or Target I think - but basically, any cheap brand should do as long as the part you want to microwave doesn't have metal parts (i.e. everything except the lid and plunger).
they recommend 10-15 clicks, but I have awful results with that In the coffees I've tried, I always use 6-11 clicks, i'd recommend getting the red clix upgrade, it'll help
@@wikichua I just checked out your channel - you are so skilled at latte art using a french press. I am ok with an espresso machine but need more practise with the french press I think!
I usually just use the Flair for espresso without milk. I also now heat the brew head on the kettle while it boils so the process can be streamlined - but yes - it is a lot of work and I love it! fyi - From starting the kettle to finishing making an espresso takes me 5 minutes now and cleanup takes another 30 seconds.
Hi - could you please explain to me what you did at 10:22 in the video? You said "blow this out.." I assume you put your mouth on, (which side?) of the portafilter and simply BLEW some air to force out the used grounds? Could you explain or detail why you did this and what the benefit is? Just curious - i have a Flair Neo and haven't used it other than a small handful of times so maybe I need to experiment a bit more...Thanks for this video BTW. Appreciate you not taking any shortcuts or skipping scenes and showing soup to nuts lattes using the Flair. Also - do you know about how much grams of espresso to milk you used? Thanks!
I don't normally "blow out" the puck, but I added this because I know many others suggest it as an easy way to get the puck out of the portafilter. You just blow into the outlet nozzle and it comes out in one go. If you use a naked or bottomless portafilter then there is no nozzle so you can't do this. Some people use a turkey baster or medical syringe. I find I can just shake it out fine. I use between 12 and 16g of ground coffee, and this is fine for a single latte. I guess you can push it to 18g if you wanted to make 2 small lattes if you didn't want it strong. I find the cleanup gets a bit messier if I use more than 16g.
Hey mate, just wondering when you fill your brew chamber does it go brown and get grounds in the water? this happends for me even before I get the piston in to press, I've heard this could be because my coffeei is too fresh but have only tried one type of coffee so far. Have had pretty poor results so far but obviously haven't learnt how to pull a shot correctly yet as I have only had it a few days. I also normally drink double shot flat whites and initially thought this pulled a double, I only have one portafilter so making a double seems like a big task, might look at ordering another basket like you have
If you forget to put on the shower screen you get this badly. With the shower screen in place it is normal to get this a little bit. As for getting good shots - by far the most important is to use a good grinder and really heat the brew head well. Buy a temperature sticker to put on the brew head to make it easier to know. If you are pre-heating with water you need to do it a few times. Pre-heating with steam is easier. I put the brew head in a silicon funnel in the top of the kettle while boiling and leave it boiling for 12 seconds or so.
@@michaelporter000 Yeah I am using the dispersion screen although on my model it just sits on the top of the portafilter it doesnt seal, so when you pour water some of the grinds seem to float up - I bought the normcore v2 grinder as a lot of the popular grinders here like JX pro or comandante were too expensive in my region or would take too long to get, the flair royale grinder wasn't even purchaseble here unless I went through the flair website and shipping is just a ripoff. I preheat the chamber twice with boiling water prior to brewing just like you do here, I have tried steam but my kettle only has few vents off to one side and im not sure how I would use a funnel to do this? Have you tried much with different roasts? I'm using a dark roast but everyone using the flair seem to be using a light or medium roast, I might try something else to see if I have better results. Also I'm a flat white drinker, how much milk do you use for each shot? and is it a double or a single shot that you get? my normal milk ratio I use for my nespresso machine ends up making this far too weak, but part of that I'm sure is I'm not extracting the coffee correctly yet. Thanks for the reply and information, thoroughly appreciate it!
I'm not good enough at latte art to pretend to instruct others. I think only working baristas would get enough experience to become very good at latte art, but for a home coffee maker, it is very hard to make quick progress. I have only ever used 3 different espresso machines and the French Press and they texture the milk very differently to each other, so I'm sure the machine makes a big difference, e.g. with the amount of steam and number of holes.
Excellent video. this is the exact setup ive been thinking about (comandante + flair), but im only still wondering if i should get a baratza sette 30 grinder which is supposed to be a good 'espresso grinder' and is priced equally to the comandante. dont know enough on whether the comandante has a range to suit a dialing in process.
I would say the Comandante is similar in setting to a Sette 30. The Sette 270 has finer adjustments. The Comandante also has a 3rd-party kit called Red Clix that allows for finer adjustment on the Comandante. I find the standard Comandante to have enough adjustment for me, given the fact you can adjust extraction time if needed by either tamping with different pressure, changing dose, or applying different force to the Flair lever anyway. A lot of Flair users like the Kinu M47 grinder as another alternative manual grinder. IF you are going electric, the Niche Zero seems to be the ultimate.
@@michaelporter000 thanks michael! unfortunately the red clix is not available in my country (India) and we're starved for options here. the niche and sette270 would have been ideal but these are way over my budget. i really am quite jealous of your setup :) esp that lovely breville machine.
@@mithunfan By all means choose gear you can get and afford. I could only afford my Breville second hand so that took a long time to find. I could probably have bought a cheaper machine with the same tasting results but having dual boilers that you can easily descale is a desirable feature. No way could I afford a Niche. I could only justify the Comandante because I thought it would last a very long time, but again, I had to wait a few months for a good sale price. Maybe you appreciate it more that way!
I just bought the cheapest scale on eBay I could find. It was 300g capacity and 0.01g resolution but 0.1g would be enough. More expensive scales include a timer but I don't need it. For me I just try to make my extraction as slow as possible without dripping and splashing so don't need a timer.
Hi Michael, thanks heaps for your video. If you have a moment could you please let us know how many clicks you go with on the Comandante when you use your Flair, cheers 👍
Brilliant. I'm frustrated that my Sunbeam EM6910 doesn't have an OPV, to limit the pressure to 9 bars. Rather than spend over the odds JUST to get something with an OPV, I might just get a Flair instead. I like the French Press method for the milk, but an alternative would be to get a REALLY cheap espresso machine, which could also be used for brewing if one so desired too, on the odd occasion.
I had an EM6910 for years. The Breville Dual Boiler is much better, but for espresso taste, the Flair can achieve the same or better results as the Breville but it is more hit and miss. Others in my house find the Breville much easier but I often use Breville just for the milk. There is a stovetop steamer you can get too called the Bellman. Alternative Brewing sell them in Australia. The Nespresso or similar electric milk frothers are rubbish in my opinion.
@@michaels-ideas just btw, I discovered a little hack to allow me to limit the pressure on my EM6910 - I can slightly open the hot water release, during the shot. This even allows pressure profiling. 😃 This trick doesn't work on the later model (EM7000) - this one senses even a very slight opening, and then goes into "hot water" mode. The EM6910 has a pretty wide window of opportunity, allowing quite a high flow of hot water, before the switch is tripped. No need for me to get a Flair. Unfortunately, the volumetric shot metering doesn't work properly when opening the hot water valve - the total flow is measured - not just the flow to the brew head. So, I'm using scales.
@@gregsullivan7408 Too bad I didn't know that hack when I had an EM6910. I have a naked portafilter on my Flair now and now I can really see how lowering the pressure during the extraction works. If you keep it at full pressure you start with good flow then soon start to see spurts that indicate channelling, whereas you can easily drop the pressure to avoid that and you get a better tasting result.
@@michaelporter000 that tallies with a presentation I saw by the DE1 designer - he explained that the best "standard" shot actually has a gently tapered down pressure, because the puck disintegrates during the shot, and that's what the DE1 does......and is also standard practice for lever machines. He actually said "lever machines make better espressos". 😃
Hi I live in NZ and those two main stuff are not available locally. bloody annoying that is. We have to order from Australia which can be damn expensive coz stupid tax. and the C grinder actually its very difficult to find. I personally would use flair than any kind of espresso machine as its simple and it does a job and can't go wrong and you can wash it properly and you can carry it with you and the taste is actually quite close to real espresso at cafes.
I've found Alternative Brewing in Australia, which offers NZD currency, (alternativebrewing.com.au/) to be my best option for Flair and manual grinders - but I think they are expensive here too. The other alternative is waiting for ever for something to come up in eBay (using a saved search) that is an unwanted gift or similar.
My best Flair efforts seem better than what the Breville machine makes, but there's so little difference it could be just wishful thinking. They are clearly both very similar in capability but consistency is easier with the Breville. It is so much more satisfying to make a good espresso with the Flair. The one big advantage the Flair has is being able to change the pressure during the pull to avoid any channelling as the puck dissolves and breaks down. I can see this clearly when using the bottomless (naked) portafilter which I bought after this video.
@@michaels-ideas thanks for the insight mate. I'm hyped for this setup. Does the Comandante good enough for Flair espresso? or better use automatic espresso grinder?
@@ashm2691 The Comandante is one of the best hand-grinders for this, and produces much better ground coffee than cheaper electric burr grinders. The main advantage of electric is speed - so it's good when you are making lots of espresso one after another. My Comandante takes around 40 seconds and my electric grinder takes around 12 seconds for 15g for Flair. The Niche Zero is a great electric grinder to use but is well over $1000.
Quick question. Im deciding between Neo and Pro 2. Have you come up with any dificulties not having the pressure gauge while using the Neo? Because, you know, it is half price of the Pro 2.
Personally, no. I adjust the grind so the "peak" pressure is not too hard to achieve. In detail this means you adjust the grind so the flow is not too fast or too slow (i.e. just drips) at any point. Once you are in that ballpark, aim to push gently until you get the first drips in about 5 seconds and hold there for 10 seconds or so, and then ramp up to maximum pressure in 5 seconds or so and then ramp down to make the shot extend as long as possible (e.g. another 40 seconds) without the flow slowing below a continuous stream. After you've done that a few times you remember how hard to push without a gauge. You shouldn't need to resort to putting your body-weight behind the push or you could break something. Also - the Pro2 is larger for bigger shots, and the Neo has a pressurised basket for use with pre-ground coffee. I wouldn't use a pressurised basket so plan to buy a bottomless portafilter basket and a good grinder with your Neo for much better results.
this was very useful! do you have two dispersion screens and two portafilters or just two portafilters? i may have missed it but did you say volume of shot? i’ve been looking at pro, it seems the signature would have enough volume for a 34ml specialty coffee doppio but i am on the fence on the plastic bits
Flair give you a dispersion screen with each portafilter you buy. For me with the Flair Classic I load around 14g of grounds in so the ideal volume out would probably be from 28 to 35g. You can either weigh and stop the shot early or not completely fill the brew head if you want less than the maximum volume.
Michael Porter but it will make a speciality cafe style 34g ristretto? (not to sound picky but most third wave coffee places do 1:2 ratio of 18 in 34-36 out), or is 14g the sweet spot for its capacity? thank you in advance!
@@mistersquibbles The Flair website says the Flair Classic does 12 to 18g dose. I've never actually tried 18g - but I should give it a shot! I will have to grind a bit coarser than my usual though.
@@mistersquibbles I tried an 18g shot today. It was ok but it filled the portafilter completely so the dispersion screen did not really "sit in", it just sat on top. It looked over-filled, and when pouring the water in it washed away some coffee from the top of the puck- but it did work. I tried another at 16g and that time the dispersion screen fit properly, so I would say 16g is probably the "sweet spot for its capacity". At 1:2 ratio that would produce a 32g ristretto.
The Flair classic uses around 14g of ground coffee which is a bit more than a single and less than a double which is usually 20g. You can jam in a couple more grams if you want to.
@@michaelporter000 oh okay! really wish it would do double shots, because i feel like thats the right amount for a lot of things - such as american, ice latte, etc. :( i know the flair 58 does more ground coffee, but i dont want the electric heater
Im 74 years old and I want convienence in the morning swithch my Espresso machine on with my Hp take my normal Bathroom routine after that my Machine is ready.I get your point particulary for people on a thight budget and by the way your espresso machine is ok but you want better Espresso you have to step up a bit. I considering the Flair and the Robot however its for me a compromise . As I have a two Boiler machine I do the milkfrothing while the espresso is running! Meaning all is done within 3 to 4 minutes .
I had a Breville Dual Boiler and it was great, but it is just so much more enjoyable using a lever machine. Now I have a La Pavoni which gives me the lever action and the milk steaming but it is slower than the Breville for sure.
lol - they are very good, but watch out you don't fall down the rabbit hole of getting obsessed with it :) They aren't for everyone, so you may be able to pick up a cheaper one second-hand.
I don't know why, I use 14 clicks, but it didn't give enough pressure. The coffee is sour, then I changed to 10, the pressure seems to be just enough to be maintain at 6-7 bar, but its still give some sourness, how can I improve the coffee? It seems under extracted, should I increase the water temp? My water is at 95C, which I pre heated it twice
You really need to maximise the heat of the water and preheating. As soon as the water boils the last time get the brew head on and filled and press straight away with no delay. Also try longer pre-infusion of 20 seconds followed by extraction of 45 seconds or more.
Ok thank you so much I see a few mistakes I am making already. I'm going to go try it again! So 14 grams of beans, and make sure to keep it preheated for longer then I was doing and use water directly off the boiler... Now my other issue is getting the ground right. I have a manual burr as well and not sure if my ground is fine enough...either way I can't get the pressure to 7 bars..I'll keep trying..I really don't want to buy a fancy 400 dollar burr grinder for this to work...I bought this last year and put it away because I couldn't get it to work so I thought this year I'll try again! 🤣🙃🙈😅😁
You need a reasonably good grinder for any espresso machine which includes the Flair. Baratza Encore or 1ZPresso JX Pro seem to be the cheapest good grinders.
@@michaelporter000 ok thanks for the recommendations. I got the thing to pull at 7 bars of pressure after I watched your video and adjusted the grind to be finer, finally!! My manual burr is good but I'm kinda lazy so I may invest in a more expensive one soon.
@@michaelporter000 what kind of water do you use? Do you use only filtered water? I ended up purchasing a Oxo conical burr coffee grinder from bed bath and beyond with a coupon, and Oxo has a 2 year warranty so hopefully it won't break lol..its been working very well so far and grinds to a super fine( Turkish grind)..I set it to 2.I'm still dialing down the thr weight(grams). You use 14 grams for a single shot? So 18-20 grams pulls a double right? I have been doing 14-16 gram shots..
@@Dana-jb6ej I live in Melbourne Australia and we have fantastic water so I don't filter it. Other places may get much better results with filtered water and sometimes even by adding special minerals. I use 13 or 14g in the Flair Classic. You can use more but it tends to be a bit more messy I think. Flair pro and not the classic is required for double shot size.
@@michaelporter000 o wow that must be really nice!!! Yeah we have gross water, I use filtered fridge water, but even that is probably not the best. Really adding minerals? I defiantly need that, I will have to look into that, thank you! Yeah I have the signature and I think it's the pro 1, I'm not sure. I have just been doing 14 grams and it's been working. I don't think it takes more. I need to re read about how much the max is..
Hi, I’m using the Manuel Harris grinder and just can’t find the correct setting. Im either too fine or too coarse. Could you suggest a way to a setting that would be a good starting point? Or could you suggest a better Manuel grinder?
I'm not familiar with that grinder, but to get in the ballpark you can put the Flair on a set of bathroom scales and do an extraction. When the handle is horizontal the scales should read around 16kg to give a total time of around 30 seconds for the shot. If the scales don't read high enough or the shot is too quick then go finer etc. If your grinder has too much variation in the size of the grounds you could try using some sieves to remove the boulders and the super fines.
You also asked about the grinder - you should get the best grinder you can afford. The Comandante I have is excellent but expensive. I had to wait for a sale. There is a Kinu grinder that costs even more and looks better again, but I suspect I couldn't taste the difference. Timemore grinders look good and are a bit cheaper. The Knock Aergrind looks like the cheapest good grinder. Any new conical burr grinder with metal burrs are probably good. I think ceramic burrs are a noticeable (i.e. taste-able) step down but they would be miles ahead of any blade grinders. Don't waste money on a blade grinder!
I only have one French Press so I don't know for sure. The plunger looks much the same in others I have seen so I would be surprised if there was any significant difference. I just spent a weekend away using a different microwave oven and that required some re-learning to get it right. I think it was not as even heating so I couldn't heat the milk all in one go, and had to instead heat it twice and stir in between. I think you should expect a bit of practice and fine-tuning with each new setup to get the best results.
@@michaels-ideas OK, thanks for the reply. I have been dialing in my Flair and getting pretty good results with it, so I am interested in trying this method to texture milk.
This is the best Latte art with a frenchpress frothed milk i ever seen.
You are right, there are not enough flair espresso videos on youtube.
agree!!!
I really wish it took 1/100th of a second longer :(
I have tried your way in frothing the milk and it worked easily, much appreciated
Instead of an aeropress you can also use a manual milk frother, it will give you much more control over the milk consistency. Cheap and to be obtained in household stores or sites like Amazon
Excellent!!! Plus the biggest benefit... not to mention cost...is reliability of mechanical device vs potential trouble of electromechanical devices and elimination of descaling procedures. Well done!!
Nice routine and well explained. Lot's multitasking and the extra basket speed the things up. If there is someone who helps you out with the grind and preparation of the basket, you can serve a bunch of people after dinner. Maybe let the guests grind their coffee one by one, and they would appreciate the coffee even more.
Definitely, it's good to let others be involved with the grinding. I often do that!
I really appreciate this. Just got a Flair for a similar setup in my home.
You're welcome. Make sure you pre-heat thoroughly!
Handy to see the whole process from start to finish when considering buying a flair, so thanks.
You're welcome. The process has continued to change slightly as I've learnt some more.
Very impressed with your milk great job. I backed the flair neo on Kickstarter. Keep it up mate
Same, I hope the neo doesn't suck
I want it asap
@@seeyouspacecowboy14 did you get it? If so, how do you like it?
@@joemamium I like it alot
Use it fairly frequently
thank you Michael! after much searching, this is the first and only video I've found that actually shows how to use the Flair NEO espresso machine, with every step of the process. most videos take shortcuts and focus more on the inputs and outputs. given that the NEO offers a low-cost, highly-manual option to pull espresso shots at home, you'd think there'd be more step-by-step tutorials like Michael's to assist beginners. not saying i don't appreciate the well-produced comparisons of different coffee grinders with NEO.. just that other videos are not as helpful when you're getting started.
It's not the neo mate, the flair he's using doesn't have the espresso pressurized gauge
The setup I was looking for
Thanks for a great video. You set a great example for anyone who just wants to pull a great shot. The fact that you were able to do a milk drink with a French press that didn't cost much amazes me. I've never seen that technique. And no timer! I can see where a timer could come in handy for fine dialing but in the end, it's not necessary.
The French press technique works really well. Check out my recent Bellman Steamer video for another good option I have been enjoying.
@@michaelporter000 Oh, thanks a lot! I ordered a Bodum French Press!. hehe. I saw that Bellman and can't wait to watch your review. At the rate you're going, I'lll end up with a La Pavoni. Can I blame you when my wife comes after me? Actually, she'll enjoy it if I can do as well as you appear to be doing. Nice work.
3:42 Brilliant use of the plunger to heat the chamber. I had always wasted a bit of water to heat up the chamber by putting it into a cup. Thanks!
The idea of fill the empty space in youtube is awesome, and it's useful, thank you
Best video I've seen in a while. it's so satisfying.
So I've had my flair pro 2 now for a few weeks, and I still have no idea how you made this flow so well in 10 mins hahaha. Cheers
Practice
Enjoyed the video a lot, thanks for showing the french press method!!❤❤
Great video showing start to finish in real world 👌🏼
Thanks for responding so quickly. Tomorrow is my first Flair pull. Thanks for your guidance! Brilliant.
Oh, that's exciting. It's most important to heat everything up well (e.g. fill and dump with boiling water 3 times) and then assemble and fill with boiling water and pull without any delay. I also think it helps to press lightly for 15 seconds and then press hard and slowly back off the pressure to try and make extraction quite long, like around 45 seconds.
@@michaelporter000 great ideas. I like smooth flavors that are rich nd complex and little bitterness so I'll give the first pull just as you say and practice and vary it. Thanks for all of this. it appears complex but not with your clarity added. Thx
I just ordered mine and I'm so exited.
Preheat well and you should be fine. Pre-infusion with low pressure for 15 seconds is a good idea followed by a slow extraction. I go as slow as possible while keeping a constant stream.
You did a great job.Just what I was looking for.Real time to make espresso.I also like how you compared the Flair to the expensive Breville.Also,the hand grinder is a lot cheaper than a decent espresso grinder machine.I very well might take the plunge soon.Thanks
Awesome video!!!! I've been wanting an expresso machine and the new flair looks awesome!!! The art of making expressos is also fantastic!!!! 👌🏻.
Just got a flair. Your video was awesome! Still having trouble dialing in my grinder but your method for making 2 Capps was great!
Thanks for the feedback. Make sure you pre-heat that flair as hot as possible. I use steam from the kettle to heat it now. I bought a silicon funnel and sit it on the open kettle with the brew chamber in the funnel so it heats when the kettle boils. I cut off the spout of the funnel to let more steam in.
@@michaelporter000 I got it now! Just needed to figure out what setting to grind at! Thank you
Your video has convinced me to save for a flair as my entry to at home espresso. Cheers mate keep up the good work.
You need to save for a good grinder too!
That’s what it appears like I’m planning on experimenting with a budget burr grinder if it doesn’t give me the ground quality to work with the stock portafilter I may consider the pressurized portafilter Esque attachment. I wouldn’t mind any recommendations for a proper grinder to figure out what I might need to budget for.
Also thanks for the reply. It’s awesome you engage with your commenters :)
@@gunnarman97 It could be a waste spending money on a budget grinder and later spending more on a better grinder. I initially used a Porlex mini grinder with my Flair, and that was able to grind fine enough to work, but not consistent enough to taste the best - which is frustrating. Something with steel conical burrs rather than ceramic and definitely not a blade grinder would be less likely to be a waste of money than a budget grinder. Pre-ground coffee (if you were considering it) is probably worse than a budget grinder. It would be nice if money wasn't an issue - but it always is!
Beautiful. Once I get a flair of my own I think I'll make a video about a coffee recipe or something useful like you did. Thanks for the video and for the inspiration :)
Excellent and useful video.
Excellent! I’m considering a Flair with a pressure gauge at the moment, so this was very helpful. Thanks!
Great video of real usage, thanks.
Thank you Michael! i just got the Flair machine and i need some tricks in order to get creamy espresso. Greetings from Spain!
This was great, gives you a proper idea of what the process looks like to use the thing and how it compares to a machine for newbies like me just wondering if they even want to get into the whole rabbit hole of coffee nerdery. One suggestion: Throw in a little note for those "special" people to not put french presses with a metal basket in the microwave ;) You could also let us know what wattage your microwave is so we can adjust the time up or down a bit if ours is different. Cheers!
Thanks for the video, I still don't understand why someone would thumbs down this video 🤦♂️. Great job!
I think because he filled the kettle through the spout like a psychopath 😅
Your video helped me get the flair ;)
Great video! I agree there aren’t enough flair videos. I have one of the new entry level models on order from their kickstarter campaign, but I see myself definitely upgrading to a model similar to what you have, and purchasing a comandante grinder. Thanks for making this! Cheers!
Mine was the "entry-level" Flair (before Neo) too. The more expensive Flair units give you the gauge and a larger shot volume. I am very happy without either of those. The Comandante grinder made a huge difference from my previous cheap grinder. Since this video, I have found that stirring the grounds with a straightened paper clip before tamping and a longer pre-infusion of 20 seconds and a longer extraction time of 40 seconds or so usually produces better results. Enjoy!
Michael Porter interesting! I’ll try those tips. I wonder what stirring with the paper clip before ramping does. I definitely need to upgrade my grinder. It’s currently a porlex clone with abysmal consistency.
@@Rnwhite8 The paper clip is all about distribution. It removes any inconsistency where a channel might form - and channels are bad. Pre-infusion also helps to stop channels. I had a Porlex grinder, and the improvement when I upgraded to Comandante was very easy to taste.
Michael Porter ahhhh ok. So you still tamp after the paper clip stir. This just helps remove channels that may have been formed from some clumping when being transferred to the portafilter from the grinder?
@@Rnwhite8 Yup - that's it! I found some fine sandpaper and rounded the end of my paper clip to make sure it wouldn't scratch the portafilter too. Just enough so it doesn't feel sharp when you scrape it against your finger. Bend the other end a bit to make it easier to grab hold. It's all a bit OCD but it's easy and it may help.
Super useful. Thank you for this.
very informative! thank you!
A very informative video and really well done.
I have the exact same FP, it was ~5 USD in Tesco. Best coffee purchase I've ever made, makes really good milk. If I had a DB or HX machine I would steam, but I don't :D
Awesomely informative vid. Thank you!
Great video. I've got a similar setup as yours. Flair Pro 2 with the Lido ET grinder. A great way to go. Thanks!
great workflow explanation, bravo, barista!
one critical flaw though, i thought it's mandatory upon grinding, to give it that one bump for a couple of spins freewheeling on that comandante 😅
Yes, you are right
Just ordered a Pro2...can’t wait
I'm jealous- I only have a Classic. Enjoy!
I'd say if I'm doing just espresso I can get two of them out in about 5 mins, pretty awesome tasting, and you can put it away whereas a big machine stays out all the time. And like you said it's literally just a lever so it's not going to break and the only real maintenance is cleaning the portas. I've had it for 4 years of daily use and have yet to see the need to replace the o-rings on the brew heads/pistons, although I have purchased new porta screens as the rubber edges started to fray but the newer ones are better.
Excellent video sir. Thank you!
I ordered a flair
and it seems like my timemore grinder can't go fine enough for espresso
So I decided to buy a c40
It takes ~40 secs to grind for a shot?? wtf really omg this is so fast compared to my current grinder(takes 10 mins for a fine grind, and even then, its still too coarse)
Guess it'll be much faster for the other brew methods I like to use
Nice!! cant wait to receive it
All has been said above.Thanks so much. I'm saving up for a hand grinder,was undecided between Commandante or 1zpresso k-max. At the moment i'm perfecting my bialetti skills with a hario grinder,quite inconsistent results,but better than what i thought possible. Going to go with Commandante. Question now: Cafelat robot or flair...only time will tell.
I do the similar two latte routine since a year now although with one portafilter and the same type of Flair.
I grind the beans with ROK and I use Bellman stove top for milk frothing. It is only a weekend exercise for me but it takes more like 20+ mins to get the two lattes ready.
I use boiling water due to the heat loss. I did some trial by stirring the water with a temperature probe before pulling the shot and the water dropped to 93 C-is (200 F).
Great video, thanks!
Great video and great job on the coffee! I’m looking into a similar setup with the flair 58 and was wondering how long it would take to do multiple shots so this is very helpful. I will be borrowing your milk frothing technique so thank you 🙏
You're welcome! The latest video I've seen of someone copying my technique (better than I can) was Lance Hedrick on th-cam.com/video/WeNoDCWezls/w-d-xo.html That is worth a watch too!
great video, very helpful
That looks like too much work!.....I want one 😆
Awesome!
Agree with the "success of flair is how well you pre-heat". I boil the brew chamber with the water I use for coffee. Since I started doing that, the difference was Heaven and Hell.
I measured the temperature of the water in the brew head when I was aiming for 93'C and was experimenting with how long to let the kettle cool after boiling and discovered that no wait at all was the answer. i.e. I preheat the brew head twice by filling it with boiling water and leaving for a minute or so, then re-assemble, and then boil water a third time and immediately pour it in. Any delay there resulted in lower than 93'C brew water. This explained why I was getting a sour result every other attempt.
Very cool video! Perfect results too ;)
what i now do to get frothy foamed milk is pour the full cream milk into a 1.25 litre plastc bottle screw the cap on and shake the shit out of it for about 2 minutes .
the foam that is produced doesn't dissolve or clump up.
Great vid mate 👍
Thank you for the video! The milk texturing trick is amazing!! Can you do it if you don't use microwave and warm the milk on the stove?
You can heat the milk however you want.
However it only takes a small overheat to affect the taste. Stir and use a thermometer if you have one and keep under 65'C.
I was told that e.g. for the Gaggia Classic or the Lelit Anna or the Sage Bambino at least 15 minutes of preheating were necessary so for a single man the flair would be accurate also enjoying the whole procecure...
You stated that your espresso machine in the window only would need less than two minutes.
Yes, 2 and a half minutes until it lets me pull a shot. That is the fastest possible but you are correct, it is not well heated yet and waiting 10 minutes would have a better result. The point I was making was that the overall time with Flair is not too bad in comparison.
I just bought a comandante and a flair pro 2. You should get a marketing kickback.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy mine! Actually, I couldn't afford the Pro 2 - maybe one day. Most important tip is to make everything as hot as possible - e.g. fill 3 times with boiling water beforehand. I currently heat by putting the brewhead in a silicon funnel that sits in the top of my kettle that has the bottom cut off to leat more steam in. It is faster that way compared to filling and dumping boiling water.
Nice video. I just bought secondhand flair classic model without pressure gauge same as yours. Hopefully I can make good tasting espresso with tight budget using my baratza encore.
That grinder should be ok. The most important thing for new users is to heat the brew chamber as hot as possible - if you use the method of filling it with boiling water then do it 3 times. Using steam is even better if you can find a way to hold the brew head over your boiling kettle using a silicon funnel or similar. This machine is so good that you can really taste the difference between fresh beans and old so it is worth the effort to get beans roasted within a month. Enjoy!
All right, thanks for the tip.
Thank you! Great tutorial. I wonder how much milk you used per latte. I'll be making my first latte tomorrow using the Flair Classic and my french press.
I use about 180 ml of milk per latte.
Btw, your kitchen is well set up. Would love to have a space like that.
Thanks - yes we are grateful for what we have, which is mostly due to having the good luck to be born in a relatively wealthy country.
That's about the same amount of time it takes to get 1 latte on a commercial machine at a Portland, OR cafe.
Funny enough ive found that putting the brew head inside my kettle while the water heats up and then grabbing it with a pair of tongs and mounting with a hand towel is the most effective way of pre-heating lol.
Hi Michael! Thank you for the very informative video. What is the brand of the French press that you are using? And, is it a 0.8 Liters?
Mine is about 350ml. I bought it from Kmart or Target I think - but basically, any cheap brand should do as long as the part you want to microwave doesn't have metal parts (i.e. everything except the lid and plunger).
Blow out coffee pucks， you're a genius,，I learned that
To be honest, I normally find the puck just shakes out pretty easily.
Thanks, nice video
14 grams coffee beans
But please advise how many clicks in Commandante for using with Flair?
.
they recommend 10-15 clicks, but I have awful results with that
In the coffees I've tried, I always use 6-11 clicks, i'd recommend getting the red clix upgrade, it'll help
Great video.
🤣🤣 my flair neo just arrived yesterday and I did the same blows to knock the puck out, cheers
Finally a new video of u working on flair. I have my video too. But i took shorter time compared to urs.
Wow - that was a quick response! I was still entering in the description!
@@michaelporter000 i subscribed to ur channel. Of cos i get notified. Lol
@@wikichua I just checked out your channel - you are so skilled at latte art using a french press. I am ok with an espresso machine but need more practise with the french press I think!
@@michaelporter000 wow. Thanks for checking my video. Im more on IG. Latteichi.
I will search for ur IG too if u have it.
Holy shit that’s a lot of work. Blooooody hell. I mean I love it!!!!
I usually just use the Flair for espresso without milk. I also now heat the brew head on the kettle while it boils so the process can be streamlined - but yes - it is a lot of work and I love it! fyi - From starting the kettle to finishing making an espresso takes me 5 minutes now and cleanup takes another 30 seconds.
@@michaelporter000 sounds like a joy filled 5 minutes 🤗
What do you think about the plastic part of the Flair? How many clicks on your comandante? :) ☮️
Never had a problem with non-metal parts. They have not shown any age or needed replacement yet.
Nice video, great milk frothing. Did you say you Comandante was Under $300 ?
Hi - could you please explain to me what you did at 10:22 in the video? You said "blow this out.." I assume you put your mouth on, (which side?) of the portafilter and simply BLEW some air to force out the used grounds? Could you explain or detail why you did this and what the benefit is? Just curious - i have a Flair Neo and haven't used it other than a small handful of times so maybe I need to experiment a bit more...Thanks for this video BTW. Appreciate you not taking any shortcuts or skipping scenes and showing soup to nuts lattes using the Flair. Also - do you know about how much grams of espresso to milk you used? Thanks!
I don't normally "blow out" the puck, but I added this because I know many others suggest it as an easy way to get the puck out of the portafilter. You just blow into the outlet nozzle and it comes out in one go. If you use a naked or bottomless portafilter then there is no nozzle so you can't do this. Some people use a turkey baster or medical syringe. I find I can just shake it out fine. I use between 12 and 16g of ground coffee, and this is fine for a single latte. I guess you can push it to 18g if you wanted to make 2 small lattes if you didn't want it strong. I find the cleanup gets a bit messier if I use more than 16g.
@@michaelporter000 thanks Michael! Appreciate the response 👍
Nice video, just wonder how many clicks on Comandente that you brew with Flair? Thank you
Currently, it is on 14 clicks, but I might change up or down a click depending on how hard it is to press during the extraction
Awesome latte art!
Whats your grind setting on the commandante?
Hey mate, just wondering when you fill your brew chamber does it go brown and get grounds in the water? this happends for me even before I get the piston in to press, I've heard this could be because my coffeei is too fresh but have only tried one type of coffee so far. Have had pretty poor results so far but obviously haven't learnt how to pull a shot correctly yet as I have only had it a few days.
I also normally drink double shot flat whites and initially thought this pulled a double, I only have one portafilter so making a double seems like a big task, might look at ordering another basket like you have
If you forget to put on the shower screen you get this badly. With the shower screen in place it is normal to get this a little bit. As for getting good shots - by far the most important is to use a good grinder and really heat the brew head well. Buy a temperature sticker to put on the brew head to make it easier to know. If you are pre-heating with water you need to do it a few times. Pre-heating with steam is easier. I put the brew head in a silicon funnel in the top of the kettle while boiling and leave it boiling for 12 seconds or so.
@@michaelporter000 Yeah I am using the dispersion screen although on my model it just sits on the top of the portafilter it doesnt seal, so when you pour water some of the grinds seem to float up - I bought the normcore v2 grinder as a lot of the popular grinders here like JX pro or comandante were too expensive in my region or would take too long to get, the flair royale grinder wasn't even purchaseble here unless I went through the flair website and shipping is just a ripoff.
I preheat the chamber twice with boiling water prior to brewing just like you do here, I have tried steam but my kettle only has few vents off to one side and im not sure how I would use a funnel to do this? Have you tried much with different roasts? I'm using a dark roast but everyone using the flair seem to be using a light or medium roast, I might try something else to see if I have better results.
Also I'm a flat white drinker, how much milk do you use for each shot? and is it a double or a single shot that you get? my normal milk ratio I use for my nespresso machine ends up making this far too weak, but part of that I'm sure is I'm not extracting the coffee correctly yet.
Thanks for the reply and information, thoroughly appreciate it!
Have you considered making a tutorial on latte art?
I'm not good enough at latte art to pretend to instruct others. I think only working baristas would get enough experience to become very good at latte art, but for a home coffee maker, it is very hard to make quick progress. I have only ever used 3 different espresso machines and the French Press and they texture the milk very differently to each other, so I'm sure the machine makes a big difference, e.g. with the amount of steam and number of holes.
I see your point but I meant latter art with French press 🙂
@@ok603 yes I got off track there. I will consider it.
Excellent video. this is the exact setup ive been thinking about (comandante + flair), but im only still wondering if i should get a baratza sette 30 grinder which is supposed to be a good 'espresso grinder' and is priced equally to the comandante. dont know enough on whether the comandante has a range to suit a dialing in process.
I would say the Comandante is similar in setting to a Sette 30. The Sette 270 has finer adjustments. The Comandante also has a 3rd-party kit called Red Clix that allows for finer adjustment on the Comandante. I find the standard Comandante to have enough adjustment for me, given the fact you can adjust extraction time if needed by either tamping with different pressure, changing dose, or applying different force to the Flair lever anyway. A lot of Flair users like the Kinu M47 grinder as another alternative manual grinder. IF you are going electric, the Niche Zero seems to be the ultimate.
@@michaelporter000 thanks michael! unfortunately the red clix is not available in my country (India) and we're starved for options here. the niche and sette270 would have been ideal but these are way over my budget. i really am quite jealous of your setup :) esp that lovely breville machine.
@@mithunfan By all means choose gear you can get and afford. I could only afford my Breville second hand so that took a long time to find. I could probably have bought a cheaper machine with the same tasting results but having dual boilers that you can easily descale is a desirable feature. No way could I afford a Niche. I could only justify the Comandante because I thought it would last a very long time, but again, I had to wait a few months for a good sale price. Maybe you appreciate it more that way!
Great, informative video! Do you mind linking the scale that you used in this video as well?
I just bought the cheapest scale on eBay I could find. It was 300g capacity and 0.01g resolution but 0.1g would be enough. More expensive scales include a timer but I don't need it. For me I just try to make my extraction as slow as possible without dripping and splashing so don't need a timer.
Hi Michael, thanks heaps for your video. If you have a moment could you please let us know how many clicks you go with on the Comandante when you use your Flair, cheers 👍
Currently, it is on 14 clicks, but I might change up or down a click depending on how hard it is to press during the extraction
14 clicks
Can you make a 2 latte video with your breville dual boiler to please
Brilliant. I'm frustrated that my Sunbeam EM6910 doesn't have an OPV, to limit the pressure to 9 bars. Rather than spend over the odds JUST to get something with an OPV, I might just get a Flair instead. I like the French Press method for the milk, but an alternative would be to get a REALLY cheap espresso machine, which could also be used for brewing if one so desired too, on the odd occasion.
I had an EM6910 for years. The Breville Dual Boiler is much better, but for espresso taste, the Flair can achieve the same or better results as the Breville but it is more hit and miss. Others in my house find the Breville much easier but I often use Breville just for the milk. There is a stovetop steamer you can get too called the Bellman. Alternative Brewing sell them in Australia. The Nespresso or similar electric milk frothers are rubbish in my opinion.
@@michaels-ideas just btw, I discovered a little hack to allow me to limit the pressure on my EM6910 - I can slightly open the hot water release, during the shot. This even allows pressure profiling. 😃 This trick doesn't work on the later model (EM7000) - this one senses even a very slight opening, and then goes into "hot water" mode. The EM6910 has a pretty wide window of opportunity, allowing quite a high flow of hot water, before the switch is tripped. No need for me to get a Flair.
Unfortunately, the volumetric shot metering doesn't work properly when opening the hot water valve - the total flow is measured - not just the flow to the brew head. So, I'm using scales.
@@gregsullivan7408 Too bad I didn't know that hack when I had an EM6910. I have a naked portafilter on my Flair now and now I can really see how lowering the pressure during the extraction works. If you keep it at full pressure you start with good flow then soon start to see spurts that indicate channelling, whereas you can easily drop the pressure to avoid that and you get a better tasting result.
@@michaelporter000 that tallies with a presentation I saw by the DE1 designer - he explained that the best "standard" shot actually has a gently tapered down pressure, because the puck disintegrates during the shot, and that's what the DE1 does......and is also standard practice for lever machines. He actually said "lever machines make better espressos". 😃
@@gregsullivan7408 Yes - I saw the same video. Makes sense.
Thanks. Quite helpful. But what does it taste like?
Wonderful!
Hi I live in NZ and those two main stuff are not available locally. bloody annoying that is. We have to order from Australia which can be damn expensive coz stupid tax. and the C grinder actually its very difficult to find. I personally would use flair than any kind of espresso machine as its simple and it does a job and can't go wrong and you can wash it properly and you can carry it with you and the taste is actually quite close to real espresso at cafes.
I've found Alternative Brewing in Australia, which offers NZD currency, (alternativebrewing.com.au/) to be my best option for Flair and manual grinders - but I think they are expensive here too. The other alternative is waiting for ever for something to come up in eBay (using a saved search) that is an unwanted gift or similar.
Hello
Link. for the scale you are using Thank you..
How does it taste compared to the Breville machine you own? Looking forward to hear your thoughts.
My best Flair efforts seem better than what the Breville machine makes, but there's so little difference it could be just wishful thinking. They are clearly both very similar in capability but consistency is easier with the Breville. It is so much more satisfying to make a good espresso with the Flair. The one big advantage the Flair has is being able to change the pressure during the pull to avoid any channelling as the puck dissolves and breaks down. I can see this clearly when using the bottomless (naked) portafilter which I bought after this video.
@@michaels-ideas thanks for the insight mate. I'm hyped for this setup. Does the Comandante good enough for Flair espresso? or better use automatic espresso grinder?
@@ashm2691 The Comandante is one of the best hand-grinders for this, and produces much better ground coffee than cheaper electric burr grinders. The main advantage of electric is speed - so it's good when you are making lots of espresso one after another. My Comandante takes around 40 seconds and my electric grinder takes around 12 seconds for 15g for Flair. The Niche Zero is a great electric grinder to use but is well over $1000.
Quick question. Im deciding between Neo and Pro 2. Have you come up with any dificulties not having the pressure gauge while using the Neo?
Because, you know, it is half price of the Pro 2.
Personally, no. I adjust the grind so the "peak" pressure is not too hard to achieve.
In detail this means you adjust the grind so the flow is not too fast or too slow (i.e. just drips) at any point. Once you are in that ballpark, aim to push gently until you get the first drips in about 5 seconds and hold there for 10 seconds or so, and then ramp up to maximum pressure in 5 seconds or so and then ramp down to make the shot extend as long as possible (e.g. another 40 seconds) without the flow slowing below a continuous stream. After you've done that a few times you remember how hard to push without a gauge.
You shouldn't need to resort to putting your body-weight behind the push or you could break something.
Also - the Pro2 is larger for bigger shots, and the Neo has a pressurised basket for use with pre-ground coffee. I wouldn't use a pressurised basket so plan to buy a bottomless portafilter basket and a good grinder with your Neo for much better results.
Wow impressing
How many clicks on the comandante do you us for espresso?
Just Awesome! Thank you. One thing, you should do something about the sound quality of the video. Cheers mate.
this was very useful! do you have two dispersion screens and two portafilters or just two portafilters? i may have missed it but did you say volume of shot? i’ve been looking at pro, it seems the signature would have enough volume for a 34ml specialty coffee doppio but i am on the fence on the plastic bits
Flair give you a dispersion screen with each portafilter you buy. For me with the Flair Classic I load around 14g of grounds in so the ideal volume out would probably be from 28 to 35g. You can either weigh and stop the shot early or not completely fill the brew head if you want less than the maximum volume.
Michael Porter but it will make a speciality cafe style 34g ristretto? (not to sound picky but most third wave coffee places do 1:2 ratio of 18 in 34-36 out), or is 14g the sweet spot for its capacity? thank you in advance!
@@mistersquibbles The Flair website says the Flair Classic does 12 to 18g dose. I've never actually tried 18g - but I should give it a shot! I will have to grind a bit coarser than my usual though.
@@mistersquibbles I tried an 18g shot today. It was ok but it filled the portafilter completely so the dispersion screen did not really "sit in", it just sat on top. It looked over-filled, and when pouring the water in it washed away some coffee from the top of the puck- but it did work. I tried another at 16g and that time the dispersion screen fit properly, so I would say 16g is probably the "sweet spot for its capacity". At 1:2 ratio that would produce a 32g ristretto.
awesome trick with the milk! is that a single shot or double shot for each latte?
The Flair classic uses around 14g of ground coffee which is a bit more than a single and less than a double which is usually 20g. You can jam in a couple more grams if you want to.
@@michaelporter000 oh okay! really wish it would do double shots, because i feel like thats the right amount for a lot of things - such as american, ice latte, etc. :( i know the flair 58 does more ground coffee, but i dont want the electric heater
Im 74 years old and I want convienence in the morning swithch my Espresso machine on with my Hp take my normal Bathroom routine after that my Machine is ready.I get your point particulary for people on a thight budget and by the way your espresso machine is ok but you want better Espresso you have to step up a bit. I considering the Flair and the Robot however its for me a compromise . As I have a two Boiler machine I do the milkfrothing while the espresso is running! Meaning all is done within 3 to 4 minutes .
I had a Breville Dual Boiler and it was great, but it is just so much more enjoyable using a lever machine. Now I have a La Pavoni which gives me the lever action and the milk steaming but it is slower than the Breville for sure.
@@michaelporter000 La Pavoni great maschine congratulation
Dangit, I think you just sold me on a Flair.
lol - they are very good, but watch out you don't fall down the rabbit hole of getting obsessed with it :) They aren't for everyone, so you may be able to pick up a cheaper one second-hand.
I don't know why, I use 14 clicks, but it didn't give enough pressure. The coffee is sour, then I changed to 10, the pressure seems to be just enough to be maintain at 6-7 bar, but its still give some sourness, how can I improve the coffee? It seems under extracted, should I increase the water temp? My water is at 95C, which I pre heated it twice
You really need to maximise the heat of the water and preheating. As soon as the water boils the last time get the brew head on and filled and press straight away with no delay. Also try longer pre-infusion of 20 seconds followed by extraction of 45 seconds or more.
Ok thank you so much I see a few mistakes I am making already. I'm going to go try it again! So 14 grams of beans, and make sure to keep it preheated for longer then I was doing and use water directly off the boiler...
Now my other issue is getting the ground right. I have a manual burr as well and not sure if my ground is fine enough...either way I can't get the pressure to 7 bars..I'll keep trying..I really don't want to buy a fancy 400 dollar burr grinder for this to work...I bought this last year and put it away because I couldn't get it to work so I thought this year I'll try again! 🤣🙃🙈😅😁
You need a reasonably good grinder for any espresso machine which includes the Flair. Baratza Encore or 1ZPresso JX Pro seem to be the cheapest good grinders.
@@michaelporter000 ok thanks for the recommendations. I got the thing to pull at 7 bars of pressure after I watched your video and adjusted the grind to be finer, finally!! My manual burr is good but I'm kinda lazy so I may invest in a more expensive one soon.
@@michaelporter000 what kind of water do you use? Do you use only filtered water? I ended up purchasing a Oxo conical burr coffee grinder from bed bath and beyond with a coupon, and Oxo has a 2 year warranty so hopefully it won't break lol..its been working very well so far and grinds to a super fine( Turkish grind)..I set it to 2.I'm still dialing down the thr weight(grams). You use 14 grams for a single shot? So 18-20 grams pulls a double right? I have been doing 14-16 gram shots..
@@Dana-jb6ej I live in Melbourne Australia and we have fantastic water so I don't filter it. Other places may get much better results with filtered water and sometimes even by adding special minerals. I use 13 or 14g in the Flair Classic. You can use more but it tends to be a bit more messy I think. Flair pro and not the classic is required for double shot size.
@@michaelporter000 o wow that must be really nice!!! Yeah we have gross water, I use filtered fridge water, but even that is probably not the best.
Really adding minerals? I defiantly need that, I will have to look into that, thank you! Yeah I have the signature and I think it's the pro 1, I'm not sure. I have just been doing 14 grams and it's been working. I don't think it takes more. I need to re read about how much the max is..
how long does it take to chew five gum?
Why on earth you don't say how many grams of coffee you're using?
Hi, I’m using the Manuel Harris grinder and just can’t find the correct setting. Im either too fine or too coarse. Could you suggest a way to a setting that would be a good starting point? Or could you suggest a better Manuel grinder?
I'm not familiar with that grinder, but to get in the ballpark you can put the Flair on a set of bathroom scales and do an extraction. When the handle is horizontal the scales should read around 16kg to give a total time of around 30 seconds for the shot. If the scales don't read high enough or the shot is too quick then go finer etc. If your grinder has too much variation in the size of the grounds you could try using some sieves to remove the boulders and the super fines.
You also asked about the grinder - you should get the best grinder you can afford. The Comandante I have is excellent but expensive. I had to wait for a sale. There is a Kinu grinder that costs even more and looks better again, but I suspect I couldn't taste the difference. Timemore grinders look good and are a bit cheaper. The Knock Aergrind looks like the cheapest good grinder. Any new conical burr grinder with metal burrs are probably good. I think ceramic burrs are a noticeable (i.e. taste-able) step down but they would be miles ahead of any blade grinders. Don't waste money on a blade grinder!
Its real great
Does the make of the French press make any difference due to plunger?
I only have one French Press so I don't know for sure. The plunger looks much the same in others I have seen so I would be surprised if there was any significant difference. I just spent a weekend away using a different microwave oven and that required some re-learning to get it right. I think it was not as even heating so I couldn't heat the milk all in one go, and had to instead heat it twice and stir in between. I think you should expect a bit of practice and fine-tuning with each new setup to get the best results.
@@michaels-ideas OK, thanks for the reply. I have been dialing in my Flair and getting pretty good results with it, so I am interested in trying this method to texture milk.
@@moorejl57 Also check out Wiki Chua's channel, because he seems to have mastered the milk texturing and latte art!