GBguy

Here you go Actually, this is the follow-up decaf for my wife - I messed up the lighting for my Ethiopian special blend. Happy one-hundred pages, coffee-holics. Cheers!

A hundred pages up! I took some pictures this morning while pulling a shot from my naked portafilter (settle down, boys) to celebrate the occasion. Watch this space.

Uh oh. Parliament opening again.

The RoadHawk RIDE is a video camera designed for cyclists and motorcyclists, although you can use it pretty much for anything – paragliding, surfing (it’s waterproof), mountain-climbing – as long as you can attach it to something or hold it in your hand. Like others in the RoadHawk range it’s designed as a “black box” to record evidence of accidents, crooked cops or whatever. Each model records hi-def video, audio and a range of other information onto an SD memory card; the RIDE records date and time along with the video, while some of the bigger car/truck versions store GPS location, speed and even impact (through a G-sensor). The RIDE comes with a range of brackets and Velcro attachments, or you could use duct-tape, rubber bands and press-stick to attach it to your helmet or handlebars. Although it’s really small – about the length of my middle finger and only very slightly thicker – and almost weightless, it’s fully self-contained with a rechargeable battery that lasts for about 90 minutes and comes with an 8Gb micro-SD card that holds two hours of video. It can also be powered externally by wiring it to a car or connecting one of those portable “power banks” they sell at camping and outdoor stores to recharge your cellphone and other USB-powered devices (I have a nice little “Zartek” that cost R200). With an external power source it will start recording as soon as the power is connected, and keep going as long as there is juice. When the memory card is full it starts to record over the oldest clips, so you have a “video loop” 2 hours long with the standard 8Gb card, or 8 hours long if you upgrade to 32Gb. The RIDE connects to a computer with a standard USB cable (one with a waterproof tailcap is supplied) and records 720i video images which fill my Macbook screen, and are quite sharp and detailed. The field of view of the lens is very wide so it only needs to be pointed approximately in the direction you’re going to capture details like number plates and road signs. I found it easy to mount the camera on my helmet using a supplied Velcro strap, but I could position it better with some press-stick and duct tape (see picture). Once there it was really forgettable and inconspicuous (nobody asked me about it – I think they assumed it was some kind of torch if they noticed it at all). My first ride was on a foggy day here in Gordon’s Bay, so the lens quickly picked up droplets of water which made the image useless, but when the weather was better I got great clear video – which was just as well because I had a really narrow miss from a CJ-registered bakkie and I was able to post some screen-grabs here on The Hub. On another occasion I saw some spectacularly stupid driving by a motorist overtaking another on a solid white line and a blind rise. I sent screen grabs to the Western Cape Traffic Department’s “Safely Home” webpage and received an acknowledgement, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. The RIDE comes with two tailcaps (other than the one on the USB cable) – one makes it waterproof and the other has little holes to improve sound reproduction. There’s a lot of wind-noise while riding – if I shouted to someone while riding I could hear myself, but not their answers, but if I talked to someone while we were stopped, I could hear them pretty well. True to their specifications, the battery lasts almost exactly an hour and a half, which isn’t really long enough for a weekend ride – especially if you forget to turn it off when you stop along the way – but there’s really no problem to using a power-bank, mounted on your helmet or carried in your pocket, in which case the RIDE will run for many hours, and your video will be limited only by the size of your SD card. You can also mount the camera on your handlebars but I haven’t tried this. I read somewhere that the image tends to vibrate a lot – but then again I never realised how much I wag my head around when I’m cycling! I’ve used the RIDE in my car a few times, mounting it on the pillar next to the sun-visor (see picture) and it works really well, easily capturing the registration numbers of passing cars. It’s not so great after dark, unless you are on well-lit roads, but I guess it’s better than nothing. If a person or car moves close to your headlights, you can see them okay. I can’t compare the RIDE to other video cameras because I haven’t used any, but I’m pretty sure it’s smaller, lighter and less conspicuous than most. I’m very impressed by the quality of the camera, which has a durable non-slippery coating on the body – which shows no scratches even after repeated clipping into hard-plastic mounts – and the well made leads and mounts. The RIDE was kindly loaned to me by the importer, Keith Rampton at Roadhawk.co.za. His demo model came to me with a scratch on the plastic cover over the lens, but this had a minimal effect on image quality. The RIDE sells for R2,500. In the picture below, you can see all the goodies that come with the RIDE, as well as my Zartek powerbank and lead in the background.

Spend your money on a good grinder and an AeroPress. Really.

I never had much luck with dosing. Try ignoring the dosage, and filling the basket so it's heaped, then sweeping off the excess with a (clean) finger, then tamping.

Spinner, it sounds like your tamping pressure may be inconsistent. It needs to be absolutely the same, from one shot to the next, otherwise your grind will not be the only variable.

With my Mazzer Mini adjusting the grind by one notch makes a huge difference. I remember wasting a lot of beans discovering this fact. Even today, when I get a new batch of beans, I have to "dial in" the grind - which may mean wasting two or even three shots (40-60 grams of coffee!) However, I've got to the point where I can get it right first time, most of the time. For example, freshly roasted beans need to be ground a notch or two courser than the old batch I've just finished, and then a little finer (a third of a notch) each day as they oxidise. Darker roasts and decaf beans (from Woolies coffee shops - easily the best decaf out there) are typically a notch finer. If I'm given a packet by a well-meaning friend, brand-name beans can be two or three notches finer still (because they're already stale!) I freeze freshly roasted beans, and when I defrost them they behave like they've just been roasted, but they do seem to age a little faster than never-frozen beans (about half a notch finer each day). One big advantage of using an aero-press is that none of this matters much - it's not nearly as sensitive to grind size, but it doesn't taste quite as good. Hang in there!

Good colour on that cap, spinner - very often the dark bits are just caramel in colour, which points to poor extraction. I'd drink that...

If there's one takeaway message from nearly 100 pages, this should be it. And, BTW, coffee that's roasted overseas (no matter what kind of smoke they blow over it ) is automatically stale. The cheapest bean, freshly roasted by your LCR (local coffee roaster), will taste better than the most expensive pre-roasted bean, regardless of the method you use to make your coffee, IMHO. And don't get me started on pre-ground beans.

How was the course, spinner?

Listen to WW and V12 - lots of good advice there. IMHO you should put both your scale and your singles basket away and forget them (last time I went to Origin Coffee in Cape Town their menu said 'We only serve doubles. If you want a single, drink half') Fill the doubles basket until it's heaped, and then sweep off the excess with a clean finger so it's level. For me, it works out to about 20 grams, so I get around 50 doubles from a kilo of beans. The big thing with tamping is to choose a pressure and then stick with it - adjust your pulls purely with the grinder, otherwise you have two variables and you'll get yourself in a muddle. Actually, in my view you can throw away the timer, too. Watch the coffee coming out and stop the pump as soon as it blondes (which is a gradual process, so you need to exercise some judgement. No substitute for practice.) In the Barista champs we used to penalise competitors if their pulls were shorter or longer than a certain time (20 - 40 sec, IIRC) but nowadays we only penalise them if their times vary significantly, one from another. So even the 'experts' have agreed that pull-time is not really a useful indicator. That said, you'll find very long pulls and very short pulls each have a particular flavour (bitter and acid, respectively) which you may not like - the best taste for most people is in the 30-60sec range, delivering around 30ml.

Ground coffee never does keep well - the surface area (i.e. exposure to oxygen) increases a gazillion-fold when you grind a bean, and the volatile oils which provide the flavour begin to oxidise immediately. First they lose their flavour, and then they become rancid and taste like pod coffee different. Really you should grind only the beans you need for the next cup of coffee you're going to make. If you're fussy.

He doesn't want to contaminate the scene of the crime? I doubt it has anything to do with delivering medical care, because his gloves will be anything but sterile.

Dahm brutha 'Dale, u jus keep geddin beddah!

Lavender essential oil is nothing short of miraculous on burns - so is tea tree essential oil. Good luck dialling in your new machine.

I assume you mean baaaaad as in 'not good'? Most important thing is to grind and tamp so that the coffee comes out in a very thin stream, called a rat's tail, and takes about 30 seconds (from the time you start the pump) to give you a double espresso. If it comes out faster it will taste like piiiiiis.

There was a case just last week where a man was released from prison after many years, when his daughter admitted that he hadn't raped her after all. I'm not suggesting the lady in this case is mistaken - just saying that even a direct accusation needs to be tested. I can feel my blood rising when I picture this buffoon beating up a woman, and I can imagine myself doing all the things that the more hot-blooded members here are talking about. But I know it wouldn't be justice - it would be vengeance, and an expression of how I feel about all the a**hole motorists who have endangered my life over the years. But if there's a place for vengeance (and I'm not saying there is ) it is after the law has failed us, not before.

Incredible photo

That it is.

Not Everest, if that's what you mean - that's to the East of Kathmandu, and flying to Delhi you're going West. Could be Annapurna, though.

Dale - love your mountain pix. I've visited Kathmandu a few times, for work, but I haven't had the time or money to get up to the Himalayas. However, one time flying from Kathamandu to Delhi I looked out of the window and saw the Himalayas rising above the clouds...

What a great picture to end a great day of posts. Thanks, guys.

Knife sharpener, from a wonderful series of photos of disappearing trades in India at http://petapixel.com...ed-professions/

I agree with V12man (as usual). It's important not to confuse ground coffee with instant coffee. We tend to think that one scoop of ground coffee is equal to one spoon of instant, but it isn't. A full strength double espresso takes around 20 grams of coffee beans, which is two full scoops. When it's ground, it's around six heaped teaspoons. Most of this ends up in the bin or knock-box (whether I've used a machine or an aeropress). I'd guess that if I evaporated all the water from the double espresso, I'd get one heaped teaspoon of instant coffee.