GBguy

What V12man said... Interesting to see that there's now an Aeropress category in the national barista competition. If you google aeropress, you'll pick up lots of tips.

Phumlani Sibeko of Stil Coffee is the current SA champion in the latte art competition. Lovejoy Chirambasukwa from Origin in Cape Town is the reigning SA barista champion, with Stephan Brits of Tribeca as the runner-up (Tribeca run the Woolworths coffee shops). There's a lot of support for the national barista champs - followers of this thread should make an effort to attend - I'll let you know when I get the dates - generally in the second half of the year...

I think the "interrogator" did the right thing. Maybe he was not particularly tactful but, for me, the bigger issue is discouraging crime. Feelings are going to get hurt, whenever the innocent are suspected of a crime. And of course race played a part - it would anywhere in the world, but especially here. What doesn't really help, IMHO, is trying to close down the discussion, or bad-mouthing those who have an opinion. This kind of scenario could happen to me, and I'd like to hear if anyone - especially the OP - has a better idea about how to handle it.

Hey Moridin - I saw you riding through GB this afternoon - damn, but it was hot! Sorry you couldn't join us at 6 this morning for our cool ride to Kuils River and Stellenbosch...

Rode through Kuils River, Bottelary, Stellenbosch, Somerset West this morning. Greeted pretty much all the other cyclists. About 60% returned the greeting (90% of those going the same way). Didn't notice a difference between roadies and MTBers. It's normally higher, but drops off when there are lot of other cyclists on the road, big bunches, or a lot of people have dusted off their bikes to start training for the Argus (all true today). When I was in Durban, I found they generally didn't greet, on or off road, so I stopped doing it too.

That's my concern, too. Earlier in the thread there were a few members advocating for a physical response. The chances are they are paper tigers, safe behind their computer keyboards, but I'm concerned that some people may take them seriously, and not think about the consequences. Hence my question.

Are there any lawyers on this thread? I'm curious about the legal situation if a customer did turn around, after being called an asshole, and attempt to rearrange the name-caller's face? Does a verbal attack justify (or mitigate) a physical response? And if the name-caller then picked up a weapon to defend himself, and killed the customer? Murder, manslaughter or self-defence? This is a purely theoretical question - I don't know any of the people involved in this, but I do worry about younger members forming the impression that the world can be made right with a snot-klap.

V12man - I was dithering over whether to stick my head over the ramparts on this, so you saved me the trouble Like you, I suspect that Porra means drip-filtered coffee when he says "coffee" (as opposed to "espresso"). Of course, espresso is coffee. Espresso is not only a short strong drink in its own right, it's also the basis for cappuccino, latte, americano and all the other espresso-based drinks. By definition, espresso is made by mechanically forcing hot (but not boiling) water through ground coffee. Almost all the other methods (drip-filter, plunger pot, moca) expose the coffee to boiling water or steam, which result in different flavour profiles (aeropress is the exception). Also, jokes aside, there's a pretty solid body of evidence supporting the use of coffee before endurance exercise - see for example http://thefitnesschronicle.com/drinking-coffee-before-a-workout-one-of-the-best-pre-workout-drinks/ - and also for the performance-enhancing value of caffeine. I noticed there was a fair queue at the espresso caravan at the start of the Burger in Stellenbosch... BTW, there's less caffeine in a double espresso than in a teacup-sized serving of filter coffee, so that won't make you fall off the bike - although an undiluted espresso on an empty stomach may cause heartburn, reflux or nausea, which is why it is correctly served with a glass of water. And any coffee can have you heading for the nearest bushes.

That would explain it - I thought it was the wind

A thing of beauty, Escapee. I've been thinking of posting a video of a ristretto coming out of my naked portafilter, but I'm afraid the mods would ban me (for pornography or drug peddling, take your pick) and Nespresso would send a hit man to turn me into a flat white.

What I love about cycling is that I know exactly what you mean!

I have another one. I used to hold up my tights with old-fashioned braces! I hate the way that tights slip down - and even some cycling shorts. And I'm not a fan of bib shorts, because I always need to go to the bog before a race, and... well, if you've struggled with bib shorts in a portaloo, you'll know the problems. But braces are the aces! The only problem is that the little metal clips rust, from all the sweat. I threw my old pair of braces out when the clips stopped functioning, and I keep meaning to get another pair. They're even coming back into fashion.

No it doesn't. The only points of contact are the rubber hoods and the seat-rails, and it doesn't damage either. Or the wall. When I first started doing this (many years ago) I used to make a kind of cushion on the wall - then I realised it's not necessary. The actual pressure on the hoods is minimal, and there's no movement. With the mountain bike, I adjust the bar-ends so they contact the wall.

Yeah - already posted on another thread - how to hang a bike on the wall for under R10, and by drilling just one hole:

There's some new research on the subject - may come as a surprise to some: http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/10/05/exercising-in-fasted-state.aspx?e_cid=20121005_DNL_art_1

Has this one been posted already?

You know there's another way, which we haven't discussed at all. I visited Addis Ababa a few years back, and in the foyer of the hotel there was a woman making coffee. She sat in an alcove with a little braai setup (what the Americans call a hibachi) and a wok. When you order a coffee, she takes a handful of green (unroasted) coffee beans, puts them on the wok, and roasts them. Then she grinds them with a mortar and pestle, and chucks the powder into a little pot (like a Greek 'briki'), adds a little boiling water, puts the pot on the coals just for a few seconds until it begins to foam, and then pours the coffee into an espresso cup. The taste is sensational. I liked the first one I had so much that I ordered another. Long story short - within a few hours I was as sick as a dog - caffeine poisoning. I wondered why she looked at me strangely when I ordered that second cup. After that I saw coffee being made the same way in several Ethiopian homes and even offices (a youngster comes in with the hibachi, wok and other stuff and does the whole procedure on the floor of the office - no kidding). The smell of the roasting beans and the coffee is just amazing. Ethiopians always have a glass of water standing there with a few sprigs of rue - a herb that they call "en-adam" - named after Adam (Eve's guy), because they believe rue was the first herb in the garden of eden. They take a sprig and stir their coffee with it. To me it smells horrible (like a public urinal), but it's optional. You can get green beans (which aren't green, BTW) from any coffee roaster. It's a fun thing to do at a braai - but don't expect to sleep much afterwards. I suspect that the fact that the beans are just-roasted somehow liberates more caffeine than beans that were roasted a day or a month earlier. And making the coffee Turkish-style definitely draws more caffeine out than espressing it. Also, you're really drinking coffee-soup, rather than water that has been passed through coffee grounds.

If you need a "quickie" have a look at the aeropress (discussed earlier in this thread). Way better than instant, IMHO, and not much more effort or mess. Needs a coarser grind than espresso, though. Going back to your pvs post, you can compensate somewhat for a coarse grind by tamping the grounds harder. But there's no substitute for getting the grind just right - you really can taste the difference.

Puncture kit (one of those little boxes with glue, patches, emery paper, talc). It's just a couple of bux, but when you need it - priceless! Same thing for those cheapo tyre-levers. Ever tried getting a really tight tyre off the rims using only stuff you can find lying next to the road? Finally, a R10-note. If you slash your tyre, it keeps the tube from having a hernia - and you can swap it for a bar one if you've hit the wall. Oh yes, one of those tiny adapters that allow you to pump up your tyres at a garage. Never needed mine, but you never know...

Not in the Guiness Book of Records (at least, not in that category):

I've been using the Park CT-5 for more than 10 years - small and light enough to carry, strong enough to last forever.

Just like V12man said. Buy the best burr-grinder you can afford. Adjust the grind so the coffee coming out of the spouts is a thin stream - the Italians call it a "rat's tail" - and takes about 30 seconds to give you 30ml (equivalent to one of those little espresso cups). If the coffee gushes out, it will be watery and acidic. If it just drips out, it will have a bitter, burned taste. Whatever you do, don't extract more than 30ml from each "dose" of coffee-grounds - after that point the coffee coming out tastes like p1ss. If you want a longer drink - like an Americano - add hot water. All espresso drinks (cappuccino, etc) all start with the same 30ml of espresso. Use freshly roasted beans. It's more important that they were roasted no more than a couple of weeks ago than their origin (Ethiopia, Guatemala or wherever). Also, it's a bit of a fallacy that espresso should be made from full-roast beans (which are shiny) - a slightly shorter roast, so the beans don't produce oil, tastes better. Don't expect much from pre-packaged beans sold in supermarkets. Put it together, and you should get a pretty good coffee! Let us know how it goes.

Don't know the machine, but there are user reviews here: http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/kitchen/reviews/coffee-machines/delonghi-eco-310-b-icona/customer-views/

My dad would cut us into little pieces, put us in a plastic shopping bag, and throw us out the window about a hundred miles from the school. But if you tell the kids of today what it was like back then, they just don't believe you.

Actually, it hardly does any damage at all to either seat or hoods (or the wall, for that matter). I've been using this method for many years.