[NeilR]

A lot of Spanish baristas (so I am told) grind straight into the pf and do not tamp. My favourite trick is to purge the K10 by pressing a button which dispenses coffee for 1/10th of a second, and of course not pressing the button but triggering the double grind by touching the pf against the trip switch.

Yes, of course I was following the Spanish technique

 

[Neill]

Was making a flat white on my classic. Shot pulled, milk steamed then hit the brew switch until the boiler refill and water comes from the group. Wait a minute, costa coloured coffee from the portafilter! Balls, I forgot to knock the puck out whilst the boiler was coming up to steam temp. It gets worse, I then knocked the brew switch off and pulled the portafilter out. Unfortunately I either did this with too much haste for the solenoid to dump or the higher pressure from the steam exploded coffee grounds out of the basket pebble dashing my machine and wall next too it! Oops.

 

[Flibster]

Using some compressed air from a can to help clean out a grinder. Beans back in, lid on and grind.

BANG!

Lid goes bouncing off the ceiling, beans scattered around the kitchen. Very rapidly *even before the beans have stopped rattling off the kitchen walls* the power is off and the plug is out of the wall.

Never noticed that the propellant for the compressed air in a can was flammable before. Some spark from the motor ignited it and ka-blooey! Did clean the chute of the grinder remarkably well. Grinder still works fine and now lives with my parents.

 

[Neill]

Using some compressed air from a can to help clean out a grinder. Beans back in, lid on and grind.

BANG!

Lid goes bouncing off the ceiling, beans scattered around the kitchen. Very rapidly *even before the beans have stopped rattling off the kitchen walls* the power is off and the plug is out of the wall.

Never noticed that the propellant for the compressed air in a can was flammable before. Some spark from the motor ignited it and ka-blooey! Did clean the chute of the grinder remarkably well. Grinder still works fine and now lives with my parents.

Now that is impressive. Exploding grinders.

 

[Thecatlinux]

Weighing my shot this morning.

Worked how how to balance two shot glasses on the scales using the lid with one glass on one side and one on the other .

tarred pulled the shot . Weighed the results ....hmmm I'm happy with that , looks good .... Now for a taste ...... Picked up one of the shot glasses to admire my handy work .....causing the remaining shot glass to apply the rightful laws of gravity and a predictable see saw effect resulting in coffee everywhere. DOH!

 

[aaronb]

Just remembered this one form years ago:

Was with a friend, we were both intoxicated. Weighed out the beans, chucked them into the hopper but I hadn't taken the lid off first. Beans everywhere, was finding them for months!

 

[coffeechops]

Aeropress, whilst camping. Halfway through the push, the filter decided it wasn't tight enough and shot off into the cup. Cue high-pressure hot water and grounds being forced upwards out of cup into arms, face and bystanders. Not a good one that, it hurt.

At least I didn't have to clean the kitchen.

Haven't done it twice.

C

 

[Charliej]

I managed a superb act of muppetry this evening, a couple of friends of mine dropped in and of course I made them a coffee, one of them, my friends other half no matter how hard I try will not go without 1 sugar in her coffee even though he now will. So I pulled 3 shots, steamed the milk and poured it into the cups. I then went to get the sugar jar off the shelf, but for some reason picked up my Coffee Compass vacuum storage canister instead and put a teaspoon full of Smokey Barn Yirgacheffe beans into her cup of coffee. I have absolutely no idea why I did it , the sugar jar is blue and much larger than the coffee container.

 

[kikapu]

She won't be asking for sugar again!!

 

[spune]

Oh dear..! Quite the bean to be adding to what I reckon was a pretty awesome coffee.

 

[frasermade]

I weighed out 20g of my rave sig and plonked it into the mini, placing a wee tub on top (as I don't have a tamper yet.)

Then looked in the Doser and thought actually I'll give that a wee hoover out.

Got the hoover, cleaned all the stale grounds out of the vanes and chute, and before thinking lifted up the wee tub and stuck the nozzle in.

20g of bean thrashed up the hose in milliseconds leaving me with a clean hopper mount but without any beans in the grinder.

I then had to weigh out more beans again, put them in my now clean grinder, turned it on without putting my tub under the Doser exit so the grounds fell on the tray, and I then, without thinking again, tried to clean the chute as the burrs stopped spinning with a paint brush. I then pulsed the power switch to remove final traces of grounds from the burrs but didn't remove the paint brush tip enough and my paintbrush lost a few bristles which fell into the Doser....

Still, it tasted good in the end.

 

[martyistheman]

I regularly tare my cup before putting it under the PF, then, while the pour is in progress, turn my scales off and put them away. Once my pour is finished, I then realise I have been a fud and cannot measure how much espresso I have made.

Happens a lot.

 

[jeebsy]

fud

Are you Scottish?

 

[martyistheman]

Am ur that. Yersel?

 

[jeebsy]

Aye. Never heard a non-Scot use that term!

 

[oracleoftruth]

That was my favourite scottish word. Lived there for 7 years.

 

[Joe the fish]

This morning while trying to demonstrate the mignon to my other half (and prepare her for the fact I have bought it not 'borrowed' it!) I had ground a load of beans and was doing a bit of a clean down. As she commented it seemed easier and less messy than my various hand grinders I remembered the comments on here about grind retention and blowing them clear... Yup cue me blowing into the burrs/grind hole and liberally spreading a few gram of very finely ground coffee over the hot hob and the fruit bowl. Dammit.

 

[michaelg]

Aye. Never heard a non-Scot use that term!

It's one way we Scots have a little laugh on the motorway, spotting a motorist with that as part of their registration number. Often it proves an accurate description of the driver!

 

[jeebsy]

Shoved my finger in the grinds chamber when the motor was powering down after one of the post lunch drinks. Dodged a bullet again

 

[michaelg]

Nothing too exciting - sometimes I engage the pump to clear loose grinds from the shower screen before I've removed the portafilter and wonder why the water coming out is so brown-tinted 'til I work out why.

Also did the forgetting to tamp thing once and wondered why my carefully dialled in grind had pished out in around 3 seconds.

Usually these things occur when I'm in a hurry or have guests - most of whom even view a cafetiere as a bit of a faff...