At Armorica we are Serious about Coffee and customers often ask me “what is the best coffee machine?” I have to say that they often leave the shop more confused than before they asked the question! That does change, though. Because I have encouraged them to think about what sort of person they are: which affects how they want to make coffee and the way they want to go about it.

If its espresso coffee they are after, then there are three groups of espresso machines to choose from. I say three groups, and each group encompasses many makes and a multitude of models.

Traditional Espresso Machines

Firstly there are Traditional Espresso machines. These are scaled down versions of what you will find in your local Cafe nero or costa coffee shop. They have a coffee holder that screws into a group head on the machine after being filled with ground coffee, which you may have ground yourself or you have purchased pre-ground. The machine is started and water is pumped through the coffee at 15 bar pressure to produce and espresso coffee. These machines require an amount of input and skill, in that the quality of the coffee produced will depend on the fineness of the coffee grind, how well the coffee is “tamped” or smoothed down in the coffee holder, as well as the choice of beans made. Machines generally have a steam wand that enables you to froth milk in a stainless steel jug and then pour over your espresso to produce a cappuccino or latte. Most machines from all three groups of espresso machine will have a steam wand or other way of frothing milk.

Bean to Cup Espresso Machines

The second group of espresso machines are bean to cup. Thes machines are really easy to use and can produce coffee just the way you like it – however that may be! One of the best makes of bean to cup machines is Jura

Bean to cup machines give tou complete control over which coffee you use and how you like it served. They are easy to use and have a low hassle factor, with messy grouts being collected in a container which you just need to empty after a dozen or so cups of coffee are made. Some machines even have their own built in water filter systems and cleaning programmes. They are generally amongst the higher priced machines. Bean to cup machines would suit somebody who has a generous budget for the coffee machine, wants the widest choice of coffee to use and wants complete ease of use. In this respect a bean to cup machine ticks all the boxes.

Capsule System Machines

Further information to help you choose the correct espresso machine for you may be viewed here

A man in a kitchen will always want gadgets: We are sure that those you buy at Armorica Cookshop will ALL prove useful!

When a fuse blew in our house last weekend, I had considerable difficulty tracking down a screwdriver. Yet if I neede to pit an olive, extract the pin bones from a salmon, pummel a fillet, spatchcock a chicken, shuck an oyster, probe a lobster or zest a lemon, I not only have the precise tool for the job but I also know where to find the olive stoner,fish bone tweezers. Meat mallet, poultry shears, oyster knife, lobster pick or citrus zester. Since eating is immeasurably more satisfying than DIY, at least for me, the humble spud-masher is more important than the flashiest of power drills.

Food obsessives persist in believing that a new tool or utensil will transform their culinary prowess. This can be the case. Many swear by the Kitchenaid food mixer, a hefty lump of 1930’s Americana that makes a doddle of cakes, pastry and dough-making. But my top gadget is the stick blender. Vital for sups, it comes out of the cupboard at least two or three times a week. Sadly, the majority of my culinary acquisitions rarely emerge from their gloomy repository, but hope springs eternal.

In Portugal two years ago I became obseesed with the need to acquire a cataplana. This is a utensil somewhat like a wok but with a high, hinged lid that is clasped shut during cooking to conserve flavour. It is used primarily for a stew of pork and clams. When I tracked one down, a companion on the trip predicted: “you’ll only use it once>” To prove her wrong, I made amejoas na cataplans the instant I returned. Admitedly, I have not used the cataplana since, but its day will come. I believe the same applies to the large conical strainer I once lugged back from Spain, though the magnificient shellfish bisquesI planned to produce have yet to fill a single bowl.

Worn down by the urgings of my wife, I occasionally agree to the dumping of an unused gadget, but I inevitably suffer anguish afterwards. I still regret the loss of a French chestnut pan (like a frying pan with lots of holes) when I weakly succumbed to her plea: “You haven’t used it in six years and it’s gone all rusty.” The same applies to a long-departed toasted sandwich maker.True, we necer eat toasted sandwiches, but I recently discovered that this gizmo is required if you want to make the anchovy toast that accompanies the excellent parmesan custard served by Rowley Leigh at Café Anglais in London.

Sometimes I want another version of a gadget we’ve already got. Though we have two kitchen blowtorches, both are impossibly weedy. It takes me an age to singe a crème brulee. I want a far bigger one with a roaring flame, like professionals use. Simiarly, our kitchen knives are less than adequate. This may be a common feeling asmong amateur cooks. The American gastronomic explorer Jeffrey Steingarten recently wrote an article explaining why he fely obliged to expand his collection of 58 blades (“too dull to cut butter”) with German and Japanese chefs’ knives made by Wusthof, Henckels and Global. Our lack of copper pans may be an equally significant hindrance to effective gastronomy. According to the kitchen shop Divertimenti, (also see www.armorica.co.uk), “Ask chefs what they couldn’t live without in their kitchens and you’ll probably hear
“copper pots and pans”. Their conductivity allows far greater heat control.

Chefs tend to like gadgetry, but Thomas Keller of the French laundry in California and Per se in New york takes this to an extreme. His new book “Under Pressure” (Artisan) is entirely devoted to the cooking technique known as sous vide, which requires a vacuum-packing machine and an immersion circulator. Though these bits of kit “offer unprecedented control over texture and flavour”, at £200 plus they do not come cheap. Still, it will be money well spent when you produce your first corned beef tongue perdu or tripe oreganata: Keller’s recipe serves 50.

A prodigious range of culinary items is waiting in cooks shops and catalogues. We have a rice boiler but not a couscousiere, a cheese fondue set but not a raclette grill, a pasta machine but not an electric jam-maker. My wish list includes a fish kettle, a paella pan and a hinged mould for a raised pie, though there are limits. I can probably do without the stainless steel witch’s hat required for the towering cone of profiteroles known as croquembouche. Still, I remain haunted by gadgetsthat got away. Rarely a day goes by without a pang of regret at my failure to buy a chunky iron disc attached to a long handle that I once saw in Languedoc. Its charming name –“salamander”- derives from its function. You heat it on a fire, then apply the glowing ring to caramelise the top of a crème Catalane. I pondered endlessly over this item in the shop but was dissuaded by my wife. Madness. What could be more vital.

Based upon an article by Christopher Hirst and published in “Intelligent life: The Economist Publications.

Kitchenaid 1919-2009

The original idea for the Kitchenaid mixer was conceived in 1915. An engineer watched a baker mixing dough with a huge wooden spoon. The engineer designed a mechanical mixer to make the mixing process simple and easy.

This design became standard in many large bakeries and during 1919 a domestic version was made for home use. The design was refined in 1937 by the great American designer Egmont Arens. His design has become one of the classic iconic designs of the 20th century.

Today’s Kitchenaid mixer retains its distinctive features, a tribute to the “rightness” of any great original design. The Kitchenaid mixer still retains the direct drive motor design and is assembles by hand as it always has been. Made from solid die-cast metal ensures its durability and truly great performance

See our range of Kitchenaid Mixers here

It must be a pretty smart coffee if someone so irritatingly handsome and wealthy as George Clooney is prepared to endorse it. And yet Nespresso, the self-styled premium brand from the Nestle stable, has been using Clooney as the face of Nestle to the world since 2007. If the big guy goes for it, then it must be surely worth a look just to see what all the fuss is about.

The Nespresso machines come with a wide range of functionality from the simplest basic espresso maker to a full featured machine that assembles the most amazing cappuccinos without any human intervention whatsoever. Literally, it’s like having your own coffee bar at the press of a single button without all the irritation of having to wait for it to be made and the shame of ordering a dangerously fattening chocolate muffin that lies in wait at the local coffee shop. And there is no noisy bean grinding, spilt coffee grounds and the like to mess up the surrounding area either. At the press of just the one button it all just happens by itself.

And the coffee? Well, it really is to die for!

Absolutely amazing quality, smoothness and consistency when compared to the traditional handmade espresso machines. A real mark of a great espresso is the thickness and quality of the crema, the golden oily top which should float on any well made cup. With Nespresso it just appears every time with every cup – the perfect consistent crema.

There are a wide range of different flavours including de-caffeinated and those specially formulated for those who like their coffee long.

So, what’s not to like?

The coffee itself has to be purchased from Nespresso and they are the only suppliers of the little pods which contain the precious vacuum packed coffee. The cost of the coffee – it is not cheap when compared to a teaspoon of instant coffee and more expensive than grinding your own coffee and using a traditional espresso machine. But to my mind the quality of the coffee combined with the convenience of the pods make the difference well worth paying.

Another feature which concerns some customers is the environmental impact of all those little pods. It is true that in Switzerland there is a recycling scheme where the pods are collected in particular locations and then melted down so that the plastic and aluminium can be reused and the grounds turned into fertilizer. In most countries however, these pods are just dumped into bits for disposal in dumps and landfill. Competitors to Nespresso offer much more environmentally friendly recyclable pods and it is likely that consumer pressures may force Nespresso one day to review its manufacturing methods.

Finally, a complaint of a number of Nespresso users is that there is nowhere on the machines that really warms the cup into which the coffee is poured. Some of the more sophisticated machines have a warming plate but it does little other than take the chill off the cups. It is of course a problem shared with many espresso machines but it seems a shame that this feature has not been fully considered.

Overall however, for the coffee fan there is much to recommend these machines and a tasting at one of the large stores near you is strongly recommended.

For further information on Nespresso machines visit www.armorica.co.uk

Celebrity Chefs Conquer the Household Kitchen

The celebrity chef is here to stay and these personalities have made their presence felt in every kitchen in the land.

Led by Fanny Craddock in the 1960’s, followed by the Galloping Gourmet Graham Kerr in the 1970’s and then by Michel and Albert Roux in the 1980’s, there is no doubt that the current huge proliferation of celebrity chefs is a sign of the times and evidence that they are here to stay.

Our current celebrities in the 2000 s are a mixture of memorable personalities and completely cooking different styles. From the Gallic charm of Raymond Blanc to the crude rough edges of Gordon Ramsey, the technical scientific precision of Heston Blumenthal to the casual, relaxed style of Jamie Oliver, your favoured celebrity chef is strictly down to you.

One characteristic they all share is the requirement for more and more kitchen equipment. If the domestic gods and goddesses of the amateur kitchen are to keep up then they are often obliged to spend money in buying not just the freshest ingredients but also the latest equipment which might be needed to cook those ingredients. The kitchen worktop seems to have less and less space occupied by more and more gadgets and gizmos.

Exotic equipment, until recently completely unheard of in the UK, has now become common place in many of the UK’s kitchens.

For example, the coffee machine 30 years ago was at best a machine which boiled water at one end and dripped coffee through a filter paper at the other end. Today the consumer has a massive range of machines to choose from – from the simple percolator to the most complex espresso and cappuccino “bean to cup” machines which grind the beans, boil the water, pressure-pumps the water through the coffee, to produce exquisite espresso and pours the coffee into your cup for you. Much of the reason for this change is not just that there is more high quality coffee in restaurants, but that the consumer urged on by celebrity chefs is pushed to go for quality.

Another example is the humble kitchen knife. Time was when the ordinary kitchen just had a carving knife and a chopping knife. Chefs have shown us their remarkable dexterity in chopping food using specially designed knives and in order for simple folk to do the same…. they also need to have their own range of knives. As we all know, these knives can range in quality quite dramatically – some of the more exotic knives from the Far East are painfully expensive but seriously impressive and very sharp.

So what is the amateur chef to do? Well, carefully think about what you do and don’t need and then find a really good kitchen shop that is full of information and content that can really help you make the right decision.

For more information on kitchen equipment as well as a huge raft of valuable information visit www.casawares.co.uk , an online Cookshop that stocks both the common place and the exotic in kitchen equipment.

World’s most expensive coffee arrives in UK

The world’s most expensive coffee has finally arrived in the UK and the high prices charged of over £50 per cup reflect its extraordinary origins.

The coffee is a mixture of traditional Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and Kopi Luwak, a bean that comes from south east Asia and is collected off the floor from the droppings of civet cats. The civet cat apparently eats the beans fresh off the plants, partly digests them, and then excretes them in the usual way. It is no surprise that this coffee is rare and costs over £350 per kilo!

The digestion process apparently does change the whole nature of the bean to give an entirely different perspective on coffee. Available online and from the top people’s store Peter Jones in Sloane Square, the coffee is said to be dark and very smooth.

Expert coffee maker Bill Brown from kitchen shop Armorica is excited about this new arrival.

“It is obviously a very different type of coffee that requires a very special preparation technique.” says Bill. “We would strongly recommend a coffee machine that is able to cope with the subtle nature of these beans – a fine ground, water temperature of between 85° and 92°, and pressure in the espresso machine in excess of 15 bars would be ideal. This would ensure that every little bit of flavour and its subtlety is extracted from this precious bean”.

At the sort of prices mentioned it is no surprise that this coffee has become a big hit with the rich and famous, a new designer label to add to the collection.

Contact: Bill Brown
Armorica
19 Rams Walk
Petersfield
Hants
GU32 3JA

Tel: 08456 017 262
Fax: 01730 269 699
Email: enquiries@armorica.co.uk