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The office (Room 33)

We've currently got eight desks, all are sit/standing. There are lockers at the side.

We've got a fridge for drinks and lunch, lots of :ref:coffee stuff<coffee> and a kettle for tea.

There's a TV, the cables are under the panel in the centre of the room by the desks.

Current seating plan:

.. image:: images/desks.png :alt: Initial desk plan :width: 400px :align: center

Brackets are the hot-desks.

Taking calls​

We decided that if you need to take zoom calls that you shouldn't do it in the main office if other people are there. You are always welcome to use my office for calls if I'm not in (or you can ask me if I am in). There are also various rooms throughout the building you can book to use.

.. _coffee:

Coffee​

  • Leave the coffee sealed in one of the tubs or packets, it goes off quickly.
  • I will try and leave milk in the fridge each week.
  • I am very happy (perhaps too happy) to show you how to use any of the gear if you're not sure about anything!
  • Add a mark on the sheet when you have a coffee. Current cost is 35p per cup.

.. note:: Coffee costs are added up every 3/4 months and emailed round.

Espresso machine ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Espresso or americano, one at a time.

  1. Use the built-in grinder on the left of the machine, and the 'pact coffee' from the brown bag.
  2. Push the portafilter into the grinder slot, it will hang there. Push again and it will grind coffee into the basket.
  3. There's a tamper attached by a magnet to the left of the grinder, take it out, tamp down hard.
  4. Attach the portafilter firmly into the group head on the right and cup underneath. Press the two cup button to start the pump.
  5. The flow will stop automatically.
  6. There is a small silver knock box you can bash the used grounds into.
  7. If you want hot water for an americano, turn the knob on the right backwards, hot water will be dispensed into the cup.
  8. Please always wash out or clean with a cloth the portafilter after use. There are a few cloths to do this with, but I usually take it to the sink.

Tips:

  • Read the machine's manual for more tips, it's in the cabinet.
  • The shot should take about 25-30s to pull. If it's faster, use a finer grind setting. If slower, grind coarser next time.
  • The machine will tell you if the water tank needs to be filled. It won't do anything if there's not enough water. The tank slides on and off the back, be careful not to get any near the grinder.
  • There are a set of scales and a distribution tool if you really want to be precise.
  • The drip tray doesn't seem to need emptying very often, but it does have a little 'full' indicator that pops up when this happens.

Steam wand ^^^^^^^^^^ Milk to turn espresso into cappuccino/flat white/latte.

The steam wand is a bit fiddly to learn to use, I'd watch a few videos and also note that it will take a few goes before you get it right.

  1. Turn the knob on the right forwards to 'steam', wait until the water coming out becomes steam.
  2. Turn off the steam.
  3. Fill milk jug with 100-150ml milk per cup. Put steam wand under surface of milk.
  4. Turn the steam back on. The milk will start screaming.
  5. Lower the jug so the tip is just under the surface, and you'll hear a hissing noise like in cafes. Do this for a few seconds to add air and foam to the milk (until it has increased in volume a bit).
  6. Raise the jug again so you see a vortex in the milk. This makes the milk smooth.
  7. Leave the steam on until the milk reaches about 60C (using the thermometer) or until you can't put a finger on the jug for longer than a second.
  8. Clean the wand. Wipe the milk off with a cloth.
  9. Purge the wand. Turn the steam on again briefly to remove any milk that might have gone up the nozzles.
  10. Swirl the milk, bang it to remove any bubbles.
  11. Pour into coffee! Watch some videos if you want to learn to do latte art.
  12. Clean out the jug.

Aeropress ^^^^^^^^^ Good for a filter coffee for one person. (see also https://aeroprecipe.com/recipes/james-hoffmann-aeropress-recipe)

  1. Use the pre-ground coffee, or grind your own using the small black grinder.
  2. Pull out the plunger and place a paper filter in the end, screw the holed cap back on.
  3. Pour coffee on top of the filter, inside the tube (I usually go for about 12g and fill to about 3). There's a funnel to help with this.
  4. Put on top of your mug.
  5. Pour in boiled water (not boiling).
  6. Put the plunger back in.
  7. Wait for two minutes.
  8. Give it a bit of a swirl, wait for another 30s.
  9. Slowly push the plunger down to push the coffee out into your mug.
  10. To clean. Take the end cap off. Push the plunger all the way through over a bin. This will push out the coffee, the used filter and also clean the tube. Give the end a clean in the sink.
  11. Store with the plunger pushed through and the end cap on.

V60 (pour over) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Good for filter coffee for two or more people.

This is surprisingly hard to get right, you might want to watch a video before doing it! (also see https://yourdreamcoffee.com/james-hoffmann-v60-brewing-technique/)

There is a goose-neck pourer to make it easier, rather than doing it straight from the kettle.

  1. Put a filter paper in the V60, rinse it out.
  2. Put the V60 on top of the glass carafe.
  3. Add coffee (15g per person), and make a small well in the centre.
  4. Pour (30-45g per person) of water over the coffee until it's all wet. Swirl, and let bloom for 30-45s.
  5. Pour (150g per person) water into the filter slowly.
  6. Let sit for a moment, then pour the rest of the water in.
  7. Give a swirl by hand or with a teaspoon a couple of times as it's draining.