Hi FC I did follow your link to the other topic re filling coffee to the right level etc. Have gone through all of that and checked it, and believe that I'm doing that correctly. Thanks for that link - most helpful. I should have acknowledged your help with that before. I will also say that my coffee is now tasting pretty good! I have read so much info on these pages - followed many of the forum discussions (including wondering whether to try roasting coffee in my old pop corn popper then deciding that perhaps there are other ways - thanks "Reschsmooth") and had a look at a few people's coffee-related websites. Quite a few years ago I knew someone with a coffee tree who didn't use the beans, so we picked them, roasted them and ground them to use just in a plunger. I can't remember how we did it but with no specialised equipment and with reasonable results I think. I will have a few coffee trees with beans hopefully happening in about 1 and half years (they're still babies now) so I have a little while to figure it all out. Wont mind if the results aren't as perfect as those of the career specialist roaster, but as has been said elsewhere - the thrill and satisfaction of doing it all yourself makes up for that somewhat. (And I bake all our bread, make all our preserved fruit/jam/pasta, etc. I really should be doing the coffee too!) Anyway, back from that tangent, my coffee now really does taste good, but as it is one of my only really self-indulgent luxuries, and as I don't get near great cafes often, (and also as I have an obsession with being able to create wonderful food that awakens senses, and coffee can certainly do that), I am now just working on getting it better. Unfortunately, although the easy solution would be purchase of a better machine and a grinder, that is not an option at the moment, so I have to look down other paths. Does anyone know of somewhere near Hornsby that I can purchase small quantities of freshly ground beans with which to experiment? Fiona K
