Frequently Asked Questions

Shipping

Postage can vary due to many different factors, such as weight, volume and destination. For this reason the most accurate way to calculate shipping costs is to add the products(s) to your shopping basket, provide your postcode/country and an accurate postage calculation will be displayed on the checkout page. It’s quick, and easy to do! Usually if you ask us we will try to find a way to upgrade you to express delivery free of charge, depending on what you're buying. So please do ask! Our standard delivery fee for UK orders is £3.95 and Next Day delivery is £6.95 for most items and orders.

Yes indeed! We are based in London and ship to all of the UK and also many European and other global destinations too. We started our busines in 2017 and have grown from strength to strength. We love what we do! Call us anytime on 020 8050 8969.

It matters very much to us that you get your order ASAP! We almost always manage to get orders out of the door and on the road same day. When you receive it will depend on the shipping rate you have selected and of course local factors specific to your order. Once your order has shipped in most cases you will receive an email with a tracking link that will help see the progress of your order. We delight in getting orders out to our customers ASAP. If in doubt call us on 020 8050 8969 or email us at support@youbarista.co.uk

Unfortunately occasionally things don't go to plan and we understand this. Perhaps an order has arrived damaged, or a product has developed a fault. Call us or email us and we will look after you. You can click the THIS LINK to lcontact us and et us know what has happened.

Orders

There are a couple things you can do about this. If an item is not in stock you can email or call us to find out when the recovery date is. You can also use the 'Out Of Stock Notification' on the Product Page so that you will get an email the minute the item comes back in to stock. Simply type in your email address and we will notify you when it is available.

"Out of stock" usually means we're restocking with more on the way. Items like hand assembled coffee machines or coffee grinders are high demand items. They take time to build and is part of their charm. As a result these products can sometimes be out of stock for a week or two. You can always CONTACT US and we can let you know when the next shipment is due. 

Phone: 020 8050 8969

Standard Shipping: If you select standard shipping at checkout, we will ship out to you. You will usually get in within 3 days but we will always try to ensure you get it sooner if possible.

Next Day Shipping: If you upgrade to next-day shipping, your order will be shipped out ASAP so that you will get in the followong day. For orders placed before 12pm this is achieveable, and we’ll aim to get your order dispatched the same working day; or the next working day for orders placed later in the afternoon.

When your order is dispatched, you will receive an email update. You can also view the status of your order by logging into your account.

If you need to speak to us about getting something quickly then please do call on 020 8050 8969 and we will do our best to help you.

Sure! Let us know what you need doing and we will generally bend over backwards to accomodate your request. Contact Us and we will do our utmost to help you.

Because all orders are being prepared and fulfilled efficiently, it is impossible for us to make amendments once the order has left us.

However if you contact us in time to make an amendment to your delivery, we will always try to do that for you. We recommend calling us or sending us an email and we will advise of the best course of action for your specific request. Contact us here.

Yes, that's possible as long as your item/order is 100% unused and in a saleable condition. Please visit our Returns Page for more information on the Terms and Conditions of our Returns Policy.

When you buy from You Barista that is when our relationship starts. We always do our best for our customers, even after the warranty period. Please contact us if your purchase develops a fault, you need help troubleshooting a minor issue or simply to help get the most out of your coffee machine or any other equipment. We have customers who have upgraded their coffee setup several times over the years and we truly value customer loyalty.

Coffee Grinders

Very! A high quality coffee machine will produce great coffee but if the coffee has been ground by a sub-optimum coffee grinder then the quality is significantly affected. A cheap grinder can burn the oils in coffee before you’ve even brewed it. Blade grinders are the worst offenders unfortunately! They produce a grossly inconsistent grind and simply destroy any flavour and should be avoided. Burr grinders are highly recommended! A pair of burrs consist of a bottom and top plate which have sharp groves. These spin in opposition to each other and depending on how far apart they are from each other will depend on the texture/size of the grind. The bigger the burrs, the more efficient they are and heat dispersion is improved. This is more important when larger volumes of coffee need to be ground.

'Step-adjustment' coffee grinders are far less accurate than 'Stepless' coffee grinders. For pairing with high quality coffee machines and brewing espresso, the latter is required as it gives more control over the size of the grind and therefore the timing of the extraction.

Call or email us if you need any advice and we will be happy to help you!

Coffee Jargon Buster

Most small coffee machines will take a matter of minutes to heat up . However, if your machine has an E61 commercial group head, a large boiler or even two boilers, you will need to allow more time for it to fully heat up. It’ll take around 10 minutes for the machine’s boiler to get up to pressure and in theory, you will be able to make coffee but you’ll improve the quality of you cup of coffee enormously if you can allow the group head and all the metal in your machine to get properly hot and this can take up to half an hour.

This is easily managed with the help of a smart plug which will enable you to automate the on/off function, or simply make use of an app to control your coffee machine from anywhere in the world.

Absolutely yes please do! Lime scale is the biggest killer in coffee machines and causes 99% of problems. If you live in a hard water area then you’ll need to descale more frequently than in soft water areas. Thermoblock coffee machines are more difficult to descale and it’s advisable to check manufacturer’s instruction before a procedure. However, boilers will need regular cleaning. Aluminium boilers will need specialist cleaning products but stainless steel, brass and copper boilers can be descaled using citric acid or other similar products. Please ask if you are unsure.

It looks just like a round ice-hockey puck! A coffee puck is the compacted coffee that you knock out of your portafilter handle after you’ve made a delicious cup of coffee.

Both a Rotary Pump and a Vibration Pump do exactly the same job in providing 9 bar of pressure to the group head (this pressure can often be adjusted). As a general rule, vibration pumps last longer than rotary pumps. Vibration pumps are usually considerably less expensive to replace. A rotary pump has two parts – the pump and the motor, and is physically larger. If noise level is important then Rotary pumps are less noisy than a vibration pump.

It is obviously a matter of personal taste, and all depends on how you like your coffee and what machine you are using. As a general rule it should take between 22 and 32 seconds. It's a journey of discovery and every coffee is different. It is a science and an art!

This describes the quality and concentration of the oils that are harvested from the coffee while hot pressurised water is passed through it. The extraction is often timed to determine if the grind resistance is sufficient to allow the water to spend the optimum amount of time with the coffee. If an extraction time is too short, then the coffee has been ground to coarsely. If the extraction time is too long, then the coffee has been ground too finely.

A thermoblock is used to heat water and works very much the same as a domestic power shower.

A PID is the digital control seen on some premium coffee machines which display the temperature of the brew water. It stands for Proportional-Intergral-Derivative.

On a basic level, a PID controller uses the PID algorithm to determine the best way to control whatever process it's used for.

A traditional thermostat has a tendency to hit a desired temperature, then turn off the heating element as the temp rises above its target. Then it'll kick back on as the temperature falls below the target. This results in uneven temperatures that can result in inconsistent shot quality in an espresso machine. There are ways to mitigate this with many machines, but it often means learning how to ride the temperature wave with your specific machine. This may require timing the heat-up time precisely or running water through the group head before pulling a shot.

PID controllers use the PID algorithm to keep your machine at the proper brew temperature. This also means the you can directly control the temperature of the machine. While not true in every case, PID controllers are usually visible on the machine. They also usually feature control buttons to increase or decrease the brewing temperature. While this won't matter for most, for some home baristas, experimenting with different roasts and temps is key, and very rewarding!

Once coffee is put into the porta filter handle it requires tamping down, this means compacting the coffee evenly in the basket. Various methods are used but all require a tamper which is a handle with a base that perfectly matches the size of your portafilter handle.

If you tamp too hard, then you restrict the flow of water through the coffee often resulting in a bitter tasting coffee. If you don’t tamp hard enough then water simply rushes through past the coffee and doesn’t pick up the flavours on its way past. It is thought that about 12-15 kilograms of pressure gives the best result, however this will depend on personal taste and the grinder used to grind the coffee.

This is referred to as the method of evenly distributing the coffee in a porta filter handle. This is to ensure a high quality and even extraction of your coffee.

A naked portafilter handle has no base to the bowl in the handle. A basket (usually between 18 to 21g) hangs in the handle and the perforated bottom is therefore exposed and visible. It is advantageous as it confirms that the distribution of coffee is uniform and even. If this is achieved you should see no spraying of coffee and the extraction will funnel centrally to form a single pour. It is often said that the extraction is smoother than when using a standard portafilter handle.

I have an Unanswered Question!

We always love to help so call us on 020 8050 8969 or send us an email at support@youbarista.co.uk and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

You can also use our CONTACT US page.