The journal.

We landed a fresh batch from Rukira Cooperative last week and it has been resting for the past six days. On the bar from Monday, and it is one of the brightest coffees we have had in a long time.

Blackcurrant leaps out of it. Then blood orange, then a long finish of brown sugar and something like dried apricot. Best as a V60. If you take it as an espresso, ask for it a little longer than usual, it opens up.

The seasonal special this month is a rhubarb and pistachio bun. Amma has been working on this one for a fortnight, the rhubarb is stewed down with cardamom and a little rose, and the pistachio goes into the dough itself so it comes out green-flecked and slightly nutty.

On the shelf from Thursday, three pounds forty, and probably gone by ten most days. Come early.

People ask us this a lot. The short version, if you have a machine at home: two big things matter, everything else is refinement. The first is the grind, and the second is the milk texture. Everything else, the machine, the beans, the water, is downstream of those two.

The full recipe with ratios, timings and the seven mistakes we made on our first year of home espresso is in the long version below.

We know this frustrates people who come down from Brighton for the afternoon. Sorry. The short answer is that Sunday afternoon is the only time we all get to be somewhere that is not the shop, and we protect it for the small team.

If you want to know where in town to go for a coffee after three on a Sunday, we have a short list at the counter. Ask.

Small thing, big difference. The old one had been on the go for four years and was starting to sound like it wanted to retire. The new one is quieter, quicker, and gives us a bit more control over the milk texture.

You will not notice a thing except that your flat white lands a minute quicker on a busy Saturday. Which is really the whole point.