You are kind of the hubski coffee expert, any tips for those of us who aren't coffee experts but want to try to brew a better cup in the mornings. There is a lot of stuff out there on the net about how you need the perfect temp, the perfect grind and beans that were roasted the morning and brewed in a $10,000 machine. A lot of that sounds like bunk, so if you you condense your knowledge down to just a few tips for the home brewer what would they be. What can most people taste and whats mostly fluff? Also is it faster/cheaper to wash the cones than it is to toss the filter? I'd be afraid of clogging up my sink.
Mostly bunk, or it's a least one assholes opinion vs's another's. Finding a coffee you really like is the most important thing you can do to increase your enjoyment. Having a consistent grind is probably the most important thing you can do to up your coffee game. i know a roaster who has a two thousand dollar grinder in his house and what is essentially a nice Mr. Coffee machine to brew with. Grinding your coffee right before you brew it does make a difference. Drinking your coffee before it gets too old makes a difference. Before the shop I tried to keep it to two weeks, now it's mostly in the week it was roasted. Some coffee doesn't taste as good right after it's roasted, it needs a day or two to gas, other stuff is significantly less delicious two days after it's been roasted. All coffee is different from country to country and even farm to farm. The way it's picked and processed, how long it's sat around, the soil, weather and probably how stinky the container it was shipped in probably all change how it reacts and tastes. People who say you have to drink it right after it's roasted or you have to wait two days are probably full of shit if you apply that advice to all coffee (maybe they are right about the coffee they handle). If you have some older coffee sitting around cold brew it. Fresh could brew is better but fuck it, give it to your friends if you are a super snob and they'll love it. Mostly you need to find coffee's you really like and a brewing method that matches your preferences for taste, effort and clean up. The best way to make coffee is up to you. Some people don't like the distinctive pour over flavor, I think it highlights the difference between beans well. I really like aeropress at home for speed and cleanup time. It's cheaper to not buy filters. You can tap and wipe most the coffee from the cone. You never run out of filters when you use a metal cone. I've got a few different metal cones and don't really think there is and appreciable difference from one to the other. My roaster uses some a fancy $60 gold cone that he has to import from Germany, I don't think it's significantly better than a $15 ghetto filter. Buy and try one of these and see what you think. http://www.amazon.com/HARIO-Stainless-Steel-Coffee-Maker/dp/B0040VIN18/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1460410193&sr=8-2&keywords=hariogoldfilter at worst you'll have a back up for when you run out of filters. I don't really know all that much about coffee, but I'm always trying to learn a bit more. I think personal preference is way more important than Dogma. If you want to get real serious about your grind you can buy a pricey spice grinder or pick up a used Bunn supermarket grinder off craigslist or ebay for about $150-200. You need a lot of space for Bunn grinder but it'd be a pretty dope household appliance. If you really want to get crazy you can put Ditting burrs in a bun grinder and even cut it down to make it take up less space as a hacking project.
Woah, this is so true...I do this. I bring cold-brew into the office sometimes...mostly the stuff I don't get around to drinking by the time some fresh stuff is made.If you have some older coffee sitting around cold brew it. Fresh could brew is better but fuck it, give it to your friends if you are a super snob and they'll love it.
Thoughts on Nespresso? They come in those cups and you dont have the liberty of choosing how to do anything but it makes a reaaally smooth cup. As picky as I may like to get (I'm with you on the Sumatra, I don't dig acidity and keep citrusy to a minimum), I can't help enjoy the convenience for what appears to be a decent brew.
Looks pretty fucking disgusting to me but coffee is about what you like, not what someone else does. If I had to choose between 7/11 or Nespresso I'd probably play it safe with 7/11 drip. I don't think you can pull a good shot of espresso with a machine under $2000 but Mr. Coffee isn't all bad for under $30 bucks. Maybe they've revolutionized coffee with science but I'm pretty sure that they are revolutionizing marketing with names like "CARAMELIZIO!" and why not, worked for Starbucks. I don't mind an acidic coffee here and there. I mostly like trying lots of different coffee that someone with a lot more dedication than me has picked out. I generally carry two to three different drip coffees every week and see at least two to three new coffees every month. It might just be from a different farm in a region I've had before but it can really make a difference. My roaster usually has about five to six single origin coffee's at his shop and he is always hunting down new interesting coffee's, it's why I chose him over the guys that put out two rock solid consistent blends that never change accompanied by two or three good single origins chosen for the the fact that they will almost always be available. I'd rather keep it interesting than rock solid reliable.
LOL. But ok, it's good to know they're that despised, even if I like the taste. Thanks. I drink coffee to increase productiom and stave off passing the fuck out at 4pm, and only from there out of my own interest think about what I'd actually like to drink. So in my case I'd say the most reliable cup is a more important goal than the most interesting. Oh what a wonderful world the ol' cup o joe.I'm pretty sure that they are revolutionizing marketing with names like "CARAMELIZIO!
If your sink can handle whatever food you want to grind up in a disposal unit, it can surely handle ground coffee, I reckon. I'd be afraid of clogging up my sink.
I thought so too but we had a clog about 6 months after moving into our last spot. Plumber said it was due to flushing the grounds down the sink. We stopped doing it and it didn't clog until we moved out a year and a half later. Could have bought a lot of filters for the price of the plumbing bill, probably would have come out even on K cups tho
I stand corrected - good to know. http://www.atomicplumbing.com/plumbing-news/is-it-safe-to-dump-coffee-grounds-down-the-sink/
Unfortunately, this isn't true. While coffee grounds down the drain may seem harmless, they're actually very problematic and are the source of a lot of clogging issues.