What kind of beans are you drinking? Where do you source them, and how much does it run you.
How to you brew it? Tips, Tricks techniques. Whats important whats not.
Sumatra Mandheling. It's a rich low acid coffee. Might be too low acid for some people. I've got some Columbia and Yirgacheffe around as well. I only got the Colombia for retail this week, no bulk so I haven't really drank much. It's low acid as well and pretty a typical Columbia. I've cold brewed all the Ethiopian and sold a shit ton of it. People seem to be digging it. I'm in a cold brew funk and an Ethiopian funk as well, just not in the mood for either and I couldn't tell you objectively what I think of it. Doing pour-overs with stainless steel paperless filters. Fuck paper filters, they cost money and leave a bit of spitball flavor (you have to be a real bitch to actually be bothered by the flavor). I'm in favor of steel or gold cones. Otherwise I'm using a venerable Astoria espresso machine, a brand new Fetco brewer and a linen bag with a 5 gallon bucket for the cold brew.
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.
Chinese teas. Long Jing (Dragon Well) green, Imperial Peony white. Not big on black tea. Green: there are dozens of Chinese green teas. I simply prefer Long Jing. It's hard to describe. It's a deep, rich flavour, but not overwhelmingly heavy. I also like Japanese green tea – loose, not matcha. It's a very green flavour, brighter than Chinese teas. Straight matcha is a little too sharp for my taste, though occasionally I'll drink it with sugar and milk, a la Starbucks, as a "dessert", not a tea. If you're ever in Denver, there's a coffee shop in Union Station that serves it well. And when I need the caffeine, Gunpowder Green, which is halfway between green and black. White: real white tea doesn't come in many varieties. There's essentially Peony, Imperial-grade Peony, and Silver Needles. They're more grades than varieties. Silver needles is expensive. I could afford it, but the taste is a little too heady for me, and it just doesn't feel necessary. So I favour Imperial Peony. Herbal: I like pure flavours. The mix-flavour boxes in US stores feel like Wal-Mart Culture. Bulk loose single-herb teas are inexpensive, and good in their simplicity. Lemongrass, lavender, ginko, passionflower. Always straight, never with sweeteners or milk. Dessert is dessert, and tea is tea. Tea is not dessert. Though if you've never had matcha in ice cream, you're missing out. It's amazing. For preparation, an electric kettle and a tea ball. One of these at work.
I have the luxury of working in one of the best cafes where I'm from. Every morning I get to make myself multiple coffees on our sweet La Marzocco Linea PB espresso machine. The thing's a dream. So much nicer than our old Linea Classic. We use Campos coffee. It's incredible. Every now and then we'll use some of the single origin beans for cold brew and pour-over, but office drones aren't really concerned with that sort of thing. They just want caffeine. The trick to good milk on these machines is stretching the milk nice and slowly. We block two of the holes on our steam wands to restrict the steam flow, as well as allowing us better control of the milk direction during the folding process. This makes the whole process a cinch... I've only really been learning how to do this for three months and I'm improving all the time. I'm pretty consistently getting rosettas to look like this:
Either cold brew with a contraption that looks like it came out of a Victorian meth lab or an Aeropress. I have a decent espresso machine, which sits unused because as tasty as espresso is, it's not worth the pain of cleaning the thing. There is one place within half an hour's drive that sells fresh beans, so I take whatever they've got.
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I got myself a Nespresso Umilk last year: Basically, when I drink coffee, it's usually only one or two cups in the span of a few hours. So something like a Keurig machine makes sense, were it not that the coffee is terrible. This one is basically a Keurig machine that produces perfect Italian ristrettos and lungos every single time. The Umilk also has a frother because I like me some cappuchinos. About €0.20 per cup which is not that cheap but I get my coffee exactly the way I want it ever time and it is super easy to use. Currently I drink mostly Douwe Egberts cups.
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Not a coffee aficionado, being medically prohibited from much caffeine for a very long time. Now I find myself able to enjoy the equivalent of about a cup of coffee a day. I find some popular styles taste like poison. Starbucks tastes scorched to me. So I have no problem with the quick and easy instant solution. Tea, on the other hand has been a useful and enjoyable beverage. So many beverages we call tea. I like the red (rooibos) for something different with a couple fingers of almond milk. Decaf green tea provably helps me sleep. Likely because of the L-theanine it contains. And now that I can do a bit of caffeine, genmaicha is pretty awesome in the day. Having been without coffee and now allowed a bit again, I make the following observation; folks able to take advantage of the drug caffeine have a decided productivity advantage over those unable to use it. Don't take that boost for granted. You might not always have it.
I have that wonderful Trader Joe's instant coffee. I don't drink coffee everyday, only if I need the caffeine. If I have a test that morning and I need the caffeine though, I'll probably be drinking some higher quality oolong. Even worse than using the instant though is that often, I don't even 'use' it. I just dip in my spoon, and shove a heaping teaspoon in my mouth. Lazy man's caffeine pills.
Damn, a while ago a West Point cadet found out that the Army coffee rations can be taken like tobacco dip, and theyve been using it to stay awake during lectures and briefs during basic training ever since. I'll see if simply shoving it in my mouth works and get back to you :D
Have you tried their new single-serve pourover in a bag. I kind of just want to try it and see what's it like but am also very scared.
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, from a co-op south of Yirgacheffe proper called Halo Bariti. Bought a half pound already roasted and a pound to roast myself--comparing the flavors they bring out. Happy Mug's has much more strong dried blueberry. I use a popcorn popper yet I've managed to roast out decent flavors; raisin with a side of blueberry ain't so bad. I just got a Chemex. Love the thing. Using the bleached square Chemex filters. I also use an Aeropress. A lot. Our club has a Bonavita BV1900TS as well, which we use on occasion.
I mostly use light or medium roasts from Colombia or Guatemala, But I've started experimenting with some dark roasts for my cold brew. I have wanted to go around to my local roasters to try and find the best beans close to me, but laziness means I mostly get bulk from the local grocery store. I have a slow drip cold brew tower that use to try and keep cold brew available all the time with. I haven't been to successful to achieve a consistant brew each time, but I need to start tracking my measurement to experiment and find the best ratio. If I am in the mood for a hot cup, I use a single serve french-press/thermos. This was actually a gift and I was pretty skeptical, but I'll have ended up using it almost daily, makes a perfect cup and keeps the coffee hot for longer than I've ever needed. Cream, no sugar.
I get some brown beans from my local store and tell them to make it go whirrr and now the beans are gone and replaced with brown dust. I put a cup under a special ceramic funnel and slip a paper cone upside-down into the funnel and the brown dust goes woosh when i pour water over it. Also, condensed milk beats any creamer, milk, or sugar by a long-shot.
I get whatever beans are on sale at the grocery store (but someday I'll probably take up home-roasting, in my copious free time ;-) I used to use a low-end espresso machine, but for the last couple of years I've been using the Aeropress, and I recommend it highly. Makes a damn fine cup. It can't froth milk like an espresso machine, but I drink it black so I don't care.
Cheap-shit Kivu house blend from Fred Meyer 'cuz it's fresh-roasted and $7.99 a pound. Based on discussion with cgod I've tended to look for the roast that's not shiny but also not dull and it's almost always the house blend. They've got a "kona" too but I'll be damned if those beans have ever been to Hawaii. Ground 4 cups at a time, drip brewed into a thermos via a ceramic filter holder, unbleached melitta #2s and a gold filter for backup because the melittas split sometimes and grounds in my coffee annoys me. I'm not a coffee snob by any stretch of the imagination but for people that don't really "get" coffee the act of seeking out fresh whole beans is seen as the ultimate in pretense for some reason.
Currently? I've got some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe that I just brewed through a Chemex. Kind of old beans (a month at this point) but I'd rather use the beans than get rid of them. Going to pick up some beans from one of the local roasters in Tacoma maybe tomorrow. Or tonight. Hmm. Funny, I have that same espresso machine! Been meaning to make a couple of modifications to it. Seattle has a stupid amount of great coffee. Sometimes Stumptown gives me some free beans. It's great.
You can improve the steaming stock and portafilter fairly easily on the Barista Max, I haven't done it myself yet, but sometime in the near future it's going to happen. The thing itself is actually very straightforward to take apart.
Every morning I brew a double shot of coffee is my Starbucks branded espresso machine http://coffeegeek.com/reviews/consumer/starbucks_barista. Bought it used on CL for about $100 5 years ago and surprisingly enough it still works great. Haven't had to do any maintenance on it. Not sure if it can brew to modern standards but it can brew a decent Americano as long as you don't mix too much water with it. Ive found that one of these with 2 shots is about right for water to coffee https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/custom-travelmugs/doublewallceramicmug-siliconlid11oz-white.htm?variant=BLANK&imageID=199790&gclid=CjwKEAjwlq24BRDMjdK7g8mD6BASJABBl8n3A-Ja6yZSqcaou2yyp4oQSNGjKY9HbiSenV0mSXxfRBoCxZTw_wcB. My beans... well nothing special QFC bulk KAVA Colombian roast @ $10/lb. Its probably a week or 2 old by the time it hits the bottom of the plastic bulk bin but its still fresher than the mystery bags that have probably been out for months. I could probably benefit from better/fresher beans but I haven't really found anywhere convenient to buy them and Its not worth it to go into Downtown Seattle just to get beans