I am a bit unsophisticated when it comes to coffee. I usually drink cheap coffee brewed in an automatic coffee maker. I do own an espresso maker and French press, though, and use them when I have the time. I'm interested in getting a manual drip coffee maker and a Turkish coffee pot as well. And a grinder, of course.
Really the area I'm unsophisticated in is the coffee itself. I don't know much about the different types of beans and blends and everything. Since I usually drink the coffee in the break room at work, I usually drink the Target off-brand original roast stuff. If I remember correctly, though, I particularly enjoyed some type of African (maybe Kenyan?) coffee. It was very sweet. Usually I add a bit of milk to my coffee, but the African coffee I could drink black.
I'll have to go through this thread and see if I can educate myself a bit on coffee, because I really do enjoy it.
On April 13 2011 08:04 Fryght wrote: I have a Philips Senseo and a Nespresso machine. The Nespresso machine is nice for a good strong espresso and I use the Senseo for regular joe. Particularly like the coffee/caramel blend and strong espresso.
This way supposedly is good for brewing coffee as well, but haven't had a chance to try it yet:
we are talking about coffee here, not senseo. Nespresso is ok I guess, but those things cannot beat old fashioned filtercoffee. Wake up, make a pot and get studying... or procrastinate on TL
On April 26 2011 04:13 five99one wrote: I am a bit unsophisticated when it comes to coffee. I usually drink cheap coffee brewed in an automatic coffee maker. I do own an espresso maker and French press, though, and use them when I have the time. I'm interested in getting a manual drip coffee maker and a Turkish coffee pot as well. And a grinder, of course.
Really the area I'm unsophisticated in is the coffee itself. I don't know much about the different types of beans and blends and everything. Since I usually drink the coffee in the break room at work, I usually drink the Target off-brand original roast stuff. If I remember correctly, though, I particularly enjoyed some type of African (maybe Kenyan?) coffee. It was very sweet. Usually I add a bit of milk to my coffee, but the African coffee I could drink black.
I'll have to go through this thread and see if I can educate myself a bit on coffee, because I really do enjoy it.
Just like in wine learning about coffee is about tasting different blends, testing things out. You can say so much about wine but in essence it is about finding flavours through experience and trying to remember it for future drinking.
On April 26 2011 04:13 five99one wrote: I am a bit unsophisticated when it comes to coffee. I usually drink cheap coffee brewed in an automatic coffee maker. I do own an espresso maker and French press, though, and use them when I have the time. I'm interested in getting a manual drip coffee maker and a Turkish coffee pot as well. And a grinder, of course.
Really the area I'm unsophisticated in is the coffee itself. I don't know much about the different types of beans and blends and everything. Since I usually drink the coffee in the break room at work, I usually drink the Target off-brand original roast stuff. If I remember correctly, though, I particularly enjoyed some type of African (maybe Kenyan?) coffee. It was very sweet. Usually I add a bit of milk to my coffee, but the African coffee I could drink black.
I'll have to go through this thread and see if I can educate myself a bit on coffee, because I really do enjoy it.
Just like in wine learning about coffee is about tasting different blends, testing things out. You can say so much about wine but in essence it is about finding flavours through experience and trying to remember it for future drinking.
Yes, I was thinking that coffee is similar to wines/cigars. It's all about experiencing the tastes and learning through tasting.
Here is the basic theory of the technique as I understand it:
1. The brewing ratio is critical. So using a scale to weigh the grounds and the water will make a remarkable difference to the consistency of your coffee. I like 70g of grounds per liter of water. My press pot will hold about 700g if water, so usage 49/50g of grounds to the hot water.
2. Grind size matters. For French press, the coffee should be ground coarse and have a uniform particle distribution (actually the distribution is trimodal, but that’s a tangent). Only burr grinders can achieve this. If you don’t have a decent burr grinder, have your beans ground for French Press by a reputable coffee shop. (BTW, I recently looked at good burr grinders for home use and can highly recommend the Baratza virtuoso preciso. A bit pricey, but really the only decent one IMO at an almost affordable price point.)
3. Keep the brewing time consistent. I use 4 minutes for the grind size I use and will adjust the brewing ratio to find the ideal strength for my cup of coffee. Grind size, brewing ratio, and brewing time all interact, so adjusting only the brewing ratio helps me from getting confused when I’m dialing things in for a new batch of beans.
4. I will usually not cover the press during the steeping. I like to allow the grounds to “bloom” as much as possible. Anything that prevents this tends to yield an uneven extraction from the cake of coffee.
5. Skimming makes an amazing difference. I was shocked just how big this difference was when I first tried it, but it makes sense. The basic French Press design allows a lot of the “fines” from the coffee to pass through the plunged screen. These fines continue to steep in the coffee, resulting in very over extracted coffee with a bitter taste and a muddy mouthfeel. By skimming the cake of swollen grounds before plunging, you’re throwing out a lot of these fines, so you end up with less overextraction and a cleaner mouthfeel.
Cold brewing takes time. However, it dissolves through the grounds only certain elements of the coffee. Surprisingly enough, about 90% of the flavor elements and the normal caffeine content come through this way, while only about 15% of the oils and acids will. It WILL change the taste of your coffee, but not the way you might think. It will strongly concentrate those most volatile flavor elements that most people like, making "super-flavor" coffee. The flavor elements you like about a given coffee will probably be up to twice as strong, yet the overall brew will have far less bite and acidity.
Is this a good thing? For people who like the acid and bite, which is part of the attraction of strong coffee, they may not like cold brewing. Other people take one sip and say "Oh my God, that is fantastic." Our recommendation is simple: Try it once or twice and see if you like it. Also, different varieties will respond to cold brewing differently, so it's hard to predict.
Cold brewed coffee is as easy as you would imagine -- there are easy peasy directions for making this on the site I linked.
After reading through a few pages, I would say this cold brew method I linked is much easier than the "Dutch brew" style a few pages back.
Another person mentioned not liking the texture of un-melted sugar in their coffee. Using condensed milk in this cold-brewed coffee is a good way around this.
Black and bitter is nice, but come on people. The season for swamp ass is coming, and I know you don't want to pick up a frappuccino from the gas station or starbucks. Let's do it right. :D
On April 13 2011 09:15 beastmode548 wrote: anyone have recommendations for ground espresso that is pretty affordable?
ive tried illy (good but expensive), medaglia d'oro (NASTY!), and lavazza(good and cheap), but i'd like to try a few more out before i settle on one. im not much of a coffee snob, so im not looking to buy fancy/expensive/rare coffee that is pooped out of an exotic animal (true story), but any recommendations from the master leaguers would be nice.
Also, I tend to prefer something closer to a medium roast over the darker roasts (sorry if that offends you purists).
I also prefer medium roast espresso blends, I recommend you can try Segafreddo, sorry but I can't recall a lot of names at this moment
I'm currently in the market for a decent grinder/espresso machine however every time I make up my mind my wants far exceed my budget.
This reminds me of the GSL when Tasteless mentioned trying to sip his coffee and letting lings in his base, I burst out laughing because I've been there trying to sip my coffee and sc'ing online.
*edit* Also I saw boxer drinking coffee when he was at GSL one time too! Boxer approves of coffee.
Is americano when you add water after you made an espresso?
I drink coffee with milk if "manual drip coffee" can't stand the watery taste, if I can get espresso coffee i drink it black.
Yes. Americano = espresso + water.
If you want to get technical, Americano is water poured on to Espresso and a Long Black is Espresso poured into water (well at least in some coffee shops)
On April 28 2011 14:21 TMStarcraft wrote: I was reading this the other day, wondering if anyone has the equipment/money to try it out. How to Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee
Here is the basic theory of the technique as I understand it:
1. The brewing ratio is critical. So using a scale to weigh the grounds and the water will make a remarkable difference to the consistency of your coffee. I like 70g of grounds per liter of water. My press pot will hold about 700g if water, so usage 49/50g of grounds to the hot water.
2. Grind size matters. For French press, the coffee should be ground coarse and have a uniform particle distribution (actually the distribution is trimodal, but that’s a tangent). Only burr grinders can achieve this. If you don’t have a decent burr grinder, have your beans ground for French Press by a reputable coffee shop. (BTW, I recently looked at good burr grinders for home use and can highly recommend the Baratza virtuoso preciso. A bit pricey, but really the only decent one IMO at an almost affordable price point.)
3. Keep the brewing time consistent. I use 4 minutes for the grind size I use and will adjust the brewing ratio to find the ideal strength for my cup of coffee. Grind size, brewing ratio, and brewing time all interact, so adjusting only the brewing ratio helps me from getting confused when I’m dialing things in for a new batch of beans.
4. I will usually not cover the press during the steeping. I like to allow the grounds to “bloom” as much as possible. Anything that prevents this tends to yield an uneven extraction from the cake of coffee.
5. Skimming makes an amazing difference. I was shocked just how big this difference was when I first tried it, but it makes sense. The basic French Press design allows a lot of the “fines” from the coffee to pass through the plunged screen. These fines continue to steep in the coffee, resulting in very over extracted coffee with a bitter taste and a muddy mouthfeel. By skimming the cake of swollen grounds before plunging, you’re throwing out a lot of these fines, so you end up with less overextraction and a cleaner mouthfeel.
I'm more of a modafinil fan myself
I have the equipment to try this, but i can tell you from experience that the resulting coffee will probably be fairly bitter and focus a lot on coffee's more polarizing characteristics. Its a reasonable base to start from, but I think he brews for significantly too long, 3 minutes is sufficient to extract most of the interesting flavour notes from most coffee (specifically excluding a lot of the bitterness). Unfortunately, he doesn't state the temperature, so if he is brewing at an unusually low temperature, it would make perfect sense; however, if that is the case he needs to state it as a few degrees difference can make a significant change in coffee flavour (i would be blown away if the Fat Duck didn't have the temperature down to half degree accuracy actually). Basically, this will make a good cup of coffee, but calling it the 'perfect' cup is hyperbole, especially when the column author left out critical information.
As an aside, I tend to vary the grind:water proportion and the brewing time while trying to dial in my coffee instead of just one of the two like he does. In my experience, varying the brew time tends to change the flavour profile of the resulting coffee while changing the coffee:water ratio tends to change the intensity of the present flavour profile, so depending on what a specific roast's problems are it makes sense to change one or the other, or both.
Yeah I totally agree, perfect is very subjective. But you guys definitely seem to know your stuff, makes me wish coffee didn't give me a such headache.
They do have a video which suggests freshly boiled water (but no exact temperatures), so if you do try it out let us know how it goes.
Yeah with a long black you're supposed to pour the espresso so that the crema slides across the top of the hot water, whereas americano you pour the water into the espresso, not preserving the crema.