Coffee Catch-All

I recently bought $540 of beans of various origin from Larry's Beans for work and friends. I am a coffee pusher.

shiitake wrote:

The biggest challenge that we have at work is actually our setup. We have the typical workplace coffee machine with water line and several warming plates. The problem is that folks will brew a fresh pot straight onto the hot plate which makes it taste horrible. I've finally trained enough folks to turn off the warming plate when brewing that most days I can get a decent cup.

We have a Starbucks iCup machine at work. It's Starbucks beans, which is a tad unfortunate, but you really can't beat having a cup of coffee ground and brewed to order... for free, no less.

Minarchist wrote:

The true drink of the populace is the leaf of the gods—that gentle, ebullient, multi-cultural, complex, wonderful elixir plucked with care from the tip of nature's bounty! I scoff at you, lined up like lemmings at Starbucks just to be able to get through the day. True enlightenment can only be obtained at the bottom of a TGFOP Darjeeling, you pitiful, pitiful creatures.

Oolong is better

A colleague of mine buys bulk organic beans from southern Mexico & Guatemala, and roasts them himself. Great flavor, though not really suitable for espresso or anything like that. It finally got me back into drinking coffee for the first time in about 20 years, after developing something of an allergy to it in high school.*

*Not really an allergy, more like an extreme sensitivity to caffeine. In high school I worked 40 hours a week at a horrible frozen tropical drinks place in a suburban mall, the kind where they make you wear Hawaiian shirts, and sometimes even grass skirts. And I'm a guy. I often pulled double shifts on the weekends, and I'd trade non-alcohol daiquiris for coffee from a place across the courtyard. During a double shift, I might drink 15-20 cups of coffee. After about a year of that, I couldn't drink a single cup without freaking out--noticeably raised heartbeat, and extreme irritability. My girlfriend made me quit, as it only took one cup to turn me into a d*ck for the next several hours.

That's so much freaking caffeine man.

I'm half-way to a tweaker by cup number three.

absurddoctor, since you're in Brooklyn, you may be able to get some Dean's Beans beans locally in a store there. They are pretty close to where I live in Massachusetts, and New York City is only a few hours from here. They do the fair trade and organic thing, which isn't hugely important to me personally (ok, fair trade is pretty good), but the beans are freaking amazing regardless. The company is run by a couple dudes who really know, love, and live coffee - they actually go as far as flying out and personally visiting the farms where the beans they roast are grown.

Sorry if someone already mentioned this (I skimmed... sorry, have to run to lunch!), but I use an Aeropress, and it makes some of the best coffee I've had. It's cheap and yet you end up with incredibly high quality coffee.

Minarchist wrote:

Stuff about tea

I agree though I prefer Earl Grey.

shiitake wrote:
jonstock wrote:
shiitake wrote:

This past weekend I tried cold brewing for the first time. Anyone else tried that?

I haven't tried it myself, but one of my friends is a recent convert and swears by it. What did you think? The coffee is supposed to be less acidic, I hear.

It was very easy to do and the coffee tasted great - so I would recommend trying it.

I'm sure you can find some recipes online but what i did was 1 cup of ground coffee in pitcher of 4 1/2 cups water. Stir it and put it in your fridge for 12-24 hours. Then strain out the coffee.

I've been drinking it with a tiny bit of creamer and half-water and it's been great.

EDIT: Nevermind, I read 1 cup as 1 pound.

I started making cold-brewed coffee this summer and have made it twice so far. I usually use a 1/2 lb. french roast w/ a little chichory (1-2 oz.) to about 5 c. water and brew it over night. Then I strain it with a sieve. The second time I also sent it through a coffee strainer to catch extra sediment.

I like to mix it with 2% milk and vanilla sugar in about a 1 part extract to 3 part milk ratio. The recipe I based it off is here. Note that I'm not a huge coffee drinker. I do think the cold brewed coffee is far less acidic (I thought I read it was up to 2/3 less acidic) but that could be confirmation bias and the fact that I'm already drinking it with milk. It doesn't upset my stomach like regular coffee sometimes does.

I did just pick up a french press last Christmas. It's nice, I haven't had any real issues with it as and I don't foresee any as long as I'm careful. I'd really like to get a grinder for beans, but for right now I just get a small amount when I hit up the coffee shop. I really like to know the source of the beans (fair-trade, shade-grown, etc).

I may be weird but I prefer a light coffee when I wake up and I just use Folgers Morning Blend. I go with better coffee and I grind it when I drink coffee after work. I drink a lot of coffee, always black, but rarely ever go for anything fancy like lattes or cappuccinos.

I used to drink fancy brands but I found I enjoy just as much of the cheap stuff and well, it's cheap.

Beanwise, Tanzanian Peaberry is the king. Any of the African beans are amazing, but Tanzanian Peaberry is the winner.

d4m0 wrote:

Sorry if someone already mentioned this (I skimmed... sorry, have to run to lunch!), but I use an Aeropress, and it makes some of the best coffee I've had. It's cheap and yet you end up with incredibly high quality coffee.

I was thinking of getting one of these.

Poor Old Lu wrote:

Turkish coffee, in particular, was a revelation in college.

I used to very much not like coffee. Then, mochas became my gateway drug. Then, I recently have tried Cuban, Brazilian, and Turkish coffee (all variations on the strong-brewed, sweetened variety).

Turns out I don't dislike coffee, I dislike crappy American coffee. =)

I am not a coffee elitist. I love coffee that tastes like dirt and nails.

Also, sometimes I add a drop of vanilla extract to my coffee/milk/sugar.

In my own experience: the grinder doesn't matter at all. Anything that breaks up the beans reasonably well is fine. You can buy the expensive burr grinders, but if you're using a French press, as any sane person should, it won't matter.

The older $20 Bodum presses are really, really good. They use a stainless steel mesh and last until you break the glass. The newer insulated ones have much less-durable plastic meshes. You can find both at Target. Get one with a stainless steel mesh and you can use it for the rest of your life, pretty much, as long as you don't drop it. Buy a thermos too -- brew the coffee, let it steep however long you like, and pour it into the thermos. Hot, delicious coffee all day, or until you run out.

Careful water temperature control will give you the best results. I tend not to bother, I just dump boiling water into the press, stir, and let it steep, but if you're really a perfectionist, getting the water temperature exactly right will give you slightly better coffee.

The single biggest quality increase comes from the French press -- even cheap beans will taste fairly good, as long as you avoid the nasty supermarket flavored beans. (those are HORRIBLE quality beans coated in fake flavorings to hide how bad they are.)

The second biggest quality increase is good beans. The way to find good beans is to eat one or two beans out of the bin -- just crunch them up right there. You'll learn very rapidly which beans are good and which aren't. But once you've gotten to good quality, further increases are minor and very expensive -- 'best' beans are maybe 10% better, but will cost at least twice as much, sometimes a lot more. However, do sample widely to get an idea of the different flavors, because there may be something out there that will suit you perfectly without costing much (if any) more.

Most further increases in quality are minor and expensive. The press and good beans will do 85% of the work for practically no effort and minimal expense. Water temperature control is a free small improvement. Grinders don't matter much with a press. You don't beat the beans to death, you just whack them with four or five quick pulses to break them into reasonably small pieces. You're not really 'grinding' them, and in fact you want to be careful not to overdo it, because you'll get more sludge in your cup -- the smallest pieces come through the mesh. With a press, even calling it a 'grind' is a bit of a misnomer. Calling it a 'shatter' would be more accurate.

If you're REALLY hardcore, you can roast your own beans -- Make magazine has plans for a little self-built roaster that will cost about $40. I've never tried that, but I've seen people just go nuts raving about how much better the coffee is -- brewing immediately after roasting apparently captures much more of the original coffee flavor, before the oils evaporate in the air.

I like my coffee like my women ... dark, strong, and bitter.

wanderingtaoist wrote:
pneuman wrote:

lots of good advice

Thanks for the tips, I think I'll go for the grinder then. And then I'll need to upgrade my presso machine... I love great-tasting coffee.

Anyway, how do you store the unground/unroasted beans? Just cool and dry or do they need some extra treatment? Any tips on roasting - is pan-roasting OK or special equipment is required?

Roasted, unground beans should ideally be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. I'm lazy, so I use zip-lock bags For the green beans, you don't need airtight storage -- any cool, dry place will do the job. When I buy my green beans they come in 2.5kg calico bags, so I just keep the beans in those.

You can roast in a pan or an oven, but you won't get ideal results, and you will get a lot of mess. Coffee beans throw off a lot of chaff as they roast, so you want to do it outdoors if possible. The method I use is called the "heat gun" or "dog bowl" method, and it's cheap to get started with. All you need is:

* a heat gun (ie: the type used for stripping paint) -- I paid AU$40 for mine at the local hardware store
* a stainless steel dog bowl
* a wooden spoon
* a colander or second bowl that you can use to help cool the beans after roasting

The basic process involves putting the beans in the bowl, applying heat with the heat gun, and stirring with the wooden spoon to ensure an even roast. Once the beans are roasted enough, you toss them between your bowl and colander until they cool down. If you Google for "coffee roast dog bowl" or "coffee roast heat gun" you'll get a tonne of hits, but this page is a good thorough introduction:

http://www.homeroaster.com/heatgun.html

There are some good videos on Youtube as well.

Malor wrote:

In my own experience: the grinder doesn't matter at all. Anything that breaks up the beans reasonably well is fine. You can buy the expensive burr grinders, but if you're using a French press, as any sane person should, it won't matter.

You're right to say that it doesn't matter as much for a french press, but a decent burr grinder will still produce a better coffee than a cheap blade grinder. Having a nice even grind lets you get a fuller extraction while minimising any powdery sludge. With espresso, a good grinder is vital, so if you think you might ever get an espresso machine you might as well get a good grinder to start with.

Malor wrote:

If you're REALLY hardcore, you can roast your own beans -- Make magazine has plans for a little self-built roaster that will cost about $40. I've never tried that, but I've seen people just go nuts raving about how much better the coffee is -- brewing immediately after roasting apparently captures much more of the original coffee flavor, before the oils evaporate in the air.

You can drink beans straight after roasting, but they should ideally be rested a few days beforehand. Fresh-roasted beans exhale a remarkable amount of CO2 for several days after roasting, which is called "outgassing", and this can interfere with the flavour of the coffee, and particularly the crema if you're making espresso.

The general wisdom is that beans are good to drink at about 3-5 days after roasting, ideal after a week or so, and then still good until about 2-3 weeks after roasting, though different beans and different roasts give different results. A few years ago, Australia's entrant in the World Barista Championship used beans from a local roaster that didn't taste their best until 28 days after roasting!

About 10 years ago I picked up a Coffee Gaggia espresso/cappuccino machine from a yard sale. I have not used it in quite a few years due to a lack of kitchen counter space but it made a damn fine cup of coffee. I now rely on a Bodum french press to quietly fill my mug. One of the best roasts I ever had (Flor Azul, Nicaragua Micro-Lot: Las Brumas) came from Intelligentsia coffee.

By the way, has anyone brewed coffee with a Chemex Coffee Maker?

IMAGE(http://media2.moma.org/collection_images/resized/101/w500h420/CRI_1101.jpg)

pneuman, thanks so much for all the tips. A man always needs a project and mine is now officially roasting my own beans. I just finished my former project - making my own sourdough for homemade bread - and was in search for the new one. I'm lucky that my girlfriend loves good coffee and will therefore tolerate my new experiments

Poor Old Lu wrote:

I like my coffee like my women ... dark, strong, and bitter.

I need to introduce you to my mom.

peacensunshine wrote:

I need to introduce you to my mom.

Too late.

[size=2]Sorry, someone had to[/size]

Poor Old Lu wrote:

I like my coffee like my women ... dark, strong, and bitter.

I like my coffee like my women ... anally.

peacensunshine wrote:
Poor Old Lu wrote:

I like my coffee like my women ... dark, strong, and bitter.

I need to introduce you to my mom.

I learned the hard way, once, that waitresses do not find that little "bon mot" clever or humorous.

cool to know there are so many smart coffee folks here. I've not tried vanilla extract in my coffee but now i'm super curious.

btw - every time i heard the phrase 'bon mot' i think of patton oswalt's bit from his Feelin' Kinda Patton album - "Have you heard Oswalt's latest bon mot? It's the rage in all the salons"

I also encourage the purchase of a basic burr grinder.... a blade grinder is fine with a drip machine, but if you're using a press, an even grind makes a difference. That said, all you need is a basic one. Starbucks sometimes has old models on sale for super cheap...I got a previously $130 grinder for around $40, I think. They make some with 30 different grinds....not really necessary

Something else that's fun, is to try beans from different coffee growing regions. It will help you figure out what your personal preferences are. There are three main regions:

http://www.coffee-makers-cafe.com/coffee-beans-by-region.html#regionGroups

One of your local coffee shops should be able to help you try a few from different regions.

beeporama wrote:
Poor Old Lu wrote:

I like my coffee like my women ... dark, strong, and bitter.

I like my coffee like my women ... anally.

" ... In a plastic cup."

I'm trying to decide which is a better song, The Descendents' "Coffee Mug" or Lagwagon's "Mr. Coffee." I'm leaning towards the 'Wagon.

doubleplusungood wrote:

One of the best roasts I ever had ... came from Intelligentsia coffee.

By the way, has anyone brewed coffee with a Chemex Coffee Maker?

Amen to Intelligentsia. I'm between grinders right now (the horror!), but they're nice enough to grind their beans to suit my preference when I buy a bag (not to mention the free cup of drip). And what wonderful beans they are.

Have yet to try the Chemex, but I've been intrigued for a couple years now.

I have double-failed. Not only did I not find good coffee threads when searching for it here, but I also didn't notice that I already had this coffee thread in my tracking. So uh... *bump*

Anyways, I've finally gotten around to putting my money where my coffee-hole is, and am going to try to reproduce the yummy coffee I had in Europe.

I've got an AeroPress, a grinder, and a decent-sounding tuscan espresso blend that will hopefully somewhat match what I had in Italy.

I just cleaned my equipment (:hump:) and I'm waiting for it to dry now, I'll make my first cup in a few.

Wish me luck!

Small critiques. That type of grinder (I don't think its burr from reading the description) can result in an uneven grind. Ideally you want a burr grinder which uses 2 cones to grind the coffee to a uniform measure.
Second, I'm a bigger fan of french press as compared to aeropress as the aeropress requires filters, doesn't make 6 cups at a time, and also kills all the grit and oil.

boogle wrote:

Small critiques. That type of grinder (I don't think its burr from reading the description) can result in an uneven grind. Ideally you want a burr grinder which uses 2 cones to grind the coffee to a uniform measure.

Alright. I was going for cheap and accessible, and it's the least sucky one that Target had. (Forgot to look into grinders when I investigated the rest of the stuff.)

boogle wrote:

Second, I'm a bigger fan of french press as compared to aeropress as the aeropress requires filters, doesn't make 6 cups at a time, and also kills all the grit and oil.

Those all sound like attributes that will be good for me, I'm looking for a smooth non-bitter espresso so I definitely don't need 6 cups at a time, and the grit and oil sounds like something I would not like as well.

We'll see shortly, gonna fire it up.

You just don't drink the bottom of the cup.