Coffee Catch-All

My Aerobie AeroPress came in late last week. It's awesome! A bit more involved than drip in the fact that you have to count and stir and push, but it definitely makes an awesome cup of coffee. Highly recommended.

taer wrote:

A bit more involved than drip in the fact that you have to count and stir and push,

Heh, as a barista that refused to use anything other than manually switched pulls, I can't do anything with coffee without running a subconscious count.

Ugh. I ran out of home-roasted coffee (I use the popcorn popper method) and bought a pound of store-bought to tide me over until more green beans arrive at my house. The "Eight O'Clock Coffee" brand, which I remembered liking okay back before I got used to rolling my own.

This was a terrible mistake. I should've just stuck with Red Bull for my caffeine fix in the morning.

Whenever I have coffee out at my parents', it tastes like soap. Is this more likely a water-quality issue, or a dishwasher-soap issue?

hbi2k wrote:

Ugh. I ran out of home-roasted coffee (I use the popcorn popper method) and bought a pound of store-bought to tide me over until more green beans arrive at my house. The "Eight O'Clock Coffee" brand, which I remembered liking okay back before I got used to rolling my own.

I would ask what you were thinking but that would imply thought. Are you totally dee-ranged?!

wordsmythe wrote:

Whenever I have coffee out at my parents', it tastes like soap. Is this more likely a water-quality issue, or a dishwasher-soap issue?

Probably dishwasher soap. Can you clean out their coffee maker with a vinegar and water solution before using it?

Tanglebones wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

Whenever I have coffee out at my parents', it tastes like soap. Is this more likely a water-quality issue, or a dishwasher-soap issue?

Probably dishwasher soap. Can you clean out their coffee maker with a vinegar and water solution before using it?

I think that'll be my plan from now on.

ColdForged wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

Ugh. I ran out of home-roasted coffee (I use the popcorn popper method) and bought a pound of store-bought to tide me over until more green beans arrive at my house. The "Eight O'Clock Coffee" brand, which I remembered liking okay back before I got used to rolling my own.

I would ask what you were thinking but that would imply thought. Are you totally dee-ranged?!

I had this silly idea that bad coffee would be better than no coffee. Obviously I've now learned my lesson.

Starting a part time job at Starbucks...first day: Halloween evening. I'm excited about the immediate coffee increase in my life. Also, hoping for some crazy people to come by for coffee.

Any and all stories of crazy and/or stupid customers must be posted here somewhere.

Strewth wrote:

Any and all stories of crazy and/or stupid customers must be posted here somewhere.

Consider it done!

A friend of mine opened a coffee shop and serves coffee from 49th Parallel, Detour, and Phil and Sebastian so far. He has by far the best poured coffee/espresso in the city. Its surprising how bad the coffee choices have been in Winnipeg, its either Tim Hortons or Starbucks until he opened.

Parlour Coffee is the name of his shop, if you live here I'd strongly recommend giving it a try.

Holla wrote:

Starting a part time job at Starbucks...first day: Halloween evening. I'm excited about the immediate coffee increase in my life. Also, hoping for some crazy people to come by for coffee.

Starbucks != Coffee.

I picked up a French Press the other day and have been experimenting with it. I'm getting a pretty bitter cup, which could be due to the dark roast I'm using, but I'm also wondering if the fact that I'm using pre-ground is killing my flavor. From what I read, it is the big no no, and I should at the very least have a blade grinder, and be grinding each cup as I go. What do the the coffee purists say?

Yoreel wrote:

I picked up a French Press the other day and have been experimenting with it. I'm getting a pretty bitter cup, which could be due to the dark roast I'm using, but I'm also wondering if the fact that I'm using pre-ground is killing my flavor. From what I read, it is the big no no, and I should at the very least have a blade grinder, and be grinding each cup as I go. What do the the coffee purists say?

Pre-ground coffee beans will definitely make more bitter coffee. You always want to grind right before if possible. Also, dark roasts equal burned beans. Dark roasts bring out oils that will cause bitterness. Some people like this flavor. If you go to Starbucks or any place like that, they will typically use "burnt" coffee beans. They add sugar and fat to the coffee which will make it taste a little better.

Properly roasted beans will be about a full city roast. The beans should not be oily at all. They should just be nice and brown. Beans are best 1 day to 1 week after roasting. They will be okay for another 2 weeks after that. I've noticed that after a week beans will start to make a more sour coffee and you lose a few of the interesting flavors. I always like to store beans in a vacuum seal container to help prevent oxidation.

French roasts or Italian roasts (a.k.a. burnt roasts) will last forever practically. You will get that consistent Starbucks coffee flavor out of those things even if you let it set for a month or two (as long as you grind right before). I think that's one reason Starbucks goes for those dark roasts. They last long, and you get a consistent flavor (not a flavor I'm a huge fan of personally).

You definitely want to make sure you are french pressing the coffee properly. You want 2 tablespoons ground coffee per 1 cup (8 fluid oz.) water. Boil the water, let the water sit for 40 seconds, pour the water over the coffee gently, let sit for 1 minute, stir the coffee to get rid of the crust that forms, let sit another 3 minutes for a total of 4 minutes, and press and pour the coffee. It is VERY important NOT to let the coffee sit in the french press after that four minutes or so. After 4-5 minutes, the grounds will start to release tanins which will then make your coffee bitter. You need to get the coffee out of there and into mugs or a carafe.

Also, I've noticed that plastic and steel travel mugs retain coffee oils that add bitterness and bad flavors in your coffee. Always use ceramic or glass items to make/drink coffee.

As to the blade grinder, it's not ideal, but will work. You would ideally have a burr grinder to get you an even grind that isn't so fine. With blade ground beans, you are going to get a lot of silt in the bottom of every cup. That's okay, though, because you don't have to drink that part.

A good guide to french pressing coffee is here.

Edit: My rule of thumb: If coffee tastes in any way bitter (As does at least 95% of the coffee you find anywhere), it's bad coffee. You either screwed up making it, or someone else screwed up on the beans.

What Mr. Tuff said. The way to think of ground coffee is that you're vastly increasing the surface area available to be oxidized. So leave it as beans until you need it, then grind and use it. Tastes much, much better.

Robear wrote:

What Mr. Tuff said. The way to think of ground coffee is that you're vastly increasing the surface area available to be oxidized. So leave it as beans until you need it, then grind and use it. Tastes much, much better.

Another thing I just thought about: if you absolutely have to grind it way before you make it, you can at least keep it in a vacuum seal container to get as much oxygen out of there as possible. That is what I do when I go camping or something.

There is a fun web article here explaining how freshness affects coffee. It goes into quite a bit of detail.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Robear wrote:

What Mr. Tuff said. The way to think of ground coffee is that you're vastly increasing the surface area available to be oxidized. So leave it as beans until you need it, then grind and use it. Tastes much, much better.

Another thing I just thought about: if you absolutely have to grind it way before you make it, you can at least keep it in a vacuum seal container to get as much oxygen out of there as possible. That is what I do when I go camping or something.

So your saying a chip-clip on top of the rolled up ground coffee bag isn't doing me any favors.

Yoreel wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Robear wrote:

What Mr. Tuff said. The way to think of ground coffee is that you're vastly increasing the surface area available to be oxidized. So leave it as beans until you need it, then grind and use it. Tastes much, much better.

Another thing I just thought about: if you absolutely have to grind it way before you make it, you can at least keep it in a vacuum seal container to get as much oxygen out of there as possible. That is what I do when I go camping or something.

So your saying a chip-clip on top of the rolled up ground coffee bag isn't doing me any favors.

Much as I'd love to have my coffee properly, down to roasting the beans myself, I'm happy with my current quality. Beats most of the stuff I get elsewhere. I do mostly filtered coffee.

1) find a kind of bean you can get locally and that you like. I've tried everything I can find from the local shops and have settled on one, with another, easier to find brand as backup, and a very nice, very expensive brand as a treat. It's impossible to get freshly roasted beans locally (or I haven't found a place), so I always check that the batch is as fresh as possible. It's still going to be a month, minimum, so far from ideal
2) get a small cutting grinder. They're really small and inexpensive. I don't really have the room for anything else
3) only grind what you're drinking right now
4) either pour manually or get a high quality coffee machine. I am really very happy with my Mocca Master KBG-741 (http://www.technivorm.com/pages/prod...) - it's so much better than the whatever cheap machine I had before. It's all about the water temperature, really. If you're using a machine, keep it clean. It's very easy as long as your model has been designed with cleaning in mind: just rinse immediately after use, never let it sit
5) never ever leave the coffee in the pot with the heat on
6) drink it black. You'll notice if there's a problem somewhere, and appreciate it more when it's all good

All told, I am using much more money on coffee than the average Finn, but I don't think I'd drink coffee if my home-brew cups were of the same low quality as in most places.

I know I could store my coffee better and I do want a better grinder at some point. I'm also now interested in a French press, thanks to the above comments... It's good to have some goals!

Yoreel wrote:

I picked up a French Press the other day and have been experimenting with it. I'm getting a pretty bitter cup, which could be due to the dark roast I'm using, but I'm also wondering if the fact that I'm using pre-ground is killing my flavor. From what I read, it is the big no no, and I should at the very least have a blade grinder, and be grinding each cup as I go. What do the the coffee purists say?

SALT!

I always forget how much easier it is to get freshly roasted coffee where I live than in other places. I'd say there are two types of coffee. There's the Starbucks, diner, drip type stuff which makes up 95-99% of what people get as coffee. Then there is the other type which is more like a wine or a microbrew. I drink both. I still enjoy getting a cup of crappy black coffee at the diner. Coffee can be so much more than that with little effort. It can have all of the subtlety and complexity of a wine or microbrew.

Using a press pot is the cheapest, easiest way to start enjoying a better cup of coffee no matter what beans you use. It allows the grounds to soak evenly distributed for the ideal length of time. You just have to make sure to pour all of the coffee out after 4 minutes. Drip coffee takes longer than 4 minutes, so one of it's problems is that after that initial 4-5 minutes, tanin tainted bitter coffee is getting dumped into uour pot of coffee.

I get passionate about coffee because I want people to know that coffee can be a completely different experience from what they are used to with little effort (At least for anyone in the US). You can order a 12 oz bag of Stumptown Coffee including shipping for less than $20, and it will get to you in a couple of days. They only ship the stuff freshly roasted, so it won't be more than a week old. Then all you need is a grinder, a press pot, and 10 minutes of time.

Just got a burr grinder and have been sampling a place that let me tour their roasting set up (yay!).
Needless to say, I am drinking WAY more coffee.

Anybody have recommendations for a good, reasonably-priced burr grinder? I'm using an El Cheapo Black and Decker model, which is noticeably better than my old El Cheapo blade grinder, but hardly a quantum leap in quality. I don't see much else available at a sub-$100 price point, though. What do y'all use?

hbi2k wrote:

Anybody have recommendations for a good, reasonably-priced burr grinder? I'm using an El Cheapo Black and Decker model, which is noticeably better than my old El Cheapo blade grinder, but hardly a quantum leap in quality. I don't see much else available at a sub-$100 price point, though. What do y'all use?

I have the Cuisinart one which is about the cheapest burr grinder you can find. It works okay, but part of the inside cracked after about a year. I now have to apply pressure to the hopper at a certain angle to get it to work. The main reason I don't like it is that you tend to get a lot of powder. It gives you a bit more silt in the bottom of a cup when you french press coffee.

I complain about it, but bottom line is it's cheap and it works. It'll give you a fairly coarse grind with a bit of powdery stuff.

I've got a friend with this Krups one that is also pretty cheap. It won't do a very coarse grind I noticed. I can't remember how it is with extra powder.

If I had to choose between the Cuisinart and the Krups, I'd go with the Krups because it feels like it's made better.

Both of those are cheap and WILL give you okay coarse grinds. I don't know what I'll get once my Cuisinart finally breaks, but I'll probably get something in the $200 range that will last me 10 years or so and that I will be very happy with.

I was poking around on Amazon, and a new Bodum one went up. The reviews look quite good. It's 75 bucks on Amazon down from a list of 135. That might be a good balance of price/quality. I've loved every Bodum product I've owned. All their press pots are of very high quality. I'd love to get some of their double walled glass mugs and their double walled glass carafe.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Drip coffee takes longer than 4 minutes, so one of it's problems is that after that initial 4-5 minutes, tanin tainted bitter coffee is getting dumped into uour pot of coffee.

My experience is quite different, but I understand this is up to your machine and filters used. At least with my machine, it makes a whole pot in 4-5 minutes, but I generally only need 1-2 cups, which is less than two minutes.

So, using the advice taken, in addition to the horrible Pre-ground French Roast that I have, this morning I have a way better cup. Truly I believe the Salt was a major major factor. Still has some bitterness too it, but there is a smoothness that hits me first that makes the cup of coffee way different than before.

Tuffalo, i have that Bodum burr grinder, and it's a great value for that price.

Well I'll be damned. The salt trick works. Thank you!