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Coffee - do you and how do you consume it?

Once a friend of ours gifted us a bag of green Peruvian beans. After some research and hesitation, I put them on a tray into the kitchen oven... and after a couple of stop-and-go's, surprisingly the result was rather decent! :)
 
Raindog123 said:
Once a friend of ours gifted us a bag of green Peruvian beans. After some research and hesitation, I put them on a tray into the kitchen oven... and after a couple of stop-and-go's, surprisingly the result was rather decent! :)
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Nice!

I hope your exhaust fan was the kind that vents outside...?
 
I had a Behmor drum roaster at one point. It actually had a catalytic converter to reduce the smoke from the roasting. It worked pretty well. I bought the green beans from Sweet Maria's in California.

These days I just buy bags of whole beans at Costco. I get the lightest roast I can find, which tends to be a pretty solid medium or medium dark (quite a bit into second crack). I'd usually aim for Full City roast.

Tom
 
I was going to mention this, though I didn’t realize quite how culturally significant this process was, an Ethiopian mother at our kids school set this up during the “international day”. When the little cups of coffee eventually arrived they were a delicious treat, satisfyingly concentrated, like an expresso. She got it just right!
 
To all of you coffemans, I give u alternative stimulating drink recipe. It's lemons and crushed ginger root. Keep it in hot water for some 15min to 1 hour and you will be blessed. My toes started moving while I was laying in bed! :D
 
This is an FYI public service announcement.

Last Sunday I had my automatic espresso machine (Delonghi ESAM3300) all over my kitchen, major surgery to disassemble the grinder into its constituent parts and clean them. The degree to which I had to disassemble it reminded me of vintage Italian cars where you have to remove half the engine to change the spark plugs or adjust the carburetor. Yet I digress... This machine has been reliable for 2 years of daily use, so what was the problem? Dark oily french roast beans!

I prefer dark french roast beans for pourovers & drip, but when I started making coffee via steam/pressure (espresso) I found the flavor over-powering, so I switched to light-medium roast beans. Steam under pressure extracts so much more flavor, the light-medium beans taste really nice even though I don't like them for pourovers or drip.

Anyway, I ran out of the light-medium roast beans I normally use so I reverted to the dark ones. Two cups and the grinder completed gunked up with the oils. There was no way to clean it out but to disassemble the machine. Surgery successful, it's super clean and working again.
 
I'm still using either an aeropress or chemex depending on the amount of time I have to mess around. If I have the 15 or so minutes and the need for more than one cup, I do 45 grams of coffee and 750 grams of 210f water. It's 90 grams of water and one minute for the bloom, then add the rest in stages, keeping it as full as possible to keep thermal mass. Should take a temporal range of 8-9 minutes including the bloom if the grind is right. Usually takes a little adjusting to get it dialed after switching coffees. Just a couple of clicks in either direction- if it's too slow, it's too fine. Too fast, and the grind is too coarse. Use a scale and a timer and you'll get the best out of whatever beans you have.

The aeropress is much quicker. Same 210f water. 11 grams of coffee, 330 grams of water. Start a timer for 3 minutes. No bloom, just fill aeropress 2/3s or so up and stir for 5 seconds. Top off with water, and keep it topped off until you hit 330g. Then let it drip until there's enough room to put the plunger in. Pull a little vacuum to stop the drip. Push gently when there's 15 seconds left on the timer, and you should finish up right at 3 minutes.

Use the best beans you can get your hands on. Either of these methods will let your chosen coffee shine, but I much prefer light roasts.
 
thunderchicken said:
I'm still using either an aeropress or chemex depending on the amount of time I have to mess around. If I have the 15 or so minutes and the need for more than one cup, I do 45 grams of coffee and 750 grams of 210f water. It's 90 grams of water and one minute for the bloom, then add the rest in stages, keeping it as full as possible to keep thermal mass. Should take a temporal range of 8-9 minutes including the bloom if the grind is right. Usually takes a little adjusting to get it dialed after switching coffees. Just a couple of clicks in either direction- if it's too slow, it's too fine. Too fast, and the grind is too coarse. Use a scale and a timer and you'll get the best out of whatever beans you have.

The aeropress is much quicker. Same 210f water. 11 grams of coffee, 330 grams of water. Start a timer for 3 minutes. No bloom, just fill aeropress 2/3s or so up and stir for 5 seconds. Top off with water, and keep it topped off until you hit 330g. Then let it drip until there's enough room to put the plunger in. Pull a little vacuum to stop the drip. Push gently when there's 15 seconds left on the timer, and you should finish up right at 3 minutes.

Use the best beans you can get your hands on. Either of these methods will let your chosen coffee shine, but I much prefer light roasts.
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I am currently using Chemex and (brand new) Aeropress as well, and agree on the hot brew temp, light roast, and Chemex grind. I have metal filters and have not settled on a grinder yet. What are you using to grind and filter?
 
MRC01 said:
Last Sunday I had my automatic espresso machine (Delonghi ESAM3300) all over my kitchen, major surgery to disassemble the grinder into its constituent parts and clean them. The degree to which I had to disassemble it reminded me of vintage Italian cars where you have to remove half the engine to change the spark plugs or adjust the carburetor.
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That's the annoying thing with De Longhi machines. Any maintenance beyond rinsing the water tank requires major disassembly.
 
Helicopter said:
I am currently using Chemex and (brand new) Aeropress as well, and agree on the hot brew temp, light roast, and Chemex grind. I have metal filters and have not settled on a grinder yet. What are you using to grind and filter?
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For grinders, the deal from my perspective (in terms of price versus effectiveness) is the Baratza Encore.

Rick “still using a $5 Mellita pour over cup, but with freshly ground beans” Denney
 
Helicopter said:
I am currently using Chemex and (brand new) Aeropress as well, and agree on the hot brew temp, light roast, and Chemex grind. I have metal filters and have not settled on a grinder yet. What are you using to grind and filter?
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I use an OXO conical burr grinder & paper filters for my pour over.
 
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I use Chemex or Aeropress stock bleached filters. Heavy rinse for Chemex, no rinse for Aeropress. I tried unbleached filters for a while, I found they took too much rinsing to be ready for me. The metal filters I tried were too hard to clean, got clogged really easily, and left some grit in the cup. To me, one of the main benefits of the Aeropress is how clean the coffee is. Metal ruins that and has too many other problems.

I use a Rancilio Rocky SD, but have been looking at the Niche Zero lately. Can't really justify the price because the Rocky is very good and cost a bunch itself, but the Rocky is hard to clean and gets more buildup trapped than I'd like. I'd have to sell the Rocky to buy the Niche and the upgrade wouldn't be for grind quality, it'd be for convenience.
 
thunderchicken said:
I use Chemex or Aeropress stock bleached filters. Heavy rinse for Chemex, no rinse for Aeropress. I tried unbleached filters for a while, I found they took too much rinsing to be ready for me. The metal filters I tried were too hard to clean, got clogged really easily, and left some grit in the cup. To me, one of the main benefits of the Aeropress is how clean the coffee is. Metal ruins that and has too many other problems.
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Agree on the metal filter. I have them and tried them but didn't like it. I like just being able to unscrew the bottom and push the filter and ground into the trash and not have to worry about removing the filter. I also noticed increased grounds in my coffee with the metal compared to the paper. I was wasting the last few bits of coffee because it had too much grit. With the paper I can just poor it all in unless something compromised the paper filter when pressing.
 
Jdunk54nl said:
Agree on the metal filter. I have them and tried them but didn't like it. I like just being able to unscrew the bottom and push the filter and ground into the trash and not have to worry about removing the filter. I also noticed increased grounds in my coffee with the metal compared to the paper. I was wasting the last few bits of coffee because it had too much grit. With the paper I can just poor it all in unless something compromised the paper filter when pressing.
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Also metal filters let through the oils that increase your blood cholesterol. So not as healthy for our bodies as paper filters.
 
Well, I’m spending the morning disassembling our espresso machine and removing a stubborn blockage.
 
SIY said:
Well, I’m spending the morning disassembling our espresso machine and removing a stubborn blockage.
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That is karma for moving away from Phoenix ;)

Also another benefit to the aero press. Disassembly happens every morning to clean it and takes 2 seconds
 
Jdunk54nl said:
That is karma for moving away from Phoenix ;)

Also another benefit to the aero press. Disassembly happens every morning to clean it and takes 2 seconds
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On the bright side, I have a much nicer espresso machine now! And it’s cool enough outside to sit and sip a double.
 
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