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Coffee - do you and how do you consume it?

Midnight Audiophile

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I only drink coffee when I'm awake. I've found that it tastes best when consumed from an AC/DC mug. These little warming plates by Mr. Coffee are killer.
And no, no spill hazard, that old MacPro is not plugged in, it's just an end table.
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Suffolkhifinut

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Many years ago flying Swissair, sadly no longer with us. Read an article on brewing the perfect cup of coffee, one thing I remember from it was never make a cup with boiling water. The article’s author stated 86.4*C was the correct water temperature?
 

rdenney

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Many years ago flying Swissair, sadly no longer with us. Read an article on brewing the perfect cup of coffee, one thing I remember from it was never make a cup with boiling water. The article’s author stated 86.4*C was the correct water temperature?
Previously read in this thread: Coffee boiled is coffee spoiled. I've not collected the data to prove that. But I like my coffee, which I make with water at about 195-200 degrees F.

Rick "doesn't like coffee that forms scar tissue on the tongue" Denney
 

Suffolkhifinut

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Previously read in this thread: Coffee boiled is coffee spoiled. I've not collected the data to prove that. But I like my coffee, which I make with water at about 195-200 degrees F.

Rick "doesn't like coffee that forms scar tissue on the tongue" Denney
Seems to tie in with the Swiss Air information.
 

Count Arthur

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If only anyone outside the US knew WTF an "F" was. :p

Count "I like my measurements in metric" Arthur.
 

dfuller

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Let us know what you think when you've had a good play, I've been waiting for the new burrs to come out. I'm very happy with my C40 for brew, something as good but different would be nice.
I quite liked the 1zpresso K-Max I had for filter, but I got sick of hand grinding for filter all the time - and the Niche, as nice as it is, is probably the single worst filter grinder I've ever used.


Many years ago flying Swissair, sadly no longer with us. Read an article on brewing the perfect cup of coffee, one thing I remember from it was never make a cup with boiling water. The article’s author stated 86.4*C was the correct water temperature?
That depends on the roast. Lighter roasts like higher water temps generally. With the filter roasts I tend towards for pourover, 205-210F (96-99C) is where I'm at. For darker stuff well below that, maybe max 93C.
 

Soniclife

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Rick "doesn't like coffee that forms scar tissue on the tongue" Denney
Brew temperature and drinking temperature are wholly separate things. As @dfuller says above light roasts need high temperature, but are still best drunk after they have cooled. It's for this reason I brew into a glass carafe, then pour into a mug, it helps drop the temperature so I don't have to wait as long.
 

ryanosaur

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Re: brew temp, back in the day of Pre-nestle Blue Bottle Coffee, they would sometimes give Brew Temp info for some of their Beans. I distinctly remember their Roman Espresso specifying their preferred temp at the Group Head, even.
For those without all the gear, their advice for pourover was to boil water, take it off the boil, count to ten, then start brewing.

Agree about letting your coffee cool down a bit... too hot and you can't taste anything anyway... same with too cold.
 

nsfgp

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205F. Melitta cone type dripper. One cup at a time. SB's Post Alley Blend current favorite.
 

ryanosaur

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I've new IMS precision Shower Screen and 22 gram ridgeless Basket on the way, along with a new Brew Gasket.

As I've been paying greater attention to care for my machine lately, I started seeing how uneven the water distribution is from the head. Easy tuneups to see if any improvement in performance can be realized. It is always a bit infuriating to see so much shot to shot variation when I know my Dose and Tamp are very consistent.

On another note, I'm a month in to very intentional daily cleaning practices by backflushing clean water after finishing my brew sessions on the machine.
In Barista Training, they had us do our daily clean with detergent, running a pattern of 15 seconds on, rest 10 x1; 10 seconds on, rest 5 x5, then 5 seconds on, rest 1 x5, then clear the detergent and repeat with clean water...
Any way, for my home machine, I settled on a daily clean of three 10-second backflushes, and I run that detergent pattern once a month. This time after a month of daily backflushing, my detergent was running clean on the 2nd backflush where before it usually took a few to start running clean.
Positive results.

Cheers, all!
 

Bob from Florida

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I drank a lot of coffee some years ago. Like 24-30 cups(8 oz) a day. Very fine ground dark coffee and one day we where making espresso and coffee at work and competing who could drink the most. We started about 7:30 in the morning with bitters in the morning and by about 3pm I was OD'ing on caffeine. I really don't recommend that...lol.. It feels really gross, the mind is racing thoughts and one becomes very squirmy. :D
That much caffeine could make you start changing cables on your stereo!:eek:
 

ELberto

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First and best- espresso. Next pour over. Occasional vac pot for fun and extreme clarity. And once in a great while I'll break out the moka pot for nostalgia. Coffee has been a hobby for about 15 years, the last 12 of which I've been roasting too. Roasting is a hobby that takes quite a while to master and it's deeply rewarding
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ryanosaur

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Follow up after my first session with the new Brew Gasket, Shower Screen and Basket:

First, the Cafelat Silicone Group Gasket is really nice. I'm not gonna pretend this is doing anything ANY gasket can do... but I like the feel when I seat the filter and tighten it into place. For lack of a better description, there is a spongy-esque glide as I lock the filter in place. Other than that... it doesn't leak. Job done. Beyond that, the Silicone shouldn't break down the way rubber can.
Would I recommend? Yes.

OK... IMS Competition Shower Screen (57mm) I have is presumably the Integrated Membrane version. (No real distinction made on packaging, but there is not a two-layer build like my OEM screen.)
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All I can say is that it does appear to distribute water more evenly when running without the filter on. Of everything, the machine sounds different which I found surprising.

And... the Baristapro Nanotech Series 22g Ridgeless Basket:
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Side by side with my 21g basket (allegedly from Rancillio) you likely wouldn't notice any difference, visually. When I had them sitting side by side on my kitchen table, I did notice the Baristapro was completely flat on the bottom and the Rancillio was slightly uneven and rocked a bit.

Both products are very nice, no burrs or rough edges. They installed as one would expect and perform at least as good as what they replaced.

Pulling shots:
Most notable as I went through four shots (first was sacrificial) I had to make my grind a little more coarse than usual. (Temp and humidity are pretty much the same between yesterday and today.)
Overall, I can't say I noticed anything magical in the way my shots looked as they were extracting. However, the shots did seem to taste more rich as if more oils were emulsified into the extraction. I've always had good Crema with my shots so I can't even point to that as a distinction.
Beyond that, its difficult to say anything for certain as I am also trying really hard not to fall prey to expectation bias or anything. ;)

As far as using these products, they are nice and behave well. Are they an Upgrade? *shrugs Perhaps just a tune-up? ;)
Are they worth experimenting with if anybody is so inclined? Yes.

All three items cost me a bit under $54.00 before tax. Shipping was free.
 

Danaxus

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I use the shower screen too. Didn't notice any difference in my shots, but it's a lot easier to clean (it's smooth so no chance of it scratching up my cleaning cloth), and for that alone it's worth having.
 

dfuller

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I swapped my shower screen for that one too. Improvement, but only in the "well, it's easier to clean" department. Also recommend getting a flush group screw, that makes everything easier and cleaner.

Re: Baskets, I use a VST 18g. It sits where I want it to, and I know the basket isn't the cause of my problems.
 
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