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Any comments on the Bodum 51oz bean iced coffee maker vs something like the toddy? The toddy seems kind of annoying to me, and the bodum could be used for hot as well. (has two caps one that seals and a pouring/plunger one)
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Aug 27, 2012 02:21
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Toddies are so rad if you can be bothered. The ease of making higher volume amounts of cold brew in one, and the slight (possibly placebo) flavor benefits can't be ignored.
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Aug 27, 2012 03:34
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So I've tried the cold brew coffee at home and also from Stumptown. I prefer an iced americano if I want a cold coffee. The cold brew reminds me of those terrible Starbucks canned cold drinks that used to be popular. It lacks any depth in flavor and just isn't very interesting. I felt bad for wasting so much Cafe Vivace in testing it out.
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Aug 27, 2012 07:54
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I feel like this has been (and currently is being) talked to death, but is there a general consensus on the best method to cold brew? I'm really considering buying something like this http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Mizudashi-Coffee-1000ml-MCPN-14B/dp/B001VPXEBU Is it worth it? I generally strongly prefer my coffee cold, but I don't really know much about the advantages of cold brew vs chilled hot brew.
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Aug 27, 2012 07:59
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I haven't tried it myself (yet), but consensus seems to be you can just use any container you like and then any method that works to filter out the grounds. edit: There's been a lot of talk about it the last few pages, starting around here.
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Aug 27, 2012 14:39
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I recently invested in a home grinder I'd been thinking about for a long while (ended up getting a Baratza Virtuoso). It came with a pack of these coffee grinder cleaning tablets, from Full Circle. It looks like I can get these tablets off of Amazon for what would amount to ~$2 per cleaning, but I want to check the opinions of the goons here. Are these tablets worth it, or is regular maintenance with the included brush and what-not sufficient?
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Aug 27, 2012 15:59
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Quiet Feet posted:Hi coffee goons. I make coffee everyday with a French Press and it's pretty awesome and extremely easy. My morning routine: heat up the electric kettle and use the bathroom while it's heating up, scoop out some coffee grind and put it in the French press and pour water over it, pour/measure out some cereal and yogurt for breakfast, go back to the coffee and stir it, then wait about three more minutes for it to finish brewing. After I pour the coffee out I just dump the grinds into the trash and then rinse the French press and filter out with hot water and let it air dry. When I'm done with my yogurt I've got drinkably coffee  .Wastes absolutely no time since I multitask and am always doing something instead of just waiting around. I used to be more precise and use my timer on my phone to measure out four minutes, but now I just know by feel about how long it should take. An electric French press sounds pretty awesome, but at the same time also like a waste of electricity. But that company that makes it is pretty well rated I think so ymmv. Edit: I've been buying beans from a local roaster for about a month or two now, and all I really know is that it's "from Ethiopia." Yesterday I went again and instead opted for the ones from Brazil just to try something different. I'm noticing that these ones make much smoother coffee, maybe not as bitter, but doesn't feel like it has the same "kick" or that it's just not as strong (maybe I'm just associating bitterness with strong). Is this a product of the roasting or the beans? Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 13:04 on Aug 28, 2012 |
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Aug 28, 2012 12:56
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Boris Galerkin posted:Edit: I've been buying beans from a local roaster for about a month or two now, and all I really know is that it's "from Ethiopia." Yesterday I went again and instead opted for the ones from Brazil just to try something different. I'm noticing that these ones make much smoother coffee, maybe not as bitter, but doesn't feel like it has the same "kick" or that it's just not as strong (maybe I'm just associating bitterness with strong). Is this a product of the roasting or the beans? Bitterness, caffeine content, and acidity can vary from season to season from a single farm in a given country, let alone when comparing two different sides of the world. That is part of the third wave coffee thing people were talking about. Roasting also contributes to this. Lighter roasts tend to be brighter, more bracing, livelier on the palate, have varietal distinction, and more caffeine. The darker the roast the "smoother" but this comes at the expense of varietal distinction and caffeine. Honestly, I never understood the "smoothness" thing. Lack of it seems to be, more often than not, due to improper brewing (over/under extraction) rather than because of a varietal or roast level difference. That said, Brazilian and Ethiopian coffees will taste almost nothing alike aside from both being coffee, unless they are roasted to starbucks level (in which case they would taste exactly the same). Brazilian (and latin american in general) coffees are a very "classic" coffee taste and Ethiopians have a very spiced nose/flavor with a good amount of acidity. Yirgacheffe's specifically remind me of ginger snap cookies. Come to think of it, it might be the acidity in the Ethiopian you are registering as the "kick". If that is what you're after, I suggest you seek out some Kenya AA in a city+ roast. They tend to be suuuuuuuuuuuuuuper bright and caramelly with floral and citrus overtones.
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Aug 28, 2012 21:32
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Bonavita variable-temp kettles are $78? Were they always this price or did they just drop recently? http://gizmodo.com/5938541/this-kettle-heats-water-to-the-exact-temperature-you-want
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Aug 28, 2012 22:42
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Oh yeah. I discovered a pretty awesome coffee shop in Redlands today for all you fellow Inland Empire goons, which are apparently quite a few. Augie's coffee. I had a Salvadoran coffee, pourover. Was a good City roast, lively, balanced. They brewed it fresh ground, in your choice of either a V60 or a Chemex (yes, they asked, lol sperg ), with the buono kettle. They prewarmed the mug and the V60 and rinsed the filter. I was pretty impressed with the attention to detail. She did rush the extraction a bit, I'd have let the grounds bloom a bit longer, but admittedly I'm getting nitpicky. A+++ would coffee again there. In their mini store bookshelf thing they had a CCD ( ). This is the first time I've ever seen a CCD for sale at a brick and mortar shop.
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Aug 28, 2012 22:51
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Bought a Hario Mini Mill online earlier for work. I'm getting a bit tired of grinding a bunch of coffee in the morning before I leave my flat because, well, it's not TOTALLY fresh when I do that, I don't always use all of what I grind and sometimes I just don't have time. The Mini Mill and a bag of beans should do me well in the future. Does anyone know what kind of setting/tightness I should set the Mini Mill to for an Aeropress? I've never seen one in person before so I dunno if the grind setting is marked or not and I'm finding that I'm pretty hopeless at judging things from grind size.
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Aug 29, 2012 01:17
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Steve Yun posted:Bonavita variable-temp kettles are $78? Were they always this price or did they just drop recently? Edit: Found it on amazon, looks like it was just added at that price (I looked for it before). Both the 1L and the 1.7L are available. 1L - http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-Variable-Temperature-Electric-Gooseneck/dp/B005YR0F40 1.7L - http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-1-7-Liter-Variable-Temperature-Gooseneck/dp/B008YE3RNG MrEnigma fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Aug 29, 2012 |
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Aug 29, 2012 05:58
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GrAviTy84 posted:Oh yeah. I discovered a pretty awesome coffee shop in Redlands today for all you fellow Inland Empire goons, which are apparently quite a few. Augie's coffee. I had a Salvadoran coffee, pourover. Was a good City roast, lively, balanced. They brewed it fresh ground, in your choice of either a V60 or a Chemex (yes, they asked, lol sperg Augie's owns.  Redlands has a couple local roasters, too (in addition to Augie's): Wild Goose Coffee, and IE Coffee. They sell online, but you can pick it up locally at Gerrards and the Olive Ave. Market, if you don't feel like paying shipping.
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Aug 29, 2012 06:13
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^^^^^^^^ How many drat IE people do we have? I'll have to try those too. I go to Gerrard's a lot despite my love-hate relationship with the place. I've heard good things about these guys, but they're a bit West valley for me, so I've not been. http://www.klatchroasting.com/ GrAviTy84 posted:Oh yeah. I discovered a pretty awesome coffee shop in Redlands today for all you fellow Inland Empire goons, which are apparently quite a few. Augie's coffee. I had a Salvadoran coffee, pourover. Was a good City roast, lively, balanced. They brewed it fresh ground, in your choice of either a V60 or a Chemex (yes, they asked, lol sperg They do have a CCD though I had to teach them how to use it.  They also had a Baratza Encore a while back.Their current Yirgacheffe ECX is pretty awesome, but I love Africans. They roast on Monday mornings, and I suspect they think I'm a 'spurger. They also have a Temple Coffee mug, which is pretty cool because Temple is my favorite coffee shop either. nm fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Aug 29, 2012 |
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Aug 29, 2012 06:26
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Squashy Nipples posted:We've been using Starbucks french roast ground to "percolator grind". Good poo poo, would recommend it!  why would you ever do that. poo poo smells like dead fish when we grind it, and even worse when we brew. seriously, if you're going to use starbucks coffee at least use a semi decent one - komodo is my favorite dark.yeah yeah, cue the starbucks hate but as a ~*partner*~ i get it for free so i work with what i can.
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Aug 29, 2012 06:34
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nm posted:I've heard good things about these guys, but they're a bit West valley for me, so I've not been. I love klatch. Great coffee, too. They brew it at Daily Brew on Van Buren in Riverside.
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Aug 29, 2012 06:39
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Back in the day when I lived in San Diego, Cafe Calabria was one of my favorites. I miss that place. To bring it more local, this is one of my local roasters (http://www.kickapoocoffee.com). It's not bad on price either, $9-12 a lb, offered in bulk in a few places around here. They even won microroaster of the year in 2010.
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Aug 29, 2012 06:43
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nm posted:I've heard good things about these guys, but they're a bit West valley for me, so I've not been.
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Aug 29, 2012 10:41
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Boris Galerkin posted:Edit: I've been buying beans from a local roaster for about a month or two now, and all I really know is that it's "from Ethiopia." Yesterday I went again and instead opted for the ones from Brazil just to try something different. I'm noticing that these ones make much smoother coffee, maybe not as bitter, but doesn't feel like it has the same "kick" or that it's just not as strong (maybe I'm just associating bitterness with strong). Is this a product of the roasting or the beans? I've noticed the same thing. There's a local roaster in my town that has a number of blends, mostly from Central/South America. They have two African ones, and a Sumatran. I personally prefer their Ethiopian one like you, and I've noticed exactly what you're talking about. And yeah, I think it may be the acidity. At times, their Ethiopian blend reminds me of orange juice.
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Aug 29, 2012 16:21
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Speaking of "third wave" coffee, has anyone found good methods of finding coffee shops in different towns that are along this lines? I generally avoid coffee shops that are big on marketing and advertising their "fairtrade and organic" as these tend to just be "ethical", but lovely coffee. Does anyone have a good website with a list of places perhaps? Im incredibly lucky because I live in the one town in probably a 400km2 area that has a coffee place that both purchases coffee from decent roasters and has an interest in making artisan coffee.
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Aug 29, 2012 18:46
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swagger like us posted:Speaking of "third wave" coffee, has anyone found good methods of finding coffee shops in different towns that are along this lines? I just search Home-Barista and CoffeeGeek with the city name. You can usually find some discussion about good cafes and weed out the lovely ones. I am also very turned off by cafes that promote "fair trade", "organic", "bird friendly", etc. instead of the actual quality of their coffee. I want to drink good coffee, not have it fellate my guilt complex. Anyway, marks like fair trade are kind of meaningless compared to direct trade programs, especially with current coffee source buying prices.
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Aug 29, 2012 20:13
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swagger like us posted:Speaking of "third wave" coffee, has anyone found good methods of finding coffee shops in different towns that are along this lines? I generally avoid coffee shops that are big on marketing and advertising their "fairtrade and organic" as these tend to just be "ethical", but lovely coffee. I search yelp for indications that they roast their own and start from there. Also, if you. Have a regular local and will be traveling, talk to them. The good artisan roasters are pretty close.
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Aug 29, 2012 21:26
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nm posted:I search yelp for indications that they roast their own and start from there. I don't think it makes any sense to choose a cafe based on whether they roast their own coffee. Locally, that would put a couple of pretty mediocre cafes well ahead of the two actually good cafes in the area. Lots of high quality cafes choose to use coffee from well-respected roasters, rather than running their own roasting operation on the side. It's very easy to set up a large batch roaster and buy some green coffee, but selecting good coffee and roasting it well is a different proposition. The only way a cafe roasting on-site or selling their own roasted coffee would influence my decision is if they are well-known as a roaster outright. See: 49th Parallel in Vancouver, the various Intelligentsia cafe locations, etc. I'll take a cafe receiving weekly shipments of fresh coffee from Intelligentsia over an unknown place operating a roaster in their back room.
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Aug 30, 2012 01:37
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Bob_McBob posted:I don't think it makes any sense to choose a cafe based on whether they roast their own coffee. Locally, that would put a couple of pretty mediocre cafes well ahead of the two actually good cafes in the area. Lots of high quality cafes choose to use coffee from well-respected roasters, rather than running their own roasting operation on the side. It's very easy to set up a large batch roaster and buy some green coffee, but selecting good coffee and roasting it well is a different proposition. Depends, there are exceptions to this rule. I think klatch and augie's are great small roasting operations, but I've definitely been to a few of the type you reference. The ones who don't really know what they're doing and are just roasting because it's a selling point. On the topic of finding a good local shop. At the end of the day it comes down to trial and error. There are a few things you can look out for when you first enter a shop to see what level they are at, at least in my experience: Gear. For one pourover cones. Coffee is ground and brewed to order. If there are no Bunn-type drip machines in the back with spigots this is a good sign. Look for gooseneck kettles, timers, scales, etc. The spergier, the better, generally. What espresso machine are they pulling from? Do they have dedicated grinders for the different brew methods? Chalkboards/seasonal menus. Do they present their coffee in a manner that showcases a rotating stock? How into detail do they go when describing their coffees? Is it just "Ethiopia" or "Indonesia" or do they go full out "Ethiopian gr.2 wet process shakiso, city+" or whatever. Do they even have single origin offerings or is it all blends? As mentioned, if they don't roast in house, the good places will be proud that they offer such-and-such coffee. "WE BREW STUMPTOWN" or "WE BREW INTELLIGENTSIA" Good coffee. All that other stuff can be signs of a good place but they don't really matter if the place is just clueless about how to make a good cup. So yeah, trial and error. GrAviTy84 fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Aug 30, 2012 |
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Aug 30, 2012 01:50
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Bob_McBob posted:I don't think it makes any sense to choose a cafe based on whether they roast their own coffee. Locally, that would put a couple of pretty mediocre cafes well ahead of the two actually good cafes in the area. Lots of high quality cafes choose to use coffee from well-respected roasters, rather than running their own roasting operation on the side. It's very easy to set up a large batch roaster and buy some green coffee, but selecting good coffee and roasting it well is a different proposition. I like intellegenisa, but I'll have that at their shop. Certainly there are a lot of not great roasters, but only by trial and error are you going to find the gems. So I always look for the one with the roaster. If it is good, great. If it isn't, I'll check it off my list (and then maybe try again in a year, places can change a lot). That said, a cool thing Augie's used to to was to have one outside roasters coffee on pour over, and it rotated weekly. (Which is one reason i say ask, good roasters know who the other roasters are. They all send bags of whatever they've just roasted to each other to sample.) nm fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Aug 30, 2012 |
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Aug 30, 2012 03:02
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nm posted:Artisan Coffee is supposed to be about adventure and difference, not the same thing. I suspect that someone asking how to find good coffee in various cities is more interested in good coffee than adventures in coffee quality. I am not saying everywhere should serve the same coffee, but roasting on-site is not a good major starting point for selecting a cafe, especially if they are not well-known and respected as a roaster outright. Klatch is a well-known roaster, and Augie's at least has quite a few positive mentions on coffee forums. There are hundreds and hundreds of no-name local roasting operations pumping out very mediocre coffee. Roasting on-site would be very far down on my list of important cafe selection criteria.
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Aug 30, 2012 04:42
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Our electric kettle broke and rather than buying one we think we should just use the stove because it seems unnecessary. Is there a good way to eyeball water temperature needed for making coffee? e: more effort: this says 195-205 F should be used, and water boils at 100 C so around 212 F. I guess I should just bring covered water to boil and then take it off the stove and wait a few minutes. Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 10:03 on Aug 30, 2012 |
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Aug 30, 2012 10:01
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Boris Galerkin posted:Our electric kettle broke and rather than buying one we think we should just use the stove because it seems unnecessary. Is there a good way to eyeball water temperature needed for making coffee? I use my eyeballs to look at my Thermapen.
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Aug 30, 2012 14:54
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Boris Galerkin posted:Our electric kettle broke and rather than buying one we think we should just use the stove because it seems unnecessary. Is there a good way to eyeball water temperature needed for making coffee? Now, I failed everything related to physics, chemistry, biology - you name it - in college. But I don't think it'll take a couple minutes to go down at least 7 degrees from boiling? Especially with the lid off, I imagine the temperature drops down pretty quickly. Someone else probably knows more than I do, but I tend to go with this route and I do not find my french press to be over extracted or bitter due to too much heat. Then again, this is why I'm a software engineer and not, you know, a real engineer 
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Aug 30, 2012 14:59
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Doh004 posted:Now, I failed everything related to physics, chemistry, biology - you name it - in college. But I don't think it'll take a couple minutes to go down at least 7 degrees from boiling? Especially with the lid off, I imagine the temperature drops down pretty quickly. Hauki fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Aug 30, 2012 |
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Aug 30, 2012 15:32
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The Baratza refurbs seem like a great deal, what's the comparable source for European voltage/shipping?
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Aug 30, 2012 17:43
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Arnold of Soissons posted:The Baratza refurbs seem like a great deal, what's the comparable source for European voltage/shipping? I've never seen Baratza refurbs outside the US, aside from when they were available from the Canadian service centre. They don't ship them outside the States now.
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Aug 30, 2012 20:13
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Bob_McBob posted:I've never seen Baratza refurbs outside the US, aside from when they were available from the Canadian service centre. They don't ship them outside the States now. What I meant was what's the recommended source for a decent quality coffee grinder in Europe? Something comparable in terms of quality/price ratio, not like the same product. Sorry for not being clear.
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Aug 30, 2012 20:47
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Boris Galerkin posted:Our electric kettle broke and rather than buying one we think we should just use the stove because it seems unnecessary. Is there a good way to eyeball water temperature needed for making coffee? If you boil water in and then pour it into something else, it will drop dramatically in temperature, probably more than you want. Water just sitting in the thing it was heated in usually drops off pretty quick, too. I use a pyrex cup in the microwave most of the time 
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Aug 30, 2012 23:46
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biggfoo posted:Anyone have an experience with a Crossland CC1? It looks like a re-brand of a Gee and comes in around the same price as a Silvia but with a PID built in. I have been mulling around the idea of getting one but other than the Seattle coffee gear videos I haven't seen much about them. Replying from like page 3 with a Crossland story. I just bought one from Craigslist a little bit ago for $450. Ran it for about a week with really phenomenal and consistent shots. When attempting to switch to steam from pulling a shot it froze up and all of a sudden I smelled a really nasty burning. Turned it off, popped the hood, and ran it to see the seal in the steamer died. Well, gently caress. I emailed Bill Crossland explaining the situation and he offers to send me the part for free if I can fix it myself and send him the old one - even though it's second-hand. I accept, get the part along with a few add-ons (including a few cables to reduce EMI which he suspected to be the issue and an upgrade for the diffuser plate). I send him back the old part with some locally roasted coffee. My machine has been running flawlessly for about a month. Between its performance and the amazing service and I strongly recommend the CC1. edit: FWIW I have a Breville smart grinder (which is actually pretty good for the cost) and was upgrading from a Breville 800ESXL, which really left me lacking. guidoanselmi fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Sep 2, 2012 |
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Sep 2, 2012 22:12
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The best option you guys have if you don't own a commercial espresso machine is a french press or aero press, a grinder, and a good local supplier of nicely roasted beans. Your local independent coffee house is your best friend. They'll be able to hook you up with nearly everything after you've bought a few coffees and expressed interest in good coffee.
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Sep 3, 2012 20:46
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Just got a brand new Mazzer Mini Doser to replace my 2 year old La Spaziale Junior 50 mm. Played with it before work this morning and got dialed in amazingly fast and pulled two OK-ish shots from my VBM Domobar Jr, reckon with some time over the weekend, some good shots are to be had. Some annoyances: I single dose per shot pulled (18-20g) but the doser doesn't sweep as clean as the La Spaziale, with grounds clinging on to the doser floor.
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Sep 5, 2012 04:13
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grabulasa posted:Some annoyances: I single dose per shot pulled (18-20g) but the doser doesn't sweep as clean as the La Spaziale, with grounds clinging on to the doser floor. You can mod the doser vanes with some electric tape on the edges to get it to sweep cleaner.
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Sep 5, 2012 05:53
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Any Hottop owners in the thread? There is a brand new drop-in solution for software monitoring and full control of roasting over a USB interface  http://www.mlgp-llc.com/htri/index.html Ordered mine yesterday.
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Sep 5, 2012 11:23
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Arnold of Soissons posted:What I meant was what's the recommended source for a decent quality coffee grinder in Europe? Something comparable in terms of quality/price ratio, not like the same product. I tried getting one in the UK but A1 Coffee was the only place. They do sell the 220V Baratza models but they're new and expensive. I intend to buy one when money isn't a worry. The Vario is available in europe under the name "Mahlkonig" I believe. I settled for a £35 De'Longhi KG79 instead. If anyones wondering about it, the grind isn't 100% consistent (90-95%) and it's design is a bit stupid in places. It's a nightmare the clean, the grind 'drawer' isn't anti static and it's also annoyingly too wide to fit into a 6-cup bodum french press but fine for the 12-cup. That said it grinds well and the coffee is good for the price. Edit: I paint a dull picture but it allows me to fill it up, select 12 cups and walk away for a minute so it's all good. ToG fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 03:38
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