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BraveUlysses posted:I weigh the beans after they are ground. Do you throw away the extra grounds each day? Or do you know from experience that about 1 cup of beans = 28g (or whatever amount)
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Jul 9, 2014 20:36
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Just weigh the beans and then grind them. You will lose such a negligible amount of weight that kitchen scales are too insensitive to notice it and it saves you from having to pitch excess coffee grinds because you used too much.
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Jul 9, 2014 20:41
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Weigh out X grams of beans before you grind. You will end up with X grams of ground coffee. If you end up with X-1 grams of ground coffee then something is wrong.
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Jul 9, 2014 20:41
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Fozzy The Bear posted:Do you throw away the extra grounds each day? Or do you know from experience that about 1 cup of beans = 28g (or whatever amount) I'm not sure how your grinder works but mine just spits the grinds out the front. I usually tare my portafilter on the scale and fill it directly from the grinder until almost full, smoosh the grinds down a bit and weigh it. If i need a bit more I'll grind a bit and then weigh again till I hit the number I want.
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Jul 9, 2014 20:59
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What's your usual dose like? I use the "traditional" 14g double and it gets nowhere near the top on my basket.
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Jul 9, 2014 21:18
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19-21g for my double shots on my Saeco Aroma
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Jul 9, 2014 22:23
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Been playing with my cc1 a bit now that I'm slowly getting settled into my new place. For someone that's never done espresso before, it's a pretty steep learning curve. Just through the first pound of beans and now I feel like I'm getting dialed in to what the right espresso grind should be like, nevermind all the settings that the cc1 is capable of. It's definitely going to take some time, but I like the programmability of the cc1 and the PID. I can do a 3 second preinfuse, a 2 second wait, and then a 31 second pour at 203 degrees if I wanted to and it handles it just fine with the ability to steam right after. I'd say there are two cons to the cc1 so far: 1) it's the first machine I've seen with all this programmability, so it's not the best for a newbie. What I mean by that is all of the guides I've seen out there follow a normal espresso machine like a gaggia or Silvia. I can set the brew time for something crazy like 50 seconds if I want to and just stop before that whenever blonding occurs, but most guides are written a bit different towards the more traditional machines. 2) I'm still not sold on the reliability of the machine. It's so new and I'm scared of the electronics just failing. The whole digital thing reminds me of a new car or washing machine where if the computer/electronics bite it, then the machine is hosed. The gaggia and rancilio are much more proven. Case in point: a few days ago I was making a cup and water started pouring out of the reservoir and all over the place and the temp rapidly went above my preset of 201. Luckily, I went on the coffeegeek forums and the maker of the cc1 posts there and responded within 15 minutes on the holiday weekend saying he was available for email/call support all day long. We got it fixed (inlet hose to the pump came loose, he has no idea how and got my serial number so he can document it), and he ended up sending me a free bottomless pf for my trouble. Now, back to my point, I'm still worried about reliability, but I'm glad the maker of the product jumped to help so quickly. As an aside/question, does anyone roast their own espresso beans? I feel comfortable making my other beans for ccd/aeropress, but I just bought a few pounds of Redbird espresso blend because it's one less variable to deal with at the moment.
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Jul 9, 2014 23:51
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dhrusis posted:Okay guys, sound off -- is the ROK a sound investment? I tried the Mypressi Twist but I never had any luck. I like the idea of manual machines. Let me preface this, I have almost no idea what good espresso should taste or look like. I have had maybe 4 cups of espresso since I started getting into coffee about a year and a half ago. I have been roasting my own beans and making coffee in my CCD and press pot since then. I picked up a ROK when it was on sale about a month ago figuring it would be a good way to mess with espresso as a once a week thing. I have pulled maybe 6 shots on it since then. It seems to function just fine it produces a liquid that seems like espresso to me. since I only pull 1 or 2 shots in a row I have trouble with consistency. the tamper it comes with is garbage and I want to upgrade it. I think for what I use it for and the price I got it at it was a good investment for me as a 'toy I play with on weekends when I don't need coffee to survive' VVVV That sounds like great advice for me also, thanks! VVVV BaBo_FiSH fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Jul 10, 2014 |
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Jul 10, 2014 00:02
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nwin—Since you're also new to espresso, I'd recommend you do what I've been doing: regularly take a pilgrimage to the best coffee shop(s) in your town, order a shot (or a cortado, or whatever drink you normally make at home), and talk shop with the barista. Buy a bag of their beans and try and replicate at home the shot you had at the shop. Actually, this advice goes for all kinds of coffee: if you have a good coffee shop in your area, use it as a resource to learn what good coffee is supposed to taste like before setting out on your own to try and create it. This might sound too obvious (of course you should learn what good coffee tastes like before trying to replicate it yourself) or unnecessary ("isn't taste relative anyway? don't I already know what I like?"), but I think it's well worth the investment, plus you get to support your local coffee scene and hopefully meet other coffee enthusiasts. This link is pretty helpful for tuning your grind and temp based on flavor, assuming you can keep the other variables relatively constant. As for the roasting thing: I've been using some home-roasted columbian and it's been working fine. I did what you did and went pre-roasted at first to reduce the number of variables at play, but now I think I can make shots consistently enough to use my own beans. Pretty much any bean can be used for espresso, regardless of if it's in an "espresso blend" or not. Just depends on if you like how it tastes. The best coffee shop in my town recently won some awards for their espresso, a light-roasted single origin yirgacheffe, which is basically the opposite of traditional espresso (dark-roasted blends), so I think anything is possible if you're willing to think outside the box a bit. If you like the beans you're roasting for your CCD/aeropress, I'd say go for it and try pulling a few shots with them and see how you like it. dik-dik fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jul 10, 2014 |
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Jul 10, 2014 00:05
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Completely noted on the advice-just gotta find time to visit some the the places!
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Jul 10, 2014 00:25
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I've roasted my espresso for a few years now. I've just been getting the espresso samplers from Sweet Maria's and roasting those up and they've all been pretty solid. As Dik Dick mentioned, any coffee can be used to brew espresso, but not all of them are necessarily the best for it. Certain regions just don't seem to make any noticeable crema. I recently tried pulling a shot of an Ethiopian that my friend gave me from Sightglass and it had almost zero crema.
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Jul 10, 2014 00:47
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Thanks for the suggestions for an espresso grinder guys. Would the $99 refurbed Baratza Encore be enough? That's at the very top of my budget actually. I'd be using it for espresso and non-espresso. What is the deal with PIDs and portafilters? That is one area I'm lost on.
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Jul 10, 2014 02:12
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Valicious posted:Thanks for the suggestions for an espresso grinder guys. Would the $99 refurbed Baratza Encore be enough? That's at the very top of my budget actually. I'd be using it for espresso and non-espresso. I'll definitely let the others weigh in that are more experienced. However, my suggestions: 1) don't go to other espresso forums like coffeegeek or home-barista. They will say a $400 vario is the absolute minimum grinder (ok maybe a preciso). 2) the encore will get you started. However, the main thing is there will still be inconsistency in the grind and you won't have a lot of variance in the coarse/fine level of grinds because there aren't a lot of steps. 3) PID's maintain a certain temperature so it improves consistency in your shots. Say you wait 30 minutes for your first shot, pull it, clean up, and then pull another shot 5 minutes later...the temp is probably going to be a bit different so even with the same tamp/grind/etc, your 2nd shot may taste wildly different. Look up temp surfing on ways to compensate. 4) portafilters- I'm interested in hearing about this as well. I think you got a gaggia classic, so you would be using some kind of non-pressurized portafilter (either single or double basket, though I hear double is more forgiving). Basically, a pressurized PF will wait until it sense a certain pressure and then start extracting, whereas a non-pressurized PF will just extract regardless. Now, you would think a pressurized PF would be better and easier, however the crema/taste is not the same or as good. ...and that's about the extent of my knowledge!
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Jul 10, 2014 02:29
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rockcity posted:I've roasted my espresso for a few years now. I've just been getting the espresso samplers from Sweet Maria's and roasting those up and they've all been pretty solid. As Dik Dick mentioned, any coffee can be used to brew espresso, but not all of them are necessarily the best for it. Certain regions just don't seem to make any noticeable crema. I recently tried pulling a shot of an Ethiopian that my friend gave me from Sightglass and it had almost zero crema. Maybe the beans are really old? I've had many different espressos from Sightglass cafes and they all had crema.
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Jul 10, 2014 07:28
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Mu Zeta posted:Maybe the beans are really old? I've had many different espressos from Sightglass cafes and they all had crema. It wasn't labeled as an espresso use coffee, it was just an Ethiopian bean that I happened to try out in my espresso machine because I really wanted espresso and it was the only thing I had that was roasted at the time. It also wasn't that old, I think like 10 days. Some beans just don't make a whole lot of crema.
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Jul 10, 2014 13:25
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What is different about Costa Rican coffee? I went there for vacation a few months back, and it definitely has a distinct style and taste. The first time they served me an espresso, it tasted so unusual that for a second I thought that it might have been instant. The bag of beans I bought at the tourist shop brews up the exact same way, too.
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Jul 10, 2014 13:45
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Squashy Nipples posted:What is different about Costa Rican coffee? Does that bag of beans have a roast date on them? It's possible they're just old, especially if it was from a tourist shop and not a coffee shop. Today's discovery: Americanos rock. They're basically what I wish drip coffee tasted like. dik-dik fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Jul 10, 2014 |
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Jul 10, 2014 16:08
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dik-dik posted:Today's discovery: Americanos rock. They're basically what I wish drip coffee tasted like. An Americano should be your default order if you want drip coffee at places where you don't know how long their jug of drip coffee has been sitting around.
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Jul 10, 2014 16:19
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withak posted:An Americano should be your default order if you want drip coffee at places where you don't know how long their jug of drip coffee has been sitting around. Noted. Today's Americano was actually homemade since I wanted a cappuccino but was feeling a bit congested (and milk always makes that worse for me). Now I'm definitely throwing these into my regular rotation more often.
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Jul 10, 2014 16:27
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I think the grittiness I was tasting was because of over extraction with my kalita. Pouring and the last of dripping shouldn't really extend past 2m 50s with the 155 and 19g of beans. 305g of water total.
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Jul 11, 2014 00:17
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dik-dik posted:Does that bag of beans have a roast date on them? It's possible they're just old, especially if it was from a tourist shop and not a coffee shop. Nah, the bag from the tourist shop tasted pretty much the same as the bag I bought from the grocery store (slightly different roast, though). It's not a bad taste, it's just different in a way I'm not familiar with.
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Jul 11, 2014 04:10
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It was either posted here recently or in the product recommendation thread, but does anyone know the name of the french press/thermos combo, it was made by what looks like an independent shop and I think is sold out currently. Not a lot to go on i know, i think the outer design has a bunch of tiny holes and it was overall black in color. Around $40
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Jul 11, 2014 18:24
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madpanda posted:It was either posted here recently or in the product recommendation thread, but does anyone know the name of the french press/thermos combo, it was made by what looks like an independent shop and I think is sold out currently. Not a lot to go on i know, i think the outer design has a bunch of tiny holes and it was overall black in color. Around $40 The Impress. http://shop.designbox.us/beverage/impress-coffee-brewer/
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Jul 11, 2014 18:26
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Only get this if you like coffee that has brewed for hours.
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Jul 11, 2014 18:28
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I usually pour right away and wouldn't be using it as a to-go thermos much. I was more interested in its filtering claims as my bodum is starting to leak as they tend to and i'd rather not buy another.
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Jul 11, 2014 18:39
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Anyone know how long homemade cold brew concentrate typically lasts? We do the 24 hour hour method, 9oz coffee + 7 cups of water, then strain, rebottle and keep in the fridge. We usually drink it within a few days, but this time we forgot about it and it's spent about a week in the fridge since it was brewed. There's now a film over the top surface. Time to dump it? Anyone know if drinking this could make me sick or if the worst case is just a bad taste? I have no idea how coffee ages... Thanks!
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Jul 12, 2014 00:56
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biggest platypus posted:Anyone know how long homemade cold brew concentrate typically lasts? The film is oil from the coffee (probably). It (probably) won't make you sick but it will likely taste somewhat stale.
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Jul 12, 2014 01:16
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biggest platypus posted:Anyone know how long homemade cold brew concentrate typically lasts? You should be fine. Most places say "two weeks" for fridge-life. One got away from us, hiding behind some pickles or somesuch, and we drank it a month later. It was great.
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Jul 12, 2014 01:46
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Whoops, "film" may not have been the best description, it's more like floaty particles, and when I shake it it turns into pollution-looking foam. It smells fine, so I may try a sip tomorrow (avoiding the murky stuff) unless someone tells me this is a terrible idea. At this point, I'm mostly curious what this might be...
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Jul 12, 2014 04:13
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I think that might be some sort of mold 
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Jul 12, 2014 04:28
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I can't make my cold brew outside of the fridge here because it is moldy really quick (its really hot). I make it in the fridge and haven't seen mold again since.
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Jul 12, 2014 05:06
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biggest platypus posted:Whoops, "film" may not have been the best description, it's more like floaty particles, and when I shake it it turns into pollution-looking foam. Er, yeah. So I'm not sure what that is, but I *am* sure that I have never seen that on any of my coldbrew batches. I'm going to rescind my previous advice. Pitch it and make another batch!
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Jul 12, 2014 05:41
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I've bought two moka pots, and both of them leaked grounds into the brew. Did I buy lovely ones, or is that just something moka pots do? Am I using them wrong?
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Jul 13, 2014 08:33
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How much leaking are we talking about? It's going to be a little gritty like a French Press since it doesn't use a paper filter. I mean if your coffee looks like a thick slurry then maybe you didn't put the gasket on correctly.
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Jul 13, 2014 09:17
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Bronze posted:I think the grittiness I was tasting was because of over extraction with my kalita. Pouring and the last of dripping shouldn't really extend past 2m 50s with the 155 and 19g of beans. 305g of water total. That's just too short in my opinion. Hell, I brewed some coffee at work last Friday and for some reason the water went right through the grounds, didn't bloom at all, and brewed way too fast. Ended up with a 2m30s brew time for the first cup (pretty sour) and 2m45s brew time for the second cup, which was still fairly sour. I brew my 155 with 300-305g of water, 19g of beans, size 22 on the Virtuoso, ~25g 30-40s bloom, and about a 3-3m30s brew time, and that's with the last of the dripping. My stuff always turns out awesome, so thank you for that recipe! I was pretty underwhelmed with the Wave before, thinking flavors were pretty muted... but I've been making some really great coffee with it lately. Are you sure you're not overflowing the Wave at all, getting some grounds into your coffee? I've never had a "gritty" feeling from my Wave coffee ever... mr. yolk fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 15:56
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Different beans might need slightly different recipes. My last bag didn't take well to going past 3 mins. The new bag I got today needs to start a few degrees hotter than the last and maybe 15 secs more time. And the grittiness might have never changed. Maybe I'm just noticing it now. It's just a lightly rough feeling on my tongue. Water taken between sips helps. Bronze fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Jul 15, 2014 |
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Jul 15, 2014 09:09
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Bronze posted:Different beans might need slightly different recipes. My last bag didn't take well to going past 3 mins. The new bag I got today needs to start a few degrees hotter than the last and maybe 15 secs more time. I think that's just dryness from the oils of the coffee. I imagine it's the same grittiness as drinking a nice dry IPA. I can't think of anything else that'd cause that feeling.
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Jul 15, 2014 13:12
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Let me preface this post by saying I am a 110% newbie to coffee. In fact, my entire life ive never really liked it until recently. Coffee was just sorta there, my parents made espresso when guests came over (using a moka pot (they were italian)), I had some here and there from Tims but it tasted like poo poo all the time. Up until recently - I am in Canada and tried out Starbucks "True North" which I later learned was just their Veranda for Canadians. It tasted legit - I only used a little bit of milk and 1 sweetner, I could probably go without that as well. So instead of paying $$$ all the drat time I bought a bag of their beans for it. As per some people in YOSPOS, they recommended a burr grinder over anything. So I got the Hario MSS-1B.  And also a press to use the grinded beans in. Grosche "Oxford" 3 cup, 350mL  Now for my question to those who are experienced out there - how do I go about making the perfect cup? My mug is 355mL. I am seeing from other posts I should measure up my beans - how much should I aim for? I know there will be variance in everyones "perfect" and I can adjust for my own taste. But for a first go what should be the number.
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Jul 16, 2014 19:54
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Vintersorg posted:Let me preface this post by saying I am a 110% newbie to coffee. In fact, my entire life ive never really liked it until recently. Coffee was just sorta there, my parents made espresso when guests came over (using a moka pot (they were italian)), I had some here and there from Tims but it tasted like poo poo all the time. Up until recently - I am in Canada and tried out Starbucks "True North" which I later learned was just their Veranda for Canadians. It tasted legit - I only used a little bit of milk and 1 sweetner, I could probably go without that as well. So instead of paying $$$ all the drat time I bought a bag of their beans for it. Start with 17:1 water-to-beans ratio. You won't be able to fit 350ml water along with 21g beans in that press, so you'll need to play a little bit and see what does fit. Start with 16g beans and 272ml water and see how that works. There's a mod you can do to that grinder to get a more consistent coarse grind, which you will want. Someone else here can describe it, as I haven't yet done it to mine. I think it costs less than a dollar and is pretty simple overall.
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Jul 16, 2014 20:27
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This link in the OP is pretty good place to start http://www.sweetmarias.com/grind.brew.php
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Jul 16, 2014 20:34
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