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Dramatika posted:I can drink Keurig coffee still, but I don't enjoy it - it's just getting a caffeine fix, while my normal morning cup of coffee I make at home is a ritual that brings me joy. That's a good idea, I'll check some coffee shops in my city the next week. Have you a few tips for me how I can distinguish good from bad ones? becoming posted:Not knowing your budget and whether $19 rrrrrreally matters to you, you can get by without a scale. No one here will recommend it, but if it's a question of "let me get by for a month or two until I can drop $20 for a scale", go for it. You'll simply suffer more inconsistency in your brews - so one cup might be absolutely loving magical, and the next might be kinda meh. It's all still probably better than anything else you were drinking. The acquisition costs aren't that much a problem, the running costs were more interesting to me, but they are inside my budget. I like the idea that I can totally change the taste of my coffee, because I'd like a mild one and not the bitter ones my coffee machine gives me most of the time..
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Feb 16, 2014 19:50
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The good shops will grind the beans to order. The coffee/espresso machines should look clean. If the coffee menu has more than like 10 items on it then it's probably not going to be good. If you see this then they likely know what they are doing  If you see this then the place is more interested in selling you a milk shake. It's not necessarily a bad thing but it's not what I call good coffee. 
Mu Zeta fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 20:01
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becoming posted:Not counting electricity to roast, boil water, or grind beans... Don't buy a hand grinder for anything but occasional use. It is a waste because combination of time to use and less good grind quality will make you buy an encore sooner anyhow. I never minded the time and effort, but even modded and shimmed to hell, my hario still had a bunch of fines and courses make it through and that drove me to a real grinder asap. Hand grinders are for travel and backup use only. I will never go back to podded coffee. The only non-snobby coffee I drink is diner coffee because lovely bottomless diner coffee is good like old school vw beetle is. Yeah, by all modern standards it sucks, but it is right anyhow. As for shops, list your city, we may know. Otherwise, look for someone who roast their own. Not all of them are good, but it is a fun adventure. Otherwise, I'd look for someone who using well known company beans. In a perfect world, they'd use more than one company because variety is awesome. Brands to look for are like Stumptown, intellegensia, handsome, that one that starts with v. Most sizable urban areas should have something good locally. Important when buying is that it should have a roasted on date. I've not seen good coffee without it. Coffee lasts 15d from roast (and should be used only after 24 has passed after the roast). My roaster roasts on Monday, so I buy Monday night or Tuesday am. nm fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 21:36
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For finding a good shop, the first step is to check out this list and see if any of the shops are in your area. If not, check Yelp. Search for something like "coffee roaster" or "artisan coffee" (If you just type in 'coffee' you'll get reviews for the 100 starbucks within the mile). You can look at the reviews and/or look at the shop's website (provided they have one) and make the judgement call based on some of the criteria Mu Zeta pointed out above. Some additional signs to look out for: 1. Naming their coffees "light roast", "dark roast", etc. This is a bad sign! Preferably, the name will be some combination of the country of origin and the type of coffee, and will have a tasting profile, which is a small list of the flavors the coffee has. 1a. As something of an addition to 1, the more information you're provided with about the coffee, the better. Just to pick an example at random, Intelligentsia tells you Country of origin, farm of origin, the season it was grown and harvested, the elevation it was grown at, the process the coffee went through, the type of coffee, and a flavor profile. 2. Starbucks charred beans. If you walk into the shop and it smells like burning rubber, it's probably not good. Likewise if you can look at some of their beans and see your reflection in their shiny black surface, it's best to move on. 3. Also this is by no means universal, but generally if you walk into the place and see a sea of Mac Books and Fedoras, you're probably in the right place. 
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Feb 16, 2014 21:44
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Yeah, hipsters like good coffee, follow them.
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Feb 16, 2014 21:46
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I 100% ruined (bad) coffee for myself by discovering this thread. I'll recommend a capresso infinity, ccd + filtropa filters, that scale, thermometer (you don't really need one that bad, just don't pour boiling water on your grounds), and a timer app. If you want to home roast, Wagner heat gun, dog bowl and sample pack from sweet marias. Or I could sell you my modified air crazy popper (modified so that the fan comes on when you plug it in, and the power switch toggles the heat). Also comes with a fancy glass chimney that fits perfectly. If you don't want it and someone else in here does, shoot me a pm. Google Butt fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 21:49
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I want to get a stovetop Whirley-pop to start learning how to roast my own coffee, but I have a concern. My place doesn't have a vent that leads to the outside over my stovetop. Will roasting beans in one of those really cause significant amounts of smoke? I don't wanna ruin the inside of this place.
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Feb 16, 2014 22:14
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It will.
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Feb 16, 2014 22:22
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The level depends on how dark you're roasting, but the short answer is yes: you're going to get a lot of smoke.
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Feb 16, 2014 22:53
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So, a few posts up talked about a hand grinder not being worth it. What if you would like to grind in the morning but also not wake your significant other up? Is it worth it then?
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Feb 16, 2014 22:53
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dcgrp posted:So, a few posts up talked about a hand grinder not being worth it. What if you would like to grind in the morning but also not wake your significant other up? Is it worth it then? My Baratza Virtuoso is about 74dB. That sounds loud but it's not. I have never awakened my wife while grinding coffee. Other grinders might be louder, but it is not a problem for me.
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Feb 16, 2014 23:03
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I run my Hario Mini on a cordless drill when I feel lazy. I bought a socket adaptor, dug around in my parts pile till I found a nut that fit the grinder, and bam, I can wake up 10mins later on any given morning.
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Feb 16, 2014 23:07
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I have a Capresso Infinity. When I don't want to wake my roommates up, I just throw a blanket/jacket over it and it muffles the sound enough that I haven't woken anybody up yet. It's also not terribly loud in general; at the very least it's much more quiet than your average blade grinder.
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Feb 17, 2014 00:43
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Sydin posted:I have a Capresso Infinity. When I don't want to wake my roommates up, I just throw a blanket/jacket over it and it muffles the sound enough that I haven't woken anybody up yet. It's also not terribly loud in general; at the very least it's much more quiet than your average blade grinder. I do the same thing. I just toss a kitchen towel over it. Works pretty well.
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Feb 17, 2014 04:00
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Good morning and thank you for your help! Have you ever tried to grind your beans with a Vitamixer? But I guess they are too big for that use.. The city I live in is called "Nuremberg" (Germany). Unfortunately there is no roaster listed for Germany at all. I guess we don't value good coffee at all, at least it looks like that. If I walk into a "coffee" shop and see a sea of Mac Books I know I am in Starbucks  I'd rather buy roasted beans, as I probably won't have a exhaust hood in my new appartment.
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Feb 17, 2014 07:02
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DoBoMi posted:Good morning and thank you for your help! A vitamix would chop the beans into dust. You want to GRIND the beans, preferable with a set of burrs.
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Feb 17, 2014 07:29
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DoBoMi posted:Good morning and thank you for your help! Take the list with a grain of salt. It's 5 years old, and biased towards the West Hemisphere, and is also missing my personal favorite local roaster in my town, while plugging some guys I've never heard of. While I could just be out of the loop, I know for a fact the guys they left out are legit as hell and pretty well known. The fact that there's not a single Italian roaster on that list makes me skeptical. Thirty seconds on Google gave me these guys http://www.roesttrommel.de/Kaffee/ in Nuremberg who may or may not be decent. I don't read German, but they seem promising - beans all preceeded by a country name, and as far as I can tell none of their offerings are flavored. As far as coffee shops or cafes or whatever the gently caress they are called go, just look for one that offers pourover and has coffee listed by country of origin. It might not be the best, but it is a million times better than Starbucks garbage. Seriously, I'll drink Keurig coffee black, even if I don't particularly enjoy it, but Starbucks coffee is the most revolting vile poo poo on the planet unless you doctor it up. Also, that place I just linked might actually do pourover coffe at the storefront, but again, I don't read German so who knows. Dramatika fucked around with this message at 08:16 on Feb 17, 2014 |
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Feb 17, 2014 07:56
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Dramatika posted:Take the list with a grain of salt. It's 5 years old, and biased towards the West Hemisphere, and is also missing my personal favorite local roaster in my town, while plugging some guys I've never heard of. While I could just be out of the loop, I know for a fact the guys they left out are legit as hell and pretty well known. The fact that there's not a single Italian roaster on that list makes me skeptical. All true, I by no means was trying to say that list was definitive. It just provides a decent starting point, but at the same time the European roasters are very sparse, yeah. Speaking of Italian roasters, I'm taking a trip to Italy over the Summer, and I'm always up for trying new coffee places. Can anybody give some good suggestions out there? I'll mostly be around Naples and Rome, but I'm more than willing to go a bit out of the way for excellent coffee.
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Feb 17, 2014 09:50
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Yeah, I came off a little negative, sorry about that. It's a great starting point, but don't let that list be your one stop for roaster advice.
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Feb 17, 2014 10:14
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Mu Zeta posted:It will. Sydin posted:The level depends on how dark you're roasting, but the short answer is yes: you're going to get a lot of smoke. Thank you both! Oh well. Guess I'm saving up for a roaster I can use indoors.
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Feb 17, 2014 14:40
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script kitty, I saw in the Bub Bub thread that you're brewing with a Hario Woodneck. Presumably you're quite fond of it, or you wouldn't be brewing with it, so I won't ask whether you like it. Are there any things you'd say to a person considering a purchase? My next order from Prima isn't yet at the "free shipping" total, and if I'm spending money, I'd rather get cool coffee poo poo instead of just paying for shipping.
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Feb 17, 2014 16:13
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I suppose, but it's probably things you already know! I purchased the 240ml model. This generally makes enough for one mug, or two small cappuccino-sized cups. I typically start with 16-18 grams of medium-fine ground coffee. After your kettle has heated the water, you take the cloth filter and pre-wet it with that hot water, and place the grinds inside the middle. Then you pour the water starting in the center and circling outwards. Just be careful cause I've definitely been distracted doing it and just overflowed and all the grinds got into the bottom of the glass  The maintenance is really simple and cleaning the filter only takes a second. After youre done with the cloth filter, rinse it out in the sink and get as many grinds off as possible. Wring it out a bit and place it in a ziplock bag somewhere. Don't let it dry out! If it started getting too dark and stained looking, you can carefully wash it with soapy water but I doubt that would be necessary unless you really don't rinse it well enough after use. Alternatively you could get paper filters if you want immediate cleanup. It's really fun to use, fast, and easy to clean - yet not as simple and easy as a french press. This device is really delicate - but I do think there are stainless steel versions of pourovers if you're worried about durability. You will need to get a bigger model if you have more than one coffee drinker in your home. I do recommend it very much. The only other brewing method I prefer over this is using a vacuum pot (and I broke my Cory a few months back  )
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Feb 17, 2014 17:08
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MrEnigma posted:Awesome thanks for the help guys. Man I want that Kalita Wave Kettle now (and a Hario and a Takahiro)...i might be addicted. I'll probably just start with the Kalita, the Hario would match my server and v60 though Did you wind up getting the Kalita Wave kettle? Mine just arrived today, so I've only done a few pours with it. I really like it thus far. Since I've got three kettles now, I wanted to compare them a bit - specifically, pour speed. I filled each kettle (1000ml Bonavita, 900ml Takahiro, 1000ml Kalita), then poured 100ml of water as slowly as I could while still maintaining a constant stream. Bonavita - 100ml in 0:49 (49 seconds) Takahiro - 100ml in 1:18 (78 seconds) Kalita - 100ml in 1:06 (66 seconds) I hadn't actually measured this before, and while I had (correctly) perceived that I could pour more slowly with the Takahiro compared to the Bonavita, I have to admit to being shocked by how large the gap is. I will have to order some flow restrictors for the Bonavita (George Howell says his don't work in the electric kettle - anyone confirm?) and try them out. I also really like that the Kalita has a wooden handle for both the lid and for the kettle itself. Wood is a fairly poor conductor of heat, so besides just looking sexy as all hell, it serves a function. The all-metal construction of the Takahiro is, to my eye, equally sexy, but I am forced use a towel when removing the lid to add more water. No such problem with the Kalita. I think any of these kettles will serve a coffee junkie fairly well. At $58 from Amazon, it's really difficult for me to recommend anything over the Kalita Wave kettle, unless you are rrrrrrrreally serious about your pour-over and want the snail's pace pour from the Takahiro. I'm happy to answer any questions about any of these kettles.
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Feb 17, 2014 22:56
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becoming posted:Did you wind up getting the Kalita Wave kettle? Mine just arrived today, so I've only done a few pours with it. I really like it thus far. I did order it, showed up today, but havent' used it yet. Beautiful little kettle though.
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Feb 17, 2014 22:58
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MrEnigma posted:I did order it, showed up today, but havent' used it yet. Beautiful little kettle though. I've been looking for a flow restrictor for the Bonavita PID kettle as well - I don't want to pinch the tip, because that'd ruin the look. I emailed Bonavita like a few months back, and they didn't know of any that existed. Have things changed since then?
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Feb 17, 2014 23:19
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Archer2338 posted:I've been looking for a flow restrictor for the Bonavita PID kettle as well - I don't want to pinch the tip, because that'd ruin the look. I think these are what people tend to use now: http://www.espressoparts.com/w_378 http://www.home-barista.com/brewing/hario-water-flow-restrictor-t19964.html I have one of the plastic ones Barismo used to stock, but I haven't seen them sold anywhere for a long time. It's pretty awesome for pourover, but keep in mind the kettle will be next to useless for almost anything else because the flow rate is so low. It's too inconvenient to remove and reinstall the part on a regular basis.
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Feb 17, 2014 23:31
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Bob_McBob posted:I think these are what people tend to use now: I like the conflicting reviews on wether it fits the bonavita kettle. But I have the same problem, if I want to use the Kalita Wave Pot now (for the Chemex, etc) it will be a huge pain to pour from the bonavita into that. Too bad there isn't some random adapter you can put on the tip of the pour.
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Feb 17, 2014 23:45
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I can confirm that the George Howell flow restrictors do not properly fit in the electric Bonavita kettles. However, I was able to shove it in there after trimming the tip a bit and it works just fine. I'm very happy with how it pours. edit: Any opinions on Bow Truss? I want to try a new roaster and they have a natural processed Mexican coffee that sounds interesting. min fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Feb 18, 2014 |
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Feb 18, 2014 00:25
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MrEnigma posted:if I want to use the Kalita Wave Pot now (for the Chemex, etc) it will be a huge pain to pour from the bonavita into that. This is true now, even before the flow is restricted. What I have taken to doing is using a cheap kettle to boil water, then I pour it into my pouring kettles. I use a thermometer to confirm temperature. Usually it's a little cooler than I want it, so I put the pouring kettle onto the (now turned off but still hot) burner and let it warm up a bit. Then I make my coffee. Significant downside: that's another kettle to take up space on your counter or stove. min posted:I can confirm that the George Howell flow restrictors do not properly fit in the electric Bonavita kettles. However, I was able to shove it in there after trimming the tip a bit and it works just fine. I'm very happy with how it pours. Thanks. Presumably you mean making the tip narrower, not shorter? With how inexpensive they are, I am not sweating giving it a shot, though it occurs to me now that with the Kalita and Takahiro kettles, there may be no real point in doing so. Do you find you are still able to pour quickly - filling up a press pot, for example - or is it pretty much "now this is really slow"?
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Feb 18, 2014 00:50
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becoming posted:This is true now, even before the flow is restricted. What I have taken to doing is using a cheap kettle to boil water, then I pour it into my pouring kettles. I use a thermometer to confirm temperature. Usually it's a little cooler than I want it, so I put the pouring kettle onto the (now turned off but still hot) burner and let it warm up a bit. Then I make my coffee. Significant downside: that's another kettle to take up space on your counter or stove. Yes, narrower, not shorter. The pour is quite slow with the restrictor, which is not a problem for me since >90% of my brewing is some form of pourover. I would agree that you probably don't even need one with how great the pour control on the Takahiro kettle is.
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Feb 18, 2014 00:53
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script kitty posted:I suppose, but it's probably things you already know! I purchased the 240ml model. This generally makes enough for one mug, or two small cappuccino-sized cups. I typically start with 16-18 grams of medium-fine ground coffee. After your kettle has heated the water, you take the cloth filter and pre-wet it with that hot water, and place the grinds inside the middle. Then you pour the water starting in the center and circling outwards. Just be careful cause I've definitely been distracted doing it and just overflowed and all the grinds got into the bottom of the glass Sorry to read about your vac pot! That is still on my list of brewing methods to try. I am only a few months into my coffee addiction, so trying out different brew methods is still a large part of the hobby for me. Coupled with the good things I have read about cloth filters, I find myself quite tempted to pick up a woodneck. I suspect I will be adding one to my Prima order once they notify me that my Wave dripper is finally in stock. I tend to drink larger cups of coffee, so I think the 480ml model is the way to go, regardless of the fact that my wife is a coffee nut. Have you had to replace the filter yet?
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Feb 18, 2014 04:15
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So what do people think of Tonx? I wouldn't mind trying something new but their plans and my drinking doesn't really mesh well (they either ship too much or not enough) and their prices are about middle/average of what I can get locally. I guess if it's not mindblowingly good I don't really want to bother.
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Feb 18, 2014 04:30
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I've been trying it for a few weeks and it's just OK for the price. I think I'll give it another month and then decide to keep it or drop it.
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Feb 18, 2014 04:34
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I thought Tonx was above average coffee. I would put them on the same level as most other high end "3rd wave" roasters I've tried. I was a subscriber for about a year, the biggest thing I liked about it was the random factor of it. I liked getting a new coffee every other week and got to try some coffees I never would have chosen for myself that I actually ended up enjoying. I cancelled to home roast a little more and to be able to try more roasters without wasting coffee. I will probably end up subscribing again on the half sack plan because I really loved the variety of coffee they would send out. It was never boring, even if some were not 100% to my liking.
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Feb 18, 2014 05:17
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Boris Galerkin posted:So what do people think of Tonx? I wouldn't mind trying something new but their plans and my drinking doesn't really mesh well (they either ship too much or not enough) and their prices are about middle/average of what I can get locally. I guess if it's not mindblowingly good I don't really want to bother. Can I go ahead and plug Bub Bub here? They are a goon-run coffee roaster and have recently added a subscription option. It is a bit cheaper than Tonx, and they are very responsive. MasterControl and frenchnewwave are the two you want to speak with. They've got a thread in SA Mart where they talk about their operation. I have ordered from them and will do so again.
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Feb 18, 2014 05:44
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For people doing subscriptions, do you not have access to good coffee in your area?
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Feb 18, 2014 05:58
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Where do people here buy their un-roasted beans from? I'm in Denver and tried Whole Foods but no dice (the only place I thought might have them). I see a bunch of options on Amazon from Coffee Bean Direct, but I'm not sure if there are better or local options I should be looking to.
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Feb 18, 2014 19:31
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Sweet Maria's is good if you don't have a local source.
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Feb 18, 2014 19:35
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dongsbot 9000 posted:Sweet Maria's is good if you don't have a local source. Ooh nice, I like the idea of having a sampler pack as well, so I don't buy 5+lbs of beans I may not like. Thank you!
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Feb 18, 2014 19:45
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If you have any local roasters they might let you buy unroasted beans from them as well
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Feb 18, 2014 20:13
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