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Blue Bottle in San Francisco was great, but I drank so much coffee there in two weeks that they gave me a free cup my last day. I don't know if that makes me happy or not.
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Jun 6, 2013 04:24
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beanbrew posted:Blue Bottle in San Francisco was great, but I drank so much coffee there in two weeks that they gave me a free cup my last day. I don't know if that makes me happy or not. I seem to remember paying $12 for a Siphon there but it's been a year so surely my mind is exaggerating.
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Jun 6, 2013 05:13
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I've roasted my first-ever batch of coffee tonight! I've gone completely off the deep end! 
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Jun 6, 2013 05:23
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Mandalay posted:I seem to remember paying $12 for a Siphon there but it's been a year so surely my mind is exaggerating. That is a serving for two with one of their more expensive single origins. You are really paying for the stupid Japanese water heating set up.
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Jun 6, 2013 08:08
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I'm really glad I bought the large CCD now. I'm able to make 500 ml of coffee every morning in one shot (roughly 200 ml into a glass for the morning and the rest into a thermos to take to work).
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Jun 6, 2013 11:20
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Boris Galerkin posted:I'm really glad I bought the large CCD now. I'm able to make 500 ml of coffee every morning in one shot (roughly 200 ml into a glass for the morning and the rest into a thermos to take to work).  Ok, so a coworker asked for a recommendation for a cup on demand or single cup brewer. Something with the push button ease of a Keurig, but that makes good coffee and doesn't use pods. I'm pretty much espresso or vac-pot, and have no idea what to tell him to do. He's leaning towards the KRUPS KM9008, which looks ok, except it seems to brew the coffee and then hold it under heat instead keeping it insulated. Anyway, please help me help him.
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Jun 6, 2013 15:49
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porktree posted:I always read CCD as OCD...draw your own conclusions In this thread? One in the same 
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Jun 6, 2013 15:52
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Mu Zeta posted:That is a serving for two with one of their more expensive single origins. You are really paying for the stupid Japanese water heating set up. It's still the most expensive siphon I have ever bought. Love Balconi in West LA--from 3.50 to 4.50 for siphons of good roasters.
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Jun 6, 2013 17:48
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Casull posted:I'm going to guess that a medical thermometer meant for checking to see if I have a fever can't really be used for measuring how hot my water is, right? If so, what's a good recommended thermometer and where would I buy it locally? from last page but I thought I'd chime in. I have a thermapen. It owns. But I don't use it for coffee. I use a 3bux dial probe I got from a restaurant supply store stuck in the vent hole of my bonavita electric gooseneck. It rests about a half inch from the bottom of the kettle. Works pretty well and I don't have to actually hold anything it just sits there.  But yeah, you should get a thermapen anyway because they're awesome.
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Jun 6, 2013 18:02
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GrAviTy84 posted:from last page but I thought I'd chime in. This is basically what I use as well. I use the dial thermometer that I use for my frothing pitchers. It sits right off the bottom just like yours and works just fine.
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Jun 6, 2013 21:22
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And I broke my porcelain pourover.  I've got my really old Melitta as a backup, but still.Welp, time to get me a clever coffee dripper or something that won't shatter from my butterfingers.
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Jun 6, 2013 21:30
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Casull posted:And I broke my porcelain pourover. Buy it from Sweet Maria's with a few packs of those Filtropa filters, make a big difference.
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Jun 6, 2013 21:31
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Some fun coffee related stuff making the rounds on social media today: Caffeine withdrawal is now a mental disorder. http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/health/caffeine-withdrawal-is-now-officially-a-mental-disorder.html worth it though, ~10% mortality rate decrease for coffee drinkers, among other things. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/this-is-your-brain-on-coffee/
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Jun 6, 2013 21:34
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Anyone have green coffee recommendations from Sweet Marias? I'm partial to Guatemalan coffee so I figure I'll pick up 1lb each of the Antiguan varieties, but I'd like to branch out too. Any other varieties that a Guatemalan coffee lover should try? I figure I might as well order a couple of speculative varieties when I put the rest of the order in.
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Jun 7, 2013 05:11
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Doh004 posted:In this thread? One in the same  That having been said... Mu Zeta posted:That is a serving for two with one of their more expensive single origins. You are really paying for the stupid Japanese water heating set up. Blue Bottle guys make this thread seem positively normal with how they get over some stuff.
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Jun 7, 2013 05:27
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Since ongoing house renovations are keeping my upgraditis at arm's length, I've gone back to experimenting with my Gaggia Classic. Right now I'm trying the apparently-years-old trick of opening the steam wand while pulling a shot. It's a cheap trick but it does actually work to reduce the pressure going through the group, so it's possible to control the rate of flow. I've also gotten one of the many tradies on-site to help unscrew the spout from my portafilter, since I'm too much of a pansy to take to it with a wrench myself, and next time I'm at Bunnings I'm going to put together a pressure-gauge attachment so I can tell what the hell I'm doing.
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Jun 7, 2013 06:10
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o muerte posted:Anyone have green coffee recommendations from Sweet Marias? I'm partial to Guatemalan coffee so I figure I'll pick up 1lb each of the Antiguan varieties, but I'd like to branch out too. Any other varieties that a Guatemalan coffee lover should try? I figure I might as well order a couple of speculative varieties when I put the rest of the order in. I picked up 5lbs of this at the end of April. It's pretty nice and a little bit stronger of a taste than the Guatemalan. Just be sure to not overextract it, it can get really drat sour if you do.
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Jun 7, 2013 06:35
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Mandalay posted:It's still the most expensive siphon I have ever bought. Love Balconi in West LA--from 3.50 to 4.50 for siphons of good roasters. Check out Ma'Velous in the Civic Center area. They do a siphoned Tim Wendelboe coffee for $14.
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Jun 7, 2013 08:36
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Why are Siphon's such a big deal? They seem to lack the fine variable control you can have with any of a pretty big assortment of hand brewing techniques. It really just seems like you're paying for the novelty as well as the amount of setup/cleaning you're making them do. VVVVV- Or another way I was going to put it was to say siphon coffee is really just a stupid masturbatory exercise for the customer. Fuzzy Pipe Wrench fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Jun 7, 2013 |
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Jun 7, 2013 10:01
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That's what you are doing. It's good at doing an even extraction and it tastes really clean because of the filter but I don't think it's much better than a Chemex or Clever.
Mu Zeta fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Jun 7, 2013 |
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Jun 7, 2013 10:05
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I got a goon-used Gaggia Classic last night. It is my first 'real' machine (vs. a mypressi twist), and it has me a bit confused. I am using what looks to be a 2 shot non-pressurized basket, and if I fill it with grounds and then smooth it right over and tamp, the portafilter just barely fits in the shower head. The screw in the center of the shower head leaves an impression in the puck, it is so close. If I bend my finger to create a mound before I tamp, I can't even get the portafilter on, as the puck hits the shower head before the portafilter is far up enough to be able to lock in. If any of this makes any sense? This all seems very odd to me. Isn't it ideal to have a gap between the shower head and the tamped grounds? Isn't it normal to fill to the brim before a tamp? What am I doing wrong here?
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Jun 7, 2013 13:22
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Associate Christ
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Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:Why are Siphon's such a big deal? They seem to lack the fine variable control you can have with any of a pretty big assortment of hand brewing techniques. It really just seems like you're paying for the novelty as well as the amount of setup/cleaning you're making them do. I don't think it's a big deal and I don't tout it out, but I use mine pretty regularly. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but I like the cup it produces. It's not really much more clean up than a french press is really either.
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Jun 7, 2013 15:33
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Kaluza-Klein posted:I got a goon-used Gaggia Classic last night. It is my first 'real' machine (vs. a mypressi twist), and it has me a bit confused. I'm not familiar with that machine at all, but barring anything unusual, I'm going to assume that you need to a) dose less, b) tamp more firmly or c) use a deeper basket if you want that style of shot (don't do this until you're a little more familiar with pulling a shot). I've been told that the ideal gap is 1.5-2mm between the surface of the puck & the group head when the portafilter is locked in. A penny is 1.55mm and a nickel is 1.75mm for reference. I will say that with my setup, dosing above the brim and using a relatively light tamp still brings the surface of the puck well below the brim of the portafilter and enough to clear the dispersion screen on the group head by a pennywidth.
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Jun 7, 2013 18:28
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I roasted some Sweet Maria's Espresso Monkey blend to about a Vienna roast last night using the dog bowl/heat gun method. I call it a Vienna roast but I assume it was, I roasted up until the middle of the second crack. I'm excited to try them, I'm going to go home and pull a shot during lunch.
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Jun 7, 2013 18:57
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Holy poo poo - pulling the bottom half of the burr off my Capresso Infinity and disassembling the grinding chamber yielded some _really_ nasty stale coffee that's been stuck in there since I started using the unit. Wow oh wow does my ground coffee taste better now.
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Jun 7, 2013 22:53
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o muerte posted:Holy poo poo - pulling the bottom half of the burr off my Capresso Infinity and disassembling the grinding chamber yielded some _really_ nasty stale coffee that's been stuck in there since I started using the unit. Wow oh wow does my ground coffee taste better now. Shoot, I should clean mine too it's been a while.
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Jun 7, 2013 23:03
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Questions on GrindZ. Do you guys clean the grinder out after, then put some beans in, run it, clean it out again one last time? Or do you just run the grindZ through, run coffee, then use as normal?
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Jun 8, 2013 00:35
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Google Butt posted:Shoot, I should clean mine too it's been a while. Yeah, pull the screw that holds the lower half of the burr on, lift it off, then pull the next piece off and pick up the springs + bearings. The poo poo that was wedged underneath the burr carrier in mine (the plastic piece under the burr) was loving disgusting. It's trivial to put back together after you clean everything thoroughly - just make sure the burr sits on the bearings properly (bearings in the divits) and hold it there while you tighten the screw back down. Very worthwhile, I think I had like 3 years of stale detritus stuck in there 
o muerte fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Jun 8, 2013 |
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Jun 8, 2013 01:28
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Hauki posted:How firm is your tamp? You can use B to evaluate A. Dose as you do, and tamp your ever-loving rear end off. If you are still bumping the screen when you attempt to attach the portafilter, you're overdosing (which I pretty much believe you are). Presuming you have the same stock non-pressurized double that I had on my Pure, it tapers a bit at the bottom. That basket didn't take to over-dosing much at all. All you can do us lessen the dose, and if the shots are coming out too fast, then tighten the grind up. I've seen the penny trick suggested before, and it is indeed a good trick as a baseline to work from. I would definitely try it. Once you get some pulls under you, you can vary from there. These days when I mount the portafilter and were to pull it back off, I've no screen indents. When the shot's done, though, there's the faintest relief of the beginnings of the screen screw. That's on my new basket, though. About that... I've got a few weeks in on my replacement double basket (58mm ridgeless double from espressoparts.com) and I won't be going back. It's deeper, has no taper, and allows some good up-dosing room for beans that pull too fast on a good grind setting. On a Gaggia machine I highly recommend it over their stock one. It's finish is a lot nicer as well and knocks and cleans up like a dream. Edit: And to be specific... there's no rule that says you have to fill the basket to the top. European doubles run in the 14-15g of coffee range for does, and I know that when I was getting used to things and measuring that out, it was not filling the basket. Shy of it for sure. And once tamped, it can look just silly low, but that's the way of things to get the gap. That stock basket... I didn't find it gave you a lot of room to move on dose. Had to fix everything on grind. Alleric fucked around with this message at 04:48 on Jun 8, 2013 |
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Jun 8, 2013 04:37
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o muerte posted:Yeah, pull the screw that holds the lower half of the burr on, lift it off, then pull the next piece off and pick up the springs + bearings. The poo poo that was wedged underneath the burr carrier in mine (the plastic piece under the burr) was loving disgusting. It's trivial to put back together after you clean everything thoroughly - just make sure the burr sits on the bearings properly (bearings in the divits) and hold it there while you tighten the screw back down. Just to be clear, the first screw you're referring to has a torx head?
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Jun 8, 2013 08:09
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marmot25 posted:Just to be clear, the first screw you're referring to has a torx head? Yup. Pull the torx screw then lift the burr off. You'll see three ball bearings nestled in cylindrical cut-outs on the plastic piece below the burr. Carefully lift that plastic piece and collect the 3 ball-bearings and the springs they were resting on, then go to work on all the pieces with a stiff brush. You'll be amazed at what's underneath that second piece of plastic if you've never removed it before. Pulling that piece will allow you to get a bottle-brush into the chute more easily as well, might as well brush that out while you've got the machine apart. Brush everything down with a stiff bristle brush or a toothbrush and tap or blow the debris out of the chamber. Be careful not to damage the fiber ring in the center of the grinding chamber - I didn't realize it wasn't hard plastic at first. To reassemble place the cleaned plastic bearing/burr carrier back in its place, drop the springs back into their chutes and place the ballbearings on top. Take the burr and plastic bit that sits on top of the burr, drop the screw through both then lower the burr on to the bearings so that the bearings sit in the three holes on the bottom of the burr. Hold the whole thing in place so the burr remains in position over the bearings and screw the torx screw back in. Be careful not to over-tighten the screw it seems like it beds into plastic below and you could strip it if you go crazy with torque.
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Jun 8, 2013 08:42
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Hauki posted:How firm is your tamp? Hey, thank you for the reply! I definitely know how to tamp; I have a scale to measure pressure and have even been taught (briefly) by a US national champion barista :o. And certainly when I realized what was happening with this machine, I tried 'giving it my all' just to see if I could get the puck to not touch the shower head. No luck. I would normally leave a bit of a mound (bending my finger a bit when I rake it across), but if I do that even a wee bit I can't even latch the portafilter to the machine as the coffee gets in the way. I can get the portafilter on if I rake straight across before tamping, but it still creates an impression. So now, when I am 'smoothing it over,' I have to somehow smooth it below the edge of the portafilter, which isn't very easy/effective. It just seems wrong. Here is the culprit:  I took off the shower screen and head (the block under the screen) to give them a clean and everything appeared in good order and seemed to go back into place snuggly.
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Jun 8, 2013 15:50
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Kaluza-Klein posted:Hey, thank you for the reply! Yep, looks like the stock Gaggia tapered double. The only thing you can do is dose less, test the pull time and adjust grind accordingly.
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Jun 8, 2013 16:05
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Now that it's gotten hot and humid, I've started making Shakeratos, something I discovered in Italy a couple summers ago. This will probably make the purists gag, but try it out: • Pull a double shot of espresso and dump it in a cocktail shaker. • Add about a teaspoon and a half of sugar and stir until dissolved. • Fill shaker with ice. Shake like a mofo. Strain into a champagne flute. If you shook hard enough and long enough, you should have about an inch of foam on top. It's bittersweet and cold and awesome.
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Jun 8, 2013 16:26
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o muerte posted:Yup. Pull the torx screw then lift the burr off. You'll see three ball bearings nestled in cylindrical cut-outs on the plastic piece below the burr. Carefully lift that plastic piece and collect the 3 ball-bearings and the springs they were resting on, then go to work on all the pieces with a stiff brush. You'll be amazed at what's underneath that second piece of plastic if you've never removed it before. Pulling that piece will allow you to get a bottle-brush into the chute more easily as well, might as well brush that out while you've got the machine apart. Brush everything down with a stiff bristle brush or a toothbrush and tap or blow the debris out of the chamber. Be careful not to damage the fiber ring in the center of the grinding chamber - I didn't realize it wasn't hard plastic at first. Worked like a charm--thanks for the instructions! I should have done this years ago.
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Jun 8, 2013 21:13
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marmot25 posted:Worked like a charm--thanks for the instructions! I should have done this years ago. Yeah, I'm going to make this a part of my regular cleaning routine. If I'd realized how straightforward it is I'd have started years ago.
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Jun 8, 2013 21:23
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nwin posted:Questions on GrindZ. Do you guys clean the grinder out after, then put some beans in, run it, clean it out again one last time? Or do you just run the grindZ through, run coffee, then use as normal? I keep a pound of shitbucks around to run through the grinder after I run the grindz through it. I only run enough through it till I stop seeing the white bits taper off.
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Jun 9, 2013 00:54
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Kaluza-Klein posted:Hey, thank you for the reply! At the risk of getting laughed out of this thread, have you had a look at the Scottie Callaghan dosing tools? I find the set of three to be pretty useful for grounds distribution (the full set is just ridiculous bullshit, though).
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Jun 9, 2013 02:49
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Any thoughts on grind vs. brew time? I've settled on french press and CCD (for use with my thermos, gently caress sludge in there) as my two brew methods, and I can brew for arbitrarily long in both. There's obviously a trade off in grind vs. brew time, but since I'm generally patient, is it "better" to go with a coarse grind and long brew time, or a finer grind and shorter time, to achieve roughly the same extraction? Recently I've been grinding on the coarsest setting my Capresso does for french press and brewing for four minutes, and find that it's at least consistent if not enjoyable--sometimes my timing is off by ten seconds or so depending how far away I am when the timer goes off, and so brewing for longer overall means that such variance isn't as harmful. I've yet to actually try such a coarse grind with the CCD, but I'm thinking it would help if for no other reason than it takes long enough for the CCD to drain (about a minute) that the brew time is already rather imprecise.
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Jun 9, 2013 15:23
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ExcessBLarg! posted:Any thoughts on grind vs. brew time? With my crappy Hario Mini grinder, grinding at the finer settings is somewhat more consistent than coarser so I'm using fine-ish grinds even with a french press. Of course with those grinds I have to reduce brew time considerably - not exceeding ~1:30m if I want a drinkable coffee - but as long as I keep an eye on the timer it usually turns out pretty good.
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Jun 9, 2013 16:28
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