Coffee

I bought some cold brew concentrate from Trader Joe's :D

it's pretty good

Hope it treats you right!

so far not even a stomach cramp :)

I much prefer the stumptown cold brew to the grady's fwiw, not that into the chicory.

Lately I have actually been sometimes using Starbucks Via Colombian instant packets in the morning when I'm in a rush, and it's a surprisingly good cup of coffee. Still do the pour-over/fresh local roasts thing at work.

bought some intelligentsia guatemalan shiz inspired by recent thread revive; kinda wish it were tomorrow already so i could drink it

I tried the TJ cold brew and didn't think it met fresh brew standards.

I saw TJs carries Jamaican Blue Mountain last time I was there and bought a can ($20 for 13 oz). It's very good but I'm not sure it's that good (compared to the Bali $9/can coffee).

After a couple of hours of reading espresso people argue and basically come down to "if you're not spending at least $1k on a grinder and machine you're a savage and even then you're still kind of a savage" I'm going to get a Moka Pot from Bed Bath and Beyond tomorrow. I liked the espresso I got from my mom's Nespresso machine so I'm guessing I don't exactly have the most delicate palette for this shit anyway.

i realized at some point a couple years ago that as far as my palate is concerned there are really only two levels of coffee, good and bad, and most important thing i can do to get from bad to good is grind beans fresh. i like the ritual of my aeropress and hario burr grinder but i dont fuck with recipes or weights or temperatures or anything, and you know what its pretty good coffee!

I didnt find fresh ground to make much difference tbh but storing grinds airtight after opening def does imo

Yeah, I just buy bags and get them ground for french press. Good enough and one less thing I have to do in the morning. I can't really tell a difference between that and grinding them immediately before.

xp max I have the same routine! Do you have the skerton or the mini mill?

mini! skerton is more than i need

Is that the skinny one that has the lid? If so how many "clicks" from all-the-way-tightened do you set it at for Aeropress grinding? Also do you fux w water temp or just boil it?

the grinder is regular, no lid or clicks. i boil and then usually wait 10 seconds or so, more so that the water doesnt jump out of the tea pot than to get it below boiling point

Agree milo, moka pots are great IMO and are good enough for me. Easy to clean too and I like the routine of using them

i do every fancy coffee thing and I LOVE IT

coffee is good it gives u visions

xp max I have the same routine! Do you have the skerton or the mini mill?

that is my exact routine too, I have a mini

I have occasionally weighed things out, it adds like 20 secs to prep time idk

i weigh weighing is tite

fresh grind or die

i used to areopress but why is it so small need to make bigger one now i pour over, i own an insulated metal french press too, i own a moka pot, i have an electric burr grinder, i have a scale, i buy single origin beans

electric kettle of course

i mostly just fuck w espresso

lpulling espresso shots is like this cool sorta jenga puzzle, every step is kinda u&k

ya its tricky

I think espresso is where all the micro choices you make really start to show, it's true for non-espresso and drip and aeropress that 'good enough' is great

I got the gooseneck electric =]

No temp control but who cares

haha veg it is like jenga or something! My bf got us a refurbished espresso machine (pavoni, a small one with only a few buttons) for Christmas and so far I'm the only one trying to master the art of it - I think I'm doing pretty well. Need a better grinder though, that's where I run into problems with the puzzle :/ Yet it still makes a more rewarding and delicious cup of coffee than the stovetop pot I used for years and thought I was okay with...

ya mismatched size grounds are espresso death m/l

龜
Posted: January 31, 2015 at 1:24:18 PM
I got the gooseneck electric =]

is it good it looks so fn goofy man idk i will get it tho if it makes me more of a coffee man

omg rrobyn i love that pavoni, so jelly

diff beans need slightly diff grinds even! it's really interesting w all the variables

i saw a vid from some coffee shop about tamping & it upped my game considerably

they said to spoon yr grounds into the portafilter & pat them down like yr making a sandcastle THEN level off with yr finger THEN use the tamper to fully squash them in

it made my shots way better
dont ask me why though lol

capresso burr grinder is not too $$$ & has lasted us for years of daily use
i highly recommend

Oh I will check that out!

People are like oh you need to spend more on a grinder than on the espresso machine and I say wtf

I have a really cheap burr grinder that I got a couple of years ago but it doesn't grind fine enough for this machine. So I grind the coffee and then grind again in little blade grinder for a few seconds. Probably that makes me a coffee heathen. Mostly it's just annoying.

might hav to cast u out of the coffee thread

Will try to atone. But I understand.

mods

How will I ever learn

flagged u rrrobyn sry

I was just looking at how to mod a cheap burr grinder like the one I have - pretty easy! And possibly dangerous! Maybe that'll give me some cred here.

maaaaaybe

im tentatively willing to entertain this coffee mod

capresso burr grinder is not too $$$ & has lasted us for years of daily use
i highly recommend

― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 31 January 2015 18:56 (3 hours ago) Permalink

Capresso Infinity is the gold standard of burr grinders of people who are not insane

haha veg it is like jenga or something! My bf got us a refurbished espresso machine (pavoni, a small one with only a few buttons) for Christmas and so far I'm the only one trying to master the art of it - I think I'm doing pretty well. Need a better grinder though, that's where I run into problems with the puzzle :/ Yet it still makes a more rewarding and delicious cup of coffee than the stovetop pot I used for years and thought I was okay with...

― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Saturday, January 31, 2015 1:37 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've had a La Pavoni for about 8 years and I love it! It needs servicing though and I've been kind of putting it off because now that I have to get K to preschool every morning I don't have time for the full ritual anyway. It's a beautiful piece of machinery, difficult to tame, but once you do it can make amazing coffee.

A few other tips:

1) ONLY use the larger filter basket (IIRC it comes with two, one is sort of tapered on the bottom, hence smaller, and one is not). It's supposed to be a "double" but it really holds the ideal amount for a single shot, and double-pulling the same grinds is a ridiculous idea.

2) A couple things to keep in mind for the future, but that require shelling out more: a "bottomless" portafilter (no oil buildup = cleaner espresso and easier cleanup), and a tamper that actually is the same size as the pavoni portafilter (IIRC the one that comes with it is weirdly smaller).

3) The thing is a burn hazard, so be careful. The whole thing is metal that gets and stays super hot. Also any time the machine has been in use recently, only open the water chamber VERY slowly as there's a lot of pressure in there and it can shoot hot water all over your hand if you move too fast (you can also use the "steam wand" to empty out the pressure before you open)

4) You don't absolutely have to use an "espresso" roast, in fact if you like nu-coffee places a lot of them use something lighter for their espresso. You can really make espresso from any coffee, although at least a medium roast is better imo, because light roasts have so little oil that they don't produce much "crema."

5) For cleaning, I find that lightly wetted pieces of paper towel work best (for cleaning the inside ring of the head where the grinds get stuck).

There are also some great sites where people give you tips -- will try to find. Some of them are a little OTT crazy, but it's fun to try the different techniques and see what works for you. Give yourself some time and practice, and be a little obsessive about it. I have had people tell me that I made "the best coffee they've ever had.

I could give a lot more tips too but this probably already sounds absurd.

gbx how many clicks do YOU use??

Oh and absolutely get the Capresso or similar, blade-chopped grinds will mean you don't get a nice tightly packed "disc" of grinds and you won't get proper pressure/extraction.

what's ur fave btwn nescafe and Maxwell house

keep the crazy espresso tips comin this is good stuff

http://imagecdn-0.findnsave.com/289/10039972-420