Making decent coffee at home - how is it done?

IAN U CAN BUY IT AT TOPS.

IT PWNZ

http://img.alibaba.com/img/product/50/06/60/50066047.jpg

1) Get whole beans, like you already do. For cheap, good stuff available in most US metropolises, I suggest Whole Foods brand, in the big plastic bag

2) Store beans in airtight container

3) Grind when you use, or just enough for a few days at a time

4) Use a fairly decent amount of grounds, maybe fill that thing about 1/8 up with grounds (you'll have to experiment to see what you like, but don't skimp)

5) The filtered water suggestion is good, if you can do it.

6) Pour in the water, just off the boil, and stir the grounds into it with a spoon.

7) Let it brew a little while for better flavor -- I think between 5-10 minutes works well.

8) Push down the plunger slowly, it should be slightly difficult or else your coffee's ground too fine or there's not enough of it.

9) Better?

Don't buy French or Italian roast. Buy mocha java beans.

WHY DID I THINK THIS WAS IAN'S THREAD??

AM I DRUNK?

I think French Roast beans are over baked and I think they're overbaked 'cause they weren't that good to begin with.

WHO'S FOR COFFEE: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE

"Leslie Back takes us on a fascinating journey through a bewildering world of coffee, taking a practical look at the quest for a perfect cup."

alba - only if you're not paying attention. i've had coffee boil down to sludge because i forgot i had it going.

Since my gf doesn't really drink coffee at home, I just make espresso. Illy is choice.

this is u&k.

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.

(I have one that plugs in and doesn't even need to go on the hob in my room. so gooood.)

And also for everyone.

seconded. I just use it with Illy or Lavazza or whatever.

if I don't have time, I just use those coffees with one of the plastic over cup cone filters.

!

!!

!!!

I wasn't aware this existed. I need some, because the weirdos I work with don't drink coffee, so there's never any point in making a pot of coffee here at the office.

http://www.betsyda.com/pictures/tv/goldblend/cup.jpg

I have a press, but I rarely use it. This Braun KF180: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005IX9S.01-standard.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

gets a lot of work around our house. We use Brita filtered water (which we don't use as drinking water, mind, just coffee and tea) and descale the apparatus maybe once a month. It's got a few nice bells and whistles (flow rate adjustment, timer, automatic shut-off, catch that allows you to take the carafe out to pour a cup while the coffee brews), and a large capacity. Needless to say, we grind our own beans. If you drink a few cups every day, I'd recommend something like this automatic coffee maker.

Rachel sometimes uses a plastic cone that holds a filter, puts the cone on tops of a mug, and pours water straight from a near-boiling kettle through a couple tablespoons of ground beans. She makea a good cup of coffee, but there's just the one mug produced from all this effort.

As far as beans go: I can't stand Bustelo. Cheap beans roasted very dark (and I like dark roasts). You want grocery store ground coffee in a can or a vacuum pack, go with Chock Full O Nuts New York Roast. Arabica beans, moderately dark roast. A tasty, strong cup of coffee. For fancier stuff, if you're in a locality where you can get freshly roasted Peets (the Bay Area, or Boston), you can't really do any better. But it'll cost. In New York, I really like Gillies Coffee. It's cheaper and there's a wide variety of beans and roasts. They ship UPS for free (most coffee is eight to ten bucks a pound), and if you live in Brooklyn, you can pick up your order straight from the roasting factory and get a dollar or two off. The Sumatra is really good, and at eight dollars a pound, it's the same price as those awful "gourmet" coffees that get dumped from plexiglass bins at Pathmark.

15 drinks every 10 minutes = 90 drinks / hour
6 hours on floor / shift = 540 drinks / shift

+ 5 shifts / week during summer season = 27000 drinks / summer
+ 1 shift / week during school year = 21600 drinks / year
---------------------
= 48600 drinks / year x 4 years (averaged) ]

So I've got a million pieces of advice to offer you. Especially as one coffee snob to another.

1) Buy a grinder. They're $20.00. Grind beans as you need them, keep them sealed airtight, preferably in a thermos or high-quality tupperware. Fucking... the freezer trick doesn't do anything. Don't waste your time.

2) Keep your press clean. Very clean. Mineral deposits and oil from the beans will build up in a transparent film on the inside of the pot. Descaling this is more complicated than most people understand. Never use soap or detergent - they'll significantly distort the flavor of the coffee. Many favor baking soda and water, but I'm a big fan of the product 'Urnex' :
>ihttp://www.urnex.com/images/UrnBrew.jpg

3) The obvious one: Make your own blend. Start out with a basic arabica bean. It's time everybody got over shitty robusta coffees, anyway. Add a few dark-roasted beans, even a high-quality flavored if that's to your liking. Experiment. Whole Foods does a few decent daily roasts, and these are especially worth it.

http://www.lapavoni.com/imagesDB/zoom/EL.gif

Yes, it does cost that much. (It's a La Pavoni Europiccola Lusso, if you didn't know.)
Yes, the coffee it produces is worth it.

2) If you use a French press, definitely grind it coarse (it should look closer to tiny crystals than powder)

3) Don't by the cheap Bodega coffee brands. It's probably not even Arabica beans. People get fooled because they think "Oh, they grow coffee in Latin America and this is from Latin America". Well, that makes as much sense as thinking a McDonalds hamburger is the best meat because the US has a big cattle industry.

3b) If you want good cheap coffee, I recommend Chock Full of Nuts 100% Colombian. Experiment though, it all depends on your taste.

4)I'm not as familiar with French presses, but to me it sounds like you need to use more, not less. Depends on how big the press is. Does it taste watery at all? If not I guess you're ok.

For example, Sumatra is really fucking strong and acidy tasting. Colombian is milder. Even if you never want to buy anything from Starbucks, their coffee lists are a good reference ("Bold" "Mild" etc.)

xpost

Is anyone familiar with a Northwest online coffee retailer (may have stores too, don't know as I'm in NYC), named B and B something? Can't remember their name.

Unless I'm mistaken the French refer to American-style coffee as "filtre" coffee. In any case they have no room to talk as French coffee is generally shit.

I can't help you, calstars.

calstars - no, but i think you might be confusing torrefazione italia (which no longer has any stores) with the furniture company b&b italia

My father lets the "filtre" overflow with coffee. I recommended to him using less coffee but he's adament about using 3 kilos of it. "I just put some water in the cup. Whatever. No wonder your stomach is always upset.

the seal on my stovetop espressor maker thing broke a week or so ago and i know i can find a replacement somewhere but the maker itself is aluminum and while the coffee is good it's not great. i've gotten used to workplace espresso maker and it has made a snob of me.

some people have told me that bodums are better than the stovetop espresso scene but i really don't know. all i know is that in my need for sunday morning coffee at home i also diiied in heart and stomach b/c i deferred to brutal drip machine.

there are so many ilx coffee threads

i also like how the stovetop vacuum things sound and how fast they are. bodums, so unexciting

D'you mean this guy?

http://www.bluemountaincoffeehouse.com/images/accessory_images/Acc_MochaExpress.jpg

I also like how the stovetop vacuum things sound and how fast they are. bodums, so unexciting

So true. The french press takes a little while, while the percolator is REALLY fast.

I may finally break down and get a new filter for my drip maker. Its a really nice unit, but we've used either a french press or the percolator.

I think it might be time for a throw down b/t the three methods. Let me see how difficult it would be for me to get a new filter this afternoon.

i've been doing cold brew.

at my parents' on christmas eve, they rocked this fucker out:

http://www.coffeestorehouse.com/images/Cona_D_ChromeCSH.jpg

great coffee, albeit with a) crack-den-style fiddliness, and b) the lingering stench of paraffin.

whoa coffee bong

yes that's the espresso maker i mean, gooblar - they're calling it a 'mocha espress' which i guess is what it's called! okay but i've actually seen it called just 'stovetop espresso maker.' yeah i think i'll just get a new seal or a new whole thing if i can find a stainless steel one

what i really want is a real espresso machine oh man one day

In order of preference french press > single drip by hand > mochapot aka stovetop espresso. I find generally the beans matters a lot more than method though.

http://www.pocketsoap.com/weblog/2006/01/santos.jpg

https://id38.securedata.net/sweetmarias/chemex/cm-4.jpg

D'you mean this guy?

http://www.bluemountaincoffeehouse.com/images/accessory_images/Acc_MochaExpress.jpg

-- G00blar, Monday, January 14, 2008 6:07 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Those things are the shit. If you're grinding your own beans you won't come up with a cup better than what those things make. Just don't be an ass and burn your brew.

I like it, but I disagree that it's a better cup of coffee than drip/french press. It might be a taste thing though--I find that I have to be in a certain mood for it.

The thing I like about the mochapots are that you only have so much water per grounds, there's not really enough there to leach out any of the less-soluble bitter things. Also, it basically makes espresso, and when I'm drinking coffee, I want a drug at least as much as I want a beverage. These guys make it strong.

See I find I have to drink a couple of mocha pot shots to equal a full cup of french press. Of course I find the same thing about regular espresso.

ah i think that's actually what i don't want - i like minor hits spaced out through the day, otherwise the caffeine effect is too intense, like yesterday's drip machine overdose ugh

rrobyn, i used to work for a really bizarre upscale coffee bistro, run by a scary mobster who, admittedly, knew his shit about coffee. when i was promoted to manager, he sent me on a four day intensive retreat at 'coffee school' where i was given more information than i can even begin to share without fear of boring the pants off anybody.

the most important difference between makers is:

1) brewing temperature (lower is generally better)
2) duration of brewing (shorter is generally better)
3) method of filtration (/optimal size of grounds for maker)
4) pressure at which brewing occurs (influences 1 and 2)
5) surface reaction between coffee and pot. (this has more to do, actually, with the cleaning materials used on the pot than the pot-surface itself)

a lot of the differences between types of pot are exaggerated (except for the difference between auto-drip and basically anything else), and don't actually do much besides change the percentage of grounds in the drink from <1% to +/- 2%

whoa coffee school retreat!
i love specialty knowledge being passed on like this
i'm intrigued by these glass contraptions but they look so delicate. i like how they remind me of chemistry and experiments. coffee seems like it could be a total life-long experiment btwn types, grind, maker. i was reading somewhere, maybe ilx, abt coffee being 'the new wine,' as far as connoisseurship goes. but whatever, if it means more and better coffee, i'm cool with that.

Rrob I've had to replace the seal on my several stovetop espresso machines heaps. I'm lucky though that I have a coffee specialist store about 10 mins stroll from my house that I can buy them from. I have a lovely 18/10 steel Vev Vigano 6 cup pot. So well loved/used the bottom half has gone black from the constant flame.

filter / plunger pot / boiled / percolator coffee contain abt. 1% solids, but extract somewhere in the neighborhood of 18-25% of the potential flavor from the solids during brewing.

acid flavor results from too coarse / too rapid / low cool brewing
chemical flavor results from too fine / too slow / too hot brewing

since water is 98% of your coffee by volume, it's better to go with any type of cheap non-drip pot and spend your money on non-soapy cleaning supplies and water-conditioners instead.

and even if you have a fabulous amazing machine it is entirely possible to make terrible coffee. i had two of the worst espresso ever over the christmas break - one at a second cup in ottawa airport (it was that or tim horton's) and the other at a blenz in bc at ferry dock. holy crap. it was the first time i've ever felt like a coffee snob. but obv not enough of a snob to take it back. or not order from chains in the first place (no choice! no... choice...)

the machine we have at work is basically what i want - it has the built-in grinder, the built-in water receptacle, and we have really nice coffee (i forget the name though (its yknow italian.) i don't think it's a v expensive machine but to have one at home, just for myself, would be extravagant in every sense.
mmm extravangance...

yeah i really need to search out one of these 'coffee speciality stores' - i do live not v far from little italy tho, so uh, i should do that

remy dropping the knowledge but i still have questions

also, if you're trying to be a fancypants coffee aficionado, don't be suckered into dark roasts over bold, strong-flavored varietal beans.

there's a certain snob factor in ordering dark coffee (city or french roasts) which actually have less coffee flavor than a run of the mill medium blend. the 'strength' of the brew in a dark roast is a generic roasted flavor – brought on by the maillard reaction – and demonstrates (among other things) that a lot of the oils/phenolic compounds have been heated past the point of breaking.

so, for the stovetop espresso maker that trayce and helltime redux and i are going for here - fine ground espresso? i've used that and i've used slightly less finely ground but still espresso - i like the latter better - less chemical taste, totally! i always turn heat all the way to high though, but take the pot off once coffee is done
xpost
i need to get rid of all my non-fancy pants

i hope there's a douchey band out there called maillard reaction
ok i hope they're not douchey

yes for stovetop maker. nice thing about those is that the grounds are never directly in contact with the heat and spend a set amount of time in immediate contact with the water. as long as you remember to remove the pot from the stove, and keep the bottom half of the pot descaled you will make good coffee.

(i would def pay to see a band called 'mallard reaction')

your new best coffee friend: http://www.mccormick.com/assets/225_6416_tartar.gif

the other thing is that making coffee at home is v important to me b/c i rarely buy coffee except at a couple choice places and when it's part of a social thing like obv 'going for coffee' - so the coffee at home is both ritual and utility and personal and necessity

also wtf i remember when i used to drink yerba mate and things that were not coffee. that was so wrong.

xpost
what am i going to do with cream of tartar? i have some! somewhere!

i think the bottom half of my pot has scales
i don't really know what 'descaled' means re: this but my pot is old and was in fact given to me by someone who was moving out of the country and not taking anything with him and i'm pretty sure he didn't know what descaling was either

I did not have time to go get the filter for the drip. Another week of the French Press, it seems. Could be a lot worse.

So, explain to me again...the French Roast thing about oils and what not. I've always liked coffee from darker, oily beans - it tends to be a more intense but not Charbucked flavor.

B.L.A.M.:

The flavor in coffee comes from a variety of carbs, proteins, phenolic compounds and oils. In the green (raw) coffee beans, these make up roughly 90% by volume, the remaining 10% being water.

As coffee is roasted, the carbs (sugars) are broken down into lactic, citric, malic, etc., acids. The net effect is to make the coffee less astringent, and to remove roughly 75% of the water from the bean. The longer the bean is roasted, the more water is removed, and the less acidic the coffee will be.

But past a certain temperature, the delicate oils and phenols (which create the subtle taste and wonderful scents of the bean) begin to turn on themselves. They break down and - while not burning - begin a chemical process by which they lose their 'coffeeness' and take on a generic cooked flavor. You might call it 'singed amino' flavor, and you'd know it as the 'body' flavor in from meat, toast, and peanuts. It isn't an unpleasant taste, necessarily, but it comes at the expense of the rarer, more delicate flavors of the coffee.

Coffee roasters and distributors have long used french/city roasts to "dump" inferior beans, because the quality of the raw material isn't that important given that it will be baked to hell and back during processing.

The most "full-bodied" of all coffees - meaning the coffees with the fullest depth of flavor - are medium blends, because they contains more (as much as 50% more) 'coffee aromatics' w/r/t phenolics, oils, etc. than the french roasts, but has also been roasted to a point where enough of the carbs/sugars have become browned and less astringent.

lol not that i wld buy one of these
http://www.futureshop.ca/multimedia/products/large/10073645.jpg
but it does remind me of
http://www.stereosound.co.jp/hivi/upload/FifthElement_large01.jpg
!

additionally, advertisers intentionally confuse/conflate 'dark roast' with 'full-bodied' as a means to deceive customers into paying more money for an inferior product

xpost - hm but i wonder if dark roast is a better choice if you're someone for whom drip coffee causes gastrointestinal distress, as it's less acidic?

i feel like i'm entering a strange and exciting land of coffee

Hm. Interesting. Thanks.

speaking as an ulcer-sufferer who can barely drink coffee at all:

in terms of your body chemistry, the difference in acidity between dark/regular/light roasts is pretty negligible. espresso/moka is no-no, though.

Jer would you say as a general rule to avoid the aluminum stovetop espresso pots if you can afford to? Im not sure if it is my imagination but they seem to produce an odd taste sometimes compared to steel - and they scale up way worse!

Also, alzheimers phear etc.

right now i just have one kind of coffee and at least 10 kinds of tea. why not have more types of coffee?? why not
xpost

my body chemistry likes espresso/moka more than any other kind of coffee! shrug - experimenting times

I go to my coffee spesh shop and I just say "I want a dark, strong blend for a stovetop espresso". I seem to get diff blends but theyre mostly arabia and kenyan blends, I think.

Stuff like Lavazza and Illy in the bricks are also good in a pinch, but of course aren't as fresh - and actually end up costing a lot more too.

remy, have you tried drinking cold brewed coffee? it's super low acidity.

lavazza vs getting stabbed in the guts, i mean, i just can't choose

i might try the cold brewing in the summertime (there is a way to make your own system according to crazy people on interent) - but one of the things i like about coffee is the making of it, with the smell and the awesome sound the stovetop deal makes

that's true. me too, except i like not making coffee.

I might try one of these home-made cold-brewing systems. Sounds easy, and the lo-tech kinda solution I tend to end up adapting.

And yeah, Trayce, aluminum is bad, bad, bad. The coffee will absorb traces of the metal. I think porcelain is best, but steel is a good substitute. I recommend dezcal for descaling, and urnex omri for cleaning. Never use dishwashing soap on coffee equipment, because in addition to making your coffee taste like rank ass, you do not want to drink water that has been percolated in material swabbed clean with toxic crap like naptha, carbamazepine, or chlorine -- all common detergent ingredients.

common ingredients, and also CNS depressants.

Coffee roasters and distributors have long used french/city roasts to "dump" inferior beans, because the quality of the raw material isn't that important given that it will be baked to hell and back during processing.

The most "full-bodied" of all coffees - meaning the coffees with the fullest depth of flavor - are medium blends, because they contains more (as much as 50% more) 'coffee aromatics' w/r/t phenolics, oils, etc. than the french roasts, but has also been roasted to a point where enough of the carbs/sugars have become browned and less astringent.

justified in my rejection of french roast as i am in my rejection of well done meat.

well done meat is usually back-shelf meat, because why waste the good stuff on the destructive process.

rare meat and medium roast coffee, porterhouse and cabernet sauvignon

fuck french roast -- roasters i know, who didn't burn it, still didn't care for it

the meat analogy is a good one: if you like your meat well-done, you will probably like your coffee dark.

Yeah, but I don't - I'm a rare meat guy.

But I like my wine big and grab-you-by-the-throat, and I like my whisk(e)y warm as all get out and flavorful. I guess I'm just used to the dark roast.

Medium next time I purchase! (which will be in about two weeks, as I bought some French Roast two days ago)

+1 for dark coffee, rare meat

i don't have nearly as much to add to this thread as others have already done so, but my favorite cups of coffee are always the ones i make at home with the stovetop espresso machines mentioned upthread. yes these are awesome:

http://www.sbsteas.com/images/P/BialettiMokaExpress.jpg

plus you can bring them on camping trips.

I am a big fan of my little ceramic onecup filter, i used to be all about the stovetop but I like a bit more subtlety in my coffee flavour now. Big fan of Ethiopian coffees as well.

and they have a cute little guy on them
early birthday present to self yaay!
xpost

they're very cheap, too.

the glass ones upthread now have me totally thinking abt pipes and bongs now and how glass is the best for that according to 'experts' and though i'm not a pothead (really guys it's true ya gotta believe me) i'm wondering if glass isn't also the best for coffee re: residue, easier to clean, what with all the heat and fire (though no smoke)

but then i think abt cooking and how everyone raves about those ceramic-covered cast-iron pots that weigh a tonne

this coffee world is starting to blow my mind

of course, i did just drink a cup of the hazelnut flavoured coffee preferred by our admin person - it's nice in the morning! (this no coffee at home right now thing has obv gotten to me)

xpost - i'm not getting an aluminum one though, which kinda shoots the price up a bit i think

stovetops are great, i used them for years. using french press now as a sort of experiment to wean me off the daily espresso at teh italian cafe i used to go in for.

yea i think so, too -xpost. you mentioned upthread that you used to drink yerba mate - you don't like it anymore? i love coffee but i still have mate every once in a while. i drank it just about everyday in chile, it was great and very cheap there. it was a fun ritual, too, kind of like making coffee at home.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/332636333_bb8bde2702.jpg

i love all the paraphernalia associated w/ it too, the different gourds, bombillas, etc.

whoops that's supposed to be an image.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/332636333_bb8bde2702.jpg

it's kind of a nice, healthier substitute for smoking pot. you can even pass it around and share it with friends.

now that i'm back into coffee, yerba mate tastes like the straight-up unadorned twigs and leaves it is. it also is not like weed.

lol

xpost to rrobyn

You can find ersatz stainless steel once for less than a genuine BIaletti. Just check out the cheaper less chainey homewares stores (even seen the in pound stores over here)

it's going to be my saturday mission

weird that this thread was revived i was just shopping for a nice new stovetop maker this morning.
i went with one of these stainless jobs
http://www.fantes.com/images/1327espressostovetop.jpg

this ones a cool novelty

http://www.fantes.com/images/1231espresso.jpg

I make Turkish coffee by the cup in a cute little copper jezveh. I miss good French press coffee, but I only know of one place that sells coffee I really like, and that's in a different country. Boo. (Experimentation is expensive and not worth it.)

This where I get my coffee beans:

http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/

A little price-y but well worth it!

It might be a glib answer, but Peets has pretty good stuff for a decent price.

Mr. Coffee drip machine works fine for me. I like the taste better than the one-cup cone filter I used to use.

the only time i used one of those stovetop thingies, it exploded! i am too afraid to revisit.

all my coffee's been tasting the same lately, I think I need to clean my drip machine and go back to using paper filters rather than the increasingly gross looking gold wire thing I've been using in an attempt to save money/paper

Lauren, it DID?? I'm not even sure how that happens! I love mine although full disclosure: it IS aluminum. Maybe I should upgrade.

pressure buildup, i assume?

there were coffee grounds on the ceiling and stuff. the same thing happened in college when kali got impatient waiting for my dinky espresso machine to finish and tried to prise the handle off before it was totally done - WHAMMMO!

Since I'm not always in a position physically or financially to get Illy, I often grind coffee at the local greengrocers and I think they have the bluebottle stuff that Alex mentioned. It's quite good.

Does anyone else do the cheap thing of putting the expensive coffee in the cheap bag at the store (when you get it per pound from the bulk bins)? I do and I am a fucking old man in my orthopedic shoes and all.

I have one of those mocha guys and I've never used it bcz it confuses the hell out of me. I have a french press that has THERMOS container instead of glass. Perfect for me bcz: 1. keeps it hot for fucking ever and 2. I break glass things so easily and could spend a good $40 a month on replacement glass or new french presses.

it's not confusing, abbott! you can do it!

i think that's also part of why i like the stovetop maker - it's beautiful mechanics are more impressive to me than french press which involves human intervention what with the pressing. why not let heat and the power of physics do the work for you?? it's like magic on your stove

How much grounds & water do you put in the bottom?

Mine has a little coffee bean on top, tee hee.

this is where i wish i had one of those stylus pad things instead of a laptop mouse pad so i could draw pictures! i think you're supposed to pack the metal 'filter' part (the removable part that goes btwn the bottom and top receptacle parts) with coffee that is not super finely ground but not course either - i find somewhere in the middle is good - also i never fully pack the filter part and it tastes good so whatever. then you sit it on top of bottom receptacle part that is filled with water but not so much water that it would make the coffee in the filter part get wet or god forbit float around. then you screw on the top. then you put it on the stove top . i always put it on high heat. it seems to take abt 5 minutes and is awesome and loud. then you take it off the heat and put it in a cup. and drink it.

yaay!

OMG I never knew. I will try it tomorrow morning. Thx Robyn!

clearly i should be a technical writer
also what 'god forbit'? i am tired and channelling middle-aged women on pet forums or something
xpost

i'm glad that made some kind of sense to you! remember to screw upper part on enough but not so tight that you can't unscrew it! make sure plastic seal on underside of upper part isn't broken or anything too. it's all about pressure that thing.

god forbit is kinda awes

Yeah the key is the seal - I've found on half asleep mornin's when I havent screwed it up tight, steam and droplets spit out the join.

Carne: the first pots you posted, thats theone I have (in a rare 3/6 cup config, where the basket has a divider you can put in it so you can put grinds for half a pot!... can't find those anymore and I lost the divider though, boo).

I also had one of those "tap" ones. It was red, and had a single curved spout and a little shelf you put yr espresso cup on. My stoner flatmate put it on the stove one day and forgot and it scorched and the plastic melted.

Double boo.

My La Pavoni needs its gaskets replaced so I've been doing something kinda gross and kinda good at the same time - putting coffee grinds on the bottom of a cup and pouring hot water very slowly, then skimming off any grinds floating at the top. As long as the roast isn't too dark and the water isn't too hot it seems to come out drinkable. But I think I need to get myself a cheap drip coffee maker in the meantime.

I happen to prefer drip to french press, strangely.

Where did you get yrs, or what kind is it, carne asada? They look gorgeous & like they make mad amts of coffee, which in my mind is a seller.

I got a drip coffee maker. Does anyone have any tricks for making good coffee for one in a twelve-cup maker without wasting coffee?

never say i don't follow through on things haha - ordered this online (way better price! stainless steeel!) on wkend and it arrived at workplace today! presents from the courier!
http://www.creativecookware.com/images/bialetti01.jpg

Am considering getting this French Press should I do it y/n

http://www.splendidlife.com/product/specialoffers/sale+on+coffee+and+tea/bonjour+monet+french+press+with+unbreakable+carafe+-+3+cup.do

http://www.splendidlife.com/product/specialoffers/sale+on+coffee+and+tea/bonjour+monet+french+press+with+unbreakable+carafe+-+3+cup.do

I prefer good drip coffee to french press myself. I think the "french" fools people. Seems better to me to pull water through the grinds than to just let the grinds sit in the water

but the press pushes the grinds through the water, so you get some of the same effect. i love the texture of good press coffee, it has a silkiness that i think is hard to get in drip. (i guess this has to do with there being more particulate in the liquid, which you can see at the bottom of the cup.) i quit the french press just out of convenience; we have a programmable cuisinart grind-n-brew machine, so we can wake up to a full thermos of coffee that stays warm for hours. it's fine, but i like press coffee better.

so i'd say, buy it if you're willing to put up with the small inconvenience of it.

i rarely make coffee at home. when we had a drip coffee maker i never did, but that's long since given away and now we have a 1-2 cup french press. it's not really enough for me, so i'll make 2 or 3 of them on a sunday or monday morning when i have leisure time around the house to buzz around.

most mornings it's the $2 coffee from the hip and groovy cafe for me.

I dunno. I never felt that french press had the body that drip does...even at it's best, it's still watery. Like tea, if it was made with coffee. I'm primarily an espresso fan...regular coffee plays havoc with my tummy. But, as far as drip coffee goes, the combination of good freshly roasted beans, ground on demand, with a thermal carafe coffee maker...you can't get much better tasting drip than that. We got a Capresso thermal a few years ago, and it's terrific, still piping hot hours later and not burnt to hell on a hotplate.

But our Saeco espresso machine will always be my first and only love.

Press coffee is great if you have fresh beans around regularly and don't mind cleaning up. Tipsy is otm re: texture--drip coffee can't come close in this regard.

i grind fresh beans each morning and use a chemex. i don't think the texture is lacking.

you say "use a chemex" as if i'm supposed to know what the hell that even is o_o ;) ;)

also, i have no problem scrubbing out a piece of glass and rinsing a screen. when we had the drip maker, we'd only use it a few times per week and moldy filters & used grings were common.

a chemex has fewer parts than a press! you just dump out the coffee, rinse the glass and throw out the paper filter!

(my wife uses a french press sometimes with the different beans and the same grinder)

Yeah french press is rarely strong and thick enough for me.

yeah, that's what she said :\

http://www.wholelattelove.com/itemImages/375/617XLarge.gif

I like this at the moment

needs more knobs.

Fluid Bed Roasting - from the world's foremost coffee scientist Michael Sivetz.

http://www.sivetzcoffee.com/

This place sells an extract that you just add to hot water. It's delicious and so goddamn easy.

Plus their website has all these highly scientific graphs:

http://www.sivetzcoffee.com/images/roastdegree1.jpg

I haven't used my press since I bought my Mr Coffee drip thingy. I found the press to be a pain, and I think I just like drip coffee better. Yes, the texture with press is thicker, but the liquid just seems more rich and saturated with a drip. The other thing I hated was that because I refused to buy an expensive burr grinder, I had to go through this pain in the ass process of having the so-called "barista" do it at the local shop, which sucked ass when they were busy (most of the time).

Another thing is that the caffeine from press coffee used to make me feel slightly insane sometimes.

i have probably already mentioned this, but french people boggle at the term "french press" - if they think of plunger pots at all, they think of them as being italian

in my experience most french ppl make coffee with drip machines and it's usually not very good

you save so much money making it at home -- i use drip cuz its easy, just make sure the beans are fresh and play around w/ the right amount of beans til it 'tastes right' -- unless yr a hardcore snob, i have a friend who really really digs his french press but hes also got euro shaving bullshit and a japanese toilet attachment that works like a hi-tech bidet so ya know

in that case i'm surprised he doesn't own one of those manual espresso machines and wax to you about how each machiatto reflects the personality of the man who made it

deej is watery but rich with texture

Thanks for the advice, guys. I don't think I'll be ordering it.

i ended up getting a bosch tassimo thingy at employer's secret santa/white elephant party. on the one hand its not as good as press coffee. and its a little landfill feeder, with the plastic capsules. on the other hand, its super quick and easy and makes one ok cup with no cleanup in 3 minutes. the starbucks disks i got with it were mostly drinkable (two of them tasted off to me-acidic).

Real coffee snobs such as myself know that one cannot make a decent cup of coffee at home, unless one lives in Antigua or Ethiopia. Until I can relocate to these climes, I recognize the impossibility of my quest and therefore settle for such wretched coffee as mere ragamuffins and impecunious remittance men must accept as life's norm. That is why I drink instant.

i french press every morning because i love its muddiness. the flavor is strong enough as long as you grind it right (like not as coarse as possible, two clicks back from the coarsest). i had a manual drip before and i think it was weak, though easier to clean. i dunno.

i have probably already mentioned this, but french people boggle at the term "french press" - if they think of plunger pots at all, they think of them as being italian

Italians would look at a french press an wonder if it was some kind of devious device for washing underwear.

my dad uses a chemex and ill ride for it

Since I do fine with one cup of coffee per day I use a french press and it's easy enough. Drip coffee seems like a waste for one cup for me, maybe one for the wife.

But honestly I'd rather have a good espresso every morning but I don't want to make that sort of investment in equipment.

we've had a capresso drip for a long time and it's the best automatic drip I've had but yeah chemex seems like the way to go, really - my dad used to use one and I always remembered having kick-ass coffee when I'd go visit him

Is there a significant difference between a Chemex and one of those one-cup ceramic things that sit atop a mug?

my moms uses the ceramic thing with a filter -- honestly makes pretty good coffee altho u have to be worried about pouring boiling water into the filter and it tearing the filter apart and filling your mug w/ coffee grounds

Since I do fine with one cup of coffee per day I use a french press and it's easy enough. Drip coffee seems like a waste for one cup for me, maybe one for the wife.

But honestly I'd rather have a good espresso every morning but I don't want to make that sort of investment in equipment.

― a better command of the mummy language (joygoat), Sunday, December 28, 2008 1:35 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

^ $25, cheaper if you buy imitation:

http://www.peaberrys.com/store/images/bialetti_moka_zen.jpg

I had to make coffee with a French press when I was home because my sister won't drink drip. Now I kind of want to do French press all the time, but it's easier for me to make a lot of coffee with a drip and save up the rest to bring with me and drink during my morning commutes. When I was at home I had to froth the milk too! At least the beans were already ground.

http://www.peaberrys.com/store/images/bialetti_moka_zen.jpg

fuck "french press" whatever that means. That's just shit.

Been drinking that Civet shit.

I make coffee with a french press. I like it because it's one cup and easy to clean, although the particular one I have at the moment is kind of crappy and gets some grounds in my coffee. The quality varies a lot based on the coffee I buy and how freshly it's ground, and I'm still trying to figure out what I like that I can find outside my hometown.

Espresso is nice, but Turkish coffee is even nicer. It's thick and foams on top and leaves grounds you can use to read your fortune! And the pot is really cute and simple:

http://www.tulumba.com/mmTULUMBA/Images/HO185933WN119_250.jpg

NO!

Does your espresso tell you the future? I didn't think so.

i'll admit that I have no clairvoyance with my coffee. But I have the classic European disdain for everything Turkish (I've watched Midnight Express).

Then I watched something that said Midnight Express was a load of shit but that Turkey was still a load of horseshit.

Turkey is actually pretty awesome, at least as far as food, scenery, language, and archaeology go. And I learned to make Turkish coffee from the Armenian side of my family, so not people who are likely to rave about Turkey's greatness.

As a matter of fact, because of their feelings toward Turkey, a lot of Armenians call it "Armenian coffee" or just consider it default coffee. In Greek they call it "Greek coffee" too. In Russia you can get it as "Turkish coffee," "Armenian coffee," "Georgian coffee," or "Eastern-style coffee," depending on what kind of restaurant you're in. So even among people who like Turkey a lot less than you do, the coffee is still beloved!

we just got a turkish coffee pot and it's great! if you don't like turkey you can pick some other country that makes it that way, yeah xp

I CANNOT vouch enough for the Aeropress. Miles above my drip and/or french press

http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress_story.htm
https://www.coffeemakersetc.com/images/aeropress.jpg

^ very intriguing

My coffee making ability is one of the few eternally consistent skills I can depend on, but after three months with a new french press I'm ready to give up. I'm doing all the right things (filtered water, fresh ground beans, etc.) and was making great coffee for about a month but now I've hit a slump that I haven't been able to dig out of.

Is this where I just give up and get a Capresso?

(I did have an Aeropress, but ran out of the filters and lost one of the pieces during a move)

could be that the oils which have accumulated in the press are starting to go rancid. clean it with some hot water and non-scented soap?

i went in a slump w/ french press and now i just use more grounds. i never bothered with filtered water tbh.

filtered water could be a problem too - water for coffee should be mineral-y, distilled and/or filtered water will make a flat cuppa

over filtered water, I mean.

I think I need to buy a new stovetop machine, my Vev machine is about 12 years old now and starting to get a bit ratty.

Hmmmm.... I was worried that I was using too much grounds. The press itself is a few months old and I rinse/wash it out after each use. Filtered water comes out of a Britta pitcher.

well coffee oils do tend to stick around even after a rinse/wash - try using really hot water, or some kind of odorless detergent. another thought: water at boiling temperature can overextract the coffee grinds - you get too much caffeine which will make the cup bitter. so things to try: vary water temperature (maybe 30 seconds off the boil?) and also vary brewing time.

also, stirring is another factor to consider

wiping down the parts of a press with a paper towel should also reduce a lot of the leftover oils too.

i need a french press. i feel like the normal brewing system is just a pain and that i waste a lot of grounds?

i mean, i've had my technique down for years and i make great coffee but i feel like i would use less coffee if i was french pressing.

Was completely unable to make a decent cup in our normal coffee maker (filter + water heater into jug - is that a 'drip'?)... but loving my newfound French press/ cafetiere skills. Seems to need a lot less coffee too.

try flushing it w/ vinegar like people do regular coffee makers

xp elvis

Bought a "3-cup" (one mug) french press yesterday b/c I think it will be a while before I can replace the portafilter.

So far my first two pots (at two different coarse grind settings) have come out pretty bad. The conclusion may be that either (1) Trader Joe's Free Trade Nicaraguan is just not very good coffee or (2) There's some kind of residue on the FP from manufacturing (it did have a slightly odd smell even after I washed it)

could be the grind? for a french press, you want your grind to be as fine as possible without making your coffee too muddy

once u go bialetti u never go back

don't you mean blacketti, max

The Trader Joe's coffee is likely not that great to begin with. Do you have a local store that has freshly roasted coffee you could try?

The grind should be fairly coarse for a french press but as fine as you can get without it getting muddy like dyao said. The water should be about 10 degrees cooler than boiling: you could boil then pour into another cup to cool it a bit. At that size you probably don't want it to steep more than 3 minutes or so.

I had actually made some reasonably ok espresso drinks with the TJ's coffee (I had been forcing myself to stick to that because of the price rather than go with my favored local roaster), but it may just be that all the frothed milk was masking the funkiness.

I have actually made decent coffee in other peoples' french presses before - I usually boil water and then wait until all boiling sound is gone to pour. Maybe I used too coarse a grind? I also could have oversteeped it - in fact that seems a likely culprit when I think about it - didn't occur to me that a smaller press probably warranted less steeping.

The aeropress is great for being able to clean it completely, with disposable (and compostable) filters. My coffee never tasted as good with a french press, even though I cleaned it every day.

Yeah I think with less grounds you'll not want them in the water as long as with an 8 cup press. Coarseness all depends on the screen in the press. If it's too fine you'll see the grounds in the cup and with a blade grinder you'll definitely have some sludge regardless of what you do.

If you like the TJ's coffee then that's probably not the problem, though you are correct that milk will cover up many off flavors.

Man now I want some coffee.

my girlfriend just moved into a new apartment and she doesn't own any sort of coffee-making device, so I've been improvising. using lots of coarse grounds in a tea press has worked surprisingly well.

also I've been drinkin' coffee out of bowls lately and would recommend that everyone try it at least once -- seems like maybe the broader surface area helps release more aromas or something (beer-snob glass debates to thread?), but I could be fulla shit.

coffee from a bowl = win

my girlfriend just moved into a new apartment and she doesn't own any sort of coffee-making device, so I've been improvising. using lots of coarse grounds in a tea press has worked surprisingly well.

― some pretty girls make bigger graves than others (bernard snowy), Tuesday, February 16, 2010 2:15 PM Bookmark

Yeah but it'll kill the tea press for teamaking.

THIS AEROPRESS RULES

otm

I don't even drink coffee! It was a post-breakup impulse buy but unlike the Sega Saturn I got in 2005 I think I will actually use this thing more than 3 or 4 times (it helps to work at a store w/ really good Equal Exchange coffee in bulk)

I just made an iced latte w/ that milkshakey tasting 365 vanilla almond milk and it was like daaaaaaaamn

Hey folks! I thought I'd share my little method for making coffee, it's nothing special but I find it makes a satisfying cup in the morning! It's pourover, which means you're going to only get one cup at a time, but I find the process to be relaxing. Almost zen! I use a ceramic Hario V60 Ceramic Coffee Dripper, but I may get something else. They make a great kettle (see below) but the dripper tends to slip on the cups it came with. It may work better in another setup.

- Select Two Tablespoons of whole bean coffee (roast of your choice, I use "Kicking Horse" medium roast mostly.)
- Grind for twelve seconds (I do a quick count to 25 myself, it finishes around 12 seconds!)
- Pour hot water over from a kettle (I use the Hario V60 Buono) over an unbleached filter in the manner in which you'll do the pourover.
- Heat 10 oz of water in the kettle*. Some folks like 6 oz for every two tablespoons, this amount is simply my own preference. Adjust if you feel like it!
- Pour the ground beans into the filter, then do a circular pour over the beans until they're steeped. The water should drip through in about thirty seconds!
- Once it drips through, pour the remainder of the water down into the center of the filter.
- Enjoy!

*This should only take a couple of minutes. I heat the water well shy of the boiling point. With my kettle you can swish it around and hear the telltale "hiss" from the water splashing on the sides of the kettle. That's when I know it's ready! You should barely see any steam bubbles in the water.

Try it this way, I hope you like it! If not, no problem! There are dozens of ways to brew a good cup!

- CB

fucking dripper you got a cheek callin yourself coffee bob

http://pollards.com/how-to-use-hario-v60/hario-v60-filter-coffee-set-up/

Hey pal I'm not here to step on anyone's toes, I just posted to talk about coffee. But I'll step aside, I'm not here to steal anyone's thunder or stir up trouble.

- CB

It's instant, it's fucking Nestle, and yet I can't help but feel the Azera powder stuff is MUCH nicer than anything I get out of a cafetiere. God knows if I'm doing anything wrong, but even quite expensive coffee made in the cafetiere just tastes bitter and horrible.

of course you're doing something wrong man for gods sake

its OK tho azera is fine if yknow well its fine if you like it

Coffee Bob

just thought he'd share his tips about the ceramic Hario V60 Ceramic Coffee Dripper

no bigs

he's just a guy.

Wasn't "the drip" once slang for VD?

waiting for the drip.