Coffee: we drink it or we get angry.

Edit: unlike removed.

You've been rather "angry" here lately, so without any other visual cues I could only take it at face value. The guy was a world barista champion, and his recent videos seem to be targeted at professionals in the coffee industry. It's way many levels beyond where I'll ever go with coffee, much like how a lot of what I read here is post graduate level audio while I'm still in highschool.

He mentioned this Espresso Compass in one video which will take me a while to digest.
https://baristahustle.com/blog/the-espresso-compass/

Last week I dug a little deeper into preinfusion, which I thought could be accomplished with any machine by turning the pump on/off briefly before continuing the pull. Turns out the pressure needs to be ramped up gently so the puck is wetted gradually. It also turns out the design of my OG Silvia allows the steam valve to be used to reduce the initial pressure hitting the group head.
http://www.studiobronts.com/2013/03/31/preinfusion-with-unmodified-rancilio-silvia/

I played around with it over the weekend and found spurting was reduced and the shots to taste a bit smoother. More investigation is warranted.

 

When I was roasting, the Behmors were more primitive. I remember people would open the door on it to extend time from 1st to 2nd crack. At the time, drum roasters available were either primitive or expensive, and maybe both.

Here is a writeup on a version of an early roaster, using a commercial PID.
https://randytsuchroasterpid.blogspot.com/2009/12/roaster-pid-ii.html

I think my roasts were better with an air roaster. I could make a more precise roasting profile with air. Analogy is air is sports car and drum is luxury car. Could make temperature adjustments faster with air, drum it takes longer. But drum could make a bigger batch, so convenience won out.

I even had plans to make a stir crazy turbo oven roaster which has a higher capacity, and is supposed to do a good job.
But I stopped instead lol


Different subject, that Niche Grinder looks nice, great price for a conical. But there is risk since its a new product from a new company.

 

To the coffee gurus here: how can I get the best tasting black coffee with the least amount of effort? What method, equipment, beans (or ground), etc?

I like a medium and light roasts. Nothing too dark.

I'm sure anything is better than my Nescafe instant coffee, but if I can get a better tasting cup without much more effort. I know I'm incredibly lazy, but I do drink coffee all the time. I don't mind getting a cheapo Mr. Coffee drip brew and whatever ground good brands at the supermarket (I'm guessing Eight O'Clock Coffee) if that yields the best result for minimum effort.

I'm open to anything under $500. I figure you guys might have better suggestions than some of these product review sites like Wirecutter.

Thanks.

 

That's totally awesome. I'm definitely gonna try this on my Silvia.

Aeropress, cold brew, or pour over. Get a manual burr grinder and a cordless drill. Spend more time trying different techniques, and less time looking at coffee machines. Just some suggestions.

 

You're probably going to get a wide variety of responses, but I scanned this quickly and it seems pretty reasonable for no fuss mindless decent coffee.
https://lifehacker.com/good-coffee-for-lazy-people-1773462342

 

A gentleman has a cordless drill in his kitchen just because.
Bad idea to use it while woman is watching, for some reason they dislike this.

I was going to recommend to check out what Marvey is doing. But then, he has decades of experience and you are .., uhh drinking Nescafe.

• I like what comes out of Aeropress, but there is merit to simple pot coffee from simple french press, when dialed in right.
• For grinder check out some good cheap conical burr grinders from Baratza (Virutoso was mentioned here already), Wilfa, Lelit or similar. Cheap doesn't necessarily mean shit in this context, only limited. Cheap conical grinders won't give you the fine grain selection and usually the range of grain is limited more. Some of these are supposedly better at raw end and other at fine end. Bigger burrs are always better. Size matters. For pot or Aeropress the cheaper ones should do fine.
• Finally, get a kettle with temp options and/or a thermometer to dial in the right temperature (90..97 deg C).
• Buy beans from wholesale sites or with -50% discount

This is around 200 $.

 

That Capresso grinder sounds good for the price, Baratza makes nice grinders but they are more money.

If I was going for easiest way to good coffee, I'd probably get this
https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/technivorm-moccamaster-kbt741-black-or-polished-silver

Key to good drip coffee is water temp, most drip makers don't deliver water that is hot enough. Technivorm has a good rep because they pay attention to details like that.

For beans, make sure they are freshly roasted. I buy beans that I know the roasted on date, if it just has an expiration date then they might already be stale. Either find a local roaster, local coffee shop that sells fresh beans or internet from a good roaster.
Beans should ideally be used within a month on the roast date for drip. Keep in airtight container and grind just before you make coffee.

 

Already some good recs here. My rec for a good drip brewer is the Behmor Brazen. I used the non"connected" version back in the US and it was pretty darn close to automated pourover. The connected version connects to your phone for using profiles for certain coffees.

The Bonavita brewers are great too. They do the job well and are dead simple. Coffee is good out of them.

The Capresso 560 Infinity grinders are not bad. I used one for years and bought my dad one as well. I had no durability problems. I've also used various Baratza grinders. They are also a good choice and they also have one in the 100 dollar range. Very, very good customer service.

Lastly, if you want one the easiest possible cups of coffee that is still very good these actually work really well. https://www.amazon.com/Breville-BDC...keywords=Grind+and+brew&qid=1572223467&sr=8-7
I'm generally opposed to all-in-one combo type products but it works if you follow the setup and dial it in per the manual. You can program a lot of the details in the brewing and grinding and the grinder in it is respectable.

All of the above opinions come from extensive use/ownership. Didn't own the Breville but I basically used one once a week and maintained and calibrated it for a friend over a couple of years.

 

Does distilled water vs drinkable (good quality tap water) make a real difference for you?
Perhaps water in here is better than average, too.

I have found, yeah, perhaps I could tell it in blind test, perhaps not.
In an audio analogy a difference between two different good signal cables.

 

Distilled water is terrible for coffee or espresso....distilled water hurst the flavor and is hard on equipment.

 

I have an undersink reverse osmosis filter (this) and it makes a noticeable improvement in flavor of drinking water, tea, and coffee. The difference it makes for my local tap water is that it removes the taste and odor of chlorine, and metallic taste coming from pipes.

Distilled water doesn't taste good (too pure) and isn't the best for coffee, but how is it hard on equipment? Because it is neutral pH and doesn't leave mineral deposits, I wouldn't think it would harm equipment.

 

The only problem I've heard of with distilled water is that I've heard some machines use very small current to detect water level and that distilled water is not conductive enough to allow that to happen properly.

SCAA does recommend a certain amount of mineral content as distilled water doesn't have the most pleasant flavor.

 

I didn't have my morning coffee when I asked about distilled vs tap water.
I have not made coffee with real distilled water, only with filtered with Brita filter, which is filled with absorber minerals, takes away like half of the magnesium and calcium hydroxides and other dirt.

Real distilled water is dangerous to drink and also tastes weird.

 

Thanks all for the stellar recommendations!

And the other one you linked is half off:

https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-One-Touch-Featuring-Thermal-BV1900TS/dp/B00O9FO1HK

^ I bought that in 2017 but the plastic water reservoir cracked and I threw it out. But it's been since redesigned so maybe they fixed that.

BTW Ethiopian coffee FTW!