Coffee: we drink it or we get angry.

I gotta check out Happy Mug. Their prices look very reasonable. Any particular recommendations? I'm looking at the uninhibited malawi for a light, fruity roast that seems pretty mild. The bear blend also looks enticing because I've never tried a mix of dark and light. Actually I just like bears and that one caught my eye.

For reference, I tend to prefer darker roasts, but I also like lighter roasts as long as they're not very acidic. All other flavors I enjoy. Will be brewing with an aeropress. Would also consider using a moka pot, but I still have a lot of espresso grind that I received as gifts that I'd like to use up first.

 

Usually I order from their "Special mug" offerings, but I've had a few of the Standards and I've never been disappointed. Sometimes they have some really crazy darker roasted coffees, I like the ones with spice notes. The Sumatra Peaberry looks nice, if the tasting notes sound good to you.

If you want to avoid acids, I feel like the Malawi might not be a good choice since it mentions honeydew and grapefruit in the tasting notes. Those sound like they would come with some acids.

You could also consider their espresso blends, which look a little darker but sound good to me. For a balanced cup without so many stand-out flavors, something like the bear blend or the inspirational artist's blend (I really hate that name) would be good.

Right now I'm waiting on the Ethiopia Harrar which I've had a number of times, as well as the Ethiopia Aricha which is new. The Harrar is really good. All Ethiopians are going to have more acidity than average, but the Harrar is a blueberry-berry type Ethiopian and it really blows me away every time. I'd highly recommend it if you want something different.

 

Cool, thanks! The Sumatran Peaberry does look like a really tasty dark roast. I'm thinking about getting that and also the Bear Blend for a balanced coffee, like you said. I'll probably try some of the fruity ones you mentioned after I finish these so they stay fresh.

 

I just ordered the same two coffess from happy mug. their cheap $3 shipping won my business. living in hawaii sucks for shipping

 

I'm a single origin guy, so I mostly buy Bourbon varietals from Nicaragua and Panama, Typica from Haiti, and Heirloom from Kenya and Ethiopia. Not a fan of Indonesian beans.

While I was in SF, I had some Blue Bottle; Giant Steps is meh, but the New Orleans iced coffee is not bad. Also visited Stumptown Roasters' HQ in PDX and bought some Costa Rican Torres Villalobos --- a decent flavor profile. Nitrogen-infused cold brew is quite smooth, but Stumptown's version has a sour profile.

I've been using an Aeropress and Able Kone Brewing System at my sister's place this summer.

They're not bad, but while the Aeropress is simple to clean and very compact, I don't feel it provides enough consistency. Perhaps I haven't practiced on it much --- brewing for caffeine has been given far higher priority than brewing for taste this summer. The Able Kone is really nicely built, and great for multiple cups of joe, but because my sister doesn't keep a swan neck kettle around, I can't saturate and pour the way I want to.

Usually, however, I use a Kalita Wave 185 with Hario Scale and Drip Tray/Stand at home. 24g of grounds to 400 mL of water is how I usually do it. I start my bloom at 96 degrees C for light roast beans and generally try to keep it around 88-92 C for the rest of the pour.

When I'm feeling lazy, I use a Clever Brewer, as it's more of an immersion brew method that drains with a filter. It makes pretty consistent coffee with better body than pour over methods (V60, Chemex, Kalita) with a small hit on clarity.

The Clever Grace, a glass evolution of the Clever Brewer, just released --- I'm probably going to give it a try:

 

Here's my Aeropress recipe, which I found gives a very consistent cup. Maybe you can give it a shot and see if it works for you.

17g coffee, about table salt grind, water boiled, inverted aeropress. Start timer and pour 220mL over 25 seconds, rotating the aeropress slowly to evenly saturate as you pour. Steep until 1:15, then cap and quickly swirl it 10 times (you can stir, too, I just prefer not to dirty a spoon unnecessarily). Flip and press slowly, aiming for fully pressed around 1:50-2:10 on the timer. Add 50 mL water (I use cold to bring it to temperature) to dilute to proper strength.

 

Thanks! I've tried something really similar, actually. It's not that the cups I've made off the Aeropress taste bad, but moreso a psychological unease with the way the grounds get disturbed and the differing rates of extraction from the little that leaks down after the bloom and with each stir. I'm probably just more used to pour over technique and am experiencing negative bias with Aeropress. My sister also uses the metal disk filter from Able, so more sludge gets down into the cup, while I'm used to clean cups from the paper filter process.

I should brew inverted more, though. Seems like a better process overall than non-inverted.

In general, I reserve additives like salt or butter for really bad coffee, like instant. I'm thinking of trying some inulin powder for bulking and slight sweetening. Inulin is a carbohydrate, but isn't metabolized, and essentially acts as fiber in the body. It'll be absorbed into the bloodstream by enterocytes but will be completely passed through the kidneys --- that's why inulin clearance is the standard of measure of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of the kidneys (creatinine is merely a practical estimate). Certain beverage companies in Asia have been using inulin as a marketing gimmick in teas and sodas for appetite suppression (the added bulk induces satiety), and I do think it's the trick that Blue Bottle uses in its New Orleans coffee --- the chicory added in the coffee is rich in inulin.

 

Yeah I only do inverted aeropress method. I have a clever coffee dripper, the flavors aren't as pronounced as aeropress imo. It's lower effort though because you don't have to worry about knocking over your inverted aeropress heh. It's my backup method. Also waiting for it to drip is annoying, you feel more in control pushing the aeropress plunger down

 

I like inverted method because there's no mess

 

newish setup, been using it for ~1 year, after having had a PID'ed Silvia for ~8 happy years.

 

Yeah, inverted is pretty much superior in every way, unless you specifically desire a pour-over hybrid style from the coffee dripping through. I never liked the idea of underextracted coffee dripping through for an immersion method, personally, so I've always done inverted.

I've never heard of using inulin, sounds interesting. I don't add anything to my coffee, but I've seen and tried (for fun) slowly stirring in xanthan gum, which adds a bit of foaminess and a thicker body (should be neutral nutritionally), as well as unflavored gelatin, which adds quite a bit of thickness and a little bit of slickness to the coffee, but smooths the flavor a bit.

 

That is a very nice setup you have there Brench!

 

thanks @lukeap69 the pinoy panther! i sure do like it. the grinder will probably go to a new home someday, these commercial grinders are a pain in the ass to use at home, gotta keep that hopper loaded for the on demand feature to work. if the hopper's not loaded, i don't get as good extractions as when it's loaded somewhat.

anyway, i digress, i love coffee, and frequently use pour over, clever drip, aeropress, etc

here's a drink from earlier:

 

Nice latte art! Which grinder are you thinking as a replacement? I have been lusting with the Compak K10 but I can't justify replacing my Simonelli MDX (to the wifey ).

 

For somone really new to making decent coffee, is there a sort of consensus on a decent and accessible way in without breaking the bank, sort of like the coffee version of buy an HD6xx, Vallhalla2, and MM?

The furthest I have gone is a Frieling French press and a pretty cheap Cuisinart burr grinder. I will do some more research on my own as well, but I feel like you guys are speaking a different language.

 

@Artasia a few things to consider are: 1) do you make/drink coffee for 1 or always with like partner or something, 2) price range, 3) desire to hand grind vs. using an electric grinder?

Stuff that has been mentioned here that is good is French Press, Aeropress, and Hario / Chemex (mostly depends on size, others may highlight more nuanced differences between hario/chemex). All are pretty affordable! And all require some finesse with method, which is actually nice in that you get to see your method improve and understanding what contributes to a good cup.

Then there's more automatic drip machines like Bonavita or Technivorm (especially useful if you want to make a pot of coffee easily for you and others).

Other than the brewing method, things that I find super helpful for consistency, repeatability, etc are 1) a scale of some sort, either with or without a timer, 2) a swan-neck kettle (or is it goose-neck, maybe in canada) for more controlled pours, and 3) a solid grinder -- without going into multibuck grinders for pour-over type methods, baratza is consistently solid, or lido hand grinders, there may be other good ones folks will suggest! haven't taken a peak at the current state of things in a little while.

 

@lukeap69 haha yeah, convincing the spouse is always the hardest. my strategy was to get them to appreciate good coffee and wanting to make it themselves haha. This took a while, since she didn't even drink coffee when we started dating like 10 years ago (christ i'm getting old wtf).

anyway, there are a lot of really good commercial grinders out there (compak, mahlkonig, simonelli mythos, etc) but i'm increasingly intrigued by newer grinders that are geared for home use, and single-dosing friendly (makes it easier to swap beans, etc) that still provide tons of consistency. it's a tall order but there are a few out there and probably more to come. i'm really really interested in what Kafatek is doing. The name sounds like it should be a Silicon valley startup, but it's an enthusiast guy that started making super consistent grinders that are meant for home use but that use big burr sets that go into commercial machines (check out his Monolith grinders). other than him, Lyn Weber's EG-1 looks pretty killer, and their HG-1 (potential alignment issues notwithstanding) is a super cool big conical burr set hand grinder.

 

You've had me look at that Kafatek. Looks cool. Have you considered Baratza Sette?

 

looks interesting! especially if you want one grinder to do espresso and pour over duties. i'll dig in a bit, seems to be a relatively new release.

 

Thank you, and this is very interesting.

I have also seen some mention of the Kalita wave as being a bit more accessible than the Hario V60 pour-over but am intrigued by the challenge; would you suggest going straight for the Hario?

I am fairly happy with my French Press.

In any case, it seems the grinder is absolutely critical here and should be the first place I distribute funds (which are low atm due to headphone/audio purchases recently). I am split between the Baratza and the lido, based on recent discussions here.

Yes, I will pick up a gooseneck kettle and a scale as well. Any objections to the Bonavita gooseneck?