Lets talk about COFFEE

i went to Picholine on 64th tonight with my favorite (Paternal) Aunt and Uncle. The French Press they offer is amazing. Truthfully, I drink coffee like water, good or bad, if you call it coffee and I will drink it. Truthfully, as a college student who uses the stuff for survival, I am not picky. Turkish Coffee is very good, VERY Strong. More of a paste than a liquid, though.

My current french press is an older model from Ikea. No plastic in the spout filter or plunger, which I like. That stainless steel version looks beautiful.

That's partly why I prefer the stainless, the plunger is metal and not plastic. You can also heat the press with hot water before you make coffee and it keeps the coffee hot, has some insulated function. Looks better too. Got the stainless after breaking a couple of the glass presses.

I just read this blog post about how normal French press methods underextract coffee:

The french press method had squeaked in a little over 16% extraction. The cupping bowl a little over 18%.

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http://www.jimseven.com/2010/11/04/cupping-vs-french-press/

Ideal extraction is between 18 to 22 percent, with many people believing 19 to be the best.

His recommendations are to decrease grind size, and really up the steep time --- 10 minutes or more!

That post really takes it to the next level. I press at 3 minutes, on the dot.

what is a break and clean. i tried googling but no luck

also from i understood cupping was a way to taste coffee, not a way to brew it. what's a cupping grind or a cupping brew

Here's a good explanation of cupping (and a lot of other coffee things in general):

http://www.coffeereview.com/reference.cfm?ID=33

Break & clean:

Wait a couple of minutes for the coffee to steep, then test each coffee for aroma. Take the spoon and, leaning over the cup, break the crust. Virtually stick your nose in the coffee, forget your manners, and sniff. The aroma will never be more distinct than at this moment. If you want to sample the aroma a second time, lift some of the grounds from the bottom of the cup to the surface, and sniff again.

After you have broken the crust, most of the grounds should settle to the bottom of the cup. Use the spoon to scoop up froth and whatever grounds remain floating on the surface and dump them into the improvised spittoon. Top off the cup with fresh hot water. Now take a spoonful of each coffee, lift it to a point just below your lips, and suck it violently into your mouth while taking a breath. The purpose is to spray coffee all over your tongue while drawing it into your nasal passages in order to experience a single, comprehensive jolt of flavor.

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The cupping grind is between espresso and FP, depending on a bunch of other things. It's not a normal way to brew coffee, but it's technically a brewing method. I think he was just using it as a reference.



Despos said:

Have used the glass press and like the stainless version more.

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Agreed. This is far superior. Probably end up using the Aeropress more.

About to buy my wife a prosumer espresso machine for Christmas - Izzo Alex Duetto II...

^
Just read up a bit about Izzo Alex Duetto II. Sounds great. How did you decide on this machine and did you look at the La Spaziale S1 Vivialdi Version II?
Want to upgrade my machine but it doesn't help that you can't use the machine before buying or at least I don't know where this can be done. Would you mind sharing how you decided on which machine you wanted?



akatsuki said:

About to buy my wife a prosumer espresso machine for Christmas - Izzo Alex Duetto II...

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Nice looking machine

This morning's shot...

My friends and I are doing the whole Secret Santa deal and I made it known, through a social network, that I wanted a French Press. Hopefully whoever got me is resourceful and not oblivious to my post hehe.

I like the stainless steel press, but I think it's much more interesting to see the coffee grinds and the water being separated.



A Y said:

That's what makes the world go round. Was it something about my French Press comments that tipped you off?

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That among other little things here and there. I think we both know good coffee, but what we prefer to drink is different.

I'm kind of over espresso, because I think gentler brewing methods express the character of the coffee bean better. Here are two strange bedmates:



The Starbucks reserve coffees made on their Clover system aren't bad. It's still a bit inconsistent: I've had the same bean taste great one day, and then be fairly overextracted the next day. I guess you can still punch in the wrong numbers into a Clover, or the grind size could be set wrong, but it's a pretty nice cup of coffee when it's right. I've had the Ethiopian Harrar, the Honduras something or other, and now the Kenya Tana River. I'm basically going through all their bean selections.

The Honduras is my favorite so far, when they do it right. The roast is darker, and the subtler flavors don't stand out in such bold relief as a greener roast, but it still has a really pleasant balance with almost no bitterness --- there's a caramelly sweetness that's really nice. The biggest problem so far is the barista getting your order right since it appears not very many people order this.

The thing on the right is the uber-$$$ limited-edition Geisha that Verve just released. It just came today, and I can't wait to try it out. I'll be trying it out on the Aeropress, Clever Coffee Dripper, and maybe Espro French Press. (Yes, that is a typo on the label.)

After following and reading about coffee, I've started to drink some coffee black.
McD still requires cream and sugar though.

^get a french press or aeropress and some quality beans

i wish they had the clover system everywhere. i go to a starbucks to steal wifi and all i can get is bitter overroasted drip coffee