Lets talk about COFFEE - Page 52

Awesome. Will read it later today. *****

By far the most information I have ever encountered on a bag of coffee via Gorilla Coffee in Brooklyn.

Roaster is in Oslo

Possibly the worst coffee I've had.

 

Ritual Roasters

Monte Rey: Bambu

El Salvador

Varietal: Bourbon, Pacas

Flavours: Pear, Lime, Vanilla

 

Opened the bag and smelled the paper more than the coffee. Grinding didn't help and barely gave off a coffee aroma. 60 gms for 6 minutes in a press and the best way I could describe the taste is "black water." 

 

What to try? Double the weight? Decrease ground size? Add brewing time? Toss?

 

lefty

Is the bag paper? How long ago was it roasted?

Even when old, the aromas and flavors can be muted but they still remain.

Brewing time won't change anything. Doubling the weight will increase the strength but if there's nothing there... Sounds like a toss.

Less than a week ago. I need to stop buying Ritual. This is the second time this has happened.

 

Toss.

 

alefty

Take it back and complain? If it's any consolation, maybe that will provide more fodder for your other thread. Seriously, they should refund your money if you're unhappy with the coffee. Perhaps try a finer grind size and see what happens?

I had some Blue Bottle beans I got at the beginning of this year whose strongest flavor after brewing was wet cardboard. After it got old, that got muted, and some other things come through, but I won't be trying their beans again any time soon.

You have the best connections.

I did. Picked up a 4 Barrel brazilian. We will see.

 

lefty

For you Aeropress guys: How much coffee do you use in your preparation? I've been trying 22g and filling the water up to the top, then topping it off after that bit filters out, and its been going ok. Nothing special.

I've just been boring and stuck with the instructions on the box, and fiddling with my grind. I want to find some lighter roast beans to try it with, the darker roasts I usually get a are a little full on some mornings.

I use 22g as well, with about 210-220 in the chamber. After that I add 150-140 g more hot water, so I have a 22/360 mix. Really fresh beans won't let you put that much water in the chamber because the coffee will generate too much foam and overflow sooner. I use a rightside-up extraction instead of the upside down config, and it sounds like you're doing the same.

I think I may be overdiluting the coffee a little bit since the grounds absorb something like 10-20 percent of the water. For example, if you could load the chamber up with 360 g of water, you'd get 324-288 g of brew out of it, because the grounds retain 10-20 percent. So if you're diluting, and you're adding perhaps 15 to 30 g more water than a straight brew, and that may make it taste relatively weaker. That was kind of confusing sounding, so let me know if it's unclear.

The upshot is that you may want to play with reducing the amount of water you dilute with if you find the coffee to be weak-tasting.

How long are you steeping, and have you played with grind size? I steep around 45 seconds, with a little stirring at the beginning, and a little bit at the end.

My method basically adapts the Wendelboe method to generate 300+ g of brew with 22 g of grounds:

Was there supposed to be a video at the bottom there AY?

I've been putting in enough water to cover the grinds, stirring, then basically filling to the top. Then I let it steep for about 20-30 seconds, top it back off with water, and plunge for about 30 sec.

Went to Whole Foods and got a lb of their Columbian on fine drip grind. The coffee isn't that great in the aeropress but its good for experimentation.

Is there a scoop that measures out 11g or 22g per dose? That would be perfect for the road as a scale isn't that convenient.

Calibrate it to the scoop they give you in the aeropress

I tried that. The scoop I have holds about 19 grams. Its not the end of the world, just thought I'd see if there was something a little more exacting out there.

Were you reading SF on a mobile device? The videos only show up in browsers that support flash.

For travel, in addition to calibrating the scoop, calibrate the water volume, too. You can use the inside of the plunger to hold more water.

Also, your problem might be that you are using pre-ground coffee. Does it taste better if you buy whole beans and grind right before you brew?