Lets talk about COFFEE

[admin]

I highly recommend the Cerro Azul from Sweet Bloom: https://sweetbloomcoffee.com/product/cerro-azul/

Very complex, super delicate, but so packed with flavors that it comes off more robust than I think it should.

 

[mhip]

I highly recommend the Cerro Azul from Sweet Bloom: https://sweetbloomcoffee.com/product/cerro-azul/

Very complex, super delicate, but so packed with flavors that it comes off more robust than I think it should.

Thanks, you just made me feel better about the $75 I spend on the 2lb bag of my favorite beans...

 

[admin]

Thanks, you just made me feel better about the $75 I spend on the 2lb bag of my favorite beans...

Ha, yeah the price is up there. I just ordered a second bag because I'm about to finish the first and was super sad about it this morning. It is that good.

 

[cb200]

Digging through some old books stuffed in a corner and I found a Japanese mook I picked up years ago that was focused on coffee. Looking over it now, and see that none of the paper filter recipes shown for pour-overs show rinsing the paper filters. Interesting that that rinsing seems to be the norm now but back in '06 it didn't look like it was the way, there at least. I know I read something about there being two schools of thought about rinsing but haven't thought about it much and just sort of did it.

 

[edinatlanta]

Digging through some old books stuffed in a corner and I found a Japanese mook I picked up years ago that was focused on coffee. Looking over it now, and see that none of the paper filter recipes shown for pour-overs show rinsing the paper filters. Interesting that that rinsing seems to be the norm now but back in '06 it didn't look like it was the way, there at least. I know I read something about there being two schools of thought about rinsing but haven't thought about it much and just sort of did it.

I had my aeropress with me when visiting my parents and two things stood out
1) I forgot how good (and easy) an Aeropress cup is
2) When I rinsed an unbleached filter, the water was slightly tinted. That's enough for me to be OK with rinsing. I'm not a germaphobe, organic-only guy or anything but I also don't need that in my coffee.

 

[mhip]

I was at Costco and completely out of coffee at home.
They've been carrying these smaller than the regular jumbo bags of single origin coffees that were more than passable, but of course they were out.
I grabbed a Kirkland Medium Roast "house blend" that I thought would be ok until I restocked.
Got home, and noticed on the fine print it was Starbucks coffee......shiit.
Opened the bag, and this medium roast was burned as dark as midnight and slathered in oil.
It tastes like shiit and is nearly undrinkable.

Then like an angel, I get an email today from Modern Times that they're having a sale and my beloved bourbon barrel beans are 15% off, and I got next day shipping.
I just have to get through tomorrow morning, and then I'm golden.

 

[Fueco]

I was at Costco and completely out of coffee at home.
They've been carrying these smaller than the regular jumbo bags of single origin coffees that were more than passable, but of course they were out.
I grabbed a Kirkland Medium Roast "house blend" that I thought would be ok until I restocked.
Got home, and noticed on the fine print it was Starbucks coffee......shiit.
Opened the bag, and this medium roast was burned as dark as midnight and slathered in oil.
It tastes like shiit and is nearly undrinkable.

Then like an angel, I get an email today from Modern Times that they're having a sale and my beloved bourbon barrel beans are 15% off, and I got next day shipping.
I just have to get through tomorrow morning, and then I'm golden.

I hate that stuff so much, but my wife loves it for the espresso machine, so guess what my morning cappuccino is made from?

I still get good coffee for the pourover.

 

[edinatlanta]

I was at Costco and completely out of coffee at home.
They've been carrying these smaller than the regular jumbo bags of single origin coffees that were more than passable, but of course they were out.
I grabbed a Kirkland Medium Roast "house blend" that I thought would be ok until I restocked.
Got home, and noticed on the fine print it was Starbucks coffee......shiit.
Opened the bag, and this medium roast was burned as dark as midnight and slathered in oil.
It tastes like shiit and is nearly undrinkable.

Then like an angel, I get an email today from Modern Times that they're having a sale and my beloved bourbon barrel beans are 15% off, and I got next day shipping.
I just have to get through tomorrow morning, and then I'm golden.

Their hawaiian bags are good. Gf goes through lots of cold brew and we use that. If we are out of beans they make great french press too.

 

[mhip]

Their hawaiian bags are good. Gf goes through lots of cold brew and we use that. If we are out of beans they make great french press too.

Sadly, I haven't seen those...
I think it's a regional thing. I remember being at a Costco near the Bay Area, and they were roasting their own.
The smaller, single origin bags they sometimes have are the best beans they carry near me.
I make and go through a lot of cold brew too, and normally use that.

 

[A Y]

The current theory is that for pourovers, rinsing's main purpose is to help the paper adhere to the sides of the pourover cone which reduces bypass (water leaking out the sides of the cone filter before it hits the coffee grounds, bypassing the grounds completely, and going straight into your cup, which lowers extraction and strength).

Another thing I've been doing that seemed verboten years ago is not brewing beans until at least 3-4 weeks after roast. I've personally noticed that coffees become sweeter, more balanced, and less crazy tasting (eg. spikey acidity) as the bag I've used aged from 1 week after roast to 3-4 weeks after, and was too dogmatic for too long about freshness to realize this should be the way they should be brewed.

 

[edinatlanta]

Just pulled some beans out of the freezer in the test tubes like @A Y suggested.

I think these were the push/pull ones from the summer because they taste so strange. BUT they have the same profile as when they were frozen.

What I am saying is that his suggestion works

 

[PipersSon]

I just got one of the NextLevel Pulsars: https://www.scottrao.com/products/next-level-pulsar

It's a hybrid no-bypass percolation brewer…

For my tastes, it's a big improvement over the Tricolate which can be a little …. seems to work much better than on the Tricolate. The shower screen means you don't need a gooseneck kettle.
…

This is great feedback. I live in India and we haven’t got a vendor here for the Pulsar. But I intend to use it a my next brewer as soon as I can.

If you’ve used the Switch, is the Pulsar very different?

 

[A Y]

This is great feedback. I live in India and we haven’t got a vendor here for the Pulsar. But I intend to use it a my next brewer as soon as I can.

If you’ve used the Switch, is the Pulsar very different?

I haven't used the Switch, but I've used the Clever, which does a similar style of brewing to the switch. I'd say that they are completely different since the Switch is mainly an immersion brewer, and the Pulsar is mainly a percolation brewer. You could do the bloom in the Switch as a steep, and then do the rest as a pourover with the Switch's valve open, but then you'd be subject to the same kinds of bypass issues that a V60 or other cone-type brewer would have.

 

[Fueco]

The V60 delivers consistently great coffee, this time from my local roaster.

 

[Girardian]

One of these days I'll get off my duff and offer up some home roasted coffee on this thread. This past holiday I pulled out all the stops and roasted Geishas, JBM Peaberry, a Panama Elida estate, and a few others.