Coffee

Longer French press method I saw on YT and tried just for the hell of it.

It worked great! Like really great. Wanted to share as I was surprised. Also wonder if FP fans were already aware of this.

How are you grinding, if applicable?

How are you brewing it?

What's your favorite brand of instant, if applicable?

Are you satisfied with the taste?

Do you need ideas on how to make it better?

(Sorry, can't seem to find a higher-res photo!)

Link to the article with a description of each, and maybe a little on the history or place of origin: https://www.apetimemagazine.com/40-tipi-di-caffe-in-italia-li-conosci-tutti/

It's in Italian though, so hopefully you can use "translate" on your phone or desktop!

I'm currently brewing in an Aeropress, and considering one of the lower end espresso machines.

But based on a few comments from James Hoffmann about him drinking filter coffee at home, I'm wondering if an espresso machine is something that people end up using every day, or if people are brewing with simpler methods and just making espressos when they've got time on the weekend or people over?

What's your experience, did you buy a machine and it mostly just takes up counter space, or is it a daily source of joy?

Update

On a whim, I tried searching YouTube instead of search engines and found a short video which led me to this shop in Etsy. It looks quite promising, so I'm going to update the title as "solved."

Original post

I've had an Elektra Micro Casa Leva for a number of years, and a while ago I bought a naked portafilter for it. It was (and still is, on the product site) as "for the Micro Casa." It is, without a doubt, one of the poorest quality things I've ever bought. The wood appears painted, not stained; it's been resistant to oiling, and lately the paint has been flaking off leaving what I assume is cheap pine. The wood itself has been cracking and splitting. The portafilter itself is painted to look like brass; I can tell this because that paint has started chipping and peeling. It looks as if it's some type of steel underneath -- I'd suspect aluminum, except for the weight and I assume the maker would be concerned about having one literally melt on a user. In any case, it's horrible. The handle is not screwed in, or else it's screwed & glued; if the metal weren't so obviously crap, I'd consider routing out the handle and replacing it myself; as is, it's so poorly made it hardly seems worth the effort. Regardless, I've been using it for a few years and it hasn't outright broken yet, but with all the paint chipping and peeling, it's looking really rough, and you don't own a Micro Casa Leva for the convenience.

The Elektra takes a non-standard 49mm portafilter, which can make finding parts challenging. Is there a company that makes decent portafilters that fit the Leva? It's possible I simply haven't delved the depths of the web deeply enough. Or, is there a craftsman in the community who does this sort of work -- making nice handles, sourcing appropriate baskets, etc? Failing all of that, is there a place I can buy a naked portafilter of good quality for the Leva, and is there anyone making good handles for portafilters? I'm no craftsman, but I can manage sanding wood to fit a hole, and I can mix epoxy.

What I'd really like to end up with is a brass portafilter with a beautiful wood handle with a nice grain and stain. I'd settle for a naked portafilter for the Leva that isn't a cheap piece of garbage.

Somewhat bewildered by the millions of Aeropress recipes on youtube, I'm wondering if daily users end up settling into a reliable, simple process that's similar from person to person.

In particular, I note that my method (basically a french press) is vastly different from the one in the instructions which is ground much finer, uses less water, and starts dripping through the filter immediately.

Anyway, here's me:

• 12g mild-roast (coarse ground a touch finer than most people would use for a french press, done with a C2)
• inverted
• one filter paper, not washed, but damp enough to stick
• fresh boiled water (so probs 95°+) 180g
• stir enough to break up the floaties
• push the plunger in far enough that the liquid is almost at the top before I put the filter on
• tip over and start plunging at 1:30, finish by 2:00
• into ~70g warmed milk

I'd love to hear yours.

Thinking of getting a fully automatic espresso maker. Seems like machines with 2 hoppers are double the price.

I'm just curious what are some solutions people came up with for switching between decaf and regular beans for a family that regularly brews both kinds?

It seems both produce nearly identical grind profile. The DF54 is slower.

I'm considering replacing a Sette with a DF54.

Does anyone have the DF54? Impressions?

Pulled a ~ 600 € DeLonghi coffee maker out of the dumpster and invested about 50 € in spare parts (water tank, grounds container, and a new magnet valve). Seems like I have a new coffee machine now 😁☕

(It would have gone even faster and without a puddle on the kitchen counter if I had put in the gaskets from the start. 🤦 Ah well.)

/cc @coffee

The additive haters won me over. I tried a long black today, and I'll give it another week or so and see how I go!

The taste is good, but it lacks the body/mouthfeel that I'm used to, which I think is what I most struggle with, but I'm hoping that will change as I get used to it!

It's a Hamilton Beach "The Scoop" single serve coffeemaker! I wanted the stop using instant but getting a normal coffeemaker would result in me throwing most of it out since I only have one cup of coffee a day and only in the morning!

It works great so far!

When I make cold brew, I just use room temperature water.

Has any one tried putting a small amount of hot water to steep for a few minutes first and then filling the container with cold water for the remaining 12 to 24 hours?

Coffee fedi, help me out!

I'm getting more and more milk/lactose intolerant as I get older, but lactose free milk is too sweet for me.

I don't sweeten my coffee, and even lactose free milk with no sweetener else makes my coffee too sweet.

So, what do I replace my milk with when I order coffee?

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/8045028

Where is the best coffee in London or Munich?

Where is the best coffee in London or Munich?

Asking for @[email protected].

This is a coffee emergency.

I have been experimenting with brewing medium roasts in my french press.

Contrary to popular advice, I have found that grinding on my Baratza Encore's grinder finest setting of "0" gets me a better brew than the traditional advice of settings 20 (middle) to 40 (coarsest).

The resulting grounds were somewhat smaller than supermarket ground granule size, eyeballing about 1/2 to 2/3 the size. Certainly nowhere near espresso-powder fine.

With the finer grounds, I brew for 3-4 minutes with my hot water at 195F/90.5C, the default for my Zojirushi hot water pot.

I have tried this with both a whole bean local roast, and a bag of nearly-expired supermarket house brand grounds that was on sale for $5.

The local roast yielded smooth taste with bright and pleasant fruity notes from a shorter brew of 3 minutes. The house brand, umm... the finer grind improved the taste.

I theorize that re-grinding the old house brand grounds exposed volatile flavor compounds that hadn't evaporated or oxidized yet.

A 4 minute brew with the local roast was too long, and resulted in astringency.

4 minutes of brewing with the old house brand was only slightly astringent, but much better than the weak sauce at 3 minutes.

As with anything on the internet, YMMV.

p.s. I’m an impatient bastard and I’m not willing to wait 8 minutes for James Hoffman’s Ultimate French Press Technique, which I find doesn’t result in a better tasting brew anyway.

If you search YouTube for V60 brewing videos and guides you'll find about three billion different ones. Some with agitation, some without; pouring fast, in the middle, making circles; 40-60 or 30-70 or whatnot.

I always think to myself that they're mostly just fluff.

It all depends on grind size and temperature. Doesn't matter how you pour (well, within limits I would think) as long as you get your temps and grind right for the pouring technique you've chosen.

Admittedly, I haven't tried a ton of different ones, maybe three or four. But this is the feeling what I've got.

Maybe there are some edge cases, like Ethiopian coffees being more prone to clogging the filter so less agitation might be a good idea.

Anyone around who has experience with magnet valves? I got one here (in a coffee machine) that buzzes loudly when active, is that a sign it's going to bite the dust soon? Any suggestions for fixes, like repeated descaling, or simply giving it a good whack? Or save myself the hassle and just get a replacement part?

/cc @coffee

Hej Hej,

Recently discovered Espresso Romano and thought it was kind of crazy to add a slice of lemon to ones coffee. Then a colleague said he ads a small spoon of honey in his. So now I've been thinking about trying both of these, but also had me curios as to what else people add to their coffee? Let me know any twisters that you've either heard about or tried.

I've been a closeted coffee guy for a couple years. I go out of my way to order beans I really like (a robusta variety called Indian Parchment), and this might be sacrilege on this board, idk, but I was perfectly happy running a Keurig with reusable cups I'd fill with my own grounds.

Now, I have access to a nice 1.5l french press. I looked up how to use it and it seemed easy enough so I gave it a shot, and sure enough even after my handful of fumbling attempts and some trial and error, my coffee is leaps and bounds better than what the Keurig can produce. So, here's where I'm at:

I have a weird little antique hand crank grinder that, once I cleaned it up, actually works great and can produce a nice coarse grind. My press is a stainless steel 1.5L variety, can't remember the brand, was given it by a friend. I like a strong cup so I aim for a roughly 13:1 ratio of water:ground. However, I'm without a food scale so I'm using a calculator to convert to cups and tablespoons. I usually put the grounds in first, then pour boiling water over top. Let it sit for about 3.5-4 minutes, then press, then pour.

I know my first step to really dial in my consistency is a scale, so that's on the list. Any other tips to step my game up?

I've been watching a bunch of the stumptown coffee brewing videos on YouTube. They are another great starting point for all of us. I tried their V60 and aeropress recipes and the coffee came out good. It tastes like coffee. Lol

Anyway wanted to share in case someone hasn't seen them. Enjoy

Moved from a Rhinowares to a 2021 Timemore C2, stumbled out to breakfast and used the same clicks without thinking.

A few of you asked for how to do it so here's my guide. This method gives me perfect coffee every time, but your milage may vary so don’t be afraid to experiment.

Grind to filter coffe size or maybe a bit finer. Don’t go to espresso level or it’ll just clog the brewer and burn the coffee. It is generally not super sensitive to grind size so don’t worry too much. If in doubt go corser.

Always, always weigh the coffe! I found that they are actually quite sensitive to the amount of coffe you put in. Ever since a started weighing the beans I’ve never had any issues with it. If you cannot get a nice consistent flow through the entire brew and it begins to sputter too early you most likely filled it too much. So rather than fiddle with the grind size, you should instead fill it a little less next time. This is why you must weigh the beans. I use 12-13g for the 2 cup that you see here, and 28-30g for the 6 cup version. If I go outside that range it won’t brew nicely. It’s that sensitive! Grind size does very little to change this

Finally use hot water. This first of speed up the brew but also makes it easier to control the pressure inside. So pour hot/freshly boiled water in, assemble, and put on a low to medium heat with the lid open so you can see when the coffee comes. When the coffee starts to come through turn it down to low low heat to get a nice, slow and consistent flow. For the 2 cup version it’s about 15-30 seconds and for the big 6 cup version i think it’s about 40-90 seconds. I can’t remember exactly so don’t worry too much as long as it’s consistent and nice and slow.

Pour the coffee immediately. Otherwise it’ll slowly burn and turn bitter in the hot brewer. If you want to share the portion stir it a bit first since its much stronger at the bottom.

With this method i always get amazing coffee out of this little machine and i low it so much.

The milk i just heated with the Bialetti electric milk foamer but a little pot and a whisk would do the same. Don't heat the milk too much. It should only be around 65 degrees or something like that or it changes the taste. For UHT treated milk i guess this doesn't matter.

I hope this was helpful. So enjoy your coffee.

Additional debugging steps:

If you use a blade grinder: This is fine, and I’ve used one for years when I was a student and it worked just fine as well. You can grind pretty fine with that for the mokka pot. It's difficult to go too fine, but again, if on doubt go corser. Much more importantly is to avoid clumps. Blade grinders tends to make clumps so try to stir them out a bit with a needle/scewer or a very thin fork.

Clumps causes channeling and easily makes it sputter and all the water goes through too fast since it cannot build the pressure needed to make a consistent flow.

Clogging causes it to go really slow and sputter almost immediately and it seems like not all the water wants to go through. This is because it builds up too much heat and pressure so when the coffee passed through the coffee it's above 100C° so it instantly boils when it reaches the other side and gives a very harsh amd unpleasant taste.

Oh I forgot to add. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CLEAN YOU MOKKA POT WITH SOAP! Don't be fooled by what others are saying. It's not building up "flavour" it is literally old and rancid coffee "flavours" you are building up. So please please clean you pot with soap and a soft sponge every single time.

Thought I'd share this quicky with fellow enthusiasts. A shirt video about your everyday cuppa joe ☕