The only thing I'd add is water quality matters ... a lot. When I moved to a new office building the coffee was really crappy, even my freshly ground beans had a horrible taste. I switched to using the bottled water the company provides and haven't looked back.
Coders guide to good coffee
11–20 of 98 posts
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#12Articles like this make me wonder how much of this is simple religious ritual. I personally can't tell the difference between fresh ground and store ground coffee. I feel like these best practices are not subjected to KISS type debugging after they are invented. If a blind taste test doesn't reveal a difference, is the step needed? Instead they become the voodoo of the connoisseur. Regardless of the possibility that,…
Makes me think of the abysmally low level of reproducibility in the world of wine tasting. E.g. for years a debate has been raging about 'cork vs. plastic' with the traditionalists expounding the virtues of cork while in controlled environments there is absolutely no basis for such claims.
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#13This is all spot on. The art of making the perfect cup of tea is fairly analogous: buy fresh, loose leaf tea, pour the right temperature water over the right amount of tea for the right of time, and then enjoy some great tea.
Do you know why the Chinese always seem to drink tea from these massive glass jars?
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#14I like nice things, I really do, but what I've found is that sometimes being a connoisseur kills your ability to enjoy simple things.
Personally, I usually go for alternatives when the coffee isn't any good. Or cream-and-sugar it if it helps (some it just makes worse). Water is available almost anywhere, as is tea (another thing that's far better a quality-grade higher).
There's also a difference between being picky (not eating what you don't like) and being preferenced (preferring what you like). The connoisseur not-enjoying-the-simple-things is largely a mind-set, not a consequence of finding there are better things out there.
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#15Coffee drinks illustrated:
http://www.lokeshdhakar.com/2007/08/20/an-illustrated-coffee...
A guide to home roasting: http://www.sweetmarias.com/instructions-revamp2_MRT.php
Actually, if you roast at home or have access to freshly roasted beans, you will probably won't be able to consume mainstream coffee as stated in the article.
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#16This is all spot on. The art of making the perfect cup of tea is fairly analogous: buy fresh, loose leaf tea, pour the right temperature water over the right amount of tea for the right of time, and then enjoy some great tea.
Do you know why the Chinese always seem to drink tea from these massive glass jars?
For 1, porcelain is far more predictable with heat retention than most forms of ceramics. Try pouring a cup of boiling water into a handful of your favorite mugs, and note the temperature difference in a couple minutes. Or pouring less water into some (big difference then). Barring evaporated heat (prevented with a cover), a porcelain will still behave roughly the same with even 1/2 the water it could hold full.
For 2, uh... the better to sip with? * shrug * don't really know.
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#17> [Originally I posted this article on Thu Apr 25th, 2002 at 02:29:34 PM EST to Kuro5hin.org. I am reprinting it here with minor corrections.] wow, kuro5hin.org, that brings back memories... and it is still kickin' (barely)
I've always wondered if a revival of kuro5hin-style huge articles & stories would be possible. Or maybe we call that blogs nowadays.
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#18Articles like this make me wonder how much of this is simple religious ritual. I personally can't tell the difference between fresh ground and store ground coffee. I feel like these best practices are not subjected to KISS type debugging after they are invented. If a blind taste test doesn't reveal a difference, is the step needed? Instead they become the voodoo of the connoisseur. Regardless of the possibility that,…
It may work faster with warm/hot water, but the reason (probably lost in the mists of antiquity) that most recipes for pretty much anything say boil cold water is that many hot water heaters leave a bad taste in the water from the copper and scale buildup in the tank. Where I live, the water is extremely hard and iron-rich, so I always have to make tea or coffee with filtered water.
In the end, food & beverage is not a religion: just do what works for you and ignore the purists.
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#19Alternative to the french press that's easier to carry around: a good metal tea filter. Not one that looks like this[1], with holes all over, but one like this[2] with a super-fine mesh. Just knock the coffee out when you're done, and rinse. Also makes excellent tea. You'll get a bit of dusting in the bottom of your mug, but you can either stir it up as you drink (significantly-weaker turkish coffee, I guess) or just leave it.
[1]: http://www.amazon.com/swissgold®-TF-300-Tea-Filter/dp/B000G7... [2]: http://www.amazon.com/Finum-Brewing-Medium-Basket-Black/dp/B...
Re: Coders guide to good coffee
#20This is great reading. A good cup of coffee is better than five bad ones.