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Handbrewing Coffee

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Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#151

Post by ABCLAW »

hvidgaard wrote: post #41
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #22

I got ruined for regular coffee when I found a local shop that roasts its beans sorted by size . So it doesn't taste scorched. Apparently most commercial coffee makers roast them in arbitrary batches, which means by the time the big ones are roasted the small ones are burned. I know there's a lot more that can be done with roasting. But that one small change means you can have strong coffee without having burned coff…

Generally the beans are roughly the same size, and what you called burned, I believe is simply because it's roasted darker to compensate for the less than ideal quality of the beans. The fact that WBC finalists are using coffee that the roaster haven't sorted based in size tells a lot. Perhaps the farmer does it to some degree.

>The fact that WBC finalists are using coffee that the roaster haven't sorted based in size tells a lot. Perhaps the farmer does it to some degree.

I'm not sure if you've looked at espresso chemical papers (mostly the Illy ones), but they're pretty cool and they might explain this.

The oil extraction curves are non-linear. Lighter roasts that aren't at risk of burning smaller beans can be paired with variable bean size to produce a spectrum of related flavour notes, providing a bit of depth to a varietal that has a very strong and pronounced (but limited) set of notes.

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#152

Post by oo0shiny »

latchkey wrote: post #68
m-i-l wrote: post #7

Personally not a big fan of filter coffee. I have an Aeropress and know lots of people rave about it, but it isn't for me. I was hoping this article would be about a hand (or battery) pumped portable espresso device, e.g. Handpresso, which I don't have although have thought about (primarily as a way around the electrical safety compliance restrictions at my current workplace). BTW, I don't mind the awful free coffee…

Try using a fine mesh metal screen with the aeropress. I find it is better than a filter.

To add onto this, Fellow makes an attachment (the Prismo) that builds up pressure giving you a more espresso-style cup. It comes with a metal filter, too.

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#153

Post by m3kw9 »

You end up with around 1$ a cup after tax. And damn good coffee after you do around 50 pours. The time you save is priceless. What you learn is priceless if you are into perfecting a craft

—

-A good grinder(Commendennte)

-12oz coffee

-Hario Filters

-Hario V60

-Goose neck cattle

-A scale that does single decimals(.1) accuracy

-A thermal bottle to hold the coffee.

—

Grind it to 2xsugar sized grinds.

15g coffee to 220-270g of water right off boil is fine for most coffees.

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#154

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #52
earthscienceman wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really funny to me to just how much junk information there is in the coffee world and just how strongly people believe it. Even here on hackernews it seems. This is the exact sort of 'fact' that sounds good, and makes you feel like you know what you're talking about. I'm a roaster. All coffee is sorted by size, or at least all quality coffee. It's necessary, not only for an even roast, but it's also an inherent…

Hello! Coffee enthusiast here. I'd like to follow-up on this statement: > They roast it until the oils come out and then the oils go rancid because it has been sitting on the shelf for the last 6 months getting to you. Are you saying that it's bad if my coffee beans are glistening with oil? I usually took that to be an indicator of freshness. Or do you mean that if they're no longer glistening that the bag is probabl…

Dark roast is a little like well-done steak; you're mostly tasting the effects of the heat, not the quality of the ingredient. Good beans will make good dark-roast, but okay beans will probably taste pretty similar. The lighter roasts let the differences shine.

Thus, trendy 3rd wave coffee is almost universally light to medium roast. So oils might get a bad association this way, but that's not really fair. It's just a dark roast. It's the age and original quality that really matters.

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#155

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

gambiting wrote: post #98
ubermonkey wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chemex pots are NOT expensive. I don't know where you got that idea. The classic (which is to say, fancier, with the wooden collar) 8-cup model is $37 on Amazon right now. At our house, going to Chemex meant shifting from genuinely expensive drip machines that were hard or impossible to properly clean, and which therefore got replaced every few years. It's a drastically LESS expensive method than most.

At my house everyone always drank coffee that wasn't going through any machine whatsoever. You just put a teaspoon of ground coffee in a cup and poured water over it, drinking it after the grounds settled down. I don't know, I feel like $37 for a glass container that still needs filters is asking for quite a lot. A nice french press is like $10.

I worked at Starbucks for a few years and was always grossed out by the idea of "Instant Coffee", (dumping grounds in hot water).

But after doing a week long hiking trip I got pretty addicted to the simplicity and punch of the instant coffee method.

I even premix my Carnation instant coffee with a little cocoa powder and some sugar, so I can just do 1 spoon and I have an instant fun drink that tastes a little fancy.

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#156

Post by seszett »

williamdclt wrote: post #86
dreen wrote: post #83

Has anyone here managed to quit coffee completely after being really into it? I have 1-2 a day, can't imagine starting starting a day without it, but despite really loving the taste I would rather not feel the need to have it.

1-2 cups a day? I don't see that building an addiction (I hope at least, or I'm going to have a hard time)

It depends a lot on people, but two cups is enough to develop an addiction to caffeine, yes.

It's very easy to get addicted, and since the withdrawal symptoms are not that obvious (it's basically just not feeling good, some slight headache, etc) it is common not to be aware of it at all.

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#157

Post by stewbrew »

Tarks wrote: post #95

For anyone interested I did a fair bit of research into how I could step into the passable home espresso / coffee game as I WFH a lot. Given that : - I make at most 3 coffees a day, usually 1. - I prefer espresso I found the traditional options lacking. I'd need: - a machine costing about £600 - a solid quality grinder. - machine needs 20 minutes warmup minimum before you can pour a consistent shot (or you need to le…

Pouring steamed milk over good hand-brewn coffee is a slightly disturbing idea. Why would you want to do that to your coffee?

That said I too love my electric milk frother its hot chocolate option.

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#158

Post by [deleted] »

darkstar999 wrote: post #144
ubermonkey wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chemex pots are NOT expensive. I don't know where you got that idea. The classic (which is to say, fancier, with the wooden collar) 8-cup model is $37 on Amazon right now. At our house, going to Chemex meant shifting from genuinely expensive drip machines that were hard or impossible to properly clean, and which therefore got replaced every few years. It's a drastically LESS expensive method than most.

The filters are expensive.

[deleted]

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#159

Post by teachrdan »

bvinc wrote: post #81
earthscienceman wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really funny to me to just how much junk information there is in the coffee world and just how strongly people believe it. Even here on hackernews it seems. This is the exact sort of 'fact' that sounds good, and makes you feel like you know what you're talking about. I'm a roaster. All coffee is sorted by size, or at least all quality coffee. It's necessary, not only for an even roast, but it's also an inherent…

I will back you up. I visited a coffee plantation in Guatemala and they said they sort all of their beans by size before selling them. I asked if people paid different prices, but they said no. The reason was that the roasters want consistent sizes. And this was just some small coffee plantation.

Small plantations are more likely to be selling high quality beans, for which buyers pay a premium. (It's similar with cocoa beans.) So their high-end buyers/roasters may be accustomed to consistent bean size in a way that large-scale, low-margin purchasers are not.

Re: Handbrewing Coffee

#160

Post by [deleted] »

spurcell93 wrote: post #84
ubermonkey wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chemex pots are NOT expensive. I don't know where you got that idea. The classic (which is to say, fancier, with the wooden collar) 8-cup model is $37 on Amazon right now. At our house, going to Chemex meant shifting from genuinely expensive drip machines that were hard or impossible to properly clean, and which therefore got replaced every few years. It's a drastically LESS expensive method than most.

IMO, $37 for what amounts to a flanged glass jar is ludicrous for many people. Even if it ends up cheaper in the long run. For what it's worth, I live with a couple roommates and they are on their third chemex, since glass breaks easily. Maybe our brand is bad. Maybe our coordination is worse.

[deleted]
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