For this group, gaggiuino[0] is extremely fun for the hardware+coffee people.
Rabbit hole of cost with James Hoffman + Lance Hedrick, but they are really pushing home coffee forward.
Coffee for people who don't like coffee
101–110 of 272 posts
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#1021. Good beans. Something not roasted to a charred crisp (looking at you, Starbucks). Eat a coffee bean by itself. If it tastes bad on its own, it’ll probably taste bad in the brew too. I enjoy munching a few beans while I make my coffee. 1.5 Buy your beans whole and grind them. It really makes a difference. 2. Clean water. If your water tastes bad, so will the coffee. I just use filtered water from the fridge. 3. No…
> Something not roasted to a charred crisp (looking at you, Starbucks). Not everyone is going to like less-roasted beans. Less roasted beans have strong, distinct flavors which might be characterized as "green" or "floral" or "woodsy", and it's true that a lot of the individuality of the bean varieties is obscured by darker roasts. But I for one usually prefer the standard roasts of the mainstream vendors over the li…
I’m one of those people. I thought I liked lighter roasts, but the third wave light-light super floral stuff tastes like lemon water to me (including stuff from nice roasters and nice shops). I can understand why people like it! But I’m habituated to the brown caramely middle of the road flavor profile and I’ve stopped trying to change. Starbucks’ lighter roasts are fine with me, much as it pains me to admit my lowbrow taste.
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#103Recently, I've started grinding my coffee beans just before brewing, and the difference is really noticeable. The freshness of the grind seems to bring out more complex flavors, especially with lightly roasted beans. I'm curious—do you think there's a noticeable difference in taste between freshly ground coffee and pre-ground coffee? What tools do you use to brew your coffee, and which one do you think gives the best…
Absolutely there is a difference, fresh ground beans are delightful. Even the left over ground beans I inevitably have are still better the next day.
As for tools, the vital components are hot water and a filter so you're not chewing your coffee. My favourite is the "Chorreador", basically a sock through which the hot water drips like a manual coffee maker but it's usually too much effort so I mostly use a small espresso machine. I recommend the cheapest one you can find, there's a lot of parallels with "Monster Cables" regarding espresso machines.
I like "coffee makers" as well, but the key there is to brew just what you need because you can't let the brewed coffee sit for long before the taste changes.
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#104I'm not on Matrix, but the author might be interested in Swerl roasters in Sweden.
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#105> You'll get diabetes. Have a coffee. When I was a kid, I hated even the smell of coffee so much, that tasting it could make me throw up. A few years ago, to help kick my soda habit, I forced myself to drink black coffee every single day. The first day, I could barely stomach a few sips. After a week or so, I could finish the whole cup with great difficulty. After another few weeks, I could finish it without minding.…
> Since I'm too stupid and/or lazy to figure out how to clean my coffee machine (the instructions said something about vinegar once in a while)... I love coffee but don't want the barista ceremony / fetishism around making coffee so I bought a fully automated coffee machine: grains in, pushing one button, coffee out (and the "grains in" part only has to be done once every x days). At the store (not where I bought it)…
Interested to know which automatic coffee makers you've used.
Currently using and liking the Cuisinart grind&brew but if there's an alternative that's even easier to clean I'm here for it.
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#106> You'll get diabetes. Have a coffee. When I was a kid, I hated even the smell of coffee so much, that tasting it could make me throw up. A few years ago, to help kick my soda habit, I forced myself to drink black coffee every single day. The first day, I could barely stomach a few sips. After a week or so, I could finish the whole cup with great difficulty. After another few weeks, I could finish it without minding.…
> Since I'm too stupid and/or lazy to figure out how to clean my coffee machine (the instructions said something about vinegar once in a while)
Vinegar removes limescale, which may or may not be a real problem depending on your water source.
To remove coffee residue, use a dilute solution, freshly prepared, of sodium percarbonate and very very hot water. You can mix ~1 tsp of sodium percarbonate with a cup or two of hot water, and you can also just spoon the sodium percarbonate into a coffee-stained container and pour hot water in.
Sodium percarbonate is basically a stable mixture of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide that happens to be a solid. It’s an alkaline cleaner and a fairly strong oxidizer. It removes oily things and quite a lot of stains, and it will remove tea and coffee residue almost effortlessly. It’s very nasty on skin when it’s mixed with water and not diluted enough, but it leaves no harmful residue when rinsed — the hydrogen peroxide decomposes to water and oxygen, and sodium carbonate is only at all harmful because of its high pH. It turns into sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) at lower pH, and it is soluble enough in water that essentially all of it rinses off.
It’s the active ingredient in most commercial coffee machine cleaners, but you can buy it from a chemical supplier. Just don’t drip any water into the container you store it in (the same goes for commercial coffee machine cleaners). It’s also the active ingredient in most “oxygen bleach” powders.
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#107I like coffee, but many years ago I realized I don't like drinking hot liquids. Anyone else like this? I live in North Texas where it's uncomfortably hot most of the year. It used to boggle my mind playing golf with my Grandpa who would grab a coffee at the turn just as temperatures were cracking 90F.
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#108Recently, I've started grinding my coffee beans just before brewing, and the difference is really noticeable. The freshness of the grind seems to bring out more complex flavors, especially with lightly roasted beans. I'm curious—do you think there's a noticeable difference in taste between freshly ground coffee and pre-ground coffee? What tools do you use to brew your coffee, and which one do you think gives the best…
Hand crank grinder and pour over or French press has never done me wrong. Also, black. Dairy and/or sugar change the chemistry substantially in my opinion. It’s a completely different taste profile on its own. I don’t manage temperature or quantity of beans but that could potentially change it further.
Same here with the hand grinder and French press. There are many factors I'm experimenting with. This is what I've found so far:
- Finer grind is better. I know they say use coarse for the French press, but I find this gives too weak a flavor. Finer grind also means I spend a good 10 mins grinding each morning, which kind of sucks but it's part of my routine and feels like honest work for a worthy outcome.
- Water temperature: I find cooler is usually better. I can set my kettle to 80deg C. I've heard using room temp water and letting it brew in the fridge over night produces amazing results but I've never done this.
- Brew time: I leave it for 2min 30s
- Stirring: I've found this to be a massive factor, and stirring even a little too much can easily cause awful bitter / bland flavors. I stir extremely gently and briefly, just enough to make sure there are no clumps.
- Freshness: fresh is noticeably better with more complex flavors (within a few weeks of roast date).
- Amount of coffee: Whatever fills the hand grinder. The ground result is visually similar in what would be used for an espresso in a cafe.
- Type of beans: I go for rich and bold flavors. I don't really care for the fruitier coffees.
With all these factors, I still struggle with consistency. Most days the result ends pretty good. Sometimes it results in an amazing coffee that makes made my day. Rich, smooth, complex, zero bitterness or unpleasantness. Each sip takes me on a flavor journey. The problem is I can't figure out what I do differently on those days to produce such great results.
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#109I like coffee, but many years ago I realized I don't like drinking hot liquids. Anyone else like this? I live in North Texas where it's uncomfortably hot most of the year. It used to boggle my mind playing golf with my Grandpa who would grab a coffee at the turn just as temperatures were cracking 90F.
Embrace the coffee sweats
Re: Coffee for people who don't like coffee
#110What is wrong with plain water? Why try to mess it up with flavor, just drink and go on.
I hate coffee, soda, and tea. water has always work well so why change it.