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Coders guide to good coffee

blog.moertel.com

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Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#31

Post by gxti »

kscaldef wrote: post #22

> An inexpensive ($15) blade grinder (“whirly-bird”) is sufficient for making drip coffee While this much may be true, using a french press with a blade grinder is a recipe for nasty sludge at the bottom of your cup. There's just too much variation in the grind size.

One does indeed get sludge using a blade grinder, but it's not nearly as unpleasant an experience if the coffee is good. That said, Kitchenaid makes a great burr grinder for drip or press use. Low-end burr grinders are also pretty cheap. There are of course many very expensive espresso grinders, but they are best at making an espresso grind (very fine) and may not be good at medium or coarse settings, or may not have them at all.

Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#32

Post by starkfist »

geuis wrote: post #29
ericb wrote: post #10

Articles 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,…

I feel for you, if you are unable to tell the difference. It might mean you haven't had really good coffee before! There are different brands of store-bought, pre-ground coffee that are better than others. Say, 8o'clock coffee compared to Folgers. Under no circumstances drink Folgers. Its sickening how bad it is. If available at your local grocery, 8o'clock coffee is pretty damn good. That being said, fresh whole bea…

There is something to be said for crap coffee. My grandparents used to drink coffee all day, well into the late evening. I wondered how they were ever able to sleep. It turns out the coffee they made was so weak that 12 quarts of it probably had the same caffeine as 12 oz of today's intense artisanal coffees. I had severe insomnia through most of my 20s and I think it was partially due to the fact that I was emulating my grandparent's coffee intake but using "proper" coffee. I still keep up the coffee snob act, but now when I make coffee at home it's 4/5 decaf.

Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#33

Post by joshwa »

c1sc0 wrote: post #13
johnswamps wrote: post #3

This 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?

They are mostly drinking green tea in those jars. Green tea brews at a much lower temperature (150-180F); indeed, since they are leaving the tea leaves in there all day and refilling it, they can use even cooler water and let it steep slowly. Heavy glass is also a decent insulator, keeping it warm all day.

Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#34

Post by vixen99 »

Using two filter papers with a holder, it seems that temperature is critical factor in creating the smooth flavour I happen to prefer. 185F/85C does the job perfectly. The coffee gets punchier as the temperature of the water is increased. Seems to be quite a sensitive relationship.

One variation we enjoy is to add a pinch of cinnamon when grinding the coffee. Strangely, I've found little difference in flavour which can be put down to the brand if they're of equivalent roasts.

Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#36

Post by Avshalom »

minus1 wrote: post #5

I like nice things, I really do, but what I've found is that sometimes being a connoisseur kills your ability to enjoy simple things.

I don't know, for me I didn't like coffee when my only exposure was folgers drip brew. After I was introduced to french press I started tolerating shitty coffee because, it wasn't good but at least I knew what it was trying for now. Same thing happened with beer.

Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#37

Post by yason »

I think it's important to not take things for granted and seek a bit to find something that you truly enjoy. And, I do, too, think that most of what is sold as coffee is pretty much crap. However, instead of grinding my own coffee, I found another (and presumably as labour-intensive) sweet spot.

Maybe there's better coffee out there but this is good enough for me. If anyone's interested...

I have a six-cup Italian steel moka pot, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_(coffee_pot) and espresso-ground coffee. This is what I've been drinking for years.

For the espresso, I've settled for the cheap Lidl flavour sold for €1.99 per 200g; not really for the price but surprisingly the taste. It's the only thing I buy from Lidl: I go there twice a year and buy a plastic bag full of espresso.

Pleasant and strong.

Out of one pot, I get about three regular cups a day. I make my coffee in the morning and use a thermos to keep the remaining hot till afternoon. If I have a long drive to make, I fill up my thermos and drink it during the day since most gas stations here sell bad coffee.

I would never go back to filters or a French press. And I wouldn't buy an espresso machine either: we've got one at work and while it makes fairly good espresso, it's not significantly better or worse than what I make in the moka pot. And mine costs about 20 euros.

The best coffee I've ever made and had.

Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#38

Post by _delirium »

minus1 wrote: post #5

I like nice things, I really do, but what I've found is that sometimes being a connoisseur kills your ability to enjoy simple things.

It doesn't totally solve the problem, but one approach I sometimes try is to only move up the quality ladder (insofar as there actually is a linear quality scale, which is itself a bit of a simplification) when I can consistently tell the difference. It seems many people jump straight to the best they can afford, while I find it more enjoyable to slowly work my way up, so e.g. there's no point in jumping straight to world-class wines if you can't even tell much cheaper wines apart (it's surprisingly hard to get any good at blind taste testing).

With coffee I think the biggest low-hanging fruit is recently ground coffee: coffee that's brewed weeks after being ground is a lot different than freshly ground coffee, and it's fairly noticeable I think. You don't have to jump straight to hand-roasted small-batch coffees ground in a $1000 grinder minutes before you brew it in your high-end espresso machine.

Another more psychological issue is just separating different things for different purposes. I used to have trouble drinking "normal" beer after becoming something of a microbrew aficionado, but these days I'm a bit better at mentally distinguishing beer-for-beer-tasting from beer-for-drinking-with-a-burger. I just sort of consider them different beverages that happen to both be within the very broad class called "beer". I think I mentally class normal lagerish beer as a kind of soft drink that happens to have alcohol instead of a kind of beer--- I don't think "man this sucks, I could be drinking [fancy microbrew] instead", but "hmm do I want a lager or a coke today?".

Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#39

Post by sgt »

johnswamps wrote: post #27
kscaldef wrote: post #22

> An inexpensive ($15) blade grinder (“whirly-bird”) is sufficient for making drip coffee While this much may be true, using a french press with a blade grinder is a recipe for nasty sludge at the bottom of your cup. There's just too much variation in the grind size.

It's not a huge deal in practice in my experience. You could always buy a press that uses filters, such as the aeropress.

I love the AeroPress. Bought one a week ago and it makes pretty amazing coffee. No need for an expensive espresso machine to make super-smooth americano... PS: I don't work for AeroPress :)

Re: Coders guide to good coffee

#40

Post by catch23 »

minus1 wrote: post #5

I like nice things, I really do, but what I've found is that sometimes being a connoisseur kills your ability to enjoy simple things.

The author of the article is misled here. The key difference is the home roasted coffee. You can get a popcorn machine and roast your own green coffee and use a normal drip coffee machine to brew. The taste is actually pretty significant, and doesn't require expensive equipment.

I have a normal el-cheapo blade-spinning coffee grinder and a drip coffee machine from walgreens. They still make wonderful coffee with green beans bought from sweetmarias.com, roasted using a popcorn machine as a roaster I bought from walgreens for $9. It takes about 5 minutes to roast a small batch of coffee and will leave your home smelling like coffee for the next few hours.

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