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Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

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Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#71

Post by msandford »

mistersquid wrote: post #33
luckydata wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ritual's coffee is terrible: acidic, unpleasant to the palate and lacking in aroma. I hope your coffee is better than theirs. - disclosure: I'm Italian and I believe espresso in San Francisco sucks almost universally

While I agree with your assessment of Ritual's coffee, with all due respect, your being Italian alone does not establish your competence in judging espresso. I do understand espresso originates from Italy. I'm just allowing for the possibility that some Italians are poor judges of espresso and some non-Italians are excellent judges of same. To my taste as a non-Italian, Blue Bottle espresso is delicious. The baristas…

It's hilarious watching people argue over preferences as though they were facts.

Person 1: Steak is the best food!

Person 2: No, pasta is the best food!

Person 1: I am from Kobe Japan and steak is best!

Person 2: I am from Italy and pasta is best!

And so it goes. Both people are right and wrong at the same time. Preferences aren't universal facts.

Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#72

Post by zero_iq »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #68

Surprised to see no mention of the Aeropress yet. Only way I'll make coffee.

Me too. I got one about 9 months ago, after wasting my life with various machines, moka pots, etc. Ditched them all after trying the Aeropress, with the "inverted method". Looks like some kind of cheap plastic sex toy, but goddammit it makes fantastic coffee.

Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#73

Post by aarmenante »

luckydata wrote: post #23
HoppedUpMenace wrote: post #20

My first machine to make espresso was a espresso/drip coffee combo. Not knowing any better, I was merely pulling strong coffee and not espresso shots. Then I got a stand alone espresso machine, much closer to the real deal but still a far cry from what a coffee roaster like Temple Coffee could make in their store. Finally, invested in a Breville BES870XL and after many trials and errors, my espresso shots are fairly…

Ritual's coffee is terrible: acidic, unpleasant to the palate and lacking in aroma. I hope your coffee is better than theirs. - disclosure: I'm Italian and I believe espresso in San Francisco sucks almost universally

I feel like sometimes I'm the only person who does not care for ritual or bluebottle. I usually just keep my mouth shut in fear of people freaking out. Wayyyy too acidic.

Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#74

Post by agentgt »

hx87 wrote: post #41
agentgt wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cuban espresso is often made with robusto beans which are very strong. So your theory might be true. Many cuban restaurants I have been to in Miami use Café Bustelo which to be honest probably wouldn't be so crappy if the roast-to-serve-delta was lower. Robusto beans get a bad wrap.

Café Bustelo at least comes in vacuum packed bricks, so roast-to-serve delta probably isn't that bad compared to most commercial coffee. In any case, it's not responsible for making me feel like I've just smoked 6 packs of cigarettes every time I drink one.

I hear you. I use to make Bustelo when I would occasionally smoke cigars on a nice summer day... even then I would add cream.

Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#75

Post by tedmiston »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #68

Surprised to see no mention of the Aeropress yet. Only way I'll make coffee.

Huge fan of my AeroPress too (so much that I have a repo full of brewing guides [0]). I just wish they would drop that whole calling its coffee "espresso" bit.

[0]: https://github.com/tedmiston/aeropress

Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#76

Post by rconti »

HoppedUpMenace wrote: post #27
luckydata wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ritual's coffee is terrible: acidic, unpleasant to the palate and lacking in aroma. I hope your coffee is better than theirs. - disclosure: I'm Italian and I believe espresso in San Francisco sucks almost universally

Their single origin Sweet Tooth espresso was pretty amazing when I had it last year, you could really taste the cantaloupe in that particular version. Their Seasonal Espresso was not bad either but I did make both at home as opposed to drinking them inside a Ritual shop.

I actually quite like Ritual. shrug

Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#77

Post by tedmiston »

HoppedUpMenace wrote: post #20

My first machine to make espresso was a espresso/drip coffee combo. Not knowing any better, I was merely pulling strong coffee and not espresso shots. Then I got a stand alone espresso machine, much closer to the real deal but still a far cry from what a coffee roaster like Temple Coffee could make in their store. Finally, invested in a Breville BES870XL and after many trials and errors, my espresso shots are fairly…

A third wave coffee shop owner mentioned to me once about using beans beyond that two week period. That after sometime they come back around to be enjoyable again. IIRC he was only referring to espresso. I haven't been able to find much info about it, and I don't make espresso at home, but it might be something worth exploration.

Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#78

Post by nathancahill »

nathancahill wrote: post #19

I've always loved espresso, and it is indeed difficult to pull a great shot. To learn more about the mechanics of it, I got a manual EspressoForge[0]. Combined with a good manual grinder (Lido 2), a thermometer, a scale, and a pressure gauge, you can control the main variables* by hand. Steep learning curve, but once you get it, there's something immensely satisfying about balancing all the variables and seeing that…

Pro tip: If you make espresso, try an Espresso Tonic, and espresso shot pulled over half a glass of tonic water and ice. It will change your world.

Re: Neglected Food Bubbles: The Espresso Coffee Foam

#79

Post by tedmiston »

aarmenante wrote: post #73
luckydata wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ritual's coffee is terrible: acidic, unpleasant to the palate and lacking in aroma. I hope your coffee is better than theirs. - disclosure: I'm Italian and I believe espresso in San Francisco sucks almost universally

I feel like sometimes I'm the only person who does not care for ritual or bluebottle. I usually just keep my mouth shut in fear of people freaking out. Wayyyy too acidic.

I haven't been to Ritual, but for places like Blue Bottle, Sightglass, Four Barrel, etc it might have to due with them using pretty light roasts combined with a V60 (or the slightly different pour over brewer that Blue Bottle uses). I like my coffee bright / acidic though.
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