Coffee

Has anyone here started a coffee thread? Is this old news! What coffees do you like?

This morning Im drinking a home brewed starbucks dark roast.

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jimmyv723

Not a big coffee guy but I get the Folgers singles and will make one of those and mix it one part that with two parts hot chocolate. Goes great with some cigars like the LB 1922 and some pipe tobacco like H&H Anniversary Kake.

jlmarta

Well, I finished off that pound of Kona I was trying and now I'm into my second brewing of Jamaican Blue Mountain. The first was brewed to standard protocol and was good but I thought a little weak. For this second brewing I ground enough beans for 3 cups but used only 2 cups of water. That's two 8oz cups.

I specify that because I've learned that various coffee maker manufacturers play kinda fast and loose with their use of the term "cup". Depending on the manufacturer and even some of the so-called cooking gurus, a cup might be 4, 5, or 6 ounces instead of the standard 8 ounces.

I may be onto something here. This second brewing seems to have a flavor. I think I can actually taste it! Wow! I need to give this more time but I may have found what I've been searching for - a coffee I can taste and one that tastes good to me. If I have, it'll be none too soon. I've only got a few other blends/beans picked out to try.

Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter..... ??

jlmarta

Another question - I know a few of you guys use and like the Chemex pour-over brewer but has anyone used a Melitta pour-over? Any opinions on that brand?? All input is appreciated... I'm still flailing around looking at other options.

Gray4lines

Welp, I ordered the bodum bistro grinder in black. Now I need some nice beans to try in it. May grab a bag at a local coffee roaster. They have a coffee that is aged/stored before roasting in old bourbon barrels. Sounds awesome but $19 a lb seems crazy.

Marty, I havent used a chemex, but I dont believe there is anything super special about the actual glass carafe/brewer. The big advantage is the thick filters that you can "submerge" coffee in and that drips super slow. I like the look and all glass make. Also seems like a good design. But I bet any pour over you could use a thick filter and get similar results. Just my guess, I havent used either yet.

Toombes

jlmarta:
Another question - I know a few of you guys use and like the Chemex pour-over brewer but has anyone used a Melitta pour-over? Any opinions on that brand?? All input is appreciated... I'm still flailing around looking at other options.

Marty, I have a Melitta at home and one at work. John Gibson sent me a twin pack for Christmas last year and I've used them ever since. I can't give you a comparison with the Chemex system since I've never used that particular one, but the Melitta produces a very clean tasting cup of coffee. I'd recommend using the unbleached filters. As strange as it may sound, you can tell a difference in taste versus using the white bleached filters. I've actually neglected my French press since I started using the Melitta, at least until I picked up my new espresso machine...

Toombes

Gray, $19/pound isn't actually bad considering a bag of Blue Mountain is typically $23 and up. FYI, Target in Hamburg has Peets Major Dickson's blend pretty cheap and it's a great anytime brew.

Gray4lines

Toombes:
Gray, $19/pound isn't actually bad considering a bag of Blue Mountain is typically $23 and up. FYI, Target in Hamburg has Peets Major Dickson's blend pretty cheap and it's a great anytime brew.

I found a few local roasters that looks like lb bags are in the $12 - $15 range. Im excited to grab some fresh roasted stuff. I will look for that one too, thanks for the suggestion. In all honesty... I will buy the bourbon coffee. I love bourbon.

jlmarta

Gray4lines:
........ But I bet any pour over you could use a thick filter and get similar results. Just my guess, I havent used either yet.

That's kinda the way I feel about it and the Melitta is considerably cheaper. If I try it and don't like it I'm not out very much. I may just do that. Besides, Toombes says it works pretty well so WTF? I'll pick one up. Thanks, my friend.... ??

jlmarta

Toombes:
jlmarta:
Another question - I know a few of you guys use and like the Chemex pour-over brewer but has anyone used a Melitta pour-over? Any opinions on that brand?? All input is appreciated... I'm still flailing around looking at other options.

Marty, I have a Melitta at home and one at work. John Gibson sent me a twin pack for Christmas last year and I've used them ever since. I can't give you a comparison with the Chemex system since I've never used that particular one, but the Melitta produces a very clean tasting cup of coffee. I'd recommend using the unbleached filters. As strange as it may sound, you can tell a difference in taste versus using the white bleached filters. I've actually neglected my French press since I started using the Melitta, at least until I picked up my new espresso machine...

That's a pretty good recommendation, Dan. I believe I'll give it a try. Nothing ventured... and all that jazz....

And, strangely enough, I had an espresso maker a few years back and got rid of it because I was too lazy to go through all the rigamarole necessary to use it. To me, simpler is better.... Thanks muchly, Bro.... ??

Toombes

No problem, Marty. Just use your regular grind that you normally reserve for your drip machine and pour the water slowly. There are several tutorials on how to get a "proper" cup but I just make sure that everything is wet and the cup comes out good.
That being said, the Melitta should allow you to brew the coffee as strong as you like. Put the amount you would use for two or three cups in the filter and add enough water for one cup. May sound a bit wasteful but at least you should be able to taste it. Best of luck, my friend!

Gray, if you don't mind, could you please PM me the info about the bourbon barrel coffee. I am officially intrigued.

Gray4lines

Absolutely

jlmarta

Whoo, Doagies. Am I having fun now..... Got my new Melitta coffee maker and gave it a try. First attempt with 3 cups worth of ground beans (supposedly enough for 18 oz of coffee) and 12 oz of water and it came out a tad weak. There's no steeping time with this setup as there is with a French press.

Aha! A little Googlenoitering and I learned that there's a device one can buy called a Clever Dripper. Only $19.95. Hot Damn! Gotta have one! And, since I've got a birthday coming up in about a month I'll just put that puppy on my birthday wish list and let my child bride give me one.

With a Clever Dripper you can steep your brew for as long as you want. Oy, vay, such a deal. To paraphrase Alice in Wonderland, life just gets interestinger and interestinger..... ??

roland_7707

For those who grind their own beans, do yall electric or hand grind?

Toombes

roland_7707:
For those who grind their own beans, do yall electric or hand grind?

I use an electric blade grinder at present but plan to get an adjustable burr grinder when funds allow.

rsherman24

I use an electric burr grinder. Very easy to set the grind for espresso, drip, press. It has a hopper for the beans so you can just select the amount you want and hit a button. Great coffee purchase.

jlmarta

rsherman24:
I use an electric burr grinder. Very easy to set the grind for espresso, drip, press. It has a hopper for the beans so you can just select the amount you want and hit a button. Great coffee purchase.

I've got one like that and love it. Also, I just ordered a Clever Dripper as an early birthday gift for myself. It oughta get here around this coming Wednesday. I expect it'll take my coffee making to a new level. Can't wait..... ??

Gray4lines

Buur grinder I recently got is the best coffee purchase ive made. Fresh ground makes so much difference. And its fun playing with all the grind settings.

interested to hear how your new pour over goes marty.

jlmarta

Gray4lines:
Buur grinder I recently got is the best coffee purchase ive made. Fresh ground makes so much difference. And its fun playing with all the grind settings.

interested to hear how your new pour over goes marty.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I'll keep ya posted.... ??

jgibv

Gray4lines:
Welp, I ordered the bodum bistro grinder in black.

How you like the Bodum so far, Gray????

Toombes:
Gray, $19/pound isn't actually bad considering a bag of Blue Mountain is typically $23 and up. FYI, Target in Hamburg has Peets Major Dickson's blend pretty cheap and it's a great anytime brew.

+1 agree with Toombes. $19 isn't bad.
Most local roasters around here are between $15 - $25/lb depending on the bean.

roland_7707

Is there a way to make decaf coffee from reg coffee grounds? My wife wants to know.

jgibv

roland_7707:
Is there a way to make decaf coffee from reg coffee grounds? My wife wants to know.

jlmarta

roland_7707:
Is there a way to make decaf coffee from reg coffee grounds? My wife wants to know.

Why not just buy decaf??

roland_7707

We both really like the West Rock coffee. But we could not find it at stores. Finally found it online in decaf, just wondering if there was a home process.

jlmarta

jlmarta:
Gray4lines:
Buur grinder I recently got is the best coffee purchase ive made. Fresh ground makes so much difference. And its fun playing with all the grind settings.

interested to hear how your new pour over goes marty.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I'll keep ya posted.... ??

The Clever Dripper arrived yesterday afternoon along with a digital scale I bought to accurately measure the coffee. I'se a happy camper!!

I think I'm sneaking up on the right formula for coffee I can actually taste. I started with the chiseled-in-stone required 20 grams of beans ground fairly fine. Then I poured 300 grams (just under 12 oz) over the coffee and steeped it for 3 minutes before setting the Dripper on the mug to release it into the mug. It takes just over a minute to drain, giving me the 'required' 4-minute steep time.

I used the Blue Mountain beans and, while an initial sip didn't show me much flavor, I find that the Blue Mountain has a fairly long finish... and that's where I'm getting some flavor. So far, I'm loving it. Now it's just a matter of tweaking the recipe a bit and I may have found what I've been looking for - some coffee with flavor. I'll keep ya posted....

rsherman24

jlmarta:
jlmarta:
Gray4lines:
Buur grinder I recently got is the best coffee purchase ive made. Fresh ground makes so much difference. And its fun playing with all the grind settings.

interested to hear how your new pour over goes marty.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I'll keep ya posted.... ??

The Clever Dripper arrived yesterday afternoon along with a digital scale I bought to accurately measure the coffee. I'se a happy camper!!

I think I'm sneaking up on the right formula for coffee I can actually taste. I started with the chiseled-in-stone required 20 grams of beans ground fairly fine. Then I poured 300 grams (just under 12 oz) over the coffee and steeped it for 3 minutes before setting the Dripper on the mug to release it into the mug. It takes just over a minute to drain, giving me the 'required' 4-minute steep time.

I used the Blue Mountain beans and, while an initial sip didn't show me much flavor, I find that the Blue Mountain has a fairly long finish... and that's where I'm getting some flavor. So far, I'm loving it. Now it's just a matter of tweaking the recipe a bit and I may have found what I've been looking for - some coffee with flavor. I'll keep ya posted....

That thing looks really cool. Added it to my Amazon wish list for my next purchase. Do you like it better than a press?

jlmarta

rsherman24:
........ Do you like it better than a press?

Oh, my, yes. Far, far better. Controlled steep time and no more sludge in my coffee. HARARUYAH!!

Gray4lines

jgibv:
Gray4lines:
Welp, I ordered the bodum bistro grinder in black.
How you like the Bodum so far, Gray????

Toombes:
Gray, $19/pound isn't actually bad considering a bag of Blue Mountain is typically $23 and up. FYI, Target in Hamburg has Peets Major Dickson's blend pretty cheap and it's a great anytime brew.
+1 agree with Toombes. $19 isn't bad.
Most local roasters around here are between $15 - $25/lb depending on the bean.

Love it! Cant wait to get a chemex and play around with it

jlmarta

Hot Diggety!! I managed to score a pound of Peet's Holiday Blend beans this year. It arrived today and I'm anxious to taste it. Maybe tomorrow morning.

I'm told it's only available once a year and sells out quickly so that explains my being kinda stoked about it. I'll grind enough for a cuppa for my child bride and myself and will report back later. CHEERIO!!

WaltBasil

Coffee coffee. My first love, really. Before cigars and bourbon, there was coffee. All kinds, take what I could when I could. Field coffee during Desert Shield/Storm was probably the worst I had. Even worse than that powder from a packet that came with my MREs and the liquid bottles of concentrate that came with the rations.

Loved those Black and Decker under cabinet series of coffee brewers. Out of the way. Coffee made when I woke up. Had those for years. I sleep light, and would sometimes wake up to the sound of the machine brewing that coffee. My usual consumption consisted of a pot in the morning and a pot at night. Just for me.

Then I discovered the Bunn. I always loved the coffee from diners and never thought much about them, but later I realized they were usually brewed in a Bunn. The priest in one of my churches turned me on to those. I mentioned how good his coffee tasted and he told me it was all in the Bunn. So I looked into those and died at the price tag. But I did purchase my first. That was back in 1996 or so. Wanting to match the flavor of the diners’ coffee that I loved so much, I also purchased the pre-measured pouches of Folgers coffee. Each pouch was enough for a pot of coffee. And that’s what I drank as my steady diet until Hurricane Katrina. That hurricane wiped out a main Folgers warehouse that subsequently held all my favorite pouched coffee, and I couldn’t get any more.

So I began my search for alternative options on the interwebs. That’s when I heard about these freaks who actually roasted their own coffee beans. Found a semi-nice forum and learned quite a bit. It was not near as nice as our little slice of heaven here, but it was enough. It contained the purist who roasted his cup’s worth of beans on a stovetop whirly popper all the way to the handy-man who made a giant spinning drum driven by a motor over a propane fired series of torches. By 2005 I was in full steam ahead. Started off with a commercially available roaster called an i-Roast II capable of roasting a quarter pound of beans at a time; by the time I bowed out of the hobby I was using a Behmor 1600 drum roaster that could handle up to a pound of beans at a time.

The premise goes something like this: coffee is like wine or a fine cigar (not that I knew anything about cigars at the time, mind you), No two batches were really alike. Every season is different, the region is different, and the growing process is different. I learned that companies whose coffee was wanted because of its consistent flavor, there’s really only one explanation: that coffee is always burned. That’s the only way to get a “consistent” flavor. You burn the devil out of it. And you can see it in action when you look at the whole beans. Burned coffee is indicated by the oily sheen that you see covering the beans. The more oily, the more of the origin flavor that has been burned out of it. The longer you roast it, the sugars and caramels get burned out of the bean itself, and they coat the bean in that oil that you see. A lighter roasted coffee will not have that oily sheen to it because all those sugars are still inside the bean.

As for the general population, they like the consistent flavor approach, and that’s why Folgers and Maxwell house and Starbucks all get along so well in the market place. People want consistency. I’m not saying that’s bad, I’m just saying if that’s all someone drinks, they are not tasting what’s really out there, and thats where the mom and pop roasters and to some extent, Starbucks comes into play. Starbucks does offer more coffee than their regular dose of caffein, and they do offer lighter roasts where you can taste the difference between the regions to truly appreciate the labor that went into the making of that cup you’re enjoying.

Up until 2011I was ordering my coffee beans raw and green. Much cheaper by the pound, and roasted to my perfection. Contrary to what you might think, coffee roasting stinks. Much like burned popcorn. It becomes a smell that a roaster can easily identify. I’ll come across it now and then and sniff out the source and have me a grand cup of joe. They even make a popping noise, albeit much quieter than popcorn. We roasters call it the crack, and that’s how we identify the amount of time we are roasting - between the sound of the crack and the smell of the burn. After so many minutes of roasting, the bean enters what we call first crack - an audible sound like rice krispies on steroids. The beans are literally getting bigger and making a cracking noise as they do. Each bean cracks once at this point, and you get literally hundred of them going off almost at once. After about 30-45 seconds of them all cracking, they quiet back down. After several more minutes of roasting, the cracking happens again. This is what we call second crack. Right around second crack is where the beans begin to be edible for coffee, and where the roast levels begin to form. Light Roast is typically right before or right at second crack, and called City Roast. Full City is at or a little beyond the second crack. Full City+ is around the end of 2nd roast or a bit beyond. Long after second crack is your Italian Roast, or French Roast - basically all origin flavors have been burned out of the bean and what you have is literally almost charcoal, typically what coffee shops and others use for espresso. If you enjoy espresso, Do yourself a flavor and next time have them make you an espresso using a medium roast. You may get some looks, but if you do enjoy espresso you’ll appreciate the added flavor being in there. A truly awesome espresso will appear almost orange in color, not black or dark brown.

So roasting coffee consists of explicit control of your heat, listening to the beans crack, and smelling the burn level of the beans. Changing the temperature at different times during the roast is called the profile. You want to use different temperatures for the different phases of your roasting process, to include the cool down. The entire process can take from 12-25 minutes depending on your profile. Once the beans have cooled down, they still aren’t ready. You’ve got to let them rest a day or more (I preferred 3 days) prior to grinding the beans for use.

There used to be a mom and pop store here that sold high end cooking equipment. Pans, dutch ovens, utensils, specialty items, etc. They also sold tea leaves and coffee by the pound. Their roaster was somewhere up near Albuquerque. I made it a point to always bring her a pound of my coffee, whether I was buying something or not. In return, I always got a nice discount if I bought anything. She also asked me to provide her with beans to sell. To me, that was the biggest complement ever. I declined. Too much time and effort and I didn’t need the extra money to even be tempted by the offer.

Nowadays my coffee consumption has decreased a bit. I’ll generally have 4-5 cups of of joe before noon, and those are from a Keurig. My normal brands for the Keurig are Starbucks Pike Place, Starbucks House Blend, Donut Shop, and Tully’s Hawaiian Blend - all Medium, extra bold (medium depicting the roast level and the extra bold means there’s more of it). I buy bags of whole beans for grinding into a K-cup filter, or for the weekend French Press, or maybe in an espresso. I’ve got a nice Breville Roma espresso machine that makes a mean espresso at 15 bars of pressure.

I’ve still got raw green coffee beans floating around in one of my upper kitchen cabinets. Maybe I’ll get into roasting again one day. Why did I stop? The Keurig. The coffee I get out of my Keurig, while not as good as my own roasted beans, is far superior than any other canned or preserved method of storing and brewing. enough so that I stopped roasting my own. So much easier. If I crave something more, I find some good beans to grind myself.

Recently, on Facebook, Curtis turned me on to Catthaus Coffee. Some fellow cigar lover who roasts coffee. Him and I chatted a bit on Facebook and I ordered a bag of his offering. Nice person, also, roasts a mean bean. Truly a small batch roaster and you should check him out sometime if that’s what you’re into.

My current set of coffee brewing equipment. Although the Bunn is mostly used for making tea now:

That grinder is a Rancilio Rocky. A prosumer model, Fairly expensive. Comes with a doser and can grind anywhere between flakes and a fine powder.

jd50ae

WaltBasil:
Up until 2011I was ordering my coffee beans raw and green. Much cheaper by the pound, and roasted to my perfection. Contrary to what you might think, coffee roasting stinks. Much like burned popcorn. It becomes a smell that a roaster can easily identify. anywhere between flakes and a fine powder.

It smelled so bad, and lingered, that I moved the roaster out side.