BEST COFFEE

[Chinorlz]

^ no grinder?

thinkign bout getting a precisio, anything else better in that price range?

I have a mini mazzer but have been using my small hario hand grinder for the pour over coffee as of late. So everything is manual from beginning to end :)

I got my mazzer for a few hundred off of coffee geek forum. A great place to get some good deals.

[comedyzen]

If it is the Hario grinder I am thinking of, did you modify it to cover the top, or do you free ball and let the occasional rogue bean fly in the air?

I'm too tired in the morning for such manual tasks and really like the Rocky.

[Chinorlz]

If it is the Hario grinder I am thinking of, did you modify it to cover the top, or do you free ball and let the occasional rogue bean fly in the air?

I'm too tired in the morning for such manual tasks and really like the Rocky.

Haha, the skerton? Yeah I freeball that bad boy. I know that you can fit some yogurt container tops over it (and also put a hex nut on there to run the grinder off of a hand drill) but I haven't done that yet. I just let em go and slow down my grind speed as I get close to finishing.

I typically don't have time to make coffee in the am, so these rituals are saved for my days off :)

[lionlimb]

Re: Grinders
I'm not pulling shots at home, but I use a Capresso Infinity conical burr to grind my pour-over beans. It is an incredible, stable / solid grinder for the price point, I've yet to see anything like it.

It tends to scatter the grounds into the receptacle, so they can cling to the sides a bit. Give it a few gentle taps removing the grounds to avoid mess.

Not for espresso.

Re: Coffee

I drank Cuvée for ever, I loved their Lagunas las Ranas and they really seemed to be leading the pack for a few years. Now, Madcap seems to be hitting it out of the park, haven't tasted anything from them that wasn't lovely.

Currently drinking the Madcap X Local collab, brewed in a Clever w/ Kalita filters.

Note: The main thing about Peaberry beans is that only one coffee seed (bean) develops inside the cherry, instead of two. Thus the round shape. They can occur as an anomoly in the wild, as well as being the primary fruit of certain varietals. All coffee varietals differ in flavor, as well as being affected by the locale of their growth, so you're kind of talking about apples and oranges in the peaberry debate unless you get into single / double seed cherries of the same varietal (roasted and brewed equally, of course).

If you're just kind of getting into coffee, I'd say to forget about region for a moment, find a few good roasters that source high quality beans (floor of <80 on the cupping scale) and roast to highlight their natural flavor notes rather than smothering them in a carbon cloak. Then, try their different coffees and explore varietals / regions.

Most big name regions can charge huge amounts for really shitty coffee, and the selection / curing / roasting process determines such a massive amount of the flavor. Buying a Kona coffee from a crappy roaster is pretty much exactly like buying a Marc Jacobs for Target sweater.

Madcap, Counterculture, & Verve are great roasters to start with.

[lionlimb]

p.s.
My roommates both moved out really suddenly a few months ago, because of an unexpected / dreamy set of coffee industry job offers and left me alone and bereft of all coffee gear / in house baristas. I found a bag of beans that they'd left, and a little hario hand grinder in the back of the closet, and brewed coffee with a tea kettle and a mason jar. Some of the best damn coffee I've ever made. Gear is fun, and can really really up your quality / game, but at the end of the day, it's about taste, not tech. I think it's easy to get wrapped up in the gear game and forget about the end result (HOW DOES THAT SHIT TASTE?), kind of like how someone can be wearing thousands of dollars of designer gear and still look utterly awful.

[Faust]

So, are the burr grinders that much better if I use the French press? Should I take the plunge? Please don't make me buy another consumer product whose value is completely marginal but hyped by the so-called connoisseurs.

[t-bone]

ESPECIALLY if you use the french press, which has a fairly muddy flavor profile to begin with. Burr grinders will produce a far more uniform grind, allowing for proper extraction without too many fine particles that can remain in suspension and contribute a "dirty" flavor.

[Faust]

/\ Sir, you live in NYC and I will hold you responsible if I don't see the difference! And by "responsible," I mean dinner at your house.

[fncyths]

faust are you using a hand grinder? also you have to try the pour over technique, I love it much more than the french press. but it also depends on how fine your grind is.

[t-bone]

I will be held accountable. Weren't we planning for a dinner some time soon anyway?

[Faust]

faust are you using a hand grinder? also you have to try the pour over technique, I love it much more than the french press. but it also depends on how fine your grind is.

Are you joking? I'm not fucking standing in the morning slowly pouring water over my cup! I've got a life!

Yes, t-bone, but I never know when you are here or on the other side of the globe.

[lionlimb]

I know french press is out of style, and that you can get more flavor pop with pour over. That said, I do love the simplicity and stability of the press. I think they're getting unfairly knocked right now, because there's so much cool pour over gadgetry en vogue.

[drizzly]

I know french press is out of style, and that you can get more flavor pop with pour over. That said, I do love the simplicity and stability of the press. I think they're getting unfairly knocked right now, because there's so much cool pour over gadgetry en vogue.

i disagree french press is not out of style and i do agree the taste is amazing especially if you dont have time to do the pour over

[lionlimb]

More consistent grind means less sludge.

Some of y'all may like the Clever Dripper, too. Sort of fills the void between press and pour.

It's a cone on a base, you put a filter and your ground coffee in, add your hot water (30 seconds off boil, just dump it all in, like you would with a press* I use a 1:15 ratio e.g. 15g grounds = 225g water), then let it brew for 3-4 minutes (you'll find your ideal), and set it on top of your cup / thermos. This opens a valve, and the coffee drains out the bottom.

The nice / time-saving part is cleanup -- you just grab and dump your filter, then give it a quick rinse, and you're done. The whole process is equivalent to a press time-wise, maybe even a bit quicker. It's also got the stability of a press (it's not as finicky as most pour-over methods), but you get the clean, bright flavor of pour-over. No mud, no sludge.

*There are, obviously, one thousand and one geeky ways to try to make the ultimate cup, but it can be this simple.

[gavagai]

Nothing wrong with French Press. I can't stand coffee houses that only offer drip. Total BS.

In my opinion, the best coffee in SF is Four Barrel and while they offer drip, espresso etc. They always have freshly pressed coffee and it is two dollars. While the drip method offers a "cleaner" cup the french pressed has always imo offered a more robust and richer cup of coffee...