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whereismyshoe
Oct 21, 2008

that's not gone well...

traveling midget posted:

I was in Starbucks the other day (because I still drink their sugarwater stuff, can't stop that addiction) and the barista offered "light roast, medium roast, or dark roast" to the guy in front of me. He chose dark roast, I cowered in fear.

They actually introduced a loving darker roast along with the blond. Dear god.

i just started working at starbucks today (don't murder me please) and we have to do a "tasting" of every bean they have. even the manager who was doing it with me dreaded tasting their "dark" roast coffees, and the employee coffee "passport" they hand out has all the nuances listed. the word "smoky" is used quite often and they call their roast "the Starbucks Roast"

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Jyrraeth
Aug 1, 2008

I love this dino
SOOOO MUCH

When I worked at starbucks, the nickname for their "french roast" was "french gross". Which I felt was apt.

Though I had to say, after I started learning more about coffee, the training about smelling/tasting nuances helped me find them in good, well roasted coffee. They had these weird smelly bottles that isolated a lot of scents.

Fuzzy Pipe Wrench
Nov 5, 2008

MAYBE DON'T STEAL BEER FROM GOONS?

CHEERS!
(FUCK YOU)

Jyrraeth posted:

When I worked at starbucks, the nickname for their "french roast" was "french gross". Which I felt was apt.

Though I had to say, after I started learning more about coffee, the training about smelling/tasting nuances helped me find them in good, well roasted coffee. They had these weird smelly bottles that isolated a lot of scents.

Starbucks offered training like that? Or was it elsewhere?

Jyrraeth
Aug 1, 2008

I love this dino
SOOOO MUCH

I got the training through starbucks. I took the knowledge and went and learnt a bunch on my own. I don't really know how much was starbucks and how much was me.

It was part of getting your barista certification, and my manager actually got every one to go through it. When my friend worked at starbucks (same location, different manager) she didn't have to do the coffee passport thing at all, or the smelly bottles. She was also the type to avoid stuff like that. I did it mostly so I could go in the back and drink a cup of coffee and have it not be considered a break.

Fuzzy Pipe Wrench
Nov 5, 2008

MAYBE DON'T STEAL BEER FROM GOONS?

CHEERS!
(FUCK YOU)

Jyrraeth posted:

I got the training through starbucks. I took the knowledge and went and learnt a bunch on my own. I don't really know how much was starbucks and how much was me.

It was part of getting your barista certification, and my manager actually got every one to go through it. When my friend worked at starbucks (same location, different manager) she didn't have to do the coffee passport thing at all, or the smelly bottles. She was also the type to avoid stuff like that. I did it mostly so I could go in the back and drink a cup of coffee and have it not be considered a break.

I might pick up a Starbucks job just long enough to pick up that training, it'd be neat just for further enjoying of great coffee.

Brodeurs Nanny
Nov 2, 2006

I've worked at Starbucks for a while because it's a really good job to have right now, and I'm actually transferring to a newer store in Astoria, NY which has the clover brewing machine. The coffee brewed through that machine is loving amazing so I'm excited as someone who thinks Starbucks basically does coffee all wrong (the roasts are bad, they deliberately overroast coffee to remove subtle variances in the beans they get from different farmers, the beans are shipped out of a warehouse and are weeks old by the time they get to the store, the espresso machines are rarely calibrated and deliver horrendous espresso, etc.). If you haven't had a clover cup at a Starbucks yet, you will be very surprised.

Also to the above poster, Starbucks didn't introduce a darker roast, they just renamed bold to dark so they could advertise light/medium/dark more easily. Bold/dark roast has always been there.

Anyway, a question... I want to be able to steam milk at my house so I can make ole's and tea lattes and whatnot. I don't think I'm ready to foray into espresso machines yet and if I were to get one it would be a really good one anyway. What I'm asking: is there JUST a machine available for milk steaming and frothing or would I have to buy a low-end espresso machine in order to have that option available to me? I can put milk in a pot and heat it up but I want to be able to foam it.

Jyrraeth
Aug 1, 2008

I love this dino
SOOOO MUCH

If you don't mind low quality foam, you can buy a small french press and froth it that way. It's a dry foam, but it's still foam.

I can't think of a way to get wet foam without a steam wand.

EDIT: Not sure if every starbucks does the training or not, plus I worked there ... 4? 5? years ago. It might not be something they do anymore.

jack_squat
May 7, 2007
Don't expect much.

i am not so sure posted:

Anyway, a question... I want to be able to steam milk at my house so I can make ole's and tea lattes and whatnot. I don't think I'm ready to foray into espresso machines yet and if I were to get one it would be a really good one anyway. What I'm asking: is there JUST a machine available for milk steaming and frothing or would I have to buy a low-end espresso machine in order to have that option available to me? I can put milk in a pot and heat it up but I want to be able to foam it.

I've heard good things about the Nespresso Aeroccino Plus:
http://www.amazon.com/Nespresso-3192-US-Aeroccino-Plus/dp/B001UHZAYS/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1332442731&sr=8-5
Though I could understand not wanting to drop $90 just to steam milk. There's a lot of stuff on Amazon if you just search for "milk steamer" or "milk frother".

GrAviTy84
Nov 25, 2004

Just a heads up. New Baratza entry level grinder on the way: http://prima-coffee.com/grinder/baratza-encore-conical-burr-coffee-grinder

whereismyshoe
Oct 21, 2008

that's not gone well...

Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:

I might pick up a Starbucks job just long enough to pick up that training, it'd be neat just for further enjoying of great coffee.

it's not hard. in total, it's like an hour of the entire training. basically they teach you to cup your hand over the cup and smell it, slurp the coffee as you drink it and then let it sit on your tongue. it's easier to have the passport in front of you so you can read the nuances it mentions and find them in your mouth. it's not hard really, after you do it a couple times you get the hang of it.

SweetJuicyTaco
Jun 17, 2007
sour cream on my beef
Baratza just updated all their refurbs. They have pretty much everything up. Just snagged a vario. Woof, buy once cry once I guess.

Steve Yun
Aug 7, 2003
I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.
Soiled Meat
So what are the necessary grinders for a legit espresso, and what makes them different from other burr grinders?

GrAviTy84
Nov 25, 2004

Steve Yun posted:

So what are the necessary grinders for a legit espresso, and what makes them different from other burr grinders?

depends on who you ask. Better grinders use better burr sets. They will be installed in the machine with sturdier components, machined metal, etc to reduce side to side play. They will have more, and finer adjustability steps, even nicer ones will be completely stepless. This is all in the name of getting "consistent" results. Often people focus on if it goes "fine enough for espresso". Well, that's pretty easy to do, what's hard to do is to get "fine enough, with consistency, that you can reproduce over and over again, and adjust very precisely to accommodate changing beans, tamp pressures, machines, etc".

PainBreak
Jun 9, 2001
In case anyone's curious about roasting with an air popper, Sweet Marias is doing a live broadcast right now (2PM Central) to demonstrate.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sweet-marias

swagger like us
Oct 27, 2005

Don't mind me. We must protect rapists and misogynists from harm. If they're innocent they must not be named. Surely they'll never harm their sleeping, female patients. Watch me defend this in great detail. I am not a mens rights activist either.
Someone her earlier pointed to andrewgreenbeans to purchase refurb Barazta Maestros. Im in Canada, and I tried to purchase a refurb direct from the Baratza website but they later told me they wont ship to Canada for some odd reason.

Anyother place where I could purchase one in Canada, or in the states with a decent shipping rate?

Any suggestions for a metal filter along the lines of the coava Kone for my Hario V60 pourover? I looked at the kaffeeologie but with shipping it'd come to $40+, and I wanna see if I cant find a cheaper one

swagger like us fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Mar 23, 2012

Bob_McBob
Mar 24, 2007

swagger like us posted:

Someone her earlier pointed to andrewgreenbeans to purchase refurb Barazta Maestros. Im in Canada, and I tried to purchase a refurb direct from the Baratza website but they later told me they wont ship to Canada for some odd reason.

Ahh, that sucks. I see he is sold out of everything, and will no longer be carrying refurb grinders because of Baratza's re-organization. Did you ask if they will be shipping refurbs to Canada in the future? At the end of last year, they had a "Canadian refurb" section on their web site for a short time. Perhaps they are planning to sell them directly?

Bob_McBob
Mar 24, 2007

swagger like us posted:

Any suggestions for a metal filter along the lines of the coava Kone for my Hario V60 pourover? I looked at the kaffeeologie but with shipping it'd come to $40+, and I wanna see if I cant find a cheaper one

I don't know of any similar products to the two you mentioned. The Kone at least has the benefit of being available in Canada, but costs twice as much. Do you not like the paper filters? Are you using brown or white? I know the clean cup is one of the main reasons I drink pourover instead of press pot. You'd have to brew around 450 cups to make back the $40 you save on filters.

AriTheDog
Jul 29, 2003
Famously tasty.
People use the stainless cone because it doesn't remove oils in the same way that paper filters do. It's not typically a price thing, especially since the stainless cone was $50 (I think?) when it first came out.

swagger like us
Oct 27, 2005

Don't mind me. We must protect rapists and misogynists from harm. If they're innocent they must not be named. Surely they'll never harm their sleeping, female patients. Watch me defend this in great detail. I am not a mens rights activist either.

AriTheDog posted:

People use the stainless cone because it doesn't remove oils in the same way that paper filters do. It's not typically a price thing, especially since the stainless cone was $50 (I think?) when it first came out.

Generally this, as well, Im sort of half-rear end eco friendly, so I like the idea of not using disposable filters (and I imagine any compostable ones taste like rear end). But Im also cheap so I don't know what to do, I'll probably stick with the paper filters for now.

Can the Kone be used with the V60? And does anyone know where in Canada they sell the V1 for cheap? I heard since the intro of the V2, one can find the V1 for cheap online somewhere.

Bob_McBob
Mar 24, 2007
Yes, the Kone is meant to be used with V60 or Chemex.

I know Social and Detour were both selling their stock of v1 Kones for under $30, but it looks like they ran out a while ago. Neither has the v2 in stock at the moment.

Why would you not be able to compost paper coffee filters? Based on a quick Google search, it would seem plenty of people do it. The local green bin program accepts them.

GrAviTy84
Nov 25, 2004

If it is paper it is compostable. There is no special "compostable" filter. The metal filters otoh get grimy, clogged with fines, and let cholesterol raising compounds through. Buy good filters, rinse them, compost them. The "filtering out" of essential oils thing isn't as big of a deal as you think. The thing you're actually tasting as an edgier coffee isn't actually those oils, it's suspended coffee particles in the unfiltered coffee. The essential oils are most certainly still in the cup when you use a paper filter. If that grittier cup is what you're after, just get a press pot. They're cheaper than the kone and aren't as finnicky as a pour over system.

rockcity
Jan 16, 2004

GrAviTy84 posted:

If it is paper it is compostable. There is no special "compostable" filter. The metal filters otoh get grimy, clogged with fines, and let cholesterol raising compounds through. Buy good filters, rinse them, compost them. The "filtering out" of essential oils thing isn't as big of a deal as you think. The thing you're actually tasting as an edgier coffee isn't actually those oils, it's suspended coffee particles in the unfiltered coffee. The essential oils are most certainly still in the cup when you use a paper filter. If that grittier cup is what you're after, just get a press pot. They're cheaper than the kone and aren't as finnicky as a pour over system.

Beat me to it. If you want the fuller tasting coffee, just get a french press. If you're using a metal filter with pourover there really isn't that big of a difference and french press is a lot simpler. I keep meaning to get a pourover and some filters myself. It's pretty much the one type of brewing I currently don't have the equipment for. Lately I've been using my vac pot a lot. Speaking of, does anyone know the best way to clean the black residue that gets on the outside of the glass? Soap and water with a sponge does not cut it.

Bob_McBob
Mar 24, 2007

rockcity posted:

Speaking of, does anyone know the best way to clean the black residue that gets on the outside of the glass? Soap and water with a sponge does not cut it.

Are you talking about residue from an alcohol lamp?

that Vai sound
Mar 6, 2011
Enjoying Stumptown's Burundi Kinyovu right now. I'm pretty happy now that I can brew coffee well enough to taste differences between coffees. I'm not good enough to make out all the notes that get advertised, but I can notice that things are different.

rockcity
Jan 16, 2004

Bob_McBob posted:

Are you talking about residue from an alcohol lamp?

Correct. I haven't invested in a butane burner yet.

nocal
Mar 7, 2007
If you have issues with throwing away paper filters, aren't there reusable cloth filters? Or did I just imagine this after I slammed 20 ounces of Ethiopian peaberry directly into the fibers of my heart muscle?

Corla Plankun
May 8, 2007

improve the lives of everyone
I used to have a paper filter but my mom gave it to me and I have no idea where it came from. It might have been home made.

AriTheDog
Jul 29, 2003
Famously tasty.

nocal posted:

If you have issues with throwing away paper filters, aren't there reusable cloth filters? Or did I just imagine this after I slammed 20 ounces of Ethiopian peaberry directly into the fibers of my heart muscle?

There are, all the ones I've seen have been Japanese made. That said, I can't imagine having to wash finely ground coffee out of a cloth filter on a regular basis. We have city compost here in Oakland and you can put just about anything into it. Paper filters filled with coffee grounds are great for basic home composting and will compost really quickly.

As a fellow sometimes-tortured environmentalist, coffee filters are one of the least worst disposable things you're going to buy. If you want, you can even buy the FSC certified ones from If You Care, the company with the most obnoxious name ever dreamed up.

Tried Verve's Worka Ethiopian last week - really loving good. Now I'm drinking Blue Bottle's Three Africans, and I'm still in coffee heaven. I desperately need to get a kitchen scale though so water measurement isn't such a crapshoot, because I realized I'm almost always overextracting my coffee when I use my large Chemex due to eyeballing it incorrectly.

AriTheDog fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Mar 26, 2012

rockcity
Jan 16, 2004

AriTheDog posted:

There are, all the ones I've seen have been Japanese made. That said, I can't imagine having to wash finely ground coffee out of a cloth filter on a regular basis. We have city compost here in Oakland and you can put just about anything into it. Paper filters filled with coffee grounds are great for basic home composting and will compost really quickly.

I use cloth filters with my vac pot and they clean up pretty easily with a sponge and a dab of soap.

swagger like us
Oct 27, 2005

Don't mind me. We must protect rapists and misogynists from harm. If they're innocent they must not be named. Surely they'll never harm their sleeping, female patients. Watch me defend this in great detail. I am not a mens rights activist either.

rockcity posted:

Beat me to it. If you want the fuller tasting coffee, just get a french press. If you're using a metal filter with pourover there really isn't that big of a difference and french press is a lot simpler. I keep meaning to get a pourover and some filters myself. It's pretty much the one type of brewing I currently don't have the equipment for. Lately I've been using my vac pot a lot. Speaking of, does anyone know the best way to clean the black residue that gets on the outside of the glass? Soap and water with a sponge does not cut it.

I routinely make coffee on my french press too but it doesn't compare much to my pour over. Ill probably just end up sticking with the paper filters, but I definitely need a new grinder (drat you baratza and not shipping to Canada)

Deacon of Delicious
Aug 20, 2007

I bet the twist ending is Dracula's dick-babies
Does anybody know of a good place in the Indianapolis area to purchase beans or to get a decent cup of coffee? All the stores I've found are either Starbucks or local places that aren't much better than Starbucks.

Bob_McBob
Mar 24, 2007

Deacon of Delicious posted:

Does anybody know of a good place in the Indianapolis area to purchase beans or to get a decent cup of coffee? All the stores I've found are either Starbucks or local places that aren't much better than Starbucks.

http://coffeegeek.com/forums/worldregional/uscentral/544364

Deacon of Delicious
Aug 20, 2007

I bet the twist ending is Dracula's dick-babies

Great, thank you!

herbaceous backson
Mar 10, 2009

by FactsAreUseless
I've been brewing my coffee with the Aeropress mostly according to the manufacturers instructions, and it's tasted pretty good so far. I looked around for some different techniques and was kind of surprised.

What's with the million-odd brewing methods floating around for this thing? Almost every coffee forum I frequent is full of people claiming the included directions are total bullshit. Temp too low, too much coffee, underextraction, etc. The inventor used to post regularly over on coffeegeek and they basically ran him off the forums. Why does this thing spur so much argument? The aeropress seems to bring more dickheads out of the woodwork than most other manual brewing methods.

herbaceous backson fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Mar 27, 2012

Bob_McBob
Mar 24, 2007

a handful of dust posted:

The inventor used to post regularly over on coffeegeek and they basically ran him off the forums.

He left Coffee Geek because people questioned his statements, and he is a crazy opinionated jerk. He has extremely strong opinions about the effect of cafestol on cholesterol levels, and he used really underhanded tactics at coffee exhibitions to "prove" the Aeropress makes espresso and other such nonsense.

Here is the thread that made him leave CG. You be the judge.

The general consensus in the coffee world is that the Aeropress is a great device, but the instructions included with it result in a flat, underextracted and pretty miserable cup of coffee. If you brew with a normal temperature and more reasonable parameters, it can make superb coffee. It's been my go-to iced brewing method lately.

Here are some good instructions from Tim Wendelboe. The video at the top unfortunately demonstrates a non-inverted brewing method, so it isn't really applicable. The inverted method gives you far more control over the brewing process, because you don't have underextracted coffee filtering into the cup the whole time.

And yes, there is a lot of stupid Aeropress fappery on the internet. It has a cult following like the Chemex.

butteredtoast
Mar 1, 2010
My favorite coffee roaster, which I don't think has been mentioned yet, is http://mattscoffee.com/

All of his coffees are organic and fair trade but most notably they are all wood roasted. He carries various blends as well as single origins. I've been drinking his coffee for over 4 years and with the addition of an Aeropress it's the perfect combination.

His coffee is a little bit on the expensive side but if you enjoy the highest quality coffee you can find and can afford it, I highly recommend giving Matt's a try!

lite_sleepr
Jun 3, 2003

by Radio Games Forum
Can anyone tell me anything about the Keurig K-cup coffee makers? My understanding tells me that it will make a single cup at a time from a single K-cup packet of coffee. This appeals to me for a few reasons:

1.) Convenience - get a cup of coffee whenever I want
2.) Economical - no more wasted, stale coffee-by-the-pound from not being used
3.) Good flavor - by dispensing just enough water for either 6 or 10 oz. at the right temperature, it takes the chemistry and guess work out of making a good cup of coffee.

Does anyone have any opinions or experience with these things? I'm not a coffee connoisseur by any definition, so this coffee maker seems to be a perfect solution.

Bob_McBob
Mar 24, 2007
The only reasons k-cups exist are convenience and laziness. They're marginally better than pod brewing systems or your average nasty office coffee, but that's not saying much.

http://www.dearcoffeeiloveyou.com/love-keurig-nope/

lite_sleepr
Jun 3, 2003

by Radio Games Forum

Bob_McBob posted:

The only reasons k-cups exist are convenience and laziness. They're marginally better than pod brewing systems or your average nasty office coffee, but that's not saying much.

http://www.dearcoffeeiloveyou.com/love-keurig-nope/

Can you paste that into here? This stupid nazi internet filters just about everything that isn't text.

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herbaceous backson
Mar 10, 2009

by FactsAreUseless

Bob_McBob posted:

The only reasons k-cups exist are convenience and laziness. They're marginally better than pod brewing systems or your average nasty office coffee, but that's not saying much.

http://www.dearcoffeeiloveyou.com/love-keurig-nope/

They're expensive as poo poo too, at least in my area. It's about $10 for a pack of 10 k-ups at all my local grocery stores, and the cheapest Keurig brewer starts at nearly $100.

It tastes(at least to my uneducated coffee palate) like the same stuff my $20 Black and Decker drip machine puts out.

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