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Bandire posted:I just think a typical home user generally wants to be able to make something approaching their Starbucks latte at home, and that's really not all that hard, expensive, or time consuming to do. Oh I totally get that. I was speaking more from the coffee enthusiast perspective.
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Jun 11, 2021 19:28
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For sure, and opinions like yours are why I settled for a Gaggia Classic Pro to play with rather than spend a mortgage payment+ on something fancier. I'm perfectly fine with my slightly inconsistent cortados for now.
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Jun 11, 2021 19:35
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betterinsodapop posted:Oh noes, just watched a James Hoffman video about reheating coffee and/or keeping it warm. I got an Ember recently, and I love it. It's kinda ridiculous, but it made me realise that I was drinking my coffee way too hot. Letting it cool to optimal tasting temperature (about 51-55c) lets you taste the tasting notes so much more clearly. Edit: It did also become the only mug I use anymore.
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Jun 11, 2021 20:40
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Ed Jurak posted:So…am I reading this right that you owned an old cheap espresso machine, and it’s consistency was lacking, so the blame lies w home espresso machines overall? No I read the OP and skimmed the thread and got the impression that thermoblock espresso makers weren't very good in general. Hope I'm wrong! Bandire posted:There's a huge gulf between what it takes to make perfect espresso and a perfectly fine latte. You can spend many thousands of dollars chasing espresso and still be frustrated, or you can get something like this for under $300 and still get a latte as good or better than a big chain coffee shop with a tiny amount of effort and a serviceable grinder. Yeah, a reasonable latte is all that I'm chasing. I won't swear off the home espresso makers then. The Gaggia Classic Pro looks nice, maybe we'll spring for one after settling in. We love our coffee and don't mind making a reasonable investment, it just doesn't make sense to get a ~$200 espresso machine for mediocre coffee. fisting by many fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Jun 12, 2021 |
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Jun 12, 2021 01:27
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Lotta baristas popping in the thread saying they don’t wanna make their job into their hobby.
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Jun 12, 2021 05:54
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Dren posted:Lotta baristas popping in the thread saying they don’t wanna make their job into their hobby. Haha I’m also the head coffee roaster at my shop. But yeah you pretty much nailed it.
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Jun 12, 2021 07:12
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Lol Someone went to the effort of a Hoffman parody https://youtu.be/LwoafybJiEI
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Jun 12, 2021 23:39
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Seems low effort. I also think it's like doing a parody of Mr Rogers which seems pointless since he's so ernest and kind.
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Jun 13, 2021 23:46
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Seems okay, but it’s not going to touch the Chef John parody https://youtu.be/RCD7yzZvHiU
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Jun 14, 2021 03:35
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Democratic Pirate posted:Seems okay, but it’s not going to touch the Chef John parody Yeah, might have been better done as a Hoffman reviews "other item" Clearly done with love , just didn't quite stick the landing Could be funny to see a Hoffmanesque review of canned beans or something
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Jun 14, 2021 06:34
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After watching Hoffmann's recent video I purchased a portafilter pressure gauge in order to check how much pressure my machine was using to brew. Turns out it was close to 12 bar! After looking at a few guides, I located the OPV and adjusted it down to producing the "proper" 9 bar. The shots it produces now are so much nicer. Big improvement in turns of clarity and sweetness.
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Jun 15, 2021 14:10
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Though I've been a coffee enthusiast for awhile now, with my daily brew over the past 10+ years moving from french press, to chemex, to aeropress and now more consistently the V60, I've sort of realized that I've lost some of my real interest in dialing in my pour overs with temperature, time, etc. But more recently, I really just find myself now with a consistent staple of coffee from a local roaster, and more or less just dumping in water into the V60 from my gooseneck boiler with no real timing or thinking anymore behind the timing, and quite frankly its been fine enough in taste. This has me thinking though that maybe given that I'm not exactly getting the real full benefit of a pour over anyway, perhaps I should just consider the convenience of a really good drip machine oor something more automated? I know pour overs and the like are the gold standard, but I imagine that's the gold standard under optimal conditions (i.e. paying attention, ensuring stable temperature, steady flow on consistent timing etc.). How do they really stack up against say, a good drip machine that can consistently hit the 195 - 204 degree temperature and with maybe a few extra features like timed brewing? I see the OP recommends the Technivorm and the Zojirushi, but its from 2011. What's the market looking like now for a decent drip machine? I've been particularly interested in the Breville Precision brewer because of the pour over option (you can replace the drip cone with a V60 using an attachment), which in my mind as long as it can actually brew at the right temperature would probably be more or less the same as my water-dump pour over. Haven't been able to find a good review that actually looks at the pour over option on it, so I'm curious if anyone has experience or a good recommendation. Technivorm is also appealing because of its simplicity (little to no electronics) which to me means it should last longer than the Breville, and I've heard it has good servicing too which is appealing.
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Jun 15, 2021 20:25
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Presumably you’ve seen this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfkdkZRv6Mc The oxo one is also supposed to be good, at a lower price point
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Jun 15, 2021 20:46
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hypnophant posted:Presumably you’ve seen this I own one of those and have never once succeeded in getting anything like a good brew out of it. This might be me just being a pour-over snob though. Edit: With these machines, the key is finding out what amount of coffee you have to brew in order to get a good result. Plenty of other brewers require you to make a large pot, way too much for one person, to get something that tastes decent. The Sage, at least in theory, doesn't have this issue. Moccamaster makes a brewer that is designed to make a single cup at a time, to combat this very issue. I think it's called the Moccamaster Cup-One. Gunder fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Jun 15, 2021 |
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Jun 15, 2021 20:53
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You might be drinking it too hot?
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Jun 15, 2021 20:55
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Weather is getting hot now so I started making decaffeinated iced coffees. Just a concentrate from an Aeropress, diluted with ice. It absolutely rules in the evenings.
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Jun 15, 2021 22:38
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hypnophant posted:Presumably you’ve seen this I have, and the fact that he said he likes it is good considering I've found him over the top snobby on other reviews (can't remember which one rubbed me the wrong way but he had some really dumb reason to not like some product). Bodes well when someone like that gives a thumbs up. Though I'd like to see someone do a real in-depth review of the pour over function to compare with a real pour over since it seems like a pretty unique feature
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Jun 16, 2021 00:44
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I've been using the same Baratza Encore for the past eight years and been really happy with it, but we will soon be moving into a much smaller house where noise level is more of a concern. The Baratza is also starting to show its age a bit after years of being hooked up to unreliable power supplies. Are there any recent recommendations for an upgrade? I'm looking for smaller, quieter, with consistent grind quality. I only ever grind for a few cups at a time so I don't need a big hopper. I don't make espresso so that isn't a requirement either. I was excited about the Fellow Ode Brew Grinder (which gives an idea of budget), but the more I read about it the more it sounds over-engineered and poorly executed. In the end I guess I just want a smaller, quieter Encore.... Any suggestions?
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Jun 16, 2021 07:06
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One of the many quality hand grinders with large burrs can make relatively quick work of a single serving of beans, and with much less noise than an electric grinder. I just tried with my Kinu M47 (so named because it has 47mm burrs), and I got through 15g at about an espresso grind level in under 20 seconds. Oh yeah, the other nice thing is that if you ever do want to get into espresso, most of the nicer hand grinders can do both filter and espresso pretty well
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Jun 16, 2021 07:22
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Bruxism posted:I've been using the same Baratza Encore for the past eight years and been really happy with it, but we will soon be moving into a much smaller house where noise level is more of a concern. The Baratza is also starting to show its age a bit after years of being hooked up to unreliable power supplies. Are there any recent recommendations for an upgrade? I'm looking for smaller, quieter, with consistent grind quality. I only ever grind for a few cups at a time so I don't need a big hopper. I don't make espresso so that isn't a requirement either. I was excited about the Fellow Ode Brew Grinder (which gives an idea of budget), but the more I read about it the more it sounds over-engineered and poorly executed. In the end I guess I just want a smaller, quieter Encore.... I came really close to getting the fellow grinder too. But as cool and sleek as it looks its kind of unnecessary I guess is the right word. It only being able to be used for single pours and not having an espresso setting and all that, but that actually sounds like what you might be looking for in some sense. But yeah if your looking for something inexpensive look into some hand grinders from hario. That being said have you looked into the virtuoso? It’s about the same size as the encore but I’d say the grinder is def way quieter.
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Jun 16, 2021 08:08
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Update on my weak coffee from the lighter roast beans I had: Confirmed it's temperature related. I made a pourover with them today with freshly boiled water and it was strong and robustly flavoured. So, if you're looking at a zojirushi drip maker with the thermos carafe, know that you'll need your beans roasted at least medium-dark to get a decent cup. But it does make a decent pot of coffee with those darker roast beans, so don't let that put you off. Also, and this is probably blasphemy here, but for home espresso (or lungo/long black which is my personal preference) a Nespresso machine with Illy pods is really, acceptably good. If espresso is your hobby and you don't mind spending hundreds/thousands of dollars pursuing it, that's totally cool, but if you drink espresso because you want a small strong coffee to maybe dip a biscotti or lotus biscuit in, and money is an object, you kinda can't go wrong with one (some of the pods are awful though, I admit that). Finger Prince fucked around with this message at 12:44 on Jun 16, 2021 |
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Jun 16, 2021 12:21
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Bruxism posted:I've been using the same Baratza Encore for the past eight years and been really happy with it, but we will soon be moving into a much smaller house where noise level is more of a concern. The Baratza is also starting to show its age a bit after years of being hooked up to unreliable power supplies. Are there any recent recommendations for an upgrade? I'm looking for smaller, quieter, with consistent grind quality. I only ever grind for a few cups at a time so I don't need a big hopper. I don't make espresso so that isn't a requirement either. I was excited about the Fellow Ode Brew Grinder (which gives an idea of budget), but the more I read about it the more it sounds over-engineered and poorly executed. In the end I guess I just want a smaller, quieter Encore.... I don’t know of any electric grinders other than the ode that are much smaller than the encore, unfortunately, but if you want a quieter grinder you might look at the niche or the eureka mignon silenzio. I can also tell you that the lagom p64 is incredibly quiet, so much so that i sometimes forget to turn it off after i’m done grinding, but it’s more than most are willing to spend.
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Jun 16, 2021 13:28
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Bruxism posted:I've been using the same Baratza Encore for the past eight years and been really happy with it, but we will soon be moving into a much smaller house where noise level is more of a concern. The Baratza is also starting to show its age a bit after years of being hooked up to unreliable power supplies. Are there any recent recommendations for an upgrade? I'm looking for smaller, quieter, with consistent grind quality. I only ever grind for a few cups at a time so I don't need a big hopper. I don't make espresso so that isn't a requirement either. I was excited about the Fellow Ode Brew Grinder (which gives an idea of budget), but the more I read about it the more it sounds over-engineered and poorly executed. In the end I guess I just want a smaller, quieter Encore.... The Eureka Silenzio is really quiet. It's mostly designed for espresso, but should be fine for manual brew methods as well. It should be a decent upgrade in terms of grind quality too. If you're planning to use it for filter coffee, then maybe buy the little grounds catch bin that is sold separately. Edit: Maybe also look into the Wilfa Uniform? I haven't heard it personally, but it should be in the right price bracket. It might be a bit taller than the Encore though. Gunder fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Jun 16, 2021 |
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Jun 16, 2021 13:40
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not sure where bruxism is but wilfa doesn’t make 110v anything
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Jun 16, 2021 13:53
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Thanks for the recommendations all. Will research your suggestions and see what sounds good.
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Jun 16, 2021 14:36
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Spent a little time researching your suggestions. The P64 looks like exactly what I want, but that price point is just too high. I MIGHT be able to talk myself into buying the Niche, but it seems like it's perpetually out of stock and only sells on crowd sourcing sites. I signed up for their mailing list and will see if anything comes available. The Eureka Silenzio looks like the most logical upgrade. Does anyone have experience grinding for pour over coffee with this? Any issues? I typically make pour over or use the clever coffee dripper. I even took another look at the Fellow Ode Grinder, but all the reviews complaining about coffee grounds spraying everywhere and technical issues with the auto-stop feature put me off. I think they need to go back to the drawing board on this one, fundamental features seem badly designed. Wilfa is indeed only 220v, but I'll keep it in mind for when I next get posted overseas. Thanks all.
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Jun 17, 2021 01:32
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Bruxism posted:The Eureka Silenzio looks like the most logical upgrade. Does anyone have experience grinding for pour over coffee with this? Any issues? I typically make pour over or use the clever coffee dripper. I used the Eureka Mignon Specialita, which is similar to the Silenzio, but with slightly larger burrs. It was pretty nice. The only slightly annoying part is that it doesn't come with a grounds catch bin as standard, due to its espresso focused design. Having said that, I used to just hold the V60 under the spout and let it grind directly into the brewer. Worked fine. I think it generated fewer fines than my old Virtuoso+, and would probably be a decent upgrade on your Encore in terms of grind quality. The Eureka also seems to be pretty sturdy and well built.
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Jun 17, 2021 02:04
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Bruxism posted:
I'm unsure if the updates have happened yet but there has been discussion online about Fellow updating the Ode in Spring/Summer 2021 with different burrs and a redesigned catch lid. I've been kind of waiting for this to happen before upgrading my grinder. I'm sort of in the same spot as you. I've been using the same entry level burr grinder for years and am looking for a worthwhile upgrade. I only make filter coffee (usually an aeropress or clever coffee dripper) and don't plan on diving into espresso. Quieter would be nice. Before all the reviews about the Ode barely going fine enough I was definitely planning on picking up one of them. Since I don't really have a strong need to upgrade right now, I'm just waiting to see what happens. Really looking forward to hearing about what you end up with.
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Jun 17, 2021 14:55
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AnimeIsTrash posted:What are y'alls favorite japanese iced coffee recipes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PApBycDrPo0 I'm using an Oxo 8 cup (40 fl. oz) drip machine: https://www.oxo.com/8-cup-coffee-maker.html 70g med grind coffee 800 mL water in the machine reservoir 400g ice directly in carafe run brew cycle (this melts MOST of the ice, just stir to melt the rest) pour into a glass w/ice and enjoy.
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Jun 17, 2021 15:24
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Bruxism posted:I MIGHT be able to talk myself into buying the Niche, but it seems like it's perpetually out of stock and only sells on crowd sourcing sites. I signed up for their mailing list and will see if anything comes available. Minor point here, Niche finally set up their own commerce website. They still sell out pretty quick when new stock comes in, but they are moving in the right direction. I'm mostly making espresso these days, but if I had a do-over I'd probably get a Niche.
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Jun 17, 2021 15:31
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Just wanted to say I made espresso from a single source light roast today and I was worried because people say it’s difficult to make a light roast but I got it on the second try. I made sure to preheat the portafilter and the part that presses into the portafilter (I guess this is the group head?) on my robot. I could actually taste all of the flavor notes they listed on the bag, it was great!
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Jun 17, 2021 19:58
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(personal ramblings incoming) Hello coffee thread. It's been a long time. I stopped drinking coffee, cold turkey, 7-8 years ago because it was hurting my stomach and I needed it to stop. I missed it, but I survived. Working in the theatre industry, doing 12-13 hour days a lot of the time, coffee was a necessity as well as a hobby and a choice. I would have several a day, from good places if I could get it (Monmouth coffee in London was right behind my venue), but otherwise from anywhere nearby - Starbucks (meh), Costa, Pret (unnh) or Nero (ew). Recently a Starbucks opened near here. My wife likes Starbucks, so we went a few times, I would get the coffeeless Frappuccino (i.e. caramel milkshake), all was fine. But they were very bad at heeding the "coffeeless" part, and twice in a row I got one with coffee, and nothing terrible happened. I moved over to their iced lattes, blond, the most inoffensive espresso drink they sell in my opinion. Still fine, and I loved the taste of coffee after all this time. But Starbucks is mediocre and expensive, so I thought, why not dust off the old coffee snob habits and see what happens. The only that had made the moves between houses and countries was my Aeropress, which I could never quite give away. So I ordered a Baratza Encore, and a selection box of 6 freshly roasted beans from a local roaster, and went to town. Wow. After 8 years, and then a couple of weeks of Starbucks, that first sip of proper coffee made me so happy. So my new plan is one cup a day, mid-morning, only good stuff. Coffee as a choice, not a need. Even though I'm from Europe, I get the Folgers references because when I toured in the US, burned, stale hotplate Folgers was the only choice a lot of the time. I don't want to do that anymore. I'm looking forward to this new adventure in coffee  (/end emotional rambling) My wife is less sold on this "proper coffee" that tastes of things - she uses Senseo pads to make quite a weak "Americano" style drink. I'm watching the Hoffmann videos and reading the thread, and working on tweaking my Aeropress technique to her tastes. She found my first attempts too sour. I can't remember, is Clever Dripper very different to Aeropress, results wise? I used to have one and I think we both liked it. Lots of re-learning to do.
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Jun 17, 2021 21:54
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Bobstar posted:I can't remember, is Clever Dripper very different to Aeropress, results wise? I used to have one and I think we both liked it. Lots of re-learning to do. i'm sure there are some minor flavor changes due to how the percolation differs but both are basically full immersion + paper filtered so they're a lot more alike than they are different i think they have different strengths but both are great eke out fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jun 17, 2021 |
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Jun 17, 2021 22:01
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fwiw my stomach gets upset with me if I drink actual coffee or starbucks milk drinks but seems totally fine with espresso. Might be the smaller volume of liquid? Maybe it’s less acidic? I have no idea.
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Jun 17, 2021 22:13
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Anyone got any favorite summer iced coffee recipes? Here's my dumb one: - Aeropress, inverted - 15g coffee - Add 150g water - Let sit for five minutes (I'm not counting) - Add 100g ice - sip slowly A while ago I experimented with some spices in coffee, primarily cardamon and cinnamon. I'm wondering whether this iced coffee could be spiced up a bit with 'fresh' tasting spices like ginger or mint.
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Jun 17, 2021 23:04
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Dren posted:fwiw my stomach gets upset with me if I drink actual coffee or starbucks milk drinks but seems totally fine with espresso. Might be the smaller volume of liquid? Maybe it’s less acidic? I have no idea. Have you tried cold brew? I read some people can handle it better than regular coffee. Or lactose intolerant. Mu Zeta fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Jun 17, 2021 |
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Jun 17, 2021 23:12
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Bobstar posted:I can't remember, is Clever Dripper very different to Aeropress, results wise? I used to have one and I think we both liked it. Lots of re-learning to do. I'm not going to do a great job of describing the tasting experience beyond "coffee brewed in the Clever tastes fuller to me", but I definitely prefer it over the Aeropress for daily brewing. I find it much easier to get consistent cups, and you can brew a lot more of it. I really only mess with the Aeropress when I want a smaller amount of coffee.
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Jun 17, 2021 23:23
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Mu Zeta posted:Have you tried cold brew? I read some people can handle it better than regular coffee. Or lactose intolerant. I used to mess with cold brew years ago, it didn't particularly agree with me either. Good thought though.
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Jun 17, 2021 23:41
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Lord Stimperor posted:Anyone got any favorite summer iced coffee recipes? Here's my dumb one: I just do a Japanese flash brew inside of my v60 30 grams of coffee 175 grams of ice 335 grams of water Make the bloom like 75 to 80 grams
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Jun 18, 2021 00:21
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Japanese style for me, something like a 12:1 ratio in my clever that’s drained into a mug full of ice. I’ve only had one overflow so far so I’m going to keep risking eyeballing the ice.
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Jun 18, 2021 05:35
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