Aja on 26/6/2012 at 00:45
I can talk about coffee a bit. Seeing as how an arts degree really is about as useful as a piece of toilet paper here in the land of cowboys and rig workers, I've been working in a specialty coffee shop (one that sources and roasts its own beans) for the last few months to pay rent and stay in the band.
Here's what I've learned.
Dark roast coffee is roasted the longest, and the reason it always tastes so bitter is because it's actually slightly burnt. The only reason Starbucks can make their coffee taste the same no matter where you are is because even though they buy their coffee from many different sources, when you combine it and roast it long enough it all tastes the same (shitty). So if you're serious about coffee flavour, medium-roast is the way to go. A high-quality medium-roasted coffee will have aspects of fruitiness, acidity, chocolate, earthiness, and possibly many other subtle flavours. But of course in order to extract those flavours you have to prepare the coffee properly.
Which brings me to the most important part of preparing good coffee: the grinder. You need a burr grinder no matter what kind of coffee maker you're using. Expensive ones tend to have higher quality ceramic burrs that allow for a more consistent grind, especially when you're trying to make espresso (which requires a very fine grind) but for anything else, lower end models (including hand grinders) work just fine. Blade grinders tend to produce equal amounts of dust and whole beans, which are pretty much useless.
The magical ratio of coffee beans to boiling water is 60 grams per liter of water (or 6 grams per 100ml). The best way to ensure that you're using these amounts is to get a cheap kitchen scale. I know that sounds silly, but consistency is key here; if only one in three cups of coffee you make are any good, what's the point of all this work?). So get a scale; you only need it to measure to the nearest gram, which means a fortune isn't required.
Although there are dozens of valid methods to make great coffee, I've found the easiest is with a french press. Measure your beans (6 grams per 100ml) and grind them coarsely. Exactly how course you need will probably require some experimentation, but you want to be much coarser than the standard drip grind you get at supermarkets. Filter the water for your kettle (don't use reverse-osmosis water though, as it lacks the minerals needed to bond with the coffee particles), and set it to boil. For the best cup, it might be best to grind the beans while the water's on, to ensure that they're as fresh as possible. Whole beans older than three weeks or so are going to be stale, and preground coffee only lasts about a week before the flavours start to disappear. It's always best to grind before each cup/pot.
Once your water's boiled, let it cool for about 30 seconds or so. If you're using an African coffee, set your timer for 5 minutes. For everything else, set it for 4 minutes. Put the grounds in the french press, place the press on your scale and tare it. Start the timer, and slowly pour out the amount of water needed onto the grounds, trying to cover them equally. When you've poured the correct amount of water (1 gram of water equals approximately 1 ml) let the press sit for about a minute, then give it a gentle stir to redistribute the grounds. Once the timer goes, press down, and you're done.
It sounds ridiculous and pretentious (and I guess it is) but a great cup of coffee can be as rich and complex as fine scotch or wine.
Kuuso on 26/6/2012 at 02:07
A good roast is always supposed to bring forth the original flavours of the beans, thus you should not discard any kinds of roasts unless it's blatantly bad. For example, most Monsoon Malabar is roasted quite dark, which gives it that blunt "smack-to-the-face" feel (funnily enough, roasting certain malabar very lightly yields to a completely different experience with a hint of sea salt taking the space of the punch; I prefer this, but it's much harder to find)
Also, lumping all African coffee to five minute steep time is absurd, since the continent has such differences in coffees. I would recommend a tad colder water and longer steep time for lightly roasted Kenyan coffees for example, but I'd remain at 3-4 mins with most Ethiopian. I go coffee by coffee, seeing what time yield the best flavours.
Aside from those, I'm pretty much in agreement with your means albeit for a casual user measuring water amount with scale etc. is a bit excessive.
Koki on 26/6/2012 at 05:22
Quote Posted by Yakoob
It's not about being a hipster, it's about refining one's own taste.
Sounds like something a hipster would say
Aja on 26/6/2012 at 06:05
Quote Posted by Kuuso
A good roast is always supposed to bring forth the original flavours of the beans, thus you should not discard any kinds of roasts unless it's blatantly bad. For example, most Monsoon Malabar is roasted quite dark, which gives it that blunt "smack-to-the-face" feel (funnily enough, roasting certain malabar very lightly yields to a completely different experience with a hint of sea salt taking the space of the punch; I prefer this, but it's much harder to find)
Roasting to individual bean profiles is what we do, although the guy who runs the company (and who happens to have some level 4 wine tasting certification status that is apparently quite rare) refuses to roast anything dark. I've always wondered if this was actually prudent but then I'm not the one who can detect defects in pre-roast batches, and I'm not the one travelling across the ocean to evaluate expensive coffee. So I guess I can't really comment. I've never had Monsoon Malabar.
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Also, lumping all African coffee to five minute steep time is absurd, since the continent has such differences in coffees. I would recommend a tad colder water and longer steep time for lightly roasted Kenyan coffees for example, but I'd remain at 3-4 mins with most Ethiopian. I go coffee by coffee, seeing what time yield the best flavours.
Again, I'm only privy to the African coffees that we bring in. Thus far we've had a naturally processed coffee from Ethiopia (for those not in the know, it means they leave the cherry on the bean while it dries, allowing the fruit to ferment and infuse into the bean, giving the coffee a much more obviously fruity and sweet taste), one from Burundi, and a variety of Kenyans, and although they are quite different, they share similar characteristics (namely, a pronounced acidity and sweetness) that Central and South American coffees lack. Applying the 5-minute rule might be unnecessary, but I have found that all of *our* African coffees do benefit from longer steeping times.
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Aside from those, I'm pretty much in agreement with your means albeit for a casual user measuring water amount with scale etc. is a bit excessive.
If kitchen scales were rare and expensive I could see it, but considering how useful they are in other aspects of food preparation it's really not that absurd to get a $30 one.
Kuuso on 26/6/2012 at 13:08
Quote Posted by Aja
Roasting to individual bean profiles is what we do, although the guy who runs the company (and who happens to have some level 4 wine tasting certification status that is apparently quite rare) refuses to roast anything dark. I've always wondered if this was actually prudent but then I'm not the one who can detect defects in pre-roast batches, and I'm not the one travelling across the ocean to evaluate expensive coffee. So I guess I can't really comment. I've never had Monsoon Malabar.
I've had the fortune to sample a fairly large amount of different coffees from around the world (since my employer is, well, a bit of a connoisseur and has excellent relations to merchants) with all sorts of roasts. There's definitely coffees that gain from darker or light roasts. You should really get your hands on Monsoon Malabar, because it's fairly unique both in process (after picking the beans, they are left at the coast of Malabar for a few months to soak up the monsoon winds, which significantly reduces acidicity for some reason, hence the name) and taste (pretty much no acidicty, blunt, in theme of the forums you could say it feel's like you are getting hit with a blackjack)
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Again, I'm only privy to the African coffees that we bring in. Thus far we've had a naturally processed coffee from Ethiopia (for those not in the know, it means they leave the cherry on the bean while it dries, allowing the fruit to ferment and infuse into the bean, giving the coffee a much more obviously fruity and sweet taste), one from Burundi, and a variety of Kenyans, and although they are quite different, they share similar characteristics (namely, a pronounced acidity and sweetness) that Central and South American coffees lack. Applying the 5-minute rule might be unnecessary, but I have found that all of *our* African coffees do benefit from longer steeping times.
I'm not saying the rule doesn't work for your coffees since I do not know anything about them, but generally you should keep open mind about all the variables. At least that's what I hold as the biggest thing I've learned as a barista, because some coffees just act differently.
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If kitchen scales were rare and expensive I could see it, but considering how useful they are in other aspects of food preparation it's really not that absurd to get a $30 one.
I agree that it is easy and should be done, but in my experience, when someone asks me how should they prepare their coffee they get disenchanted with the silliest thing and every added part of the process makes them stick to normal drip-machine that has never been cleaned.
It is, of course, their loss, but drowning a person in info doesn't work with this stuff - people seem to be almost religiously stuck with their coffee habits (or maybe it's just Finland, we do drink the most coffee in the world per capita, 90% of it being complete tosh).
If you're interested, this is how I usually prepare my coffee with aeropress: 275ml water and 16g of coffee. Inverted style with a minute of steeping time (properly mixed as soon as water has been poured), 1:10 turn aeropress and 30 seconds for pressing the coffee. I've used 85 celcius water for some of the beans, but stick at around 90 for "normal" beans.
Koki: All I said can be probably be taken as uberhipsterdom, but I'd say hipsters are those that don't know shit about anything and drink their "double mocha lattes" (7e a pop!) with soy milk even when they do not have milk allergies.
Scots Taffer on 27/6/2012 at 00:53
I don't enjoy my coffee unless other people make it for me from its hand picked beginnings to latte foam art finale.
Yakoob on 27/6/2012 at 06:06
Aja and Kuuso, thanks for the detailed descriptions, particularily with the "optimum" ratio of coffee to water and temperatures (tho I dont measure the temps, just eye-ball it kinda).
I've just started experimenting with different types of coffees and my favorite so far is Colombian; the Safeway hazelnut vanilla is also very nice when Im in the mood for sweet vanilly drink (more akin to hot chocolate than coffee).
I've been getting the small packages of different kinds exactly so I dont have a bag sitting for 3 weeks and losing flavor. I have also used the "grind-stations" a few times at the store to get fresh ground coffee in small quantities; the clerks look at me weird when the bag is only like 1/10th full, but eh, keeps it fresher and lets me try more flavors :p
