Coffee gear and discussion thread

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SpikeC said:
The Appaloosa horse club used to do a version of that on the annual trail ride, butt they put the coffee in a pair of panty hose and the water was 212º!
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Funny comparison, this forum keeps making me feel like I am some kind of range-loving cowpoke.

I just don't like specialized equipment! I wouldn't even keep pantyhose around just to filter coffee.

In my experience, there is very little difference between a pot of hot water with powder in it and any other method(aside from espresso, of course!), with the exception of a bit of ground up beans in the bottom of the cup, which I love. I mean, they soak up so much of the bourbon flavor, why not drink them too?:rofl:
 
I just got back from an introductory coffee roasting class. Brought home a pound of Ethiopian green beans to play with!
 
I think they are peaberry. The class was at a small roaster in NE Portland, AJ Java. She is a big proponent of direct trade coffee, which is what I have been buying of late.
 
I use an electric grinder, Capresso, that has a good range of grind size and conical burrs. Hario Buono kettle and a Chemex. I get my beans from a local place that roasts their own. I use about 28 grams of coffee for 500 grams of water. Weigh the beans, grind, put Chemex on scale, add about 30-40 grams of water to bloom for 45 seconds to a minute. I use Brown Coffee Company's "Island" method for brewing in the Chemex. I use the bleached Chemex filters. Orginally I just used unbleached, but then got a box of the bleached and you really can taste the difference. They have great beans as well if you are into the mail order thing or are local to San Antonio.

http://www.browncoffeeco.com/

[video=youtube;8h-0ewcbHko]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h-0ewcbHko[/video]
 
There's a place here that uses brown coffee. I like their cottonwood espresso.
 
Oh good! A coffee thread! My newfound hobby - which has unfortunately sucked up some money for knives. More marginal utility from $$ in coffee now though.

I do 3 Lattes each morning for the girlfriend, colleague and myself - just to practice latte art.

Using an expobar dual leva E61 machine, and got a baratza vario grinder - quite happy with it for anyone who is thinking of getting a small footprint burr grinter.

Just purchased a gene cafe as well (I saw one a few posts back), and some bags of greens have arrived. More fun for the weekend.

Pictures to follow
 
OK, so it's getting warm and I'm craving a hot cup of coffee less and less and can't afford a knife addiction and a $4/day Starbucks habit either. Last summer I simply brewed hot coffee at night, let it get to room temp and then pour into a caraffe and put it in the fridge overnight and serve iced the next morning. It was OK at best, but I don't know if that's simply an imperfect method or if it can be poorly brewed (I just used an auto drip machine) or crummy beans. I want to be able to make a decent iced coffee.

Right now I think my two options are a cold brew system

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006H0JVW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Or the Aeropress. My understanding is I can make concentrate with the Aeropress and that it refrigerates well. I know I asked a similar question a while ago in this thread, but at the time I was leaning towards something that could do it all. Now I'm looking to get something specifically for making iced coffee. Are either of these two good bets or is there something better I don't know about.

I am planning on buying my own grinder, either a manual grinder or maybe a Capresso Infinity but probably won't pay anymore than what that will cost on a grinder.
 
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The Toddy makes very good iced coffee, better than the aeropress, and the real plus is that with the toddy you only have to make a batch about once a week and that will yield a good volume of coffee, the aeropress is something you would have to make a single serve of everyday/night and chill it. Either way you make it, it should be cut with ~%50 water (to taste).
The advantage to the aeropress is that it will also function to make hot coffe as well, where the Toddy brewer is a specialty device and only serves that one function.

For a grinder I always give two thumbs up to Baratza refurbs, they are one of those products that really are better than new. They go over all of their returned products with a fine tooth comb to be sure they never come back. I've purchased several as gifts and they are all running strong. IMHO the Baratza Maestro Plus blows the Infinity away.
http://www.baratza.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=385R

Personall my favorite summer coffee style is prepared ice dripped, but unfortunately the device to brew this unctuous goodness comes at a steep price. One of these days though, one of these days :)
 


My Grinder - a malkonig vario. Been extremely happy with it so far. Very tweakable



This is what makes me happy most mornings. Expobar dual leva (Expobar brewtus II in the USA). Great consistent performer



Just arrived... gonna play with it this weekend. A genecafe roaster
 


All these just arrived too... can't wait to see how it tastes!!
 
The first decent looking rosetta I managed after struggling with the new hobby

Got another one out the next morning...

And my favorite one to date. Its been about 6 weeks of pouring 2 cups a day so far...
 
Wow! I thought I was a coffee junkie!
I like you guys more and more every day!!!
For iced coffee, make French press coffee and freeze it in an ice cube tray. Make your preferred coffee, let it cool for about an hour, add coffee cubes, and serve!
It doesn't get watered down this way. It's a little trick I came up with back in University :)
 
Oh, one more thing.
Heaven will serve french vanilla ice cream with strong, black delta espresso poured over top for dessert ANY time you want it!
It's so simple, but is quite honestly, my favorite dessert!
 
Nice, Tristan! I can't pour rosettas to save my life; it looks like you are getting close to mastering the art! I really wanted to go with a Brewtus, but instead had to pick one my wife can use with the push of a button. It's pretty versitile though, so I can play w/ boiler temps and run in semi-auto mode. And one day I will restore the trashed La Pavoni lever I picked up 2 years ago, and learn how to survive in full manual mode :rolleyes2:

Please post as you play with the home roasting!
 
My ex was one hell of a barista, real world class. Used to go to the expos and competitions. Despite all our differences and the other crap that split us up, I sure miss her insisting on making my mochas every morning (and the wacky designs she'd put in the foam).
 
i'm perfectly happy with decent beans ground in my cheap bodum grinder and brewed in a french press. i have friends who are nuts about coffee, and roast their own, and have similar neat-o stuff, and i totally get it, but i reserve my heated liquid obsession time and money for green tea.
 
I just had to laugh a few days ago when I read in a book something like 'green tea is really nice if you like grassy-tasting water, and if you add honey, it becomes almost drinkable' :D Love to see the coffee setups. I'm getting really embarrassed about still not having had my machine repaired. This will be one of the summer projects. I have a Quick Mill Anita that doesn't heat up, no repair service out on the island, and I am just not a tech guy... I also tried roasting with a smaller IRoast II before the Anita died. Had mixed success, it definitely has a learning curve. What makes it difficult is that more and more places don't ship green beans to Hawaii - it's illegal to do so in order to protect the Hawaiian growers from imported pests (or better, protect the local growers from losing business...).

Stefan
 
like in any other acquired taste something that at first blush should be a negative, the grassy astringency in some of the teas in this case, is what makes it so good. :)
 
WildBoar said:
Nice, Tristan! I can't pour rosettas to save my life; it looks like you are getting close to mastering the art! I really wanted to go with a Brewtus, but instead had to pick one my wife can use with the push of a button. It's pretty versitile though, so I can play w/ boiler temps and run in semi-auto mode. And one day I will restore the trashed La Pavoni lever I picked up 2 years ago, and learn how to survive in full manual mode :rolleyes2:

Please post as you play with the home roasting!
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Thanks to you and Mano for the compliments. Its been rather tough, since i was learning from forums and occasional videos (reminds me of sharpening) and mostly managed to only get what looked like smashed spiders on the crema every morning. The epiphany happened one day. Now just picking up consistency.

Definitely will keep you guys updated as the roasting progresses.
 
apicius9 said:
:D Love to see the coffee setups. I'm getting really embarrassed about still not having had my machine repaired. This will be one of the summer projects. I have a Quick Mill Anita that doesn't heat up, no repair service out on the island, and I am just not a tech guy... I also tried roasting with a smaller IRoast II before the Anita died. Had mixed success, it definitely has a learning curve. What makes it difficult is that more and more places don't ship green beans to Hawaii - it's illegal to do so in order to protect the Hawaiian growers from imported pests (or better, protect the local growers from losing business...). Stefan
Click to expand...

You ought to be embarassed. I shipped my Brewtus over from the UK, because they only sell superautomatic (saeco, krupps) machines and nespresso machines locally, and the one importer of high end espresso machines is charging $1K MORE for the machine than I paid for mine AFTER shipping the 50kg package over. You need to find more motivation Stefan :jumpy:

And you're in the land of the homegrown Kona Coffee... I have to ship my greens in from the US/UK. Seriously, don't make me go over there... :viking:
 
I am digging the geeky stuff in this thread.

Here is a - very bad - picture of my setup :thumbsup:

web_01.jpg
 
Eh?? That looks like your kitchen. But given the ridiculous number of cups and the four frothing pitchers... (and two tampers, because... we each have two hands) it has got to be a place of work right? Either that or you're perpetually buzzy
 
oohhh, a Dalle Corte, very nice!
I had a coffee counter setup similar to this in my last place, it sure was convenient.
I dont have the space anymore :(
I had to get rid of my Astoria too, a larger place is on the horizon though, and perhaps a GS3 if I'm lucky :)

And yes Tristan, we all need at least 2 tampers !
 
Hey, isn't one tamper for keeping the beans in the grinder feeder when you don't use the hopper, and the other actually for tamping??? Surely I am not the only one with that system :help4:
 
I've found that the one variable on great coffee is the Roaster!

In Baton Rouge, at the foot of Louisiana State University, is a coffee shop called Highland Coffee. They roast their own beans.

Now they are online and an order from them will get me fresh roasted coffee (dated) in 2 days.

The thing I like about them is I like medium roast coffee: Kenya, Sumatra, Costa Rican, Ethiopian....and they do a MEDIUM roast. Not like the local CHARbucks. One CAN over-roast coffee and make it bitter.

No matter how good your coffee making equipment is, a fresher, correctly roasted bean is a mandatory first consideration.
 
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