Coffee conundrum

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MrHiggins said:
I appreciate everyone's recommendations and opinions. I almost went for an Aeropress, but opted to stick with my French press and added a pour over system. I prefer the coffee I get from the press and it's working perfectly with my morning schedule.
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Conical hand grinder, fresh beans, and a French press make a good cup of coffee. I make for two and sometimes company so a pour over that mists the grinds first and a thermal pot keeps it hot a while.
 
akirapuff said:
what kind of grinder are you using?
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Flat burr Nuova Simonelli Mythos
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ClimaPro
 
my grinder has a similar burrset, designed after your mythos burrset. monolith flat 2019
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buy a hand grinder , kinu m47 or something from orphan espresso! superb grinding capabilities but no motor power..
 
Reviving this, as I am just now going down this rabbit hole. I've been a long time Keurig user, and just started with an Aeropress/Porlex hand grinder setup a couple days ago. There is a little bit of a learning curve, my first cup didn't come out that amazing, but now I'm really digging the results. Its fun to see how much difference you can make with the different variables!
 
The overlap of online enthusiast forums fascinates me a bit. I love seeing all of this awesome coffee/espresso gear, but didn't want to post much about coffee here. I'm TomC on HB, for what it's worth (not much). :)
 
Keith Sinclair said:
Hand grinding rules us old farts need the exercise.
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That's too much work for this old fart. Maybe if I lived alone, but I grind 65 grams every morning for the two of us. Tonight we have overnight guests, so that will be two 80 gram batches, at least.
 
I grind for two also don't mind.

My nieces husband is a coffee guy. 100 percent Kona beans & French press. Only the parents drink coffee the kids love to hand grind the beans
 
We have a Technivorm. It seemed a bit weird at first and has more parts than a regular old Mr. Coffee style drip, but after using it for a week or so the brilliance of its design showed through. Easy to clean, makes good coffee (fresh ground every morning), and will keep it hot for about 90 minutes. almost all the parts are replaceable.
 
I have a Gaggia Clásico espresso machine and a Nemox grinder for it, and for when I use my French Press I have a hand grinder. It is too much trouble trying to change the setting on the Nemox to make it coarser or finer. Beans I prefer are Guatemalan Single Estate but v v expensive so generally settle for Brazilian or Colombian. I notice nobody has mentioned time. My coarseness of grind for the French Press needs 8 minutes to reach full flavour. But it's worth it. I hand grind while the kettle is boiling. I need to rest the boiled water for about 2 minutes to get the temperature down to the mid 90s C so it's a long process. But, what the hell? I'm retired and it's 6 o'clock in the morning.
 
Gorrion said:
I have a Gaggia Clásico espresso machine and a Nemox grinder for it, and for when I use my French Press I have a hand grinder. It is too much trouble trying to change the setting on the Nemox to make it coarser or finer. Beans I prefer are Guatemalan Single Estate but v v expensive so generally settle for Brazilian or Colombian. I notice nobody has mentioned time. My coarseness of grind for the French Press needs 8 minutes to reach full flavour. But it's worth it. I hand grind while the kettle is boiling. I need to rest the boiled water for about 2 minutes to get the temperature down to the mid 90s C so it's a long process. But, what the hell? I'm retired and it's 6 o'clock in the morning.
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I get my Guatemalan from sweet Maria's and roast my own. Even when i wasn't retired. At $6 lb it eventually pays for the roaster. However ypu said 90c and i suspect you might not be in the states
 
You're right. UK. Wish I could get Guatamalan for £4 a lb. Single Estate cost me £8 for 250 gm (just over 1/2 lb). I do buy in bulk from Amazon but not single Estate. Anyway it is what it is. I have a kilo of pure Robusta coming soon. I shall be interested to try blending it with pure Arabica. Anyone else do that?
 
Robusta is evil and should only be used if you are making traditional italian espresso - and you should really not make traditional italian espresso..
 
Gorrion said:
You're right. UK. Wish I could get Guatamalan for £4 a lb. Single Estate cost me £8 for 250 gm (just over 1/2 lb). I do buy in bulk from Amazon but not single Estate. Anyway it is what it is. I have a kilo of pure Robusta coming soon. I shall be interested to try blending it with pure Arabica. Anyone else do that?
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I did once when i first started roasting. Good reason for only doing it once. Lar's comment is accurate
 
lowercasebill said:
I get my Guatemalan from sweet Maria's and roast my own. Even when i wasn't retired. At $6 lb it eventually pays for the roaster. However ypu said 90c and i suspect you might not be in the states
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Same here.
 
My trainer, when I first acquired my Gaggia Clásico, suggested that up to 15% Robusta in an espresso blend "added a bit of zip" to it, by which he meant that it increased the caffeine content of the espresso. What particularly do you have against Italian espresso, Lars? After all, according to an article in Scientific American some time in the 'Eighties (which unfortunately I've lost), it was an Italian named Illy who perfected the espresso (number of beans in a shot, temperature, pressure) and over here, certainly, many of the commercial espresso machines are made in Italy.

Incidentally, in another issue of Scientific American from the same period, there was a very interesting article concerning the history of Damascene steel and its particular qualities which stemmed from the ore which came from a particular mine in India until it was exhausted. After which time the quality and renown of the swords declined. Does any other member of the forum remember this?
 
If you are blending with milk, 15 or 20% will make the coffee taste more familiar to a lot of people.
For me, I think the bitterness of Robusta is unpleasant especially when drinking espresso shots without milk.
Nothing against Italian espresso machines. My Dalla Corte served me very well when I was still making espresso.
 
Lars said:
Robusta is evil and should only be used if you are making traditional italian espresso - and you should really not make traditional italian espresso..
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"Espresso is the one true coffee
You shall have no other coffee before espresso"

:D

Ya'll espresso pagans be heretics...

:p

Gorrion said:
What particularly do you have against Italian espresso, Lars?
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To be fair @Lars said "traditional"... "italian" espresso. Why not do "new"... "world" espresso - whatever that is?

:rolleyes:
 
Luftmensch said:
To be fair @Lars said "traditional"... "italian" espresso. Why not do "new"... "world" espresso - whatever that is?

:rolleyes:
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Wouldn't New World Espresso be Cafézinho (Brazilian)? :)

Years ago I worked for a while in Brazil, and you couldn't attend a business meeting without people bringing endless trays of that sugary thick stuff. People would get just wired on the combination caffiene and sugar high, all day long. :eek:

That didn't stick with me though. What stuck was living and working in Costa Rica for a while, where they do American-style coffee with a cloth "sock" filter on a wire frame (at least that's the traditional way), and they make it really strong. Much stronger than American restaurant coffee. So that's what I make in the Technivorm, just really strong American coffee.
 
I rarely drink a pure espresso. I am one of those ignorant central Europeans who, without a glimpse of a shame would order cappuccino at 3pm in south Italy :p . But when I do have an espresso I can not help but find most of them too sour (and sometimes bitter). Since we at home started to use the simple moka caffe pot I have not desire to get a multi-thousand € espresso maker. I simply love how it tastes - especially with caffe from south America (thought that statement is preliminary).
 
Matus said:
I rarely drink a pure espresso. I am one of those ignorant central Europeans who, without a glimpse of a shame would order cappuccino at 3pm in south Italy :p . But when I do have an espresso I can not help but find most of them too sour (and sometimes bitter). Since we at home started to use the simple moka caffe pot I have not desire to get a multi-thousand € espresso maker. I simply love how it tastes - especially with caffe from south America (thought that statement is preliminary).
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I can't get the same enjoyment from espresso as I can from a milk based drink. Cappuccino (anytime of the day..... yep the horror) is my go to but at a pinch I'll do a macchiato. For that reason I like coffee blends that have a taste profile that can cut through the milk. It tends to be a mixture of arabica and robusta. Lots of chocolate, nut, dark fruit taste elements and a medium to dark roast.
 
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