What’s on your coffee bench?

[tctyres]

Riiight... I should have known that there was a James Hoffmann video on this.
Perfect. Thanks, guys!

I agree on the aeropress (and I have one) but that's a different cup of coffee.

[JedB]

Apparently my coffee game needs to step up.

The Black & Decker drip and the Bialetti French press are lacking.

[jkbrwn]

It's really easy to make great coffee without spending lots on equipment. Sorry if you know this already but to get started with really great filter coffee. Don't bother with espresso unless you're ready to spend lots of cash. I would take a look at the following for cheap but great stuff:

V60 dripper

Filters

Hand grinder - this is probably the most important part so I would be tempted to spend more.

And of course buying fresh coffee from a good roasters is the final part.

[tctyres]

Originally Posted by jkbrwn

Hand grinder - this is probably the most important part so I would be tempted to spend more.

And of course buying fresh coffee from a good roasters is the final part.

^ These are the most important parts. The grind is critical. I bought a Baratza Encore grinder last year, and I was surprised at how much more I could do with simple equipment once I could reliably control the fineness of the grind. It makes a big difference.

James Hoffmann also put up a video on how to use a blade grinder, recently, too; so I think the entrance to really great coffee is somewhere around $20 + beans. (A second rate drip machine does no one any favors ... I've done that. I'm not going back.)

[Gsinill]

This old Europiccola popped up a little while ago semi-local on CL.
I thought for $50 I can’t go wrong and picked it up.
Figured out it was the 230V version imported by the owner’s Italian grandfather from Bella Italia.
After some googling, I found a guy in Hungary who has a source for brand new 110V heating elements.
With shipping it actually cost me more than the machine itself but after rebuilding it with new gaskets and seals the thing is
almost like new.
Must have seen very little use, guess the 230V part was too much hassle after all...

All manual, no pressure stat which turns the process of making espresso almost into a little science.
Even more Zen than with my other (newer) La Pavoni.

[froze]

Originally Posted by johnnylarue

Moka pot coffee gives me panic attacks these days but my move was always to put it on low heat and bring it to a boil as slowly and gently as possible. Presumably this minimized the burning of the grounds, though the coffee is still being brewed at too high a temp any way you slice it.

Fwiw, for a $20-$30 investment, I think an Aeropress makes vastly superior coffee (though the process can be slightly more involved.)

Like Goonster said you have to watch it closely and as soon as it begins to come out of the top tube you take it off the heat. What I do is fill it with boiling water, which means you'll need to wear a oven mitt so you can screw the bottom on or else burn your fingers, then put it on a medium flame, the flame thing you will have to experiment, because what you want is just enough heat to make ebb out slowly of the top tube instead of squirting or gushing out, when it's ebbing out slowly you don't have to turn off the flame as soon as it starts, instead just wait till it hisses the remove from the heat. It also uses a grind similar to what table salt looks like, not a fine grind or it will come out bitter, once the grinds are in the basket shake it a bit to evenly distribute the coffee.

A Moka Pot is an old traditional way that's been around for about 87 years used a lot in Italy. If done correctly you can get a bit of crema with it that you can't get with the AeroPress. AeroPress has I think a lighter taste to it, not as strong as the Moka. When it comes down to it the taste is a personal thing, I like them both because they both taste a bit different so I may use the AeroPress for a week or so then I'll use the Moka Pot for a week or two, I get bored with the same taste all the time so I switch up from several different ways of making coffee. But I kind of think the AeroPress is closer in taste to what a French Press makes and not as close to an espresso, the Moka is closer to an espresso vs those other two; neither are a true espresso though.

This video is the best video I've found, I follow this method, it seems to work the best, also if you grind it to a table salt grind and it still taste bitter then simply grind it one step larger than table salt; anyway watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpyB...nnel=ChefSteps

[benb]

I've never found the Moka pot stressful at all. It's pretty simple. It's not like you're doing dangerous chemistry over a burner.

Now that said I think espresso is pretty rapidly ruining the Moka pot for me.

I had an interesting surprise this week.

My company gave us free genetic testing if we wanted it and I took it and came back with the genetic variation for ultra fast caffeine metabolism. (I.e. break it down faster, less effect.)

Bottoms up.

[froze]

I like the Moka-style coffee just fine, but I get bored with any single type of coffee if I get it all the time and that includes espresso. Overall my favorite way to make coffee is cold brewed, I use the Takeya Deluxe one quart maker.

The cold brew method has about 60 to 70% less acid than cooked methods, and with less acid comes a smoother taste with no bitterness whatsoever. Cold-brewed is also concentrated which means you're supposed to weaken it with coffee 3 parts water and 1 part coffee, but I just drink it straight without diluting it and it's fine.

One thing about acid, evidently there are 2 types of acids, I can't recall what they call them now, but the one acid is the one that upsets certain peoples stomachs, the other acid had antioxidants in it, cold brew has less of both acids and hot brewed has more of both acids, so if coffee doesn't bother you and you want the full benefits of its antioxidants than cook the coffee. Coffee can bother me if I drink it every day, so if I use cold-brewed I can drink it more often without the acid reflux issue.

Also if you like to add cream to your coffee, cold brew due to its naturally less bitterness you can add less cream than you would normally.

[MagicHour]

We have a Breville Bambino + Smart grinder pro in our kitchen, mainly for my partner who likes lattes, easy to use and does an ok shot for a home setup. Personally I love my Aeropress - just got a new one over the holidays, and a trusty 1 qt mason jar for cold brew. I need to find a more elegant solution for straining grounds though - just using whatever random strainer or tea infuser I have and both are too small and makes the process messier than it should be.

[froze]

Originally Posted by MagicHour

We have a Breville Bambino + Smart grinder pro in our kitchen, mainly for my partner who likes lattes, easy to use and does an ok shot for a home setup. Personally I love my Aeropress - just got a new one over the holidays, and a trusty 1 qt mason jar for cold brew. I need to find a more elegant solution for straining grounds though - just using whatever random strainer or tea infuser I have and both are too small and makes the process messier than it should be.

You don't need a fancy cold brewer, this works just as well as the expensive ones, and it's on sale, do note this is a one quart unit, they do make a 2 quart unit, but you better measure your fridge height from the top of one shelf to the bottom of the whatever is above that shelf because the 2 quart may not fit.

https://www.amazon.com/Takeya-10310-.../dp/B00FFLY64U

[MagicHour]

Thanks Froze - I've looked at a couple of similar cold brewers, Hario, eg, and wonder if the grounds sit low enough in the vessel to brew a concentrate as I've been doing? Ie I add ~9-10 TBS coarse grounds to jar and then only ~10-12oz water and let that brew for 24hrs, doing this jar is only about 1/3 filled for brewing.

Originally Posted by froze

You don't need a fancy cold brewer, this works just as well as the expensive ones, and it's on sale, do note this is a one quart unit, they do make a 2 quart unit, but you better measure your fridge height from the top of one shelf to the bottom of the whatever is above that shelf because the 2 quart may not fit.

https://www.amazon.com/Takeya-10310-.../dp/B00FFLY64U

[froze]

Originally Posted by MagicHour

Thanks Froze - I've looked at a couple of similar cold brewers, Hario, eg, and wonder if the grounds sit low enough in the vessel to brew a concentrate as I've been doing? Ie I add ~9-10 TBS coarse grounds to jar and then only ~10-12oz water and let that brew for 24hrs, doing this jar is only about 1/3 filled for brewing.

I'm not sure how many TBS I'm using, I fill the basket to within a 1/4 of an inch from where the top of the screen and the plastic meet, then I fill the canister with water to about a 1/2 from the top of the clear plastic part, insert the basket and shake for about 3 minutes then set in the fridge. If I have the time and don't forget I will try to take it out of the fridge every 4 or so hours and give it a quick shake, but not sure if that matters or not, the instructions say to unscrew the lid and swirl the basket every 4 hours, I figure just shaking it for a couple of seconds does the same thing without unscrewing the lid.

[donevwil]

Originally Posted by froze

You don't need a fancy cold brewer, this works just as well as the expensive ones, and it's on sale, do note this is a one quart unit, they do make a 2 quart unit, but you better measure your fridge height from the top of one shelf to the bottom of the whatever is above that shelf because the 2 quart may not fit.

https://www.amazon.com/Takeya-10310-.../dp/B00FFLY64U

You just supported one impulse buy. I love cold brew, but only drink decaf. Problem solved.

[froze]

Originally Posted by donevwil

You just supported one impulse buy. I love cold brew, but only drink decaf. Problem solved.

Well, all you need is ground decaf and put it in the cold brewer thingy, and off to the races you go. They do make decaf beans if you want to grind your own, which I'm sure you're probably already aware of.

[donevwil]

Originally Posted by froze

Well, all you need is ground decaf and put it in the cold brewer thingy, and off to the races you go. They do make decaf beans if you want to grind your own, which I'm sure you're probably already aware of.

I should have clarified (or written "another impulse buy") I just bought one (based on your link) for exactly that reason. I love the cold brew from a few local coffee purveyors (granted my fav is nitro) but demand pretty much precludes their ever offering decaf. I have an awesome local decaf bean source so if this is even marginally satisfying I may have found a new rabbit hole.