Coffee: we drink it or we get angry.

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by Jeb, Jan 16, 2016.

  1. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    This is what I got this morning after pouring my moka shot into macrofoam and taking a sip. I call it baby alien ghost.

    alien baby ghost.jpg
     
  2. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    I just got a Trader Joe's "Barista Espresso" blend. I'm surprised at how much less bitter it is than the Starbucks Espresso. The one from Trader Joe's is a blend of Arabica with Robusta. But the roasting is Light Medium instead of Strong.

    I always felt the Robusta was a no-no. But the blend and the roasting just works with this blend. Learned a new thing. I tasted the synergy there.

    BTW I also got my new cheapo tamper and milk steamer jug:

    Tamper:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011M3IH9O

    Jug:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FRDK729/

    The tamper is totally smooth (unlike what a reviewer said, so maybe I got lucky), and the smaller section fits right in a 51" basket. Still waiting on my non-pressurized basket.

    I also took got the Capresso 560. At $80 for a conical it seems decent. I have a lot of respect for that dude from the Good Eats @ The Food Network, and a friend from work finally convinced me.
     
  3. RobS

    RobS RobS? More like RobDiarrhea.

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    Any other coffee philistines on here besides me?

    I drink black McDonald's or 7-Eleven coffee.

    Or at home I do this:

    [​IMG]


    Used to have one of these before I got too lazy:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    For larger volumes when I got my body into ketosis, would do cold brew. I always wanted to get top notch espresso machines but always ended up spending money elsewhere.

    I'm more of a tea snob.
     
  4. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    italian espresso blends traditionally mix in some robusta. I believe it creates more crema and body and I’m sure there are some flavor properties as well. Fourth wave coffee people generally sway away from robusta in favor of the high altitude/slow growing arabica. I would be included in the latter. Robusta tastes weird to me and I’m in the fruit-forward camp.
     
  5. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    I know. That's why this blend/roast surprised me.
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2019
  6. Madra

    Madra Acquaintance

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    interesting manual espresso machine.
    a bit pricey though.
     
  7. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    I had this blend again today.

    It goes against the established. I believe it's the roast. This is a light/medium roast, as opposed to the classic dark roast on 100% arabica espresso.

    I did not see significantly more crema. About the same. The coffee flavor is well preserved. But this is not a heavy taste. In that sense, it actually has less body than the 100% arabica espresso blend from Starbucks.

    Again, the synergy is not just the robusta/arabica mix. It's also the roast.

    Note it is likely that this blend will have significantly more caffeine, also given roast and blend. It's a sort of nitro blend that doesn't taste like shit.


    It's an interesting link in that it shows the two main principles by which an espresso machine operates: water temperature & pressure. In that sense I really like the video. But in all honesty, to me the product makes little sense other than eye candy. I personally rather have a 5x cheaper machine that does all the work for me (heat the water and press it through the grounds).
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2019
  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Starbucks stuff is garbage. They likely use Robusta beans too. They are bitter because they roast them way too dark to charcoal. They have to because the beans are shit - they don't have any other redeeming qualities than to be roasted this way.

    Arabica beans are generally wasted if roasted too dark IMO. (Again, in the context of black coffee drinker, not espresso). I've slowly backed off over the years to lighter roasts for the Ethiopian varieties. The Kenyan stuff I still roast to the onset of the second crack.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2019
  9. Ash1412

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    Yep Ethiopians are not really uber acidic in a bad way like most other beans (think peach vs citruses and tomatoes) which allows them to work better with lighter roasts than most.
     
  10. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    For classic black coffee, I find Central America medum roast blends really nice. Particularly Costa Rica Tarrazu. I love 100% Kona though a little pricey. I have never been a big fan of Colombian Supremo. The Ethiopian and Kenyan are super awesome. They tend to have pretty complex flavors to them.

    Most of those are Medium to Light roast, which concerve the original flavor of the bean, and I do tend to prefer that for all other methods of coffee making. I'm still experimenting with the espresso machine to have a well formed opinion on that approach.
     
  11. randytsuch

    randytsuch Friend

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    @purr1n
    Curious what roaster you use? I was really into roasting for a while, but got lazy and my roaster system was dismantled a while ago because I needed the arduino that was in it for another project.
    Maybe one day I'll start again, but would take some effort now to resurrect it.

    In regards to beans, I think I've said this before, but I now buy my beans from redbirdcoffee.
    5 lbs ships for free. I vacuum pack and freeze it so it stay relatively fresh.
    My current fav from them is Ethiopian Yirg Banko.
     
  12. Madra

    Madra Acquaintance

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    I like this product for many reasons:
    - As you mentioned, it is aesthetically pleasing. I would chose a nice looking product over a so so one any day.
    - It is a simple, solidly built, all mechanical design, that will probably last a lifetime or two.
    - All metal parts, with silicone gasket. No plastic in sight (for brewing chamber and portafilter)
    - As opposed to regular espresso machines, maintenance is an non issue.
    - Seems to be pleasant to use, with a combination of quality materials and simple brewing and cleaning processes.
    - Manual operation to control pressure allows for some interesting experimentation.

    While I would not touch a manual grinder, I do not mind boiling water and applying some pressure for like 25 seconds to get a good cup.

    The major drawback is the eye watering price.
     
  13. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    French Roast SR700 and a super early version of that which cost $99. The earlier version has smaller capacity, but I still keep it around because it gets fricking hot and can easily toast the beans into charcoal.

    One day I will get a drum roaster for volume. The upside is greater capacity and more consistent roast with less dependence upon Kung-Fu.

    I tend to drink Ethiopian varieties in a melange roast (some darker, some less dark). The fastest way to do this is with these cheap roasters: slightly over stuffing them so the bottom beans start off earlier a bit darker, and relying upon roasting Kung-Fu (smell, listening for the cracks, and mastering temperature control). But for now, actually the past 15 years, small batches have worked fine. Three days to one week old roasted beans is the sweet spot.
     
  14. DigMe

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    Natural processed, light-roasted Ethiopians are my fave too. One thing I miss are good Yemen beans. Back when I was still roasting they were pretty plentiful and they had some wild flavors but since all the conflict has been going on there I only rarely see them.
     
  15. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    When I lived in Taly I was told that the further south you get in Italy the more they like a high robusta content. Naples being considered the home of espresso (ok I worked in a part of Italy that formerly belonged to the Regno delle Due Sicilie).

    Back then I did use the Bialetti with a 50/50 blend, bought that at my favourite Caffè, of course the espresso tasted much nicer at the Caffè. For a caffè lungo from a machine I prefer 100 % arabica, for an espresso I prefer the ruggedness and character of a blend (at least 30 % robusta). No sugar for me just some drops of a nice anisetta.
     
  16. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    I feel maintanance is usually just cleaning the machine, which you will have to do regardless. You will also still be missing the milk steamer for frothing. I can almost guarantee you it will not last a lifetime or two. But it does look solid.

    If this type of machine is what you want, here are some options:

    1. Flair Espresso Kit ($200 though the $230 versions are prettier): https://www.flairespresso.com/product-page/classic-with-pressure-kit
    2. ROK espressoGC ($155) - no pressure gauge: https://www.amazon.com/ROK-Presso-Manual-Espresso-Maker/dp/B00AV1E0GI
    There are some small protable $60 or so cute deals that operate in a similar fashion.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2019
  17. randytsuch

    randytsuch Friend

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    I didn't know they added a pc interface to the french roast, that's pretty cool. But I couldn't deal with the small capacity, would have to do too many roasts.

    I have an alpenrost stashed away somewhere, the specs for it say 1/2 lb roasts, but I think I could do a little more.
    I bought one that a guy had modded for manual control, and I added an arduino to it to run a pid program. I added a couple thermocouples, to let me monitor temps and control the roast. Never did the Kung Fu thing, I would monitor the temps, and would listen for first and 2nd crack. I would stop as soon as I heard 2nd crack.
    I had a PC to interface with the arduino to plot the roast temps. PC would also load in the temp profile to use for the beans I was roasting. I spent a lot of time developing that setup, was my hobby at the time.

    Before that I had a popcorn popper that I setup for roasting, but wanted more capacity than it could do.
     
  18. DigMe

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    I've roasted in so many different methods including the old Fresh roast. The very best roasts I got were from a frankenroaster SC/CO with which I used a thermoprobe and much finicky kung fu to achieve specific roast profiles. It truly paid off and I got some fantastic roasts from it. I got tired of the process though and eventually got a Behmor 1600. That served me well until I stopped roasting. It's probably even better now that they upgraded to allow better profiling.
     
  19. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    This is the "some British guy" I was trying to think of who I'd seen/read several years back and learned a lot from re coffee (obviously). I'd never seen the grinder in this video, and it seems to be perfect for my usage model. Not sure I would have gone for it being Indiegogo rather than a known brand, but it looks really nice to use.



    Watched a couple more of his videos during my morning workout. He really has a captivating style of communicating and I was totally geeking out on espresso methodology.

    Recent evolution of espresso.


    Seems we need to stir our espressos and use a refractometer to get everything dialed in :p.


    This looks like a good series to follow.
     
  20. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Since when did the British gave two shits about espresso? Every time I bring up coffee to some of my English friends they give me the posh looks, unless I shift the conversation towards tea.

    That guy must be a fake.

    (EDIT: kidding)
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2019

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