I see a lot of people have been buying these lately. Let's start a thread with our experiences and tricks and see if we can improve each other's coffee even more.
I tried the thing for the first time this morning using some of DJ's Ethiopia Harrar beans. I tuned the burr grinder to a pretty fine grind (I think too fine, actually), and loaded up three scoops worth. Then I ran into a small amount of confusion. The marked amounts on the device (2,3,4) - are they volume with the coffee grounds in there or just the water? There is a large difference, obviously. Anyhoo, I decided that it was the mark for everything, so I added hot (not boiling) water on top of the grounds to the "3" mark.
What resulted was a very thick slurry. I actually had some trouble mixing it up to wet all the grinds; some clumps would remain in the very thick mix. I forged ahead with the press, which required a fair amount of effort. Again, I think I ground a bit too fine.
I added an equal amount of hot water to the concentrate in my cup, which filled my Far Side mug about 3/4 full. And the result? A very rich, concentrated cup with zero bitterness. I mean ZERO. This is a huge difference. I almost always add milk (but no sugar, heaven forbid) to coffee to balance the bitterness. This stuff required nothing at all. I never drink black coffee, but this was a new twist for me. Amazing.
Things I need to play with:
(1) My cup wasn't as hot as I would like. I need to use a bit hotter water
(2) The grounds were too fine, I think. I am going to reduce the grind a bit tomorrow
All in all, it was a very easy way to get a great cup of coffee.
Oh, and lest I forget, kudos to DJ for his wonderful beans. How nice to not get a bag full of over-roasted ashes for once!
I tried the thing for the first time this morning using some of DJ's Ethiopia Harrar beans. I tuned the burr grinder to a pretty fine grind (I think too fine, actually), and loaded up three scoops worth. Then I ran into a small amount of confusion. The marked amounts on the device (2,3,4) - are they volume with the coffee grounds in there or just the water? There is a large difference, obviously. Anyhoo, I decided that it was the mark for everything, so I added hot (not boiling) water on top of the grounds to the "3" mark.
What resulted was a very thick slurry. I actually had some trouble mixing it up to wet all the grinds; some clumps would remain in the very thick mix. I forged ahead with the press, which required a fair amount of effort. Again, I think I ground a bit too fine.
I added an equal amount of hot water to the concentrate in my cup, which filled my Far Side mug about 3/4 full. And the result? A very rich, concentrated cup with zero bitterness. I mean ZERO. This is a huge difference. I almost always add milk (but no sugar, heaven forbid) to coffee to balance the bitterness. This stuff required nothing at all. I never drink black coffee, but this was a new twist for me. Amazing.
Things I need to play with:
(1) My cup wasn't as hot as I would like. I need to use a bit hotter water
(2) The grounds were too fine, I think. I am going to reduce the grind a bit tomorrow
All in all, it was a very easy way to get a great cup of coffee.
Oh, and lest I forget, kudos to DJ for his wonderful beans. How nice to not get a bag full of over-roasted ashes for once!