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Caffeine Clips: Show off your tea/coffee acquisitions ~2011

I love it. The biggest difference that I note over my previous machine is that frothing of milk for lattes is far superior with the Livia. My shots have been good for some time -- experience will do that -- but the equipment really helps on the milk.
 
Nice stuff Josh, I picked up that easy gaiwan for my cousin a while back. It's a pleasure to use.

Some pu arrived today, a few bricks, a mushroom and some cooked loose pu not in the pic:
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Were you shopping at Jing Tea by chance:wink2:?
 
Hello gents!

Didn't realise until today there was a tea/coffee forum here on B&B, shame on me. Although I'm quite surprised to see all of these coffee machines here, as they IMHO only destroy the real taste of the bean and produce quite a generic brew.
Now I wouldn't want to impose anything on you, but only encourage to try out a good old fashioned cezve - there are plenty of them on eBay, some good Armenian ones starting at 20 bucks. The taste they produce is fundamentally different from that of the coffee machines and all it takes is a little skill and patience.

Here's my current one, anyway:
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Shoot, even THAT "destroys" flavor. You're better off chewing the beans and gargling hot water.
Better yet, don't even roast the beans - eat fresh picked coffee cherries!
 
Shoot, even THAT "destroys" flavor. You're better off chewing the beans and gargling hot water.
Better yet, don't even roast the beans - eat fresh picked coffee cherries!

That was an utterly ridiculous remark mate. For your information, 30% of the bean weight consists of the new compounds after a roasting phase. Rest is a matter of transporting a palate to the carrier substance, i.e. water.

But you can treat yourself to the raw beans of course, different strokes for different folks :)

P.S. take it easy.
 
I think what he's trying to say is that if your coffee tastes bland, It's probably not the brew method. It's the coffee itself.

There is no form of alchemy that can make bad coffee taste good. You can drown the solution with other tastes so you taste those things instead of the coffee, but this is different than transforming something sub-par into something palatable.

I am a fan of turkish coffee, but I don't see where you think it doesn't destroy what other brew methods do destroy.. and I'm still not sure what those things you are referring to are. Aromatics? dissolved solids? undissolved solids? sugars? fats? Can you be more specific?
 
I think trying to say what my coffee tastes like, as well as assessing its quality, is somewhat presumptuous to say the least. Post was for those that may want to try arabic style of brewing. If someone else likes pushing buttons instead - may they by all means carry on.
 
Helveticum, I think you fell into the sar-chasm. I was making a joke, primarily in response to this:

Helveticum said:
I'm quite surprised to see all of these coffee machines here, as they IMHO only destroy the real taste of the bean and produce quite a generic brew

This is incorrect. There are a lot of very high-tech solutions for making coffee that produce robust brews that highlight what a coffee is all about. Ever had a well dialed-in cup from a Trifecta or a Clover? Unique flavors can really sing when you nail temperature, dwell, and agitation. Good fresh beans can stand up and shout out of a good espresso machine if the barista knows what he's doing. Even a Technivorm or Capresso auto-drip machine will surprise you. It comes down to good beans and good water, as well as good technique. The tools vary wildly, and there are a million ways to a good cup of coffee.
 
Hi-tech, just like Gillette Fusion is? :)
Well, the reason I put IMHO in that sentence was describing my opinion on my experience, hence it is correct for me. My experience is that I'm yet to be surprised by any machine, let alone an auto-drip. And I've been to quite a number of countries, towns and coffee-shops to compare. Nothing in the field of a plain black coffee - FOR ME - beats a good cup of cezve brew. It's simply a different category. I do admit that things like espresso and various coffee drinks are best made in that particular way - pressure steaming, but that's a bit different from what I was originally talking about. Not to mention depriving yourself of the whole magical experience, just like people do with a canned goo and a mach3 in the field of shaving. Cezve is a straight of the coffee-making, both by quality and a skill required to achieve it. And this is exactly the perspective I was coming from when writing the first post, since we're on B&B - not coffeeforums.
Hope I explained my point of view, and no hard feelings :)
 
Love your cezve. I also like this kind of coffee. There's a thread on how to make Turkish coffee. Would love to have your feedback there.

Can we move the other discussion elsewhere. The merits/demerits of Turkish/Greek/Arabic/whatever coffee is a good topic of discussion, but it really takes the steam out of an acquisitions thread which is about showing off your goodies, for better or worse.
 
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Helping to get us back on track (sorry, guys) I've been enjoying my new vac-pot immensely. I've yet to bork a pot (though the first one was a tad weak).
 

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Four tins of tea from a local asian grocer:
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Sorry if the pics are a little large, but I wanted to show the labels, which have a number of miscalculations and contradictions regarding serving size, amounts, and calorie counts.
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I got them to see which ones I preferred before contacting netsurfr. It was inexpensive and a year old. I liked the Pu-erh and Green teas the best, and the Tie Kuan Yin the least, which I understand to be a type of Oolong. The Tie Kuan Yin has a slightly minty or flowery taste as compared to the high mountain Oolong. The pu-erh steeps quickly, no matter how short I make the first infusion I end up tossing the first cup out, but I may still be adding too much tea. I like the pu-erh best on its 3rd or 4th infusion. I have been sampling these for 4-5 weeks and have only varied the amount, water temps, and infusion times but never in any precise way. But I am starting to get more consistent results.
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Used too much, and it was a touch course, but it came out good and strong due to the two somehwat cancelling each other out. I've refined technique with a good grind, less beans, fresh roasted (within a week usually) and ground (within a minute or two) and 4:20 brew time. Yum. Yummy yum.

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If there's a way to use a yixing without being messy, I havn't found it, so I got one of these:

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And I slightly upgraded my espresso machine from a Via Veneto to an Aroma. Better pannarello design, and the top can preheat your cups. Yes I have the non-pressurized portafilter.

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Purchased a Presso manual machine. Although skeptical of its performance, I wanted to try it out. Made 4 double shot Americanos over the weekend. First 3 were drinkable and one of those tasted like something out of my Aeropress (which would normally be a compliment, but in this case looking for something different). The 4th shot was the best, something like a true espresso. I will attempt to post a more detailed review once I have used it for a while.
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