How do you make your coffee (start to finish)

[Mick]

My preferred method is the espresso machine. I guess I just like the "pomp and circumstance" associated with pulling a great shot. The attention to detail needed to get the last squeeze of flavor out of the beans.

BUT..... (you know there is always a but, don't you....)

I like my coffee "al la American"... Typical strong coffee with milk and sugar added. SO... I don't use my espresso machine as it was intended to be used. I don't steam my milk as I don't like every cup with microfoamed milk and I don't do latte art for my every day coffee.

So... How do you make your coffee?

Here is how I make mine every morning

I fill my coffee cup 1/2 to 2/3 full with whole (organic) milk. Pop it into the microwave for 20-30 seconds to bust the chill off of the milk and slightly warm the cup. Grind coffee and tamp the portafilter. Flush the heat exchanger to get perfect brew temp (200°). Pull the shot into the cup with the warm milk. Then if I don't have a full cup, I will add some steaming water.

I shoot for 18-20 second pull with 18g of coffee to 2.25 oz of water as my target. I'm still dialing in the electronic Mazzer so I am working with 17 grams of coffee (7.25 second grinds) but the espresso machine is still set to deliver 2.25 oz of water on the double program. Today's grind with the new timer and Mazzer modifications have been 17 grams on the spot every grind. I am very pleased with the consistency of the time based grinding as it has come out within 0.1 grams every time today.

Below is a collage of this morning's coffee. Today's pull were a consistent 17 grams (time after time) and just under 20 seconds to flow the 2.25 oz of water through the puck into the cup. 19.62 seconds is today's pull with the 17 grams of coffee and out of 5 pulls this morning the time variance has only been 0.2 seconds and this was probably my lag in starting/stopping the timer.

 

[Cobalt]

looks good man...do I love my coffee (and my knives) lol just getting into or atleast trying to atleast this DE thing as I am tired of buying cartridges and spending out the wazoo for them ...being in the profession I am in I need it (chef)


Anyways, what kind of beans do you use or where do you get them from I am in search of some good beans

 

[Mick]

looks good man...do I love my coffee (and my knives) lol just getting into or atleast trying to atleast this DE thing as I am tired of buying cartridges and spending out the wazoo for them ...being in the profession I am in I need it (chef)

once you get the DE "method" down, you will find you get a much closer, smoother, more comfortable shave from a DE than you will from any other shaving product. There are so many choices as far as blade, razors, and soaps/creams that the combinations available are almost limitless.

Anyways, what kind of beans do you use or where do you get them from I am in search of some good beans

I get my beans from a local specialty roasting house here in town. They have a single 25lb San Franciscan roaster and they keep it going all day (smells great). They roast about 30 different single origin coffees and sell a dozen or more house blends.

Today I was using one of their espresso roast blends (they have 6 espresso blends they sell as well as 10 blends they have made for local restaurants).

I want to roast my own coffee but the local roasting house is SO GOOD that I can't see much point. They have a selection of their roasts at the local Kroger, Harris Teeter, and Whole Foods grocery stores, all of which are a 20 minute walk from my home. They stock the stores on Monday and Friday with roasts of that day (dated Monday and Friday) so getting beans that were roasted that day are as easy as grabbing a lb at the grocery store. I let them "rest" for a couple of days before using them and try to burn through a pound before the end of a week and a half so that they are at their peak of flavor.

Your profile does not say where you are located. You might want to update this so that you can receive location centered help from other members. I can search for a local coffee roaster in your area if you had your area listed in your profile

To update your location profile:

1) Click Settings at the top of the page
2) On the left sidebar under My Settings click Edit Profile
3) Scroll down and enter a general location (how specific you want to get is up to you)

 

[Face Bannon]

I use one of these. Heaven.

 

[SIG9]

You guys are making me envious! I do a simple french press or pour over.

 

[rotarygov]

I'm a tea man myself. if I make my own coffee (which is rarely) it's half a spoon out of a jar, boiling water and milk. When I'm out, I usually have a single-shot latte.

 

[ByMyBeard]

I like my coffee straight: dark and strong. However, SWMBO likes her coffee light. So, we got a Keurig.

1) Open Keurig
2) Insert K-cup (this morning was Emeril's Big Easy Bold)
3) Close lid
4) Press brew
5) Enjoy

Perhaps not as perfect as it could be, but it's quick and produces a good enough cup. Then SWMBO can put her pumpkin spice flavored hot water k-cup in and get a coffee she enjoys.

 

[Redzone]

Sounds like all you need now is a Refractometer Mick
How are you measuring your water temp or more importantly the temp of the water as it hits the coffee?
My method now is swiss gold filter pourover these days but I do miss pulling some shots and the weighing and measuring etc

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

The Mrs. and I enjoy waking up to a cup of Yauco Selecto Gourmet Ground Coffee from Puerto Rico (4 Tbsp of coffee

per 12 cups of water in our "Mr. Coffee" Automatic Drip Coffee Machine

)...primo!

Why?

Because in our pinion, this coffee is full bodied (and gets you going in the morning!!!), with a creamy and rich taste with almost no distinguished aftertaste,

"I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon". President Ronald Reagan

 

[Stevew443]

I roast my beans every Wednesday for the following week. For my daily coffee,
1: Fill electric kettle with water
2: Light tea candle for warmer
3: Put filter in the Melita pour over filter holder and wet filter
4: Put filter holder on top of my 10 cup Melita pour over pot
5: Grind beans and place grounds in the filter holder
6: Put pot on warmer and pour water over coffee grounds
7: Drink coffee. No sugar nor milk needed. I stopped adding milk and sugar to my coffee when I was about 10 years old. When I was about 4 years of age my dad would mix coffee, sugar and milk and pour over bread for a treat for me, so I have been drinking coffee since age 4. By the time I was 8 I was having a cup of coffee a day, and by the time I was 10, I found that good coffee needs no additions.

 

[Bear1889]

Moccamaster all the way......

 

[Toothpick]

I've got one of those simple coffee pots. Only has an on/off switch.

1. fill the pot with water and transfer to the reservoir
2. put filter in basket and 2 & 1/2 scoops of coffee. our scooper is 1/8 of a cup
3. turn on
4. wait about 15 minutes for the full pot to be done. or usually just grab it when it's half full and pour a cup.

 

[bogiesan]

The whole pour-over scene has become a refined technique using specialized kettles and a surprisingly slow pour. The baristas performing in upscale coffee bars use a swan-neck or gooseneck kettle and pour very slowly into the center of the coarse grounds, wetting but not flooding them and certainly not stirring while in the filter. The process takes three or four careful applications of water.

I have tried this technique and the results are palpable. If you love pour-over brewing and have a bit of patience, you might give it a try. Youtube has a few videos that illustrate it.

Beehouse, Kalita and Hario are among the popular systems but just about any pour-over filter system can be adapted.

 

[Jasman]

My favorite method is still the moka pot with freshly ground Tanzania Peaberry beans, poured carefully enough to get the crema on top. As long as the Peaberry is there, I'll settle for the 4-cup Mr. Coffee drip option, though. . . but I admit I generally need (read: want) creamer for this method.

Just please don't give me Folgers, and I'll be okay, though.

 

[gearchow]

My first chore of every day:



Notes:

• Heat water while preparing the grinds.
• Boiling water carried from stove to heat the cup and then to brew the grinds.
• The scoop I use is from an Aeropress, two scoops is ~33 grams.
• The stirrer is also from an Aeropress.

-jim

 

[Mick]

I had a good laugh this morning.

First morning in a long while that I did not have some coffee left over in the air pot for a cup while I wait for the espresso machine to come up to temp (mine takes about 1 1/2 hours to get stable before I can start pulling shots).

The wife and I look at each other not knowing what to do. We are both in a blurry eye state from just waking up. In desperation I grab the tea pot which still has a cup in it from last night and pour it into both our cups and head for the microwave.

The wife puts her hand on my arm and says "wait.... Why don't you make us a couple cups in the little 2 cup Chemex while we wait for the espresso machine to warm up"

So this morning I had a blend of what was left in both of our Baratza grinders. 10 oz of Columbia french roast with 10 oz of Costa Rica medium roast. Great cup of coffee and it got us past the hour and a half wait for our morning espresso blend.

You know you are in trouble when you have to make a small pot of coffee to get you by until you can start making coffee

 

[YetiDave]

Grind coffee (Waring spice grinder) to desired consistency, fill basket of espresso machine, press go. Turn off machine, add sugar and milk. Done.

 

[StillShaving]

My favorite method is to make an Americano using a Presso machine. Where the steps are typically:

1. Heat water to a boil in one kettle or the other.
2. While heating water, measure out 15-18 grams of coffee. I typically do not weigh anything, just eyeball it. That is a wide variation but it depends on my mood and how much overshoot/waste/perfection I am shooting for, versus a lighter cup.
3. Grind coffee beans in a Pharos hand grinder.
4. Spank the ground coffee out onto a "chop and scoop" utensil for easier loading into filter basket. If I want maximum consistency I try to achieve that by carefully loading the basket with fluffy grinds and scraping away excess before tamping.
5. Fill portafilter handle (without basket) with hot water and let that drain into coffee cup. In order to preheat both items and rinse out any swill that might remain from previous cup.
6. Insert basket, portafilter, and fill loading chamber with hot water. Depending on how long ago the water stopped boiling, wait an extra 5/10/15 seconds before beginning in order to let it cool down just a bit more.
7. Lift handles to let water drain into pressure chamber and press to bottom. The initial plunge usually takes 7-10 seconds (more if you want it too). Hold for approximately 15 seconds total.
8. Lift handles and repeat press for another 10 seconds total. Basically shooting for 25 seconds start to finish.

There are lots of variations on this basic approach, including doing a single press or triple press; varying the amount of water in the pressure chamber, and total extraction time.

Here is a good video posted by guy at Oaka Coffee which will give you a sense of the process. He does a single press and produces a nice looking shot. Instead of the hockey-puck-lid/shot-glass I use a coffee cup and top the shot off with hot water to get a cup of black coffee.

 

[RobAtSGH]

Ooof. Too many ways. Depending on the day/mood. Short black, long black, Americano, French Press, pour-over...

In all cases, I start with a full-city to French roast from a local roaster. They roast daily, and are ten minutes from my house. Their blends are on the darker side, but not Starbucks-char level. Which is about my sweet spot.

For French press, it's two rounded tablespoons of beans into the grinder (Rocky doserless) at about #35. For pour-over, it's 6 tablespoons at about #20-25 depending on the bean. For a long black (cafe crema-style), about #14-15. Espresso drinks dial in at #9-11 depending on the bean/roast.

Pour-over is for larger quantities, for the most part. So, it's 32 oz of water from the kettle at around 200F. #4 cone, unbleached filter. Pour a bit over the dry grounds, stir it with a chopstick to moisten everything and eliminate air pockets. Then, just keep the cone full until all water's brewed through into a thermal carafe. Stir a couple of times during brewing to keep the grounds from compacting in the narrow part of the cone and slowing the flow.

French press (12 oz) gets rinsed with brew-temp water, dumped, then coffee straight from the grinder spout. Start 4:00 timer, fill 2/3 the way with 200F water from the kettle, then stir with a chopstick (they're plastic, clean easily, don't scratch, and won't break glassware if you drop your stirrer). Then fill completely, put on the top, plunge so that end of plunge coincides with timer going off. Pour into mug. Drink.

For cafe crema, I grind directly into the double filter basket and come up to just the lip of the portafilter. After tamping, this pretty much fills the basket so that the puck just touches the dispersion screen when the portafilter's locked in. Tamp level. Tap portafilter on counter to clear the sides of the basket. Slightly lighter tamp than for espresso, brush off any grounds on the rim, and get ready to brew. Espresso's the same process, except with a full pressure tamp.

I haven't PID'd Silvia yet, so I'm temp surfing the thermostat. Before grinding, I turn on the brew switch and run water into the serving vessel being used to pre-warm. It also kicks on the boiler, which heats while I grind and tamp. When the boiler light goes off, I wait 10 seconds, then run the brew pump for 4-6 seconds until water runs steadily from the brewhead with no steam. Then, lock the portafilter in and brew. I shoot for a 22-25 second brew time whether for 2 oz. of espresso or 6 oz. cafe crema, and I hit it consistently. For an Americano, I pour my double espresso shot into a larger cup and add hot water from the steam wand or kettle (if the wife's making tea) to make 8 oz.

Very, very occasionally I will add half-and-half or light cream to my coffee.

 

[BaritoneJP]

During the weekends I use a french press, during the week I drink the sludge made at work. Nothing glamorous but the truth.