I got aeropress mostly because of Scotto's thread. Plus.. all the reviewers, including hardbitten baristas, said it was kick-***.
The first time I made coffee it was wondrous -- not a hint of bitter and plenty of flavor (sumatran bean, not fresh ground). I am not a coffee drinker, in fact I hate the bitterness of regular coffee. I usually order a mocha espresso wherever I go. So I got kinda hooked! My regular Droste cocoa was replaced by coffee in the morning!
But the last two days I made coffee it was *very* bitter. I mean ungodly bitter. Also very oily, I felt. I tried both the costa rican and the sumatra I had bought earlier (not fresh ground). So that put me off for a few days. Then I thought it might be the coffee, and today I picked up fresh celebes and sumatran from a local grinder/roaster (Java Joes in Des Moines).
I made coffee 4 times this evening, and even bought a meat thermometer. The first time I used an electric kettle and my coffee mug -- at 175F, bitter. Then I used the kettle at a lower temp after washing out the mug, again bitter. Then finally I thought it might be the kettle, and boiled water (that's what I'd done the first time with the Aeropress too) and thought it might be the mug (old coffee oils) and used a new mug (my regular cocoa mug). Again, horribly bitter (this time at 152F).
The flavor is there, this is definitely not ordinary supermarket crud coffee -- the bitterness mocks me, because other than that there's nothing wrong with it. I know I'd enjoy it if that bitterness went away!
What am I doing wrong? Could my troubles have started (maybe .. I'm not sure) after I reused one filter twice or thrice? Could I have irretrievably spoilt the plastic mesh screen or something? I have never had a good cup of coffee after that experiment (I'd read something about reusing filters and non-disposable filters -- curse the day!).
I'm using a less than espresso grind (fine grind, I believe it's called).
Any help is much appreciated. This situation is most distressing, especially now that I've had a taste of that great aeropress coffee. A fortnight ago, I wouldn't have cared. Now I have lovely coffee smells in my car and my house -- and I can't drink a damn cup!
*** EDIT ***
I just remembered, around the time of the reuse thing, I also made two cups of tea in it. The tea was great too, much less bitter and very flavorful -- I don't know if the type of tea matters but it might've been a stronger type (one was oolong, the other I forget).
The first time I made coffee it was wondrous -- not a hint of bitter and plenty of flavor (sumatran bean, not fresh ground). I am not a coffee drinker, in fact I hate the bitterness of regular coffee. I usually order a mocha espresso wherever I go. So I got kinda hooked! My regular Droste cocoa was replaced by coffee in the morning!
But the last two days I made coffee it was *very* bitter. I mean ungodly bitter. Also very oily, I felt. I tried both the costa rican and the sumatra I had bought earlier (not fresh ground). So that put me off for a few days. Then I thought it might be the coffee, and today I picked up fresh celebes and sumatran from a local grinder/roaster (Java Joes in Des Moines).
I made coffee 4 times this evening, and even bought a meat thermometer. The first time I used an electric kettle and my coffee mug -- at 175F, bitter. Then I used the kettle at a lower temp after washing out the mug, again bitter. Then finally I thought it might be the kettle, and boiled water (that's what I'd done the first time with the Aeropress too) and thought it might be the mug (old coffee oils) and used a new mug (my regular cocoa mug). Again, horribly bitter (this time at 152F).
The flavor is there, this is definitely not ordinary supermarket crud coffee -- the bitterness mocks me, because other than that there's nothing wrong with it. I know I'd enjoy it if that bitterness went away!
What am I doing wrong? Could my troubles have started (maybe .. I'm not sure) after I reused one filter twice or thrice? Could I have irretrievably spoilt the plastic mesh screen or something? I have never had a good cup of coffee after that experiment (I'd read something about reusing filters and non-disposable filters -- curse the day!).
I'm using a less than espresso grind (fine grind, I believe it's called).
Any help is much appreciated. This situation is most distressing, especially now that I've had a taste of that great aeropress coffee. A fortnight ago, I wouldn't have cared. Now I have lovely coffee smells in my car and my house -- and I can't drink a damn cup!
*** EDIT ***
I just remembered, around the time of the reuse thing, I also made two cups of tea in it. The tea was great too, much less bitter and very flavorful -- I don't know if the type of tea matters but it might've been a stronger type (one was oolong, the other I forget).