How are you grinding, if applicable?
How are you brewing it?
What’s your favorite brand of instant, if applicable?
Are you satisfied with the taste?
Do you need ideas on how to make it better?
I’ve been pretty poor lately (I was unemployed for a few months and my previous roommate moved basically in the middle of the night without warning, leaving me on the hook for the full rent) so I’ve been brewing crappy President’s Choice overroasted “morning blend”. It’s bad coffee, but it’s also 15$ for 1.8kg.
I’ve been coming back to immersion brews lately after a long stint of only using my V60 for pour-overs. My love for coffee was born out of a French press, and was pushed further by the Aeropress, both of which I’ve started to mess about with again. I generally find immersion methods more forgiving with low-quality beans than a pour-over.
I’m excited to start having a bit of income again, I can’t wait to try the new offerings at my local roaster. I’m lucky that I found work as a barista, so I do drink quality coffee most days. I just have to suffer grocery-store beans on my days off (that is until my next paycheck!)
Got a fancy new Timemore Sculptor 078s grinder this week. Noticeable upgrade from my Baratza Encore, but I’m still working on sorting out grind settings and general methodology. Static is definitely more noticeable now, hot loading is a new concept for me, still sorting out what the RPM settings are doing, etc.
Was at a farmer’s market where Catfish Coffee was selling bags so I’ve been drinking their Sunny Side Up roast this week. It’s a “normal” tasting light roast, I’ve never gotten any super exciting flavour profiles out of it, so it’s actually kind of nice as a way to play with the new grinder. I can play around quite a bit and still get a pretty solid cup of coffee, but I know it well enough that I can sort of tell whether I’m doing better or worse.
Ooh, the Timemore looks awesome, congrats!
This week, Sweetshop from Square Mile, and my standard El Carmen decaf from James Gourmet.
Grinding in Mahlkonig/Baratza Vario, to which I swapped in the Baratza/Ditting steel burrs and steel grind chamber, and every few months I’ll have another go at trying to get the burrs aligned perfectly.
Brewing as espresso, usually 17g -> 34g, sometimes longer. And V60 20g -> 320g, with varying pours and pour timings.
Favourite instant is the house brand from Lidl. It’s not good but it’s significantly better than Nescafé. Works well as a low calorie appetite suppressant, with artificial sweetener.
I’m not satisfied with the taste of the instant, but I don’t drink it for the taste. My “real” coffee tastes f-ing amazing, including the decaf.
I’d be interested in other brands of instant worth trying, and also in other decafs - I’ve tried a lot and this JG stuff is head and shoulders better than anything else I’ve found.
How is the decaf? I’m on a journey. Finished paper plane’s and not moving on to tinker’s this month.
The instant that I like, aside from Nescafe/Tasters Choice is called Colcafe.
I only see it in FoodsCo supermarkets, which are owned by Kroger.
It’s from Colombia, and it’s dark and smooth at the same time.
But as you say, nothing close to what I can get out of my flavorful french press.
I would be willing to try some of those Asian instant coffees, but aside from the Japanese UCC and some other brands, they usually come premixed with creamer and sweetener.
Absolute beginner here, don’t have any knowledge about coffee culture, all my life drank Nestle instant coffee so I wouldn’t recognize good coffee even if the best barista threw it in my face.
I’ve recently picked up a French press and cheap Melitta ground coffee and have been using the James Hoffman method. Today I brewed some freshly ground moka grains, also frothed some milk to go with it. I liked it but found it somewhat bland, maybe I made some poor choices so suggestions on method/beans are welcome, just fyi I live on a small town where we don’t have real variety and also it is expensive.
I wouldn’t say Nescafe is bad. It has a decent fragrance, and it’s smooth, but the flavor isn’t as nice as what I can get out of a french press.
Since I started french press, I found the taste so rich that I haven’t needed to add creamer anymore like I did when I was drinking instant. Drip coffee from a coffee shop now tastes like weak sauce to me.
Water temperature is important. Hot, but just short of boiling, around 195-205F. I am fortunate to already have a water boiler pot that heats water to a constant 195F, so that’s where I base my brewing recipes from. For those boiling water on a stovetop, it’s heat water to boiling, then remove the pot from the burner, and wait 2-3 minutes for it to cool to the correct temperature. Sample the water temperature with a meat or candy thermometer until you get your own setup’s timing down.
How long to brew though: Dark roasts are more forgiving, and I can brew anywhere from 4-8 minutes to get decent flavor out of them.
Medium roast brewing is trickier. Too long past 4 minutes and the brew acquires an astringent “rough” mouth feel.
Each and every different bag of beans or grounds that I’ve tried takes a slightly different recipe to achieve a decent flavor.
The moment I open a new bag of coffee, it’s a daily experiment until I dial in my process.
I start a new bag with the standard brew time of 4 minutes. Brew is too weak? Add a minute to brew time the next day. Brew tastes astringent? Subtract a minute from brew time. Brew reaches astringency before I can get a good flavor? Grind finer and start over.
One of the local roasters sells whole bean at Costco so that is my go to. I occasionally splurge on local fresh roasted single origin, one in particular that is my favorite local bean.
I got a cheap conical burr grinder 16 years ago. I’ve had to replace a resistor 3 times but otherwise working great.
I love to use my stainless French press but most days brew a pot on the Keurig out of convenience. The wife doesn’t like the silt and it’s not worth brewing two batches different ways. If I am alone I’ll French press it.
Removed by mod
Spending easter weekend at my in-laws, meaning Folgers K-cups in a keurig. I’m incredibly spoiled with my fresh ground robusta+french press+tablespoon of ghee, but honestly after an incredibly long day of two family get-togethers (stopped in to see my own family en route), I was just happy to wake up the next morning and brew something bitter.
Guatemala Proyecto Xinabajul Dos Villatoros from Sweet Maria’s, roasted just a little past medium, ground in a Hario Skerton by hand, about 5 clicks on the grinder setting, brewed pour over in a Melitta single serving ceramic cone. Bloom it first, pour splashy the second time. It takes about 2 minutes for the brew to finish.
I play with beans and roast a lot, I am pretty fixed with brew technique.
I found some instant in a Vietnamese market once that was interesting. I usually avoid instant.
Like I said, I keep brew the same so as to evaluate playing with roasting, but I am open to ideas, I could probably do it better.I’ve been adding long pepper to my coffee and it’s amazing. Going to experiment with adding olive oil too.
I’ve been back on a roasting kick, using a popcorn popper. It works surprisingly well, it’s cheap, and another fun thing to nerd out to! This week I’m brewing a few different roasts (all in the light-to-medium range) of an Ethiopia Sidamo bean from Sweet Maria’s (my main source for green beans). I usually do V60, but sometimes Kalita, lately using Lance Hedrick’s 1-2-1 recipe. I have a LIDO 2 hand grinder that I’m pretty happy with. I’m toying with the idea of sifting out fines, but I’m not sure I want to throw that big of a variable into my process just yet–differences between roasts and slight changes I make to pouring etc. are enough variables so far. And yes, very satisfied! This 1-2-1 recipe has allowed me to grind coarser than usual (I think because of how you agitate the fines out of the bed and into the filter, which slows the drawdown), and that has really helped with flavors. (Another reason I’m not sure I want to sift out fines just yet.)
I’m brewing “The Coffee Farmer’s Co-op - Organic Mexican Estate - Dark Roast Whole Bean” that I got a 2 lb. bag from Grocery Outlet
I tend to grind enough grounds for about a week, this time about 3 oz.
Finest grind setting on my Baratza Encore, which is still not anywhere near espresso powder.
Water is at 195F from my Zojirushi water pot.
After a couple of tries in my french press brewing at 4 minutes that resulted in weak sauce, I tried 5 minutes, and have finally achieved a decent tasting brew.
This is consistent with my previous experience with dark roasts: Longer brewing time is better, up to a point
This is as opposed to medium roasts, which are less forgiving: Longer brewing time past 4 minutes, sometimes shorter, results in astringency.
Have you tried the Hoffmann 10 minute FP method?
Stir briefly, just to get everything wet. Put the lid on, but don’t plunge. After 3 minutes use 2 spoons to scoop off anything floating on top, grounds, foam, anything not liquid. Put the lid on but don’t plunge. After 10 minutes, don’t plunge. Pour carefully into cup, without agitating the grounds at the bottom.
I have, and honestly I want to wait that long.
4-6 minutes for a dark roast is usually enough for me, depending on the beans.
Less than 4 minutes for medium roast.
