What did you learn from your coffee brewing method today?

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

In the past I was using a too high temperature (200-205F) and dropped the temp down to about 195F.

Today though, I over cooled the kettle down to about 185F and the coffee came out a little watery and weak.

Looks like the 190-195 temp is the sweet spot for me.

I'm switching between medium and dark roasts so it's a little tricky.

@JohnG

Here's an easy way to remember this...

Light Roast = 200F to 205F

Medium Roast = 200F

Dark Roast = 195F to 198F

Set your bloom times for 30-seconds, and following these temperature guidelines, you should have a tasty coffee indeed. And yes, I also agree, make sure any container you are brewing coffee in, is pre-heated, this way your coffee doesn't get chilled down too fast.

 

[JohnG]

@JohnG

Here's an easy way to remember this...

Light Roast = 200F to 205F

Medium Roast = 200F

Dark Roast = 195F to 198F

Set your bloom times for 30-seconds, and following these temperature guidelines, you should have a tasty coffee indeed. And yes, I also agree, make sure any container you are brewing coffee in, is pre-heated, this way your coffee doesn't get chilled down too fast.

That sounds about right. I think the thermometer on my kettle is a few degrees low, so a little below those numbers seems to work best for me.

 

[GoodShave]

Today I thought I would try using the Hario Switch as a V60. The Switch size is between the V60-01 and the V60-02 and the drain hole is likewise between those two. I could buy a glass V60-01 or V60-02 and use them with the Switch base if I really wanted those sizes (though I have both of those sizes in plastic already).

Anyway, I closed the Switch to warm the glass and forgot to open the Switch before adding the bloom water to my coffee grounds. This was a happy accident as it ensured that all the coffee grounds were wet. As soon as I realized my mistake, I opened the Switch so the water would drain. I think I will repeat that 'mistake' going forward.

 

[GoodShave]

Today I used the Project Barista Kalita 185 recipe with my ceramic Kalita 185 and using Wonderstate Coffee (Viroqua, WI) - Peru San Fernando (light roast). I liked the Project Barista Kalita 155 recipe (also on that same page) with my glass Kalita 155 brewer so I thought I would try their 185 recipe.

I have struggled to find a recipe that works well for the ceramic 185 as most recipes for Kalita are for the steel version and the steel version drains at a different rate than the ceramic version (or any of the other materials that are used for the Kalita brewers; see the chart found on this page for the different drain times by material). Note that I insert a Flair Pro dispersion screen in the bottom of my Kalita 185 before inserting the filter to remove any possibility of stalling.

The Project Barista Kalita 185 recipe worked very well for these beans. I was very impressed.
I thought I would share the recipe link for you to enjoy.

 

[APBinNCA]

Hmm, scanned through the linked article about the flow rates, have read it before. Sort of forgot about my Kalita after buying both a Stagg XF and then an X. That stalling problem is something I never solved; I would use a pulse pour method and carefully lift the filter occasionally, but that didn't seem to be enough. It really functions like a hybrid immersion brewer if you keep the water level up and avoid excess agitation. I found it useful for some coffees, but annoying. I will check out the recipe and see if I can get anywhere, thanks.

 

[The Knize]

Interesting stuff. Kalita was going to be a potential next purchase. I think I will pass now.

 

[GoodShave]

Hmm, scanned through the linked article about the flow rates, have read it before. Sort of forgot about my Kalita after buying both a Stagg XF and then an X. That stalling problem is something I never solved; I would use a pulse pour method and carefully lift the filter occasionally, but that didn't seem to be enough. It really functions like a hybrid immersion brewer if you keep the water level up and avoid excess agitation. I found it useful for some coffees, but annoying. I will check out the recipe and see if I can get anywhere, thanks.

I think stalling is more of an issue with steel Kalita Waves. I think that is why you see videos of people drilling more holes in the steel versions. I never had an issue with my glass Kalita 155. The ceramic is supposed to be better than the steel in preventing stalls due to the difference in the bottom of the dripper. I probably had a handful of stalls over the years with the ceramic 185 but none since I started using the Flair Pro dispersion screen. As always YMMV. That Flair dispersion screen really stopped my stalling issues with the Stagg XF.

When I was digging through my notes looking for stalls with my Kalita Wave 185, I ran across this video on preventing stalls: 5 reasons your pour over is stalling (and how to FIX it)

 

[AndyPanda]

I have a question and wasn't sure if I should just start a new thread or ask it here. I figure the people in this thread know a lot and might have some advice for me.

I home roast and my goal is to get good espresso without over-roasting the beans (Peet's and Starbucks seem burnt to me). My roast is still fairly dark but I stop short of 2nd crack (I end the roast about 30 seconds before 2nd crack would start if I continued). It's been years since I bought professionally roasted coffee beans.

I got curious to compare and today I bought a bag of Blue Bottle "espresso" beans. I remember BB as being top notch stuff (it's been years, remember) and to my surprise I guess they've been bought up by Nestle and aren't the same local (to me) Blue Bottle roasters.

Anyway ... the beans look good and smell good but holy crap -- the espresso I pulled from these beans tastes burnt like Peet's or Starbucks. I used pretty much the same grind and water temp as I've been using for my home roast and the espresso pull flowed about right, it just smells like a smoky fire. The beans don't look terribly dark and they aren't shiny/oily.

My best guess is to go slightly more coarse on the grind and drop the water temp a couple of degrees and stop the shot 5 seconds or so sooner. But I'm very open to suggestions. Anyone have experience with the Blue Bottle Espresso beans? I use around 93C water for my home roast -- I'm thinking I should drop it to 90C or even 88C for this Blue Bottle stuff and see if I can get something drinkable.

 

[APBinNCA]

My best guess is to go slightly more coarse on the grind and drop the water temp a couple of degrees and stop the shot 5 seconds or so sooner. But I'm very open to suggestions. Anyone have experience with the Blue Bottle Espresso beans? I use around 93C water for my home roast -- I'm thinking I should drop it to 90C or even 88C for this Blue Bottle stuff and see if I can get something drinkable.

If I am remembering right compared to home roasting, these companies are running the heat and pushing the beans to second crack quickly vs ramping down the heat right at or before first crack and allowing a good development time(smoke 'em good). I could be completely off, but I know exactly what you mean about pulling these shots! I believe when I worked in a cafe, this was why they used a higher dose(lower density) and coarser grind. That way you are selecting what part of the bean you want to extract and what you want to leave. Dropping the water temperature would work too, but that won't help manage pressure. I remember pulling something like 24g for a shot of maybe 36-40g, kind of crazy! You might just try your existing parameters, but pull a ristretto and taste it and see if it has less smoke... I guess what I am describing is a scaled up ristretto actually. Maybe 18/24g and 90C, after adjusting to get the time right(no more than 25 seconds I think).

 

[AndyPanda]

Well I have an update. I contacted the local Blue Bottle and they suggested I try their locally roasted (well two hours away in Sacramento - no longer roasted next door in Oakland). I'm still not clear on the relationship between Blue Bottle and Nestle - as close as I can understand it Blue Bottle still roasts the classic stuff that made them famous in Sacramento. And they give Nestle their roasting specs etc. and Nestle sells coffee on a much larger scale that is in Blue Bottle bags but with more generic names "Espresso" instead of the specific names that the local-to-me Blue Bottle sells.

I ordered a bag of "Hayes Valley" espresso beans and it arrived 3 days post roast. I followed their recipe which is extreme ristretto: 20 grams at 201.5F 28-38 seconds yield 16 grams
This is fabulously delicious espresso! Really wonderful stuff.

I have tried the same recipe and lots of variations with the Nestle roasted "Espresso" and at best I get something drinkable if you add sugar but not really delicious. Ordering the Hayes Valley is expensive $21/12oz plus shipping - but it is delicious! I'll have to see if the local-to-me Blue Bottle can sell me whole bean coffee no more than 3 day post roast - they are walking distance and it'll save me the shipping.

 

[GoodShave]

For a very long time, I have been wetting my fingers and stirring the whole beans with those fingers before putting the beans in my 1ZPresso JX grinder to reduce the static and reduce the ground coffee clinging to catch cup of the grinder. I did that based on a video I found years ago. That worked OK. It was better than not wetting the beans.

Recently, I found another video where someone was using a small water sprayer (maybe 2 oz or so) to spray a mist over the whole beans, then shake the beans to mix the water evenly for the same purpose. I went digging around my home and found a bottle and sprayer top that fit that bill. I measured out my beans in the Fellows Stagg XF drip cup. I pumped twice with my water filled mini spray bottle. I then covered the drip cup with my hand (to keep the beans from escaping) and shook the beans a bit to mix in the water. I then ground the beans in my JX and had very few coffee grounds stick to the grinder or catch cup. I was very pleased.

 

[GoodShave]

I was using the Coffee Chronicler hybrid Hario Switch recipe with Mayorga Organics Myan blend and decided to try using the Melodrip for the first pour (and do the usual immersion for the second pour). The coffee came out great with stronger chocolate flavor without any bitterness. I was very happy from this experiment.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Today I learned that I am getting old and my mental faculties are decaying. This morning I ground beans in my KitchenAid, put the portafilter into my DeLonghi Dedica, pressed the start button, then went to attend to my eggs frying in my pan while the DeLonghi worked its magic - so far so good. I returned after a few moments to find that I had not put a cup under the portafilter and my freshly brewed coffee was all over the counter - that is the second time this month. The only good news was that my wife was still in bed so I could tidy up and hide the evidence of my advancing senility.

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

Today I learned that I am getting old and my mental faculties are decaying. This morning I ground beans in my KitchenAid, put the portafilter into my DeLonghi Dedica, pressed the start button, then went to attend to my eggs frying in my pan while the DeLonghi worked its magic - so far so good. I returned after a few moments to find that I had not put a cup under the portafilter and my freshly brewed coffee was all over the counter - that is the second time this month. The only good news was that my wife was still in bed so I could tidy up and hide the evidence of my advancing senility.

Awww, I am sorry dude! I have done that with my hand grinder before, I forgot to attach the collection cup, and I grinded an entire grinders worth of beans onto the floor. At least with the counter, I am sure it was clean, and you could just re-use the grounds without issue. But when coffee grounds goes onto a carpeted floor with cat hair on it, nope, the grounds are done, gotta go in the trash. I am sorry this happened to you, I am not going to laugh because I know what its like. And I'd truly hope that your wife would be understanding about it not to give you a hard time, if she did know about it. I'd feel more sorry for you if your wife treated you badly over something you can't control. Its no fun getting old, you have my sympathies friend!

 

[APBinNCA]

This would be too much for the main coffee thread. I learned that if you don't grind your coffee fine enough, at some point, you can't actually fix it.

First disclaimer is that I am brewing freshly roasted coffee, this is my own fault. Second, I am using my TDS meter so this isn't based on taste alone. I used my Brewista Tornado again and the coffee is Ethiopia decaf.

Last weekend I re-calibrated my grinder so I could grind finer(espresso), this messes up figuring out where to dial for pour-over and this disaster is the result. I was off by a lot more than I should have been and still don't even know where to go tomorrow.

My first coffee came out below 1% which is not good, but confusingly it also took 4 minutes. It didn't taste right and I thought it was actually over extracted until I checked the TDS. The second cup is where the science experiment starts.

I made the mistake of grinding one click courser rather than finer based on the brew time which I still trust more that my TDS meter, well not anymore! Strangely, I got the same TDS as the first time with the courser grind. So I did what I had to do, I poured the coffee into a different server and then poured that back through the coffee. This took a long-dang-time. I was so board that I measured the TDS twice waiting for it to drain, 1.1%, still not there. Alright, one more time through the spent grounds! Many moments later, same dang reading. So how does the coffee taste? Like wet cardboard, tasty wet cardboard, tasty enough to drink anyway.

So what is going on here!? It's pretty simple actually, the grind particles are too large to allow enough of their chemical components to dissolve in water and are locking up the good stuff inside. This example is extreme enough that no amount of re-pouring will release anymore of the solids. It probably doesn't help that this is a very high density coffee which needs a finer grind anyway, but the roast level isn't that light. This is why I always grind finer rather than courser, you can always stop pouring and add the remaining water directly to the brewed coffee once you think you have a good extraction. This one would have been tricky to guess at even if I had a too fine grind, I probably would have stopped pouring too soon and under extracted it again. Aargh!

 

[APBinNCA]

Today I learned that my above post was correct! Again, a freshly roasted coffee and an educated guess where to set the grind resulted in the expected results. I got a 1.38% extraction and a great flavour for a decaf, this is right in my zone for decaf. Strangely, the brew time was as expected, no longer than yesterday's coffee. The only unknown is if my other coffee is just trash until I try it again, but at least I got the grind figured out so it shouldn't be.

 

[GoodShave]

I have learned that when seating the filters (that came with my Hario Switch) in the Hario Switch, that after doing the mountain fold of the filter, then a slight crimp at the point of the filter, that pouring water directly in the center of the dry filter will seat the filter perfectly in the brewer.

I then pour more water around the sides of the filter/brewer to wet more of the filter and warm the brewer (with the switch in the up position to save water). I then swirl the water that is trapped in the brewer (since the switch is in the closed position) around a bit to wet the rest of the filter and further warm the dripper. I then discard the water, add coffee, and follow which ever brew recipe I choose for the day.

 

[GoodShave]

I ran across this page last night about how to make cone and flat bottom filters fit better in your dripper. They also tell you how to re-seat a filter that didn't sit well.

How To Perfectly Set Your Paper Filter

in this blog post we are going to cover how you can set every paper filter in your coffee dripper, mainly focusing on conical filters and flat bottom filters. There are so many different filter papers available and while each and every filter has a slightly different result when it comes to...

thebasicbarista.com

So I tried their method for cone filters with my Hario Switch this morning and it worked well! I did not do the Mountain fold before putting the filter into my dripper. I will have to try this with some of my other drippers where the filters do not always cooperate.

 

[GoodShave]

Today, I tried the spoon method to set my V60 filter into my Hario Mugen and it worked amazingly well!
I leaned the spoon along the non-ribbed seam of the filter (after making a small crimp in the tip of the filter to help it stay open). When I finished wetting the filter, the excess filter will bulge towards the ribbed seam. I then push the excess into the dripper wall to fold it down.

How To Perfectly Set Your Paper Filter

in this blog post we are going to cover how you can set every paper filter in your coffee dripper, mainly focusing on conical filters and flat bottom filters. There are so many different filter papers available and while each and every filter has a slightly different result when it comes to...

thebasicbarista.com

I tried pouring directly in the middle and working my way outward with my Kalita 185 and that set the filter nicely as well.

Going forward, I will use these methods for any filters I set.

 

[GoodShave]

I had been watching some of the YouTube videos from Hoon's Coffee and was intrigued by his comment of mastering the pour dripper you currently have instead of (or maybe before) buying another dripper. Based on that, I decided I really wanted to figure out better recipes for brewing medium roast coffees in the plastic April brewer 2.0.

I ran across these two posts by James Perry Coffee that caught my attention. James went back to the original design goals of the April brewer to figure out how to fix brewing issues and to come up with new recipes. The second link has recipes but both links are worth checking out. Even if you don't use an April brewer, I think it will give you ideas of increasing/decreasing draw down times and coming up with new recipes for your own dripper.

Demystifying the April Brewer Part 1

My experience learning about and troubleshooting the April Brewer.

jamesperrycoffee.com

Demystifying the April Brewer Part 2

A quick guide to troubleshooting your April Brewer and some example recipes.

jamesperrycoffee.com

I also found out about the Eight Ounce Coffee website. They have a good selection of filters, drippers and other coffee things (including coffee). I am used to going to multiple sites to get different filters for different drippers (Fellow Products for my Stagg XF filters, Amazon or Kalita USA for my Kalita 155 filters, etc). I think I will try this site out for my next purchases.

I find it handy to occasionally read reviews on gear you already have to learn more tips. I searched for my 1ZPresso JX grinder and found out that in 2023, 1ZPresso renamed that grinder to just 'J'. They made the threads thinner on the catch cup and changed the handle design, but otherwise the same great grinder.