Grind & Brew

Well, my life is changing quite a bit (for the better). I have twins arriving in a couple of months! Just getting ready for them has been exhausting. I'm finding that in the morning the last thing I want to do is break out my Hario hand mill and water kettle. I really just want to pour a cup of coffee and move on. I'm guessing I'll have this feeling even more after waking up all night to tend to the babies. I'd still like to have a nice cuppa, but would love to just wake up and drink it!

So, thoughts on grind and brews? Best one? If you don't like them, what's a good convenient alternative?

Cheers

If its the handgrind thats killing you, you might want to upgrade to automatic.

I have a percolator, a few different drip cones, a french press and an old automatic drip. Fresh Roasted coffee in auto drip will fair ok, but you won't be able to pull all of the flavor out.

An automatic conical burr grinder with a drip cone is my daily driver, it takes a bit more time/effort, but its not that bad, I usually make the cup while i'm cooking breakfast, and its cool enough to drink by the time I'm just about finished eating.

As far as french press (or the "clever coffee dripper" that I have), its a bit less work, because you don't have to focus so much on a controlled pour, but you still have to boil the water yourself.

A proper automatic drip, which actually hits 200degrees is very expensive.

So my advice is to upgrade your grinder if thats feasible (which it may not be with the kids!) if not, just experiment with good coffee in your automatic drip, as long as it works for you, who else do you have to impress?

Good Luck!

I've converted my Hario to motorized. I use my cordless drill and it does a great job. Using power tools to make coffee makes me smile as well.

It has messed up the threads a little so that the top screw doesn't work as well. I guess this means it won't work very well as a hand crank anymore, but I don't care as I don't intend to go back to hand cranking. I'd send a photo, except I'm not at home. Pm me if you have questions or want more info .

Keep it simple. Buy a little electric bean grinder (Mr.Coffee) as well as a good old fashioned drip machine. This set up makes great coffee every time. Congratulations on the upcoming little ones.

I know nothing about coffee, but just want to congratulate you and your wife on the twins. That's a great blessing. I hope that all will go well for your family.

Thanks guys! I was just painting the nursery!
Yeah, maybe the grind & brew isn't the best method. I've read alot of reviews complaining about cleaning and/or units failing alot. They're also very loud from what I hear. Maybe I'll try getting a electric burr grinder and use it with my drip machine, or just buy some good coffee at my local roaster and have them grind it and see if I can live with that.

If anybody has more info on the grind & brew, have at it!

The birth of my first was what actually got me started on coffee in the first place. To this day, we buy preground coffee from one of our local roasters and brew it up every morning. I'm sure I'm missing something doing it this way, but I'm pretty happy with my daily cup.

A few ideas to consider:

• Get a pod machine. Your daily cup will be more expensive, but if you are only drinking a cup or two each day the convenience may be worth it.
• Drink instant coffee. Experiment with Nescafe, Folgers, Maxwell House, Starbucks Via, etc. to find something that you like.
• I believe there are few good Capresso grind-and-brew options available, that are capable of delivering a good fresh cup when you want it. Their brewers generally get good ratings and I liked my machine which did not have a built in grinder or timer, just a thermal carafe.
• If you like french press style coffee, consider an Impress Coffee Brewer. I recently ordered one on massdrop but it has not arrived for me to give you any personal feedback on its operation. But assuming it works as advertised one of the reasons I bought it was to get a quick cup of coffee in the morning. Not counting steep time, I figured it should take less than 1 minute of my time to total in morning to get the kettle turned on, grind some beans, and press. While I did other things in between these steps.
• Buy pre-ground coffee for your current brewer or something like the Impress mentioned above or an Aeropress. Otherwise an electric grinder would obviously be a benefit.

Shawn1 said:

Keep it simple. Buy a little electric bean grinder (Mr.Coffee) as well as a good old fashioned drip machine. This set up makes great coffee every time. Congratulations on the upcoming little ones.

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I believe you are better off buying pre ground than using a grinder like that. IMHO

Most coffee enthusiasts will tell you to get a burr grinder. The Hario mentioned by the OP is a really good hand crank burr grinder that many start with. It's great because it's inexpensive . Electric burr grinders are not cheap, unfortunately.

tclobaugh said:

I believe you are better off buying pre ground than using a grinder like that. IMHO

Most coffee enthusiasts will tell you to get a burr grinder. The Hario mentioned by the OP is a really good hand crank burr grinder that many start with. It's great because it's inexpensive . Electric burr grinders are not cheap, unfortunately.

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IMHO it is more about having fresh roasted coffee in whole bean form and grinding it just before you use it. However being an amateur I look forward to further guidance.

Baratza Encore grinder

Technivorm Moccamaster auto drip machine

that's all you need to know.

45 seconds to grind, 4 minutes to brew. If you want to make it easier you can get a weight based attachment for the grinder then all you need to do is press the button, walk away, come back to get the perfect amount of ground coffee with no muss or fuss.

Now if you want to spend some $$$ you can get a commercial Bunn but the Moccamaster should do you well for a fraction of the cost.

I find I brew in my commercial Bunn about as often as I do a manual pour over as the taste is just as nice with either.

skleice said:

Well, my life is changing quite a bit (for the better). I have twins arriving in a couple of months! Just getting ready for them has been exhausting. I'm finding that in the morning the last thing I want to do is break out my Hario hand mill and water kettle. I really just want to pour a cup of coffee and move on. I'm guessing I'll have this feeling even more after waking up all night to tend to the babies. I'd still like to have a nice cuppa, but would love to just wake up and drink it!

So, thoughts on grind and brews? Best one? If you don't like them, what's a good convenient alternative?

Cheers

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Twins! If just getting ready for them has been exhausting, your gonna need to eat your wheaties. What father among us didn't wake up just to check on our new born's breathing and maybe gently poke it to make sure everything was ok? Your going to be a zombie the first few months. I would definitely go for the easiest, dead simple setup.

Buy pre-ground, get a Mr Coffee or something similarly simple. Don't go the boiling water in the tea kettle route. Your going to forget you put it on. After things settle down, get that nice grinder and some different brewing choices.

Good luck, best wishes and congrats!

-jim

I've been using a kettle, hario grinder, & and an aeropress with fresh whole beans purchased from a local roaster. I think I'm going to start by just having my roaster grind my beans and I'll use my drip machine. I'll see how that works and then go from there. I'd like to keep things simple and also not take up a bunch of counter space with extra gadgets. If I pick up new equipment, it'll probably be an Xmas present anyway, so I have time. Thanks for all of the tips and well wishes, Gents!

skleice said:

I've been using a kettle, hario grinder, & and an aeropress with fresh whole beans purchased from a local roaster. I think I'm going to start by just having my roaster grind my beans and I'll use my drip machine. I'll see how that works and then go from there. I'd like to keep things simple and also not take up a bunch of counter space with extra gadgets. If I pick up new equipment, it'll probably be an Xmas present anyway, so I have time. Thanks for all of the tips and well wishes, Gents!

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If you are going to buy coffee pre-ground get very small amounts 1/4 lb as coffee starts to go off 30-60 seconds after grinding.

Coffee that has been ground for a week is pretty bad.

skleice said:

I've been using a kettle, hario grinder, & and an aeropress with fresh whole beans purchased from a local roaster. I think I'm going to start by just having my roaster grind my beans and I'll use my drip machine. I'll see how that works and then go from there. I'd like to keep things simple and also not take up a bunch of counter space with extra gadgets. If I pick up new equipment, it'll probably be an Xmas present anyway, so I have time. Thanks for all of the tips and well wishes, Gents!

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I use a tea kettle, Hario, cordless drill to run the Hario, and something called the Clever Coffee Dripper. It's similar to the pour overs except that it allows you to let the coffee brew in the chamber before dripping out, and is much less sensitive to your pour technique. It's kind of like a cross between a dripped and a French press. At ~ $25 it's a great option for just about anyone.

I find this method lets me make really good coffee without having to invest a lot of money in equipment and is quick and easy. I put the kettle on the stove and have the beans ground and filter in place before it whistles. I find this method takes a little more work than a Mr. Coffee but not much more time, and the results are vastly superior. The biggest downside to this method is if you need more than 2 cups of coffee at a time.

Thanks to the info I have read here, I went with the Barzata Encore and the Bonavita Drip. I also found a somewhat local roaster where I buy three weeks worth at a time. Our morning coffee has really improved and it really is easy to grind and brew each morning. All for under $250.

I cleaned my Bonavita yesterday, inside and out, and took some photos this morning while brewing. Gotta say the brew tasted better than ever.
.

skleice said:

So, thoughts on grind and brews? Best one? If you don't like them, what's a good convenient alternative?

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None of the above. It's the old "jack of all trades..." thing. Just moving to an electric grinder would be a lot more convenient for you but if you really want convenience above all else it's hard to beat single serve machines.

skleice said:

or just buy some good coffee at my local roaster and have them grind it and see if I can live with that.

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You can try that but preground is stale.

tclobaugh said:

I believe you are better off buying pre ground than using a grinder like that. IMHO

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I'd go back to a whirly blade before I'd touch preground but YMMV.

I tried preground from my roaster in a drip machine today. It was....not good