Having a Difficult Time with Beans and Need Recommendations

After my morning shower and shave, I'll fix myself a cup of coffee via my Keurig single cup. While enjoying my coffee and watching the morning news, I brew a carafe of coffee in my French Press to take take to work. Not a fancy coffee for work, usually Peet's. On the weekends, I like to splurge a little and make a really good carafe of coffee via the French Press. Therefore, I'm in search of a really good bold coffee with low acidity, heavier mouth feel with notes of chocolate, caramel, and nuts. I gravitate toward Sumatra but have been trying to branch out and drink more light and medium roasts to see if I like them. So last week, I searched the internet and found Topeca Coffee Roasters in Tulsa, OK and ordered the Ayutepeque (El Salvador) and Manzano (El Salvador) coffees (link below) in the French Press grind. On Saturday, I whipped up my first French Press carafe (32oz) of the Ayutepeque coffee using the 1 large tablespoon per 4oz method and let brew in the French Press for 4 minutes and poured my coffee. Holy Cow, it was the most sour, worst tasting coffee I have ever had in my life. I could not finish the cup and poured the whole carafe down the drain. The next day (Sunday), thinking I did not add enough coffee to the mixture, I added 2 additional scoops and used the same brewing method and time, 4 minutes. It was still sour and horrible so I sent an email to Topeca asking if I was doing something wrong. I received a reply from them indicating that because the beans are a light roast, I need to let to coffee brew a little longer and use a finer grind to help with extraction. OK, I get that...but why did they sell me a French Press grind knowing that I would need a finer grind to extract the lighter roast? I have not opened the second bag, would it be ok if I use my grinder to grind it to a finer grind once its already been ground?

https://topecacoffee.com/shop/central-america/ayutepeque-el-salvador/

https://topecacoffee.com/shop/central-america/manzano-el-salvador/


With that being said, I ordered a couple 12oz bags from Beanfruit, the Kenya Muiri Estate medium roast and Old Route 4 Dark Roast and hope to have better luck with them.

Is there another coffee company that you guys recommend that has great coffee at reasonable prices?

Thanks.

If you have a grinder I would suggest you stick with whole bean coffee-This way you can match the grind and brew method to your taste.

Most of the beans from Africa (yes arguably) tend to be more acidic, a trait that I embrace. South American beans tend to be less so with a few exceptions.

Then when you are jumping around with various roast profiles you are really mixing it up! so what to do?

You could pick one coffee and play with grind size and steep times. A good place to start is 60-65 grams of coffee to 1 liter of water. Shoot for the grinds to look like coarse (butcher) ground black pepper for your french press.
Make sure everything is spotlessly clean as well. Old oils can really sour a cup. Simple green is a good carafe cleaner.

Keep us posted

Sweet Marias is a good place to buy green and I have for many years. They also, every two weeks, roast coffee for purchase. A good Grinder will enhance your coffee experience.
https://www.sweetmarias.com/store/coffee-list/roasted-coffee.html
https://www.sweetmarias.com/store/brewing/grinders/electric-grinders.html

A good primer
http://coffeegeek.com/guides/presspot

Good Luck in your quest!

I do have a bur grinder but I've never used it...almost donated it last year. I think I'll buy the beans from now on.

Many thanks gentlemen!

Ground coffee starts to go off in a few minutes. The exception to this is beans that have just been roasted. Grinding early will help cut the sharpness of too fresh coffee.

Try NOT to get your coffee pre-ground if you can

I am speculating a bit on the root cause, but even before trying to regrind the Topeca Coffee Roasters you could try making another French Press using slightly hotter water and/or a longer steeping time to avoid some of the sourness. If needed, putting extra effort in preheating the press and/or keeping it insulated while brewing so the temperature does not drop too fast while brewing. Unless you are getting your Peet's ground in the store specifically for French Press, I suspect it was ground for an auto-drip machine, which would be a little finer than your Topeca for-FP. So using your normal Peet's routine may not work for this coffee.

Another factor could that the Topeca is fresher than what you normally drink and you are unaccustomed to all the extra flavors, which when combined with under extraction produces a bad cup of coffee. I am not trying to insult your palate or coffee drinking experiences (which could be quite advanced). I am just comparing my experiences between drinking freshly roasted coffee to 6 month old maxwell house from a blue tub. Both can be satisfying, but are pretty different from each other.

Thanks StillShaving, I appreciate everyones input.

I use a Breville kettle that shuts off when it reaches a rolling boil but I'm not sure I could get my water any hotter. I will use a longer steep time and preheat the press before brewing. What is the best way to insulate the French Press?

Yes, I normally buy Peet's at the grocery store and use their grinder on French Press/Perc setting. I also buy the Sumatra and Komodo Dragon coffee at Starbucks and have them grind them for French Press but who know what setting they actually use.

I doubt my palate is that refined and you're probably correct regarding my coffee experience which is pretty much non-existent but I'm trying to learn.

The grinder that I've had for several years but never used is a Capresso Infinity Conical Bur Grinder Model 560. I also ordered two bean safes from Amazon to keep the beans as fresh as possible.

http://www.capresso.com/coffee-grin...y-conical-burr-grinder-stainless-finish.html#

I find the coffees with the lowest acidity to be the Indonesians. My daughter prefers less bright cups of coffee and those are the ones that I roast for her.

-jim

Your grinder should be more than acceptable for grinding pour over to press grind.

To check the consistency first clean your grinder out thoroughly (vacuum cleaner and brush).

Then grind a small quantity (5 gr or so) at the coarser setting (press) then use a tea strainer/sieve to pour your ground coffee through over a sheet of white paper.

There should be little to no fines coming through the strainer. If you see too much on the paper then clean the grinder more thoroughly (remove and clean the burrs, vacuum, and brush) and do another coarse test grind and see what the results are.

From what I understand if you take the cover off you can make a base line adjustment like you can with the Baratza grinders to move the "center" coarser or finer. You would need to google for what you need to do as I have no first hand experience with this grinder.

Check out Costa Rican beans. I've found them to be fairly low on acidity and with prominent chocolate, nutty notes. The sound like just the ticket for you.

Definitely just buy beans, especially if you already have a grinder. You'll be hard pressed to go back to buying pre-ground coffee once you do.

turtle said:

use a tea strainer/sieve to pour your ground coffee through over a sheet of white paper.

Click to expand...

To be honest, I do not do this step with my French press. The fines just settle out in my mug, and they just sit there as long as I am the slightest bit careful with drinking near the bottom. Just swirl and dump them out with what would have been the last sip, which is the same sip you would have lost to the paper you pour the coffee through.

Fines have never bothered me in the first place, so I may just be the odd bird in the bunch, but they are easy to avoid.

TexLaw said:

To be honest, I do not do this step with my French press. The fines just settle out in my mug, and they just sit there as long as I am the slightest bit careful with drinking near the bottom. Just swirl and dump them out with what would have been the last sip, which is the same sip you would have lost to the paper you pour the coffee through.

Fines have never bothered me in the first place, so I may just be the odd bird in the bunch, but they are easy to avoid.

Click to expand...

I find it almost imposable to avoid fines in the first pour/cup out of a press unless it sits for too long after brewing.

They don't bother me either

I was trying to get the OP to see if their grinder is consistent. An inconsistent grind can result in off tasting coffee.

Gotcha. I agree.

turtle said:

Your grinder should be more than acceptable for grinding pour over to press grind.

To check the consistency first clean your grinder out thoroughly (vacuum cleaner and brush).

Then grind a small quantity (5 gr or so) at the coarser setting (press) then use a tea strainer/sieve to pour your ground coffee through over a sheet of white paper.

There should be little to no fines coming through the strainer. If you see too much on the paper then clean the grinder more thoroughly (remove and clean the burrs, vacuum, and brush) and do another coarse test grind and see what the results are.

From what I understand if you take the cover off you can make a base line adjustment like you can with the Baratza grinders to move the "center" coarser or finer. You would need to google for what you need to do as I have no first hand experience with this grinder.

Click to expand...

Thanks...my grinder has never been used even though I've had it for a couple of years. Its been sitting in its original box in my garage.

Start using it.

You will notice an immediate change in the taste of your coffee when you start using freshly roasted coffee that is ground just before you brew it.

Ground coffee starts going off 15-20 minutes after it is ground

TexLaw said:

Check out Costa Rican beans. I've found them to be fairly low on acidity and with prominent chocolate, nutty notes. The sound like just the ticket for you.

Definitely just buy beans, especially if you already have a grinder. You'll be hard pressed to go back to buying pre-ground coffee once you do.

Click to expand...

Thanks...will do. Any specific brand or roaster?

Give these guys a try. Coronado Coffee Roasters. Great small batch roasters and very easy to work with. Jenise is the owner and she is very helpful.

Definitely grind right before brewing. Not only is preground stale but you can't adjust the grind if needed such as in your case.

Lots of good advice has been given about buying fresh whole beans and using your Capresso grinder. Capresso makes some good coffee gear, I never had any complaints with my Capresso drip brewer, it makes quite good coffee. My brewer was likely paired with your grinder in their product catalog as I remember seeing it before.

One other speculative thought - from what I have read Peet's has a reputation for darkly roasted coffees. This does not mean all their coffee is darkly roasted, but if what you typically bought from them was a dark roast, it would have shaped your expectations. In comparison the Topeca coffee you have is a light roast which will highlight more of the brighter flavors. You may or may not like these brighter (more acidic) flavors which are more prevalent in lightly roasted and freshly roasted coffee. The darker the roast the more it tastes like "coffee" for lack of better description, and the less of an individual personality it will have.

I enjoy some brightness in my cup, but the worse cup of coffee I ever had was some very fresh African coffee (less than a week old) that was under extracted during the brewing process. The combination of sour and brightness made for an undrinkable cup. That was what I imagined you were drinking last weekend.

This weekend your Topeca will probably be better even if you don't tweak things, as the brightness will start to naturally fade, but if you increase the extraction (hotter and/or longer steeping) then maybe it will be even better. Sounds like your french press technique (temperature) is more than adequate, though I would preheat the carafe to give it a slight boost as you sort through all the different brewing variables.

StillShaving...I think you're spot on! I've always bought a Dark Roast Sumatra, Komodo Dragon, French or Italian style coffee.

So, my question is...what do I do with my second bag (link below) of light roasted coffee to make it more drinkable? Should I regrind it?

https://topecacoffee.com/shop/central-america/manzano-el-salvador/