Coffee Appreciation

Beat an egg up in a cup with its smashed shell and chuck it all in the coffee pot on the stove. Stir it in and let it simmer for a minute and it’ll collect all the coffee grounds and drop to the bottom. Perfectly clear coffee. Tried it once, it worked, didn’t taste of egg. Seemed like a waste of an egg though.

You could use cooler water to increase steep time ;)

Eat the egg after if you’re really hard

Speaking of egg coffee. Vietnamese coffee filter in this video looks pretty cool. Wher u bin al my lyfe? Anyone used one?

https://youtu.be/cHnBx2kPueM

This is really good btw - well worth trying.

I have one, never really got on with it. Probably user error though

Looks like there’s two types; gravity screen where it just sits on top of the coffee and the screw-down one like in the video. Which one do you have?

Screw down, also had the gravity version for a while but ended up giving it to someone.

Been a few years since I used it.. Think I’ll try again, and be a bit more methodical with the prep method

This is fucking disgusting.

Similar concept to a Clever Dripper?

https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/clever-coffee-dripper

Sorta, but I guess Clever dripper uses a paper filter. Looks like a classic cup cone filter but with more control over brew time. Vietnamese one is good cos it doesn’t require any disposable parts

Can anyone give me a tl;dr on the state of the coffee market?
Seeing things like this about a regional glut/surplus: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48631129
But also plenty about strains of arabica dying out in some places.
What's the deal - is the future south american?

is the future fucked?

Ftfy, yes. See the xr & climate change threads.

In 10yrs the market price has stayed the same or dropped even yet beans at retail have doubled in price. None of that is reaching the farmers then?

My awesome Canadian neighbour distributes a bunch of coffee stuff in Australia... Got a deal on a Nanopress kit off him today, really impressed with the results... This will be my holiday rig, I'll have to get some coffee from Monmouth when I land...

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That looks cool

Anyone selling a Gaggia classic or similar any time soon?

If not, what else should I be considering as a starter machine? I was thinking of getting a Sage Barista Express, but now thinking something a bit simpler and repairable might be the way to go.

Keep eye on https://coffeeforums.co.uk/ sales threads.

Not sure if it was posted here already, this post about the newset model covers a lot of detail about all the versions of the classic and is a useful read:

https://coffeeblog.co.uk/gaggia-classic-2018-19-review/

Yeah I saw that blog, it's what made me think the new one looks like a good option. Only thing is that I'll be making longer drink a lot of the time but the low profile drop tray seems to sort that issue out.

Okay, how to precis the state of a deeply neo-colonial system that undervalues and underpays those at the far ends of the value stream.

Now the longer version.

Re: losing coffee and the coffee price crisis

. The continued low prices ( in real terms prices has gone down steadily for 30 yes) and effects of climate change / disease means that we are losing both growing ground for arabica and a generatiu of farmers in Central America who are becoming economic migrants, or simply don't want to take on the family business. Rich expats or whit saviours often fill these holes, somewhat elevating the problems. We are seeing new growing areas open (china, California etc) but not enough to keep up with the losses. That said there is an annual surplus of production. This is due to high levels of mechanisation in Brazil and v cheap labour in Vietnam. Both are producing quality, but it's mostly quantity Tbh. ( They are 1&2 in terms of production volume)

This glut feeds into the volitility of the C price. This is the price for Arabcia futures set by the NY commodities exchange. Here futures and derivatives traders bet on future prices and supplies. So crop warnings due to down years, frost etc can have significant impact as the traders react. This C price forms a key marker for the internal price paid for coffee in growing countries. So you can see how the farmers are at the whim of much larger entities, many of which have no interest in coffee as a product, just a avehicle to make profit.

On the whole the cost to produce a kilo of coffee is more than the price paid to the farmer in most countries.

TL:DR pay more for your coffee, and ask questions of the cafes and roasters.

@mmccarthy what was the adapter you used to attach an impact driver to a hand grinder?

Post up if you go for a new one, the review makes them sound great.

pay more for your coffee, and ask questions of the cafes and roasters.

I'm paying more, shop prices for beans have doubled in 10yrs but none of that is reaching the farmer it seems. Where would the price need to reach for it to trickle through to them?

Companies like HasBean seem to work direct with smaller producers. I assume that this includes paying a fairer price for the beans, but I don't actually know if this is the case.

Here you go!

https://www.shapeways.com/product/3TB9N9NS2/coffee-grinder-bit-for-drill-driver-cdp-l

There isn't a tipping point, and by pay more I mean, be willing to buy away from the big brands ans be willing to pay more for a cup of coffee.

It's obvious that you do both, so that's a great start.

beyond that, its a good rule of thumb that coffees that are more traceable will usually cost more to buy (and so the farmer is paid more), so stick to them rather than blends.

This really is a mine field though so the best thing you can do is research and or ask q's of your chosen roaster, if you're not happy with their ethics, then move on.