Coffee Appreciation

We're at risk of just turning this into a James Hoffmann stroke off so I'd say if you're in the least bit intrigued, just watch it, it saves filling this thread up with multiple dissections of his commentary and findings.

What I will say is that what @StevePeel said rings true, is that so far from watching it I just seem to be coming to the conclusion that I should not stress so much about the "perfect method".

A vast improvement on my stingy 14g / 260ml / however long it takes to pour through - thanks! In-laws were out this morning so also enjoyed in my pants.

I think one’s degree of nudity directly correlates with pleasure derived from coffee, and lots of things come to think of it.

I’ve probably sounded too dismissive of taking care of the details when brewing coffee. The way I think of it is like baking a cake. If I want a really really good one I’ll buy one from a bakery because the equipment, ingredients and expertise are not reasonably practical to reproduce at home. If I want to make one for a loved one I’ll buy nice ingredients, follow a recipe and be generally happy with the result even if something didn’t quite go right, because it’s a cake after all. When I’ve made that same cake 5 times I probably won’t follow a recipe anymore, I’ll probably find some shortcuts and efficiencies, there’ll be things I’ll substitute and stuff I’ll skip altogether; there will be some variability but it will always be nice. It’s just confidence. I’m much more interested in eating cake than making cake.

Has anyone got any leads on Chemex filters? Can't find any on or offline at the moment. Things are going to get very real in our house soon.

Edit: Wrote amusing quip, then realised there are actually three coffee making devices I don't use, just within my eyeline as I wrote it.

This seems oddly cheap: https://www.caravancoffeeroasters.co.uk/products/chemex-filter-papers?variant=14345956935

@mmccarthy Although, maybe they have loads of stock due to no one buying them because...

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Have offered tech support in exchange for filters. Barter society takes hold.

Whenever I try to bang the coffee out of my portafilter the basket falls out. Is there a way to remedy this?

A ridged portafilter should help this

Hah! Was thinking that as I saw the shopify error. Good way to find some leads!

The spring should be tight enough to prevent this. Also tap it out on the edge of the basket instead of the handle. And you might be banging too hard.

Amazing. I’ll fettle with that. Thanks.

Just need to figure out dosing on the grinder and we’re there

@StevePeel and others - have YB espresso blend dialled in on my machine (sage with inbuilt grinder) but better half occasionally likes decaf so got some YB decaf ground for espresso. My issue is that the YB espresso grind is way finer than my machine currently grinds and even with a small dose the dial shows the pressure is way over where it should be and is over-extracting. She doesn’t mind that the coffee is over extracted but I just wanted to double check that this isn’t going to bugger my machine?

Sorry about that, we do grind the decaf finer as it’s prone to pissing through. Email the shop and they’ll send a replacement tomorrow (I’m still not back at it just yet). Cheers.

https://coffeeforums.co.uk/classifieds/item/88-weber-workshops-hg-1-2020-edition/

Is a really good hand grinder much better than a good electric one (I have a compak e5)

Also is it that the 83mm burrs and hand grinding produce less heat?

Climate change: Future-proofing coffee in a warming world

The Hoffman video pointed out the thing I hate about the aeropress, that the wrong way to use it, i.e. a really hard press, makes disgusting bitter coffee gravy, and that's exactly how everyone uses it.

Everyone buys an aeropress and forces out 2 or more drinks at a go putting all their welly into it. Despite the fact it can make nice coffee, the advent of the aeropress has just introduced the prospect of a new kind of bad coffee at work and every friend's place.

Everyone

I don't know anyone who does this with their aeropress.

Seems like we're both black and white thinkers

No one I know even has an aeropress.

My neighbour has just bought one and has been asking me for tips. Having never owned one, I feel bad that as the "coffee guy", I don't have any advice, but I also can't be fucked watching multiple JH videos for a coffee maker that I don't even own.

I've recently got one, am going non-welly all the way

The only "rule" is push down slowly really, over 30 seconds. Then adjust the coffee to water ratio and steep time to your taste. His video basically shows that everything else is irrelevant.

15g in 200ml for 90 seconds works for me. And a metal filter is far better.

^I find a metal filter is OK with the inverted method, but not as intended as you lose a third of your coffee before you can slow it/stop with the plunger vacuum.

Sorry to add more JF ref here but has he made no ref to his Aeropress video from ten years or so back? Maybe episode 12 is just a link back to it.