Coffee Appreciation

Ok, first cup with the Aeropress (inverted).

18g of 50/50 Monmouth espresso blend / Monmouth Guatemalan de-caff
Espresso grind
Water filled to "2", 2 mins sat after boiling to cool
Plunged by 30-40s

Added water to make a faux Americano. Only made 2/3 of a mug for normal strength, so it doesn't extract flavour as efficiently as an espresso machine (lack of the ~9 Bars of pressure I guess).

Tasted lovely. Smooth and balanced. Will report back if I discover any combination that tastes phenomenal.

I used to have a moka pot but although the coffee was good, I couldn't ever get it to stay clean. It always seemed to get a scum on it and I would have to wash it before each use which was a pain, I also couldn't use it at work.

I've decided that I'll get myself a porlex grinder but not sure to get a hario v60, an aeropress or another moka?

Hario seems by far the cheapest, easiest to use and clean and gives a full cup of coffee which I like. I've read that aeropress is easy to clean but is this true, looks like it might not be and was I cleaning my moka wrong or is there something you're meant to do to stop the scum on it?

Simple put, if I want a to make a good, full tasty cup of coffee at home and want the minium of fuss what should I go for?

Cafetiere is one of the easiest ways to make good coffee. medium - coarse grind, 4 mins, plunge and pour into a cup.
Down sides: Not such a 'clean' cup of coffee if thats what you like, due to sediment getting through the mesh. Also slightly more cleaning.

Aeropress is probably second easiest to make, and also easier to clean. Lots of online recipes and tutorials as well.

With a Moka pot, wash with warm water and sponge, then let all parts air dry to prevent mould build up.

I have a Bialetti and don't find it hard to clean; bottom part just gets a quick rinse, coffee holder/funnel thing gets a proper clean, top also just gets a rinse. Do it straight after you've poured your coffee and it's really easy. You do get stains on the pot, but that's just seasoning...

Get an aeropress, far easier to clean than the moka and it's hard to make a bad coffee with the it. Also allows for a bit more experimentation I think.

I clean my mokas like this:
-separate parts and dump puck
-hot water into base, top and filter
-using stiff brush, scrub interior of base, filter and bottom of coffee holder
-I use my finger to scrub as much of the interior of the coffee holder as possible
-rinse with hot water and air dry
-mould free for 6.5 years
...that is how long I've been drinking coffee

scrub interior of base

Ooh, la-de-da...

That's just the Kallifa, it always has dregs for some reason, the Kona never needs more than a hot rinse. And I am all that.

The aeropress is very easy to clean. Pop the puck into the bin, rinse in hot water and ready to go again. (If it's going in to the cupboard it gets a bit more tlc than that though!).

The Porlex does a great job but I hate grinding by hand every time I wanna cup of java... My nan used to make me cough grind her beans cough when I was a little kid on one of these things... It was torture then, it's torture now...

I'm getting Monmouth to grind my next bag of beans for me...

Pathetic.

^^reely?
<I use this at least once a day, and I know you're tougher than me.

aeropress is easiest to clean by miles. i leave the old puck in until i'm making my next coffee which is probably not ideal but means the puck has dried out a bit. fire the old puck into the bin and the aeropress hardly needs a rinse. no grinds going down the sink. i have the metal filter disk which makes it even easier.

TS, because you're worth it

http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/iberital-mc2-grinders.html

Dunno where I'd put that ^ in our crapshack of a kitchen...

I just need to man up, just had my first morning brew and it was deffo worth the effort... Gorgeous...

I'd grind the coffee and then be so pumped up I wouldn't need it any more.

A Manual hand coffee grinder conversion /drill power - YouTube

I just need to man up,

^This

Just got my free batch from eightpointnine. Tastes like shit in espresso form, but make it up into a flat white and it's pretty good.

Any reason why it would have been so foul on it's own?

I bought some square mile kenya AA from LMNH and my expresso that I grinded with the porlex was really acidic. i grinded at 3 clicks from the tightest setting. the grind looked ok compared with the grinded coffee I bought at the algerian coffee. I looked up on google and read that Kenya coffee are more acid but this was a bit over the top. What am doing wrong? Or am i Tika no taste?

What method are you using to brew your coffee?

I just bought a gaggia classic and the coffe I made with brazilian coffee that algerian coffee grinded was great.

Did the shot seem to pull quicker with the square mile coffee? You could try a finer grind, experiment I suppose. I use 3 clicks (porlex) for my aero press and I would say the grind was perhaps a tad course for espresso. Also you could play with the temperature of the water (if the machine allows you to).

There seems to be plenty of gaggia classic users on here so maybe hold fire and hear what they have to say.

Was the Square Mile Kenya an espresso roast (blue label I think)? They roast a touch darker for single origin espresso. If not it'll be a roast optimised for brewed coffee and I'd imagine it'll be pretty light to highlight the acidity.

Either way, lowering the dose can get a grip on the brightness, as can aiming to brew at a higher temperature, though that can be tricky on a single boiler machine. Read up about temp surfing the Gaggia Classic.

First Friday since signing up for the HasBean subscription and no beans have arrived at work yet. Could be snagged somewhere inside the office I guess, but it's normally OK. Have emailed and they're looking into it. No coffee for Saturday morning now. #firstworldproblems