Coffee Appreciation

what kind of real man drinks latte?

One scoop of beans with the scoop that comes with the aeropress is pretty much right - verified by a friend who has scales - life is to short to be dicking around with scales IMHO.

i got a drug dealersmini scale from amazon for about £8. takes seconds to weigh out the right amount of beans.

if you want consistent results you have to keep the variables consistent too.

also comes in handy for extracting by weight when making espresso.

Has anyone dome any comparisons or Brita vs bottled? Been reading up a bit over the weekend, and it seems that whole Brita softens the water (slowing limescale build up) it doesn't significantly effect the ppm, which has a bigger effect on extraction? London tap water is around 400ppm I think, whereas somewhere in the region of 100ppm seems to be good for getting the best from the coffee (hence bottled water?)

tldr; can anyone taste the difference between Brita vs bottled water.

Socks, I've just descaled and backflushed my machine and changed the cartridge in my filter.
Do you want to come round for a blind taste test?

One scoop of beans with the scoop that comes with the aeropress is pretty much right - verified by a friend who has scales - life is to short to be dicking around with scales IMHO.

But with scales you can weigh the amount of water as well - like HB says, need to be constant.

Has anyone dome any comparisons or Brita vs bottled? Been reading up a bit over the weekend, and it seems that whole Brita softens the water (slowing limescale build up) it doesn't significantly effect the ppm, which has a bigger effect on extraction? London tap water is around 400ppm I think, whereas somewhere in the region of 100ppm seems to be good for getting the best from the coffee (hence bottled water?)

tldr; can anyone taste the difference between Brita vs bottled water.

I'm not sure I can taste the difference - but you're probably right. I found my water (N5) was very hard and so a Brita was an instant improvement. I just couldn't justify using bottled water, when I have access to guilt free tap water.

I got an inline filter (for use with a commercial machine) BNIB for ~£15, I'll plumb that in next to the coffee machine and see what difference it makes.

^^ set plunger to the bottom number, fill to top number = consistent enough water weight.

Freestyle aeropress is the riding fixed of coffee. Scales = gears. Find your zen. [/hipsterwanktalk]

^^^^^ I've tried bottled versus filtered as the water where I live is very hard. Bottled comes out better (particularly in v60's and cold brews) but it does depend on the type of bean.
Generally I use filtered tap though for the same reasons as Tenderloin.

Has anyone dome any comparisons or Brita vs bottled? Been reading up a bit over the weekend, and it seems that whole Brita softens the water (slowing limescale build up) it doesn't significantly effect the ppm, which has a bigger effect on extraction? London tap water is around 400ppm I think, whereas somewhere in the region of 100ppm seems to be good for getting the best from the coffee (hence bottled water?)

tldr; can anyone taste the difference between Brita vs bottled water.

have found bottled to produce much better espresso than Brita. Also, I've heard tales from various forum members of significant limescale buildup, despite using a Brita filter.

Where's cheapest to get Hario cone filters? Is there a cheaper alternative to original Hario ones? Is a metal filter any good?

questions questions questions!

^^ set plunger to the bottom number, fill to top number = consistent enough water weight.

Freestyle aeropress is the riding fixed of coffee. Scales = gears. Find your zen. [/hipsterwanktalk]

This is what I was doing pre-scale era.

weights can still vary by a few grams +/- as filling to the top can be tricky to measure, if you have ground beans slightly finer/coarser...

meh.

Socks, I've just descaled and backflushed my machine and changed the cartridge in my filter.
Do you want to come round for a blind taste test?

Ooh sounds good! I'll bring the aeropress too and you can try some of the sweet as kochere I've got before it's all gone!

RE water discussion. I have done some research too as the water here is hard as a hard thing. Consensus is that a Brita works but only for about 2 weeks.

Other more commercial filters soften water by exchanging calcium ions for sodium ions (usually). Neither choice sounded rad to me so I decided to try bottled water.

If you decide something similar, there is a good article on it here: http://londiniumespresso.com/blog/the-best-water-for-your-espresso-machine

TL;DR If you use bottled water, Volvic is a good choice.

Bottled must be so much better as you know exactly what you're using, unlike a filter cartridge that gradually loses efficiency over a month.

"Freestyle aeropress" = riding fixed but every time you ride the gear inches have changed slightly and maybe the tyres too.

^and your chains slackened.

^^ & ^ exactly how my bike feels each day....

"Freestyle aeropress" = riding fixed but every time you ride the gear inches have changed slightly and maybe the tyres too.

Also there's a weather factor(rainy/sunny), what bike you ride today(steel,carbon,bamboo), and many other variables, just like in beans (variety, processing, altitude, etc).

Freestyle still feels good though.

what kind of real man drinks latte?

My girlfriend. Plus a Cappuccino drunk at breakfast is perfectly acceptable #italianstyle

Fine, I'll look into the scales.

Cappuccino drunk at breakfast is perfectly acceptable

No it is not.

When should the lauded Cappuccino be drunk?

So 25 second pour, still too fast? How does it look to all you espresso experts?

How does it taste?

Actually really good, slightly sweet, bit of woodiness, not bitter at all and feels quite heavy in the mouth.

because of the crema it's hard to tell the volume in a timed pour which is why I use scales to weigh the shot and try to aim my grind/tamp for a 20-30 second pour to extract ~28g from 18-19g of beans.

Actually really good, slightly sweet, bit of woodiness, not bitter at all and feels quite heavy in the mouth.

Well then make a note of your settings :)

Then either try to recreate it or adjust 1 variable and see what difference it makes.