What Factors Influence Crema Production In Espresso? I need more crema on top of my espresso. What are the main factors behind producing crema when making espresso?

I hereby copy a very nice statement from the conclusion of Illy & Navarini's survey paper:

Most of the data reported in the present review may suggest that espresso brewing can be described as “a quick way to transfer carbon dioxide from roasted and ground coffee to a small cup by means of hot water under pressure”. This then leads to the facts that for espresso coffee, carbon dioxide has to be:

generated by roasting
maintained in the bean by proper packaging
maintained in the ground coffee
solubilized in water
released into the beverage.

In this framework statements such as “any error in grinding or in percolation, in temperature or extraction level, has an immediate effect on denounced by the color, the texture and the persistence of the foam” or “the foam is the signature of a well-prepared espresso” can be well justified. In fact, foam volume, persistence, and consistence are the consequences of the carbon dioxide content originally present in the coffee. In addition to the importance of carbon dioxide in espresso coffee foam, we believe that carbon dioxide can play a role even from a taste point of view.

Therefore; you need to find fresh nice Arabica beans, roast properly, degas for the correct amount of time, grind them well, brew appropriately with decent water right after grinding.

Note: Please see this discussion for the use of the percolation in scientific papers. It simply means brew.


How does distilled water or water filtered by reverse osmosis affect the taste of coffee? I've heard some people say not to use distilled water in pour over coffee because the lack of minerals will negatively affect the taste. Is there any evidence for this? How specifically does it affect the flavor and does the same apply to water filtered by reverse osmosis?

I've heard that the mineral content in water assists in the distribution of the particulate that's extracted when brewing coffee. While I've not used distilled water, I have used reverse osmosis water (I live in an area with very hard water). I tend to prefer using the reverse osmosis water to the tap water. I don't particularly care for the taste of distilled water on its own, which is why I have avoided using it in coffee.


How to methodically pick out coffee nuances I have been roasting coffee for years now at home. I definitely can pick out overall coffee differences (body, acidity, astringency, fruited, etc.) but when I read ratings and notes from my provider (Sweet Marias), I see very specific and distinct note descriptions of flavor that I don't necessarily get. Also coffees being 'sweet' is very subjective to me (I like pourover black but espresso sweetened). By themselves, I do not find most coffees particularly sweet in the way of fruit or sugar or caramel (from lightest to darkest roasts).

Is there a way I should be preparing my roasted coffees to notice nuances and pick out sweetness?

A well sourced coffee that has been properly roasted and brewed can be amazingly sweet. It's not the same kind of sweetness of cane sugar, but maybe milk is a better example. Milk is not entirely sweet when cold, but as soon as you heat it to around 130F, it's turns deliciously sweet.
In any event, you will want a lighter roasted coffee. I think it can be a strange transition for people's pallets, especially for people that have been drinking a darker roasted coffee their whole lives, it becomes hard to identify a light coffee with the "coffee taste." A lighter roasted coffee preserves the sugars within the coffee, and brings out the wonderful acids and flavors that come from the fact that coffee is indeed the seed of a fruit.
I think if I was you, I would purchase some coffee from a specialty coffee roaster (like: verve, ritual, 49 parallel, Intelligencia) and see if one of them really amazes you in any way, and then try and achieve that same roast profile. Other then that, don't always take those taste profiles to heart! They can certainly be different for anyone, and some often pretty silly.

Good luck!


Nespresso Virtuoline long pull vs short pull While using a Nespresso Virtuoline, the machine seems to read a barcode on the capsules which tells it how much water to use.  The high intensity espressos seem to give you a very small quantity (about .3 oz with maybe .2 oz crema).

I was wondering if its possible to make a long pull with the virtuoline?  Or do the capsules simply not contain enough coffee so it becomes watered down?

I've made a little bit research on the Nespresso FAQ and found the following:

VertuoLine - Can I make a Coffee that is larger than 230ml / 7.77 oz.?
Specific extraction parameters are set for each blend and each coffee
is developed from the interplay between the extraction parameters and
the coffee blends to guarantee the best result in-cup. However, the
machine enables brewing larger than 230ml / 7.77 oz. (to 500ml / 17
oz.). Check your Machine Manual or call our Technical Specialist via
our toll-free number.

It looks like it is possible, but depending on your machine type.


How do flavors like vanilla and hazelnut get into coffee I was at a local coffee shop today and I noticed for the first time ever that they served vanilla coffee. This surprised me, as I had not yet ever seen coffee with vanilla flavoring, and got me thinking about how that comes to be. Could anybody help me with this?

In a coffee shop (assuming both places like Starbucks or non-chain versions), flavour syrups are a staple. Some have their own range, others use generic manufacturer's that are also used in other cooking or bartending applications.

I'd assume a dash or two of these are added to your coffee and voilá: Vanilla (hazelnut/caramel/...) coffee.

Another option are flavoured coffee beans, but for a coffee shop, that's pretty unlikely, as they would have to keep various beans at hand and switch between orders.


Where to buy small batches of unroasted beans I want to dabble in home roasting.

Where can one typically source unroasted beans from? Do roasters typically sell unroasted beans to the public? I have never seen unroasted beans for sale in a store.

I'm not asking for specific store or supplier recommendations, more so the general avenues to source unroasted beans.

There are several websites that sell unroasted or green beans in a range of quantities and will ship.  I have heard that Costco or maybe it was Sam's Club were selling them as well (albeit in larger quantities).  Keep in mind that shipping can be prohibitively expensive for small quantities.  I order 12 pounds at a time from Sweet Marias and they ship in a flat rate USPS box; so shipping is very reasonable and only adds roughly a dollar per pound (for a twelve pound order).

I know are other good websites out there, but Sweet Marias has provided me with excellent customer service when I've had order issues (burst bags in shipping) and their website is very thorough, including forums, education and product reviews/recommendations.


Is there a method to make flavored coffee without syrups? As far as I've seen, flavored coffee is created by putting the beans in a tumbler with the desired syrup flavor.

Is there a method to create flavored coffee without using syrups or other sweeteners?

I believe there are several ways to make flavoured coffees without syrup or sweetener.

For example, I make vanilla coffee by mixing fresh vanilla seeds with finely ground medium-roast coffee, and seal the mixture for some time (duration depends on the weather). The result is quite nice, with a slight touch of vanilla. This is not a product---just for personal use and still exploring. The difference with syrup or essence or flavouring is that the touch feels lighter and more natural.

A basic mechanism here is to mix ground coffee with some spice, and let the mixture sleep for flavour to spread.

Another mechanism is to put some spice directly in a container with roasted beans. This seems more appropriate for spices like cinnamon (no need to extract seeds like for vanilla).

I have not tried to mix spices with green beans, as the roasting stage changes a lot of things, but that should be an interesting path.


Does coffee really reduce the risk of Alzheimer's? Many medical websites suggest so. If yes, then how? Alzheimer's is primarily incurable but then it can be delayed, how can coffee play a role?

References:

Pubmed - Caffeine as a protective factor in dementia and Alzheimer's disease
Medical Daily - Drinking Coffee Can Lower Alzheimer's Risk By 20%, All It Takes Is 3 Cups A Day
Alzheimers.org - Drinking coffee reduces your risk of dementia, says study

tl;dr: Not sure yet, but it looks promising

So there are a whole bunch of studies that have been done that have investigated a potential link between coffee consumption and Alzheimers.
The problem, as always, is that these types of 'cohort studies' are really difficult. Basically the way it works is:

Get a load of volunteers
By doing questionnaires, work out everything about them
Track them over a long period of time
See if there's a statistically significant link between combinations of behaviours (such as drinking coffee) and a particular outcome (diagnosis of Alzheimers)

All the standard stuff applies here: you are not testing for causation, only for correlation. For example, ~80% of Americans drink coffee, but in other cultures this number varies a lot. If the coffee drinkers in your study are predominantly American, and the non-coffee drinkers are predominantly not, you have a whole bunch of confounding factors. Designing your study to avoid this kind of situation is really hard, especially when you're relying on volunteers.
There's also the issue of what exactly are you measuring? Someone might drink 3 cups a day now, but only has done for the past few years. Another person might drink 2 cups a day, but has done their whole life. Another person might drink 2 cups of decaff a day. Questionnaires are usually not sophisticated enough to capture this level of detail (partly because in your big expensive study you want to capture as much information about different behaviours as possible - not just coffee consumption).
Remember also that medical studies are chronically badly reported in the mainstream press. Even in 'high-brow' publications, by the time the headline-writers get their hands on a study, the message can have changed wildly. It's always worth trying to dig up the actual paper whenever new research is mentioned in the news. If no paper is linked, just ignore the headline.
One tool against all of this uncertainty is meta-analysis. This is where you look at every single study, weighted by how confident you are in the data (e.g. by weighting more to studies with more participants, and better questionnaires etc.). You then do some careful statistics work to get a measure of confidence across all of the studies. Think of it as a sophisticated way of 'averaging them out'.
One of these was done in 2002. Only 4 studies had been done by then, but the conclusion was:

Although our pooled estimates show that coffee consumption is inversely associated with the risk of AD, the four studies had heterogeneous methodologies and results. Further prospective studies evaluating the association between coffee consumption and AD are strongly needed.

(Heterogeneous is science for 'different')
i.e., "Not sure yet, not enough data, but it looks promising, give us more money for research."


Cold brew concentrate too light I've got a Takeya pitcher with a fine mesh insert that I've been using to cold brew. I fill the mesh with coffee and then as much water as will fit in the pitcher. Typically brew for 24hrs shaking it occasionally.
I like what's Starbucks offers (yeah I know) but I'm finding that mine is coming out much lighter in color and more watered down tasting. I've gone as far as not diluting it after brewing and it still seems light.
Any suggestions?

Did you follow recipe procedures (with all due respect)?

up the amount of coffee to water ratio. Cold brews will use at about double the amount of a hot brew.
grind beans for cold brew? I've heard that you can go as fine as drip maker or as coarse as French press. If you feel that the ratio is correct and that you feel that the results are still weak, then you will want a more finer grind - but the suggestion is not to go finer than drip.
use an arabica bean. Again with all due respect, cold brews work well to tone down some of the bitterness while retaining the other aromas. This translates to using arabica over a robusta.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out? And I actually like the Starbucks cold brews.


How can I improve this Chemex cold brew method? I do like my cold brewed coffee but it's difficult and inconvenient for me to make and keep in work due to the time it takes to steep, shared fridge space, etc.

I came across this method recently...

  The iced method isn’t complicated. Basically, you prepare brewed coffee as you normally would, only you use half hot water, half ice you put in the bottom of the vessel. The hot, fresh coffee drips directly onto ice so that it’s cool and ready to drink right away.

I've now tried it a few times using my small chemex and a ratio of 2:1 (water to ice) rather than 50:50. I'm trying the pour over much more slowly than I normally would to maximise the extraction while using less water.

I can't really fault the taste, the flavour is still great, the finish is less acidic but obviously more watery. So while this method is indeed quick and uncomplicated I'm curious about 2 things:

What else can I do to compensate for the extraction difference? I would really prefer it to be less watery.
Am I potentially going to crack the pot with the combination of hot and cold? I can't find any info on temperature variances on the Chemex site.

Edited to add information...

For a hot-brew I normally use  using 300ml hot water for 21g of grind. Here I'm using 200ml hot water in the pour over, to compensate for the 100g of ice that melts.

I'm taking 6-7 minutes with the pour. Normally I would take 3 minutes.

I'm making my grind slightly finer in order to extend time it takes the water to drip through. I would consider it to be medium-fine.

What you're talking about is the "Japanese iced coffee" method, which is hot-water brew directly over ice. In contrast, cold-brew is using cold water in contact with the grounds. See techniques at other questions tagged as cold-brew.

This article from Counter Culture, also referenced in the article you linked, suggest Japanese iced as an alternative to cold brew. The articles suggest that directly brewing hot coffee over ice retains more of the volatile flavour compounds.

If you have had true cold-brew before, most methods use several times as much coffee grounds to brew as with other methods (some then dilute this with, e.g., water or milk). For example, normalized to a 200mL "cup" (~6.5 fl.oz.) of brewed coffee: Blue Bottle suggests about 3x more coffee for cold brew (45g per 200mL) than for drip (14g per 200mL). If you're coming from that strength, it's no wonder you're finding it watery.

To your first question: If you want a stronger brew, why not simply use more coffee grounds? Your amount (21g grounds to 300g water+ice is about 14g/200mL cup) is already at the higher end of the spectrum for drip coffee; the industry standard is closer to 7g per cup/dose. But if you want it stronger, use more beans!

On your other question: this temperature change shouldn't be an issue. You said you're using a Chemex (e.g., classic 3-cup) -- it is made from Pyrex brand borosilicate glass, which has very good thermal shock properties. Even a lesser glass (e.g., non-tempered soda-lime glass) shouldn't be a problem at these temperatures (slowly dripping boiling water onto ice). (However, for example, ice into glass at oven temperatures could certainly be a problem).


What are the basics of creating an espresso blend? Having roasted almost exclusively single origins, tackling blends seems somewhat daunting.

What are the basic elements of an espresso blend that make it particularly good for the espresso application, over and against a non-espresso blend?

What comprises an espresso blend?

The basics of blending consists of finding the lost flavors of one specific single origin bean in another bean. Therefore perfecting both (or many) beans in the same cup.

As a result, a good blend mostly has many axes. For example, the timing is important. Palate has a base, mid flavors and finishing flavors. When you taste the cup you first taste the base, then the middle flavors. Finishing flavors remain for a while. A blend tries to balance this.

Also, the balance in between sweetness, bitterness could be managed with the selected single origin beans. Acidity or body could be set to desired levels. All of these could be crafted on all axes to perfection.

The espresso blend

As a result of the preparation technique, espresso is acidic and less bodily then its counterparts. As a result, when espresso blends are prepared, less acidic and more bodily origins are preferred.

Another observable difference in espresso blends is their roast. Darker roasts makes any origin less acidic and more bodily. So, many espresso blends are roasted a bit darker than normal to achieve a better flavor.


What to use in place of gooseneck kettle? To make pour over coffee can I use a cup to pour the water on the grounds? How can I best approximate the proper water temperature? I do have a kettle to boil the water but a cup gives me more control in the process.

There are two important factors here: temperature and control.
Temperature
Temperature is probably the most important factor here. You don't want the temperature to be too low, when that's the case you won't be able to extract all that you want. You can easily ensure you're not using water that's too cold, either by pouring straight from the kettle (goose-neck or otherwise) or by preheating the pouring vessel (e.g. your pouring cup).
Control
Control is important for pour over brews, but it's not absolutely necessary. You can simply use a regular kettle to pour but you'll have less control over the flow rate (how fast water flows out) and where you irrigate the grounds.

So it's definitely possible to use a (pouring) cup instead of a goose-neck kettle, just make sure it's pre-heated.


How often must I clean my Wilfa grinder I have a Wilfa electric coffee grinder.
How often should I clean it?

It really depends on how much coffee you grind per day. Say, If you're going through about 100 gm (or lower even) of coffee every day, you should clean

The beans chute and the burrs once a month or two.

The grinds catch around once a week. Your grinds catch needs cleaning more often than the chute and the burrs themselves.

Also for the chute or any of the internals (especially the burrs), Don't use water for cleaning.
TLDR: Clean the grinds catch often and rest once a month or two for regular coffee use.


What is a FlavorLock™ bag? What is a FlavorLock™ bag? Why it is important for wrapping coffee product or even pet food? Does it have any effect to the product inside if we use an ordinary bag?

This question is actually answered on the website of the coffee producer.

To summarize, the roasting process of coffee produces carbon dioxide inside the beans, which takes a while to find its way out. Sealing the coffee in tight containers would be problematic, as the carbon dioxide would stay in the beans in this way (making the coffee sour) or may let the bag burst over time.

However, not sealing coffee bags is not a solution either, as exposure to air lets the coffee get stale after a while. As supermarket coffee is unfortunately often stored for long period of time before sold, this would be problematic.

So the solution is to either (1) use a one-way valve that allows the carbon dioxide to escape from the bag without the air coming into the bag, or (2) to let the beans degas before sealing them airtight in bags. Solution (1) is probably best for fresh coffee, so it is used here. I don't know what problem is solved with such valves in pet food containers.


What is the best way to clean a refractometer? I just purchased a refractometer and the manual mentioned cleaning it very often and very emphatically.  So what is the best way to clean it?  It is a VST inc Lab Coffee iii Digital Refractometer.

I'm sure there are instructions on maintenance and cleaning in the refractometers manual. However with distilled water and soft towels/tissues and/or Q-tips for the edges (be careful not to scratch the prism with the plastic handle) you can get rid of all the residue. Don't use alcohol or something like that. If the oils don't come off or if it's really dirty you could use a little bit of mild detergent in the water and wipe it with distilled water at the end to get rid of any detergent residue.


What is the limit to the amount of coffee one can consume? NOTE: I'm not a coffee expert and I rarely drink coffee so layman terms would be greatly appreciated.

Is there a "safety limit" to the amount of coffee one can drink?
What are the negative consequences to ones health as a direct consequence of consuming high amounts of caffeine?

Let's look at this from the worst case:

The LD50 for caffeine is around 150-200mg/kg body weight for a healthy adult or 10g1. The caffeine content of a "cup of coffee" (however you define it) varies with beans, roast and preparation method, but according to Wikipedia, (50-)75-100 cups of drip coffee get you in the lethal ballpark. (More caffeine math on this site.) This is an amount of fluid that you can't ingest without other severe complications, but deaths by pure caffeine, e.g. in tablets can happen.

If you don't kill yourself, the next serious outcome is caffeine intoxication, caused by single doses of about half the LD50 or 400-500mg:

  The symptoms of caffeine intoxication are comparable to the symptoms of overdoses of other stimulants: they may include restlessness, fidgeting, anxiety, excitement, insomnia, flushing of the face, increased urination, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irritability, irregular or rapid heart beat, and psychomotor agitation.[95] In cases of much larger overdoses, mania, depression, lapses in judgment, disorientation, disinhibition, delusions, hallucinations, or psychosis may occur, and rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue) can be provoked.[99][100]
  (Source)

Everything else is a question of your metabolism and caffeine tolerance vs. desired and undesirable effects. For example: coffee is a stimulant that counters fatigue and drowsiness - and thus can keep you awake if it's not metabolized when you want to sleep.

There is no general "safety threshold", but if you look at the recommendation of both the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the UK Food Standards Agency for pregnant women, the 200mg caffeine per day deemed safe for them2 should be more than safe for every other healthy adult.

1 Sources vary between 5-30g, but LD50 rates for humans aren't exactly a field of much experimentation.

2 Pregnant women show a decreased caffeine metabolism (up to 15 hours vs. 3-4 hours in non-pregnant women) and there is a large safety margin to protect the unborn child.


Coffee on daily basis I was wondering if coffee has serious health issues because I take coffee on daily basis. Can anyone tell me what are the possible health issues on consuming the coffee on daily basis?

Coffee and in particular caffeine, has had a reputation of being bad for your health, possibly being associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke, and your heart health in general.  Current consensus is that there may actually be some health benefits from drinking coffee, and those that drink moderate amount of coffee (3-5 cups) have lower risk with these particular issues.

A couple of things to note, these results have been found to be associated with black coffee, not including the effects of sweeteners or dairy added to the drink.  These additions may have other effects stemming from the sugars they add to you beverage. Also, some evidence has been found linking coffee prepared in a method that does not use a paper filter (e.g. french press) with increased cholesterol levels.


Why does the gas from degassing ground coffee smell bad? I have a jar with ground coffee stored in a cupboard. Every time I open that cupboard a specific smell gets out, one that can surely be associated with coffee but that is not the same one that you can smell when opening the jar.

That smell is something like the "bad version" of that good and invigorating smell of ground coffee. Is not pleasant, and more acute.

Why does that gas have a different smell? Is it due to carbon dioxide and/or the polyphenols?

My guess, based on what you've said, is that the two processes involved (that are giving you the off-smells) are oxidation and rancidification.

Rancidification ("going rancid") is a process by which fats (oils) break down into... other chemicals you don't want (and smell bad). The smell could be described as rank or rotten.

Oxidation is another class of chemical reaction that could also produce off-smells and tastes. This could be caused by contact with air (specifically, for example, oxygen) or other factors.

More broadly, autolysis describes other factors of, for example, plant material breaking down by itself over time (e.g., self-degredation by a cell's own enzymes). There are likely other factors like this, if you store coffee (especially pre-ground!) for any length of time.

These descriptions are admittedly non-technical. If you're looking for more, ping me in comments.

See also this question and its answers: When does coffee go off?  It discusses oxidation and other factors.


Which type of coffee grinder is the quietest? Perhaps my question should be "What is the best type of grinder to use at my desk if I work in a cubicle and use a French Press?".

I have tried finding decibel measurements on Amazon's website, but most of the coffee grinders listed don't specify them.

First, lets ignore blade grinders entirely.  Any grinder that doesn't have a motor will be relatively quiet.  You'll be at the mercy of the crunching beans, but that's it.  Add to this that the more the grinder weighs, or the more "heft" it has to it, the quieter it will typically be due to the additional mass damping any vibration.  When adding a motor to the mix, each step between the motor and the burrs adds an opportunity for noise.  As such, a direct drive grinder will typically be quieter than anything involving a gearbox.

The pecking order is basically...

Hand Grinder --> Direct Drive Flat Burr --> Direct Drive Conical Burr --> Gear-Reduced Burr

While Decibel ratings are available from most manufacturers, they're difficult to translate into a subjective estimate of "harshness."  I deal with these regularly and found that some of my favorite grinders are technically louder than several others, including the Baratza Vario. The difference is that they have a much more mellow drone rather than the gear motor's quieter whine.


What skills/techniques are necessary for making espresso? I'm considering buying an espresso machine, as an experiment. (I have a number of concerns, including expense, counter space, and my spouse's patience, but I also want to move beyond the pre-determined menu items in the coffee shops.) I know it's a complex process with many variables, requiring good technique; I also know that it invites obsession. And I don't need any more obsessions than I already have. I just want to make good coffee and get on with my day. So here's my question: what is the minimum set of skills/techniques/conditions that you need to master in order to produce good espresso?

If the concern is solely production of great espresso, I would argue that the 'skillset' required actually consists of a single point.

Palate. Being able to discern flavours and work out what is good and bad about any shot is essential in being able to improve your espresso.

This is a skill that you'll need to train and perfect but is the only necessary ability in making good espresso.

The real bulk of what makes espresso great is simply being able to control the factors and variables in making it which requires an ability to taste what is wrong with any given shot. I wouldn't say the specific factors that contribute to good espresso are skills (as skills are traits of the barista), but are simply parameters that is up to you to modify and control.

The parameters you need to keep in mind when making espresso are:

Freshness of coffee
Grind size of coffee particle
Water quality and composition
Brew temperature
Brew pressure
Coffee distribution in portafilter
Amount of coffee used per shot
Length of shot/Amount of water pulled/Final output volume

Tamp level and pressure are things that affect the shot but aren't exactly variables you would change. These would just be things you would aim to get 'right' every time. 'Right' here means ensuring a level, horizontal bed of coffee and a consistent tamp pressure. Tamp pressure is easier to normalise than it sounds; tamp until the coffee bed stops compressing.

Many of the above will be down to the grinder and espresso machines chosen.

Having a bottomless portafilter enables a clear view of the exit of the shot which serves as an invaluable tool in recognising uneven extractions.

Tips:

Never tap/knock the portafilter after tamping. This completely destroys puck uniformity.
Use a distribution tool to help evenly distribute coffee in your portafilter. Use a pin with the Weiss Distribution Technique or a Pullman Chisel/OCD.
VST baskets are replacement baskets for your portafilter with filter holes positioned and sized to aid uniform extractions. Would recommend getting one.
Grind uniformity is also a thing to keep in mind. Higher quality grinders will result in a lower deviation in particle sizes of the resulting coffee grounds. Lower deviation means more consistency in extraction.
Use a scale and a timer to weigh and time your shots. You will need to know what you did in order to know how to improve it.
When chasing a good shot, change one variable in your method at a time. If you change multiple, you will never know what contributed to making your shot great.


Which creates the strongest (and/or better quality) coffee? Espresso Maker vs. French Press For a year I used an Espresso maker to make my morning cup of jo. Recently my maker broke and I decided to try out a french press. I originally though that the espresso maker would be stronger because it forced steam through the granules, but now am starting to lean towards a french press as long as I let it sit in the water for longer than around 5 minutes. I am basing everything on theories right now though, so I was wandering if anyone had any evidence supporting the facts on either side.

If you are making just a regular black coffee, French Press would be a superior brewing method.  There are a lot of different camps on this, but rarely does an espresso machine get listed as a preferred method of brewing a cup of coffee (technically you are making Americanos I suppose since you would be diluting the espresso extract with water?)

As for a discussion of preferred brewing methods, it depends on what you are after.  French Press tends to lend additional body and heaviness to a cup of coffee. This is predominantly due to the fact that the water is in extended contact with the grounds (4-5 minutes) which allows less soluble molecules to extract from the grounds.  These less soluble molecules tend to have higher atomic weight, which lends a heavier mouthfeel (Modulating the Roast touches on this).  Additionally, french press doesn't filter out fines.  This adds body, but also muddles lighter flavors in the coffee.

If you are after a cleaner more defined cup of coffee, then I would point you to pour over or even a high quality drip brewer (Bonavita makes great coffee imo).  You are going to get better extract filtration, and the timing with water touching grounds tends to highlight the more delicate flavors in the coffee.

Right now I am sipping on a cup of Ethiopian that has a strong raspberry flavor to it even to the untrained palette.  If I were to have brewed this in a French Press, that high note in the coffee would be obscured.

One more note and I'll stop rambling.. as for energy boost, I feel like espresso makes you crash and traditional brewing methods don't.  That is my experience at least.


How to create green coffee? On the weekend, I've visited the vienna coffee festival. I've tasted "green coffee" there. Its taste and look was similar to green tea.

Is it a tea, created from the leaves of the coffee?

I tried to search it on google, but I've found "green coffee capsule" advertisements only.

What I have seen online suggests that it is what one would think of as severely under roasted (by coffee standards) coffee.  The flavor profile is very different than traditionally roasted coffee and much closer to tea with a lot of bitterness from compounds that are generally roasted off.

Sweet Maria's Green Coffee Cupping


Best filter to use for cold brew? What's the best filter material to use for DIY set up for cold brew coffee?

When I used a pour over funnel with a standard paper filter it seems to get clogged up faster than when hot brewing.

I find the very same problem with cold brew taking a long time. Though we have a few Q/A about this in the cold-brew already, I think could stand on its own!

I use a "two-phase" method: using first a "primary" or "coarse" filter, like a French press plunger as described here and elsewhere, or a metal mesh tea or coffee filter as described here, or even a sock or cloth as suggested by this question. This strains through quickly, but only filters the larger particles that would very quickly clog a paper filter. Second, I put it through a paper filter (I find Hario-style filters drain faster than Melitta-style filters). I find this works the best of any setup I have used.

For completeness, we have a few Q/A about this already. See for example making cold-brew easier for some more ideas about "pre-filtering"; see starting out and equipment for some other tips; and even try cold brewing with AeroPress.


Typical set up/menu for farmer's market coffee stand? What equipment is pretty typical for a coffee stand at a farmer's market?  I would like to server pretty standard drinks including drips, pour overs, lattes, espressos, etc.  What are suggested menu items to have to really establish a clientele, but to also not go overboard on expenses, and what equipment is generally needed to open a stand?

Off the top of my head (by no means exhaustive):
A two-group double boiler espresso machine
You want two groups in case something goes wrong with one of them, you're not out of business. You also want to be able to use the steam wands while extracting, so the need for each group to have a double boiler is pretty big.
Instead of one machine that costs a ton, you can get two machines (each with one group and a double boiler) that cost anywhere from $1000 to $3500 instead. Try not to go with home appliances - even though I have nothing but great things to say about Breville, they aren't designed for that kind of continuous duty cycle.
Redundancy is not all that's important, you need to be able to make more than one drink at a time :)
At least two burr grinders with dose control
Dose control gives you consistency. And you need to be able to grind as many beans as you plan to offer without cleaning grinders each time. These can get insanely expensive as you get into features like auto tamping - the biggest thing to look for is accurate dose control.
I recommend a model that fires once you stick a portafilter under it, with a button to extract into a pitcher. They sometimes come with a small stand to tamp, if not, grab some of them (if not auto-tamping).
Refrigeration
I don't recommend using a cooler with ice for dairy - it's going to start off as too cold and work its way up to being too warm. A small dorm-size fridge would be better, and cheap enough that you can have a backup you can run home to get if you need it. Get a good fridge thermometer to figure out the ideal setting for the fridge (usually a dial between 0 and 9), mark it with a sharpie once you get around 35 degrees Fahrenheit (don't buy one that won't go below 40 degrees). Remember that fridges have cold spots, so measure at the bottom as well as near the coils (where the ice lives).
You also need refrigeration for you, too. Nothing says gross like sweat falling into coffee! An evaporative air cooler, or at least some fans really help.
Misc Equipment
Your pour-over setup, some presses, tables, rubber mats, pitchers, various kinds of spoons, condiment / syrup dispensers, napkins, etc. Don't forget cups, sleeves, alternative sweeteners (be nice, buy honey from a vendor there, helps business). Also, don't forget corrugated trays (recycled) for large orders.
You can also never have enough cotton bar mop rags. Don't forget a camping stove or induction cooker, and if you use an induction cooker, make sure everything you need to put on it will work.
If you're going to be blending stuff, get a good blender that can eat through ice easily. Another thing that's nice to have two of in case one breaks.
Don't forget, you need to be able to wash your hands. Sanitizer is good, but having a basin and bucket is also helpful.
And, don't forget whack-buckets, trash cans, etc.
Ticket Handling System
This is really important. Imagine you have 20 people lined up and 10 orders going. Make sure you know what people ordered, what needs to go out next, and that the tickets are clear. Soy instead of whole milk? Make sure the person making the drink knows that, and that it goes to the right person.
POS (point of sale) systems are increasingly cheap and really help with this. But old fashioned pen and paper tickets work well too, if you have a system in place. This is a really bad way a great setup can fail if you don't get it right.
Water
You're going to need some big plastic bladders full of clean filtered water. You'll also need to make sure it's possible to get that water into the coffee machines easily :) Transporting that much water can be a challenge because it can get so heavy that applying the breaks in a normal vehicle takes on a whole new dynamic. Got a place that delivers it?
Testing
Make sure you do a dry run, that's the only way you'll be sure you have everything you need.
Everything else is pretty unique to what you want to offer, but if you keep it simple it's not too bad. If you're going to offer cakes and snacks, have a way to keep them fresh.
Menu Items
Keep it simple and keep it confined to what you can make consistently well. Tell people they're welcome to ask, but avoid anything super complicated from becoming a permanent fixture on the menu.
Cost your drinks
You should charge 3x your cost to be safe, 2 - 2.5x if you want or need to be really competitive. 3x is pretty certain to cover your costs, overhead, and profit. You need to know how much it costs you to make every single thing, how much it costs to just open and tear down, and everything else. Another great reason for keeping a simple (10 things is good) menu.


Improving my Brikka moka pot use I have a Brikka and I'm trying to improve the coffee I make.
I have seen this post, but am using an electric stove instead of a gas range.

Q1: Does anyone use one with an electric element as opposed to gas? What kind of heat setting do you use for it?  What I tried today was, after boiling the water initially, setting the element at about 40% of maximum, and once I saw the first bit of coffee appearing in the upper chamber, reduced to it to about 15%.

Q2: if I end up with a violent frothing action (which I understand makes the coffee more bitter, and is to be avoided) does that mean I have done something wrong?

I have used a regular old Moka Express (the simpler version without the "crema" thingie) for years, and always on an electric stove. But the same should apply for your Brikka.

1. An electric stove is fine.
If you are starting with boiling water, go medium-to-low, reduce heat to a minimum once the coffee starts to rise/appear - or even turn it off, see 2. below. If you are starting with cold water (I can't be fiddling with a hot metal vessel after a short night and without sufficient caffeine in my system - see here and here),initially go full-speed to minimize the not-so-hot water trickling through phase, then proceed as described above.

2. Violent frothing may be a sign of different things.
My first suspicion would be you missing the sweet spot of turning the heat down in time - or too much residual heat in your stove top. Note that electric plates are a lot slower to react that gas, where you can instantly cut the heat. Learn to "play" your specific stove, and as an emergency measure, simply lift the Brikka off the stove.
A second issue could be the grind. While a Moka needs a finer grind than drip, a true espresso grind is too fine (and a common beginner's mistake when making "stovetop espresso"). In the best case, a too-fine grind will just be over-extracted and give you a lot of dregs in the cup. But the fine grid will also compact more, so that your machine will be working at a higher-than intended pressure. It may be enough to trigger the valve, but it may also be ever so slightly below the critical value, still giving you a rather forceful "volcanic action" (as I observed in the context of this question).


Keurig Coffee Maker gets clogged and slow Recently my family passed down the first Keurig we ever got. I'm pretty sure it's the first one. Here's a pic I found from the great Google.

Anyways, I have been using it to fill my travelers mug before i go to work and it has been taking a long time. Sometimes it will fill my mug almost all the way up, sometimes it won't even hit half way. And it is extremely slow.

I have tried many different K-Cups but they all seem to have the same effect.

Any suggestions?

Due to the age and usage of your Keurig machine, I would say that you are experiencing two possible problems - one at a time or perhaps both.

The Problems:

The motor in the pump in your Keurig machine may simply just be getting worn out. If this is the problem, you should be able to hear it struggling to pump water out through the K-Cup. If you need a comparison, try comparing it to a newer model and see how it sounds. If de-scaling (see next problem) does not work, then you may need to replace the motor/pump. It may just be easier at that point to buy a new Keurig machine.
The machine seriously needs to be de-scaled. I would recommend running a solution of 25% lemon juice and 75% water through the machine. Make sure to run around 250 - 500 mL (about one to two cups) of this solution from the tank all the way through to a cup. Then rinse with atleast 1 L of of normal water (about 4 cups).

CAUTION:

As I have stated in other answers, breathing the fumes from this can be extremely dangerous for your mucosa (parts of the eyes, nose, mouth, throat, respiratory tract, and lungs). Do not breathe in the steam or fumes.

This is not a huge concern with lemon juice (which is why I recommend it), but if you were to use vinegar or a commercial de-scaler, this would be a huge concern.

Just be smart about it. You don't want to end up with permanent damage to your respiratory tract.

Other possible problems (harder to fix):

It could be possible that a seal somewhere in the pump has worn out and air is entering the system as it is being pumped. This would involve replacing a seal and taking the machine apart though.

There may be some other component, that I can't think of, that is damaged. Try the above solutions and leave a comment. Let me know if anything works.


Coffee brewed without filter taste less bitter and sour? So my roommate and I have been a bit intrigued by brewed coffee after watching tokyo ghoul (lol)

We got some BonCafe grounds(southeast asia brand) at a supermarket and brewed it with a filter. Have to get sugar and milk inside.

He bought some whole beans (looks medium roasted) and grinded it and also drip brewed it. Even more bitter than the seemingly darker BonCafe.

And in Aeropress with a AbleBrew disk fine metal filter it taste even more bitter and sour than the drip brewed variants.

Then I got an idea from turkish coffee where you directly mix coffee grind with water without filtering. (well there is further boiling involved in turkish coffee but whatever)

Then after pouring in water and mixing it with coffee groind with a spoon for like 10 seconds, and letting the ground set, it tasted (to me and him) surprisingly better than drip brewing and aeropressing.

And to me there is coffee taste inside.

Recently I got some old (2014 September) lavazza qualita oro ground coffee, tried aeropress and direct mixing, same thing happened.

So is that the “what you are supposed to get from coffee” taste quote the connoisseurs? Or is it underextraction or something? But why isn't I seeing any recommendation on this brewing method? Am I doing anything wrong with the aeropress and drip brewed ones? (to me they taste both sour and bitter)

I'm not exactly sure if this is accurate, but I think it has to do with flavor extraction.

When you brew with a filter, the water is going to fall through the grounds too fast to actually develop good flavor. Sure, you'll get coffee, but you're only giving the water enough time to take the more bitter tastes with it. I have this same problem with my coffee.

When you brew directly into water, all of the water is in contact with all of the grounds for a considerably longer amount of time. The water will extract the bitter tastes AND the more flavorful aspects of the grounds, which is why you thought this tasted better. It wasn't just bitter, it was bitter and flavorful, and that's coffee.

You're not doing anything wrong with the filtered methods, it's simply a matter of opinion among coffee tasters. Some people enjoy the convenience of fast, filtered, and bitter coffee because it's what they know as coffee. The reason the Turkish method isn't suggested is because, the way you describe it, it sounds like the grounds stay inside the coffee, and many people loathe having to deal with that--even though it produces much better coffee.

So no, you're not doing anything wrong; however, the reason you're finding flavor differences is that the extraction of flavors is far different between the two methods!


How could I improve extraction and yield more coffee when brewing with a filter? By my estimate 1 pound of course ground coffee leaves about 900 grams of concentrate in the wet grounds after filtering.
In a perfect world with 100% extraction we could get about 54 cups of coffee from a pound of coffee. Using a drip filter I only get 28 cups.
Using a modified salad spinner I retrieved about 142g more per pound or enough concentrate to make about 4 cups of coffee which is an increased yield of about 13%.
Has anyone found other methods of retrieving the wasted concentrate? I'm thinking something like a press or high speed centrifugal filter.

We need more information to give you good answers. The current question is rather vague and open-ended.

Is your end goal brewed coffee or concentrate? For yourself or as a commercial product? Is quality (taste) a primary consideration or are you concentrating on yield and/or caffeine and don't care much about taste? You should also describe your brew method in detail, tell us how you are grinding your coffee, how much coffee and water you use (brew ratio) and if you measure it, TDS (total dissolved solids).

You are almost certain to degrade quality if you press or "spin" your grounds to increase yield. If you proceed anyway, a centrifuge is more likely to both produce a better product and maximize yield. Pressing grounds will over-extract and create a bitter result.

You might want to consider brewing espresso, rather than coffee if yield is important. Better quality espresso machines will have quite dry pucks (grounds) and you have the advantage of a concentrated product, if that is a goal. Otherwise you can just add hot water to make an Americano or Long black which is an end product quite similar to brewed coffee but with the higher yield you desire.

Assuming that taste is important and it is to some degree for most people, then you have to consider the detrimental effect that pressing or centrifuging wet grounds will have on taste.


Easiest way to brew an espresso in the office? In our office we only have an automated espresso machine that makes capuccinos, lattes etc. and of course they all taste awful. It's fully automated, so there's no way to use your own coffee with it.

I wanted to find a way to be able to brew my own coffee at the office so that I can just bring my ground coffee with me and make an awesome cup.

Probably closest to an espresso is an AeroPress, which is similar to a French press, but uses manual pressure to extract more aromatic componds while being lower on bitter and sour notes than most other methods.

And of course all the "hand filter" varieties of the drip-family can be an option, if it's simply coffee, not exactly espresso you are after.

In any case you'll need a source of freshly boiled water, e.g. an electric kettle and - important for some offices - the permit to use it.

Of course a good cleaning of the office machine, adjusting it properly and filling it with good beans might be also a step in the right direction... (And have you checked - many machines do have a little hidden "door" or similar where you can use your own (ground) coffee.)


What is the best time to drink a cup of coffee? Coffee is good for health but everything is good on time,i drink coffee every morning but i want to know that is it the right time to drink coffee or any other time is suitable for a cup of coffee?so it will not have a bad effect on my health.

Right Time = Any time. Unless caffeine is something that keeps you up at night. In that case, in the morning after you wake up is a good time to have a cup or 3.


Is leaving coffee bins open in the store normal? I'm checking out a local coffee shop online that was recommended to me, before deciding to go in. I noticed that the beans they sell in bins are all uncovered in photos (the photos are from Google so they're most likely taken by customers).

Is this normal for coffee shops to leave beans exposed to air like that? I was under the impression that air exposure directly affects flavour. The place has fantastic reviews and a few people told me about it IRL, so it seemed odd that they wouldn't follow what I would think is standard procedure.

No, it is not.

As you may see in many other answers in this SE, Coffee SE site's answers will lead you that coffee is best stored when it's distant from air,  odor and light.

Closed, vacuumed storage is the regular way and coffee stores are no exception. On the other hand, one may expect that a store should grind coffee when it needs it. So, it won't go stale unnecessarily.


Blond flakes in espresso grounds My wife bought espresso beans for baking chocolate muffins (Unicorn Blood, chosen because of the cute label), so we ended up with most of a bag to be used for drip.
When I grind the beans, there are blond flakes in the grind, as if someone dusted the grounds and kitchen counter with the remains at the bottom of a Corn Flakes box. The whole beans look uniformly dark.
What causes the blond highlights in the grounds? Are they associated with a different taste or condition of the beans?  (The coffee I've made with the beans tastes dark, a bit malty or woody, like chicory, but not bitter.)

I think you're talking about coffee bean chaff, it's pictured after roasting in this blog. These are blonde flakes the come off the beans during the roasting process. In most commercially sold coffee I've seen, the chaff has been removed. When I roasted my own coffee I didn't bother because it's not so easy to separate them from the beans and they are harmless (at least for brewing).
In your case, it seems some of the chaff was still stuck on the beans after roasting, but it came off when grinding the beans. I wouldn't worry about it too much for brewing coffee, but if you want to use the ground beans in another dish, it might be better to use a sieve to strain the chaff.


Why should milk used for coffee not to be served too hot? Ideally the milk for coffee is steamed to 65-70 degrees Celsius. What happens if it exceeds 70 degrees? Does it affect the flavour of coffee?

Most cafés serve coffee beverages between 155°F - 165°F, but the ideal temperature for steaming milk on a home machine is between 150°F -155°F. Temperature really only starts to matter when it comes to the type of milk your steaming because different types have different burning points ex. Soy milk will burn before whole milk so maybe steam soy at a lower temperature. Generally, milk proteins will start to break down and burn around 170°F, but basically personal preference and what tastes right to you.


What is the coffee & water ratio when cold brewing? What is the proper coffee to water ratio for a cold brew? I did mine with 100grams of coffee (an Ethiopian light roast) and a liter of water, and brewed for about 12 hours. It tasted good to me, but my friends said it's too acidic for them, hence I find it acidic in a way that the sweetness is present and with clean finish.

It depends where you look. When you create the concentrate some people say 1:2, coffee and water, some say 1:1. It really depends on how you like it.


What is the best coffee brewing method to learn at home? What equipment shall i prepare? I have been watching youtube videos and all sort of guides and books. I have been watching pour-over method and wonder, does the equipment i have to buy to practice at home should be expensive? Im still in my 2nd year of college. What should i do to learn skills necessary to qualify to be a barista?

I am unsure if you are comjng from the perspective of someone who wants to become a barista or someone who is interested in making quality coffee at home.

In my opinion learning how to brew quality espresso, and the different factors that effect a quality espresso and espresso drinks is most challenging and also requires the most knowledge (how to prepare the grinds, the whole milk steaming/foaming process etc.) it also requires expensive equipment unfortunately. I think these skills would be good if you are looking for a barista job though.

For brewing at home i think you should master the french press which is a very inexpensive method to brew coffee (french press being like $20 for a good one) but is also my favorite coffee brewing method. It is also very simple to brew, you just have to make sure you get the correct ratio (using a scale is best) of water to coffee and grind the beans well (a burr grinder is best but can be kinda expensive. This would be a cost of any brewing method should you decide to grind your own beans).


Problems with Rancilio Silvia: How could I prevent getting too much or too sour espresso? I bought an older Rancilio Silvia machine and try to adjust the grind of my CM90 grinder.

On grinding level 24 I get with 15g powder after 25 seconds 73g espresso in two cups which is way too much (it should be 35-40g).

On grinding level 23 the machine is able to get any espresso if I tamper normal. If I barley tamper, I get 27g Espresso after 25 seconds, but it tastes horrible sour.

I do temperature surfing and wait 0 to 20 seconds after the heating phase before I start the machine. I tried different beans which are 1 to 3 month old.

Any idea what might be the problem?

That's a pretty extreme contrast for a one-level difference.

A couple things you could try:

Use slightly less grounds if you're on level 23 - this will make your puck a bit easier to push water through.
Weiss Distribution Technique - use a toothpick to break up any clumps you have in the grounds before tamping - try this on level 24, since you may have some channeling going on with the slightly coarser grounds.
Pre-infuse your puck with grounds from level 23 - soaking them a bit early before starting the pull may help you to get a proper extraction. See this youtube video.


How can I achieve a very bitter flavor using the French press? I'm trying to train my tongue to recognize the 'bitter' taste of coffee, so I can improve my methods.

How can I achieve a bitter flavor with a French press?

This is a real question as I am not sure if it is heat, steep time, or the coffee grounds that produce the bitterness.

Bitterness comes from over-extracting the coffee. The factors affecting extraction are: water temperature, time, size of the grind, and to a lesser extent, agitation.

Using hotter water (above the usual 198F-202F), longer steep time, or a finer grind--or any combination of the three--will result in over-extraction, which will make the coffee more bitter. A darker roast will over-extract more easily as well, since an ideal extraction is typically 30-45 seconds shorter than a light roast.


Roast Profile vs Rest Time, any connection? TL;DR:  Is there any science or data to support coffee that has undergone longer roast cycles needing less rest/degas time?

For some time, I have been doing my own roasting by cranking the machine to max temp, letting it rip, then stopping the roast when I am just short of my desired target and letting it coast to finish in the cool down cycle.  For almost all varietals of beans, my target roast levels end up in the 14:30 to 16:00 minute range for a half pound of green coffee beans.  Recently, however, I have been experimenting with significantly longer roasts (~30% to 50% longer).  I set the machine to max (482F) let it run 12 minutes or so, then crank it down to 425F or so and run to just short of target.  Generally this has been adding 4 to 8 minutes to my roasts times.

The obvious disadvantage is the extra time it takes me to be involved with the roast.  The advantage I was going for was that it is much easier to hit a target roast with such a long window at the "end of roast".  However, I seem to notice another potential advantage.  The coffee seems to taste much better after much shorter rest times.  With my old shorter method coffees came into their peak seemingly around 72 to 96 hours later.  With this new method, the coffee seems to be hitting that same stride at 24 or 48 hours.  This is anecdotally supported by the fact that the air tight jars I keep my beans in are noticeably less "poppy" when I open them to degas the day after roasting.

I can think of several reasons why this may be a thing, most just involving equations for the behaviors of gasses at various temperatures, but does anyone have a more solid reason why this might be?  Or evidence that's it's all in my head (or taste buds) and just bunk?

This relationship is often discussed on coffee websites that I visit, such as such as http://www.home-barista.com and http://www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com. I have had a similar experience, although my roast times are much shorter than yours (typically 11-12 minutes total).

I roast 3-4 coffees each week. Based on my own taste buds, coffees that are roasted closer to second crack are ready much sooner. I measure the length of time that I roast from the start of first crack. Here are some of the timing / aging notes for my recent roasts

Gedeo Worka 2014 -  roasted to 1:45 after 1st crack, ready for drinking after 4 days
Yirga Cheffe Beriti 2014 - roasted to 2:15 after 1st crack, ready for drinking after 4 days
Rwanda Abakundakawa 2014 - roasted to 2:15 after 1st crack, ready for drinking after 4 days
Sumatra Gayo Mountain 2014 Bener Meriah - roasted to 3:00 after 1st crack, ready for drinking after 3 days


Bulletproof Coffee - Is There A Good Replacement For Grass-Fed Butter? I tried drinking Bulletproof Coffee with grass-fed butter and Brain Octane Oil, but I really didn't like the buttery, creamy taste.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a replacement for the grass-fed butter?

I've seen a few people like to use vanilla bean powder, but I don't know if that has the same effect as grass-fed butter or if it's purely for taste.

I have seen folks use coconut oil as a substitute for grass fed butter (or organic butter, or Irish butter or many other variations I have heard).  Almost all of the substitutes I have heard are fat sources designed to get fat based calories into the coffee.  The vanilla bean powder you have heard about adds almost no calories, but will certainly add flavor.  It accomplishes a very different goal than what the Bulletproof folks are espousing.

Keep in mind there are any number of things you can add to coffee to make the caffeine more palatable.  There is an entire industry surrounding this.  What you really need to ask is what you are trying to accomplish by adding something and find the best ingredient for your needs.  Low or no calories flavoring agents maybe suited if you are just not into the taste of coffee.  If you are looking for a fat calorie source, experimenting with different oils until you find one that fits your needs and has a flavor you can deal with may be the way to go.

Personally I look for more protein and not as much fat in my diet.  I like the taste of coffee.  A plain cup of cone coffee and a serving of organic Greek yogurt accomplishes what I am trying to do just fine and doesn't require breaking out or cleaning a blender.


Oxiclean for cleaning drip machines? I have a technivorm mochamaster. The carafe browned on the inside as it is prone to do with time.  Instead of cleaning the whole machine I dumped in some Oxiclean in the carafe, filed it with water and waited.  A brown foam formed and I was left with a good as new carafe.  My question is can I run oxiclean through the machine without damaging it.

I wouldn't use Oxyclean inside.
That "brown foam" that you had in the carafe would be difficult to remove from the inside working without a LOT of rinse cycles.
I simply use a solution of 1/3 vinegar and 2/3 water and run that through with great results.
I also use filtered water which helps tremendously keeping things clean.


Indians understanding coffee Disclaimer: this question is not about brewing.

I am from India. Every time I go to a coffee shop and order an espresso or Americano, knowing fully well what they are, I get a prompt ‘there’s no milk or sugar in it’ from the barista. What’s the story behind this? Have Indians ordered the said coffees because they cheapest one on the menu and then complained / threw away?
I have observed this on the two opposite ends of the country and across brands including airport and railway station coffees!

I am South Indian and a coffee fanatic; and each time I order an espresso, the coffee shop staff member will be sure to say,

  there is no milk in it.

They don't say 'no sugar' in my town because it's probably assumed that we will add sugar separately anyway.

This happened again recently in a new coffee shop in the neighborhood, so I asked the employee why they always say like this -- and he had some free time and was kind enough to explain why:

  Not every client knows what is an espresso or Americano. They may order it as a fresh experiment. Now, the famous South Indian Filter Coffee  and even a generic cup of coffee that you order in your typical Indian tea/coffee shop or download from the coffee machine in a hospital or railway station always has milk and sugar in it. So customers might expect it here and get a bad surprise for a high price: it has actually happened in the early days of our old shop and we were scolded for not warning them it is a black coffee! It's to avoid such confusion we routinely tell clients that the espresso/ Americano contains no milk, and that sugar will be served separately.

Note: I have seen this more often in smaller cafés. For example, in outlets of a major coffee company like Café Coffee Day,  employees in this city will not usually tell a customer that their espresso/ Americano doesn't have milk or sugar (unless you specifically ask for a description), because it's generally assumed that if you order an espresso or an Americano in a specialist place like Café Coffee Day, you definitely know what you are asking for!


Do Automated Pour Over Machines provide the same flavor profile compared to manual pour over method? I use 2 manual pourover methods

Method 1: Brown Melitta #4 paper filter rinsed using my Bonavaita drip machine's brew basket. 185F filtered water and beans grinded with Baratza Encore burr grinder

Beans from SquareOne, Intelligentsia, Novo

Method 2: using a Hario V60

Recently I've been noticing several automated pour over machines coming to the market - Poppy Pourover, Bodum, Invergo, Kitchenaid and lots of others getting on the automated pour over bandwagon.

Are these automated pourover machines even worth looking into?

Several "automatic pour-over" machines have recently come onto the market from manufacturers such as those you listed.  They are something of a hybrid between the ubiquitous, conventional "automatic drip" machines and manual pour-over methods.  That is, the automatic pour-over machines attempt to perform the same sequence of steps recommended for manual pour-over, but in an automated fashion.

For example, compare the Blue Bottle pour-over drip guide. This suggests a multi-step process of pouring. With water at a particular temperature, do the following:

heat the cone and wet the filter;
pour a small amount of water to wet the grounds and "bloom", then wait;
pour the rest of the water slowly in the middle of the grounds pile.

Some other guides recommend pouring in circular motions, or in multiple iterations, or at a particular rate, or in certain places.  See also the question about pour-over techniques.

Regular auto-drip machines, on the other hand, simply drop water in one go over all of the grounds in a somewhat uncontrolled manner.  This also relates to a question: does auto-drip taste different than pour-over? That's a separate, open question.

This article from LifeHacker gives a comparison between the new-fangled automatic pour-over machines and how they compare to real, manual pour-over, and another from HuffPo about the Chemex model. Their conclusions are varied (see article for more) but:

they're more expensive than conventional drip;
some models have controllable settings for certain parameters (e.g., bloom time; temperature)
they provide precise repeatability for certain parameters such as rate, contact time with grounds, water temperature.

Ultimately, they provide attention to detail that can be done by hand; some do this better than others. However, most just heat water and drip it over the grounds somewhat better than a conventional drip coffee maker.

If you...

don't want to learn the "style" or "art" to manual pour-over, or
if you appreciate the nuances of manual pour-over (over auto-drip), but can't quite focus attention on details that really distinguish manual pour-over,

these machines might be for you.


How acidic is Liberica compared to Arabica and Robusta? Today, during a discussion on acidity I realized that I could compare the acidity of the two main species. It's common knowledge that Robusta beans are generally more acidic than Arabica beans. But, what about Liberica?

And maybe a follow up question: could we have a picture of general characteristics of Liberica?

Today I had a coffee tasting of Liberica on various roast levels.
I can say that Liberica is totally different from Arabica and Robusta.

Arabica generally is bitter with a lack of after taste
Robusta is generally strong with and lack of after taste
Liberica is less bitter, but full of aftertaste (bitter, coco, sweet and a bit of berry taste)

I would say Robusta lover may not prefer Liberica, but if you found Arabica and Robusta is too bitter, you may love Liberica wich is full of aftertaste flavours if roasted right. A mid range Liberica is comparable to a high grade Arabica.
An Arabica or Robusta blend with Liberica would complete a full coffee flavour.

Liberica is rare because it was almost extinct due to coffee rust disease and it is very expensive due to scarcity.


When dialing in a pour over, what factors indicate a change in water temperature might be necessary? I’ve been experimenting with my v60, EK43, refractometer and variable temperature kettle. I understand somewhat how grind size, water-to-Coffee ratio, agitation etc. affect extraction, but I am unclear on the role water temperature plays. I’ve heard 195-205 F is ideal slurry temperature, but how do I know when I might need to make a change in water temperature?

Agreed with the above answer by Jason: it's about taste.

That said, of late i have been surprised by how effective for extractin Scott Rao's 97degree C is for a pour over[link].In particular it seems that central and south american beans need the temp to get out the flavour - african's less so but still work in that range.

But to your question - a more specific mapping of flavours:

Matt Perger has a super chart to map when temp may come into play based on what you're tasting and how to tweak it. (2)


Do coffee connoisseurs add anything to their coffee when tasting a new coffee? When tasting new coffees, is the flavor of the brewed coffee best understood without milk and sugar? Or should they be tried without adding any milk and sugar in them?

My intuition tells me that the coffee should be tried without anything added to it. That being said it doesn't seem like it would normally be enjoyed in that manner if the taster is drinking it without milk and sugar (if he adds that to his coffee usually).

Your intuition is correct, modifiers like sugar or creme will only obscure a lot of nuance so connoisseurs, professionals & judges will try new coffees or espresso as brewed without adding anything.

Depending on the quality of coffee and a person's preferences they may sometimes add something after the initial taste. And some connoisseurs may order something like an espresso macchiato (espresso with a tiny amount of textured milk) or routinely add e.g. one sugar when drinking a coffee that they are familiar with or just for variety. But in general the better the quality of coffee and the more serious the connoisseur, the less likely they are to be adding anything to their coffee.

Certainly if you are trying to discern what a new coffee tastes like, you shouldn't be adding anything initially (coffee roasters and buyers have a special method for tasting nuances in new coffees called cupping). Even if you customarily like to add something if you want to learn more about coffee and improve your palate you should at least have a sip before adding anything so that you develop a better ability to discern subtle differences.

Espresso like scotch can be an acquired taste for some and they may find that they add less sweetener over time as the intense taste grows on them. And it's worth noting that high quality coffee has a rich, winey base overlaid with desirable flavours and little, if any bitterness. And properly textured milk in lattes is already quite sweet and creamy in texture so there is little, if any need for additional sweetness.


Are the last drips after pulling an espresso less tasty? Someone told me that the last drips coming out of a espresso machine after the pull is finished (when there is no water pressure any more) contain bad flavors. He recommended that I remove the coffee cup in the moment the machine stops producing pressure.

Is that true? If yes, why?

It's not really the pressure, that's just timing.

It depends on the beans and roast; your comparison point is the first few (after pre-infusion) drips that came out. The last ones are always going to be weaker and quite possibly more acidic because the puck is both drained and saturated at the same time. It's drained of oils and flavors, and saturated with hot water.

Whether or not you can actually detect that difference should it be added to the rest of the shot is a matter of uncertainty, hinging on your sense of taste and the type of coffee used. If it's a dark-roasted robusta blend then you might be able to detect a slight almost 'metallic' or slightly salty flavor, but you'd need an extremely acute sense of taste. The water you use also has a lot to do with this.

It can sometimes be easy to get caught up in what is probably happening, even if you (or most) can't really taste it. If you get more satisfaction out of your coffee because you've managed to improve the taste even just a tiny bit - then great, and keep doing it, because that's what it's all about. Just be critical and test for yourself, with your setup, and your beans :)


What are some strategies for handling the transition between different-aged beans in a coffee shop Espresso grinder? Suppose my grinder's hopper contains beans roasted 14 days ago, and the hopper is almost empty; suppose further that I have a full bag of 5-day-old beans, ready to go.

If the new beans are added to the hopper on top of the old beans, then there will be an abrupt change to the coffee's "dial in" once the transition between the old and new beans is reached. This is a drawback in the commercial setting; it would be hard to keep track of where the transition is, so some customers could receive improperly dialed espresso.

The dial setting will also be affected if I wait until the hopper is completely empty; the grinder will not grind consistently if the hopper is underfull.

The final option I can think of is throwing away the old coffee beans to make way for the new ones. This seems to be a waste of money. Any tips?

You will just have to find some form of compromise. I think the best way would be to empty the Hopper and then fill it with the new beans (also sometimes you might want to switch up the espresso?). You should figure out how your grinder behaves once it's getting more empty and with this knowledge you can quite easily adjust the extraction such that the quality will not decrease too much.

The most likely case is that the dose will decrease slightly. You could put a scale next to the hopper and if you feel like your espresso is running faster, check if the dose changed because the hopper is getting empty and adjust your grinder accordingly. I think checking the dose and grind occasionally throughout the day is a good way to up your espresso game in any case. It helps me learn a lot about the coffee and setup. There's tons of variables, like humidity and temperature that will change the behavior of the grinder.


Decaffeinated Coffee Beans I recently bought a bean-to-cup coffee machine and I drink alot more coffee than I should. As decaffeinated coffee would do me good I was hoping that there was a decaf coffee bean. I would like to use the bean grinding function of my machine but I do not want the caffeine.

I have looked online and can't find any but I am sure that someone will have tried to make a decaf coffee bean.

There's no strain of coffee bean that has no caffeine when it is grown, but you can find whole-bean, decaffeinated coffee. "Decaffeinated" coffee has been treated to have most of the caffeine removed. Decaffeination is done when the beans are still whole, so you can certainly find whole-bean, decaffeinated coffee (though I suppose decaffeination could also be done after grinding). The decaffeination process is often done with whole, green (not-yet-roasted) beans, which are subsequently roasted (still whole). Most places will sell whole-bean, decaf coffee -- local coffee roasters, coffee shops, markets, mail order from the usual suspects... Starbucks, illy, Lavazza, Peets, ... Look for "whole bean decaf".

For more on the subject of decaf coffee, see this question about how decaf coffee beans are produced and another question about the fact that decaf coffee still has a little caffeine in it.

The concept of "half-caf" coffee has become popular, mixing part decaffeinated beans with part regular (not-decaffeinated) beans, which might be a good option in your case to reduce (but not eliminate) the caffeine. These half-and-half blends are also available from retailers.


Any heath benefits of having butter coffee? Since the time I knew about unsalted butter coffee, I included it in my life. Every morning, I make a black coffee and put butter into it. I generated a taste for it and now it is perfect cup for me. Is there any real health benefits of it?

Heath benefits of adding butter in your coffee are:
1) Vitamin K is found in butter,which helps in blood clotting and keeping the bones strong into old age.
2) Contains Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which helps in weight loss.Not only burning belly fat,also protects against cancer and encourages muscle growth.
3) Adding butter in your coffee can provide more sustained energy.
4) Found Omega 3 fatty acids, play a role in the prevention and treatment of arthritis, inflammation,and high blood pressure.


What is the most expensive coffee in the world? This may be a weird question, but I would like to know which coffee bean is the most expensive.

I have heard Kopi Luwak coffee called the most expensive, but I'm not sure if this is correct.

It is true, that Kopi Luwak is one of the most expensive coffee bean. The process to achieve specialised coffee is long and they are risks of failing is very high. Thus, it makes it more expensive. Read ref below to understand more. There are some beans that are produced in Penang,Malayasia are very expensive but they taste out world(honestly). When enquired about it they say because it is freshly farmed and brewed. I believe that because around that cafe, it was all coffee and other farms.

History of Kopi Luwak
Penang Coffee


Can I brew espresso with 14g portafilter basket? Being a complete novice, I've been struggling to brew something that looks like proper espresso.
My machine (Ascaso Dream PID) came with 14 gram portafilter basket (58mm in diameter). Several sources have told me that I really should dose according to the dose label on my basket - no more than +/- 1 gram. I have tried to brew with 14 grams of coffee, but have failed miserably:

My shots always run too fast and the taste is pretty light and sour (underextracted?).
I have pushed my grinder (Baratza Sette 270Wi) to the smallest possible grind-size, but it's still too fast. Though at these smallest sizes it's getting pretty tricky to keep the water running evenly through the pack. Again, various sources have told me that I shouldn't go too fine with my grind. The manual of my grinder suggests starting with grind setting 7E for espresso. At that setting with 14 grams of coffee I'm getting a 30g shot in 16 seconds.
I have experimented with various ways of getting my tamping as consistent and level as possible. My current tamping process as follows: knock the portafilter several times against table to level off the initial pile of grains, spin the leveling tool, press down firmly with tamper.
I have fiddled a bit around with pressure. Haven't gone out of the 8..11 bar range. As expected I get a little longer shots with 8 bar. Mostly I've tried to settle to using 9.5 bars.
Haven't yet tried changing water temperature - it's been 93 degrees C.
I've tried with a 2 second pre-infusion and without. Not much of a difference.
It's worth mentioning that my timings are measured from pulling the lever - but it takes at least 5 seconds for the first drips to appear (about 9 seconds with pre-infusion).
Also worth mentioning is that I'm getting lots of variation from shot to shot with exactly the same settings. Like 31g shot in 22 seconds, and then 34g shot in 17 seconds. This seems to happen more when I go to these finer grind sizes. I suspect uneven extraction.
I have also used 3 different types of coffee beans. No real difference.

With the smallest possible grind size, 8 bar pressure and 15g coffee I've managed to get 31g shot in 27 seconds. But it tasted very underextracted.
The best results I've had have been when I've increased dose to 17..18 grams. Then I'm able to also use courser grinds. With these doses I'm finally getting some more crema and the taste is no more watery. Though my basket is pretty-much overflowing at such a large dose.
Most of the espresso-making tutorials I've seen always tend to deal with 18 gram or larger baskets.
So, is there hope in brewing espresso with 14 gram basket (and what should I change)?
Or should I get myself a 18 gram basket and move on (my portafilter seems to have enough room to put a larger basket in).

Turned out that the problem was in my grinder which failed to grind fine enough. After reading the online grinder manual (which unfortunately wasn't included with the grinder itself) I discovered the following section:

After the first few pounds of coffee, the grind produced at the lowest setting may not be fine enough for espresso. To shift the grind range finer, a small washer (included) can be installed below the cone burr.

After installing the extra washer, all my problems went away.


Is it possible to make nitro cold brew coffee with a siphon? I was wondering, would it be possible to just purchase cold brew coffee, and pressurize it in a siphon with N2O gas? As far as I know, one is supposed to use N2 gas for nitro cold brew, but I wonder how it would taste with N2O instead. Has anyone attempted this before?

I assume that it is possible. However, what will be the benefit? This is my opinion, but... We must try to drink coffee, not generate fancy chemical experiments.

Now, the objective part:

Pressurizing seems quite easy in room temperature. Depressurizing is quite problematic in a siphon. So, it will be a mess when you try to collect your brewed coffee. Or, requires fancy equipment or conditions.

In a siphon, you collect the brewed coffee very rapidly. However, in cold-brew methods, the aim is brewing in a very very long time to extract the floral notes. This, again, seems problematic in your proposal.

The main aim of siphon: you make infusion on top for desired amount of seconds, then, rapidly filter the infused coffee to the bottom layer. If you want to make infused cold brew, the easiest method is still again, going for a french press.


Difference between inverted and normal aeropress? Can someone tell me the difference between a coffee made using the "normal" aeropress technique and an inverted technique?

I know it can vary depending on coffee and brew time etc and overall it's down to personal taste. I'm just looking for the basic difference, eg

Normal is, this, this & this
Inverted is this & this

The differences are minor, but there are differences.  When brewing normally, water begins to drip through the paper filter immediately when poured over the grounds.  After stirring I usually have to add more water after the bloom recedes.  Inverted, all the water stays with the grounds until you flip it over and start extracting.  The extra water added with the normal process is hotter, and I believe will tend to over extract bitter notes more easily, not only because of the higher temperature, but by virtue of the added volume of water passing through the grounds.

Inverted, however, the volume of water is less, and because of that, the temperature of that water will be lowered a bit.  You can extract quickly, or wait as long as you want to extract the coffee.  Additionally, I have seen it claimed that with the inverted method, oils that will rise to the top of the column will be forced through the filter first and flavor the coffee more than with the regular method where they tend to get trapped in the grounds.

I have gone back and forth but always seem to go back to the inverted method. It provides more control of the variables and for me gives a better flavor, even when using the same beans, same roast, same water temperature.  Your mileage may vary of course.


How can I maximize cold brew yield without harming flavor? Currently I make coffee two ways: hot coffee using a moka pot, and cold brew using a Coffee Toddy.  Both of these methods produce concentrated coffee.  However, I've noticed that my liquid yield for cold brew using the Toddy is less than half that of the moka pot, even when you take the differing strength of the concentrates into account.

To put it another way: when making moka, 12oz of coffee lasts me about 12 days, whereas for Toddy cold brew, it only lasts me around 7 days.  In fact, I can get a better cold coffee yield by making moka and pouring it over ice than I can doing cold brew -- but I don't want to go that way because it's so wasteful of energy.

I realize that cold brew will never have the extraction ratios of moka, but are there ways I can improve the yield for cold brew extraction, at least a little, without degrading the flavor?  Either using my existing Toddy system, or some other system?

It generally depends on your brew ratio (# grams of coffee to # grams of water) some people go with 1:6, 1:7, etc.

And keep in mind the higher your ratio is the less concentrated the coffee will be, so for example if you brew 140 grams of coffee at the 1:7 ratio you would need to add about 980ml of water which would produce a larger yield than it would if you used the 1:6 ratio, but the later one would be more concentrated.

I also saw some people that use a lower ratios then dilute the yield with water to make it less concentrated.


Other uses for espresso machines? I own a espresso machine and was wondering if there are any other beverages besides coffee which could be produced using it.

Of course, using the hot water tap to get hot water for tea is quite obvious. But what other things could be produced, especially using the sieve and the high pressure the machine offers?

It may completely be abuse of the machine, but I saw someone clean stainless steel jewelry once in an ECM machine. They put the jewelry in a sealed portafilter basket and backflushed the machine with cleaning detergent.

It seemed to clean the jewelry pretty well, but I can't say if it would be very different from putting it in the dishwasher.

At the very least, it seems to be a way to kill two birds with one stone when backflushing your machine.


Re-using spent coffee grounds? I have an Osaka stainless steel pour-over .

After I brew a single cup of coffee (around 12 oz), is it possible to brew another cup with the used grounds by putting the cone dripper back over my mug and pouring more water through it?

I figure this would be the same as using more water and brewing over a carafe to brew twice as much coffee, except I would be doing it later rather than all at once (if that makes sense).

If this is possible, what's the maximum amount of time I can wait before brewing my 2nd cup?

Thanks.

There are a few elements to this answer, so I'll try to tackle them one by one.

  is it possible to brew another cup with the used grounds...?

Yes. It is physically possible to do this. Just do what you described and voila, more liquid into the next mug.

  this would be the same as using more water and brewing over a carafe to brew twice as much coffee

This is where you are wrong. Brewing coffee is chemistry, whether you are using a Chemex or an espresso machine or a cheap drip machine. Each stage of brewing produces different flavours from the coffee. I can't guarantee this is accurate but here is an example of what I'm talking about.

The first part of your pour controls the bitterness of the coffee. The bloom helps to get rid of CO2 and dissolves oils on the beans and in the grounds. It will develop your "body".

The second part of your pour will determine the sweetness. Some people swear by small pours over a longer period of time, while others prefer the ease of just slowly filling the brewer evenly.

Finally, the last half of your pour controls the intensity of your cup. This is where your question comes in. More water in this last section will produce a weaker cup, and less water a stronger one.

All of these parts of the pour need to be melded together to create a delicious cup of coffee.

Pouring your first cup then re-using the grounds for the second one means the second cup misses out of the main part of the brew. Yes, the liquid will tastes like coffee, but will not have very much caffeine, and will lack the flavours present in a well-brewed cup. You're basically making ultra-weak, bland coffee.

If you want to make more coffee and don't care about the strength, brew a larger batch into one carafe, then swirl and split it between tow cups. You should adjust your grounds-to-water ratio accordingly though.

I hope this helps you answer your question!


Does it make sense to buy smaller-sized bags of whole bean coffee to keep it fresher? How much impact has having a coffee bag being opened vs. sealed on preserving the aroma of beans over 1 month?

I am deliberating between 250 gram and 500 gram packages, with the former being 4% more expensive per kilo then the latter.

250 grams lasts me about a month (allows for one 8-gram espresso equivalent every day), so buying the larger bag, in the second month I would be using beans which are stored one month longer in a opened bag then if I would be buying the smaller bag.

Does it make sense to opt for the smaller 1-month bags in this usage pattern, or is the difference going to be infinitesimal?

Trading off taste difference against price depends on how much each of them matters to you.

Storing an open bag of beans in the cabinet for 8 weeks probably does matter to taste, while a 4% price difference is easily in the noise.

Taste Difference

It seems fair to assume you care about taste differences since you're asking. So for that side of the comparison, it’s sufficient to ask whether you can taste any difference, and that’s fun and easy to test. See this answer on how to do a triangle test.

Here's an experimental design for coffee bean storage duration: Weigh out the coffee into small plastic bags, put half the bags in the freezer and half the bags in the cabinet, then at different durations, defrost a frozen bag while still sealed (so the beans don't get water condensation from the air), and compare the coffee it makes against a bag from the cabinet. I did this with medium roast beans listed as “high body” and “bold acidity” so degradation would be readily noticeable.

After 2 days, we could not distinguish the frozen from cabinet-stored beans. (That rules out the hypothesis that freezing hurts beans, at least when defrosted in the bag.) After 4 weeks, we still could not distinguish them. After 12 weeks, all tasters could tell, and with high confidence.

Caveats: That was just one kind of bean, made just one way, with 5 tasters who are no cross-section of the world’s population. But each taste test got “statistically significant” results for a hypothesis picked in advance. Good enough for me.

I doubled the duration between each test, hence I didn't test 8 weeks. The taste impact of 8 weeks storage is still in play. Do try the test at 4 and 8 weeks with your favorite coffee. For discussion’s sake, let’s call it likely.

Side note: If you want to stretch out the freshness of a 2 month supply, it’s viable to freeze some of it in small bags.

Price Difference

Perception studies have a notion of “just noticeable difference” (JND). A smaller difference than that is unlikely to be noticeable (not the same as “measurable”). A starting assumption for a new domain is JND = 1dB (as it is for audio volume) which is about 26%, but a quick web search gets us a JND threshold for price from Marketing As I know it:

  Why is it a 10% off sale fails to get your attention while a 50% off sale brings in consumers from the surrounding counties?
  The reason the 10% sale does not excite is that it is below the JND. Research has proven that the JND for price tends to be between 20 to 25%.

In context, a % comparison (whatever the percentage amount) assumes you have a budget or reference in mind for that expense. If the % difference blows your coffee budget, you could compensate by drinking less often, or better yet by making more of your coffee at home than from cafes. If you think of coffee as part of your overall food & drink budget, maybe you could make up a large price difference by drinking less soda or eating less meat (both of which are health and environmental improvements).


How do I make a cup of coffee using coffee pods meant for a pod coffee machine, without one? I was recently gifted a couple different brands of coffee pods, and I don't really know what to do with them, since the coffee machines for them seem to be a bit pricey for a whimsical purchase. Is there a way to make a cup of coffee with these pods if I don't have a pod coffee machine?

I've looked it up and it seems that different pods (even within the same brand) are designed for different water volumes passing through them and at different temperatures, so if there are multiple recommended ways to brew them DIY-style, I'd like to know which method fits which the best. Maybe I could reverse-engineer the process a machine does and repeat it manually.

The pods I have are labeled "Nescafe Dolce Gusto café au lait" and "Starbucks Caffé Verona". If manual method works out, I'm open to buying these pods separately, so methods for brewing other brands are also welcome :)

For now I've been using single-use white paper filters for tea. I cut open the tops of the pods with an office paper knife and pour out the contents into the paper bag. Then I pour hot water into the bag while holding it directly over the cup, careful not to burn your fingers (maybe use kitchen clamps to hold the bag if it's too hot).

From what I've seen in videos showing the disassembled insides of pod coffee maker machines, the contents of the pod don't really spend much time in contact with the water, so this method is a close enough approximation of how the machine works, and the resulting brew tastes good enough to me.

For illustration, here's an image of a tea filter. You can probably use coffee filters just as well if you have them, I just happened to already have tea filters at home and didn't feel like spending extra.


How to clean Delonghi Caffe Corso's pre-ground coffee funnel? I inadvertently put whole beans where ground coffee goes. Will this harm machine’s operation?  How can I easily remove the beans, please? Thank you.

Such automatic machines have a mechanism inside that tamps the pre-ground coffee (put through the funnel) and then pulls an espresso automatically.

I cannot say if it really harms the mechanism, but I'd rather don't continue using the machine before removing the beans from the pre-ground coffee funnel. Very probably, the mechanism cannot adequately temp whole beans and may got scratched, crack, etc. I wouldn't take the risk.

I don't have that exact machine, but after looking at it's photo, by intuition I could say that it should have a door to access the mechanism on the left side. Remove that door and also remove the mechanism*. Simply remove any beans if you could see some and preferably rinse any coffee residue off the mechanism.

Then, you should have access from the funnel to the brewing mechanism to move the pre-ground coffee to the tamping area. There should be an upward hole somewhere. Very probably close to the mechanism, so you can see after you remove the mechanism. If it is not there, also remove the drip tray and check if you could find that hole from inside the machine. When found, you should be able to remove the beans from that hole.

I hope all goes well and you could continue using the machine.

(*) The mechanism should be modular for cleaning. Most of the time you could remove the whole mechanism by pushing a lever or something similar, then rinse it under tap water.


Am I psychologically addicted to coffee? I do not really mind if I am addicted to coffee. However, I noticed a psychological effect and that makes me kind of curious.

When I do not drink coffee, I feel more negative about life. Caffeine really changes my mind in a positive direction.
I can not really work without drinking coffee. After I get caffeine, I am more concentrated and this forces me to drink before I do some serious 'thinking' work.
When I am sick, I avoid drinking coffee. However, I am experimenting myself in these situations. After I drink coffee, I feel a better improvement in my body compared to medicine.

Do you think I should be anxious?

Studies show that caffeine withdrawal is more of a psychological than a biochemical phenomenon. For example, if we know that stopping the consumption of caffeine leads to headaches, they will happen, because waiting provokes a reaction. This, in particular, is evidenced by a review of the 2004 journal Psychopharmacology, in the preparation of which scientists analyzed more than 50 articles from medical literature on a given topic.


Why do I feel lousy, low, out of energy after the high coffee gives? I started drinking a lot of coffee after coming to college. I became instantly energized and social after grabbing a cup or two. But then at night I became extremely dull, unsocial-able, and quite depressed and completely lack of energy and I crashed into the bed just to wake up late in the mornings. Why is this happening?

This effect is known as caffeine withdrawal. It's normal that you may feel a bit loose of you don't have caffeine after a while. The whole set of adverse effects of caffeine withdrawal is enlisted as:

headache
fatigue
anxiety
irritability
depressed mood
difficulty concentrating

according to WebMD.


What you call the original Cappuccino? I am a coffee freak and I love Cappuccino. I want to know what exactly is the Original Cappuccino. What portion of milk, water and coffee does it contains? And is cappuccino with more foam as good or with less foam?

It's made from 3 equal parts

Milk foam (top)
Steamed milk (middle)
Espresso (bottom)

as illustrated (bottom left) on this image designed by Lokesh Dhakar...

There is also some details here, however it does not describe the important split in foam and steamed milk.

  For a 3-ounce macchiato, use a 2:1 ratio of espresso to milk; for a
  6-ounce cappuccino, 1:2; and for an 8-or-more-ounce latte, 1:3+.

As to the second art of your question, a cappuccino with more or less milk would not be a cappuccino by definition. However would it taste better, that's down to your personal taste and how much you like foam. Personally for me, it would become more a desert ;)


Convert Mahlkönig EK43 settings to other grinders I wanted to test the new AeroPress World Champions recipe, and my question is how do I translate the setting "7.3" on Mahlkönig EK43 to my Graef CM 80.

Is there any way to get the same result on my grinder?

I had the same question as well. The Mahklonig scale is from 1 (fine) - 11 (coarse), based on some images, so you could assume that 7.3 is about a drip grind, and then adjust to taste based on results