Will Twist Press really taste like espresso, made by hand? The Twist Press kickstarter promises a hand-held espresso maker.

Q. Will the coffee it makes really taste like espresso, compared say to AeroPress coffee?

AIUI, the key factor in brewing espresso is pressure. How much pressure is needed?

Twist Press develops more pressure via a screw thread, but the thread appears to be at 45° which provides only 2x leverage, and you can't lean your weight on it, which is possible but not recommended for AeroPress.

The user presses the two handles towards each other, but that should just halve the pressing time, not increase the force. Is shorter brewing time important to making espresso (quick) taste? If so, why does this design have a closed cap for long brewing upside down?

From the photos, the press piston face looks about the same area as an AeroPress. A smaller piston area would increase the pressure proportionally.

Do espresso makers use paper filters like Twist Press does?

It depends exactly how much pressure can actually be applied.

To make proper espresso, you need 9 bars of pressure. To put that into perspective, that's about 131 lbs per square inch. I am guessing that there is no way the twist press can actually create that much pressure.

That being said, you will probably end up with something similar to what AeroPress or stovetop espresso (mokka) pot makes. Not quite espresso, not quite coffee. Its somewhere in the middle.

When dealing with espresso, its not so much about the time as it is the flow of the liquid through the puck. It's about a constant water flow at the proper temperature with a consistent pressure for the duration of the extraction. I don't think there is anything in press market that will ever be able to attain that.

Finally, espresso maker typically do not use paper filters, both the shower head and porta filter basket are metal.


How will "cold brewed" coffee differ from traditional hot-water extraction methods? Generally speaking, what do "cold brewed" methods hope to achieve compared to the more traditional hot-water methods of extraction?

Does the amount of caffeine vary between hot brewed and cold brewed coffee?

What about the other compounds such as Salicylic acid, phenolic acids, and amino acids?

Cold Brew Coffee - A Brief look at Flavor Profiles

My company builds flavor profiling and quality control tools for the craft beverage industry, using machine learning, data science, and analytical chemistry - let's use some of our 20,000+ coffee reviews to answer this question with data.

It has been claimed for some time that cold brew as a method of extracting coffee only exists to minimize the amount of acidity in the flavor profile. This is only a third of the story, and may not be true for the coffee you brew or consume!

So what is the full story? Read on!

Acidity in Cold Brewed vs Hot Brewed Coffee

These two beautiful graphs show the difference in sour & acidity in cold Vs hot brewed coffee. The graphs show that hot brewed coffee has a much larger range in the perception of acidity - and is on average more acidic than its cold brewed counter part.

Differences in Average Flavor Profile

But what about the rest of the flavor profile? Are people really planning to cold brew for hours in advance just for marginally less sour acids in the brew?

No. Higher-end cafes and roasters are producing cold brew coffee to target consumers who want a different flavor profile- optimized for consumption at a different temperature.

For this section of the analysis, I will be using the Gastrograph to communicate complex flavor profiles consistently and simply. On the Gastrograph, the intensity is shown ranging from 0, the center of the graph, to 5 (the outer most point).

Let's look at the difference in flavor profiles below:

Full Immersion Cold Brew Coffee

This is the Gastrograph of the average Cold Brew Full Immersion Coffee.

Full Immersion Hot Brew Coffee

This is the Gastrograph of the average Hot Brew Full Immersion Coffee.

As you can see, these coffees differ on a much greater number of axis than simply sour and
acidity - the goal is to make a different product with its own unique flavor profile, not to simply reduce acidity.

Differences in Flavor Profile by Brewing Method

Finally, Cold Brew is actually an entire class of production methods that involve infusing coffee into cold water. There are 2 primary types:

(Reminder: Coffee brewed with hot water, and then iced is not Cold Brew coffee.)

Full Immersion Cold Brew

Fresh
CO2 Draft
Nitrogen Draft
Bottled

Ice Drip

Let's look at the 2 most interesting types of cold brews from the list above:

Stumptown Draft Cold Brew

 This coffee is served from a beer keg and pressurized with CO2.

Stumptown Nitro Cold Brew

This coffee is served from a beer keg and pressurized with nitrogen; the effect is a much smoother and fuller coffee, with a very thick and present mouth feel.

The cold brew coffee you make at home will be much closer to the average cold brew shown in the previous section, as I suspect few of the readers here will be making batches large enough to keg!

Update: Very Short Chemical Analysis

How do the concentration of compounds salicylic acid, phenolic acids, and amino acids differ between cold brew and hot brewed coffee?

It is not so much concentration that matters - it's perception. For example, phenolic acids are mostly volatile; in hot coffee more are evaporating, thus you can more easily perceive them. The same is true for salicylic acid (a precursor to aspirin, which is acetylsalicylic acid).

Also, These acids are more readily soluble and easier to extract in hotter environments. In cold brew not only do you extract fewer molecules of the acid, but the ones that you do extract will trigger a less potent olfactory response.

Amino acids are a trickier issue. The chemical nature of amino acids greatly varies (like in polarity and size, functional groups, etc). Most free amino groups will be consumed during roasting via Maillard non-enzymatic browning. On average, the cold brew would extract more, simply because it would have more time to come out of the coffee (during the average 6-hour steep time).

This article is helpful: Coffee Brewing Chemistry: Hot Brew vs. Cold Brew.


What is essential for a proper tamp? There are competing theories as to what you should do when tamping grounds in a portafilter. Some of these include:

30 lbs. of pressure, 90* angle
Knocking the side of the portafilter with the tamper
Rotating the tamper while pressing down
The North, South, East, West
Even the ground distribution with your finger prior to tamping

The only ones I see and hear consistently as required is the use of 30 lbs. of pressure and a 90* angle. The rest are variously employed and are not authoritative or dogma.

What is essential for  a proper tamp?

Related: How important is tamping coffee for an espresso machine?

There are a pantload of recommendations on tamping, but the one recommendation common to all is... practice! And... The most optimal way of tamping depends on every individual pull: the beans (freshness and grind), your skill, machine, etc. at that moment.

Ultimately, the goal (and most important part, in my belief) is to pack the grounds uniformly. Any non-uniformity in your puck will allow water to flow more through certain areas than others, giving you non-uniform extraction across your grounds (some over- and some under-extracted). For example, if your tamper isn't level, you'll end up with a "slanted" puck; if your grounds are packed more loosely in some places than others... these can yield un-even pucks.

That said, here's a few other common recommendations, some of which you mentioned in the question:

Add the grounds uniformly and smooth before tamping. This gives you an even bed of grounds so you can tamp evenly.
15 kg / 30 lb. of pressure. A bath scale could help until one gets this "by feel".
Use a heavy tamper. This helps you control all of the other parameters.
Aim for sinking the tamp approximately as far as the bevel (a general rule).
Twisting is not necessary (some do at the end of the compression for "polishing", but not necessary).

Then there's some controversial bits:

"Knocking" is something I totally don't understand. The idea is to tap the portafilter so as to somehow redistribute the grounds after tamping. I feel like it would just mess up a good puck, but some recommend it either to ensure uniformity of compression of the bottom and top of the puck, or to get grounds off of the side of the portafilter. More discussion at link [4].
On the "North, South, West, East" topic: this illustrates tamping at four points around the portafilter. Since the tamp is slightly smaller than the portafilter, the theory is that tamping at points around the sides helps to prevent grounds from creeping up around the tamp (up the side of the portafilter). It seems to me that an appropriate sized tamp will alleviate most of this, but it seems like a reasonable recommendation. Some guides (e.g., below) recommend this, others don't. More at [1].

A few articles on different takes on tamping:

Virtual Coffee
I Need Coffee
Coffee Research
CoffeeGeek


Does sweet coffee exist? I am looking for a coffee type that is naturally sweet, like sugar snap peas. So there is no need to add sugar, when I drink it.

This question is probably best answered in two directions:

If you feel the need to add sugar to your coffee, it may simply be that the coffee that you are drinking is not very good. Sugar makes a lot of things taste better in addition to the sweetness that it adds. There are many ways to improve the quality of your coffee, like buying better and fresher beans, grinding right before brewing instead of buying pre-ground coffee, etc. Whether any of that is feasible depends on your coffee drinking circumstances - e.g., if you need to use your office's drip coffee machine with the coffee bought by the kitchen management, there is not a lot that you can do.
If you want to add sweetness because you like it sweet, but you still want to avoid adding sugar for some reason, you can try the following:

There are a couple of coffee bean types that have a slightly sweet flavour. For example, I have a some "Starbucks 2015 Christmas Blend Espresso" here, which is described by the producer by "Cedar and herbal spiciness with an intense caramelly sweetness". When using the beans in a pump-driven espresso machine, the espresso indeed has some sweetness. But don't expect too much. Coffee is natually low-calorie, which means that there can only be a little bit of sweetness. There are some coffee types that are naturally sweeter than others. According to a book that I have, lightly roasted Arabica Bourbon coffee beans should have a "fine sweetness". Panama Volcan Baru Coffee is also listed as particularly sweet. Against, don't expect too much - "particularly sweet" means in comparison to other beans!
In case you prefer to drink your coffee with milk, you may want to switch to lactose-free milk. In that type of milk, the lactose has been split into shorter sugar molecules, which makes the milk taste quite sweet without a noticeable change in calories.


Caffeine content of different brewing methods For a given type of bean, do different brewing processes and temperatures (drip, French press, Mocha, espresso, cold brew, etc.) produce coffee with different caffeine content?

It would seem temperature isn't a factor because, according to this answer, "caffeine is chemically stable even when passed through its boiling point (evaporation temperature) of 312°C (593.6°F)".

The brewing method, however, would seem to matter. Mocha, espresso machines would seem to extract the most caffeine because they require finer grounds and use higher temperatures (steam) and pressure.

Short answer: No
Slightly longer answer: The temperature, pressure and method of brewing barely impact the amount of caffeine extracted from the bean.
Because caffeine dissolves so readily in hot water, the single most important factor in determining the amount of caffeine in the cup is the amount of coffee used to prepare said cup. Arabica beans contain about 0.8-1.4% of caffeine by weight, depending on the variety. So if you were to brew an espresso (15g in 30g out) or a pour over (15g in 250g out), you would have the same amount of caffeine in each beverage.


Stainless steel moka pot with a crema valve for espresso-like crema Are there any moka pots (made of stainless steel) that produce crema? I know there is the Bialetti Brikka, but its made of aluminum and that's not what I'm looking for.

I know the Brikka does not produce "real" crema, but it's good enough.

Thanks :)

P.S.: Im not looking for a stainless steel pot (I do own  one), but rather for one that is similar to the Bialetti Brikka i.e. that it has a crema valve.

My wife and I moved to our new house and we have an induction hob installed there.

We used our brikka(s) a lot and loved the results.

We bought a 4 cup musa for the time being but compared to the brikka it tasted like fermented horse urine.

So I decided to experiment:
Apparently the head from our 2 cup brikka fits the bottom of the 4 cup musa.
It worked! The results are fantastic.
I am going to purchase a 6 cups musa and see if it fits our 4 cup brikka.

The thread on the musa is a bit longer but it doesn't matter: just screw it hard until it locks to put pressure on the seal.

Use just the boiler tank from the musa and all the rest from the brikka as the coffee funnel filter of the musa doesn't have a rubber seal needed for the higher pressure.
Don't put too much water (fill the amount that matches the head. Not the tank)

Good luck!


Where to get coffee in Zurich Does anyone know where I can buy delicious coffee beans in Zurich. I just moved here and I am clueless.
I use paper filter ie Moccamaster.
In the UK I used to get Grumpy Mule. It’s actually not high end expensive but it’s delicious.

There are several cafés which serve and roasters of specialty coffee in Zurich. These include:
Cafés

MAME The owners Emi Fukahori and Mathieu Theis have won several prizes in competitions, Emi won the Brewer's Cup in 2018. They roast their own coffee and sell it in both of their stores.
Miró They roast their coffee in their café and sell it there and online.
Just Coffee A small, take-away only café. They serve and sell coffee from roasters all over the world, including Tim Wendelboe. Bring your own cup!
Bean Bank They serve and sell coffee from roasters around the world and are located pretty centrally next to the main station. They are a little pricey though.
COFFEE They serve coffee from Stoll exclusively.

Friendly people work in all of those cafés and they are more than willing to help you find your ideal cup of coffee or answer any questions you might have.
Roasters

Mame
Miró
Stoll Really old roastery, they make classic italian roast espresso, organic coffee and specialty coffee.

Other than those, you can find more info on European Coffee Trip's website. If you want to order coffee online you also might want to check out vertical, Birchbach, Kaffeemacher and Henauer.


How can I make coffee without a machine? I love coffee. As I am a student and living in a hostel I do not have any machine and I can not afford to go out for coffee everyday. I still want to make coffee, so how I can make smooth coffee without a machine?

Cold brew, SUPER simple version. A.K.A. my college days version.

One tbsp of any coffee per cup of water. Let it sit in the fridge for about 12 hrs. Pour and drink.

In my college days I got a half gallon milk jug. Washed it out of course. Which is about 8 cups. I would put 8 tbsp of any coffee I could get my hands on and put it in the fridge over night. No heating water, no other preparations, no shaking, nothing.

The next day I would fill my coffee mug and put 2 sugar cubes (about 40 calories BTW) or honey into the cup and microwave it to a drinkable temperature. When you get close to the bottom it will be like mud, full of coffee grinds. I would just toss that out and start the next one for the next day. I think I calculated that with the cost of the sugar cubes and coffee it was like 15 cents per cup.

Tips: the thought that more coffee will deliver more caffeine is true but I found that a ratio of more than 1.5 tbsp of coffee per cup of water can make it to bitter to enjoy. Plus I found that the time in the fridge does not have to be precise if you stick to the 1 tbsp to 1 cup plan. There were times when I left it in there for 20 hours and it was still drinkable.


Moka Express Pot, rusting? I know the Bialetti Moka pots are aluminium and I understood this means they can't rust? But mine seems to have a small spot of rust on the hinge part? Is this part not aluminium?

Is there anything I can do to this spot or does it matter?

Thanks.

Aluminum is not a very strong metal when it comes to moving parts. Probably, that small rod that keeps the handle in place is made from steel to last longer. Rust may be formed because of steam or if you don't towel dry it after washing it. No worries as it is not in contact with your beverage. I can't check mine as it's not currently with me.


How does hard water affect the brew and how to compensate for hard water? I figured the brewing technique that works for me at home. I am using light roasts, brew them with AeroPress using good amount of 95C water at about 1-to-8 ratio. Yet, when I come to my friends place, using exactly the same technique produces dull coffee, actual taste hides behind an overwhelming acidity.

After trial and error I figured, that water hardness is drastically different at our places: after a single boiling of water my teapot would have as much lime residue as my friend's teapot would after a month of active usage. Lime would be visible on mine immediately, while the other teapot would remain mirror-clean for weeks.

I would not be able to get better water in my house without signifficant investments. But, what can I do get approximately same coffee when I switch to lighter water? Can I remedy that by water temp, blooming, ratio etc.?

By the way. When I lower the temp of water coffee comes out weak and, somehow, oily.

Water is complex in terms of coffee, and the answer is "it depends" in terms of how it will affect your coffee. Every coffee roaster tastes their coffee with a certain water, and it's likely the coffee tastes best with the water it was roasted against. You might experience the opposite problem from what you described with some roasts.

There are multiple things you'll want to account for. There are many undesirable flavors you can get from heavy metals, or chlorine-tasting water (so at a minimum you want your water to taste good). Beyond that, you really care about the amount of Calcium, Magnesium, and buffer (generally HCO3) in your water.

Based on what you said of your water, I suspect you have quite a bit more bi-carbonate hardness (HCO3 or buffer) in your water. This kind of hardness will rip out the acids in the coffee very well, but will also push the pH level of the final cup to a balanced state. Your friend's water likely lacks enough to bring the coffee's pH to a balanced state where it's enjoyable (fun hack, add ~2g/L of baking soda to water, a source of bi-carbonate, and add this in increments to the final coffee, you can fix the acidity!)

Calcium and Magnesium also work together to bring out acids and other taste-y bits to your coffee. Calcium + Bi-carbonate is why your kettle is scaling quickly. You can filter your water (a cheap Brita filter will remove Ca and Mg from your water).

I personally mix my water up from distilled for brewing to a specific ppm of Ca, Mg, and Bi-carbonate.

You can increase your total hardness of water if you get a better system by simply adding baking soda to the water, or other mineral salts. I would be careful about this however and ensure you are still creating something that is safe to drink.

If you want measure your water, you can use various titration kits to quantify your house water. If you want to do more research on water and coffee, this is the popular book on it. It's very hard to find, I got lucky enough to pick up a copy.

Hope this helps.


What are the cheapest options for making good quality espresso at home? I have always wanted to add espresso to my coffee creations in the morning, but am a novice and don't know where to begin.

It is slightly dependent on your personal definition of espresso. Also the choice depends on how easy you want its operation to be.

The moka pot is certainly the cheapest espresso-type device. However, it doesn't fall within the standards of a true Italian espresso, as pointed out in this answer. In particular, you won't have any crema.

Hand pumps are inexpensive, compact and light, and have the decent pressure of 8 bars. Although they are marketed as an espresso device for camping, they can be use wherever you have hot water.

A step up for home is an aeropress. The way it operates is steep + push-filter (as in a French press), and the result ranges from filter-brew-like to espresso-like.

Next in price are probably the capsule espresso machines (such as Nespresso and its clones), which many supermarket chains have cheap versions of. Very easy to use, but unsustainable (see here and in the end of here), and coffee enthusiasts won't consider them an option because of the taste (see the previous link). For related concerns, see the (excellent) answer to this question.

And then come two best types: bean-to-cup and traditional espresso machines with a manually operated portafilter. They both are discussed in this answer. Both vary in price and quality significantly; probably a decent traditional machine may have a lower starting price than bean-to-cup machine. You may even find one not much more expensive than a capsule machine.

As far as easiness is concerned, capsule and bean-to-cup are obviously easier than moka pots or espresso machines.


What are the flavor characteristics of under-roasted coffee? As a frequent coffee drinker, I can tell when the coffee beans have been over-roasted; the coffee is bitter.

What can I tell when the beans have been under-roasted?

What does under-roasted coffee taste like?

I suppose under-roasting and over-roasting are somewhat relative. I generally prefer a lighter roast (just after the completion of first crack) which might be under-roasted to some tastes.

I've occasionally stopped a roast too early and then it's under-roasted to me (and I suspect anybody else) as well! In those cases, the coffee tastes sour and I don't mean acidic, but sour. The sourness is a little like the taste in bread that has got old and soured. It also has a taste that's reminiscent of tea. I like tea but not when when it's meant to be coffee! (If you've ever had Qishr - "tea" made from the dried coffee cherry husks - it's pretty close to that, which is not surprising I suppose.)
There are also other coffee tastes which are just absent from under-roasted coffee - there is simply less of that "coffee" taste (and it also disappears of the tongue very quickly) and the coffee also has less body.

If they are not too under-roasted, I find letting the beans rest a lot longer than normal can help a bit.


Book recommendation: a guide about coffee to a beginner? I really want to learn more about coffee, but I think the web is too large and therefore confusing. So I have decided to start with a good book. Which books (preferably below 20 USD) can you recommend? Just a good and informative beginner guide to espresso and coffee in general?

I recommend Hoffman's "The World Atlas of Coffee."
 He gives you history, tells you about different methods of brewing, roasting, and teaches about growing and processing as well.  A very well rounded introduction.

The World Atlas of Coffee

So far as a book focussed more on brewing, I recommend Rao's "The Professional Barista's Handbook."  His blog (also linked below) is also a tremendous source.

The Professional Barista's Handbook


How does a snack with a coffee slow down the caffeine's effect? I have stumbled upon the following sentence:

Have your coffee with a snack to allow a slower release of caffeine into your system.

Browsing the internet I could see exactly the same claims, not only in articles, but also in comments and unanswered questions.

There is however no reliable evidence or any kind of proof of it. I'm inclined to believe that it works, the question though is

How exactly does a snack slow down the caffeine release?

Not sure if it's coffee-specific or a general biological way the things work, so I decided to ask here.

It's probably due to the fact that your organism has nutriments from the snack to absorb at the same time , if everything mixs in your stomach then absorbtion will also be mixed . It's pretty much the same with alcohol.


Coffee choices for Zombie Apocalypse (This is probably an opinion question.)

With the coronavirus I've been stocking up on foods that last, and that I like to eat.  Example, I love figs and dried fruit and eat them daily so I've bought three months worth.  I don't like canned sardines so I didn't stock up on that as I would never eat them unless I was under duress.

So the thought went to coffee. I buy my coffee from a local roaster with a store a few blocks from where I live. As a result I don't buy a lot of coffee at one time. In my experience coffee beans are at their best for about two weeks after roasting and start losing their flavor after about a month.

So - and this is an opinion question: How best to provide for a three to six month shortage.

Buy beans and have them get stale OR
Buy packaged coffee: Cafe Bustello or illy?

Yeah. I know. People are dying and hurting and I'm concerned about sitting around in my apartment without any coffee. Chances are this will not be the Zombie Apocalypse; nor will it be a major pandemic outside of China.

But the question remains - how best to stock up for 3-6 months AND not "waste" ones money buying things that one would not use under normal conditions?

TL/DR - After 6 months storage which would be superior - buying cans of illy or freshly roasted beans stored in a bail lid jars?

Freshly roasted beans start degrading after a week or so. Maybe buying cans of beans - ground or not - would be your best choice for drinking not so great coffee during the end days. Check that they "vacuum pack". Maybe that helps.

I would make another choice: properly stored green coffee beans can last for year. Then I would roast it (your going to have filled propane tanks, right?). You can roast a lot of coffee from one 5 gal propane tank.

That is my selected choice and I am prepared.


Will drinking coffee affect my physique? I am a 16 year old student who has decided to drink coffee so that I can study for a longer period of time at night but I am getting information that coffee can make me skinny. But what if I just a little bit of coffee, will it affect my physique?

The only thing I can think of that would cause weight loss with black coffee consumption is if you eat less due to the appetite suppressant that coffee can be.

But then again, drinking more of anything is an appetite suppressant. Even water. On the flip side, you can gain a lot of weight if you ingest high-calorie confections, such as any ice-blended coffee drink.

So, my notes really only apply to black coffee drinkers.

It is true that caffeine makes it easier for you to expend more energy. In the short run.

Your body will eventually adjust to your daily levels of caffeine. You'll have to drink more and more to get the same energy effects. Eventually, you'll have to drink coffee just to feel "normal."

I personally believe this also applies to any weight-loss potential.

The overall effects on weight loss are likely minimal, but will vary depending on how your coffee habit changes your eating habits.


How to order cappuccino without whipped cream in France? On my travel in paris, I ordered a cappuccino at a local cafe. What I got, was a large cup of coffee with a tennis-ball-sized whipped cream on top, decorated with chocolate syrup. Being like most Finnish, I did drink the cup without complaining.

However, I feel I got served a cheap substitute for a cappuccino, I am not even sure if it was espresso but rather just filtered coffee.

Is it because we were tourists, or the place being cheap, or was it just their local variation of cappuccino? I've always thought that cappuccino is supposed to have steamed milk foam on top, not cream from a can.

How should I order my next cappuccino without insulting the waiter AND without whipped cream?

You probably just hit upon a place that simply didn't know what a cappuccino was, or lacked the facilities to prepare one.

French coffee culture is a little different from Italian, but usually a cappuccino is much like what you'd expect.

I found this exhaustive guide to French coffee culture, and it notes:

  Capuccino – A French cappuccino is thirty per cent espresso coffee, fifty per cent milk, twenty per cent froth and no whipped cream. If the cafe you are in adds whipped cream then you must be in a cafe catering to tourists.

So it sounds like you just had bad luck!


Is coffee a drug that you could give to your dog? Sometimes questions are very short and answers very long.

We all like coffee, but, would you give coffee to your dog?

According to dictionary.com, one of the definitions of the word drug is:

  a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being

As caffeine, which coffee contains, is an active ingredient in some medicines (such as Anadin) it certainly fits that definition so it would be correct to say that coffee contains a drug (putting aside decaf). If you take the first sentence of the Wikipedia page that describes drug:

  A drug (/drɑːɡ/) is any substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed.

Caffeine also fits that definition as there's a body of evidence that supports that description when talking about caffeine.

Would you give coffee to your dog?

Absolutely not. There is a page on petmd.com titled Caffeine and Pets: Safety Tips and Considerations which states:

  It turns out our pets react in much the same way we do. Caffeine makes them restless. They get jittery and their hearts start to race.

That doesn't sound.... ideal! It turns out that it's not, and the next part of the page makes it pretty clear why:

  But because our pets weigh so much less than we do, it only takes a relatively small amount of caffeine to cause a big problem, potentially leading to expensive hospitalization or even death.

Further on in the article it's explained that 23-27mg caffeine per lb of body weight can lead to cardio-toxicity. For a 3.5kg cat, such as mine, that equates to between 177mg and 207mg of caffeine. Based on the table in this answer, that puts a double espresso or a 200mg caffeine tablet squarely in that range.

That's absolutely not to say that giving your dog, or other pet, coffee (even decaf!) is something you should consider doing. The petmd page states it much better than I ever could (my emphasis):

  “Cats and dogs should not ingest any caffeine,” says Dr. Elisa Mazzaferro, adjunct associate clinical professor of emergency-critical care at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York.


Why did espresso never catch on as a mainstream drink in the US? I live in the US. During a recent trip to France, I was struck by the fact that espresso is the default coffee configuration there (i.e., if you order "coffee" in a restaurant without specifying further, espresso is what you get). And Nespresso-compatible coffee pods are sold in the supermarket for use in Nespresso-compatible machines, whereas in the US Nespresso hasn't licensed their system to any third parties, so it's still a specialty item. Presumably the same situation prevails in Italy, where espresso originally comes from.

In the US, meanwhile, you can get "espresso drinks," but that usually means espresso diluted in a large quantity of milk and syrup. Espresso per se is an esoteric beverage consumed mostly by a small number of enthusiasts.

Part of what motivates this question is that in some ways espresso seems tailor-made for the American market:

Invented out of a desire for fast service
Involves large, complex machinery
Lends itself to quick consumption

And yet here we are. So the question is: are there specific factors, beyond "different countries do things differently," that kept espresso from catching on in the US?

Coffee spread throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th C and was brought over to the United States by colonialists and immigrants. Coffee was already a fixture here by the time espresso was invented in the early 20th C.

  Coffee arrived in Italy in the 17th century.It was made in the Turkish manner andconsumed in elite coffee houses such as Florian in Venice.Cappuccino was madeby adding the froth from warm milk to the coffee.However it was only in 1905that the first espresso machine entered into production.
  https://www.academia.edu/379110/The_Cappuccino_Conquests._The_Transnational_History_of_Italian_Coffee_2007_

Espresso did not become a staple of Italian or European culture until after WWII.

  By the late 1950s, most Italians consumed coffee at home, in the traditional moka pot—first built by engineer Alfonso Bialetti in 1933, and now an icon of Italian design worldwide, as Morris explains in his 2008 essay “A History of Espresso in Italy and the World.” But there were exceptions. A young Calvino was a regular customer at Caffè Talmone, a café in Turin where he met with other intellectuals to discuss books and politics. There, he drank Italian espresso with a layer of foam on top, the result of a patent registered by bar owner Achille Gaggia in 1947.
  https://qz.com/992879/the-curious-tale-of-how-italy-became-the-world-capital-of-coffee/

So why did espresso come to dominate European culture after WWII and not the US? Why would any fad or variety necessarily come to dominate the world? Why would a new variety necessarily overcome tradition?  For one thing - espressos require specialty machines that were extremely expensive. Until recently it was not something that would be found in an ordinary kitchen whether in Italy or the United States.


Does pre-heating a puck on the group head produce more crema? In my never-ending quest to get just a little more crema out of every shot, I've been experimenting with some advice I received from a barista - allow the puck to warm a bit in the porta filter on the group head prior to pre-infusing and pulling.

I have tried this, and I'm still skeptical - I don't really see a difference in the amount of crema that I get. I've tried a few different beans with this experiment:

Illy - Arabica, medium roast
Lavazza Qualità Oro - Also Arabica, medium / blonde roast

While I do get a tad more pressure, I'm not getting any more crema than I usually do. His logic was pretty simple, pre-warming at around the 90 degrees Celsius that the head / portafilter tend to be results in more of the oils in the extraction, hence crema.

I've let it pre-heat for up to a few minutes with no real change in the pulled shot, with and without pre-infusing.

Is this just a tall tale? Am I not letting it get hot enough or for long enough? Is Arabica just too gentle of a bean for this to work? The reason I'm trying to get more crema is for a few new deserts I'd like to make, the coffee is still delicious, I just hoped that the experiment would yield more.

Brewing using a Breville Barista Express (manual mode), if it makes any difference.

Well, I've heard a lot of "pro tips" and advice having worked around espresso machines for a few years. And I must say, this one is new. I have never heard of warming the coffee itself. I can't imagine that, at the temperature at which the brew head usually resides, many significant changes are made in just a few moments of warming the coffee.

The closest I've heard to this is that some believe in the opposite. A fellow once told me to leave my spent puck in the portafilter if someone was going to be brewing again shortly. He claimed this helped retain heat in the portafilter. Though the science checks out, the results proved marginal and pretty much just made you the lazy guy using the espresso machine.

So, in closing, I'd say that the effects of warming your coffee are probably negligible, and that you can get more crema more easily through other means (buying better quality coffee, adjusting your brewing variables, etc)


How can I minimize the amount of grounds at the bottom of my French press coffee? Whenever I brew coffee with a French press, I tend to get a significant amount of grind left near the bottom of the cup, making the last bit of coffee far less enjoyable - mostly regardless, it seems, of how finely I grind the beans. Is there any method or tool I can use to minimize the amount of grind left at the bottom of the cup?

I have the same problem, and these things definitely reduce it:

Grind more coarsely. Blade grinders are incapable of really doing this—they give you boulders and powder. But I've never been satisfied with the taste when I use coarse grounds— it's weak and lacks body.
Make sure the screen fits well and no grounds are squirting along the sides
Press gently, don't force it down with a lot of pressure
After pressing, wait a minute before decanting
Don't drink the dregs remaining at the bottom of the cup... unless you're like a friend of mine who relishes them.

Finally, if none of that works for you, try a different brew method. Paper filters are very good at keeping grounds out of your cup.


Is espresso pre-infusion included in total brew timing? There are many espresso recommendations for an exact brew time of, lets say 28 seconds according to here.

When pulling a shot of espresso, some machines use a low pressure "pre-infusion" feature to quickly bloom the puck before starting the brew cycle. Most coffee brewing techniques do not count this as brewing time since its a preliminary step before adding more water, however espresso is an art of careful attention to every small detail without any room for error.

Should the timer start as soon as water hits the puck, no matter the circumstances, or should pre-infusion be excluded from total brewing time?

Based in my experience, the "23-28secs" starts counting since you press the button of the water.
Those 3-4secs of "pre-infusion" that you mention, are part of the whole timing process.

But remember, it will always depends on your set-up (type-of coffee, roast, grind, etc...)

You can measure this empirically watching brewing guides, like:

Stumptown Coffee Roasters
Clive Coffee (includes pre-infusion reference)
World Barista Champion Event 2015 (livestream.com/worldcoffee)


How do you descale a Breville grind brew machine? I am getting a message on my coffee maker that it should be descaled. However, I can not figure out how to do it without the manual, which is missing.

Citric acid isn't very effective, it's even weaker than vinegar. Sage (Breville's trade mark in the UK) advertises with a descaling powder containing sulfamic acid (see someone who figured this out on a forum), which is a much stronger acid.

The weaker acids may be fine when they sit longer, for example when you're descaling the bottom of a kettle where the solution is in contact with the bottom for the duration of the descaling process. In more complicated espresso machines, you have tubes (metal or plastic) which may also have some deposits. Depending on the descaling process, the solution doesn't stay in those tubes very long, so you need to have a stronger solution that can clean the deposits there in that limited time window.

There are also aftermarket products that contain this acid (in power or liquid form). On my local Amazon, the powder goes for about 10US$ per kg (2.2 lbs). You need to make sure your machine can handle these, I think the ones with a stainless steel boiler can (at least the more expensive Breville machines are stainless steel, not sure about the cheaper ones).

Once you've settled on using this acid, you need to figure out dosage. I'd recommend following the dosage of the aftermarket solution or Breville's own powder and following the descaling instructions that came with your machine (or by looking up the manual online).


Maxwell house instant coffee powder aroma My office just got a case of Maxwell House instant coffee. As noted by my co-worker, the aroma of the coffee powder smells more like soy sauce than coffee, which most of the instant coffees we had.

The actual coffee tasted fine, the initial aroma was just offsetting. Is there any specific reason (maybe in the method of processing) for why the aroma of Maxwell House instant coffee powder smells this way?

Instant coffee is not generally considered to be the epitome of great tasting, or smelling coffee. It's almost the antithesis of artisanal whole bean arabica coffee.

The iconic and appealing smell of freshly roasted or brewing coffee is due to arabica coffee. Instant coffee though is mostly, and often completely, made from lower cost robusta beans. Robusta beans have a distinctly different taste and aroma profile.

And while industrial roasters have gotten very good at coaxing arabica-like flavours from instant coffee, the underlying qualities are still there and still noticed in the aroma. So the short answer is that your brand of instant coffee smells a lot more like typical robusta beans than the more desirable arabica beans.

Aroma is somewhat subjective and can be easily influenced by suggestion. I can understand your perception of soya sauce, although that characterization might be a bit off the mark. Soy sauce covers a large range but is something of an earthy umami aroma usually having malty seasoning, cooked potato, caramel, alcoholic, smoky or honey notes.

Myself I would describe the MH instant coffee aroma as bittersweet like the artificial sweetener, Sweet n low, sweet and bitter/metallic/alcohol aroma over a predominantly peanut and wet paper flavours.


What variables cause the Gesha/Geisha coffee varietal to be priced so highly? Being probably the highest priced coffee bean varietal out there currently, it makes me wonder what exactly causes the Gesha/Geisha varietal to be so expensive?

Is it the delicate nature of the plant causing it to yield only in the most specific of climates? Is it due to its availability as a lesser grown type? Is it simply due to it's quality?

Geisha is so pricey because of a lot of marketing true. However it is extremely difficult to grow.
On a farm is Costa Rica this past June the farmer was having a difficult time with his because the root system is not as robust as other Arabicas.
Another reason for the price is that the yields per bush are lower.

Here is a good article on it: Geisha Coffee According to a 4th Generation Panama Producer


How does one calculate extraction percent? I am reading “Everything But Espresso” by Scott Rao and am in the chapter “The Coffee Brewing Control Chart”.

In the section “How to Calculate Extraction without a Chart”, he says you need three values:

Brew strength (total dissolved solids)
Dry coffee mass
Brewed coffee mass

You plug those values into the following two equations to get extraction percent:

TDS% x Brewed Coffee Mass = Extracted Mass

Extraction% = (Extracted Mass) / (Dry Mass)

So, my question is: how do you get brewed coffee mass?  Do you have to take out your mug before you start everything and then weigh the solution afterwards?

Also, is it necessary to have a refractometer to calculate the TDS?

Without knowing how to get those two variables, I obviously can’t solve the whole equation.

Any tips on any of this is greatly appreciated.

You have everything right. If you want Extraction % you need to measure:

Total dissolved solids: You will have to measure this using a refractometer. There are many out there, for commercial settings they start at around 300€. I have no experience with cheaper, "home use" refractometers but I'd assume they lack accuracy.
Dry coffee mass (in g): You have to weigh the ground coffee before brewing, that's all there is to it.
Brewed coffee mass: As in 2. you will have to weigh your brew. Tar your kitchen scale with the cup on it, brew coffee and put the cup back. Voila.

Now you just all pluck it in the equation and you are good to go. Suppose you have 15g of ground coffee, yield 190g of brewed coffee with a TDS of 1,3%, which is great for a pour over.

That gives you an extracted mass of 2,47g.

2,47g/15g = 0.165. So the extraction % would be 16,5%.


Are ghost-burr grinders better than conical burrs? I would like to know if ghost/crushing burrs produce better particle uniformity than conical burr grinders.

Ghost burrs are particularly not so popular in the US, but some notable brands are from Fuji Royal in Japan, and some steel-manufacturing companies in Taiwan.

Conical burr grinders are used by Breville and Baratza (at least the most legitimate ones). I particularly use the built-in grinder on my Breville, and the uniformity is great, but I'm attracted to the ghost-burr grinders by Fuji Royal and Yang-Chia (amongst other competing companies in Taiwan).

Has anyone owned either of these kinds of grinders?

In theory a hybrid burr set where a flat burr is followed by a conical burr would be ideal, combining advantages of both burr types. In practice though there are many confounding factors in grinder design and world class grinders can be found with all types of burrs. Some of the best grinders in the world made by Ditting is Switzerland use large precision flat burrs rather than conical burrs.

Conical and hybrid grinders are more expensive to manufacturer and are therefore less common in cafes. But that is not to say that a conical grinder like the Mazzer Kony /Robur is not a superb grinder just because it's flat disc burr brethren vastly outnumber it. It can be said that conical burrs are seen more often in higher capacity grinders. Some other well regarded commercial burr grinders include Cimbali, Mahlkonig and Bunn.

In practice though there are many confounding factors in grinder design and world class grinders can be found with all types of burrs. Some of the best grinders in the world made by Ditting is Switzerland use large precision flat burrs rather than conical burrs.

What can be said is that industrial production roller mill grinders put all of the burr grinders to shame, producing the best particle size uniformity of all. However these room filling behemoths, with similarly large price tags are impractical for use in cafes or even small to medium scale industrial coffee grinding where burr grinders dominate.

To answer the question posed then, no. Peg discs do not produce superior  particle size uniformity than true burr grinders - conical or flat disc. Quite the opposite in well established by myriad reputable sources and can be seen in plots of particle size distribution.

The flat (non burr) disc grinder crushes /fractures coffee beans in a less predictable manner than precision burrs that have a more consistent and more sharply delineated size reduction path. Excessive fines can be thought of as unwanted dust arising as a byproduct from a less precise size reduction

 conical burr (mazzer)


Does instant coffee give a lesser buzz/high than conventional filter/french press coffee? I have felt that percolated/french pressed coffee keeps me awake more than instant coffee brew.

EDIT: Since it was (validly) pointed out it will depend on the amount, so the amount, that I am comparing is basically what is mentioned on the packet of instant or ground coffee (whichever is the case).
As in if my instant coffee sachet says it makes 2 cups of coffee, I use half of it. And if the ground coffee says to use the filtrate of 2 tablespoons for each cup, I do the same.

Caffeine content varies greatly by preparation and brew method.  Instant coffee is generally designed to produce something close to a cup of drip coffee.  "Cups" is unfortunately not well defined and may vary based on it's usage.  Beyond that, percolated and french press coffee is generally prepared stronger (more concentrated) that regular drip coffee (and probably much stronger than the watered down concentration instant is designed for).  It's also very likely that some amount of caffeine is lost during the freeze dry process since it is so water soluble.

TL;DR Yes.  Real brewed coffee will generally have a higher caffeine concentration than coffee that has been brewed, dehydrated, then re-hydrated.


Can the Breville / Sage Oracle grind and brew simultaneously? The Breville / Sage Oracle has a grinder, steam wand and espresso maker (not sure if there is a more technical term for the part where you click the portafilter into) in one machine. Online advertisements show it can steam and brew at once because of the double boiler.

I am more interest in brewing a few shots in succession*. Can this machine grind and brew at the same time? I'm assuming one has two portafilters at hand.

*I know the grinder heating up may cause the grind size to change.

It is capable of doing this, but the machine only comes with one porta filter.

In fact, my Barista Express is capable of grinding while brewing, but again only 1 porta filter. You would need to buy a second one to do both.


Water Filtration for Cold Brew Vending I am going to begin vending cold brew at parties/pop-up events with the Toddy process, what are good methods to assure that I have optimal water quality with as little overhead as possible?  I will brew between 12-18 gallons of cold brew for 350-400 people.

I typically buy the giant water jugs that they use for office water coolers. They sell them at nearly all grocery stores and compared to coffee, it's pretty inexpensive. I'd say if it starts taking you more than 20 minutes to move the water by hand, then congratulations on your success, and it's time to buy a filter. If you filter, you'll have the overhead of maintaining the filter and ensuring whatever water supply you have is being filtered well enough, but until then -- just buy it from higher end drinking water sources in large jugs or bottles.


What large batch cold brewing methods are available? It seems that there are very few large batch options. There are obviously the consumer products, then there are a couple "commercial" 5 gallon type systems.

I'm looking to fill multiple 5 gallons kegs for consumption and distribution. I understand that I could do a heavy batch of concentrate in a 5 gallon batch and dilute it with water when I put it into the kegs, but are there any methods available that don't involve the extra step?

If I want to go bigger am I going to have to do something custom?

Goals

It sounds like you're starting a small business, in which case, you will quickly outgrow 5 gallon batch sizes as you begin distribution.

Depending on your needs, I would suggest purchasing industrial beer brewing equipment, such as conical fermenters and brite tanks.

Use of Conical Fermenter

The conical fermenter would allow you to long brew a batch, bubble nitrogen or CO2 up from the bottom for agitation (increasing extraction and preventing oxidation), and will let the grinds settle into the bottom shoulder of the tank when the brewing process is complete.

Use of Brite Tanks

Brite tanks come in a range of sizes from ~1 gallon up to tens of thousands of gallons. They are primarily used as a glycol jacketed pressure rated storage vessel for keeping beer (and similar beverages) in optimial conditions before storage. They may also be used as part of the forced carbonation of the liquid in the tank.  A brite tank will be useful for your cold brew business as you scale up because it will give you an intermediary vessel to blend out and store batches before packaging.

Scaling up your production

Depending on your business plans and packaging / distribution ability,
you will probably want to start with a slightly larger setup that gives you 1) room to grow and 2) the ability to expand without changing process or systems. Beer equiptment is well suited to meet these goals.

Quality, consistency, and some notes on process:

The majority of consumers demand a consistent product with an interesting flavor-profile that they can enjoy every time they purchase your product. Flavor-profile deviations will cause you to loose consumers to a more consistent product in the long run. The following points will help ensure a more consistent product:

blend out batches of cold brew from the fermenters into a single brite tank
use CO2 or nitrogen to prevent oxidation
manual agitation is inconsistent - use a bubbler with CO2 or nitrogrn instead. This will also help with goal 2.
Packaging lines make a huge difference. Invest for growth in a rotary topper, not a 4 or 6 head.
Don't attempt to use the same blend of beans for cold brew, draft cold brew, and nitro.


How could you feel the caffeine effect most quickly? Which will take effect quicker? Drinking a cup of instant coffee or eating raw powdered coffee?

If you want the effects of the caffeine to be felt the most quickly, you probably should buy caffeine powder or pills, be careful though that you could easily overdose yourself to death with the caffeine powder or if you took more pills than recommended.
Though, if you don't want to buy the isolated caffeine, drinking it would probably be quicker, since otherwise you'd lose the effect of the absorption by the mouth (which is faster because it goes straight into the bloodstream), and you'd still have to digest the powder to get to the caffeine.


Does eating a cookie created using coffee beans has the same effect as drinking coffee? There are some cookie recipes using coffee beans. I've never tried any of them. But I am curious, if eating a cookie has the same effect as drinking coffee?

Or is all of the caffeine lost during the baking?

No, because there is no fluid in the cookie.  Eating a coffee cookie will have the same effect as eating a roasted coffee bean.

Virtually no caffeine will be lost during baking, unless you bake hot enough to burn the cookies.  Caffeine's melting point is 460F (237 °C).  That is well above what your cookie will reach internally while in the oven.


What's the rationale behind this placement of the pressure gauge? I recently got an E61 single-boiler machine (ECM Classika PID) and am trying to understand how it all works.

I haven't been able to deduce any reason for how/where the pressure gauge is connected. It's at the end of a long, coiled capillary tube that connects just downstream of the pump:

Is there any particular reason for the pressure gauge to be connected here, as opposed to e.g. downstream of the boiler?

It's likely connected there to ensure only cold water goes to the gauge.
Over time, hot water would negatively affect the gauge and, in a capillary tube, more rapidly deposit minerals and clog.


Differences between Chemex & V60 I currently use a V60, but I'm interested in using a Chemex (primarily because of the bigger capacity for guests).

Assuming all variables are correct for the specific brew method (grind size, weight of coffee, filters etc) but the coffee & water used are from the same source.

What would be the differences between the taste of a cup of coffee from a Chemex and a cup from a V60?

Here's a few more things to add to @fredley's answer.

Since the water is going to be in contact with the grounds for a longer time (1- using greater volume of water, and 2- Chemex filter will be slower) you're going to get more of the bitter notes that you get (in general) by using a longer brewing time. Acidity will be offset somewhat by the bitterness. I find Chemex to be like a filter-coffee version of the body of a French Press preparation, though with no sediment. Compared to the throughput of V60 filters, @fredley hit it on the nose.

Though you are asking about taste specifically, there are other factors.

Like @fredley said, the filter paper in Chemex is much thicker and water drains through it significantly more slowly. You'll probably want to use a coarser grind (and very even grind) than you would for V60 or Melitta-style filters. Fines are the enemy of Chemex, causing the filter to clog and welling (see this question about "welling up" in a Chemex for more on that). Certainly use the best burr grinder you can and don't delay in the pouring action.

Technique is "more important" (read as: "finicky") with Chemex, I think, than other pour-over systems. See preparation guides such as from Chemex itself, or Blue Bottle, or Stumptown, or search for others.


What am I supposed to do when coffee shop leave some coffee beans in my latte New comer here, the coffee house serve my latte with 3 or 4 coffee beans floating on the foam, what am I supposed to do with them? eat them? pick them out? or drink it and spit the beans out? Sorry for asking such embarassing question, I like instant coffee but I'm not so familiar with coffee house

You should eat floating coffee beans, will add extra caffeine and also beneficial antioxidants and nutrition compared with just the drink. On average a coffee bean does contain 12mg of caffeine, adding that to your drink will not change flavor but will just increase overall caffeine content.

Is like chocolate-covered coffee beans treats, get enough caffeine from a snack.

  On average, eight coffee beans provide an equivalent amount of
  caffeine as one cup of coffee. Your body absorbs caffeine from whole
  coffee beans at a quicker rate than that from liquid coffee.

coffee beans benefits


Cezve doesn't leak with cold water in it, leaks after heating I have a cezve I bought some time ago. I've tried making some coffee with it, and after about 30 seconds of heating on the stove, it starts to leak (dripping one by one). Is there any way to fix this, or does it have to be thrown away ?

Someone on reddit is suggesting to get some plumber's solder to fix it. Is this a good idea ? Any instructions on how to fix this would also be helpful.

If Cezve is made of copper, please get rid of it as soon as possible. Copper Oxide is quite poisonous. They are generally plated with tin after production. If you try to fix it, you may break this plating.


Is it safe to consume roasted rice as a substitute for coffee beans? In the Philippines some people roasted their rice to make a substitute for coffee, this rice is uncooked rice. But I doubt if it is safe?

While I never heard of rice as coffee-substitute, people have used roasted malted barley, spelt, chicory or dandelion roots or even acorns (and other foods) to make a dark, aromatic brew that was used either separately or mixed with coffee, especially in times of scant resources.
I suppose the rice would not be burnt1 (because that would taste horrible), but roasted instead. Healthwise it is perfectly safe, like the other options mentioned above. Just note that rice has no caffeine, so you wouldn't get the "kick" you get from real coffee.

1  original post said "burnt", has now been changed to "roasted"


What are good ratios for cold brewing coffee? I'm using a mason jar + inserted filter method to brew cold brew concentrate. My normal method is 2L water per 110 grams of coffee, left in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours. Is this good for a concentrate or should I adjust my ratios/time/temperature? I've heard that room temperature is better, but I haven't seen anything to back that up. Seems like it would be better to maintain lower temp for bacteria. Any advice?

According to Food52, the optimal cold brew coffee ratio is 3/4 cup
  coarsely ground coffee to every four cups of cold water

Psst… We've Figured Out the Perfect Cold Brew Coffee Ratio


What kind of Foam goes best with types of coffee? I have been visiting various cafes and type of milk foam varies each and every time whether it's normal or silky(that's what I got to know from one of the barista)  make me think about the type of foams that goes with types of coffee.

Is there any such thing or it depends on various cafes and barista's way of making coffee?

It's just a matter of tradition, style and skill. Traditionally the thick, hard foam with bigger bubbles is used in Italy for Cappuccini. Same goes for espresso macchiato. Sometimes the milk foam is spooned on top of the espresso. In other countries they often imitated italian style coffee, which is why e.g. in Germany the foam is usually very thick as well. In Australia they developed italian coffee culture further and usually froth more silky (and make flat whites with it).

When it comes to skill, it is much harder to produce silky foam than the "traditional" foam. You have to start with cold milk, then introduce air at first, but also not too much and lastly spin the milk/foam mixture to break up big bubbles and to work the froth into the milk. In order to do all that you have to get the depth of the spout in the milk right, you have to get the angles right and you have to be careful not to heat the milk too much, because otherwise the foam will become too thick and hard (and the milk will get bitter). For the thicker foam you can basically just put the pitcher under the steam wand, let it sit for a while and come back. Not gonna be pretty what you fine there, but it works.

Third wave and specialty coffee shops usually froth the milk to a silky texture, so called micro foam. That's a different style and there several reasons for it why it is done that way. The most important one is that the taste is superior. Frothed milk above 70 degrees starts tasting bitter. Most specialty coffee barista probably froth the milk to somewhere between 62 and 64 degrees. That way you get a sweet taste and micro-foam. For the thicker foam you would need higher temperatures and thus destroy the taste of the milk.


Is there a scale with a usb interface for tracking data? Instead of manually writing down the brew process I try each day (example: 18g beans, 40g water @ 0:00; 180g water @ 0:45; etc), I would love my scale to be connected directly to my computer. Then I can just pour water (using a pour over on the scale) and my computer automatically tracked the data. I'm a programmer, so I have zero problems writing a program to collect the data, and then even present a UI with a form where I can rate the taste of it.

The problem is that I can't find a good scale that has a usb interface to the computer. And even the few I find that say "usb", it only mentioned it for power supply, not computer interfacing.

Does such a scale exist?

So  I just found this: https://www.amazon.com/Acaia-Scale-AP001-Scale-Pearl/dp/B018RN7EP0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1541702297&sr=8-3&keywords=acaia+pearl which comes with a phone app to track the data. I don't know if this allows me to programmatically pull that data into my own personal database though.


What Type of Coffee Is Used In a Coffee-Maker? I come from a land of tea-drinkers and have only recently taken a fancy to coffee. I just ordered this coffee-maker for myself, which is the first that I'll ever own.

I am a bit perplexed as to what type of coffee is used in a coffee-maker. It gets all the more confusing since I couldn't get my hands on all the types on the internet.

Until now, I had been making coffee with the help of this Nescafe.

Is this instant or ground coffee? What is the difference between the two? Can they be used in my coffee-maker?

Along with the coffee-maker, I also ordered myself a bottle of Grandos Espresso Instant Coffee. Would I be able to make it with the help of my coffee-maker?

Ground coffee is just the roasted coffee beans ground up to a fine powder. In order to make the beverage coffee, you need to combine this with hot water to extract the flavour (there are many different ways to do this). Typically, there is a filter that makes sure that the water can pass through the ground coffee but none of the ground ends up in your drink.

Instant coffee is dried brewed coffee - they grind up the coffee beans, brew the coffee and then remove the water.

A coffee machine or coffee maker is used for brewing coffee from ground coffee, not instant coffee. Instant coffee powder just needs to be rehydrated, so adding hot water is enough. It will completely dissolve in the water, which the ground in a coffee maker will not.

The machine you bought seems to be an espresso machine (it puts the water with high pressure through the ground coffee). This requires a relatively fine ground. Preground espresso will probably work, or you can also buy a grinder and grind the beans yourself. It also seems to have a pressurized filter basket, which means it will be quite forgiving and therefore easy to use.


What are the standard espresso parameters (dose, mass/volume, time, etc.)? I have a Breville Infuser espresso machine as well as a Breville Smart Grinder Pro. The espresso machine comes with two types of filters (for singles and doubles), and can dispense a pre-programmed volume of water corresponding to a single or double dose through its two front buttons (the machine also allows programming these volumes, if desired.)

Thus there are 4 combinations of coffee I could produce:

Using a single filter, and dispensing water corresponding to a single dose (~30 ml, as I understand).
Using a double filter, and dispensing water corresponding to a single dose.
Using a single filter, and dispensing water corresponding to a double dose (~60 ml, as I understand).
Using a double filter, and dispensing water corresponding to a double dose.

Are any of these 4 cases not usual or "recommended"? Particularly I never brew the combination corresponding to case 3.

What is the expected flavor profile of the espresso produced in each of these cases (more/less acid, sour, sweet, etc.)?

Which of these could be called a ristretto, normale, or lungo?

What parameters should I aim for in each of these cases, in terms of: mass of grounds in the filter before brewing (in g), shot volume (in ml) or mass (in g) in the cup, and extraction time (in s)? I have heard extraction times should be always 25 s regardless of the coffee dose and the volume of water, so 25 s for all combinations above.

This machine has a pressure gauge, indicating water pressure during extraction. Should I watch for a particular value in this gauge, or ignore it and just watch the extraction time? Currently my procedure for adjusting the grind is to make it coarser when pressure is in the upper 2/3rds of the gauge range, and finer when pressure is in the lower 1/3rd of the gauge range. I do not regularly monitor extraction time for adjusting the grind. Using combination 4, and adjusting the grind such that the pressure gauge stays close to the midpoint, extraction times are in the range of 25-30 s. However, using the same grind settings but dosing enough water for a single (combination 2), extraction times are closer to 15 s. To get closer to 25 s I would have to let the pressure gauge reach values way into the upper range.

In closing: although I enjoy the taste of combination 2, it appears most of the water stays in the coffee puck, and the volume actually dispensed in the cup is very small (about 15-20 ml). Perhaps I should reprogram the water volume to get something closer to, say, 30 ml? Would this help me get an extraction time closer to 25 s for this dose (assuming this is the "ideal" extraction time)?

The question is a very complex one, so I will try to answer with a standard approach of dialing in your espresso. Generally speaking what you should aim for is a espresso that is full bodied, sweet, fruity with crisp acidity, a syrupy mouth feel and an amazing aftertaste that stays with you long after you finished the cup. What you don't want to get are any sour (underextraction), bitter (overextraction), ashy flavors and a hollow aftertaste that leaves you wanting more.

You can get to that sweet spot different ways, using the single shot or double shot portafilter. There are some general guidelines though that you might want to follow.

Generally using a double shot porta filter delivers better results. You are more flexibel in adjusting the grind size for example. In basically all specialty coffee shops, double shot baskets are used for making espressos. Surely this has to do with efficiency as well, since you can make 2 shots at the same time. I would suggest you try to find the sweet spot with your combination number 4 (or number 1 if you really don't want any more than a single espresso).
The first thing you have to consider is your recipe. Using a double shot basket what you should aim for is a dose:yield ratio of around 1:2. That means if you start with 20g of coffee (in the double basket), aim for a 40ml yield (for a double espresso). A very common recipe would be to start with an 18g dose and aim for a 36g yield. That would be a double shot or two single shots. If you pull shorter you will get a ristretto (short espresso) and if you push through more water, it would be a lungo. The yield is not fixed, you may adjust it depending on the coffee and taste. It is just a basis for dialing in properly, a baseline.
Once you decided on a recipe you should lock in the dose. Changing the dose, changes everything else, so you want to keep it as consistent as possible. However the grams are not fixed and will change all the time. If you change the coffee type/brand/origin/roast etc. you will have to adjust again. Even variables such as temperature, humidity and how much coffee is in the basket above the grind chamber will influence your grinders behavior and therefore the dose. The only definitive remedy is weighing out every single dose and shot (for home use at least whenever you use new coffee to find a setup that delivers consistently good results with this brand or type, albeit it will not consistently be optimal).
Now that you have the dose and recipe fixed you want to get an extraction time of somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds. Adjust the grind size (keep in mind that your dose changes as well, when you adjust the size, since the grinder measures the time of grinding and not the weight of the coffee) so that you reach the desired extraction time with the given recipe. Don't overdo it though and stay in the espresso grind range.
Keep in mind that you tamp correctly. Level out the grounds before tamping with slight shaking, hitting the basket on the sides and using your fingers. Try to tamp as straight as possible, the distance between the basket and the edge of the tamper should be equal on all sides. A tilted puck will extract badly. You don't have to tamp terribly hard, just until you don't feel the coffee bed changing any more. Anything more is redundant.
Pull a shot, taste and reflect if the result is the coffee you want. If it is, good for you, most likely it isn't though and you will have to adjust again.
If it isn't the coffee you want, try to figure out what's wrong with it. Is it too sour? Probably underextracted. Try to grind slightly finer, so the extraction process takes a few seconds longer to get to the yield you want. Does it taste bitter and hollow? Probably overextraced, in this case do the opposite.
Forget everything of the above and follow your taste buds! If one or more of those things doesn't produce taste profiles that you like, just kind of ignore them and try something else.

This is a general approach of how to dial in your grinder and produce a nice shot. It is not the only one, it is definitely incomplete and it will not be able to replace experimenting and experience.

Also don't bother too much about the pressure at the beginning, try to get consistent results that you like when pulling shots and after a while you will learn and understand your machine better. Also don't forget to flush the group head and portafilter before use, so old coffee oils are removed and you get up to temperature.

Cheers.


How does the altitude at which beans are grown affect the final roast? In what way does the altitude at which coffee beans are grown affect the flavor of the final roast?

I often see coffees labeled with marketing materials such as "contains only beans grown above x thousand feet." Does the altitude at which the beans are grown actually affect the final flavor of the coffee? If so, what are the mechanisms which cause this, and what does it do to the actual flavor of the final product?

Based on the study entitled Effects of Altitude, Shade, Yield and Fertilization on Coffee Quality (Coffea arabica L. var. Caturra) produced in Agroforestry
Systems of the Northern Central Zones of Nicaragua the summary describes following on the altitude subject:

  ...

  Altitude had the strongest influence on coffee physical
  characteristics, biochemical composition and organoleptic quality.
  Shade influenced significantly the physical characteristics and
  biochemical composition of coffee beans; nonetheless, the organoleptic
  quality was significantly enhanced by shade only in the altitudinal
  range of 950-1255 m. Fertilization and yield influenced positively
  physical characteristics of the coffee beans as well as their
  biochemical composition. The organoleptic quality was influenced by
  fertilization, but not by yield. Biochemical compounds showed strong
  relationships with organoleptic characteristics.


How do I make an espresso shot in a moka pot? Ive tried brewing espresso in a moka pot but I end up making coffee that tastes like drip coffee. Not sure why, but is it because the water level in the moka pot (I fill it up just below the opening hole) is too much? I'd like to get the consistency of an espresso shot made by an espresso machine (thick and creamy). I've been following tutorials online but nothing changes!

You can create more pressure if you will use finer grind (but be careful). I even tamp a bit (but be careful again). You can also buy Bialetti Brikka, which has a pressure valve - it helps to build higher pressure and create crema. However, with moka pot you'll never get real espresso, you can only try to brew something similar.


It is good for my health to drink coffee 10 times a day? I am working on a computer 15 hours a day, and I feel tired and sleepy a lot between the work. So I prefer to drink coffee to get rid of tiredness. Coffee gives me an energy boost and makes me able to focus on work. And if I don't drink coffee then I can't do the work properly and makes me very sick. It's not like an addiction but I need something that keeps me focused and coffee does that. So what should I do, I should stop drinking that much coffee or should continue drinking daily. It is safe and good for my body to drink coffee 10 times a day?

Caffeine content of coffee varies widely depending on many factors. How much caffeine does your 10 cups contain? And how much is too much? The Mayo Clinic website has addressed exactly what you are concerned about in their detailed article which can be read here:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/caffeine/art-20045678

Important extracts:

  How much is too much?
  Up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. That's roughly the amount of caffeine in four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two "energy shot" drinks. Keep in mind that the actual caffeine content in beverages varies widely, especially among energy drinks.

  [...]

  You may want to cut back if you're drinking more than 4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day (or the equivalent) and you're experiencing side effects such as:

  Migraine headache

  Insomnia

  Nervousness

  Irritability

  Restlessness

  Frequent urination or inability to control urination

  Stomach upset

  Fast heartbeat

  Muscle tremors

  [...]

  Most adults need seven to eight hours of sleep each night. But caffeine, even in the afternoon, can interfere with this much-needed sleep.

  Chronically losing sleep — whether it's from work, travel, stress or too much caffeine — results in sleep deprivation. Sleep loss is cumulative, and even small nightly decreases can add up and disturb your daytime alertness and performance.

  Using caffeine to mask sleep deprivation can create an unwelcome cycle. For example, you may drink caffeinated beverages because you have trouble staying awake during the day. But the caffeine keeps you from falling asleep at night, shortening the length of time you sleep.

That's also my personal experience as a long-time coffee 'addict', though I am also very sensitive to caffeine and therefore I can tolerate just 2 cups a day before I lose sleep and begin to experience strong physical effects. The key thing is to make sure you don't experience symptoms of caffeine excess, and that you get adequate sleep every day, which also varies from person to person.

If you feel the need to reduce your coffee intake, the same article linked above provides some useful guidelines.


Generating crema with a moka pot? I have a stove top percolator for making espresso.  It does not generate any crema.  it possible to do so with a stove top percolator?

Moka pots (or stove top percolators) usually produce a pressure of around 1.5 bar, while most coffees require a pressure of at least around 6 bar for a crema to appear. However, there are some Moka pots with a special valve (called Cremator) which helps creating more pressures and thus produce a crema.

By the way, a real Espresso has to be brewed with a pressure of 9 bar ± 1, according to the Italian National Espresso Institute, so it can't be brewed with a Moka pot.


Coffee as a factor in rapid scientific progress? Balzac is one of many authors* who have cited coffee as a boost to creativity (or at least productivity). See this article, for example.

My question is whether anyone has argued that coffee or caffeine was a factor in the rapid advancement of science beginning in 1600 or so. Coffee houses such as The Grecian were frequented by the likes of Sir Isaac Newton. True or not, it seems unlikely no one has thought to connect caffeine consumption and its gift of marginally-increased clarity** to the revolution in science and humanities in Europe.

If someone could point to articles on this topic or has a feel for the history involved that would be great.

*Rényi said, "A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems." We wouldn't credit coffee for his success but there is a probably a grain (or bean) of truth there.

**As measured, say, by performance on tests.

What to keep in mind is, that during the middle ages, alcoholic drinks were pretty much the main beverage.

  Before public sanitation, cholera and other water-transmitted diseases
  were a significant cause of death. Because the process of brewing any
  beer from malt involves mashing and boiling which effectively
  pasteurizes the wort, and the fermentation and hops protect against
  infection, drinking small beer instead of water was one way to escape
  infection. It was not uncommon for workers (including sailors) who
  engaged in heavy physical labor to drink more than 10 Imperial pints
  (5.7 liters) of small beer during a workday to slake their thirst.

(Wikipedia on "Small Beer", a lightly alcoholic beverage)

To quote from an article by Malcom Gladwell

  What this flood of caffeine did, according to Weinberg and Bealer, was to abet the process of industrialization–to help “large numbers of people to coordinate their work schedules by giving them the energy to start work at a given time and continue it as long as necessary.” Until the eighteenth century, it must be remembered, many Westerners drank beer almost continuously, even beginning their day with something called “beer soup.” (Bealer and Weinberg helpfully provide the following eighteenth-century German recipe: “Heat the beer in a saucepan; in a separate small pot beat a couple of eggs. Add a chunk of butter to the hot beer. Stir in some cool beer to cool it, then pour over the eggs. Add a bit of salt, and finally mix all the ingredients together, whisking it well to keep it from curdling.”) Now they began each day with a strong cup of coffee. One way to explain the industrial revolution is as the inevitable consequence of a world where people suddenly preferred being jittery to being drunk. In the modern world, there was no other way to keep up. That’s what Edison meant when he said that genius was ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration. In the old paradigm, working with your mind had been associated with leisure. It was only the poor who worked hard. (The quintessential pre-industrial narrative of inspiration belonged to Archimedes, who made his discovery, let’s not forget, while taking a bath.) But Edison was saying that the old class distinctions no longer held true–that in the industrialized world there was as much toil associated with the life of the mind as there had once been with the travails of the body.


What quantity of ground coffee should I use for an automatic drip machine? It seems like a fairly basic question, but there's probably some more science to this. For an automatic-drip coffee machine, how much ground coffee should be used per unit water?

Various sources say that the "industry standard" is 7g (~1 rounded Tbsp) per "cup" (150-175mL, or 5-6 fl.oz.). Is this uniform for any (reasonable) amount of coffee (say, 200mL-4L / 1 cup to 16 cups)? Or would I want, say, a higher ratio of grounds-to-coffee for making 2 cups, than for making 12 cups? I feel like I, personally, tend to use more coffee (per unit water) when making fewer cups (I'm not sure why; shorter extraction time? Matters of water retention? Mere personal preference?).

Surely this also depends on total extraction time and grind level, but perhaps that is a separate question. With due credit, this question was partly spurred from this recent question.

I think you have already listed the "industry standard" that is the answer to your question.  It is a good starting point for anyone and the amount can be adjusted by taste afterwards (more grounds for stronger coffee, less for weaker).

The amount may vary with brewing method of course, since depending on the method, brew components (grounds, filter, other components) may retain various levels of water.

The one add on I will stipulate is that it is always better (for groups) to brew coffee that is too strong.  It is very easy to add some hot water to a cup and weaken a cup of coffee,  however, if you like strong coffee and it's been brewed weak, you are just out of luck.


What are the basic parameters that affect the flavor? I am new in this field. In the field of coffee. I want to ask for the basic attributes or properties, which is good to know when I want to buy coffee that I like.

Thanks!!!

After some time has passed and no one answered, yet. Maybe I can come up with an answer. The question is not clear and if I understood correctly, the answer is too broad. Therefore, I will try to elaborate my answer by summarizing factors that effects the tag of the question.

Note: Please leave comments as this is a quite broad answer.

The species

When we say coffee, we mention two different species of Coffea Genus. Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (aka robusta). They have many differences. Shortly, Arabica grows in the mountains, more expensive and has more oil (so flavor), less caffeine. Robusta grows in the seaside, less expensive and has less oil (so flavor), more caffeine. More detailed discussion can be followed under this question.

The origin

You grow this plant in different places. Location and cultivation affects the taste. So, the origin has effects on the flavor. You may hear "Ethiopian arabica" or "Indonesian robusta" quite often.

The blend

So, it comes the blend. After the harvest, the fruits are collected, dried and the beans are picked. When you collect different beans from all over the world, you blend them. Sometimes, single origin beans are used to taste the flavor as it is. Sometimes, they are blended to mix the effect of a variety of beans. Blends may be all arabica, all robusta or mixed.

The Roast

After the blend is prepared, roasting starts. During roasting normally up to 15% of the beans weight is dried out. This process is one of the main decisions based on personal preference, blend structure and the targeted drink. A list of coffee roast varieties can be found here. Note that there are also unlisted very very light roasts as in green coffee.

The grind

Grinding is also closely related to the targeted drink. For example, the coffee must be as fine as powder for preparing Turkish coffee. On the other hand, such fine grinding is so unpractical in French press as the grains could easily travel through the filter.

The Brew

Choose a brewing method. As a subtitle, use proper equipment for that method. Master your brewing method. Needless to say, there are (probably) hundreds of them. I could enlist three main methods as: pressurized extraction, thermal extraction, and cold-brew methods.

The service

According to a questionnaire, baristas in Italy state that even pouring the espresso may affect the flavor. Apart from that, it is a known fact that the espresso cups must be pre-heated for a better experience. So, even serving the coffee is important.

The freshness

As a bonus article to the aforementioned ones, freshness. One should take car of the freshness of the coffee at each step. The beans themselves must not wait for years. After roasting, they should be degassed for two to three days before grinding. However, they should be consumed right after the grinding. There is a famous expression on that: the customer not the espresso must wait. In one experiment it is shown that, if one day old ground coffee is used, the foam volume of espresso is 35% less than the one prepared by freshly ground coffee.


What is a good packaging when importing green beans to a temperate climate? Importing green beans matters to bring great quality to the cup. But the beans travel from their native mountains in the Green Belt to various climates. What packaging is best when transporting to a temperate climate ("real seasons", a bit of everything, from sun to rain to snow, and negative to positive temperatures).

Packaging could be with traditional hemp bags, with plastic bags, with bacteria-protecting bags, etc. I heard some stories of hemp-packed beans contaminated by animals when transporting by boat. In the past, I have imported hundreds kilos by plane in regulated atmosphere, for best quality, but it may be overdoing it (the beans where quite expensive). All in all, I guess it depends on the kind of beans and transportation.

Anything that is air tight would be best. Grain pro, ziplock, etc..
Vacuum packing is optimal.


Espresso - Dose affecting extraction time disproportionately I have a Pasquini Livia 90 and a Baratza Vario Ceramic grinder.

I'm finding that the only way to tame my extraction speed is by over dosing the basket. Specifically, by loading the basket so heavily that it pushes up against the shower screen.

If I use a double shot basket, I have to load 21+ grams to get the extraction down to a brew ratio of 2:3. Basically, I have to get it to the point where I'm struggling to insert the portafilter, otherwise the extraction speed is just incredibly fast. At the recommended starting point for the Vario grinder for espresso, (2Q), it takes about 7 seconds for an extraction using 16 grams of coffee in a double basket.

If I stick to the recommended doses, and give the coffee some headroom from the shower screen, I end up having to use the finest possible setting (1A - 1E) on my grinder to 'slow the flow'. This results in extremely overextracted tasting coffee, which makes sense because the grind is like powdered sugar at that point.

What am I missing here?

I would not exceed 20 grams on a twenty gram basket. Weird things start to happen.

I would make your grind finer - and simply stop your shot quicker. If it tastes overextracted, then stop your shot even quicker the next time. Adjust accordingly until you get the sweetest shot you possibly can.

Your general espresso recipe for a well roasted coffee should be somewhere around:

20 grams of coffee in
extracted for 26 seconds
A yield of around 30 grams of espresso

I hope this helps and good luck!


What gives Turkish coffee that unique "quality"? I'm wondering what makes Turkish coffee made out of original Turkish packed grounded coffee taste so differently (better) from what I can do from beans that I ground myself or in the shop, following basically the same technology?

I had a few hypothesis:

It's all has to do with right Cezve, i.e. pot. However, buying
'true' Turkish coffee pot didn't help. Actually I get much better
results with Turkish ground coffee comparing to the one sold
by weight even if the latter costs more.
They add cardamom to the coffee. I tried it, coffee tastes better, but
it's still not the same.
They ground it very very finely. I asked the seller to ground my
coffee ad fine as they can but the result is still poor. (Actually this
is still an open question, because they can use better machines than the ones I have access to.)
They use special coffee mixes.

Then in Wikipedia I read that it is mostly about fineness of the grinding, but burr mill and mortar proposed there didn't work in my case. I also bought turkish coffee mill like this:

I tried to grind the coffee with this mill many times, results are always poor. Does anybody know what is the secret? Can I make my own coffee that would be the same quality (or better) than, say, Mehmet Efendi?

Assuming that:

you have found the best available beans in your market.
which are then finely grounded
and used instantly after the grounding (have in mind the finer the grounding the faster the coffee taste deteriorates as it both absorbs humidity and all smells from the environment with it and in the same time releases its aroma).

You can look for:

right Cezve : the pot shouldn't be a steel, as the temperature rises very fast which leads to bitter/ burnt taste. The preferred material is copper.
right preparation methods : make it as slower as possible and wait for it to create a thick cream (caimác) that will protect its aroma as in espresso. To achieve that you can use either direct flame (as you can directly see the flame and control the amount of heat transfered):

or sand (which has large heat capacity and it takes a lot of time to get hot):

steer it frequently till it boils: to homogenize it perfectly; otherwise the coffee and sugar go down on the bottom and melt/ burn and deteriorate the taste.


Baratza Encore is grinding too coarse Listing out details as I best know. I'm stuck on what might be wrong or if there is anything I can do.

Purchased used Baratza Encore off Facebook Marketplace 2.5 months ago
Been using grinder every single day, mainly for Chemex pourovers, in the 18-22 grind size range
A couple days ago, noticed it was grinder very coarse in my usual range. Also, doesn't seem like much of a difference between 16 - 22
I took the grinder apart to recalibrate the little screw. Moved it into the fine section to calibrate the grinder finer
Same problem. No difference in grind between 16-22, haven't tried outside those ranges yet, and it's grinding very coarse, like french press or even cold brew size.

Any ideas on what I can do, or is it time for a new grinder? Thanks.

I have the grinder myself too, and from what I recall (haven't used it for a while) the number scale doesn't correspond with a specific grind size. I haven't taken it apart, but when I would thoroughly clean it (mostly taking out residue coffee dust with a vacuum cleaner), I think I had to set it a bit finer (maybe 2 or 3 on the number scale) to achieve the same results.
Seeing that you took the grinding mechanism itself apart as well, I wouldn't be surprised if the number scale is a bit further off compared to what you were used to.
To see if you can achieve the same grind size you used before, I'd simply grind finer until you get there. If you get down to the lowest setting and the grind isn't getting to the desired level (which you previously did get from the same machine) then there's probably a problem with the way the machine was reassembled.


Should coffee be regulated? A couple of questions/answers on this site make it clear that many people feel that coffee is addictive, at least for some fraction of consumers.

  My question, for those who believe coffee is addictive, is whether and how it should be regulated?

I am leaving the notion of "regulated" open. It could mean banning sales of coffee to minors, collecting a surtax to fund treatment, printing warnings on containers, and so on.

Given the emerging addiction-lore on the web I think it would be naive to assume that coffee would never be regulated. So I am interested in the extent to which people entertain or support regulatory ideas we currently associate with more potent drugs.

If one really believes that coffee is harmful and addictive, wouldn't one at least support a warning label on cups? Restricted sales to minors? The dangers listed in this well-received answer, if one accepts them, seem to commend at least mild warnings.

Edited 11/13 to link earlier question/answer.

Generally, governments find it necessary to regulate addictive substances due to quality of life or health issues that stem from abuse/addiction. While I will neither support or attack this kind of reasoning, when you think about children born addicted to heroin or methamphetamine, the property crimes generally associated with addiction, and the additional strain on our health care system, you can begin to at least understand it.

Coffee addiction is far less financially taxing (my dependence costs me roughly $10/week or less), less likely to disturb my health in any appreciable way, and socially acceptable at all levels of society.

The coffee industry generates plenty of revenue for government as is.  Starbucks is paying their taxes just like every other corporation.  Creating an additional branch of government employees to regulate or adding additional employees to an existing administration (FDA perhaps?) are all expenses to regulate something that isn't currently a problem.  So it's an expense without any appreciable benefit.

TL;DR  Since coffee is a low impact and highly supportable dependence, government has little or nothing to gain by regulating it's use.


What is the science (if any) behind bulletproof coffee? Over the past few years I've been slowly starting to dabble in the caffeinated arts.  I'm far from being knowledgeable, but I'm definitely very curious about this favourite beverage of mine.  So, I occasionally read up on it.

Not long ago I discovered something called Bulletproof Coffee.  It seems to be associated with the Paleo diet movement.  It involves adding butter to your coffee.

I asked around at a few coffee shops but nobody seems to know why anyone would do this!

Articles such as this one claim it gives an energy boost.

Is this true?  If so, what is the science behind this?

Another view on this:

Bulletproof coffee is often used with a low-carb diet, often referred to as the "keto diet", which has some similarities with Paleo, but is quite different. The diet requires you to cut out as many carbohydrates as possible out of your diet in order to get your body into a state of ketosis, where most of the energy in the body is produced by processing fat instead of carbohydrates.

When following the keto diet, you need to eat a lot of fat, minimum carbohydrates and a reasonable amount of protein. The goal is to get most of your calories from fat. Getting in all the fat that is required is often difficult, so in that context, bulletproof coffee is nothing more than a delivery method for fat. There's nothing special about it, it's just easier to drink a spoonful of butter melted in coffee than eating it on its own.

If you want to read up on keto further, the keto reddit has lots of resources on it: Keto In A Nutshell.


Can you use sparkling water to brew coffee? Has anyone ever tried it yet? What flavor/mouthfeel/extraction benefits are there, if any?

If you heat the water as per most brewing methods, it would no longer be carbonated/sparkling by the time you brewed with it.

You would thus be confined to a cold-brew method, and if you wanted the water to remain carbonated you'd have to cold brew in a sealed container. That would be moderately inconvenient but should be possible.

Or you could brew coffee by any means and force carbonate it after the fact, which would thus have no effect on the brewing.

Never tried it, don't find the idea personally interesting, but all it should cost you to try would be a bottle of sparking water and the hassle of getting the coffee grounds into it, waiting a day or so, and then pouring it out through a filter and cleaning up the mess before recycling the bottle. Please report your results.


Detering effects of coffee aroma Does coffee aroma have a detering effect on some insects, like flies, mosquitos etc.?

Are there any researches on how the 'house' insects are reacting on coffee aroma?

Though I can't find any recent evidence, it seems that research at one time shows that caffeine can be used as an insecticide. However, due to the fact that natural light exposure degrades caffeine, it probably wouldn't make for a very good long-term solution.


how to make “Creme Caramel” coffee flavored? <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/boK8v.jpg" alt="bonus fact: that coffee glass is "vietnamese coffee" with condensed milk super strong and sweet super recommended
" />
I tried it Vietnam 3 years ago. What is the name of that desert in the photo?
I only know that its origin is probably Phillipines or Vietnam or that area, and that it contains eggs, and the brown thing is coffee flavored.
Thanks!

That is  either a Flan, or a  Creme Caramel.
The difference between flan and Creme Caramel
Flan is a custard based dessert. All though it is loved in many countries not just Asia  its origins are not Asian but ancient Rome.  there are many versions of it around the world.
The history of flan.
The history of Creme Caramel.

It is known as flan in Spain and Mexico and as cream caramella in
Italy. Flan and crème caramel, both a mixture of sugar, flavorings and
a milk product, differ in that flan is Spanish in origin and is made
with sweetened condensed milk while crème caramel is French in origin
and is made with whole milk or cream.

The caramel topping may have hints of coffee flavor but technically it is not made with coffee.  It is melted sugar, melted to a slightly burnt state called caramelized sugar.
If like Flan then you will probably like creme brulee.
This is the cooking stack exchange, right?