Blade grinders: any advantage over burr grinders besides cost? There are many blade grinders in the market, and they are usually cheaper than burr grinders.

I've almost always heard and read that burr grinders are the best choice for most of coffee preparations.

So, is there any advantage —besides cost— for blade grinders compared to burr grinders?

The most important distinction between blade and burr grinders is the result:

Blade

Coffee beans circulate across the spinning blades. No matter how long or short the grind, there is extreme heterogeneity in particle size--that is, you will find larger bean fragments with near-dust-size ones, with everything in between.  If you use a pour-over or drip brewing method, you might even see whole beans floating to the top. Not surprisingly, you'll get very uneven extraction from these different particles, no matter what the brewing method.

If you grind long enough to decimate all the beans, you'll find a lot of fine coffee dust and sediment in your cup. Too short a grind, and you get a lot of beans and bean pieces that can't present enough extractable surface area to the hot water, leading to a thin, weak cup. Waste of coffee, to be sure.

Also, it's almost impossible to grind any two batches consistently, since grind time is dependent on bean quantity, type of roast, variety of bean--well, everything.  So today you'll get a disappointing cup, and tomorrow you'll get another disappointing cup for some other reason. Therefore I recommend a Conical Burr grinder.

Conical Burr

Beans move through once.  When you set your burr grinder to a certain fineness, there will be very little heterogeneity in particle size.  (N.B.  Spend more on the grinder, get a more even grind.)  This allows you to experiment with the grind as well as the quantity until it's perfect for you, then replicate that recipe perfectly every time.

Some tips on finding the right burr grinder for your needs:

Prices vary from $50 to $1500 for non-commercial grinders.  I'm happy with my $350 Rancilio, which I've had for 10 years without a hint of trouble.
How you like your coffee matters.  A more expensive grinder will do better fine grinds, as for Arabic-style (i.e. Turkish, Greek, Lebanese) coffee.  If you don't drink that, don't spend more for it.  Most burr grinders perform best in the automatic drip range.
The under-$100 burr grinders still manage to throw a lot of fine coffee dust into the grind.  Do your research before buying.
Consistency in grind is critical to good espresso.  If this is important to you, be prepared to spend as much on the grinder as you spent on your espresso machine.  It's for a good cause.  Why hobble your good machine with sub-par ingredients?


History of short and tall sizes Does the short and tall sizing come from Starbucks or did Starbucks adopt it?

In my understanding short and tall are generic terms, but when I left Seattle (and in Seattle when I came back) it seemed there was a stigma against the terms because they were from Starbucks. Did Starbucks introduce these terms, and then other places in Seattle adopted it? Were the terms a part of Seattle coffee culture and Starbucks, as a part of that culture, used it too?

Maybe Seattle has nothing to do with it—I just know that in Seattle more non-Starbucks places use the same lexicon than elsewhere.

The Short, Tall, and other sizing names are adopted by Starbucks to denote their own serving sizes. Any use in terms of coffee-serving sizes were coined initially by Starbucks which subsequently led to other coffee shops following suit as an established method.

The list of sizes are as follows:

Short 8 fl. oz. / 240mL
Tall 12 fl. oz. / 350mL
Grande (Big in Italian) 16 fl. oz. / 470mL
Venti (Twenty in Italian) 20 fl. oz. / 590mL for hot drink or 24 fl. oz. / 710mL for cold drink
Trenta (Thirty in Italian) 30 fl. oz. / 920mL

As you can see these words are fairly generic but are used in this way as size-naming convention by Starbucks.

Costa also uses a different size-naming convention based off of Italian words.


Sealed or non-sealed immersion cold-brew What's the difference (pros/cons) on brewing full-immersion cold-brew (resting at the refrigerator by night) hermetically sealed (closed mason jar) vs non-sealed (opened mason jar, Toddy, french-press, etc) ?

This is just a guess, but I suppose using a non-sealed container would speed up oxidation and deterioration of the coffee due to continuous exposure to atmospheric oxygen, just as storing the dry beans in an open container would.

However, from my own experience, 12 to 24 hours of such exposure would not yield a perceptibly different taste. What's more important is that you store the finished product in a sealed container, preferably with as little air as possible (I use a water bottle).

On the other hand, also in my experience, cold-brewing with a french press is more convenient, since one can simply push down the plunger and pour the finished product as opposed to lengthy fumbling with filters.


What coffees can I make with a briki? I have a briki at home and was wondering what types of coffee can I make with it apart from Greek coffee, yack.
Anything like cappuccino/latte/americano?

Based on the cezve shown by @IgorTatarnikov, I can say the options are really limited.

The cezve presented here is an electrical Turkish coffee pot with proper quality.

Decoction brewing technique (mixing grounds and water together, then heat them up) and their alternatives are the only ones you can do. Worse, you cannot slow down heating in an electrical pot. Actually, quick heating is something desired for good Turkish coffee. But, you cannot use this for mırra, for example.

Adding flavors may be an option. Like cardamom, mastic, etc. to diversify the Turkish coffee.

Another option which is rarely made in Turkey is adding milk after preparing the coffee. First, you need to wait a while for the grounds settle down. Then, pour the non-grounded part on another cup and add warm milk. It resembles Indian coffee, but without sugar. And you cannot use their fancy filtering equipment. This may resemble latte a bit. But, I can't think of any other options.

One side note... Such an electrical pot is a cool device to quickly heat up water. So, if you also place a few more cups and grab some filters you can filter your own coffee. When I was a student, I used to use this a lot. I used a similar machine to prepare Turkish coffee at the same time I directly filter my grounds with a Melitta filter on my cup.


Coffee and the singing voice Can anyone tell me what the reputation of coffee is for serious, professional singers? Does it, as it has been suggested to be, dry out the human vocal chords?

Caffein, which is the main active ingredient in coffee is known to be dehydrating. However there is no conclusive scientific evidence that caffein intake in normal dosages has detrimental effects on the quality of your voice.

One study by Akthar et al. (1999) showed that the ingestion of 250mg of caffein, which corresponds to 2 to 3 cups of coffee, produced alteration in the voice of 8 individuals. I would take this result with a grain of salt though, since a study performed with only 8 subjects, without control group or anything, can hardly be called representative or conclusive in any way. Also they say that the effect produced varied substantially between individuals.

Another study by Franca et al. (2013) is showing that the ingestion of 100mg of caffein shortly before using your voice does not have any negative effect on the quality of your voice. I think this is a more plausible study design, 100mg corresponds to a cup of coffee and the experiment is controlled with one group taking placebos.

Finally a recent review (Alves et al. 2017) of the literature on dehydration and vocal quality found that dehydration is, surprise, bad for your voice. They also found however that "systematic hydration is the easiest [...] solution to improve voice quality".

Thus I would conclude, that as long as you take care to stay hydrated, meaning drinking water with your coffee (which everyone should do in any case) moderate amounts of coffee consumption will likely not have any detrimental effect on your voice quality. The evidence for that seems to be mainly anecdotal and not scientific. If you struggle with some vocal chord disease for example or you are in recovery of one, maybe coffee could be ill-advised. Akthar et al. (1999) hint to something like that. There's no proof that it's damaging in those cases either, but just for the sake of being overly careful rather than ending up doing damage (anyways it would likely be only temporary) to your voice, if you are professionally dependent on it, maybe restrain from coffee consumption in cases of diseases etc.

References:

Akhtar, S., Wood, G., Rubin, J., O'Flynn, P., & Ratcliffe, P. (1999). Effect of caffeine on the vocal folds: A pilot study. The Journal of Laryngology & Otology, 113(4), 341-345. doi:10.1017/S0022215100143920
Alves, M., Krüger, E., Pillay, B., Van Lierde, K., & van der Linde, J. (2017). The Effect of Hydration on Voice Quality in Adults: A Systematic Review. Journal of Voice.
Franca, M. C., Simpson, K. O., & Schuette, A. (2013). Effects of caffeine on vocal acoustic and aerodynamic measures of adult females. In CoDAS (Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 250-255). Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia.


Is it possible to get crema from brewing espresso beans in a french press? Is it possible to get crema (i.e. the tan colored foam on top of espresso ) by using a french press?

I'm wondering if the beans need to be ground finely for crema to be achieved or if the way a french press works doesn't allow for it to happen.

To answer this it's important to understand what Crema actually is. Roasted coffee consists of somewhere around a thousand different substances, among which are aromatic oils, sugars, caffein, fiber and carbon dioxide trapped inside the beans.

Crema consists mainly of those oils, sugars, some proteins and importantly the CO2 gas trapped inside the bean. When an espresso machine pushes water through the grounds with high pressure, it emulsifies the fats/oils, dissolves some sugars and traps it all in little CO2 bubbles. The CO2 is forced out of the grounds through the high pressure. That's why you have considerably less crema if you use old, stale coffee. Because most of the CO2 trapped inside has evaporated already.

Now to your actual question. For the obvious reason, that is the lack of pressure in a French Press, Crema can not form. There can be some kind of foam, just as with pour overs, but it's not crema. It's not going to last long and will usually dissolve very quickly. If you were to create such a pressure in a French Press (which I highly doubt is technically even possible, since after all you want to brewed coffee to go through the mesh filter, but not the grounds), you would likely have crema forming on the bottom where the grounds settled and then rising to the top, just as it does when you pull a shot of espresso. Order an espresso shot in a transparent shot glass once and observe how the coffee flows out in the beginning as a mixture of coffee and crema and then observe the crema rising to the top, I heard people call it Guinness effect.


What causes the stains around the cup when coffee is prepared with cafetiere (French press)? When I use my French press (cafetiere) coffee maker, there's these strange marks left around the top of the coffee cup (see picture). Am I doing something wrong, maybe blending incorrectly? Using the wrong coffee type maybe?

I could think of two possibilities. First one is more common, I assume.

In time, the cup calcifies. So, some irregularities causes an unpolished surface. This surface catches color easier than polished ceramic/porcelain. You may try to clean the cup with vinegar. Maybe then with some bleach to get rid of such calcification and organic irregularities. Give it a try.
If the grounds you use includes finer grounds that can pass through the filter, you may end up with a muddier-than-normal French press cup. Those fine grounds may swim on top of the water and leave some trace. If this is the case, make sure about your grind size and consistency.


How can I go about developing my ability to taste flavors in coffee? I've been home-roasting coffee for over a year now, starting with stovetop pan roasting, then moving up to an air popper, and then a small roaster this Christmas. I'm at the point where I can tell a light-roasted, acidic Ethiopian from a dark Indonesian blend, but beyond that I'm frustrated by my inability to pick out specific flavors from one coffee to the next.

Anyone have any tips/tricks for developing this? Or some qualities that vary across coffees that are easier to taste for along with vocabulary to describe what I'm tasting?

There are several approaches that can aid in developing your palate.

Cupping

The preferred method of tasting coffee. This requires only a cupping bowl and spoon. Dose out coffee, pour in the hot water evenly, and at 4 minutes skim off the top to remove the crust while carefully not disturbing what has settled at the bottom. Wait about 12-14 minutes for the coffee to cool to a desirable drinking temperature, and slurp the coffee with the spoon.

Types of flavors

There's a variety of descriptions you can use to describe the coffee. Try describe everything. The mouth feel: is it full bodied or light? The acidity: Is it citric or stone fruit? The Smell: What are the aromatics?

Note keeping

Every time you taste coffee, keep notes of what flavors you taste. Basic notes of chocolate or smoke are fine, more nuanced flavors like cherry or plum may come out. Don't be afraid to write exactly what comes to mind. If the coffee tastes like captain crunch then write it!

Comparing coffee

Don't just taste your coffee by itself. Compare it to other roasts you've done. Compare it to coffees from other cafes as well. Note the differences.


Are reused glass jars ever fit for storing ground coffee? I'm looking for some small container to store small amounts of ground coffee.

I have a lot of jars after some other things, like olives.

Can they ever be fit for storing ground coffee? Is it possible to remove all side odours from them?

If so, how should I clean them before using them for coffee?

The original package is not very tight after opening, so the jar would better prevent the contact with the air...

The Short answer  to this is no. You should not use a glass jar for storing coffee.

Why? The base of the answer can be found here: When Does Coffee Go Off?

Coffee goes stale relatively quickly, and the transfer to a glass jar will:

Increase the coffee's interaction and exposure to oxygen
Increase the coffee's exposure to light, which will cause rancidification of the oils

Furthermore, you should only be purchasing and storing whole bean coffee - as pre-ground coffee is already stale.


Least Expensive Way to Make Decent Espresso-based Milk Drinks? I want to know the cheapest machines to make decent espresso for my situation.
Needs:

I need steam for milk drinks
I need the proper brewing pressure
I need to use fresh ground coffee, no pods nonsense.
No super-automatics that deal with the milk, I like that myself.

Wants:

I want a good temperature control, but I also don't really drink straight espresso, so 212F made espresso will not be that different to me than 200F made espresso.
Guages would be great, especially in lever machines.
Semi-automatic (by which I mean make a puck in the portafilter, turn water on/off, turn steam on/off) would be great.

Non-Issues

I don't care how fussy or slow it is. I can and will spend time to learn the machine and will wait for it to be ready.
I am not super into tasting espresso like one does wine or whiskey, I really just want to be able to make a decent latte without hoofing it to a cafe.
I live alone, I don't need to make more than a double shot at a time.

If only after Latte, Bialetti Brikka will get you 9/10. Also the grinder will be a bit less demanding.
Add an induction milk frother (stainless cup) and you're set at a fraction of the cost and maintenance needs of a portafilter machine.


How does moisture occur inside Trader Joe’s coffee cans? I’ve started trying Trader Joe’s whole bean coffee that comes in canisters. When I opened one today and poured the beans into the grinder, I noticed there was some moisture inside the can that I had not remembered ever seeing. The can says “nitrogen flushed can to help ensure freshness”. The can was fully sealed so I don’t believe anything happened after-market. Is it safe to assume the wetness inside the can is due to the nitrogen flushing or should I be concerned it’s something else abnormal?

Are you sure it is water? If you bought a dark roast, there is a distinct possibility that there is a bit of oil in the coffee.
Another possibility is a minor machine malfunction during the roasting process. With large scale coffee roasters, a small amount of water is sprayed directly into the drum just before dumping to "quench" the coffee and speed the cooling process. Almost all of this water evaporates immediately under normal circumstances. As a technician in the coffee industry, I have seen a couple issues that caused more water to go into the beans than intended, and the whole batch had to be thrown out.
Hopefully it ends up being oil. In either case, as long as the coffee isn't moldy or foul smelling, it should be just fine.


My Handpresso got leakage after leave it with some air pressure built in. Could it be worse? Today, I got my Handpresso at work to have some coffee.

When I picked up and pressed valve, I heard air escaping sound. That means there was still some air pressure inside chamber! I used it last Friday, and I forgot to bring it home to clean. So, according to my memory, I've left it almost 2.5 days with air pressure built in chamber.

At first, I was little worried. And when I poured water into reservoir, water is leaking through valve. But strangely, I cannot hear any air leakage from valve or reservoir during brewing process. I've pumped it without water, and still looks like no air leakage from device.

When I reached this point, I'm really worrying that I've broke my Handpresso because of my mistake. Is this situation OK? If not, how can I check and fix water leakage?

Pressure may have built up as a consequence of the residual water and such inside the device and environmental temperature/pressure changes.

It should be okay, and it seems to still be working. Make sure you thoroughly clean it just because you left it for a couple of days. Other than checking for any visible deformities (especially around the silicone sealed areas), if its still working it and tastes fine it likely is not broken.


Is there a way to economically store freshly roasted coffee under vacuum? I know that freshly roasted coffee needs to rest at least a few days before drinking because carbon dioxide is being released from the freshly roasted beans.  At the same time, excess exposure to oxygen will cause coffee to go stale quickly.  Commercial roasters have packaging machinery that sucks the air out of the bag and puts coffee beans under vacuum for storage.  The packages usually have a small vent hole to release carbon dioxide without allowing outside air into the bag.

My question is if there is a way to duplicate that storage idea without spending a lot of money on commercial packaging equipment?  I would like to be able to store my freshly roasted coffee without fear of it going stale too quickly.

Yes, there is a way to store freshly roasted coffee - or even store bought roasted beans - at home under vacuum without expensive equipment.  I drink wine and have collected a couple of wine storage devices over the years that I no longer use.  One of these is a bottle stopper with a one-way valve in the top and a vacuum pump for removing the air from a partially consumed bottle of wine.

My idea was to clean out the bottle and fill it with freshly roasted coffee beans, then use the vacuum pump and stopper to apply suction to the bottle to encourage the carbon dioxide to exit the beans without worrying about oxygen making the beans go stale prematurely.

I've found that the beans emit enough carbon dioxide gas to require re-pumping the bottle for the first day or two, but after that it will hold a vacuum indefinitely.  I've added erasable labels to the bottle to record the type of roasted beans I have inside.  Two standard wine bottles will hold about 610 grams of roasted beans, or about 700 grams of unroasted beans, which is 7 batches in my SR 500 roaster.  These are Ethiopian, YMMV.


Reroasting coffee beans after a couple of years - is it worth it? I have some old, roasted coffee beans that have been stored in (mostly) airtight, opaque containers. The coffee beans are of reputable brands and are 2-6 years old, depending on the bag. They do not smell stale, but the flavorful coffee smell is mostly gone or barely there.
I am wondering if I can reroast them myself at home and still use them in my espresso machine or if I should throw them out. The reason I have so much unused coffee that's so old is that I stopped drinking coffee for a while, but now I am back and would like to give it another try.
Thank you!

Honestly, I would discard them. The flavor is developed by roasting, but once it’s gone, it’s gone. We are talking about volatile aromatic compounds, that likely have degraded or evaporated (yes, it may even happen in mostly airtight containers).
Re-roasting may create some more, but assuming that the original roast was “as intended”, you would likely create unwelcome notes, like bitterness or burnt flavors.
There’s also a good chance that the oils have oxidized, i.e. gone rancid.
There’s nothing wrong with giving it a try, but I wouldn’t expect results worth the effort.


What is the most effective way of consuming coffee (and caffeine in general)? I generally drink 1–2 cups of coffee per day, between 09:00–12:00. I switch to teas after lunch so I'm not still full of caffeine by the time I go to bed. I wouldn't say that's heavy usage by any stretch, but I can tell that coffee doesn't effect me much any more (i.e. I can have a big mug late and night and then go to bed a couple of hours later).

That's about the extent of how much I've thought about my coffee consumption. However, I'm sure there must be some sort of optimal strategy for getting the most ‘bang for your buck’. No articles I've found seem able to agree on one though.

For example, this one says to start with a 1-month coffee fast, and this one concurs, whilst this one this one says a week'll do. The first article then says to stick to one cup per week, with the occasional extra if really needed, which seems very low (since the effects only last around 6–8 hours). The second article doesn't give a target to aim for, but warns against daily coffees.

However, this article and this article don't say anything negative about daily coffees, instead just saying to avoid certain times (e.g. 08:00–09:00).

In addition, this one and this one both seem to advocate something along the lines of coffee microdosing, whilst the others don't really say anything on the topic.

With all this conflicting  advice, is it just an fundamentally inexact science or is there a canonical guide on how to maximise coffee effectiveness out there somewhere?

More specifically,

a) how long should one initially abstain to reduce any built-up tolerance? 1 week or 1 month?

b) afterwards, how often should coffee be drunk in order to maximise the benefits whilst minimising the build-up of tolerance? 1 cup a day, 1 cup a week, microdosing throughout the day or something else?

I suppose I would consider optimal caffeine (primarily through coffee)
  usage to any usage that maximizes fatigue
  reduction/alertness/wakefulness whilst minimizing tolerance build-up.

Ok Rumps, given that interest, let me offer a few notes-

Adaptation: first off, our brains adapt to caffeine over time, so a dose that may give you effects now, may give you zero effects later.
Plan to back off from caffeine every month or so if your goal is this effect rather than just the pleasure of the beverage. Why? Some receptor clean up in the brain needs to happen and that takes time.
Caffeine does not reduce fatigue - just to be clear - fatigue is a set of system level responses that tell you you are potentially under slept or under nourished  - using a drug to mask that doesn't sort that problem. What caffeine can do is?
Caffeine assists "alertness" by again blocking what the body is telling you about rest - So, it's a kind of chicken and egg thing in terms of how it works: Caffeine will block adenosine receptors in the brain especially later in the day (when this substance builds up in the brain to start a wind down cycle) - and that's for many people about the worst time to have a coffee - because of its half life it can really start to disrupt sleep - and make it harder to get to sleep.
Caffeine also seems to be associated with helping folks work out hard, and also perform better on cognitive tests - when used as a dose in an experiment right before a test. So that may say something about "strategic dosing" for an acute effect (effect right at time of need), and having to work hard physically can be boosted here by the connection to serotonin - and other cool stuff happening in muscles.
And yes caffeine is a long time supporter of fat burning too - so it seems to rev up fat burning - but so does green tea.
As much as I'm skeptical about some of this - the weight of evidence suggests that moderate coffee drinking has no ill effects, and while some of the benefits may be attenuated as one adapts, it's not causing harm.

A nice overview from 2010 is here

I haven't checked into more current research on each of these topics, but one review suggests that coffee compounds, when sent to a Petri dish of cancer cells, arrests proliferation of the cells - this seems like an awesome thing.
See

In working with athletes and university students - to get a performance boost, however - they cycled their dosing - really tapering off before a key event, and using it strategically in a period before the event to get the benefits.

So, as to your question about optimal dosing - you can test a few things for yourself.

Find out what your optimal cut off time is for coffee not to disturb you getting to sleep. Earlier is probably better:

Most work suggests 6-8 hours before hitting the sack for sleep is needed to have caffeine flushed out of the system.
Also, coffee ups stomach acids - not a good idea before going to sleep
and finally - If you don't need to push yourself awake don't do it. Figure out ways to get more rest - a challenge but after awhile if we rely on coffee to keep us upright, other things will break. So, try for a week to stop 8 hours before bed time - and after that week - play around. You might also wish to check out adding to that, reducing the amount of coffee you drink overall - but doesn't sound like a lot anyway.

Think about using coffee strategically - if you're doing something creative - see if having a coffee makes a difference; if you're doing a workout - see if coffee 20-30 mins before your heavy sets makes a difference - and if it does do you need it all the time - or maybe again strategically on particular sessions only.
Get into the pleasure of coffee as a beverage.
Like building up a taste for dark, special really well made chocolate ups experience and reduces cravings (a little intense shot goes a long way), consider doing this with coffee.
personal story: it's gotten to a point with me that I really prefer to roll my own: I pick the beans, grind them, make my coffee and enjoy it with intent - or with colleagues who share that experience. I no longer enjoy grabbing just any coffee. This means I have one or two cups a day (or sometimes none at all) because I enjoy the real thing so much I don't spend my caffeine/coffee nickle anywhere else.

So take-aways are:

Test it for yourself - It's not only you in one moment but learning how different contexts affect this beverage.
Consider strategic dosing if that's what you're using it for
else.
Maybe explore getting into coffee as a gorgeous food that you can give yourself as a daily ritual / treat.
Think about tapering off from time to time to re-up your sensitivity and enjoy even more - without being any food that's a drug too b**ch.

All the best
m.c.

PS - On effect on both workout intensity and on fat burning.

Because coffee is a food and has way more going on than caffeine, when I'm really focused on the caffeine properties around work outs (super hard training for an event) or fat burning (when already just a wee bit away from target body fat) I prefer to use caffeine pills as part of a "stack" for those effects - this may be way outside anything of interest, but it's just a focus/control thing.


Issue pressing down French Press I haven't had this issue happen often, but its been a few times. When I make French Press coffee my steps are to:

Boil water

Put coffee grinds in French Press

Pour hot water in

Stir coffee grinds in the water

Place the lid on top

Wait 3 1/2 minutes and then press it down.
Once in a while when I go to press it down, it just doesn't want to press. There is so much pressure resisting underneath. The one time I kept pressing, the coffee and grinds shot out the top and burned me. It seems as if too much air gets trapped underneath but I don't know how. Does anyone know why this happens; if I am doing anything wrong that causes this?

A number of things aren't clear from your question. I can think of three issues that might result in the problem you're having.
Clogged strainer
If the strainer is clogged, the air has trouble being pushed out. That may make it harder to push it down as the air stays under your strainer.
The solution is easy, make sure the equipment is cleaned well, a bit of soap does wonders to remove oily residuals.
Equipment
You may be using large equipment to make a small amount of coffee. That way, when you're pressing down the strainer is already near the bottom of your container meaning you cannot press much further. To solve this, try using a container of an appropriate size. If your French press is filled at least halfway at step 4 then this shouldn't be an issue, if it's much less, consider making a larger batch or using a smaller French press.
Blooming
Blooming is technique for letting gasses (mainly carbon dioxide) escape the coffee beans. I don't think this is what causing you trouble, but I think it's worth mentioning. To get a good bloom, you just need to take some time between step 4 and step 5. After stirring the beans, you wait 30 to 60 seconds to allow some of the gasses to escape.


Is coffee/caffeine addictive? I've heard that people get addicted. In other words, if someone has coffee regularly and they skip a day, then on that day they feel "low" or perform worse than they used to when they weren't a coffee drinker. Put another way, coffee no longer gives them a "boost"; rather, they need it to perform on par with when they weren't a coffee drinker. Is this true? What is your experience?

Any advice is appreciated. :)

Short answer is, yes.

This topic has been discussed a few times and mostly related to caffeine. Please see this previous question:

Can decaf coffee be addictive?

And, about being low after quitting coffee after a while... This is mostly relevant to caffeine withdrawal and discussed on this question:

Why do I feel lousy, low, out of energy after the high coffee gives?


Fine-grind French Press - Sacrilege? Better method? I'm a longtime French press user but I've been grinding my beans finely for a few years. Espresso-fine I guess. Ground to a powder really. I much prefer the richer, more buttery, oily cup to the thinner and lighter cup you get from the prescribed coarse grind. Yes, there's always some grit at the bottom of my cup, but I'm totally fine to toss the last ounce or two of my mug for what ends up being a delicious cup of coffee.

I'm wondering two things:
- if there's an additional filter or tweak I could make to my setup to minimize the grit and save those last could ounces
- or if what I'm doing, brewing finely ground coffee in a French press, is sacrilege and I should really find a more appropriate brewing method such as a moka or whatever else. Again, I much prefer the consistency and oily feel of unfiltered coffee to any pourover I've ever had.

Appreciate your insight!
JLR

I just want to preface by saying that while product recommendations are frowned upon here in general, there is a certain necessity in a stack like this where brew methods are often tightly related to brands.

There are a couple options here, the first being modifying your french press a bit and the second being a different brewer that may be easier for attaining your goal.

As B540Glenn mentioned, you can try cutting our a paper filter into a circle and putting it next to the mesh filter in your french press. This will get rid of a lot of the grittiness and a little bit of the oiliness but will keep your big body.

The second option is to try out a Clever Dripper. It combines what you seem to like about immersion brewing and combines it with a paper filter that drains into your mug when you're ready. It's a simpler and faster way of achieving what probably is a similar result to the french press with paper filter method.

Hope this helps!


Amount of milk in a macchiato beverage What is the correct amount of milk to put into a macchiato? Does it depend on the amount of espresso?

The Italian word macchiato literally means "marked" or "stained" (related to the word "immaculate" [1]), so really it is an indication to add a small quantity of the "staining" liquid, be it espresso or milk.

A caffe macchiato (also called espresso macchiato) is a shot of espresso (or two) with a "stain" of steamed milk and sometimes a little foam to indicate there is milk hiding under the espresso's crema.

A latte macchiato is the opposite concept, where steamed milk is "stained" by a shot of espresso.

As with any of these drinks, the variations are endless, so recipes and even ratios would be specific to a particular cafe.


Does heating milk influence taste? When I make coffee in a Cezve, I like to preheat milk. I have an impression that it affects taste beyond just not making the resulting drink colder. It seems that the resulting flavour is fuller-bodied.

Another thing, I like to pour coffee over milk, not the other way around.

And my question is, can there be something behind this, or is it just subjective delusions?

Yes, heating milk does have a perceptible effect on its taste.

That slightly sweet richness we perceive in milk is largely due to lactose. Lactose is the "milk sugar" which is a disaccharide of glucose and galactose in solution in the milk. But lactose is also less soluble than sucrose (common table sugar) so it is perceived as less sweet.

By increasing the temperature of the milk, you are increasing the solubility of the milk sugars which also increases its perceived sweetness.

If you were steaming the milk (common with lattes and cappuccinos), you would also be incorporating air to create a thicker, creamier consistency, which brings into play the fats and the proteins in the milk, all which play a part in the perceived richness of the beverage.


What is the purpose of a coffee press? At one of my local cafes, you can order your drink in a coffee press. It looks like a large mug with a pump on top:

What is this used for? Does it affect the taste or strength of the coffee?

It's a French press.

Put ground coffee inside it, pour hot water, stir a little bit, and then wait for 2 to 4 minutes (or longer if you want a strong and bitter coffee).

After waiting, use the pump to filter the ground from the coffee and pour the coffee into your mug.

I recommend using coarse or medium ground coffee, otherwise, the coffee will go through the filter and will end up in your cup (and mouth).

Some extra information here.


Do I need higher pressure to create a ristretto? I want to make a ristretto. Besides grinding my coffee finer, do I need to increase the pressure of the steam, or should I leave it the same?

Typically, a ristretto is an espresso shot pulled with half as much water. If you assume a normal shot is 30ml, the only practical difference in pulling a ristretto is to stop the extraction at 15ml.

The coffee grind, quantity and pull pressure should remain the same.

Regardless, if you feel as if the shot is taking too long, or coming out too fast, you could try adjusting the grind before adjusting the pressure, which should be trickier.


What's the most effective way of generating crema from an Aeropress? I know a number of people have become fairly capable at getting a nice amount of crema at the end of the process of making a cup with their Aeropress.

I, however, am getting just a very thin, partial layer at best. I've experimented with pressure, and somewhat with water temperature.

Wondering if there's a magic bullet, or a good list of bullet points of things to do to maximize crema?

Here's a quick rundown of the Aeropress method I use every morning. I end up with a relatively crema-y shot. You'd never mistake it for one from an espresso machine, but there's a good layer all across the top.
This is completely unscientific and I can't identify which steps here are the relevant ones for the good results, but maybe if you experiment with some of these adjustments you can identify what works and what doesn't.
The Equipment

Aeropress
Scoop that came with the Aeropress
Ultra fine mesh filter

The Coffee
The beans I use vary; I generally grab a light or medium roast off the shelves at Trader Joes and grind it one click down from the finest setting on the in-store grinder. (The finest setting purports to be for Turkish coffee; the one I use is labeled 'espresso'.)
I store the ground coffee in its can in the fridge for up to a week or a week and a half, depending on how long it takes me to drink it all. Today I'm using Trader Joe's Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, a delightful medium roast. (I just now learned that Serious Eats says it's the best bet for Trader Joe's coffee.)
The Water
Melted snow from the Wasatch Mountains, filtered through whatever the county of Salt Lake does before it gets to my kitchen tap, and heated on the stove until just before the boil. There are tiny bubbles forming on the bottom of the kettle, but few of them are rising to the surface of the water.
The Method
I'm pretty loosey-goosey about my brewing method, but the results are very consistent. This leads me to believe it's the equipment and the beans that are generating the great results, not anything I'm doing right.

Set up the Aeropress for inverted brewing.
For one shot, use a generous scoop of ground coffee. Tap the assembly on the counter so the mound of coffee flattens out.
Slowly add your just-off-the-boil water. (I use a gooseneck kettle for easy, controlled pouring.) Rotate the Aeropress as you pour and do so until you can no longer see any dry grounds. (The chamber should be about 2/3 full when this is complete.)
Stir slowly until you get that lovely uniform light brown color on the top of the mixture. I use the handle of the scoop for stirring.
Place the cap and filter on top of the assembly and wait 15-60 seconds. (My own brewing time varies wildly, depending on what distracts me during that time.)
Press. With this fine grind and filter, you'll have to press a little harder than with the coarser grind. As you press you'll see foamy buildup gather on top of the grounds. You'll have to press extra hard at the end to squeeze all of that through, but it will drip down onto your shot at the end and form that delightful crema.

Edit:
As I pay more attention each morning, I've noticed a couple more things:

My results vary significantly. I think the contributing factors are the grind and how hard I press at the end.
I never use soap on my Aeropress equipment. I rinse it with tap water after each use, but never run it through the dishwasher. There may be buildup of coffee oils on the surfaces that helps (or hinders??) the foam making process.

Edit Redux:
For the past few weeks I've been casually experimenting with my morning coffee and coming up with very inconclusive results. (As I mentioned below, all I've come up with are a bunch of totally surefire ways to absolutely demolish the crema, and no methods of preserving it.)
This half-butted casual science ends now! I just bought a hand grinder and an app full of AeroPress recipes; thusly armed, I'm going to experiment more formally. Well, a little more formally. I'll track the results here and update this answer when and if I come up with a reliable way to generate and preserve the foam on my AeroPress shots.
Edit The Third:
The results are in: I've figured out how to stop killing my crema. It turns out that the combination of freshly ground beans and the mesh metal filter is somehow stopping the crema from getting through to the cup. Eight attempts with hand-ground beans failed miserably, and my first attempt after reverting to store-ground beans (with the 'somewhat loosey-goosey' method above) generated a nice layer of foam in the cup.
However, the plot thickens. My colleague Robert asserts:

Never had a problem getting crema with aeropress. Lots of fresh coffee ground to a powder, very little very hot water. Makes my ubercoffee syrup shots I talked about a year or more ago... with plenty o crema. Dilute to taste (which I never did < jitter >).
...and I'm not entirely sure, but if memory serves, switching to the fine metal mesh filter meant bye-bye to crema. It's been a bit too long to remember for certain. I just reused the same paper filter over and over for months (actually, I used two to keep them from blowing out).

So it would seem that:

Freshly, very finely ground coffee + paper filter + not much water = crema city
Coffee ground fine in the store + metal filter + water = crema town

I'd be interested to see others' results from experiments like these.


Coffee Expired before its mentioned date? I buy this coffee jar 3 months ago and now coffee is turned into solid round balls is this expired? I can use or not is this good for use?

I am afraid that there are two misconceptions

One, what you have in the jar are not coffee beans, it’s freeze-dried prepared coffee. Think of it as the coffee equivalent of bullion cubes.

Two, the date on the container is almost certainly not an “expiry date” (Microbes don’t use calendars), but a “best before” date, which is fundamentally different.

Some foods have a “use by” date, after which the food is no longer “safe”’by food safety standards. Minced meat (aka hamburger) is a classic example.
Instant coffee doesn’t fall into the same category of very easily spoiling food, hence the “best before”, which is a recommendation given by the manufacturer to ensure that the product is in optimal condition. After that, the quality may be somewhat decreased, but the product is usually not “unsafe”. Other examples are pasta (keeps for years if stored properly) or beans (may take longer to soften after some time, but are perfectly fine to use still).

The lumps you see in your jar are caused by moisture, which made some of the granules sticky. Maybe you left it open or used a damp spoon to scoop out some instant coffee? Try to break it up gently. If there’s only very little humidity, this should be fairly easy and could already solve the issue. If not, just use the lump(s) as you would the finer granules, they will dissolve in hot water without a problem. I suggest you are a bit more careful about keeping your powder dry when handling the jar in the future.


What are good brewing practices? I wanted to know how to improve my brewing practices.

I make my daily cup out of a drip brew machine, but I find inconsistency in my flavours every time. I get my beans ground from a local shop and they tend to lose their potency after one week and seem little stale and bitter.
What should I do in order to get a consistent cup every time?

The problem doesn't seem to be in your brewing practices but in the way you store your coffee.

Roasted coffee starts to stale soon after the resting/degassing period ends. Ideally you ought to store your coffee in a vacuum-sealed container that won’t impart unwanted flavors to your coffee.

Placing your coffee into the fridge, as many people do, isn't usually a good idea. The fridge is not cold enough to keep the coffee fresh and the coffee will absorbs odors and moisture.

One solution, in addition to better sealing your coffee, would be to buy whole beans and grind your coffee before you use it instead of grinding a week's worth of coffee at one time.


When making a long black, how long should hot water cool before adding espresso before combining? A long black is made by pouring espresso into hot water-- effectively the reverse of an americano.

Is there an ideal amount of time, or an ideal temperature, at which the hot water should be allowed to cool to avoid burning the espresso during the combination process?

As an American, I've never heard of a long black, but it sounds like a great idea. I normally drink brewed coffee black, but I enjoy an occasional Americano. The only problem is that they're generally served around 400,000° and I can barely hold them and have to wait hours for them to cool down enough to drink. Sometimes I ask for ice or something to cool it quickly. If I just wait for it to cool, it tends to taste rather old and stale by the time I can handle it. Or maybe I just can't taste it because my tongue is crispy from preliminary attempts. But the crema and freshness is always long gone.

I think that must secretly be the real reason for a long black—by adding the espresso to the top of drinkable-temperature water, you still have a chance at the best flavors and aromas. As the Australian coffee roasters Five Senses put it,

  Regardless of the crema, the long black tastes best as it cools slightly from boiling to a drinkable temperature. Only then will you be able to perceive some of the finer nuances and sweetness of the coffee.

So, I would shoot to have the cup around the same temperature as good brewed coffee by the time it hits the drinker's lips. According to Coffee Detective,

  [American-style brewed] coffee is best served at a temperature between 155ºF and 175ºF (70ºC to 80ºC). Most people prefer it towards the higher end, at about 175ºF.

That means, depending on cup type and ambient temperature, if you draw 200°F hot water from the machine before you start making the espresso and leave it uncovered, it will be roughly the right temperature to serve by the time the shots are ready.


Finding if coffee is a health risk after best before I have couple of coffee in my cabin where I visit on weekend and I saw 2 coffee which were best before xx 2017. One has big chunk of coffee and looks faded and the other got faded colour. I have no idea if it is instant or ground but namely one is Nescafé and other is

With all foods, FAT TOM is your best start to gauge their susceptibility to spoilage.

Now, FAT TOM is actually an acronym for the six factors that influence the growth of microbes. And bacterial growth is what causes food to turn bad in two senses, namely gross and dangerous, although the two often go hand in hand.

The factors are:
Food
Acidity
Time
Temperature
Oxygen
Moisture

In theory it's sufficient to eliminate just one factor to prevent spoilage, but in practical applications, it's often a combination of a few.

So for your coffee, the main factors are moisture, food and time.

For your Nescafé, the granules are dry, have very little "food" for pathogens (proteins are a real problem, for example) and are around or slightly past the best-before date1. If you say the coffe still tastes fine, I see no reason to suspect it to be unsafe.

I'm not sure about the second product, but will for now assume it's some kind of "cappuchino mix" that includes dry milk or another kind of creamer. My conclusion is largely the same as for the Nescafé product, but with a higher protein ("food") and possibly fat content. So you have a slightly higher risk of "spoilage", but it's not really about food safety, just rancidity and development of "off" flavours.

So to sum it up:
If your instant coffee still tastes fine, dissolves as it should and was stored in reasonable conditions (dry, room temperature, closed container), there are no food safety concerns. You might want to use it within the next few months, though, but mainly due to quality reasons.

1 Another common misconception: "best before" does not indicate immediate spoilage after that date, it is a time by which the manufacturer assures you the product will be in excellent condition. This means also sensory attributes like taste or consistency. Plus there is always a safety margin included to be on the safe side, even if the consumer stores the product under less-than-ideal conditions. More on our sister site Seasoned Advice, for example here.


Difference between Turkish and Greek coffee? Is there a difference between Turkish and Greek coffee? Or is it the same thing with different names at different places?

...also called Arabic, Cypriot, Bosnian, and what not -- it is the same method.

In Greece, it's become Greek coffee (along with the former "Turkish" Greek delight) after conflicting with Turkey and the 1974 invasion of Cyprus.

The method itself (boiling finely ground coffee in copper cezve, typically sweetened, and served in a demitasse) is said to stem from 15th century Yemen, reaching Constantinople in 17th century and consequently spreading across Ottoman Empire.

Apparently, there are interesting variations to it. For instance, Syrian coffee (and probably some others) is flavoured by cardamom.


Why are the spouts on some portafilters not aligned with the handle? On my Rancilio portafilter, the spouts are not aligned with the handle (I would expect them to be in a 90° angle). In consequence, the spouts do also not really align with the machine when the portafilter sits in the grouphead. Is there a specific rationale behind this?

The spouts are aligned with the machine front and cup once the portafilter is installed for use in the machine. Note the handle on the portafilter body goes quite a distance over to the side, or it would interfere with handling the cup.


Why do my Arabica beans smell and taste of burnt rubber? I recently bought some Kenyan SL28, SL34 beans with a supposed blackcurrant note. It has an overwhelming burnt rubber flavor that I thought was exclusive to Robusta, how come?

First thing to keep in mind is that taste varies from person, so you may try other beans/brews that have similar descriptions, so you can learn about your own taste perception.

That been said, would be nice to know your equipment, in order to help you more. If you are using an espresso machine, maybe is time to have it cleaned. Mine was dirty a while ago and any beans would taste like burnt rubber, even light roasted ones. If you are using some infusion method (inverted aeropress or french press), try reducing the brewing time.


What factors should I change for a dark roast in an Aeropress? I normally like a dark roast,  but I'm struggling to get as good a cup from my Aeropress as I do with lighter roasts.

What factors can I adjust to improve the flavors, compared to how you'd brew a lighter roast?  Less brew time? Colder water?

Dark roasts from an Aeropress easily become too bitter.

I would recommend keeping the water temperature just below boiling. Flip your Aeropress upside down so that you can control the brew time. Add your beans and water, and then brew for 30-45 seconds.

With lighter roasts, I do the above but let them brew much longer. I've found you have to adjust the brew time for darker roasts.


Getting the sound of really good micro bubbles I have heard that the perfect sound while steaming milk should sound like paper ripping, but I have seen a lot more talented people making a decent coffee with good micro bubbles without that sound.

Is there a "perfect sound" to know that you are getting the best micro bubbles?

The sound it's not a very good "measure stick" for steaming. That is because it would depend on the steaming wand (how many steam holes has, how much steam the machine produces, etc), the pitcher (the form of it affects in how the milk moves inside), the milk (yes, whole-milk vs almond are very different), etc...

So, I suggest to you that don't focus on other's people steaming sound, but instead on theirs technique. Of course there are some sounds that indicates some process (the first sound it's very loud, until the milk circulates enough), but there aren't a sufficient parameters (on my POV).

You can check this related answer. Hope it's helpful.


Is there a composition available about how the main parameters influence coffee taste? There's lots of information available about the influence of various parameters on coffee taste, but it's scattered across the internet. On top of that, most answers and articles are packed with paragraphs of text and data to support the writers claims and findings. That's wonderful, but it makes it very time consuming to dig through them.

It'd be nice to have a clean composition and presentation of a selection of the most important parameters that define coffee taste. You know, with fancy graphs about coffee developing a bitter or sour taste over time or temperature, different extracting methods, or qualitative relationships. If there's no such thing available, we could compose it ourselves.

I've found a few of those here and here already, one even with a fancy graph.(though without axis units) To narrow down my search a bit, i'm looking for parameters that affect the coffee in the post-roasting stadium, as I won't do the growing or roasting myself. I'm using arabica.

I'm thinking of the following parameters:

Storage temperature
Methods of grinding
Grain size when grounded
Time between grinding/brewing
Water temperature at brewing
Type of water used for extraction(mineral/tap/decalcified)
Methods of extraction
Filter material/size etc.
Contact time of coffee with the water
Time between brewing/consuming
Coffee temperature at consuming

And how they affect:

Caffeine content
Bitterness, acidity/sourness, saltiness, and sweetness
Aftertaste
Heaviness of the feel in your mouth

in the post roasting scenario here is a succinct article:

https://theconversation.com/the-perfect-cup-of-coffee-boils-down-to-four-factors-30208

As your taste is unique experimentation will be required.  I roast and brew ... it took me months to get to my formula.  I will also mention the quality of water.  I have settled on a balanced H20 'smart water'.


How do I make that frothy milk that coffee shops use to make lattes? What are my options for milk frothing? From what I can tell, baristas just use part of the "big coffee machine" (please excuse my rookie terminology; my national drink is tea :D) and don't have a separate device for it.

I'm only an occasional coffee drinker, so I don't want to invest in something that costs $100 just to froth milk.

A full answer with all the possible answers ranging from perfect but expensive to inferior but cheap would be best.

They aren't just frothing the milk, they're also stretching the milk. Stretching it is what gives a latte its unique texture (though the micro bubbles add to that). If you want a good latte, focus first on stretching it - you can use a small whisk to get air into the milk if need be.

You want a small stainless steel pitcher, most look like this:

Put 2/3 of the amount of cold milk you actually want in your latte in that, then put it on a heat source (small burner is okay). Hold your hand around the pitcher while it heats, and use the other hand to stir the milk. You can also use one hand and just swirl the milk around in the pitcher - do what feels comfortable, just keep the milk moving.

As soon as the pitcher becomes just less than too hot for your hand, pull it. Swirl it around a little bit and look inside. Does the milk have a kind of gloss to it similar to Elmer's glue (or any other paste you used in school)? If not, Put it back on the heat for 20 - 30 seconds, swirling it as you do. Once it's got that gloss, and the milk has expanded a bit, it's stretched properly.

An electric burner is ideal for this, but there are also metal overlays for gas burners that just provide a hot surface.

At that point you can use a hand whisk, or any number of the frothing gadgets that you can find in any cooking store (brick-and-mortar or online).

You can, of course, just froth the milk, but what you're essentially doing is aerating it. That's fine, it's going to make a tasty drink, but it might fall short of your expectations if you don't stretch the milk as well. The process is what makes the milk and the coffee fall in love and give birth to a latte.

The steam wand on espresso machines heats the milk and adds the air, giving you a lot more control over the process. However, this will work almost as well.

Tips:

Don't ever let the milk get close to simmering. It'll burn very quickly.
Use the handle if you have to put the pitcher back on the heat (as naturally, you took it off because it was approaching too hot to hold)
You want to get the milk in the coffee as soon as possible once it has that gloss. Don't let it cool down too much while frothing (work fast)
It's going to take some practice

Total for this would be about $15 for the stainless steel pitcher, $10 - $15 for the frother, so all total around 30 bucks. You could use a sauce pan, but it's much harder to gauge how hot the milk is if you do, and much harder to control when you pour.


Why did my instant coffee turn dark and hard? So I bought a jar of instant coffee not a year ago and it's not reached its expiry date. It's stored in the kitchen cabinet. Recently I opened it just to see its color had turned from coffee brown to something shiny black, solidified at the bottom. I tried scooping it out with a spoon, but it turned out to be hardened as granite. I managed to scrape a spoonful off, but it's still hard as rock. What do I do?

The most sensible solution is to throw it out.

Instant coffee is hygroscopic, it will absorb moisture from the air if possible. I guess either someone was sloppy when scooping out the instant coffee and used a wet spoon or the container was not airtight (either bad packaging design or because a careless user didn’t close the pack properly). Now add high humidity to the mix and you will get the lump as seen in your post.

There are at least three reasons1 to discard this container.

A) It’s a pain to pry it out and to dissolve it, as you have already observed. Pouring hot water straight into the container may help, but then there’s:

B) The flavor is almost certainly not pleasant any more (see 1).

C) But the most important factor is food safety. If the granules got humid, there is a certain probability of bacterial and/or fungal growth and I would really recommend to discard the (ex-)coffee. I wrote more about food safety considerations in this post, explaining the FAT TOM principle of food safety.

————

1 There are some coffee snobs that would claim that instant coffee per se is disgusting enough to throw away, but we won’t go down that road here.


How can I emphasize the sweet, fruity notes of my coffee? I know light roasts tend to have these flavors more. How can I brew to maximize these flavors? I use an Aeropress, but any answers are useful.

Lighter roasts are going to have more of these flavors but it obviously depends on the bean as well. If all you are going to change is the method of brewing the coffee, I would recommend making sure you don't use too hot of a water temperature and trying to use a pour over. I find pour over allows for more delicate flavors you are describing, rather than something like aeropress which can approach more espresso type coffee.


What is the right coffee ground size for an espresso coffee machine? I have an espresso coffee machine. When I use very fine pure coffee powder, it seems the water fails to pass through and when I use a coarsely ground powder, the extract is too light. Should I be mixing chicory with the pure coffee powder?

Practically speaking, an arbitrary number can only get you so far. What you need to focus on is what we would call 'dialling in'. This is a term to describe the process by which we find the most suitable parameters for making the 'best' cup of coffee. 'Dialling in' can mean a multitude of things but in your case it will simply refer to finding the right grind size and/or dosage.

The problem you seem to have is directly because you are shooting far above and below the the 'right' grind size assuming that you are using the exact same mass of coffee every time.

To find the right grind size, you must have a decent enough grinder that grinds to a uniform level and can be adjusted to a high degree, you should only be adjusting in small amounts. If you do not have a grinder, it will be very hard if not impossible to find a pre-ground bag that works perfectly for you. If you are choking the machine because the particle size is too small, adjust coarser gradually and keep making shots to observe the change in extraction times and flavours. If you are extracting very fast and water is rushing out causing under-extraction, adjust finer. Repeat until you achieve the 'best' flavour you can.

At this point, if your coffee still tastes off then your problem may lie in your dosage. You may be using too much or too little coffee causing hindrance to a uniform extraction. Once again, simply adjusting your dosage above and below your current amount in small increments will help you find the spot where the extraction performs the best.

If your coffee still tastes off you may be having temperature stability issues, water quality issues, coffee freshness issues, unstable brew-head pressure issues, poor basket distribution and tamping or any combination of the above.

Since the 'right' grind size for espresso, or any brew method for that matter, is never the same and is dependent on, at the very least, the coffee bean itself which is still a variable even if brewing from the same bag, finding the 'right' grind size is always going to be a chase and 'dialling in' will be an exercise you will almost always have to do if you want the best coffee you can extract from what you have.

MT San's answer provides a link to a more generic explanation and reference to the different general grind sizes for the different brew methods if you are completely in the dark.


What is the optimal brewing technique for extracting caffeine? I was wondering what process, or processes, would yield the highest caffeine quantity at a fixed drink size (Say 200ml).

Assuming the same variety of bean, same roast, same quantity, same water temperature and same extraction time.

I think the answer to your question is generally going to be espresso.

Brewing process all comes down to pressure, temperature, extraction time (water contact time), possibly agitation and filtering. I may be missing a variable, but all the methods of brewing are just mixing of those variables. If you fix all but one variable, you'd have an answer for any given equation.

All of these things are ultimately affecting the solubility of the caffeine in the coffee.  Since espresso is one of the few brewing methods to affect pressure (and generally uses the greatest pressure) it's going to be the winner.  Increased pressure means increased caffeine solubility.

From wikipedia you'll note the two major factors affecting solubility are temperature and pressure.  You'll also note that dissolution doesn't always happen instantly; rates may vary based on conditions.  By increasing pressure during brewing my guess is that the rate of caffeine dissolution is increased.  making it more efficient for short brewing times.


Which vitamins & minerals does coffee provide? I've heard that coffee contains small amounts of several vitamins/minerals and even worse, it can interfere with iron absorption and wipes out B vitamins.

Does coffee has any vitamins & minerals which are essential to life?

In example: Coffea arabica

Here are some nutritional information for brewed coffee that list macro- and micro-nutrients such as those you list:

from CoffeeAndHealth
from Self
the Google search page includes nutrition information from USDA.

Looks like there are traces of various B vitamins, a fair amount of riboflavin (B2), and traces of minerals such as magnesium, phosphorous, and potassium.

All of this nutrition data will certainly depend on the origin, roast, preparation methods, and other factors, which affect what gets into the cup from the beans.  Unless you're eating the beans...


Does an inconsistent roast affect espresso extraction? If so, how? I'm not really asking about flavour, I understand that an inconsistent roast causes  inconsistent flavour.

My question is how it affects the extraction itself. Does an uneven roast lead to an uneven extraction? Or does it not really matter?

We can assume other variables are consistent, i.e. a good tamp and a consistent brew temperature within the ideal range for espresso extraction.

That's a tricky one.
It depends on what do you mean by 'extraction'.

"Coffee extraction is the process of dissolving soluble flavors from coffee grounds in water" - from Wikipedia.
"Extraction is everything that the water takes from the coffee" - from BaristaHustle.
"To remove or take out something" - from Cambridge dictionary.

Therefore, the extraction process considers dissolving the flavors. An uneven roast will affect directly the flavours on the final beverage. Thus, even the perfect extraction will not be able to extract all the flavours it could if the beans weren't correctly roasted.


Coffee machine for a small business We have gone through a couple different coffee machines, here at work, none of which are sufficient. We started with a normal brew machine (doesn't make enough) and worked our way up to a percolator (eventually broke down) and now we have decided that it might be worth an investment.

What we want is a machine that we can simply plug a water line into, fill it with beans and press a button to brew either an individual cup or perhaps a pitcher we don't care just as long as its easy, quick and somewhat hands-off. The catch is we aren't looking for a thousand dollar machine, any ideas?

Recommendation

Since you want a bean-to-cup brew machine, you're limiting yourself quite a bit in terms of choice. That can be a good thing as it narrows down your options.

When to bean-to-cup brew machines I'd recommend the Breville Grind Control™. It's not a commercial-size machine, but with only 6 people that would probably make it needlessly expensive.

Since I have no first hand experience with the machine, I recommend watching this YouTube video, again by SCG, to get a good impression of the machine. Should you have machine-specific questions then I recommend asking those as a separate question.

As for price, it's advertised at around 300$ on Breville's website.

As for capacity, it's 60 oz (1.77L) machine. That means you can get 7 decent cups (250 mL / 8.45 oz) out of it.

You have some control on strength (in practice, more or less coffee going in) and grind size (finer or coarser grind). Furthermore, the can is insulated so your coffee keeps warm longer as opposed to machines that keep the can at a certain temperature (which eventually impacts taste).

The only criterium it doesn't meet is the ability to connect it to your water line. You might be able to make it work somehow, but it's not a feature of this machine (as opposed to others which are designed to be built into a kitchen or something).

For non-Americans: note that the machine is rated for 110-120 volts. It may not work in places with higher voltages and I'm not sure if there's a higher voltage version of this machine. Just something to consider before buying.

My answer consists of three parts. The first is an on-topic advice. The second is an option to get more information to better inform you which could be used to edit / ask a new question that is more refined. The last part is more of a comment which you should take note of in a purchasing situation.

Advice

Without knowing any more specifics, I understand that you don't want to spend a lot of money and that brew machines worked in the past but lacked capacity. I'm going to suggest getting multiple consumer-grade-ish brew machines, possibly with some fancier options (e.g. programmable turn on and off times). Since these features are so general, I cannot recommend a specific machine, but you can easily find some based on those criteria.

Info on commercial grade

Seattle Coffee Gear has a playlist on YouTube dedicated to coffee makers for commercial use. With your description, it's hard to give good advice, but I think you can get pretty far by going through all the videos (I am not affiliated with them, I just know they make good videos).

I suggest watching those videos to either settle on one of those options or to refine your criteria and post them here. Things you may want to specify:

Price (range)
Energy consumption
Brew versus espresso-based

Comment on cleaning and maintenance

As for cleaning, you're going to have to do some level of cleaning with any coffee machine. Can you minimise or automatise it? Yes, but never forget that it's there.

Also note that machines do sometimes break down or go out of the running because of maintenance. The best way to avoid that impacting your workflow too much would be to have multiple smaller machines (though that's not your question now).


When should I tamp the coffee? I have a Sage Dual Boiler coffee machine, using the stock portafilter and baskets. Should I tamp the coffee in the basket and then insert into the portafilter, or insert the basket first into portafilter and then tamp?

I am unaware if this specific machine has specific requirements. If this is the case, please mention.

I mostly prefer to tamp the coffee after I put it in the portafilter. It's harder to carry the basket with coffee in it. Also it's harder to tamp the basket without easily holding it in place.


Do you re-heat the kettle between pours? When making pourover coffee (e.g. V60), do you re-heat the kettle between pours in order to have a more constant temperature? For example, if you started blooming at 98 °C, and you wait 45 seconds, the temperature may already be one or two degrees less. So does it affect the taste in the positive way if you re-heat the kettle between pours, so you try to make every pour at same (or close) temperature?

Short answer: No
By reheating your kettle between pours you introduce another variable which can mess with the consistency of your brew. The reason we measure everything when brewing coffee is to be able to isolate a single variable, adjust it, and determine its impact on the taste of the brew. Consistency is the most important thing here.
Losing one or two degrees in your kettle while brewing shouldn't have much of an impact on the taste of your brew if it happens consistently. Also, the water drops in temperature significantly when it reaches the grounds, as explained in James's video you probably meant.
Both James Hoffmann and Matt Perger recommend using boiling water for brewing because seeing water bubble (and therefore knowing it's exactly 100°C) is more reliable than having a thermometer telling you the temperature. "25 degree water looks exactly the same as 85 degree water".
My recommendation is to let the water come to a boil and as soon as it starts boiling, start your brew and don't reheat it between pours. Even though the water might cool down a little, it will do so similarly from brew to brew. If you reheat your kettle between pours, you'll have to put in on the stove the exact same way each time, which is difficult (maybe not difficult but surely finicky) to achieve, especially if you have a pour-over to worry about.
Now, before anyone comments with "100°C is too hot, you'll burn the coffee":
Coffee is roasted at temperatures around and above 200°C, you're not burning anything.
"It will taste burnt and bitter because the bitter compounds will be extracted more easily."
In that case, over-extraction is your problem which can easily be solved by adjusting your grind size.


Does making Bali Coffee change the amount of caffeine compared to filter coffee? Bali coffee is made by tossing finely ground coffee directly in the water (no filters, etc.).

Does this change the amount of caffeine in the coffee, compared to coffee from a filter machine?

(Coffee produced on Bali is generally Robusta rather than Arabica which means it has more caffeine, but I would like to know about the change in caffeine due to the process alone)

The amount of caffeine in your cup will depend, as with any method, on the extraction time. It also depends on everything else, e.g. the grind, temperature of the water, but I can't find any information on what these typically are for Balinese coffee, so I'm going to assume they're the same.

Assuming you're using the same coffee with each method, the main thing that will vary is the extraction time. With pour-over methods, this will depend on the size and shape of the funnel, the porousness of the filter paper and the grind itself.

For Balinese coffee, there is no control. If you mix the coffee and water directly, the only thing limiting the extraction time is how long you wait before drinking it.

However, having said that, caffeine is actually extracted rather quickly. This study finds that routine percolation removes almost all soluble caffeine. However, the extended extraction time for Balinese coffee is likely to make a bitter brew.

In conclusion, no, you won't get more caffeine in Balinese coffee compared to filter. Both methods will remove almost all caffeine from the coffee.


Is it safe to brew old coffee? I found a 10 year old package of coffee. Is it safe to brew it? Or should I get a new one?

If it's refrigerated, it'll last for at least a week, as long as you didn't pre-dairy it.
  Unrefrigerated, I wouldn't trust it for more than a day. Coffee is a crappy growth medium        and it should start out the next best thing to sterile, but, even covered, its going to start to get moldy.
  Obviously if you add dairy, then you're dealing with that dairy shelf-life, and that isn't very long at all.

First, is your idea of going bad that it has a funny taste and is not as fresh as it once was, or is it that it actually tastes as though it is spoiled? Yes, coffee can go stale when it comes to taste, but it won’t actually be spoiled or dangerous to drink.

Once your coffee is opened and introduced to oxygen, the shelf life timer begins to tick. Storing coffee in hot, humid, or sunlight areas will only make matters worse. The best way to keep your coffee fresh is to store it in a container that is air tight and will remain cool – but not in the refrigerator.

Do you typically buy your coffee ground for you? With a far greater surface area of coffee coming in contact with the oxygen, those grounds are going to stale much quicker than whole beans will. I highly recommend investing in a hand or electric grinder to experience the fresh taste and aroma of beans you’ve ground yourself.

When coffee goes bad, it can become bitter and even rancid. Every bean will react differently to oxidation. If you start to notice your expertly roasted beans losing quality and general yumminess, it may be time to buy some fresh beans. Don’t know how to find amazing, fresh coffee? I wrote a guide on that.

No matter what you do, you will not be able to get that fresh flavor back once it has left the bean. The most important thing to do is keep it locked up tight. However, if you are a true coffee lover, it may not sit around long enough to even think about going bad. Just remember this rule of thumb: about two weeks after roast the coffee will start decaying.

I would close this question as "Too broad" but then.

Sourced from http://www.coffeebrewguides.com/ and https://cooking.stackexchange.com/


What is the purpose of the crimp on a moka funnel? Spurred by this recent moka question...

The funnel on my moka pot has a "crimp" -- a little ring-shaped indentation -- around the middle, similar to this one from Bialetti:

What is the purpose of this crimp?

It is indented toward the middle of the funnel (i.e., not protruding out of the funnel). It's far too low to indicate recommended "fill line" for quantity of grounds (for my taste anyway!) There's no other attachment that fits into it, nor does it engage with any other part on the pot (e.g., the top lip of the funnel sits on the moka pot base). It's one piece of sheet metal; e.g., this isn't a point where two pieces attach. Some moka pots have funnels that have this crimp, and others are solid/flat around the side.

The crimp is there to support the reducer! The reducer slots into the funnel, and sits on the ridge. You then put coffee on top of it, allowing you to use less coffee in larger pots.


How do brown and white paper filters compare? Besides the obvious colour difference: Is there any significant difference between using a brown ("natural") paper filter, and a white (bleached or otherwise whitened) paper filter? That is: when all other factors are held constant; when used for drip, filter, pour-over, etc. brewing methods when using a paper filter.

The metrics that I can think of include the following:

Filtering performance. E.g., Do brown and white filters filter out the same "stuff"? Do they permit the same rate of water flow?
Flavor of result. E.g., Does one or the other impart off-flavours (e.g., leftovers from whitening, or lack of whitening)? Does does the resulting brewed coffee taste the same?
Production / environmental issues. E.g., Does it take more energy to produce one or the other? Waste? Chemicals?

I've tried to read up on this, and most sources seem to indicate that there's no significant difference; it reduces to personal preference, or off-hand environmental claims... but I see nothing concrete.

Melitta says that they don't use chlorine bleach to whiten paper filters instead using "oxygen" (which I take to actaully mean "peroxide", which may be less bad, but I'm not sure). Clicking through also says there's no difference, so maybe I should just accept that;
A discussion on Chow has little more than personal preference;
Basically the same on CoffeeGeek with a "paper taste" claim about brown filters;
Similar mild paper-taste conclusion from Reddit.

There are many difference between the two filters. In this website. it states that:

  Today, most white paper filters are whitened with oxygen. Oxygen whitening is much more friendly to the environment, and imparts no taste to the filter. Brown filters are simply unwhitened. Your choice, but oxygen whitened filters are usually less expensive.

Brown filters are just plain without any improvements. Surprisingly, they are more expensive yet yields the same flavor as a white filter here. Trying to save money, get a white one.

Speaking of Performance...

In this website,it states that:

  Natural brown : In its natural form, all paper is brown colored, so brown filters are completely unprocessed. Other than aesthetics and processing, there are no other differences in color.
  White : White paper filters are processed to get that clean, white shade. Chlorine bleaching or natural oxygen bleaching are common methods for whitening paper. Generally, better quality paper ones do not use chlorine bleach.

Avoid white coffee filters that have been whitened with cholrine bleaching. These types of filters have a lower quality than natural brown or white ones using natural oxygen methods. Performance may vary though. Look online like in Amazon for high quality paper filters and look at the reviews.

Taste

Yep, some brown paper filters will add some extra taste to your coffee, sometimes not that good:

  Melitta 'whites' are best. I use them, as they are oxygenated, not bleached. I don't care for any of the brown filters. I have used the Filtropa/Aroma (browns) and the Chemex and didn't care for them. Many brown filters introduce a wet cardboard taste into the brew. Hario is an exception but they are pricey.

Brown paper filters add a wet cardboard taste to your coffee. That just makes your coffee less enjoyable. As said in the performance section, white filters are probably better (if only implied with natural oxygen methods to get the white). Hario is a brown paper filter that acts like a white paper filter, adding no extra, disgusting flavor into your coffee. It is rather expensive though. Here is the website where all the information of this section came from.

Environmental Impacts

Well here is a paragraph about a study by Harvard about paper filters and such:

  According to Harvard Health Publications, paper filters are more effective at eliminating diterpenes than permanent or cloth filters. Paper filters are also easier to clean up -- you dispose of them after one use. Cloth and permanent filters must be cleaned after every use. Paper filters are not as environmentally friendly as the other types of filters, but since they’re made of natural fibers, they are biodegradable. To make paper filters more “green,” compost them along with your coffee grounds. For composting, natural brown filters are better than bleached white filters.

Paper filters aren't as eco-friendly as others but can are biodegradeable, unlike plastic which takes forever and metal, which probably takes even longer. Paper filters can even be used as compost with your coffee grounds. It will make good fertilizer with the rest of your compost. Using normal brown paper filters is preferred over bleached white filters. Production is nearly the same. A white paper filter is really a brown paper filter that is bleached or has added oxygen. Here is the website that provided the paragraph.

Conclusion

Not a lot of differences that are outright clear, but there are minor differences between the two. I hope this helps you!


Quality of ground coffee Recently I've had some amazingly bad coffee in local cafes, and this week I had the same experience with some ground coffee I bought.  I used a french press for that.  Watery, dark colour, bitter and hardly any coffee taste. Just to be sure I packed a moka express well and the result was awful, very dark and very bitter.

OK, I know I should be using better materials etc., but bear with me.  This reminded me, not in a nice way, of long past attempts to get a second brew from filter coffee.

So is this just very poor quality raw materials roasted beyond the limit, or has the industry started to do something like extracting flavour for those capsules you see around and then roasting the heck out of the remaining grounds and selling them?  Maybe this sounds a bit far fetched, but the food industry has form.

My first thought would be stale coffee rather than commercial conspiracy but, assuming you live in North America, I don't blame you for that.  The time since roasting is important and, compounding on that, the time since grinding, thence finally how you brew it.

So your questions should be:

What did I do different in the way I brewed this time?
How long since this coffee was roasted?
How long since this coffee was ground?

Don't be afraid to ask the source when it was ground, and when it was roasted.  Time from roasting to now should be measured in days (not weeks), and time from grinding to now should be hours, minutes, or even seconds!

Even if the attendant cannot answer you it illustrates the fact that they don't know and you do care. Thence maybe one day you'll find a source where the attendant both knows and cares, so shop around.

Finally, there are different beans, different roasts, and different tastes. So, once all of the above is attended to, you may still, quite reasonably, conclude that the taste of that particular roasted bean is not for you. Again, exercise your options: go elsewhere, roast your own, etc.

Welcome to the endless search for something better.


How to reduce sourness in my moka-pot brew? so most things I read say the common problem with a moka pot is a bitter, over-extracted brew, so I'm confused as to why I'm getting the opposite.

Here are the beans I'm using- http://www.coffeehunter.com/green_coffees/archive/costa_rica/finca_de_alejo_castro, so the decription implies some acidic/fermented tones, but my brew seems to be coming out quite unpleasant.

My moka pot is a Bialetti 1-cup.

My process:

Beans freshly ground with hand grinder (fine grind, comparison with google image results for 'moka pot grind' seem pretty close).

Hot water in the chamber (up to bottom of valve).

Lowest heat.

Results

Getting a pretty fast flow, and no oily bubbles at the beginning of the process. Probably 5-10 seconds between start and end of the flow.

Very sour coffee.

I've tried adjusting my grind, and even when the grind is fine enough to produce quite a bit of sediment, there's no noticeable change in flavour.

What I immediately notice is that you say the entire brew process takes only 5-10 seconds. Even for a 1-pot moka, this seems way too fast.

Vary some other parameters:

Start with cold water in the bottom chamber. While not the best way to brew with Moka in general, it might slow down the brewing process. You should want your moka brew to take closer to 30-60 seconds (my preference, for example). Longer time will allow the sourness to be offset by bitterness (compounds which are extracted after water has been in contact with grounds for a longer time).
Try brewing the coffee as pour-over. This will give you a more neutral preparation that will allow you to determine if the coffee itself is of good quality and too your liking.


What does coffee leaf tea taste like? I have recently seen leaves of the coffee plant for sale for the purpose of making coffee leaf tea and I'm curious. What does it taste like?

I've heard various bold health claims about the antioxidant content, and that it has very little caffeine content (e.g., treehugger, modern farmer, and The Telegraph). It also sounds like a way for coffee farms to make some "off-season" profit, which is probably a win for everyone.

But what I'm interested in is the taste. The Wikipedia article (linked above) says it tastes like "green tea" but that's extremely varied, and others (like the link below) describe it as "sweet" or "refreshing" or "dry" but none of those are particularly helpful either.

I have only seen this one place selling the stuff and they seem to be perpetually sold out, but maybe it's highly seasonal.

The leaves seem to be sold for $20 for 50g, or about $180/pound (since they're in Canada, I assume those are CAD/C$). Maybe it's like conventional tea, where even a gram goes far, but I don't know. Before I shell out that much, has anyone tried the stuff? What does it taste like? How is it prepared? If it's like a tea-like coffee, that sounds delicious. Perhaps like cascara or similar?

Had once, made of dehidrated leaves. Lighter than green tea, it ressembles rucola (arugula, in the US).


My Delonghi Magnifica ESAM 4200.s makes coffee and then cuts out. Any suggestions as to why? It trips the electrical circuit.  When I reset the trip switch it continues it’s process. This happens every time whichever plug socket I use and in a different house. No error lights are displayed.

If you have observed the problem on different outlets and even in different houses, the only common factor is the machine itself. The exact cause can’t be assessed via the Internet and unless you are experienced with repairing electrical machinery, I would strongly discourage you to start experimenting blindly. The missing error lights are not an indicator here, they would only signal a problem that an otherwise functional machine can detect via the built-in self-checks. Tripping a circuit breaker is in a different league of defect.
For your own safety: Please stop using the machine (faulty electric alone is bad enough, add water to the mix and it gets really dangerous), even if it seems to “work”, sort of. Contact a qualified service technician or the seller/manufacturer (especially if it’s still under warranty) and have them assess the situation.


To what extent have C. arabica beans been replaced by rust-resistant cultivars? There have been articles in the news about coffee rust affecting coffee crops in many places. After reading this article it dawned on me that not only is C.liberica (resistant to rust) being exported in large quantities from some places (Phillipines, for example), Colombian researchers have developed resistant hybrids that may well be replacing C. arabica--to some extent-- in South America as well.

If I go to my local coffee place and get a (relatively) expensive espresso my assumption is that the beans are arabica unless otherwise indicated. If you look at a futures contract for coffee, there is a big premium for coffee from certain countries, in part because it is assumed to be arabica. Is this still true and, if not, what percentage of coffee labeled arabica is actually arabica?

My link is now broken and in response to the comments I am going to add links on efforts to (partly) replace Arabica with resistant species or hybrids. Here is one: Barista Magazine, resistant hybrids of Arabia-Robusta.

Even with the impact of below average crop yields from Coffee Rust, Arabica beans still make up at least 75% of the world's coffee crop. Although they are affected by the rust, Arabica plantations will tend to recover within a few years and go back to business as usual.

CLR resistant varieties aren't without problems. They are still vulnerable to other desease that can have an impact on crops.

USDA report on Coffee Rust impact to Arabica crops

2014 article on the Impact of Coffee Rust


Doppio vs. Short Black: What's The Difference? I stumbled across an answer on Quora that describes the many different espresso-based coffee drinks.

In the author's answer, he defines a doppio as:

  Double Espresso or twice the amount of coffee and twice the amount of water.  Basically it describes two shots of espresso in one demitasse container.

He then goes on to define a short black:

  A pure intense Italian favourite with a biting crème head.  Contains 75ml of pure double shot (2) coffee essence made from 24gm of fresh ground coffee beans.  Traditionally served in glass and is referred to as Espresso by European customers.

Is there any difference between the two if they're both double shots of espresso served in a glass container?  Or is a short black a technical term referring to a specific ratio of coffee to water?

As far as I know, a short black is a single espresso, as in it's literally just another word for a single espresso. A short black is a single 30ml shot, and a doppio is two, 60ml. Nothing added to either, and the vessel you're serving it in varies by where you are, and doesn't change the name in any case :-)


Can a handheld milk frother produce micro-foam? When steaming milk with a steam wand, many sources I've found say that the texturing stage of milk frothing can only be done before the milk reaches body temperature, hence why cooling milk and milk jugs is important, as it allows more time for this process.

As an handheld milk frother (such as Aerolatte) needs milk to be heated before it froths, is it possible to produce a good quality micro-foam?

It certainly won't compare to a steam wand, but yes you can totally get okay milk texture using one. In all honesty though, I've had better success using a french press. Heat milk via stove stop, put your milk into a clean french press, and push and pull the plunge repeatedly until your milk froths. It's not perfect - but good enough to pour some latte art.


Should I use the airtight container, or the opaque container? I know that ideally, I should keep my ground coffee in an airtight, opaque container.

Currently, I'm limited to one that is airtight, but glass, and one that is opaque, but not that airtight (it's actually a bag with a zip seal).

While I get around to getting a decent new container, which is the best to keep my ground coffee in?

I value sealed over opaque. Go for the sealed glass. Opaque is not really the goal, but rather in the dark. Keeping the stuff in a dark location, even in a clear container, will be fine.

As far as priorities for storage in general, according to the USA National Coffee Association (and others including Blue Bottle and a lengthy missive from The Atlantic), there are four things that are most important for coffee freshness; that is, minimizing exposure to the following:

air
moisture
heat
light

... in that order, according to NCAUSA (first link above). That is, keep it sealed (minimizing airflow and humidity, most important), cool (but not cold/refrigerated), and in the dark (somewhat less important). The best place to do this is in an airtight container in a dark, cool pantry. If kept in a dark place, you don't even need to make the container opaque. Lastly, the "light" factor is the lowest in priority, so "mostly dark" is probably good enough.

I tend to re-use coffee containers for this purpose (I have a bunch of illy cans such as these that work well, are a good size, and have a one-way valve on the bottom). Once you buy the coffee, the tins are "free"!


Cold brewing at varying temperatures - How does steeping temperature affect extraction? I've always cold brewed at ambient temperatures (typically in the 68-74F range). I've recently been speaking with people who say that they only cold brew at refrigerated temperatures, stating that it enhances the flavor and smoothness of their final product.

Question is, is there a scale or ratio that relates TDS to brew time and brew temperature? I know this might not be completely linear because the ratio and grind type will also play into this, but given a consistent ratio and consistent grind, is there a somewhat predictable result?

For example

Brew at 75F for 12 hours yields TDS of 1.75
Brew at 65F for 13 hours yields TDS of 1.75
Brew at 55F for 14 hours yields TDS of 1.75
...
Brew at 35F for 16 hours yields TDS of 1.75

Okay, so what if I told you, that I sell a lot of cold brew at my shop, and have had success with 4-hour steeps.

I've tried a bunch of stuff, and I've realized that since the temp is really low (mild to cold), it barely makes a difference in TASTE. The biggest factor is oversteeping (like, 48hours up brew), as it can make your cold brew sour. But as a rule of thumb and for sanity of the production team, I go for cold water and steep for 8-15 hours, depending on the time of day it's made.


What happens if I use a Nespresso capsule with the "wrong" amount of water? My office has a Nespresso machine. My preferred drink (for taste and caffeine content) is the Espresso Leggero but often all these capsules are gone, so I use maybe a Ristretto capsule or a Luongo capsule, but still use the middle button (espresso amount of drink, I asssume).

What does this do, to the taste and caffeine content? Are the capsules optimised for a certain amount of drink?

You will either over-extract or under-extract the coffee.

Over-extraction occurs when you run too much water through and you will be able to see this as the coffee turns pale and eventually you will end up with almost clear (or barely tinted) water running through. Over-extracted coffee tastes bitter. Really badly over-extracted coffee can sometimes exhibit metallic or plastic taste.

Under-extraction is a much better option. The resulting coffee will be thicker, stickier and less bitter. The downside is that you are not getting the maximum utilisation from the beans and you could have made more acceptable coffee with those beans.

A ristretto is a short extraction with minimal water and ideally at a slightly lower pressure. An espresso should be the same coffee, but the extraction would use more water and often a slightly faster flow rate / higher pressure.

The caffeine content will mostly be dependent on the beans used and the quantity of coffee in the pod. A longer extraction may increase the caffeine content slightly, but not enough to be noticeable.


Will my tap water work for brewing espresso? I just picked up a Gaggia Classic and I am wondering if my delicious Denver tap water will do the trick or if I should go with something bottled. I am looking here for the espresso standards and here for the Denver water report.

Nearest I can tell, it's pretty close to the sweet spot for total dissolved solids but I don't know how to decipher the other values like pH.

I plan to descale every now and again so mostly I am just curious if this H2O will cause any serious pain.

Provided that you descale your machine whenever needed, your machine should not take damage from using tap water.

Since your tap water is also safe to drink, this leaves taste as the only reason for concern. Dealing with this question is simple: just make a direct comparison between bottled-water espresso and tap water espresso. Check if you taste any noticeable differences. If this is not the case, the tap water should be fine. While there may be "guidelines for taste" as far as the tap water vs. bottled water question is concerned (e.g., softer water is typically better), what tastes good and what does not is a very complex question - so the tasting is the only way to be sure.

Note that you will need to descale your machine from time to time in both cases - so using bottled water to avoid descaling is probably not cost-effective (nor environmental friendly).


16yr od bags for beans from pantry! I found about 10 bags of various beans from a trip to Costa Rica in 2004. Bags are dated 2004. None say they are roasted. Got them tour of Cafe Britt. We stopped grinding long ago.... What are the odds
A) this is dangerous to brew
B) tastes good enough to bother to grind and brew them?
Been in their original box in a dark pantry air-conditioned home

Raw green coffee has a shelf life of about one year. Roasted beans last from a few days up to a year depending on how packaged; ground coffee even less than that. (source)
Based on that, the probability of B is practically zero, so I wouldn't risk finding out about A! (Seriously though, if the beans are at all mouldy, don't use them.)