What do these large bubbles in my French press indicate? I've seen these bubbles when pressing coffee that I've home roasted in two different presses with two different water sources. I've seen it with coffee from multiple roasts now. The beans are the same in all cases (Rwandan single origin). I am grinding with a burr grinder. Do these large bubbles in the bloom indicate anything about the bean or the roast?

The bubbles are the result of "degassing" — carbon dioxide escaping from the coffee. Degassing will be especially dramatic in the first 24 hours after roasting, during which 40% of the CO2 leaves the bean. See this blog post: Understanding Degassing.


Why do aeropress columns get abrasions, or scars, near the top? A friend and I both have aeropresses that have been through 2-4 years of use. I noticed that mine has what looks like coffee-stained abrasions near the top of the column, furthest away from the filter. This is usually the region where the water surface is at longest, before I end up pressing it. No amount of washing seemed to get rid of the abrasions so they must be baked in to the plastic now. My friend confirmed he had a similar experience with his. Due to the rugged surface, it probably increases the chance of upward-leaks while pressing down on the plunger.

Is this due to some reaction occurring (unlikely I would think), or is it due to heat rising to the top (also seems somewhat unlikely to me)?

Update: Photos

However I cannot understood the scars definitely, I would like to offer a solution to the scars I thought:

There is a possibility that coffee grounds may stick to the rubber ring and scratch the plastic column when pressure is applied as they stay in between the rubber ring and the plastic column. Still, these scratches do not affect the performance of the gadget if they are not large enough to leak.

Easiest way to clean the grounds is rubbing the surface of the rubber ring by your finger under warm water for a few seconds.

Edit: After I see the photos, my guess is, these scars are caused by the scratches first, then the polished surface of the plastic is peeled off by heat. I assume you may continue to use it without problems. For other people with brand new aeropress, my previous advice still holds: try to wash away residual grounds off the rubber ring.


How to create these 3-D latte art? My family and I went to a coffee shop in Japan specifically to try their 3-D latte's, my wife ordered one where it featured I think 2 bears or a bear and rabbit as you can see.

How can I recreate these babies at home?

This video here seems to have a good tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTZNs2Mjxos

The steps seem to be as follow:

Make your latte as normal, heating/frothing the milk as you normally would - a microfoam.
Make a separate batch of frothed milk, and froth it a lot - you want a really stiff foam - a macrofoam.
Spoon the stiff foam carefully onto the top of your latte. If you've got it right, the dollops should just sit there and retain their shape. Keep spooning it on to build the shape you want. For your linked images, this is obviously quite a lot of dollops of various sizes.
Use a paintbrush to paint the darker areas onto the foam with espresso. It looks like your example has a variety of colours. This is probably done with food dye and/or chocolate.
Enjoy destroying your painstakingly produced work of art for the sake of your next caffeine fix!


How much sugar can I put it my coffee before it's worse than soda? Coffee is generally quite healthy and soda is full of sugar. However people end up putting lots of sugar in their coffees.

How much sugar is needed before a cup of coffee is worse than soda?

For my calculations I'll be using Coca Cola (which has 39 grams of sugar in a single can! (375ml))

For any amount of pure Coffee (no milk), you can put 39 grams of sugar or nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar, as Coffee has no sugar in it. 30ml is a standard espresso size so to be equivalent per ml of liquid you would need to put 3.1 grams of sugar which is less than a teaspoon.

One teaspoon in an espresso makes it contain a higher percentage of sugar than coke

For a 150 ml Cappuccino which is approximately 25 ml of coffee and 85 ml of milk, (Note that in a Cappuccino a portion of the volume is made up by froth which is why 85+25<150). Approximately 4.5 grams of sugar is from the milk which means you can still add another 34.5 grams of sugar to be equivalent to a can of coke. And to be equivalent per volume (using 110ml as the volume since the froth doesn't count as it is essentially air) you would need to add an additional 7 grams of sugar (nearly two teaspoons).

Two teaspoons in a cappuccino makes it contain a higher percentage of sugar than coke


Caffeine and Hearing loss What amount of coffee has an ototoxic effect after an acute noise exposure?
I'm referring to this study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26940042/

I know that they use 25mg/kg which equals 1750mg for an average man, but I want to now if a moderate amount of caffeine impair hearing recovery for example after a gig.
Here is a chart with the dose-effect curve:

The site design here won't let me edit or post a comment.

The study you found found an adverse effect in animals with an exceptionally high intake of caffeine. 25 mg/kg would equate to > 2,000 mg for an average adult (U.S. average, 82 kg) which is a huge amount of caffeine, about five times the maximum amount that is generally recognized as safe (GRAS).

Animal data does not always transfer well to human situations. And we have two statistically controlled major studies that are at some odds with the McGill findings.

These findings are interesting but they only suggest areas that merit more research. It is far from certain that the results would be accurate for humans. And even if you were to make that assumption, the only datum that you really have is that people who ingest huge amounts of caffeine, many fold above GRAS may have a slow recovery from acute hearing trauma or tinnitus.

It's not even known if the effects are permanent.


Store Costco beans in individual vacuum sealed canisters? Is it a good idea to split bulk (2-3 pound bags) Costco coffee beans into separate (1 pound) vacuum sealed canisters? This would be done quickly for reduced oxygen exposure.

I would use up a canister every 2 weeks. Will degradation of the beans over time (6 weeks total) be a significant problem?

First, I think you need to start with the quality of the bean you bought. I have noticed both at Sam's Club and Costco that more often than not, the bags of beans are not sealed.  You need to dig to find a bag where the beans don't slide around inside the bag.  If you can shake the bag and the beans move around like a box of cereal, move on to the next bag!  If a bag has lost the seal, you don't know if it has been 'open' for a week or three months.

Second, the debate goes back and forth about freezing or not freezing. Do what fits your life style best.

Third, the more you can limit exposure to oxygen until you use the bean the better.  Coffee beans are like a lot of other items, they can become stale over time if cared for properly.


Milk quantity and consistency in cortado, cappuccino and latte I am often asked whether these three drinks have the same milk quantity and/or consistency and where the difference really lies between these preparations.

I would assume that quantity is increased respectively (cortado < cappuccino < latte) but some claim that there is more milk in the cortado than the cappuccino.

As for the consistency, wouldn't the cappuccino have a more foamy milk than the other two?

There's a chart for that!

Here's a link to it, but I've also included an image below.

There could be some argument over cappuccino vs. latte as to which is "creamier" as the cappuccino certainly has more mil foam, but the latte has much more milk by volume and by ratio. On the whole though I'd say the latte is a less strong drink with a creamier texture even if the cappuccino is thicker.


What is the name of the coffee, of which beans are collected from cat poop? What is the name of the coffee, and what are the benefits of the beans digested by cats?

Civet coffee, also known as Kopi Luwak.

Here are some excerpts from the Wikipedia entry:

  refers to the coffee that includes part-digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet.

And this:

  in the coffee industry, kopi luwak is widely regarded as a gimmick or
  novelty item...
  "general consensus within the industry ... it just tastes bad"

And:

  It would appear that the Luwak processing diminishes good acidity and
  flavor and adds smoothness to the body, which is what many people seem
  to note as a positive to the coffee.

The gist of it: The animal is supposed to pick the ripest beans and eat them. So its only getting good ripe beans. The animal partially digested the beans, and that process is supposed to improve the flavor.

Edit: source Wikipedia: Kopi Luwak / Civet coffee


How to make a thick coffee with an AeroPress? I end up with a watery drink and an over-brewed aftertaste I got an AeroPress about a week ago and I have been experimenting with it.
I'm in a temporary country until the rest of the year and I am getting ground coffee online (can only have decaf), so I do NOT control the grind size.
I like thick coffees and I bought a metal filter.
Using the inverted method, I put one scoop of coffee and then I tried various amount of water for the brew + some dilution afterward. I have tried two different decaf Arabicas from Amazon and I use 80°C water.
Unfortunately, most of the results end up the same way: a very watery feel without any texture, a taste that is not very palatable but a very strong over-brewed aftertaste.
What am I doing wrong? and how can I make it thicker? Can I create crema with the AeroPress?

edit:
this is the grind size:

The easiest way to make the texture of your coffee thicker would be to increase your brew ratio - use more coffee and less water while brewing.
Also don't be scared to use higher temperature water, even if the inventor recommends ~80°C water, this is also going to increase extraction, leading to a higher percentage of dissolved coffee in your cup.
You might also want to look at this "Coffee Compass" from Barista Hustle, which shows you what adjustments to make based on the taste of the coffee:


Is it necessary to keep a portafilter in the grouphead when not in use? Some say that keeping a portafilter in the grouphead is both beneficial for the machine and affects the quality of the espresso (by keeping the portafilter warm).

Is this accurate? If so, what are the benefits of doing so?

Keeping the portafilter warm (and receiving / tamping a dose within a warm portafilter) is supposed to result in additional oils being released in the extraction, which in theory leads to a fuller pull and more crema. It's also supposed to add to the benefits of pre-infusion.

I have experimented at length with this, and can detect positively no difference between a shot extracted from a cold filter, and one extracted from a warmed one. It might only be noticeable on higher-end (larger) machines, or simply larger filters.

Mechanically, it's a sound enough practice as it would help keep the group head and portafilter from warping independently, even ever so slightly. Even though the seal they make is assisted by the inclined plane the filter travles to reach the head, it's still good for the filter to mate properly with the machine.

I asked my barista about this after Joel mentioned it, and he also said it's a good practice to keep.

tl;dr; It can't hurt, and it might help, but YMMV on lesser machines.

edit

Experiments in various presses, and the amount of crema they produce have shown that pre-warming metal filters produces more crema. This eluded me because I own a pretty good machine that heats the filter quickly after it has been attached to the machine.

The accuracy would depend on your machine. The result could be more crema, and everything that a fuller extraction entails.

suggestion

Try it on your machine and see if it makes a detectable difference.


Why of the-shelf-coffee packages are aluminum from the inside Why of-the-shelf coffee packages (available e.g. in supermarkets) are covered with aluminum (or some sort of hard silver a little bit shiny thick foil) from the inside?

I used to think this was just a marketing exercise (when it was applied to crisps/potato chips in American-Speak) but it's to do with it's excellent properties for keeping things fresh and sealing properties.

If we look at the Key features from this site:

Aluminium foil in packaging helps keep foodstuffs fresh for months without refrigeration.
With the outstanding barrier properties and contributions to the sealing process, aluminium foil guarantees the excellent material and filling performance of aseptic and retortable packaging for milk, juices and soups.
It prevents the contents from losing nutritional value, vitamins or aroma and gives total protection against light, moisture, oxygen, foreign matter contamination and damage.

This is why it's predominantly used in food packaging and not just for coffee packages, the foil is essentially a barrier to the outside environment to stop the beans from being exposed to oxygen and light, although some carbon dioxide gas will build up, there is a relief/degassing valve to allow this to escape


Amount of coffee in French press vs. K-Cups Last night I was at a restaurant with friends and we were discussing coffee. So I shared that I typically use a French press with around 25g for a "real" cup (~400 mL). Everyone was suprised at how much coffee that is. Yet pretty much every website I've seen about French press recommends something around these lines, or more. Also - and more importantly - I've tried lowering the amount and it does taste thin.

YET... I do enjoy for instance K-cup coffee, which is around 10g/cup. Does it mean the French press is not economical at all?

Consider trying an AeroPress coffee maker. It's kind of a redesigned French Press. It's quick, makes smooth coffee, and is easy to clean.
If you put in one heaping (rounded) scoop of coffee, that's 14 grams or 3 tablespoons, according to their FAQ.
While you're on the FAQ page, it answers interesting questions like about gentler coffee:

... about one-fifth the acidity of drip brewed coffee and one-ninth the acidity of French press brewed coffee. Because of this it’s easier on your stomach.

They have a web page comparing AeroPress with French Press and other kinds of coffee makers:

French presses use coarsely ground coffee because of the size of the holes in their filters. The coarsely ground coffee particles have less surface area than finely ground coffee. The lower surface area necessitates a long steeping time to extract full coffee flavor. Unfortunately, this results in bitterness and acidity in the cup. The AeroPress uses espresso or fine-drip grind coffee with a big surface area to quickly extract rich, full flavor without bitterness.
The coarsely ground coffee required by French press filters unfortunately includes some small particles which pass through the filter and into your cup. These particles continue to leach bitterness leading to a harsh, gritty brew. AeroPress brewed coffee is micro filtered so it is pure and particle free.
French presses cannot produce espresso style coffee and therefore the drinks that can be made with it. The AeroPress can produce regular American style coffee or an espresso style concentrate which can be used like espresso in espresso based drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos.
All ground coffee contains the molecules cafestol and kahweol, two molecules which raise LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. The metal filters in French presses do not filter out cafestol and kahweol. The AeroPress’s paper filters do remove them, meaning that AeroPress brewed coffee is free of these harmful elements.
French presses are notoriously difficult to clean. The AeroPress is essentially self cleaning, requiring only a quick rinse.

BTW, if you use a Baratza grinder, see this page for their recommended grind sizes. (The page also has a link to different brewing recipes, but to be honest, I'm happy with the standard recipe.)


Site or feed covering current coffee offer Is there a site or feed which would collect current coffee offer from various roasters especially specialty coffee roasters? I like to try wide range of coffees and so far I'm checking several website-shops to see what is new. Maybe someone is already collecting this information on a single spot.

I have never heard of a site specifically for that, but definitely hit up Sprudge if you never have. It is certainly the leading site for all coffee information - and it's very easy to scroll through and find new coffee companies that are all doing great things.

http://sprudge.com/


D.I.Y. Pour Over Coffee Maker I have a friend that wants to try a pour over coffee but she doesn't know if she wants to invest in another coffee maker.

question: Do you think you could just use your standard drip coffee maker to hold your grounds and use a kettle to pour water over the grounds and get the same results?

It should work since there is no magic involved in the pour over coffee maker. The only problem could be the pressure from the wet coffee on the 'arm' holding the coffee since it was never made to keep the coffee in midair.
It wouldn't be expensive to get only the coffee dripper ( I got a plastic one for 2 euro, fancier porcelain once come for 10 euro as far as I know). With them, you apply the same principle you mentioned. Boil water, pour a little on the coffee to let it soak, wait 1 minute, slowly pour the rest of the water on the ground ( be careful not to push the coffee away with the water)
Trough the result might differ due to the plastic, which could give a little different taste.


Would 2 small V60 brews (1 cup each) be less bitter than 1x large (2 cup) brew? I regularly brew my V60 for myself and my girlfriend on the weekends. However today I was wondering if I were to brew 2 separate batches instead one 1 big batch, would I get a less bitter cup? I'm assuming yes, because of the contact time between the water and coffee.

I use the 60g coffee to 1000ml of water ratio. So when I make 2 cups, usually go with 40g of coffee to 666ml of water.

I was wondering would I get a less bitter cup by doing 2 separate brews?

You'll definitely get a less bitter and possibly sour (underextracted) brew when dividing up one 40g dose between two V60s if you don't adjust the grind.

As you point out, the lower contact time of the 20g of grinds will lead to less extraction, and thus less bitterness, and possibly under extraction. This is just a characteristic of pour-over brews (as opposed to immersion brews) - grind size (and uniformity) is directly related to contact time and thus extraction, so the two variables can't be independently manipulated.


Is it possible to further roast instant coffee granules? Can I take standard roasted instant coffee granules and further roast them in the oven?

Is this doable, or even advisable?

No, I don’t think that’s feasible.

When you roast coffee beans, the beans undergo chemical changes that create the desirable flavor components. When you afterwards grind the beans and brew your coffee, the flavor components are extracted into the water. If (whole!) beans you bought are not roasted enough for your liking, you can try to re-roast, although the results may not be exactly what you were aiming for. Theoretically possible nevertheless.

Now, for instant coffee you need to remember that instant coffee is not finely-ground coffee beans, but prepared (=brewed and filtered) coffee that has been freeze-dried, clumps up into small granules and can be reconstituted by adding water. The beans that are changed in the regular roasting process simply aren’t there in instant coffee, which is why you won’t be able to develop the desired flavors by roasting instant coffee. You may be able to create some burnt flavors, but I don’t think that’s what you want. You should also note that the instant coffee granules are not very stable and likely to break up and, depending on your home-roasting method and tools, may clog up and damage your equipment.


Does longer brewing time with hot water negatively effect flavor? I've been reading the answers to related questions, but I'm still confused about the variable of the length of brewing time. I've heard that when using a Moka pot, one should turn off the flame immediately upon hearing the very first gurgle sound because if it brews a little bit longer (before the pot starts spurting coffee) the resulting liquid coffee can taste more bitter. I've also read that one of the benefits of the Aeropress is that the "brewing" time is so minimal that the coffee tastes better and is "cleaner". If less brewing time=less bitter,then does coffee made with a french press inherently taste more bitter than other methods? (Maybe people that use the french press prefer more bitterness?) I also read a post elsewhere from a person who says she bought a single-cup coffee filter holder with three holes at the bottom rather than the typical one hole, and that the coffee tasted better because the water drained more quickly. Does the faster the coffee passes through a filter make it less bitter? If so, I wonder why the three hole filter holder isn't more sold more frequently. The art of coffee brewing can be so mysterious ;/

As discussed further in this question about bitterness, degree of extraction is one significant factor in bitterness in your cup. There are a couple of other links to coffee bitterness in that question also.

Keeping other major factors constant (e.g., same temperature of water, same beans), time and grind level are the easiest to modify to reduce bitterness. That is: shorter time and coarser grind will (generally) result in less bitter coffee. While you certainly can't expect to get a reasonable brew from barely chopped beans in 15 seconds, small changes in time and grind level can have a noticeable impact on outcomes, especially for immersion-style brewing methods like French press, Aeropress, pour-over, and to a lesser extent stovetop methods like percolator or moka.

Specifics vary by brewing method. For instance, some bitter-tasting compounds are filtered out by paper filters, so paper-filter pour-over will generally be less bitter than French press, for example. Also, your average paper filter will allow brewed coffee to filter more quickly with a coarser grind (finer grinds will more quickly clog the filter) so you might have to vary your pouring method to keep the total brewing time constant.

You might enjoy trying to vary one parameter at a time: trying coarser- or finer-grind coffee, then with a shorter or longer period of time, in both cases trying to vary only one parameter at a time.


Nutrition information of roasting coffee in butter oil I understand that some Asian coffees, like those from Vietnam and Cambodia, are roasted in butter oil. Does anybody know how much of the saturated fat and cholesterol in the butter is absorbed by the coffee and finds its way into the cup?

To answer your question, it all depends on what oil is used during the process, which can be found by just flipping the label over. Sugar is also used; it is very similar to searing something on a pan so there is no exact way to measure what % of the ingredients you used will be "absorbed" into the beans. The oil here is used to glaze the beans, which would then mix consistently when ground and brewed. I would refer to this answer similarly asked under Cooking-Exchange

  ....The... beans are generally roasted in what is referred to as "butter oil", which may or may not be actual clarified butter oil. Occasionally vegetable oils are used, and historically, traditional "home-grown" coffee roasting style involves creating almost a caramel-like coating effect with the use of a small amount of sugar, oil, and generally a touch of vanilla or cocoa. This coating blackens in the roast and the beans wind up with almost a thin, hard shell. Why is this done? Robusta beans are uniquely slow to ripen on the bush, and often pickers pick unripe beans along with ripe beans. The traditional coating gives all the beans a similar color. The presence of a few unripe beans does not hurt the overall taste effect of the blend. However, modern growers pick only ripe beans despite the extra labor, and do not feature this coating in their roasting, opting simple for a little oil to keep the beans easy to turn in the slow roasting process.

Here you will find more information on how the technique for the beans are roasted.

I hope helps answer your question


What makes a coffee turn out sour? I've heard a few good things about Intelligentsia coffee so I decided to order some. Once it arrived I tried it in my AeroPress and it turned out very, very sour. (several times)

Steps taken using AeroPress:

rinsed filter
used water that was 1 minute off boiling
brewed for 1:30 total
plunged just until I heard air through the filter

Coffee was so sour I couldn't finish it. Considering that I tried several times and that I've been using the AeroPress with great success for the past few months this has me very curious.

My Question

What makes a coffee turn out sour?

When the water has too short of a time to extract the flavor from the bean.

Try grinding the beans a bit smaller.


Is there a group identity for coffee drinkers who care, but compromise? On the surface, it seems that you can divide coffee drinkers into---very broadly---two groups.

Artisan coffee drinkers. You make pour-over coffee with a gooseneck kettle, you hot-rod your espresso machine, you roast your own beans, whatever.
Mass-market coffee drinkers. Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, flavored lattes, etc.

(At least, this seems true in the US, which is the environment I know best.)

My question is this: is there a group identity for people who fall between those two poles? I'm thinking of this person, who wants to use an Aeropress to make Maxwell House coffee, or someone approximating espresso in a moka pot, or someone making a Vietnamese coffee with Café du Monde, or someone who invests in good beans but brews in a decent-but-not-stellar drip machine. In all those cases you have someone who takes trouble with his or her coffee, but makes deliberate compromises based on cost/effort/time/whatever.

Based on the wording of your question; I believe there is no current classification for this denomination in the coffee market.

When you compare this with the electronics market; there are devices developed for the "prosumer" market which are targeted at professional consumers (average Joe that can make it rain), but are not used to their full capacity. For example, I can buy the latest Macbook Pro laptop and only use it for iTunes, or buy a high powered Microsoft Surface Studio PC and only use Microsoft Paint because Photoshop is too expensive.

To start generating momentum to classify this marketing group, you could say that this group of people (without trying to be offensive) would be classified as lazy prosumers?


What volume of beans yields a tablespoon of ground coffee? I have recently switched from using pre-ground coffee to grinding my own beans.

With the pre-ground, I used 1.5 tbsp per cup, however when i used the equivalent in beans (before grinding) the coffee was noticeably weaker. This makes sense to some degree, since the packing density of beans is lower than ground.

Is there an established ratio of beans-to-ground which I can use to accurately determine what volume of beans I need to grind to produce the same strength I had before?

Apart from the packing density, is there any other reason why the beans would be weaker than ground on a equal mass basis?

Here's an opportunity to start refining your brewing process.

Coffee brewers, including myself, tend to use weight as our measuring unit as opposed to volume since bean sizes vary significantly already without accounting for origin or roast level. All of these factors will change the real amount of coffee you believe you have once ground and also change the extraction parameters needed to make a cup of coffee of the 'same strength'.

From what it sounds, I doubt that the beans you use are of the same variety as the pre-ground coffee you used to use. Not all coffee will taste the same nor brew the same, and the best way to track and refine your brewing to your taste is to measure accurately your bean (origin/blend, roast level, weight used, grind size), water (to coffee ratio, temperature, purity), and extraction time. Depending on what brewing method you use there may be more parameters you will have to account for but ultimately the aforementioned factors will always play a role in any form of coffee brewing.

Start by weighing an amount of pre-ground coffee that you used previously to find out how much coffee you used exactly and start by grinding that much of your new beans to brew.

Good luck!


How can I distinguish prepared cups of regular and decaf? I finished preparing two cups of coffee, one regular and one decaf, but I got distracted and now I don't know which is which.

How can I tell them apart?

Notes:

I'm talking about distinguishing prepared beverages, not jars of coffee bean grounds.
Chemical tests with grocery store ingredients welcome.
In this case I was using instant coffee, but I'd prefer a test that applied to any preparation method, after the coffee is already in the cup.

A similar question was asked on the cooking stack exchange quite a few years back. The answers and comments there mostly address your first and third points.

It seems that there's consensus that bubble formation differs between instant and brewed. However, I assume from your comment that both your decaf and regular were instant. There may still be differences in the bubbles. From Wayfaring Stranger on the Cooking SE:

  Coffee foam/bubbles is made up of a mixture of proteins, sugars, oil droplets, caffeine etc, and the lifetime of a bubble is highly dependent on the composition of its membrane. Given that decaf is coffee that's been solvent extracted, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see its different composition affecting bubble lifetime. However, no one seems to have conducted definitive studies of the matter.

There's a variety of caffeine testing strips that might be worth investing in if you're routinely serving coffee to someone who's sensitive to caffeine, but I wouldn't know how feasible it'd be to craft your own alternative with some at-home chemistry.


How do I know when to stop pulling my shot? I have a manual espresso machine. I have to turn the pump on and off with a switch and judge when to stop by myself.

How do I judge when the best point is to stop pulling the shot? Do I do it by volume, colour, or something else?

I generally judge when to stop my shot based off when blonding begins to occur. This is when the espresso changes to a noticeably lighter, yellowish color. At this stage, only bitter flavors are being extracted from the coffee, and any more extraction will only degrade the flavor of your shot.

It takes a bit of practice to notice blonding, and can be made more obvious by using a bottomless portafilter. I also suggest using a stopwatch to determine how long it takes before blonding occurs, so you can see how consistent the rest of your process is.


What are the guidelines for 'specialty' coffees? As I work in growing coffee, many people talk about the markets for different coffees.  While I focus on the sustainability of my coffee, many people have told me that you really want your coffee to be 'special'.

I have been trying to figure out what this special means.  Some roast their coffee with peanuts or cacao bean for flavor, some claim that because they grow coffee on a very high mountain or an especially cold climate that their coffee is now 'special'.

Are there any objective criteria for specialty coffees?  Which specialties add the most value in terms of price?

There are not any firm guidelines established for what constitutes a specialty coffee.  Theoretically no one would consider anything made by Folgers to be a specialty coffee, and anything produced by a small local roaster should probably be considered specialty, but there is a lot of gray area in between.  For instance, some people may consider the bagged beans Starbucks sells to be specialty coffee, others (myself included) would not. Specialty is largely a marketing term like "Cloud" is for computing.  "Cloud" is used ambiguously for private, public, small, large, closed and open platforms.

Generally I would define specialty coffee as something not produced and sold on a national scale.  Most specialty coffees are not "branded" by a company because they are bought in lots and sold sort of "as is".  That is, the roaster bought X amount and when they sell through it, it is gone.  This is opposed to a larger company that will always have "Sumatra Special" available for sale.

When you start talking about roasting with other things, or adding flavors, you have moved to "flavored" coffee, which I personally would never consider specialty coffee.  Oils and additional flavorings may be well liked by many people, but they can also be used to mask the shortcomings of less expensive beans and are generally used to produce a consistent tasting product.

Lastly when you start talking about growing conditions, it can vary, and doesn't necessarily mean anything.  You can have beans that come from the same lot differ widely even in processing.  There is no "perfect area" to grow coffee and good coffee can be grown in a fairly well defined, but still variable conditions.  Advertising that coffee was grown in a specific place doesn't mean it was properly grown, harvested, processed or roasted well.


Roasting suggestion for Behmor 1600+ for Rwandan beans My Behmor manual suggests profiles 1 and 2 for hard beans, 3 and 4 for soft low grown beans, and 5 for Island beans, city/city+. I've been roasting Rwandan beans on 3 and it's the best, but a little flat, and bread like. Profile 4 seems to over roast (tobacco like) and profile 5 is very over roasted (flat, bitter, grainy and unpleasant). Profiles 1-2 seem to scorch the heck out of anything and the roast time is super fast and the result charred tasting coffee. I am following the guide and am roasting for a minute and thirty seconds after the first crack. I have not attempted to manually control the temperature. For a Rift Valley bean which default profile seems to work the best, and should I generally try to go longer or shorter after the first crack?

Edit: I should mention I am cooling the beans rapidly by opening the door when I end the roast and force air into the roaster with an electric leaf blower.

Edit #2: I am waiting 24hrs before cupping. More or less trying to follow scaa guidelines.

Edit #3
Attached is a plot of how I have been roasting. I know it says "BT" in the legend, but this is actually environment. The thermocouple was very close to middle/bottom of the drum, but not quite touching. I have not attempted to increase the drum speed at or during FC yet. This is my baseline. I will attempt to increase the drum speed next time.

Your times are right where they should be.
Can you control the airflow and/or temps while you are roasting in a Behmor? If so, try to increase the airflow near or after the first crack.


Ideal Way to control shot extraction with Gaggia Classic Wanted to know if anyone has a really good, possibly verified method of controlling shot preparation and extraction with an unmodified Gaggia Classic espresso machine.  I don't have, nor do I want to add a PID.

So, what is your method?

The best way to control of shot extraction without adding excessively complicated electronics (if by PID you mean proportional-integral-derivative controller) is:

How fine is the bean grounding (the finer the grounding, the higher the density -> the slower the extraction).
Applied pressure on the grounded beans in the machine group head (the higher the pressure applied (similarly) -> the slower the extraction).
pressure and temperature are also important parameters to be concerned before moving to PID control (for example your extraction time/lenght could be longer but if the temperature of the water is low, there won't be excessive essential oil extraction).


Custom hot drinks maker availability I am interested in finding out if the following product exists, a custom hot drinks maker e.g. User adds own ingredients, such as blended coffee beans, instant coffee granules, milk, teabags, sugar, and so on, then selects quantities of each ingredient to create custom hot drink (saved onto onboard memory).

This custom drink could then be accessed any time by the user E.g on selection menu Users > Connor > Morning Coffee.

It seems like a simple enough device that a product like this would be available to purchase, however I cant find any online.

I am looking for something like this as I like the idea of a hot drinks maker, however I want to continue drinking my favourite drinks, and not be limited to pre made sachets.

If anyone could fill me in on any information regarding the existence of such a product I would be extremely grateful, thank you.

As far as I know, there are commercial automats (machines) that can prepare custom defined hot beverages from granules or beans. (I have never seen one that can properly brew tea, though.) They can add milk powder or milk. Furthermore, those automats can even put a stick to stir the sugar at the end. There exist also small sizes that can fit onto a kitchen desk.

However, I'm not sure if this is the gadget that you desire.


Minimum amount of water in coffee I have a sunbeam coffee maker. The lowest line for heating water is at 4 cups. However, I rarely drink 4 cups at home. Can I heat, say 2 cups for instance?

Yes, you should be able to make only the amount you need - the markings on the glass carafe are only for water measurement - there's no "minimum" water amount! Carefully measure out 2 cups of water (I use a pyrex measuring cup) and add the appropriate amount of grounds (however strong/weak you like your coffee) and you should have 2 fresh cups of coffee within minutes. In the hotter months, I usually make more than I need and put the remainder into a container in the fridge for iced coffee later :)


What paper cups does can be used for both cold drinks and coffee? I see a coffee shop named Blue Bottle use their paper cups for hot and cold drinks. I wonder what paper-cup tech this is?

In my shop experience, using hot cups for cold drinks make them soggy. I'd like to get onboard with their manufacturer, because I don't want to have to keep two kinds of cups!

I wonder if anyone knows. Thanks!

I don't know that company, but I assume insulated paper cup is what you are looking for.

You may have a quick Internet search for brands and whole sellers.


Qm76 Evo Quick machine building up pressure We have a Qm76 Evo Quick machine. When making a double shot , using a 30psi tamper, coffee did not flow from either spout, and when removing the portafilter it seemed to be under pressure, making a mess.

What am I doing wrong? And this is all new to me. Has been ok until today.

You have an upscale espresso machine with a standard, non-pressurized portafilter. So as you know there normally isn't any pressure in the portafilter when you go to remove it after a shot.

Backflushing can only be done on machines like yours that have a 3-way valve. And it's basically just putting a blind (sealed) basket or rubber disc into the portafilter and pulling three short shot cycles. That is put the portafilter, with a blind basket into the group then let the pump run for about 8 seconds, then stop the pump for a few seconds. Then repeat two more times before removing the portafilter.

This flushes out the brew path. Backflushing with water is safe but you shouldn't do a frequent chemical backflush on an E61 type machine. Most of the time this can be resolved by doing a backflush (sometimes you may need to do two or three backflushes) which will clean the brew path. When was the last time you did a backflush on the machine? You should be backflushing with plain water weekly. And with a food safe detergent every 200 shots.

When the portafilter does remain under pressure it means that the "3 way over-pressure valve" that normally relieves the group pressure is sticking. Or more precisely something in the expansion chamber is sticking or the internal E61 cam isn't moving completely smoothly.

The easiest way to check for scale (mineral) buildup on an E61 machine like yours is to remove the gicleur chamber nut and mushroom at the top of the E61 assembly and visually inspect the removed parts and the group head internals which will now be visible.


How to prevent calcium loss when drinking a lot of coffee? I'm recently drinking a lot of coffee at work. I'm worried about the health issues - lost of calcium from the bones.

How can I prevent calcium loss? Drinking coffee with milk is out of option for me - I'm lactose intolerant.

Apparently, drinking caffeinated beverages shouldn't affect you calcium level if you get your recommended daily intake of calcium. According to this review of the literature on the subject:

  There is no evidence that caffeine has any harmful effect on bone
  status or on the calcium economy in individuals who ingest the
  currently recommended daily allowances of calcium.

That said, there does seem to be a connection between high caffeiene intake and low calcium intake, meaning that there is significant overlap between individuals who drink caffeinated beverages and don't get enough calcium from their diets, but implying a causal relationship is dubious. Luckily,

  ...the negative effect of caffeine on calcium absorption is small enough
  to be fully offset by as little as 1-2 tablespoons of milk.

Most milk alternatives (like soy or almond milks) are fortified with calcium and other nutrients and drinking them in place of milk should do the trick, just be mindful of the high sugar content of many of the milk alternatives available.

Also, I wouldn't worry about your daily coffee dose, 1.4 billion cups of coffee [2] are poured every day and if there were serious health risks associated with daily caffeine ingestion, we'd know about them!


Does caffeine raise cholesterol (good or bad)? I've heard that coffee can raise your cholesterol. If that's true, is it a bad thing? Is regular or acute exposure to coffee dangerous in this way?

Coffee beans contain a chemical called cafestol, which tends to increase blood cholesterol levels, especially LDL ("bad") cholesterol.

Brewing with a paper filter seems to reduce the levels of these cholesterol-raising chemicals in brewed coffee by filtering out these chemicals (e.g., cafestol, kahweol). Levels of cafestol in coffee are higher in non-paper-filtered brewing methods, such as French press and others.

Here's one article that discusses this, and another pointed out by @apaul34208 in comments.

EDIT: Links to actual studies. Here are two studies that discuss this further: one from van Dusseldorp, et al., 1991 that talks about "a factor" (i.e., an as-yet-unidentified compound) that has a cholesterol-raising impact. A later paper (Urgent, Katan 1997) identifies these factors as "diterpene lipids cafestol and kahweol". Specifically, the abstract from the latter article states that "[paper] filtered coffee does not affect cholesterol."


Conversion of Krups Nespresso Machine to Ground Coffee? I have inherited a Krups Nespresso machine model F893. The machine has a detachable filter basket, where you sit the Nespresso capsule. Manual here (for reference): manual

I am wondering if I can swap out the filter basket holder for one that takes a basket of ground coffee, like this. The fittings look superficially similar.

Or just shove a basket for ground coffee in the current filter basket holder?

Has anyone tried this? Many thanks!

You could get a reusable nespresso capsule Like this.
Its a little bit more effort when you want to make your espresso but it would be the simplest and probably cheapest option for you.  But this comes with some disadvantages too, like the capsule can only hold 5 grams of coffee, maybe 6.


What can cause water to come out of the portafilter sprouts? I recently bought a Gaggia Classic and have noticed that what happens sometimes is I'm getting very weak coffee.
Specifically, if I'm doing a double-shot, the first 20-30ml that comes out appears to be normal, black coffee, but the liquid coming out the sprouts then quickly turns clear, as if the coffee somehow "ran out" and I'm getting hot water instead.
What can cause this? Is it to do with the grind, the tamper or something related to the machine (temperature, pressure)?

To me, this sounds like channeling. When you brew espresso the machine pushes water through a puck of compressed coffee grounds. Ideally, the grounds are distributed equally throughout the puck so that the water passes through the puck evenly. In reality, there will always be small inconsistencies. These inconsistencies allow water to move through slightly faster, possibly moving some of the inconsistent grounds along the way. When too many grounds are moved so that there is an opening from the top to the bottom of the puck, you've got a channel.
The channel provides a path of low resistance through the puck, so a lot of the water will pass through there rather than through the compressed parts of the puck. This extra water flow through the channel will widen it even more.
Water passing through the channel comes into contact with only a small portion of the grounds in the puck. As such, the grounds around the channel are overextracted while the water coming out is lightly colored and overly bitter. It's lightly colored because it has less contact with the grounds. Nevertheless, it will be bitter because the grounds in the channel are already fully extracted.
To confirm that your puck has actually suffered from channeling, simply look at the top of the puck after brewing. If the channel is big enough, you will see some holes in the puck (while it's still in the portafilter).
If you have a naked portafilter (one where you can see the bottom of the filter basket) you will be able to see channeling during the brew process. An even extraction will be a gentle singular stream whereas channeling will look like thin high pressure streams. Because a video says more than a wall of text, I'd recommend watching this video by Whole Latte Love on YouTube. Even if you don't have a naked portafilter, it will be interesting to see how espresso exits the portafilter. Note that the shots in the video are all pretty good with some minor channeling. If the tamp is really bad (not shown in the video), I would expect there to be many more of those tiny jets which turn lighter in color fairly quickly.


Coffee Bean Vs Espresso Bean What is the difference between beans intended for coffee use vs beans intended for espresso?  My understanding is the beans come from the same plants as mentioned previously but they are prepared differently?

What happens to coffee beans before they are packaged for consumers?  How are some prepared in a way that make them better suited for espresso brewing vs coffee brewing?

First of all, there is no difference in the beans themselves. They all come from either Robusta or Arabica plants. The roast doesn't vary either. You can use any kind of roast for your espresso, it's up to preference.

What does change is the grind. Espresso grind is very fine - much finer than other preparations of coffee.

You may find packaged coffee sold as 'espresso beans' or 'espresso roast' being darker/bolder roasts, to emulate a darker, stronger coffee regardless of preparation, however it has little to do with real espresso (and you may even find 'espresso' ground coffees being sold with a large/inconsistent grind!).


Coffee tasting notes: myth or reality? This is what it says on my current beans:

  lots of raisin and candied fruit peel is backed up by a creamy sweetness that makes me think of a Creme Brulee - right down to the little hints of caramel.

I get a couple of these a week, and this one is pretty restrained - it's normally 100 words of fanciful hyperbole which could have been produced by a random word generator. This one is a Central American Bourbon, with no useful information at all - altitude, soil, cleaning, processing, anything. And, more often than not, you have to google the farm to find out what varietal it is.

So what's going on? Do vendors just make this stuff up? Does anyone actually taste any of this stuff and, if they do, is it just Synaesthesia? What about the obvious problem, which is that Humans can taste pretty much nothing, and we only have a small number (48??) of different smell receptors?

Just to be clear, I can smell (and taste, just) lots of different 'notes' in an espresso. The same roaster, for example, can consistently do fantastic El Salvador SL28, and an undrinkable Kenyan SL28. But nowhere in there can I detect anything remotely 'fruity', or 'chocolaty', or 'caramelly', or anything apart from different 'coffee'.

There is a defined set of tasting note terms, the World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon which is the basis for the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel.

Those terms are intended to name specific tastes and you can take a class to learn how to recognize them.

Since I've not yet taken such a class, I can't testify to the reliability or utility of "flavor notes" on packages, but surely some writers are way off in fantasy land.

Furthermore, some staffers at big coffee chains are not even clear on the distinction between flavor notes and added flavoring!


Is it possible to make instant coffee of varying roasts? I've never seen instant coffees being sold consisting of varying roasts (i.e. light/mild, medium, dark etc.) does such a thing exist? Or is there a reason why they haven't been tried?

There is no reason why instant coffee couldn't be roasted differently. It's made from real coffee beans after they have been roasted and ground. Instant coffee is just dehydrated coffee basically.

I think the reason you have never seen different roasts types is because instant coffee is made more for convenience. It's supposed to be quick, easy coffee. It's made for the "Amateur coffee drinker"(If there is such a thing). For that reason those purchasing the coffee probably don't care much about how it will taste and therefor care very little about the roast type.


Whats the main difference between the coffees named "Kopi O Kosong", "Kopi" and "Kopi Peng"? How we will differentiate between the coffee that either is it Kopi O Kosong, Kopi or Kopi Peng as all are a form of black coffee?

Hi kopi o kosong is just black coffee without sugar, kopi is coffee with condensed milk and kopi peng is just kopi with ice


What is the difference between the coffee brew from a moka pot and percolator? I don't drink coffee.

BEAR WITH ME

Still, I enjoy making coffee for other people.
Could you please describe the differences between the brews from a moka pot and a percolator?

I know this is sort of like describing a painting to a blind man but I can only choose to get one of the two and I would like to know what the taste and feel of each brew is before I make my decision.

And, no, I don't drink coffee, because I can't stand coffee, so tasting isn't an option. :)

In a stove top coffee maker the water is boiled in the lower chamber, the steam pushes the water at low pressure upwards through the grounds before reaching the upper chamber, let's call it decanter. So the water is in contact with the grounds only once. Due to the high temperature there is arguably over extraction happening. In terms of flavor you can tell by the slightly bitter taste. Another factor contributing to this is that the fines are flushed out with the water, ending up in the decanter and your cup where they keep extracting bitter compounds. This can be minimized using some tweaks, but it's not preventable.

A percolator in comparison keeps circulating the water and brewed coffee through the grounds, reaching an even higher extraction ratio. The water and continuously the brewed coffee is heated, pushed upwards and "dropped" on the grounds before it sinks down towards the heat source again.

The difference in taste stems from the rules of extraction. The first substances to be extracted are caffein and acids. Caffein is bitter, but adds only partly to the bitterness in coffee compared to other compounds extracted later. The acids give coffee fruitiness, which is usually a desired quality and forms the base of the taste profile. The bitter compounds and sugars are extracted last. You want mainly the sugars in your cup to add sweetness, the bitter compounds you want to avoid. They make the coffee taste hollow, ashy, a bit like charcoal or burned rubber and leaves you with a kind of empty feeling after swallowing it. By that I mean it has no pleasant lingering after taste.

So basically that is what's happening with percolators. They over extract, meaning too many of the bitter compounds get in your coffee, which makes it unbalanced and just overall not really tasty. I would say it's probably one of the worst methods out there to make coffee nowadays in terms of extraction. There is of course a subjective component to it. Some people might enjoy exactly this taste. Maybe they want that burned taste, then add lots of sugar, milk and/or flavors and that's just what they like. That's of course ok, but the facts remain, that you lose complexity, fruitiness and sweetness.


pouring lungo into two cups I have a quick question.
I know that lungo is less concentrated than a regular shot of espresso, so if I pour a lungo into two cups at the same time, as I guess most machines would let me do, will I get the equivalent of pouring two seperate espresso shots or will I just get a weaker tasting espresso in each cup?
Should I instead use a double lungo for this?

A lungo is an espresso that is pulled for longer and thus more water flows through the grounds. Plainly speaking it's just a bad way to dilute espresso, because you are extracting more of the bitter compounds that you don't actually want to have in the coffee.

If you want to fill two cups at the same time, you'll have to use a double basket (with two spouts), which means that you will also pull a double shot automatically. Using the double basket means that you also need double the amount of coffee as compared to a single basket (with one spout).

So pulling with a double basket will give you two separate lungo shots, one in each cup. If you put a large cup under both spouts you will get a double lungo.

The better way to dilute espresso is to fill the cup with water (to your taste and strength preference) and pull a regular shot in the cup with water already in it in order to make an americano.


Accidentially put aluminum moka pot on stove without water ... is it still usable? I was a bit tired this morning and accidentally put my moka pot (Bialetti Brikka, aluminum) on the stove with the water still in the top (for measuring the amount), instead of pouring it into the boiler.

Realized my mistake early enough, no burnt coffee or rubber, no smell. The moka didn't warp or anything. I let it cool down, re-filled it, works as expected.

Anyway, I'm a bit paranoid (especially regarding the health concerns with aluminum), so I wonder if there's any concern ?

You should be totally fine - and you aren’t the first person who did something like this.

Aluminum melts at a whopping 660C (933K) and while pure aluminum is chemically very reactive, the pot with its oxide layer is quite stable, so whatever you did will have left your Moka way below any temperature range where anything unwelcome may happen. Especially as you report that the rubber gasket is unharmed, and that would be the first part to suffer any heat damage.


Ignoring Krups instructions re descaling I was given a very special Krups coffee machine that grinds and makes the coffee, for a big birthday. Can I use citric acid rather than extremely expensive Krups descaling powder?

Technically you can use whatever you want to descale a machine.

Keep in mind the manufacturer recommends using certain things for a reason. It could be the material inside the machine are sensitive to certain thing, or how much of the descaling solution is left behind.

You should always follow the manufacturer's instructions. Breville for instance recommends using white vinegar (acetic acid) and water at a 50/50 mix for descaling.

If you do not want follow the manufacturers instruction, I would use white vinegar at a 50/50 mix. This method has been used for ages to descale coffee machines.


How should I store ground coffee? I came across this question, which seeks the optimal method for storing whole beans. In that same vein, I'd like to know the best way to store ground coffee to preserve freshness. Should ambient temperature and humidity be considered?

In general, it's best to not store ground coffee. If quality really matters, then the real answer is to back up. Try to grind only enough coffee for what you're using immediately to brew with. If you're buying preground coffee, then storage and optimal quality become somewhat trivial.

Once the surface area of the coffee is increased (by grinding it), the majority of the coffee is exposed to air, accelerates the decomposition of the coffee, meaning it likely isn't going to stay fresh for long anyway. Think of it like opening a dry, red wine. Since it's been opened, it's going to turn faster than it being left in the bottle because it's been exposed to atmosphere.

So in short, if flavor and freshness really matter, try not to store ground coffee if at all possible.

EDIT

If you really must store ground coffee, keep it sealed airtight. The exposure to atmosphere is going to be the strongest catalyst in making your coffee less than fresh.


Coffee and blood pressure Several times one hears that drinking too much coffee produces an increase in blood pressure, that may be dangerous with people with cardiovascular diseases.

Is it caffeine the only chemical to blame for this?

I wonder this because Tea and Mate (and also Chocolate) contain caffeine as well, and I've never heard of such a danger regarding to Tea and Chocolate.

Caffeine is not that only drug that can raise blood pressure.  In fact many other drugs are much better at raising blood pressure and have fewer side effects.  If you are asking specifically about the chemicals in coffee, then yes, caffeine is the likely culprit if coffee causes raised blood pressure in an individual.

Tea and chocolate also contain caffeine, but of course lower concentration than what is found in coffee.  Eating large amounts of chocolate or drink large quantities of tea could have a similar effect to drinking moderate amounts of coffee.


What is the easiest way to make coffee from beans at home without a device/machine? What would be the easiest way to make coffee at home (from coffee beans, no powders or ready-made products from the shop), without having to buy an espresso machine.
I do not know all the methods, but maybe these are options:

Moka Coffeemake (non-electrical)
French press
Cezve (turkish coffee)
Aeropress

When speaking about easiest, it means there shouldn't be much effort in the process of making the coffee (and probably cleaning afterwards).

For a single cup of coffee, an Aeropress is hands-down the easiest manual coffee brewer around, including cleanup afterwards. I use mine every day.

If you're wanting to make more than one cup at a time, an appropriate sized moka stove-top would be the way to go.


Will Cafetto cleaning tablets work with Sage Dual Boiler machine? Will this Cafetto cleaning tablets work with my Sage Dual Boiler espresso machine (the "by Heston" range)?

Yes, I use aftermarket cleaning tablets on my Infuser and Profitec. I haven't used the Cafetto branded ones but they're all essentially the same for backflushing.

Just follow the normal backflush regiment and use these tablets instead of the breville ones and you'll be fine. Personally I use Urnex Cafiza tablets, but again, they're essentially the same thing.


Can I store wet coffee beans in the fridge? My coffee beans accidentally got wet. Can I store them in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days? Or not?

From a food safety perspective, three to four days should be fine. For longer periods, simply freeze them. But...

Wet beans will likely clog up your grinder and it’s probably not a good choice, flavor-wise. The wet beans will likely change flavor during the time in the fridge, and most likely not in a good way.

Drying them again would be better. Either place them in a single layer in a well-ventilated area or in a warm oven with the door slightly ajar. You will lose some flavor each way, but that probably can’t be prevented.


Coffee similar in taste to Dallmayr Prodomo Someone brought back a pack of Dallmayr Prodomo beans from Poland about a year ago, and this is yet the best coffee I have tasted. I use aeropress for brewing. The Dallmayr was inexpensive in Poland, but costs a bit to import. So, can anyone suggest beans that taste similar to Dallmayr Prodomo?

As Dallmayr is a german company you can try odering from their online shop, which promises to deliver to european countries.
Shop is found here: http://www.dallmayr-versand.de/epages/Dallmayr.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Dallmayr/Categories/KaffeeUndTee/Kaffee/Prodomo

Or you can try your luck with amazon and if it isn't available in your country's amazon, you can order it from the german amazon page: for a 12-pack https://www.amazon.de/Dallmayr-prodomo-gemahlen-500g-12er/dp/B000UGGVJI


Do reusable hemp filters filter out cafestol? Do reusable hemp filters filter out cafestol oils which raise bad cholesterol levels? I know paper filters do and that is what we use now. We are concerned with cholesterol.

Dried and cured hemp will absorb liquids, so they do filter some oil. The material isn't as porous as paper though, so it won't absorb as much as paper. Consider it in between metal and paper in this regard. Also, the absorption properties of hemp will degrade with saturation. This is true for paper filters too, but since hemp are reusable, remember to wash them with soap that removes oil (like Dawn) regularly. More often when brewing dark roasts and extra often with extra oily dark roasts.


Is coffee good to consume before sport? I recently learned that coffee is a vaso-restrictor, which maks it a natural cure to headache, but how does that affect the body if you do some sport after drinking a few cups of coffee?

I mean when you're doing sport your veins widen to allow your heart to pump more blood towards your muscles, so won't drinking coffee make it harder, and lower your performance?

There are studies that have shown a marked increase in performance compared to a placebo in athletes who drank coffee before a workout. Both strength and endurance exercises saw improvement. As to the diruretc and constructive effects, it would seem that staying hydrated (which you should do anyway when exercising) is an effective way to combat the nominal downsides.
Below are the studies in question.

al., G.M.S.e., Effect of caffeine on sport-specific endurance performance: A systematic review. . Journal Strength and Conditioning Research, 2009. 23(1): p. 315-24.

Astorino, T.A., R.L. Rohmann, and K. Firth, Effect of caffeine ingestion on one-repetition maximum muscular strength. Eur J Appl Physiol, 2008. 102(2): p. 127-32.


How can I produce better espresso shots with my Gaggia Classic? I just bought an espresso machine, Gaggia Classic.I tried making an espresso from pre-ground coffee with the pressurised filter (Crema Perfetta) that comes with the machine and I found the coffee was extracted quite fast. For example, within 10 seconds I already get 30 ml of espresso from 7 grams of pre-ground coffee. Despite having beautiful crema, the coffee tasted sour. Did I do anything wrong? The dosing I used was generally recommended for a single shot of espresso, but I used the 2-cup pressurised filter instead of the other smaller one that's said to be for PODs. Question 1: Any recommendations for getting a better shot of espresso from these things that I already have?

I also would like to try the non-pressurised filter selling online as it's claimed to produce better quality espresso. I have learned that this kind of filter is commercially used with commercial machines that generate the brewing pressure at 9 bars. But my Gaggia classic is 15 bars, based on the specification document. Question 2: Will this higher pressure result in faster extraction when I use a non-pressurised filter? I have learned that there are other factors that help slow down the extraction time such as tamping and grinding size, but Question 3: Will these factors be significant enough to overcome the 15 bars? I don't want to modify anything in the machine like adjusting the brew pressure of which the method is shown on the internet.Thank you for your comments and answers. I'm totally new to making espresso myself, but I really love espresso.

The standard parameters of producing a decent espresso is previously discussed here: What are the standard espresso parameters (dose, mass/volume, time, etc.)?

As you can see from this answer, assuming that you have a semi-automatic home type espresso machine, if you want to stick with pre-ground coffee and cannot change the grind size, all you can change is the following three:

dose
time
tamping

Dosage is more or less stable in between 6 to 8 grams. Time is mostly the variable that decides either you produce a spectrum of drinks from ristretto to cafe creme. Thus, you should study on tamping. Illy suggests 20 kgf vertical force. But I assume your home-type machine may not handle such tight pellets. So, try to find the best by experience. (By the way, such devices are designed as 15 bars, but while they are in action they are automatically regulated to 9 bars.)

Some previous discussions on tamping is here:

What is essential for a proper tamp?
How do I know how hard to tamp my coffee?
How important is tamping coffee for an espresso machine
All discussions on tamping


Is it possible to get hot chocolate using an espresso machine? I was wondering if it's possible to brew hot chocolate using ground cocoa beans on the espresso machine as if it was coffee. Has anyone tried something like this? I've seen some people on the internet doing it with powder cocoa but it doesn't seem safe.

The steam wand will do a terrific job of mixing, heating, and fluffing (what's the technical term?) milk + cocoa powder into killer hot chocolate.

Personally I recommend unsweetened cocoa powder, but most people probably want a sugary drink.

But I don't think you'll want to use the main espresso part of the machine.


Is the moka pot predisposed to producing burnt or bitter coffee? Some time ago, I bought a moka pot in the hope of producing coffee that more closely resembled espresso. And using good coffee, and experimenting with technique, I have produced some very rich, nicely-balanced extractions. However, I have been able to reduce, but never fully remove, some underlying burnt notes in the coffee produced. This problem has led me to ask myself about the nature of the moka pot design itself.

Water in the chamber is heated and the vapour inside trapped. Once the vapour pressure in the chamber is great enough, it forces the heated water up the spout, through the coffee charge, and into the collection chamber. My experience has led me to ask: is the heat required to produce adequate vapour pressure is not inherently higher than the ideal, hence predisposing the moka pot to producing bitter or burnt coffee?

This also raises questions about best practice in moka pot coffee extraction. It would suggest that the best extraction would be when ambient air pressure is lower, the coffee charge is not tamped, the water is heated gradually, and the water is not fully consumed (i.e. the extraction is terminated before the water in the chamber is gone).

My own experimentation would tend to confirm the notion of not tamping the charge, but I have had limited success associating technique with outcomes.

Have any objective measurements been made with regard to the temperature and pressure inside a moka pot, with the charge tamped or untamped? And how do those measurements compare with the theoretical ideals for coffee extraction?

Thank you in advance.

This is nothing I've tried myself, but to add onto your theory of the heat required to brew the Moka-Pot, I believe we'll arrive at an answer. The problem is not likely the water temperature itself, it turns out it's realistically pretty difficult to get boiling water onto coffee when using some sort of brew method (as the metal absorbs enough heat to drop the water temp).

However the lengthy heat time on the mokapot will actually heat up the ground coffee itself during brew, and this can lead to poor tasting coffee. The best thing you can do, from my understanding is pre-heat the mokapot bottom and start with hot water before assembling and putting on the stove. Additionally, as soon as the coffee starts spurting, it's done and you can run under cool water to halt brewing as well.

I got most of this info from a mokapot video I saw a while back, thought it might help you as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpyBYuu-wJI.


Coffee still left in filter part I am using Philips HD 7450/20 6 Cups Coffee Maker . Recently After every cycle I find that some coffee(brewed) is still left in the filter part. I tried cleaning the equipment using vinegar.

Can someone suggest how to resolve this.

From what your question seems to be asking - I believe that grinding your coffee more coarse is all that needs to be done. Water will drain quicker through more coarsely ground coffee, and it seems like all the fine particles are eventually clogging the bottom of the cone.


How to verify grinder switch works I just read today in my Jura A7 manual:

  CAUTION
  If you adjust the consistency of grind when the grinder is not operating, the grinder adjustment switch could be damaged. Only adjust the consistency of grind when the grinder is running

Since I rotated grinder switch a few times while the machine was turned off, I'd like to verify it's working fine - or maybe it's already broken.

So my question is:
What are the symptoms of a broken grinder?

By checking if it grinds.

Let's think about the mechanism of a grinder. Why grinders may get damaged if you adjust them when the burrs are not rotating?

A perfect coffee grinder design is a very serious engineering problem.

You need to have two very rigid burrs. When you don't have this rigidity, burrs may be damaged under high pressure of stuck coffee beans. Also, you don't want them to change their ideal shape in time.
You want the burrs to rotate in opposite directions when they are so close to each other. The distance of the burrs must be equal at every rotational position to produce consistent ground. In practice, every grinder is a bit skewed from the ideal position. So, burrs are closer to each other at one angular position and more apart at another position.
You want a heat conducting material to keep the beans from burning after all the friction in between the burrs. Also, you don't want the heat deposit on the burrs.

The caution you've noticed is mostly relevant to the second bullet. If, by mistake, you squeeze the burrs so close to each other they may damage each other in the next run. So, they can grind each other. While the grinder is running, even if you want to, you cannot squeeze till they touch. Even if you do, you suddenly hear a loud noise to release the setting a bit. However, if the grinder stops at an (somewhat) apart position and you squeeze them to touch, you cannot notice that.

If it grinds consistently, probably it is OK. But do not gamble again.


Home roaster cleaning and/or seasoning I have a Gene Cafe that I have been using at home for some time.  On inital reading of the directions, it recommends washing the roasting chamber:

  Oils and residual debris remaining from the roasting process will
  build up and adversely affect the taste of future batches. Clean the
  chamber using a dish washing brush, sponge and dish washing liquid.
  Dry the chamber completely before storing it away.

However, I know that there is a lot of juju surrounding the seasoning of commercial roasters.  I've wiped the inside out on a couple of occasions with a cloth when I've accidently over roasted and ended up with  a lot of oil in there.  If I leave a lot of oil in the chamber, it seems to shorten the end roast times of future batches (they move through the later stages of roasting too quickly to be well controlled).

So basically, to clean, or not to clean?

The roasting chamber of your Gene Cafe is made of Pyrex (heat-resistant tempered glass), and leaving the old oils to accumulate and burn will cause the the inside of the drum to turn black. The darker material will likely change your roasting time, and the fouled glass will not allow you to monitor your roasts. Glass does not need "seasoning", so it should be cleaned regularly per the manufacturer's recommendations.

Seasoning is typically a way to create a stick-resistant coating on a porous metal surface (like cast iron or carbon steel). When a thin layer of fat or oil is heated on these surfaces, it forms a polymer which provides rust protection and creates a non-stick surface that will keep whatever you are cooking/roasting from reacting with the cooking surface (the juju you mentioned above).

If the roasting chamber were made of cast iron or carbon steel, seasoning would be recommended. But neither glass nor stainless steel need seasoning, and you're just changing the built-in characteristics of your roaster.

To keep your roaster in optimal roasting condition, keep your glass roasting chamber clean.


How does using coffee filter make the coffee different? Somewhere I read that coffee contains carcinogens unless it's filtered, and I think I've noticed that such filtered coffee seems to be weaker. I let it stay for about 5-10min, and it still tastes weaker than coffee made without a coffee filter (paper one of course).

So my question is, how is a filtered coffee different from unfiltered coffee, assuming we're using a paper filter? Mainly I'm looking for a scientific explanation.

There's two points to address.

"Weaker" coffee with paper filters as compared to brewing right in the cup. As far as I understand (although I can't find citation), paper filter does not capture caffeine or aromatic compounds very much. The feeling that filtered coffee is thinner may in your case come from less microgrounds floating in the cup (i.e., from mechanical, rather than chemical, sensation).
I'm not sure what you meant by carcinogenic properties, but you may want to read about cafestol and kahweol, two diterpines that are supposed to have anti-carcinogenic effect. They are also said to raise cholesterol levels (this study). They are removed by paper filters, and if you want to go into details of its levels in various preparations, see this article. It reports that cafestol is lower in darker roasts, and among the non-filtering methods is highest in swedish boiled coffee and lowest in moka pot ("stovetop espresso").


Does coffee really stunt your growth? I have heard that coffee (or other chemicals such as caffeine in it) can actually prevent you from growing. Is this really true?

No. That coffee (or caffeine or anything else in coffee) would stunt growth is a debunked myth.

Here's an article from the New York Times that cites a small university study that showed no relation in bone density/gain in adolescents. Another article from Smithsonian cites the same article and a few other studies from the NIH and others that show very little impact of caffeine / coffee on related growth factors, the other factors which are largely explained by other factors (e.g., sugar or other stuff from other types of beverages).

That said, caffeine and other chemicals in coffee have certain other effects, and certain people are sensitive. Here's a related article about some other coffee myths.


Issues with grinding my own beans I currently use a Delinghi Espresso machine and have always bought ready ground coffee because the cost of a decent grinder is quite high.
However for Christmas this year, quite a few people bought me coffee beans so I decided to buy myself (what I thought to be) a good budget grinder - Melitta Molino (Melitta seem to have a good name when it comes to coffee particularly when talking about filter coffee)
My question is... I have been using the Lavazza Espresso beans and generally grind about 10 cups worth at a time.
I notice that on the day of grinding the water basically runs straight through, there is next to no, dark syrup colour, it tends to start mid brown and within seconds looks clear.
the next day, however, I get a great coffee, nice dark syrup to begin which gets gradually lighter
I have used other beans which are generally darker, the lavazza Espresso beans are quite light in colour, I have not noticed this issue with other beans but I'm not sure if that is simply because they are more intense.
Should coffee brew better a day after grinding? does it let the ground beans dry out or something?
Or is it something that might be specific to these particular beans?
Or might there be something else that is causing the issue?

Reviews of the Melitta Molino indicate that the unit is not actually capable of achieving the very fine grind needed for espresso. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Espresso grinders require very tight tolerances in manufacturing to enable the close proximity of burrs required for very fine grinding. This is why the vast majority of grinders made by reputable companies and advertised as "for espresso" tend to start in the several hundreds of dollars range. There's unfortunately no way to shortcut this requirement; loose tolerances would result in too many units being returned when burrs lock up from touching or people complaining that the grind isn't consistent enough. You might sometimes get decent results from cheap grinders, but cheaper grinders will lack consistency and may not be able to achieve very fine grinds at all with some beans.
Unfortunately the cheapest grinder I would recommend for espresso is the Eureka Mignon Filtro, which is generally priced in the US at $210. Also, the vast majority of grinders that grind well for espresso cannot grind well at coarser grind settings, so you'll likely want a separate grinder if you use other brew methods. Your Melitta should be ok for Aeropress, drip, and maybe French Press (not sure at that level of coarseness), so it's not a waste.
Regarding coffee tasting better a day after grinding, this might have to do with the coffee itself. Roasted coffee retains some natural gasses that are created when the coffee is roasted. These gasses slowly seep out as the coffee "rests" after roasting. When coffee is left as whole bean, this process can take quite a long time due to the small surface area of exposed bean. After grinding, the process is expedited a lot as a result of (much) more bean surface area being exposed. If you're sensitive to the flavors of these gasses or if you're buying freshly roasted coffee, this degassing process might explain the flavor difference. This would also explain why water seems to run right through the beans on the first day but not on the second: the gasses are highly soluble in water. The "fast flow" problem is frequently observed among coffee roasters when the coffee is too fresh.


What is wrong if my espresso pours out slowly but the first drops shoot out? I've recently bought my first espresso machine (a Rancilio Silvia). I'm now trying to dial it in, but don't know how to interpret the result:

My shot is not too fast (it does not splash out of the machine). It also takes about 5 seconds until coffee starts pouring out. However, the coffee does not flow as evenly as I was expecting. The first drops really shoot out of the machine and then turn into a quivering stream of coffee. In the end, the cup is not clean at the rim but rather a bit sprinkled with coffee drops.

Did I tamp too hard or why does this happen?

Looks like you've got too much ground coffee in the basket. What's the weight that you're using? It looks like the recommended dose for the stock basket is 14g, which is a bit lower than the "standard" of 19g or so.

You have an indentation (ring) around the outside of the grounds -- an indentation from the group/dispersion screen (in addition to the notorious protruding center screw on this model). If you're already tamping thoroughly, this could mean you've got too much coffee in there.

Here's a thread from Home-Barista on the Silvia around a similar topic. It discusses another way of diagnosing the dose -- inserting the PF with tamped grounds, then removing while still dry.

That article also talks about aiming for a dose+tamp to leave a bit of space between the tamped grounds and the screen: approximately the thickness of a 5-cent piece of space (1-2mm), which is a general recommendation (not just for this machine), though there is certainly disagreement on this. Another article from Serious Eats discusses this topic and notes that a "sludgy mess" can result, because the grounds will expand a bit when they absorb water. Your picture also looks a little "wet"; it could just be the picture, or perhaps a similar symptom.

Try a lower dose (14g) and do the dry-removal test, aiming for a bit of space between the top of the tamped grounds and the screen.


What is the correct way to eat biscotti with coffee? Most coffee shops sell biscotti to have with your coffee. I've always wondered, is there a 'correct' way of consuming them together? Are biscotti ideally consumed with a certain preparation of coffee (e.g. a capuccino but not a latte)? Should I be dunking, or is that frightfully uncultured?

Adapting "Golf is a good walk spoiled," (whoever said it; Twain probably didn't), biscotti is a sure way to destroy a good coffee.

Italians dip in wine instead, not in coffee according to that article. Dipping in that wine sounds marginally worse than dunking in coffee.

The soft, cookie-like biscotti available in many cafes won't hold up to any dunking at all, and will end up waterlogged and sad at the end of your sipping. The break-your-teeth traditional biscotti seem to call for something, but they don't seem edible to me. I prefer the middle-of-the-road, softer, chewy biscotti that can be enjoyed without submerging in liquid.

At the risk of this becoming an opinion-based discussion, for my money: If you want to drink coffee, just drink coffee.  If you want to eat a soggy cookie, eat a soggy cookie... but don't combine the two and risk ruining your perfectly good coffee in the process. :)


Does Cuban coffee include sugar? I've visited Cuba this summer. As you may guess, I visited a few coffee plantations. Also, many famous coffee houses.

Before my visit, I thought that “Cuban coffee” is some kind of espresso with a little bit of sugar in it added during tamping. Thus, sugar is mixed during extraction as in Turkish coffee in brew time.

However, while was in Cuba I never ever experienced anybody added any bit of sugar in the grounds. So, I watched the whole set up carefully and realized that the sweetness in the Cuban coffee is not the result of the added sugar, but the over roasting of the coffee.

As far as I understood, the “Cuban coffee” is sweet as it is caramelized during the roasting process but not as a result of the added sugar. However, I would like to verify my observation with other coffee enthusiasts observations before finalizing my decision.

Therefore, the question could boil down to whether the Cuban coffee have additional sugar in it?

To help you visualize what I'm talking about, I provide a picture of some over-roasted Cuban (Caturra) beans at a plantation near Viñales, Cuba.

I wouldn't say that beans that have been roasted this much are sweeter. At some point, when the bean turns black the sugars break down into carbon and a brew with those beans would be less sweet than with a standard medium espresso roast. I guess somewhere at around the second crack the sugars will be gone and only "charcoal" is left.

So I'm assuming they either mixed the ground coffee with the sugar before you saw the coffee or you somehow missed it otherwise. Because a sweet cup with those black charcoaly things seems unlikely if you don't put sugar in it. As far as I know cuban coffee is indeed coffee with some kind of brown raw sugar mixed in it.


Which grind should be used for brewing coffee without machine? I use this method https://cookingcrest.com/prepare-filter-coffee-without-coffee-filter/

Following are the options of selecting grinds:

Which one should be chosen?

The explained methodology is traditional Indian-style preparation method.

As far as I know, historically Indians realize that tea and coffee includes many active radicals at the early ages just by observation. (I'm skeptical that it is related to any chemical knowledge.) Then, they started to add milk to these two beverages to neutralize the radical components. That's why Indians have this kind of coffee as well as Chai Latte.

This method may seem similar to Turkish method in the beginning of decoction, but requires much more brewing time. Mostly ended up warm, if not cold, mixed with lots of milk and sugar.

You can watch how this coffee is prepared in this video.

Finally, which grind is best for this type of coffee?

As this is kind of decoction, Turkish grind seems like the first option. But, brewing will take longer. So, I opt for Mokka grind.

Edit: I realized that, the list actually includes South Indian Filter method. So, please choose that option. This option is normally very rare in the rest of the globe. That's probably why I missed that.


What temperature to dry wet coffee grounds and for how long? As per can-i-store-wet-coffee-beans-in-fridge

Drying them again would be better. Either place them in a single layer in a well-ventilated area or in a warm oven with the door slightly ajar.

I would like to know to what temperature and for how long?

I wouldn’t attempt to dry wet grounds - the quality would likely suffer and for brewing they will be made wet again, which would make the drying step moot. Just use them straight from the fridge (as discussed in your other Q/As) and proceed as usual.

Now, beans are different. All preparations I am familiar with require the beans to be ground in one way or other. Pouring wet items in a grinder or mill designed for dry food will cause clumping, clogging and at worst damage your grinder.

Successful drying requires two things:

An environment with a low relative humidity and
good air flow around the objects that are to be dried.

So arrange your beans in a single layer on a rack or tray and find a “dry and windy” spot. The temperature can be even cool room temperature (dry surroundings and airflow are crucial, not temperatures), but may cooks prefer a low oven with the door slightly ajar. Up to 50 C won’t be a problem for the beans. Drying time depends on how wet the beans were - check on them regularly and turn them around on the tray.


How big of a difference is there between a pressurised and non-pressurised portafilter? I have been trouble shooting some of my own espresso and realised that my lower-end machine might just be unable to make a better shot due to having a pressurised portafilter. So with that I wanted to find out what real differences having an unpressurised portafilter there are compared with a pressurised one.

For those interested, my current espresso problems are as follows:

I manage to get the grind to a size where I'm noticing good thin mouse tail pours but the lack of thick, golden brown crema makes me think I can get a better shot.

I've read that light coloured crema or thin crema is a symptom of underextraction, depending on the length of the shot (where mine was in and around 20 seconds for a double shot, so relatively fast). I then ground finer and the extraction immediately changed. The mouse tails disappeared and the extraction was fast, almost instantly blonding within a second of the extraction. Liquid was not pouring out extremely fast but in comparison with the slower previous extraction it was relatively fast. I tried to continue to lower the grind size to attempt to slow the extraction but to no avail.

Could this be a problem with the pressurised portafilter?

Pressurized portafilters either restrict water flow or require a certain buildup of pressure before the espresso spills out the bottom of the portafilter.

So there are several problems with that taste-wise in espresso. The resistance is now not in the ground coffee itself, but below it. Additionally, if your coffee is ground finely and uniformly in a good espresso grinder (as one would for a non-pressurized portafilter), this sort of portafilter will result in too much resistance and thus a slow, over-extracted shot. It can also make your crema look a bit odd because it can emulsify some of the oils in your extracted shot (depending on the design of the specific portafilter).

Essentially the requisite grind size to produce acceptable espresso using a pressurized portafilter is much larger than that of optimal or delicious espresso.

This sort of portafilter does have its upsides, though. If you don't have access to a quality espresso grinder, and you are using either store-ground beans or imprecisely/more coarsely ground beans, a pressurized portafilter can make acceptable espresso from them whereas the results in a standard portafilter would be very watery and underextracted.


Student friendly coffee? What type of coffee would you good people recommend as a quick and easy caffeine dose for staying alert? (specifically this, although I am fond of the taste too as a secondary factor!)

I am currently just drinking some pretty meh instant coffee every morning, two generous spoonfuls keeps me alert but it's a chore and it's not very appealing. I've never had some of the more exotic stuff like espressos, are they financially viable or advisable for someone who isn't a coffee connoisseur?

Many factors are at play here.
I assume we are talking about morning coffee and not about something that helps to pull you through the night of studying.
So, the easiest (minimal amount of work in the morning) would be a drip coffee.  Definitely an upgrade from instant.  Many of machines allow you to preset the wake up time, so that you prepare everything at night, and then you wake in the morning to a ready cup (or two) of coffee waiting for you.

If you actually care about taste and want something that won't just give you a kick in the head, but actually be a pleasurable experience - buy real whole bean coffee, and grind it yourself.

As to a way to make coffee - that is a purely opinion based question. Some people love espresso. I like my french press.  Some love their morning cappuccino, etc.  You have to experiment and find your drink of choice.
But the first best thing you can do, is to buy a whole bean coffee and grind it yourself.  The taste difference (specially after an instant coffee) will be enormous!

Good Luck in your coffee adventure!


What are the best single shot filter baskets I'm using a Gaggia classic with the 58mm diameter portafilter that comes with it. I basically only drink single shots, but they are still difficult for me to get right. My grinder is a baratza encore, which I think is part of the difficulty I'm having. The shots have good flavor, but the extraction time is quite short (~15 seconds) and so is the preinfusion time (usually ~2 seconds).
If I go finer on the grind, I get more bitterness than I'd like. I'm pretty sure that's mostly due to the inconsistent grind from the encore, but it could also be the uneven extraction from the filter basket itself or my tamping technique.
I'm using the filter basket that comes with the gaggia, but I'm using a calibrated 30lb tamper that almost exactly fits my portafilter (maybe < 0.5 mm difference in size). Since I'm using a single shot basket, I expect that the tamp force isnt properly distributing over the entire surface of the puck.
So my questions:

I'm not ready to invest in a more expensive grinder, should I even bother with a precision filter basket/differently engineered basket?

If so, what are the aspects to look for? What are the models to consider?

Welcome to coffeeSE!

I'm not ready to invest in a more expensive grinder, should I even bother with a precision filter basket/differently engineered basket?

No, do not bother with precision filter baskets. The Baratza Encore is definitely not a grinder for espresso, it is meant for brewing methods which use coarser grinds like filter coffee or French press. It cannot grind fine enough properly - you get an inconsistent grind. Baratza offers the Sette series which grinds fine enough and consistent enough to get good espresso. I really wouldn't recommend buying a high end basket until you have a proper grinder, maybe look for used grinders. I got mine super cheap because it was used and after a proper clean it was almost as good as new.
One rule of thumb when getting into espresso is to spend at least as much on your grinder as you spend on your machine.

If so, what are the aspects to look for? What are the models to consider?

If you really do want to experiment with a high precision basket, just look for one which fits your portafilter (shouldn't be too hard since you have a standard 58mm one), is big enough for your desired dose, and is from a somewhat reputable brand (and is ideally used by professionals).


Why do espresso grains have to be finely ground and French press grains coursely ground? Why do espresso grains have to be finely ground?
(I've seen some moka pot instructions say medium is good, too.)
I thought espresso machines extracted the most out of the grains, so it would seem they wouldn't need to be finely ground—that fine-ground would be suited for French press (lower temps & pressure, no?) and course ground for espresso (the exact opposite of what's recommended!).

Coffee brewing is simple physics and chemistry. In short, soluble compounds and oils migrate from the beans to the water. The extraction will depend on temperature, pressure and contact area between beans and water. There’s also a balance between desired and less desired flavor compounds (e.g. acidic and bitter) that a specific brewing method needs to manage, so you tweak the given parameters.
If you have a coarse grind, the total surface area is smaller, so to get a comparable extraction you need more time (minutes for hot water as in French press, hours for cold water as in cold brew). For finer and fine grinds, you brew shorter (pour over) and probably increase the pressure (espresso).
Of course you can also look at the problem in reverse, like in the question (“how much can method X extract”), and match the grind size to hit the optimum. However, there your assumption that e.g. an espresso machine can extract more is incorrect. The very short time plus the compact grounds means that comparatively little coffee flavor is extracted - but some would say that it’s the best parts ;-)


Advantage of Dual Scale Setups for Pour Over? I've seen a couple photos of pour over setups where one would have an "outer" scale that measures the input water pour while a secondary scale measures the output resultant drip.

Is there some sort of reason one would like to take the extra step and use this setup?

My only explanation I thought of would be that the person is highly concerned of the the amount to be poured to the final cup, being highly mindful of consistency...

See Acaia's stand for example with their smart scales:

My goodness - all sorts of new gadgets to get intrigued about - and now - you have a reason to buy BOTH sizes of acaia scales! a pearl for the base and a lunar for the pot!

for me this double weighing is to check saturation of water by beans - seems like this device could make this process reuqire fewer steps.

For instance - i like to make sure i'm getting at least a 2-1 water absorption relative to weight of beans. if the taste is less rich than i'd like before adjusting the amount or grind, it's a quick check to see how much water was actually absorbed by the bean - sometimes this absorption check tells me something about the age of the beans too - if they haven't degassed long enough they seem to absorp less - and that's even if the coffee slury is well stirred/no bubble in the slury.

It's also interesting in an abstract kind of way to see how absorption differs fro same grind, amount but different varieties. etc.

It's this kind of check that let me let the coffee sit a little longer after stir before doing a pour: higher absorption seems to relate nicely to richer flavour.

At least that's what i'm finding.

thanks for sharing this trick new device.

m.c.