Is my new Baratza Virtuoso producing too many fines? I just received a new Baratza Virtuoso - the first automatic coffee grinder I've ever owned. Every single review I've read said it's exceptional grinder, and produces very few fines, which I understand are detrimental to the quality of the coffee brewed. I was thus hoping I'd get a more consistent grind quality than my Hario hand mill. Unfortunately, the grind consistency appears to be slightly worse, and I think I can see lot of fines and variance in grind size.
On the other hand, I'm new to this, so it could be that I have unrealistic expectations from a $229 grinder. My question is: is my Baratza Virtuouso defective, or is the grind of the quality normally expected from this grinder?
Here is a photo of some grinds at setting 14 (I intend to use this setting for drip coffee). (The photo is high enough resolution to be zoomed quite a bit.) The photo shows what seems to me to be inconsistent grind sizes, and many fines.

(source: postimg.org)
I followed Baratza's advice and ground 1/4lb of coffee in order the 'break in' the grinder. Here are some grinds after that:

(source: postimg.org)
To my eyes, there still seem to be a lot of fines.
Thanks a lot! I hope you can help me decide whether or not to return the grinder.

The Problem with Consumer Burr grinders

Burr grinders (that aren't of a very high or industrial quality) generally do not produce even grinds. I usually recommend a spinning blade grinder to the home barista for this reason.

Evaluating Your Grinds

You indicated that you will be using a drip machine with a paper filter. In my opinion, based on what I can see in the picture where the machine has been broken in, I think that these grinds are fine for a paper filter drip machine. There are a decent number of fine grinds, but I think it's alright for your purposes. If you plan to use another type of machine though, it may not be.

If you were using an espresso machine or a french press, you would have problems here (which I will not get into here). This might even be true for a permanent filter drip machine.

My Assessment

If you know that you are only going to use this for paper filter drip coffee, keep it. It seems to be pretty good for this purpose.

If you ever want to branch out into espresso or french press coffee, I recommend returning it and getting a better one.

Final Notes

Remember it all comes down to you and taste. If you are satisfied with the taste of the coffee, then be happy with your grinder. If you aren't, or want to get as close to perfection as possible, then consider something else.


Is it more economical to use cold or hot water? I have an electric kettle to boil water for tea/coffee that switches off automatically when water boils.
I can either pour cold or warn water from a sink. Warm water is not hot enough, so it will need to be boiled anyway, but for shorter time (smaller difference to a boiling temperature) and thus lower electricity.
Assuming, that I am not in a hurry (so time difference is not important), I am wondering what will be cheaper for me:

to pour cold water (that is cheaper) and boil it longer (using more electricity), or
to pour warm water (that is more expensive) and boil it shorter (less electricity)?

Cold water costs me 9,85 PLN/m3 and warm water costs me (9,85 + 25,88 =) 35,73 PLN/m3.
Electricity costs 0,3195 PLN/kWh.
Unfortunately, I do not know how much electricity does my kettle consume.
Am I able to calculate how should I boil water for my tea/coffee?

From a physics point of view, over 85%  of the energy of heating 20 C or 50 C water and boiling it at 100 C goes into actually boiling it. In fact, comparing the heat required  for equal amounts (say, 1/2 liter) of water starting at 20 C vs 50 C, the energy difference is 62 kJ or 0.017 kWh, thermal.  Electric kettles are very efficient, so figure 0.020 kWh electrical difference.
Don't waste the water.


Is there a name for this drink? The way I drink my espresso lately is a double shot with a small amount of steamed or heated milk and a couple of oz of hot water.

If not at home, I order a cappuccino with the added water and it works out pretty well. I've tried ordering an Americano with steamed milk, but they usually dilute it way too much.

Is there a name for this drink.

I'm braced for lots of judgement by the aficionados. ;)

This sounds Cortado or Noisette to me. Still, additional water makes it a bit interesting. I assume you may simply order your coffee based on lungo instead of doppio.

Again, lungo based Cappucino Scuro may be another alternative. However, it also has foam on top of steamed milk.

This answer includes so much terminology. So, let me make a glossary.

Espresso: 30 ml shot of beverage made with 8 grams of beans out of espresso machine. Our main unit.
Doppio: 60 ml of beverage made with 16 grams of beans. Double shot espresso.
Lungo: ~60 ml of beverage made with 8 grams of beans. Long shot single espresso.
Cortado: A bit of steamed milk (~30 ml) is added on top of doppio.
Noisette: A bit of hot milk (~30 ml) is added on top of doppio.
Cappucino: A bit of steamed milk (~60 ml) then some foamed milk (~60 ml) is added on top of doppio.
Cappucino Scuro: Same cappucino, less milk (~30 ml each). Sometimes only with foamed milk (~60 ml).


If I leave my brewed coffee to rest, will it lose caffeine? I prefer to drink coffee cold.  So, after the coffee is done brewing, I leave it to rest for some time and drink it later.

Will the coffee lose its strength, if it is cooling down?

Yes, but not in any significant or noticeable amounts.  Caffeine is stable in solution for quite some time.  Considering a average cup of coffee (~100mg of caffeine), you may lose a few milligrams of caffeine over an extended rest period.  Given that caffeine content varies in any given cup of coffee (many sources list variations as wide as 60mg to 200mg, or more) you are unlikely to notice any difference in the caffeine content.

What you may notice is a difference in the taste.  They are many suggestions out there on how to cold brew coffee.  It may be worth your time to research an alternate brewing method.


Best stories of coffee consumption in historical times? I'm currently coming up with a coffee article, and suddenly I'm stuck trying to fish my words out of the water -- how has civilization come to appreciate coffee, anyhow? Why did pre-modern societies roast and drink it up, considering the notion that coffee is basically bitter? I mean, if Turkish elites roasted it dark and drank it immediately afterwards, wouldn't that be rather tasteless and overly bitter?

Did people drink it for the caffeine? Or did they actually like it for its flavor?

I'd just like to hear out some of your insights and the things you've read on coffee's history and coffee in past societies. I'll research on the things you say, and fish some inspiration.

A story often shared as the origin of coffee consumption is that of Kaldi and The Dancing Goats, which comes out of Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee.

Kaldi was a herder who discovered his goats would become rambunctious after eating the berries and leaves of a plant. That plant turned out to be the coffee plant.

Upon observing this, Kaldi also partook of the plant's berries, finding it gave him extra energy. Some claim people would crush the berries and mix them with animal fat into rudimentary "protein bars".

Eventually they began drying-out the berries and steeping the seeds (beans) in hot water to brew the first coffee to grace the Earth. Thus begins the storied history of coffee consumption!

Another anecdote relating to coffee involves Pope Clement VIII. His advisors urged him to ban the consumption of coffee, likening it to the "Devil's brew" as it was popular among Muslims.

However, after tasting coffee for the first time, the Pope was so impressed he couldn't bare to think of outlawing it. It's said this led to the spread of coffee drinking among Catholics and Italians in general.

This story should be taken with a grain of salt, as whether or not Pope Clement VIII actually said or did what he said, or whether or not his advisors ever broached the topic is a matter of speculation.

That said, there are many more stories surrounding the spread and popularization of coffee. I'll let others add their own stories, as I know there are many more out there :)


Is it safe to use paper towel as a filter when brewing? Are there any chemicals or dyes in most common paper towels that would be harmful if I brewed my coffee using the towel as a filter?

If it is safe, will it affect the taste of the coffee at all?

Coffee filters are subject to food grade standards. They aren't just convenient shapes and stronger than paper towels, they have substantially less toxins i.e. bleach byproducts such dioxins (strong carcinogen). As well many paper towels have various purfumes, inks and other chemicals only GRAS (generally recognized as safe) for external use on your skin. Not as a filter medium for an ingested beverage.

And as for white being devoid of dyes and chemicals.. natural wood pulp which is what filters and paper towels are made of is a murky brownish grey colour at it's lightest. If it's white it's been bleached. And in most cases with a more potent bleaching agent if the intended use is for paper towels than filter media.

Sure you can use paper towels. Most brands won't burst suddenly and it won't kill you on the spot anymore than BPA in older water bottles or lead in drinking water. But is this where you want to save a few pennies - by using something that is going to bring unnecessary amounts of known carcinogens into your diet?

I'll stick to coffee filters myself. And unbleached (brown) ones at that.


My moka pot brew exploded. What did I do wrong? Well the moka pot itself didn't explode, rather the coffee bursted out from the funnel of the collecting chamber and through the middle of the moka pot, splashing all my clothes and half of my kitchen with coffee stains (nobody got hurt). Before the explosion, the coffee was sipping through as usually very slowly and there was no sign at all of any pressure building up or that any explosion was about to happen.

For this brew I had used a very fine fresh grind and almost boiling water. I had also cleaned the whole moka pot beforehand, as a I do every time.

What could have caused this and what can I do to prevent such an accident from happening in the future?

While the grind could have been too fine, I suspect what happened is you overfilled the bottom chamber, and the water level was covering the safety valve.

You really don't want the water level to go higher than the red line in the image below.


Where should I look for food-grade nitrogen fills? I'm looking for an ~100% N2 fill for nitro cold brew coffee and I'm having a hard time finding a supplier who sells food grade N2 in consumer quantities. Any advice for companies in United States who sell food grade N2?

I talked to homebrewing supply stores looking for "Guinness mix" or "beer gas" pre-filled bottles for sale. While this isn't a pure 100% mix, it's about 75/25 or 70/30 and usually means the supplier mixed it for them. After a lot of digging at homebrew suppliers, I found that one of their suppliers does smaller batch orders, which can be difficult since fequently breweries sign up for a delivery schedule with large gas suppliers.

The gas supplier is an industrial welding and gas supply store -- don't let "industrial" in the name dissuade you from calling and asking about food/medical grade. This industrial supplier also has food grade tank exchange.


Is "cold brew" an oxymoron? Dictionaries seem to agree that brewing requires hot water. I have checked definitions in the New Oxford American Dictionary, the (British) Oxford Dictionary of English, and a thesaurus.

So how about the expression we most use for getting a coffee drink out of cold water: "cold brew" ?

Yes, the term is an oxymoron.

Miriam Webster agrees with your definition of brewing involving hot water:

  to prepare (as tea) by infusion in hot water

That is why the word cold is used as a qualifier to show that it is done with cold water rather than hot water.


How can I make my coffee taste stronger using a french press or gold filter? I like drinking my own coffee at work, as it's cheaper and more convienient than buying espresso. However, recently I've been finding myself wanting a more long-black like espresso coffee.

How can I achieve this using either a french press/plunger or a gold filter?

I enjoy my homemade French-pressed coffee more than anything I can buy at an espresso shop, though a long black is my preferred choice if I'm away from home.

There are a couple of strengths of the espresso shop's infrastructure which you can emulate on a smaller scale:

Good coffee beans

Buy good fresh whole beans and grind them right before you prepare the drink.

Strong extraction

Use more coffee and/or grind it more finely. More surface area will make it extract more and taste stronger. You can even make it really thick and creamy and add it on top of water for the long-black-like experience.

There's a discussion about minimizing the grounds in your cup here.


Why do coffee carafes never pour well? I have been a coffee drinker forever and no matter what coffee maker I buy, all of the carafes are terrible. Is there one that pours well? Or is there a trick I do not know about?

I notice that when the coffee level is lower in the carafe it pours better and spills less..

This is correct and it has a reason. Actually three. Let me explain...

First, I want you to consider the shape of the Hario Buono Coffee Drip Kettle:

Or, a Turkish tea kettle:

As you can clearly see, both have separate spouts. The special design of the spout make the flow of the liquid as laminar as possible while you pour it.

This is our first concern, why don't coffee carafes don't have this special spout that starts from the bottom, makes a curve and ends at the top, apart from the body of the carafe?

In that case, the coffee at rest in the spout will loose so much heat and become cold rapidly. This is not what we desire. We want the coffee carafes to keep heat as stable as possible. So, we want to keep coffee all together, apiece, in one place together. That's why, coffee carafes have only one (not very nice) spout at the top. This is our first reason.
Here comes our second one, for liquids, or in general for fluids, you have a magic number, called Reynolds number. This number is (simply) kind of the ratio in between how particles are carried by the total motion of the coffee (inertial forces) and the resistance against being carried (viscous forces). When inertial forces are too much against viscous forces, your coffee starts to tremble by definition. This is what happens when you start to pour your coffee. Apparently, when the angle in between the carafe's spout and the vertical to the earth's gravitational vector is close to 90 degrees, Reynolds number will be bigger than when it is close to 0 degrees. This explains why emptier carafes have more laminar flow during pouring.
And finally, the third. Fluids also have another magic number called Weber number. This number explains why surface tension effects your pouring. As in the previous case, also surface tension adds an extra complexity to the flow while you pour with greater degrees. The surface tension forces your coffee to form droplets. As a result, instead of having a perfect laminar flow, you end up a turbulent and sometimes intermittent with droplets flow while you try to pour when your carafe is full.

There are also a few other interesting concepts like Ohnesorge number and others. But I hope these could explain it all.


How should I vary my steaming technique to create the correct ratios of steamed to foamed milk for the drink I wish to create? When steaming (semi-skimmed) milk with the steam wand on my Espresso Machine I tend to end up with quite an even texture throughout. I always steam the milk until it reaches the 'steam zone' on my thermometer which is between 65 and 70 degrees Celsius. My technique for steaming the milk is to 'skim' the steam nozzle on the top of the milk so as not to create huge bubbles.

However, I only have this one technique for steaming milk, therefore I can't distinguish between say a cappuccino, flat white, or latte - which each require varying amounts of steamed and foamed milk.

You're on the right track for good foam by keeping the tip of the wand close to the surface. To end up with less foam, submerge the tip as the temperature rises and the hiss drops to a whisper; I usually dip down after the first 15 or 20 seconds or so for a latte, longer for a cappuccino.

When you hear milk "screaming" in coffee places, that's the sound of a submerged wand in cold milk. The result is milk that tastes flat and has little or no foam. As long as you keep the wand near the surface until the milk warms up and quiets, you can experiment with time and depth until you're getting the results you want.


Is the recall of Solimo coffee capsules a serious issue? We have a Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee machine and we usually buy Solimo branded capsules to it.
This week I got an email from the shop, saying:

  Solimo Dolce Gusto* compatible Cafè Au Lait pods- UTZ certified- 96
  pods (6 x 16)

  The product you purchased is affected because it may contain plastic
  fragments from the pod. If you still have this product, please throw
  it away immediately and do not use it. There is no need for you to
  return any product to us.

I contacted customer service, but they weren't really aware of this issue but tried to convince me this is not serious.

I tried to search for an incident report or any news why this was called back and how many products were affected, but couldn't find anything.

Do you know how did they find out this product defect and what are the health risks?

I did a quick search and didn't find anything either.  If it was very serious there would articles about it all over the place. It would be a natural clickbait for the newspapers. "Coffee Recall - Read All About It"

If it is as described then it sounds benign from a health perspective and the notice is the company covering itself from legal action.


Make my coffee stronger without equipment I just had an espresso at a café, and it really put into perspective how weak my everyday coffee is. All the equipment I own is a blade grinder, and my method is a turkish brew (grind the beans, put them in the cup, pour-over some boiling water, wait for it to sink, done!).

What can I do to get stronger coffee? And more precisely, what will make the most difference?

Note that I am not willing to buy any new equipment or machines; I'm asking about what I can do with what I've got.

Update: tried adding grounds onto boiling water, instead of pouring water over grounds. Here's how it went:

TL;DR:

   No success, strength did not increase and taste just got worse.

What I did:
I took my strongest beans, ground them as fine as possible, used two identical cups, divided the grounds into two equal portions (on a separate tray). I put grounds first, boiling water afterwards in the first cup, and did the same thing but backwards on the second one. I did not stir any of the cups after adding all ingredients. After quite some time I tasted both cups, I am now finishing them both up while programming.

Observations:
The grounds on the "water-first" cup took a considerable time to sink into the liquid. Even after the brewing time had passed, much more grounds were floating around there than in the "pour-over" cup. Also, the water-first cup had almost no foam, which the pour-over cup had plenty of.

Results:
The water-first cup was not stronger than the pour-over; if anything it tasted weaker. The taste was quite different too, water-first tasted a bit stale/watery (not much but there was a clear difference). Pour-over had a rounder and more full aroma, liked that one more. And the crema/foam looked a lot better on the pour-over as well.

I see only one possibility to make your turkish brew stronger and that is using more coffee beans per serving. You are using boiling water and long extraction time so almost everything from the coffee gets extracted leaving you this only option to make it stronger.


Are there any natural sweeteners that work well with coffee? I am curious about different natural sweetener options that might mix well with coffee. I know about stevia but it gives the coffee a different flavor. Is there anything besides stevia that I'm not aware of? My apologies, I meant natural non-sugar alternatives, I should have specified that.

The best natural options for sweetening are, in my humble opinion, actual sugar or sugar syrups. Options include, in general order from less to more distinct taste...

table sugar (sucrose), including common refined white sugar or less-refined options like evaporated cane juice or turbinado;
honey;
agave syrup;
jaggery or similar minimally-refined sugar;
malt syrup, from e.g., rice or barley;
maple syrup or maple sugar;
molasses.

Though I personally prefer my coffee black and unsweetened, I've used all of these in coffee. Any sweetener will change the taste slightly. The problem with stevia, for me anyway, is that the bitter notes of stevia are overpowering; I can't consume the stuff.

If you're looking for a non-nutritive or lower-calorie alternative, you can look at various sugar alcohols, which are (or at least can be) naturally-produced, lower-calorie variants of sugars. They are produced by various methods, including fermentation.

A good possibility is xylitol, which is somewhat lower in effective calories and nearly as sweet as table sugar with less off-tastes than other sugar alternatives. Another option is erythritol, but may be less-commonly available. World-wide, other options including mannitol, sorbitol, maltitol, and isomalt may be more common.

Note well: different sugar alcohols may have effects on your digestive system, including bloating and loose stool, especially when consumed in large quantities. Start slowly :)


How does pressure affect the flavor of espresso? I've noticed the water pressure from espresso machines varies from about 12 psi to 22 psi. What effect does this have on flavor?

Working on a Synesso (prototype), I was lucky enough to be able to play with controlled pre-infusion. They state that their pre-infusion has a pressure of 3-4 bars and " bring[s] an extra textural element to your brew in the form of a greater volume of crema. It can also lead to a more syrupy mouth-feel overall." I find this to be mostly true if the pre-infusion was used for about 5 seconds.

What I found through personal experience was that, if I kept the pressure consistent, not switching to the full 9 bars, the shot pulled at the same extraction rate, finishing at my desired time. So Keeping dose, time, and extraction the same, the only variable was pressure. I found that the most notable change was a reduction in brightness. The more pronounced acidity and citric flavors were dulled. There was however a silver-lining that gave the pre-infusion a redeeming quality: Because of the reduction in brightness, I found that when using really fresh coffee ( < 4 days old), the pre-infusions reduction in brightness took away from the character metallic taste found with fresh coffee. For that reason, when I am dealing with fresh coffee, I may increase the pre-infusion time (from 5 to 9 seconds for example) and this helps make the espresso palatable.


Wet grind with cold water to maximize yield? I usually make drip coffee with a coffee maker, and the grinds go in pretty dry. I use 4 cups of water, but I usually only get around 2.5 cups of actual coffee out of it. I think that those 1.5 cups of water are partially evaporated, and partially absorbed by the grind. I have a theory that if I wet the grinds with cold water, they would saturate the grind but not absorb the flavor, and I could increase my coffee yields without diluting it. Is this a valid idea, or would I just end of creating diluted coffee? Thanks.

Given that I commonly cold brew overnight, I find the idea that cold water would not absorb the flavor somewhat far-fetched. I also find your absorbtion crazy-high unless you are using a huge mount of ground coffee to yield 2.5 cups liquid. I've been french-pressing for months now, but I doubt I lost a cup in making 12 cups (about 8 measuring cups) when I was using my drip machine.

What it would do is to alter (favorably or unfavorably, only you can say, after you try it) the effective temperature of the extraction by supplying some cold water as well as the hot water (and if you are boiling off any significant amount of the 4 cups you start with, it's almost certainly too hot.)


Why can't I have enough crema with my espresso machine? Doesn't it provide enough pressure? It seems my machine doesn't create enough pressure because I can't create a decent crema.

The machine heats up water which increases the pressure and eventually the water makes it through the coffee.

I tried compressing the coffee so it's more dense and more difficult to penetrate.

This lead to a longer time till the first drops of coffee started pouring but still no crema.

My coffee machine is a Krups 872-42 Bravo Plus:

First things first, the ingredients of the crema is partly the answer of this question.

The foam on top of any coffee beverage (espresso, Turkish, aeropress or any other) is formed simply the same. A lipid/water emulsion forms the outer sphere and some gas is inside this sphere. All these spheres stick to each other with tiny coffee bean fragments invisible to human eye. Let's focus to the gas. The gas is mostly Carbon dioxide that is produced during the Maillard reaction when the coffee beans are roasted.

Ok, now we know the chemistry behind. There are three (actually four, but water is there all the time) main contents for our recipe to produce crema:

Lipids
Coffee bean fragments
Carbon dioxide

Lipids and Carbon dioxide are formed by roasting. Fragments are the very very fine powders emerge as the side product of grinding. Fragments don't leave the ground coffee. Lipids, too. But, Carbon dioxide flies away in time.

Normally, after roasting the beans, it is better to wait for two to four days (based on many criteria just like bean type, roast level, brewing technique, etc.) for the Carbon dioxide level of the roasted beans to settle. Then, the flavor of those beans will be delicious. After that time, Carbon dioxide fades away and the roasted beans start to stale.

As you can reason, if your beans have less Carbon dioxide, your final cup of coffee would have less crema. If you have freshly roasted (e.g. 3-days old) coffee, your final cup of espresso would have a thick foam.

It is also known that water pressure affects the crema volume, but should not affect as much as you mentioned here. Even at 7 bars, a decent crema forms according to this study.

And a note, if your machine has difficulties producing enough pressure, more tamping will probably results over-heated water flowing very slowly through the grounds, causing them to burn and all of the lipids to evaporate, could not form the spheres of the crema. As a result, you probably worsen the crema production, coffee odor fills the room but you cannot drink that flavor. Now, all you'll get is boiled coffee juice.

TL;DR The amount of crema is mostly correlated with the freshness of the coffee, not the pressure.


Is preparing instant coffee a brew? Preparing instant coffee is basically pouring hot water on dry coarse powder made out of a coffee drink.

Is it still called brewing?

It seems like a language shortcut, as the brew happened before making the instant coffee powder.

I'd agree with you.  There isn't a brew happening because the solution was already created.  What you are performing is a rehydration.  However, "let me rehydrate some coffee" is a pretty awkward turn off phrase.


Ears feel hot and eyes twitch after a cup of coffee I have noticed that recently, my ears feel hot just immediately after a cup of coffee. And my eyes also starts to twitch some moments later.

Does this mean I should just quit taking coffee?

Muscle twitching, especially in the eyelids, is a very common reaction to caffeine - I myself have that problem when I drink more than 3 cups of coffee in a day. Unless the twitching makes you uncomfortable and anxious there is no need to worry too much about it. If it does worry you, you should consider reducing your daily caffeine intake.
As for the hot ears, I get those when I drink something warm like a tea (or coffee) and when I eat something spicy. This also might be a harmless effect of the caffeine.
Nonetheless I would recommend you go see a doctor, or at least mention it the next time you visit one. What helped me with judging the effect of coffee on my body was to record my coffee intake and record any symptoms that might be caused by coffee. This, coupled with taking my temperature and blood pressure a few times throughout the day helped me to understand how my body reacts to certain beverages.


Is it possible to make a frothy coffee without an espresso machine? I'm a coffee lover and my day starts with coffee but as i moved in my house i lost the coffee machine so i wanted to know how to make a perfect coffee without the machine?

Actually, the silky wet milk foam may be a problem if you cannot easily reach a steam wand. However, froth is quite easy. All you need to do is fill the milk texture with small air bubbles.

A nice tool to do this could be your French press. After preparing your coffee in a French-press, swiftly clean it and fill it with some milk. Pump the filter in and out for a while. This will inject small air bubbles inside the milk, so the milk quickly turns into textured froth. Then, you can use it as a topping for the previously brewed French-press coffee.

This is not exactly same as any espresso-based foamy beverage just like cappuccino. But, the result may resemble it.


How do I bloom coffee in a large percolator hopper? I've read that I should "wet the hopper" in a large metal percolator (35-100 cuppers).  I think that just means I shouldn't put the coffee into a dry pot, but I don't know what good that does me. Is it possible (or useful) to bloom 6-8 cups of coffee grounds the way I would with a drip coffee maker and how would I go about doing that?

You would bloom a large percolator the same way you would bloom in a pour over. Of course, there are different ideas about how to bloom for pour over.
From the website Hand Ground:

Use a 1:1 coffee-to-water ratio for the bloom
"Bloom the heck out of the coffee" with a 2:1 ratio
Stir the bloom
DON’T stir the bloom

To bloom coffee in your percolator go through your normal routine except you will be adding less water. If you are using a 1:1 bloom subtract the mass of the coffee from the water you add to the reservoir. If you are using a 2:1 bloom, subtract twice the mass. Once you've added the coffee you will bloom it by pouring hot water evenly over the grounds. Because a percolator won't fit nicely on many scales, measure out your hot water first; this is probably easiest achieved by pouring into a pitcher on a scale until you've attained the equivalent mass of the coffee (or double). After pouring into the grounds, wait a minute. If you want to stir, stir. This might be a good idea because you are working with much more coffee than a standard pour over.


Why does some coffee "hit me" harder than other coffee? I've had all types of coffee, but certain brands or preparations seem to get me more 'speeded up' (like Starbucks coffee) than others. What causes certain coffee to be more "stimulating" than other coffee? Is is the caffeine content? How it's brewed?

There are a number of concrete factors that will impact the stimulation you get from a cup of coffee, but it probably boils down to the amount of caffeine (and any other stimulants) that are in your cup that get extracted from the beans. Here's a few factors that affect the caffeine content of coffee, with links to other related questions on this site:

Certain beans have more caffeine (themselves, per mass) than others, so there's more of it to get extracted into the cup;
Certain roasts (e.g., lighter) have more caffeine than others (see also lowest-caffeine roast, or calculating caffeine content)
Certain preparation methods have more caffeine (e.g., caffeine content of preparation methods)
There are factors in strength and extraction -- e.g., more grounds and higher extraction will generally provide more caffeine.

I'm lumping this all under "caffeine", but there are probably other stimulants in coffee besides caffeine (e.g., as suggested in this article and others).

And then there's the intangible factors in "stimulation", such as marketing, cafe atmosphere, and so forth, which might have some other kind of effect (like "conditioning" or other "mind games") that might help you feel like the coffee is even more stimulating than it would be otherwise. These veer off-topic too much to discuss further.


What's the basket/tamper size for Gaggia Classic? I just got my first machine, and I'm looking to replace the flimsy plastic tamper that came with the Gaggia Classic.  It seems like the two common tamper sizes are 50mm and 55mm, but the 55mm I tried from a friend was still too small. Any idea what the proper size tamper is?

Actually the most common and widely used basket/tamper size is the 58mm. It also seemed, from a quick Google, that the Gaggia Classic does indeed use a 58mm portafilter basket so you'll want to find a 58mm tamper for it.


Why do sugary foods taste so good with black filter coffee (no sugar)? Just wondered why my black moccomaster filter coffee from bean tastes so good with sugary foods like donuts and ice cream.

I recently visited a coffee festival in Amsterdam and there were some discussion on this topic, or more generally about the effects of caffeine on our perception of taste. Apparently, research has shown that caffeine makes it harder for us to taste sweetness. After a bit of googling i founds the study I think they were referring to here. The abstract gives you pretty good idea about the study so I won't paraphrase here.

This perception of sweet food as less sweet apparently makes us crave and enjoy sweets more, which might explain what you have experienced.

Another explanation I've heard is that sweet food compensates for the bitterness of coffee but I couldn't find any scientific evidence for that :)


Amount of money I should spend on a Grinder I currently have a Chemex, a Aeropress and a bialetti espresso Machine(electric espresso machine, bad quality). I use mostly the aeropress and the Chemex.

My grinder is a Hario manual grinder. I want to get an electric one.
How much should I spend, minimum, on a electric grinder so I can get a good grind for my brewing methods?

Depends on if you want to be able to grind true espresso grinds.  My daily grinder I received as a wedding present and it suits me just fine, a Cuisinart for about $40 dollars.  If I want to grind for espresso, this is completely incapable of doing so, so I ended up getting a $180 dollar unit that is capable of timed grinding and grinding to espresso level grind.  This unit is a Breville with a cone burr, which I honestly really like because it doesn't have the static of the Cuisinart.

This is very much a personal choice type of question.  If you have $10000 burning a hole in your pocket, I'm sure you could find a grinder to match, or if you are worried about keeping the lights on, you could probably find one to suit your needs as well.

Here are a few recommendations..

Low End:
Cuisinart DBM-8 -- Does good coarse grind, to a reasonably fine grind.  Drip brewers and pour over are right in the middle of its standard grind range.  Biggest con is it is a flat disc grinder and generates quite a bit of static so be aware that it will make a bit of a mess.  Cannot grind espresso.

Mid Range (150-250) -- The Baratza Encore is really popular and a pretty good price.  It has conical burrs and gearing specifically intended to reduce static and heat.  I personally use a Breville Dose Control Pro which is about the least expensive grinder I could find with the portafilter holder and timed grinding.  Thus far I've been happy with it, low static, very very fine grind level for espresso if needed, but I am seeing some reviews about how the internal components tend to fail after extended use.  Someone may be able to comment on the feasibility of the Encore for espresso grind better than I.  Breville can grind espresso, someone please comment on Encore / Virtuoso espresso grind capability!

High Range --  The sky is the limit here.  You could go with a higher end Baratza going all the way to the 1000 dollar range and probably higher, if you've got that $10,000 dollars burning a hole in your pocket you could go big with a 60 lb EK43 (and then send me a big tip!).. just kidding.  The EK43 runs about 2500 and is a shop grinder, although it is now a barista favorite for competition.  When you start getting into the super high end machines, personally my favorite is Mahlkonig but really.. there's no reason for this caliber of grinder at home.

Again, how much to spend is a tricky question.  I would say a minimum of $40 and a max of however much you want to spend.  If you have the money, and want a solid reliable workhorse, I would probably go with either the Baratza Encore or Baratza Virtuoso.  Baratza is one of the higher quality, and popular home grinders that don't completely break the bank.


Making Coffee Beans Edible I just ate a protein bar with coffee beans in it. I get that it is a good energy source and it tastes like coffee but is the coffee beans prepared in a certain way. I'm not quite sure if they are edible raw or what the beans have to go through. So how does raw coffee beans become edible coffee beans that can be put into all sorts of foods? Or are coffee beans left raw or even both? Please use reliable sources and all help is appreciated!

Roasted coffee beans (from which you'd brew coffee as usual) are certainly edible -- chocolate-covered coffee beans are an example. They don't need any different or additional processing beyond ordinary roasting; I'm guessing that was what was in your bar. Chew a whole roasted coffee bean; does it taste similar?

If you're asking about green beans, a quick search suggests that raw coffee beans contain some questionable chemicals; however, this question about the edibility of coffee cherries seems to indicate that they're not harmful...


Does coffee help if you are tired because you have over slept? If you have over slept and was drowsy because of this, would coffee give you an effective boost to get your day started or would you be better off with something like a sugary soda?

Coffee is an excellent countermeasure against drowsiness in general. The main and best understood mechanism of action of caffeine is that it blocks the receptors of adenosine in your brain. Adenosine is responsible for the feeling of drowsiness. It accumulates throughout the day and would act to make you feel increasingly tired. In addition caffeine likely has effects on your dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline levels. They are all chemicals  considered to be excitatory neurotransmitters. Nehlig et al. (1992) made an extensive review of the action mechanisms of caffeine. A more recent review was published by MacLellan et al. (2016).

Drowsiness from oversleeping occasionally probably stems from a disruption of your cycadian rhythm. If you wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle before completing it, you will feel groggy and tired. Caffeine will certainly have some effect through the stimulation of your central nervous system and the increased release of stimulating neurotransmitters. But so would a morning work out or a walk in the sun. Which one is more effective for you, you will have to trial and error. I'd combine them I guess.

Chronic oversleeping however should be considered a medical issue. Hypersomnia could be a symptom for many other, more serious issues ranging from sleep apnea to depression and other neurological diseases. In these cases caffeine might have positive or negative effects. But that is a question you should ask to your physicians.

References

McLellan, T. M., Caldwell, J. A., & Lieberman, H. R. (2016). A review of caffeine’s effects on cognitive, physical and occupational performance. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 71, 294-312.
Nehlig, A., Daval, J. L., & Debry, G. (1992). Caffeine and the central nervous system: mechanisms of action, biochemical, metabolic and psychostimulant effects. Brain Research Reviews, 17(2), 139-170.


How do I brew french roast coffee, so that it doesn't taste like ash Recently I've been given (as a gift) a large (40 oz ~ 1.13kg) bag of Starbucks French Roast coffee.
To me it looks, smells and tastes like a burnt coffee.
I usually brew coffee in a moka-pot, french press or paper filter.
I do enjoy darker roasted, Italian espresso, but this French Roast is just too much.
How do I brew it, to get rid of these unpleasant flavors and aromas, so I can enjoy it and not throw away 1kg of coffee?

Starbucks' dark roasts are very dark. It tastes like ash because it contains ash. There's no way around that.
That said, you can minimize the ashy notes in your brew by using the below suggestions:

Lower the brew temperature--cold brew in particular works well for this purpose

Use a coarser grind setting when grinding

If using a hot brew method, reduce the time you let the coffee brew

Use just the first or some combination of all three. It'll take experimentation to get it right.


Is it possible to airlock a V60 brew? I'm brewing coffee on a V60 mounted directly on the mug that will be used for drinking the coffee (no dripstations). Starting from the third pour, the water was taking too long to go through the filter, making the total brewing time of my cup (300ml) was around 7 minutes, while I was trying to replicate the 4:6 method by Tetsu Kasuya, which takes around 3 minutes and a half. After watching a video about the design of a Chemex and its side channel that lets air flow from the down chamber out of the system to prevent airlocks, I thought that the same could be happening in my system.
As a way of counteracting this, I've 3d printed three pieces that I can attach to my mug and create a gap between the V60 and the mug, shown in the Picture 1. At the same time I got an weighting scale (I didn't use one before this) and my brewing time was significantly reduced.
Is it possible that I'm overthinking the problem and the pieces aren't doing anything, and the brewing was faster just by using proper amounts on each pour (by using a scale)?

Looking at the question from another angle, there’s nothing that would prevent an airlock, except your little pieces, of course.
The chance that the filter holder and the cup rim fit so perfectly for an instant lock is slim, but you shouldn’t underestimate the power to a bit of condensation when it comes to creating a seal. I had a similar problem just the other week when bottling hot syrup with a funnel without ridges: The first one or two were fine, after that, I got that splashing whenever the water film tore for a moment and ultimately had to lift the funnel ever so slightly over the bottle rim to ensure a steady flow. I have had issues with airlock when using a porcelain Melitta filter holder, so I can totally confirm that some types of filter holders do tend to seal.
Even one of your plastic pieces should already be enough to prevent the issue.


Aeropress: How to accent the caramel flavor and decrease the acidity of my beans (Burundi)? I recently bought some Full-City roasted Burundi Gaharo
The flavor profile is:

Strong caramel, tropic fruit juicy flavor, moderate body, great
balance of sweetness and acidity and bitterness.

Here are the brewing tips it came with:

Using a siphon pot is recommended to accent the caramel
feature of this bean.
Medium Ground 1:15 beans/water ratio.
High  temperature water recommended, just slightly lower than boil.

I am instead using an Aeropress. How can I modify my brewing process to minimize the acidity while accentuating the caramel taste?
I brewed once already with fine grounds, inverted and 3m total brew. The result was a big slap of the citrus flavor.

You may try to minimize the citric acid extraction with respect to the Coffeeresearch.org's tables. In short, you may wish to use

coarser grind
shorter brewing time
cooler water

to stay away from citrus flavors.


Changing Coffee makes me change grinder level I have a Gaggia Classic with Grinder Rancilio Rocky.

Last week, I changed coffee in my grinder, and now, coffee flow is very low.

I had to change 3 level of grinder for my new coffee...

Why Grinder level is coffee bean dependent?

Expanding comment into a (possible) answer...

On the topic of different beans in a burr grinder: I find that my (admittedly cheap) burr grinder "chokes" on darker-roast beans. When I put dark roast beans into the grinder, the chute gets clogged with coffee grounds more quickly (as compared to lighter-roasted beans). I have a timer-based auto-shutoff model, and much less grounds come out when the grinder is "clogged" in this way. I attribute this clogging to the oil on the surface of the beans that is somehow "sticky" and more prevalent on darker roast beans, but I'm not certain. This article from Coffee Geek talks about cleaning more frequently for darker roast beans, as does this review from Seattle Coffee Gear, as does this one from Coffee Review.

On the topic of espresso pulled from these grounds: This is tricky and I'm really just speculating. Perhaps it's a similar situation: your darker-roast beans respond to tamping differently than your lighter-roast beans. If you're tamping hard and the grounds are clumping together somehow, you might be getting some channeling (resulting in uneven extraction); this could cause a more "watery" shot. You might be able to see evidence of this in the puck after you pull the shot, or you might be able to see it while pulling the shot if you use a naked (bottomless) portafilter. This article from Home-Barista talks about a too-quick extraction being paired with grind flaws; are you seeing that? It also discusses various other flaws and corrections, too various to summarize here.


Which ginseng caffee should I order to get the experience of "Caffe al Ginseng" in Milano? I visited Milano previous summer, I ordered "Caffe al Ginseng" in several places and I enjoyed a lot this coffee. Now I would like to order this kind of coffee on-line, but the shipping is quite expensive from Italy and there are too many options.

Can somebody propose me espresso ground coffees with ginseng extract or flavour to make Caffe al Ginseng at home?

I would like to "replicate" the same experience. It was pretty sweetish with strong flavour over the coffee taste.

Maybe this shop? http://www.persalute.it/p/64/eng/red-ginseng-coffee-ground-coffee-250g.aspx

According to Italian wikipedia, the first ginseng coffee popularized in Italy was an instant packet drink also sold in Asia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffè_al_ginseng
If you're willing to go instant, you can try this: http://www.veryasia.com/ginseng-coffee/ (also available on Amazon)

The wiki entry suggests what you drank was probably espresso with dry ground ginseng. So if you don't want instant, you could get some espresso and add dry ground ginseng to the grounds. You can get ground ginseng at any Chinese herbal store. One writer, Peter Lim says a capsule (like the gelatine type you would swallow) is the right amount for a serving of coffee.

Good luck.


Kopi Luwak - real or not? I bought a coffee from a Duty free shop in Indonesia.

100g for ~14 USD, available on ebay for 23 USD

It says:

Mandailing estate coffee
Special Blends

Wild Kopi Luwak
Gibbon ridge estate

Mandailing Sumatra
Product of etc etc

What it is? Is it real for this price? Is it blended with kopi non-luwak? Like only 1 or 5 percent of kopi luwak?

Is it from wild luwaks? Website says yes, how does one know? They also have a video on youtube of a guy picking up excrements with his hand from a grass in a jungle. Why that?

They also had some little more expensive one in a box (this one is a bag), not sure if it was only a different packaging.

I actually might say no.

This type of coffee is rather expensive at $100 to $600 per US pound. Yes, 100 to 600 USD. This is natural Kopi Luwak coffee at a normal price. The word blend sounds a little fishy to me, as it usually means that it is not entirely pure Kopi Luwak.

The thing is, it's really up to you to decide for yourself. If you can trust them, buy it. If you think the product isn't what you want, don't buy it. I will probably say no, but you make the final decision. Go with your gut and say yes or no to buying that product. Good luck!


Is there actually any taste (especially flavor) difference between Dalgona method and normal method of making instant cofffee? The coffee that concerns me is here.

Case 1: Here's a video about Dalgona (most likely it's Dalgona) method coffee.
The video is in Hindi, but I'll translate it in English from 2.35s:
He says, "Let's shuffle/mix it for some time. This shuffling is done because when you do it, the coffee granules/particles release its flavors"
And I've heard similar views about flavor thing heard from a few of my friends.
Case 2: One comment under my this question says you can make this kind of coffee by just adding boiling water and milk and you're done.

If you're going to use instant coffee, just pour hot water on it, add
milk to taste, and you're done

I can use the method suggested by Chris H, as ingredients are same and it will save a lot of my precious time but I'm just surprised I don't see any tutorial on it on YouTube. So I wonder if it is right method or wrong or it is a right method but pretty rare.
Secondly, do both methods actually cause a difference in taste about its flavor or make it more thick? I mean the flavor reason given by the YouTube user is actually a scientific reason? Or could be just his personal opinion?
(Of course, there would be a difference in taste, but I'm more concerned about his flavor logic)

PS: Why I think that the YouTube user is right about releasing flavors thing is because it turns to creamy thing after some time. So it feels like something has chemically changed inside it. So I feel that's the reason it tastes different. But I need to verify this claim.

My first instinct was to answer “no way, that’s instant coffee, where there’s no complex flavor to start with, we can stir the heck out of it and get no change”. On the other side, preparation can make a huge difference sometimes, so just dismissing the method shouldn’t be done either. Of course there’s only one way to tell, which is by doing a side-by-side comparison. And that’s what I did.
Setup:

Two identical cups with one teaspoon instant coffee (Nestlé Gold decaf) and white sugar each. I used a measuring spoon to make sure that each cup had the same amount of product in it.
To one I added one teaspoon of milk and one teaspoon of water, both hot, then manually whisked until a thick and somewhat stable foam formed.

On previous occasions I used an immersion blender with a whipping disc and could make a stiffer foam. But with the comparatively small amount, that wasn’t an option. Plus the linked video also whisks by hand.
I then poured hot milk and hot water into both cups, using a kitchen scale to ensure that both cups held the same amount and the same ratio.
Initially the whipped cup had a foamy layer that looked good and gave a slightly different mouthfeel. (First taste test.)

However, the foam started collapsing almost immediately, and about two minutes later, there wasn’t much left. I gently pushed it to one side to show the thickness of the layer.

I enlisted the help of a family member and did a blind taste test.
And here are the results:
Without the foam, there’s no taste difference whatsoever between the two methods.
Frankly, for a plain cup of instant coffee, I wouldn’t bother with all that stirring and whipping.


Downsides of brewing espresso with high pressure? The Italian National Espresso Institute requires the following properties for a certified Espresso:

Water pressure: 9 bar ± 1
Percolation time: 25 seconds ± 5 seconds

I'm using a Quickmill Pegaso 3035, and for some coffees I do have a much higher pressure (around 12-16 bar). However, the percolation time is around 25 seconds, the coffee has a good crema and tastes fine.

Are there any downsides because of the high pressure? Does it alter the taste? Would I get more crema if I reduced the pressure?

A higher pressure is fine, as long as it is a controlled variable. You may have to tamp harder or start with a finer grind in order to accommodate the higher pressure. The increase in pressure otherwise would cause a faster brewing time and ergo underextraction of the coffee puck.

What's important is that you keep your pressure consistent. An occasional or erratic bout of high pressure makes your yield unpredictable.


Sourcing Liberica or Excelsa coffee in the UK I'm looking to try some Liberica or Exelsa coffee in the UK. I usually buy wholebean coffee from Bean to Door online (roasted and then posted within a few days), or from small independent shops where the coffee has been recently roasted, but mainly only get hold of Arabica; can anyone suggest where to reliably purchase Liberica or Excelsa, and perhaps even a good Robusta source!

Noah, sadly not a direct answer, but may i recommend that you reach out to your favourite supplier? Otherwise, you may wish to chat with the folks at Union Roasted or Squaremile who do a lot of work with specific farms, and may have related alternatives for you too. (robusta?? how unique)

best
-m.c.


Is this moka still safe to use? My Bialetti Moka has porous holes that seem to go beneath the surface. These pictures show those small holes.

(click to enlarge)

Safe or not, I think it comes with the territory.  I've had mine (2 actually) for 5+ years now and it is quite pitted, itself.  I think this is naturally what happens when (mineral) water boils against metals.  I don't know how relevant it is, but I tend to get right to enjoying my coffee, and neglect the moka. Coffee (acidic) seeps down into the reservoir, and I suspect that might contribute to the pitting.  I have no doubt that I've drunk this metal, but thankfully being a food product it is a safe metal; they don't make these things out of lead, you know.  I'm no chemist, biologist or doctor, but I have had a fair amount of experience with a couple of mokas and friends who also use them, and they all inevitably pit.  I don't know if it's safe, but it seems to be the norm, and I have yet to hear of any recalls. Bialetti is a reputable company. And the FDA (or whoever) wouldnt approve a food product that was dangerous.


Does coffee cause dehydration? Actual scientific information on the effects of food and drink is notoriously hard to sift from all the dieting pseudoscience. I know that caffeine is a diuretic, which means it will cause me to lose more water, but given that I'm dosing up on it with water, will I lose more water than I gain? Even if it doesn't for longer drinks, will drinking espresso result in a net loss of water?

Though caffeine's action as a diuretic is hotly debated, recently it seems the scientific consensus is that caffeine in normal doses is a weak diuretic in caffeine-naive individuals only (those without a tolerance), and only in doses exceeding 250-300 mg, or 2-3 cups of coffee. To go even further,

  A profound tolerance to the diuretic and other effects of caffeine
  develops, however, and the actions are much diminished in individuals
  who regularly consume tea or coffee.

And from the same review of the literature:

  Doses of caffeine equivalent to the amount normally found in standard
  servings of tea, coffee and carbonated soft drinks appear to have no
  diuretic action.

The New York Times exposed this myth in this article:

  Researchers found no significant differences in levels of excreted
  electrolytes or urine volume [between those given caffeine and a placebo].

Here is another good resource for answering these questions in a clear, FAQ-style and features a good list of references on the topic.


Is there really a NATO standard cup of coffee? Standards bodies do tend to occupy themselves with making standards for things, but is it just a joke?

What next, ISO standard cup of tea?

There is no such standard, it's a slang.

This made up standard is not only applicable to coffee, but apparently used also for tea.

As far as I can confirm, this standard is a counter act against NATO's will to standardize everything in between European and American armies. Tea, is quite interesting as British army likes to consume it with milk where others prefer lemon.

Therefore, beverage (either tea or coffee) + milk + two sugar is known as NATO standard as an army slang.

Probably rooted from this, ISO 0 is another slang for beverage with milk, no sugar. And ISO 2 is the exact NATO standard.

For more info please see here.


How could I fix espresso that pours too fast? The books and info I've read mention extracting for 25 seconds, but I get waaaaay more than a double shot of espresso in that duration.

The exact numbers I have are:

15.6g of ground coffee (after taring the portafilter and filter inside)
22 seconds made 78.9g of coffee (after taring espresso cup)

I'm using a Breville espresso machine... like the most common household one (cost me $100 to $150 I think, like 4 years ago).

My grinder is a Bodum, also cost me about $100.

I ground on the espresso symbol, the finest my grinder well do.

I grind directly into the portafilter and I used a nice stainless steel tamper to tamp what was probably between 20lbs and 40lbs, just a little more than gravity.

I'm not discussing taste here, but some potential other causes: I once put my portafilter and filters in the dishwasher, and that peeled the stainless steel off the portafilter, but it continues to work, so I figured it was fine. Also I've never decalcified my machine, although I did take it apart and clean it about a year and a half ago. Oh and the beans were some third-wave hipster brand, it costs $18 for a pound bag.

First things first; I advise you to decalcify your device in advance. This may fix many shady problems and taste issues.

Then...

There may be several issues that may affect your flow. These are what I can say at first sight...

Grind size: Finer and more consistent grinds may help.
Even distribution in the basket: if you don't evenly distribute the grounds, some water may leak around the grounds instead of brewing your coffee. Take care of even distribution.
Tamping: Tamp evenly, consistently and a bit more forcefully when necessary. Some baristas tamp up to 20 kg-f during tamping.

And a final note; for the given amount of grounds, a doppio (double espresso) is quite normal. Doppio should be 60 ml in your cup. In general, 14 - 16 gr of coffee grounds make a 60 ml doppio.


Is it necessary to sort beans after roasting? After roasting, the beans colour is usually uneven. Most of the beans have the desired roast, but some are burnt, and some have visibly lighter colours.

Some people sort every single bean after every roast. It is impressive work and result, but also tedious. I believe that is necessary for the look of the beans in a retail shop. Some other people sort just a little to remove really bad beans (i.e. burnt).

What are criteria / conditions to sort beans?

I wonder about taste: A tiny number of beans with different roast should not impact it, but I lack experience to know.

It will affect the flavor. Whether that's particularly noticeable depends on the bean, the roast you're going for, and how much variance there is in the roast. Whether it matters to you is a personal decision.

In my experience, over-roasted beans are worth removing from a light roast (I tend to prefer city roast at darkest), even if they're not actually burnt - the flavor of even a few dark beans will tend to overwhelm the more delicate flavors of a lighter roast.

That said, I use a popcorn popper; there tends to be a lot of variation in the results. If you have a better roasting setup, you can probably avoid a lot of the hassle.


Homemade Highlander Grogg I used to really like the flavored coffee Highlander Grogg, but now all I can taste is the artificial aftertaste.  Is there a non-artificial additive that I can add to a different variety of coffee to make it taste like Highlander Grogg?

I think it's the butterscotch flavor that distinguishes Highlander Grogg, but I don't know what the history of the flavor is. If it's as Scottish as the name implies, I'm guessing it's got some deep rich history.

For certain high-intensity flavours, often people use extracts (think stuff like "vanilla extract") or essential oils (i.e., oils that are the "essence" (or are infused with same) of a given plant or something). This allows you to use a very small amount of the flavouring substance in something like coffee or confectionery or so.

However, certain extracts or might just be artificial themselves, and give you that same "off" after-taste. This might be what's in your bag of beans/grounds and why you're in this predicament in the first place. The ingredient label might have some hints but is probably not helpful ("natural and/or artificial flavourings" perhaps). Here's one (judgemental) example of how the ubiquitous hazlenut flavoured coffee (from Serious Eats) could be made.

For butterscotch that you cite, for example, you could use something like butterscotch extract (example from Amazon). You could also use some other caramel or butterscotch syrup, or even make your own.

For particular flavours, after you've identified them, you might ask over at Seasoned Advice. But I'm glad you asked here first :)

Happy hacking!


What measurement should I take to buy an atmospheric filter for my espresso machine? I want to buy an atmospheric filter for my espresso machine, but I don't know what part of the filter I should measure. Should I be measuring the radius from the internal part of the border of the filter or the external part of the ring/border?

Sorry, I tried to express myself as well as I could but I am not familiar with some coffee terminology in English.

The portafilter sizes are given as the inner diameter of the basket in mm. This is the same as the diameter a tight fitting tamper would have.


Coffee and milk for the lactose intolerant I am lactose intolerant. How can I prepare a good cup of coffee with milk? I don't like the taste of black coffee. I usually use soy-milk, but it is nowhere near original milk in taste.

Best option is lactose-free milk. I assume you live in India and it may be hard to find in India as lactose intolerance is not common among Indians. In that case, you may try goat milk which has naturally less lactose than cow milk. But I'm not sure if this will be enough (personally) for you.


How does sugar influence the taste? I have been told that sugar adds a sour taste to the coffee.

Personally I do not put sugar at all in my coffee but I was wondering for the sake of curiosity... Also I always preach to people that do put sugar in about how it ruins their coffee, due to the sour after-taste the sugar is adding.

Is there any chemical reaction here between the sugar and the coffee? Is it a result of a mixture between bitter and sweet that creates the sour taste?

When I tried having coffee without sugar I did feel like there is this sour feeling to it, but I also sometimes taste it with espresso made from some blends.

Sugar adds a sweet taste to coffee, not a sour taste.  Sourness and sweetness are rather separate tastes! Different flavours will to some extent interact with each other, and individual preference and taste have something to do with this, but there are particular causes of certain flavours.

Sourness is a perception of acidity. In high enough quantities, sugar can overwhelm the perception of acidity (e.g., cola has a pH ~2.5, but doesn't taste sour because the perception is overwhelmed by sugar/sweetness; see also this Seasoned Advice question on sugar reducing perception of sourness). I don't see how sugar could be the cause of sourness (i.e., sugar is not acidic). EDIT: That said, it might be the case that this is a temporal situation. Sugar reduces the perception of sourness, but it could be the case this change is temporary: For example, if the sweetness (sugar) dissipates more quickly than the sourness (acids), you might be left with "more sourness than sweetness" in the aftertaste after some time. That is, you're left with "un-maksked" residual sourness which, though present all along, is more perceptible after the sugar has dissipated. However, all of this is entirely speculation; I have no justification for this, and haven't found any supporting information.

Sweetness is perceived by the presence of sugar (and/or other chemicals that happen to interact in similar ways with sweetness perception). Sugar will also impact mouthfeel.

Bitterness is separate also; see this question on salt and bitterness in coffee.

I don't think there are any chemical changes to the sugar happening in this case.


Triple heating of the Turkish coffee As a follow up on this discussion of Turkish preparation, I'm wondering how to do the triple heating. This refers to the repeating sequence of heating the coffee in a cezve, and then letting it cool down.

My question is about both stages:

how do I know when it's heated enough to take it off the fire, and
how much should it be cooled down?

The guides to brewing Turkish usually discuss that at the abstract level: heat + remove three times. I've been trying to do that, but my actions didn't seem to make sense. So right now I'm brewing it just once -- till the foam starts to rise, and enjoy it. But maybe I still can improve it?

Disclaimer: This will be a long answer. I expect that it wont be as good as I want at first. I may make corrections/additions afterwards. I am a native Turkish, drinking kgs of coffee each week and from a coffee addicted family for generations. Therefore, I count myself as a Turkish-coffee hobbyist.

I believe to understand the two or three times boiling mystery of Turkish coffee, you must understand the whole Turkish-style extraction process. I tell you the whole story.

The chemistry is simple: we are extracting some oils from the beans. Two known ways out there, pressure or heat. Turkish extraction is the traditional, genuine, historical heating way. Actually, it is probably the first and easiest way manhood used in history to prepare coffee (I believe both in Africa and then in Ottoman Empire).

When you heat the beans to extract, you need lots of surface to extract efficiently. That's why you grind the beans as fine as possible. The electrical grinders are not always perfect. You may want to use a mortar after the grinding process to be sure if you don't have a Turkish grinder. (This is another topic, I think.)

Then, the aromatic oils you are trying to extract are not of one kind. There are several kinds. The drink you consume under the name of coffee is delicious if it includes many of them. So, you are trying to jail all of them into the water during the brewing process. But, wait... Some of them start to be released from the bean at 75 degrees Celsius, but some others have been already vaporized at 70 degrees Celsius! There must be a way of collecting all of them.

Bingo! You are right. It is the double (triple, quadruple, ...) heating process.

You should heat the water up to some point, extract a subset of the oils, separate them to your fincan (cup). Then repeat the process at a higher degree. Three times is the best practice among Turks. You may define your own temperature slots and repetition count but I think the algorithm is clear now.

Talking about best practice, let me show you a best practice.

Get you cezve (pot). Mine is stainless steel and thick. Your coffee should not boil on the edges first, it must start to boil from the center. (If this is not the case, either your cezve or your fire is problematic.)

If you have a hand grinder, set it to the finest.

Measure the water with fincan (cup) (I prefer soft spring water) and fill your cezve. Traditional fincans are quite thin (in contrast to espresso cups) and porcelain.

After you fill in your cezve with water, add coffee on top. About one teaspoon per fincan is quite OK. (You may change). I don't recommend sugar for any kind of coffee, but it is your taste. If you want to add sugar, it is now or never.

You will see that fine grounded coffee will float and sink in time. Fire up and let the coffee sink by itself. Do not touch or stir. The amount of fire has little or no affect to the taste of Turkish coffee to my experience. There is an urban legend that states that Turkish coffee is best made in wood fire or very slowly in low temperatures, etc. It's nonsense. Then, every aromatic oil will evaporate eventually. You should be quick. These are just romantic/melancholic scenes for old days heard from grandfathers. This was my setting.

After a while, all coffee will eventually sink. This is an indicator. Your coffee is somewhat homogeneously distributed in water. Also you have a nice grease remains already on top of water. However, they cannot form a foam yet. Cause, we didn't stir it.

Start stirring.

Now, stop. Please check the foam. You have a quite nice foam already. Very very light color. No bubbles at all. It is not mature yet. If you want to be experienced in Turkish-style coffee brewing, look at that foam a lot. Follow its color and forms.

Stir again. For about a minute. Stirring keeps the foam intact. You may stop from time to time to check the color and then continue. It gets mature when you first see the red/fire color.

Check the second image. Could you see the firefox there? Could you? Ok, now it is time for the first shot. Actually, I would like you to compare the second foam image with the one above. Try to figure out the differences. We started with light color, it turned out to red/fire color. We started with no bubbles, it has bubbles now.

We'll pour some of the coffee to our fincans. I pour the foamy part and fill about 2/5 of my fincans.

Still, I have enough foam and lots of oils to extract in my ground beans. I continue to heat and stir. Don't forget to stir and keep foam intact. This time the foam turns from red/fire to brown/coffee-bean-color. Still, I'm very far from boiling. Fill another 2/5 of your fincans. The fincans are nearly full.

I would like to keep your attention to one point. At this point, you see the famous marbled foam of Turkish coffee for the first time. The reason is, you've mixed two different subsets of oils for the first time. Our final destination is to produce a coffee foam marbled with three colors.

Now, we hardly have any foam left in our cezve. We are heating the coffee for the last shot. This will be very close to the boiling point. You can hardly see any foam now, but mostly bubbles. At one point, the boiling starts in the middle. Take the cezve out of the fire very quickly to prevent burning the coffee and pour the rest of the coffee to the fincans.

(You really need to be quick, so I couldn't find time to focus and burnt the coffee a bit. Still, you can sense the boiling center. Sorry, for this picture and also I cannot provide a triple marbled foam for now as it burnt.)

Normally, there shouldn't be any grounds remain in cezve. Everything must be dissolved homogeneously in water.

Traditionally, we prefer to serve Turkish coffee with half a sip of liquor of sharp tastes. Like mint, quince, sour cherry or bitter almond. This time, it was hazelnut liquor.

A correctly prepared Turkish coffee is not a suspension of coffee grounds in water. Coffee grounds lay at the bottom and never fill in your mouth. The drinkable part stays on top.

Final words: This is it. I hope both theoretic and practical part helps people. Please leave comments so I can further advance this answer in time.


How can I make only a single shot on Delonghi EC9? I have a Delonghi EC9 and I want to make only a single shot. But, when I put the half amount of coffee in the portafilter the cup don't brew well.

These are low-end machines. Sometimes they do not ship them with a single shot portafilter to keep the costs low. If this is your case, means, if you don't have a single size portafilter you cannot make a single shot. See the differences on this post:

How should I manage settings for single shot / double shot

My humble advise is, get used to drinking doppios. :)


Can I use an espresso blend with an aeropress? I've heard that for a quality cup of aeropress coffee, one should be only using single origin coffees. I was wondering what the advantage of using single origin coffees was over espresso blends when brewing with an aeropress.

The answer is quite simply: It's up to your personal preference.

Lots of things make a good cup of espresso; some people like (or think they like) single origin expensive marketing-buzzword-infused coffees, and others have found other roasts / blends that work just as well for them. You can use whatever you want in your aeropress to make a cup of joe that suits you.

As this question on Seasoned Advise suggests, there are some objective measures we might look at. Since and Aeropress (disclaimer, I don't have one, but I have used them while backpacking quite a lot) tends to extract a lot of flavor, a medium roast will probably prevent your coffee from being too dark, and still provide a lot of flavor. You'll also want a nice fine grind, which is generally what you want for any espresso machine.


Non-plastic version of an AeroPress? I'm interested in getting a device like the aeropress that has no plastic in it.

Ideally, double-walled tempered glass housing, cork plunger, fine stainless steel filter, stainless steel cap. I'm surprised something like this isn't available for purchase already.

Another option is just stainless steel housing and a wooden layer over it to protect your hands from the heat, or just a double walled stainless steel housing.

The plunger is the biggest issue since that's what provides the seal and ability to move the piston down. Is there any reason why cork wouldn't work for this? Wine bottles use corks to preserve freshness seems like a cork seal should be able to hold up for 30 seconds just fine under pressure.

This may be off topic because it is opinion-based and hypothetical in nature. There may be some merit however because it is presented with a "fair and impartial tone" and invites experiences over opinions that may be backed up with references. Especially in the world of coffee, where brewing methods are identified by brands, it is hard to not talk about specific products. Therefore, I'll try to answer as best I can.

First, let's talk about some of your suggestions:

  Ideally, double-walled tempered glass housing

Part of the appeal of an Aeropress is that is durable, fool-proof, and easily brought on camping trips or stored in drawers and backpacks. Along with being bulky, doubled-walled glass or stainless steel would add weight and fragility.

  fine stainless steel filter

This is definitely an option, and you can buy metal filters for a few popular brew methods including Chemex and Aeropress, and off course, french press is typically a metal mesh filter. The thing about metal filters compared to cloth or paper is that even the finest ones cannot filter at the same level. Metal filters will always let in more oils and fines compared to paper, and this is why the might not be desirable for an Aeropress, where clean, bright coffee is expected.

  Is there any reason why cork wouldn't work for this?

Cork does seal well under the right conditions. But that's the key: right conditions. In a wine bottle, there is 1/2 and inch to 3/4 of an inch in diameter, and the cork is typically more than an inch long. It has also been created, molded, and formulated specifically for that task. A cork plunger would need to be thicker and be made specifically for that application to work, because you would't want it to flex and break the seal.

Also, cork is terrible at remaining taste-neutral. Every cup of coffee you brewed would impart taste into the cork and negatively effect every other cup. You could prevent this by putting a layer of something on the bottom if the cork, but then you start looking at using plastics.

If you're looking for brewing methods similar to the Aeropress, I might suggest something like the ROK. It uses hand pressure to extract espresso. No, i is not as easily carried around like an Aeropress but has a similar function.

If you're looking for brewers that have no plastic, well, there are many options in that field too such as french press, Chemex, mocha pot, espresso machine etc.

Beyond that, you could try modifying a glass french press with some sort of cloth filter to create a sort of reverse Aeropress. You can try looking around other options online too.

Hope this helps to answer your question!


What changes need to be made to espresso machine so it can function properly in space? I recently read this article about an Astronatur taking a "specially adapted espresso machine" with her to the space station and using it there to drink coffee.

Now this makes me wonder, what changes were made to the coffee machine so that it produced excellent coffee even in zero gravity?

All the article says is:

  Cristoforetti will be able to get her morning caffeine fix after celebrated Italian coffee makers Lavazza teamed up with space food specialist engineering firm Argotec to create a special and lightweight machine.

Which doesn't really give much technical information about the change itself.

I was able to dig up this press release:
http://www.lavazza.com/en/.content/document/pdf/PR_Italian-espresso-in-orbit.pdf

The first capsule-based espresso system able to work in the extreme
conditions of space is here. It is called ISSpresso and is the
brainchild of two Italian companies — Argotec and Lavazza — in
collaboration with the Italian Space Agency
Turin, 13 June 2014 – “An espresso coffee is what I miss most aboard
the International Space Station.” We have repeatedly heard this
comment from the Italian astronauts who for 13 years have been at
times working in the International Space Station, and today their
espresso wish is about to become reality. In fact, Argotec and Lavazza
are working together with the Italian Space Agency (ISA) to actually
bring the authentic Italian espresso onto the International Space
Station. So in the Futura Mission — the second long-term mission of
the Italian Space Agency aboard the Space Station — another Italian
astronaut of the European Space Agency, Air Force Captain Samantha
Cristoforetti, could not only be the first Italian woman to go into
space, but also the first astronaut in history to drink an authentic
Italian espresso in orbit.
Its name is ISSpresso. It takes its name from the International Space
Station (ISS), where it is to be installed. It is the first
capsule-based espresso system able to work in the extreme conditions
of space, where the principles that regulate the fluid dynamics of
liquids and mixtures are very different from those typical on Earth.
ISSpresso is the product of a project run by Argotec, the Italian
engineering company specialised in the design of aerospace systems and
European leader in the preparation of healthy and nutritious foods for
in-space consumption, and Lavazza, the historic Italian coffee brand.
ISSpresso is a veritable technological and engineering jewel, able to
deliver a perfect espresso in weightless environment. This is why it
was selected by the Italian Space Agency to be used aboard the ISS, in
the framework of the Request for Expression of Interest that the
Agency keeps constantly open to public-private partnership projects
and activities to be carried out in the ISS.
“Italian coffee is a beverage without borders — comments Giuseppe Lavazza, Vice President
of Lavazza — and we have been thinking about taking the espresso into
space for some time. Indeed, as far back as ten years ago we launched
the espresso into orbit artistically with the photographs taken by
Thierry Le Gouès and our Mission to Espresso calendar, which at the
time may have looked like a work of science fiction but was actually
just a vision of the future. In fact, today we are in a position to
overcome the limits of weightlessness and enjoy a good espresso — the
indisputable symbol of made in Italy products — on board the
International Space Station. We are proud to have worked on this major
project with Argotec, through the Lavazza Innovation Center, our
division dedicated to research and product innovation: a scientific
and engineering challenge which we hope will improve the living and
nutrition quality of astronauts engaged on long missions.”
“Our aerospace engineers — stated David Avino, Managing Director of Argotec
— have designed a new-concept coffeemaker, which is safe for the
astronauts and able to function in microgravity conditions, also
thanks to Lavazza’s experience as a leader in capsule extraction 2
systems. The functional project was already completed in June 2013:
Argotec had been working on it for about one year. This is an ultra
high-tech project which has led to innovative solutions, applicable
with immediate returns on Earth as well. ISSpresso is a technological
challenge that meets very stringent requirements, imposed by the
Italian Space Agency, in terms of technical functionality and safety.
In addition to the engineering aspect, Argotec is also taking care of
the European astronauts’ training and nutrition. Food provides an
important psychological support and being able to enjoy a good Italian
espresso may be just the right way to finish off the menu designed
especially for each astronaut, helping him or her to feel closer to
home.”
Roberto Battiston, President of the Italian Space Agency added:
“ISSpresso is a perfect example of the way ISA's decision to make ISS
national usage rights available to public-private partnership
initiatives can result in a valorisation of public resources for
technological, economic, and social objectives. The ISA will bring
ISSpresso aboard the ISS, thanks to bilateral cooperation agreements
with the NASA, as it shares with the project partners the objective of
improving the quality of life of ISS astronauts, as well as the
astronauts who will take part in future long interplanetary
exploration missions. At the same time, we are also proud to
contribute to the promotion of the image and spreading of the
Made-in-Italy brand at international or better “space”, level.”
A coffee break in space. A prototype of the space coffee machine is
currently being tested at Argotec’s laboratories and all the necessary
functional and safety checks. In a subsequent phase, Finmeccanica –
Selex ES will participate in the assessment activities aimed at
launching ISSpresso into orbit with the Futura Mission crew, one of
whom is the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. The ‘corner
café’ on the ISS will be the hub for socialising on board the Station,
a sort of social network in space, a venue for getting together,
chatting and relaxing: an aspect that should not be ignored in
missions that keep the astronauts away from home for many months in a
very challenging environment. The innovative capsule system will also
be able to prepare not only a regular espresso, but also a caffè lungo
or hot beverages, such as tea, infusions and broth, so that food can
also be rehydrated.
Extra-terrestrial technology. Every tiniest detail
of ISSpresso is designed to respond to a scientific and engineering
challenge: in fact, the machine studies have enabled principles of
physics and fluid dynamics to be tackled, such as the difficulty of
handling liquids at high pressure and high temperature in a space
environment. Just think that the plastic tube carrying the water
inside a normal espresso machine has been replaced with a special
steel tube designed to withstand pressure of more than 400 bar. The
machine is so complex that it weighs about 20 kilograms since there
are back-ups of all the critical components for safety reasons in
accordance with the specifications agreed upon with the Italian Space
Agency. ISSpresso represents a technologically high-value project
which, besides increasing the variety of flavour in the astronauts’
menu, will help improve our understanding of the principles of fluid
dynamics and conditions in microgravity. Some of the solutions adopted
have led to international patents, which will be useful both for
future space missions and immediate terrestrial use...

tl;dr
It looks like its a heavy duty capsule system designed to withstand high pressure that not only makes coffee, but makes tea, broth, infusions and re-hydrates food.

Just found images on The Guardian:

And on http://walyou.com/lavazza-argotec-isspresso/


What bean-to-cup machines are available with dual hopper system to allow regular and decaf at the same machine? I'm looking to buy an automated coffee machine for our small office setting; maybe 10 cups a day as a perk for our employees.
One thing that I feel we need is the ability to make decaf and caffeinated with the same machine.
This is the cheapest machine I've found that has a dual hopper setup:
Jura Giga 5 Automatic Coffee Machine.
Are there cheaper ones out there?  At this price point it almost feels like two machines would be a better option.

Many single-hopper machines have a little flap, drawer or similar opening where you can add ground coffee for one serving.
If you add one type of beans in the machine’s hopper you can use the second slot for the other.
The fact that the second one takes ground coffee doesn’t mean that half of your coffee drinkers have to use pre-ground, a good grinder should cost way less than a second machine or a dual hopper one. Just decide which group gets to use which setup. While we instinctively might say that the group that drinks more gets the simplest “just push a button” solution, maybe one fraction actually likes the “ritual” of the separate grinder.

Update:
As per request, I checked for examples.
This is the machine at my office: A BOSCH VeroCafe, you can see the opened chute.

The JURA machines I checked (randomly on the website) all feature “powder recognition for additional ground coffee variety”.
For SAECO I checked the (comparatively cheap) Incanto model and yes, this also has the “powder option” feature.


Coffee description decipher This might seem an odd question, but it is indeed a genuine one where I presume I could get useful information. I recently have gotten into enjoying "specialty coffee" performing pour over at home (due to COVID-19). After acquiring a bag of Blue Bottle Bella Donovan, I was curious to look up the characteristics/description of the beans, from the Blue Bottle website:

  Bella Donovan is the wool sweater of our blends—comforting, cozy, and enveloping. Our most popular blend, Bella is a variation of the archetypal Moka-Java pairing, in which a wild and jammy natural from Ethiopia finds balance with more substantive coffees from Sumatra and Peru. It stands on the darker side of things, weathers the rigors of the automatic drip machine well, and stands up to milk or cream—though it is just as elegant black.

I understand it is an Ethiopia/Sumatra blend. Could someone please explain to me what exactly this whole description means to someone who is new to coffee characteristics? For anyone who has had this coffee before, I genuinely would love to hear a "layman's" description of the coffee in comparison to any other coffee.

I'm a big coffee drinker and after many different brands and roasts tried, I'm very sure coffee taste notes on the bag or website are literally just marketing and not descriptive of the coffee at all.

It's a dark roasted blend of Ethiopian, Sumatran, and Peruvian beans. It's probably going to taste like a tame (less bitter) but strong black. Don't expect anything wild like Kicking Horse, etc., and don't expect anything absurd, like fruity or chocolatey.

Coffee generally does like this: it tastes generally like coffee. Differences between blends are typically minor and nuanced things that can't be described well with words. There are notable exceptions, but still, the differences are hard to describe.


End result of Americano vs Long Black? There have been a few questions now asked about the difference between a Caffe Americano vs a Long Black and the merits of each (here and here).  The main difference seems to be that the Long Black method of adding the espresso after the hot water preserves the crema better.

I conducted an experiment and created an Americano and a Long Black simultaneously using a La Marzocco. Immediately after brewing the result was as expected with the Long Black having more crema.  However, by the time they had sat a bit and cooled enough to drink (approximately 2 minutes), the crema had broken down and they looked almost identical.

Does the crema breaking up during brewing (Americano) or shortly thereafter (Long Black) really make a difference/affect the taste?  If not, is the difference merely academic or is there some other reason why the order of operations matters?

The crema definitely affects the initial taste of the coffee, that's where the concentrated notes of whatever bean you're using is going to be found.

I make a long black by:

Pour 3/4 cup of hot water (right from the machine)
Wait 2 - 3 minutes
Pull a double shot into it, holding it right under the group to minimize splashing
Let sit for about 30 seconds, serve

In contrast, I make an Americano by just pulling a double shot into a cup while also taking care to minimize splashing, then I serve it with a small steel or ceramic carafe of hot water (everyone likes a little more or a little less than everyone else).

In both instances, I heat the cup, and that's important because the crema will quickly break up on the walls of the cup if you don't. Most good espresso machines allow you to heat cups on the top of them.

Now, my testing is somewhat limited because I drink good quality Arabica beans pretty much exclusively. Arabica has some subtle flavors and it's easy to tell when they're more pronounced. Long blacks do hit the caramel notes more, in my experience. But, I usually just make myself an Americano because it's easier and the taste isn't all that different.

Done at home using a Breville Barista Express in manual mode. You don't really need a super expensive machine to replicate this, you just need the ability to pre-infuse, warm the cup, and be able to wrangle one under the group to minimize splashing.

Concluding, I think there's some substance to this. However, I'm not sure how much it really matters to someone kind of fumbling around to get their first cup of the day. It took close to a dozen tries to finally get a process down where the taste was noticeable and I could reliably reproduce it.

If you order either at your average coffee shop, I don't know that you'd be able to tell the difference, I never have.


Is there an Americano with sugar? From what I understand that Americano is a black coffee without sugar or any other sweetener.
So, what if I ask Barista to make me Americano with sugar?
Is it still an Americano?

The way I look at it, what you add into coffee doesn't change the "type" of coffee.  The act of adding sugar to something doesn't change the type.

Drip coffee refers to coffee made by dripping water over grinds
Espresso is water and pressure and fine grind coffee
Americano refers to coffee made by adding hot water to an espresso
Cappuccino refers to coffee made by adding steamed milk to an espresso

Adding sugar to any of these drinks doesn't change what type of drink it is.  A coffee snob might say that the "traditional" method is have it black, no sweetener but that doesn't make sense.  I get americano's and sometimes get it with milk and sometimes with sweetener.


What sort of sugar to add to coffee? Sometimes I like to add a bit of sugar to my coffee. Does it matter what sort of sugar I use?

Will the type of sugar make any difference to the taste? Does it depend on the type of coffee?

White sugar or brown sugar? Demerara sugar seems to be a popular option for coffee. Or some sort of raw or unrefined sugar?

Does the crystal size make a difference?

Yes, it makes a difference to the taste. As for what to pick - what you like.

My favorite is "Vermont Coffee" - ie, use maple syrup (or sugar, but syrup is more cost-effective, at least near a production area where the cost is not much shipping.)

Friends in the UK introduced me to Demerara, which is a not-quite fully refined sugar with a delicate carmel taste. Some of the "raw sugar" products sold in the USA approximate this, and some better than others.

At times I use USA brown sugar, which is basically white sugar sprayed with molasses, and not nearly as delicately flavored as a result.

Plain old white sugar is what it is, and if that's what you want, that's fine too.

I certainly have no difficulty distinguishing all of these from each other, in coffee - your taste buds/nose may vary.

Grain size affects only speed and ease of dissolving. Particularly in summer I tend to keep a bottle of 2 sugar:1 water simple syrup in the fridge for easily mixed, pre-dissolved sugar (not just for coffee.)


What makes a successful coffee shop? I would like to open an artisan coffee shop in the next three to five years, I have a few ideas which will set it apart from other specialty shops.  However, when coming up with a business model, how should an owner weigh the product that is being served to its customers?  Is it more about the experience and atmosphere and quality of the product? I have zero background in business modelling or development, but would like to get a few pointers in terms of moving forward with this.

You're going to have to understand the market of the local area of where you intend to have your coffee shop. When starting out, I highly doubt people from miles away would travel just to receive a cup of coffee from your shop. So before you've been able to establish a brand you'll need to start somewhere, and that is providing for the local community.

An unfortunate observation of mine is that it seems as though there is a majority of people who do not actually know what a good cup of coffee is like nor do they care; it's all about the caffeine fix or the environment of the shop itself. Very few people will be extreme critics of the quality of your coffee and depending on where you wish to be located you may be targeting the busy commuter that pops in to get his fix, or the chill artist that wants a relaxing environment.

Target your local area and find out what people like and what ideal direction you want your coffee shop to be going in i.e. do you want to open more stores elsewhere? Do you want to become a brand that also roasts it's own coffee and makes blends? Know what direction you want to go in should help mold what your coffee shop evolves into and what type of customer you will target.


Delonghi Magnifica - pump stops after 10 seconds with fault lights My Delonghi Magnifica ECAM22.110.B Bean-to-Cup machine just stopped working. The symptoms are:

Machine starts as normal
Grinder runs and pump runs for exactly 10 seconds then cuts out
Water from steam nozzle also runs for exactly 10 seconds and then cuts out
On the machine, the "water" light is illuminated and the "fault" and "grounds" lights are flashing

Given that this fault showed with hot water from the steam nozzle, I was guessing a pump or flow sensor fault. It turned out to be the flow sensor.

To repair:

Unplug the coffee machine from the mains
Remove the back panel, see here for instructions
Locate the flow sensor:

Unplug the electrical connection
Disconnect the two tubes (noting which goes where)
Remove the flow sensor
Carefully twist the top and bottom to open it
Rinse to remove any particles - mine had some coffee grounds in it which were probably jamming the mechanism
Carefully reassemble the sensor and reattach it
Replace the covers


Freezing brewed coffee The other day, I had stupid idea:

What if I made my coffee in big batch and freeze what I did not manage to drink?

Let's put away why would I even want to do it. And for sake of argument, I know it is probably bad idea, but still:

Why is it bad idea?

This is a perfectly good idea, if you freeze the coffee as cubes and plan to use them to chill your iced coffee without watering it down.

If you plan to simply freeze the coffee for drinking later I can imagine it being a bad idea, because you will lose some of the flavor. If you even poured milk or cream into the coffee you're planning to freeze, I would even recommend less freezing it, because no kind of milk products can be safely frozen and those are always better used fresh.


Procedure for making a Caffe Americano When making a Caffe Americano, does it matter whether you put the hot water or espresso in first?  This is not a complicated drink to make, but I've seen it prepared both ways.

If it does matter, why does the order affect the taste of the coffee?

Yes.  Adding water to Espresso is considered an Americano.  Doing it the other way around is called a Long Black.

According to that article and below sources, the Long Black preserves the crema, whereas the Americano preparation should not.  The manner in which the pour is done can contribute more to preserving or destroying the crema than the order.  An Americano should have no crema and the crema should be preserved in a Long Black.  It is the preservation or destruction of the crema that will affect the taste (and thus the pour) more than the order.