Let’s talk coffee

[MJ5150]

I decided to give someone else's cold brew a try for once. I like Todd and La Colombe anyway, so I knew this would be good. It's not cheap, but it is good.
It's a nice way to mix up my cold brew game and gives me a break from making it all the time.
The Colombian is light and smooth, not normally how I roast a Colombian. It was actually Todd who suggested I try roasting my Colombians on the lighter side at the SCAA show in Seattle several years ago. I thought it was cool to see he uses his own advice too.
It's already watered down, so I suggest drinking it straight if you try it. Don't pollute it with any foreign substances until you at least drink a few ounces straight so you can really taste the flavors in this finely roasted and brewed coffee. Cold brew is a labor of love, so at least appreciate the finished product before altering it.
Edit: Todd Carmichael is the CEO of La Colombe, among other things in his life. Great guy, and you'd never know he was a CEO when you met him. A down to earth coffee lover like the rest of us.

-Mike

 

[MJ5150]

Japan’s Cafec Launches Roast-Specific Paper Filters
It's about to get even more serious up in here. I have a couple sample packs ordered.

-Mike

 

[friskinator]

Now that some people are finally returning to our work office, I was tasked with finding us a new coffee vendor. We're a fairly large company that drinks a lot of coffee, but our current vendor's machine sucks. Plus, the coffee is typical generic office swill.

The company is tech-oriented, and we have a lot of employees that are very into local food and drink options. So, I found a new vendor that only offers locally roasted coffee. They're bringing us a fancy new bean-to-cup machine that makes a good cup in addition to all the specialty drinks, and we're going to have a little blackboard in the kitchen that tells everyone what the coffees of the week are. Should be pretty cool, and hopefully it'll keep everyone from going to Starbucks.

 

[pie_man_25]

Japan’s Cafec Launches Roast-Specific Paper Filters
It's about to get even more serious up in here. I have a couple sample packs ordered.

-Mike

I'm not going to lie, they made some convincing ad work, but I'm really not sure if it's legitimate or not. Only one way to find out, I trust your experience.

That being said, in the pour over world there are a million variables that I've never bothered to think much about.

 

[MJ5150]

I'm not going to lie, they made some convincing ad work, but I'm really not sure if it's legitimate or not. Only one way to find out, I trust your experience.

That being said, in the pour over world there are a million variables that I've never bothered to think much about.

I don't think these are aimed at the casual coffee drinker. As you mentioned, there are lots of variables in the pour over world, and this is another way to control one for more predictable results. Most folks probably don't even care about those variables and just want a cup of coffee. Whatever it tastes like isn't all that important as long as it's not terrible.
I also use the Kruve coffee sifter at times, usually when cupping for sample testing because I want predictable and fair comparisons.
Some of y'all put this much effort into getting specific sounds out of your bass or basses. That's the kind of passion I have for coffee. At this point in my life, a bass guitar is just a piece of wood with four or five strings attached to it.

-Mike

 

[pie_man_25]

I don't think these are aimed at the casual coffee drinker. As you mentioned, there are lots of variables in the pour over world, and this is another way to control one for more predictable results. Most folks probably don't even care about those variables and just want a cup of coffee. Whatever it tastes like isn't all that important as long as it's not terrible.
I also use the Kruve coffee sifter at times, usually when cupping for sample testing because I want predictable and fair comparisons.
Some of y'all put this much effort into getting specific sounds out of your bass or basses. That's the kind of passion I have for coffee. At this point in my life, a bass guitar is just a piece of wood with four or five strings attached to it.

-Mike

There is a LOT to coffee, I'm just a generalist by nature I think. Pour over makes a great cup, but I'll admit to being intimidated by all the variables, even in a Moka pot there's a lot to consider and it can be finicky sometimes with a new roast.

But yeah, for the casual coffee drinker this is indeed not.

 

[pie_man_25]

I'm just going to leave this here:

 

[sleddogn]

so i've now watched 4 diff videos on this thing, its kinda cool if you were out hiking and wanted a shot of coffee

 

[MJ5150]

I'm just going to leave this here:

My buddy has one. We've tried it a few times. It's neat.

-Mike

 

[MattZilla]

Strange hearing a British accent and seeing a classic Carhartt.

 

[sleddogn]

kinda wanted to punch him before fake beard came off, lol

 

[pie_man_25]

so i've now watched 4 diff videos on this thing, its kinda cool if you were out hiking and wanted a shot of coffee

I can jive with that. It can be hard to justify the space that coffee stuff can take up, but this might be compact enough to justify taking.

 

[MJ5150]

A new coffee brewing device arrived today. The all glass brewing experience from Pure Over. No paper filters, no metal filters. Just you, the coffee, glass, and water.
I prefer the idea of no paper filters since they taint the taste of the coffee.

That is a glass stir stick you see protruding out the top, and is necessary if you grind your coffee too fine. This is going to take a few tries to fine tune it to the right grind, amount of beans, and type of coffee. It'll be a fun adventure. I'm starting with a blend of Central America and East Africa.

-Mike

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I decided to give someone else's cold brew a try for once. I like Todd and La Colombe anyway, so I knew this would be good. It's not cheap, but it is good.
It's a nice way to mix up my cold brew game and gives me a break from making it all the time.

You almost got me to splurge enough try it (well, actually grabbed the "mild roast" version per personal preference.) Then I came to my senses (that's essentially one day's worth of coffee for me, at a price somewhere in the fractional pounds of beans, depending on beans) and have been splurging by adding an extra scoop to my home-made, no fuss, French Press cold brew, instead. Yes, I'm a heathen, I don't weigh the grounds. But I will keep an eye out for it next time I'm stuck traveling and without coffee other than pre-made easily available (since I have not gotten to the point of investing in "travel coffee kit" and my 50-60 year old (estimated) French Press is not suited to the rigors of travel.)

The all glass brewing experience from Pure Over. No paper filters, no metal filters.

So, sintered glass filter, I'm supposing without subjecting myself to their marketing materials?

 

[MJ5150]

You almost got me to splurge enough try it (well, actually grabbed the "mild roast" version per personal preference.) Then I came to my senses (that's essentially one day's worth of coffee for me, at a price somewhere in the fractional pounds of beans, depending on beans) and have been splurging by adding an extra scoop to my home-made, no fuss, French Press cold brew, instead. Yes, I'm a heathen, I don't weigh the grounds. But I will keep an eye out for it next time I'm stuck traveling and without coffee other than pre-made easily available (since I have not gotten to the point of investing in "travel coffee kit" and my 50-60 year old (estimated) French Press is not suited to the rigors of travel.)


So, sintered glass filter, I'm supposing without subjecting myself to their marketing materials?

I don't follow your logic for not trying the La Colombe. It's too expensive? If you're going through 42 ounces of cold brew a day, wow that's a lot. A quality cold brew to me is like a whiskey, sip it in small amounts. 2-4 ounces is just the right amount. I can't imagine drinking that much cold brew in one day. You'd be bouncing off the walls.

I had to look up sintered. No, it's not that. In the bottom of the dripper are tiny holes that do the filtering. You have to grind your coffee like a French press or you'll end up with some grinds in your cup. That's not always bad thing though in my opinion, so I don't mind a little in the bottom of the cup. Here's a pic looking at it from the top. It's a great idea to build the filter right into the dripper. I am glad someone finally did it. This was developed by a glass blower in Portland, Oregon, so he knows and understand the properties of the glass and how to do it right. He used borosilicate glass, which was also a great idea and likely helps with the integrity of the dripper with all the holes in it. I'm just speculating there. I am no expert on glass, but I know the properties of borosilicate lend it to drastic temp changes better than other glass.
Mine was $59, minus a 10% off coupon. Not a bad deal in my opinion. Probably a ridiculous amount of money to some, but it's all relative.

-Mike

 

[T_Bone_TL]

You may have a more fixed mark for the "meaning" of cold brew than I do.

Pretty much the same amount of coffee I'd put in the French press for hot, but done cold overnight it tastes better. So I do that. Looks like about 10g per scoop (yup, dug out the scale for once, still not going to use it daily), so 30-40 grams of coffee and just under a liter of water, yielding 3 mugs (not coffee industry micro-cups) of coffee. 300 to 400 (normal .vs. "extra scoop") mg in the beans, which we'll assume for the sake of discussion is almost completely extracted (I don't grind coarse, I also don't mind a few grounds in the cup, I brew overnight, often 22-23 hours, I grok that caffeine is relatively very soluble.) Some loss of volume and caffeine to what doesn't drain out of the grounds, but that's the case for any method. I do have an "alternate" method of using a 1 liter bottle and a filter, but I seem to have lost the portable cone filter holder, so that's me flipping off my 'merican standard drip coffee maker (brews too hot for me, in my current set of biases) by using its filter and carafe without switching it on

So on an equivalent caffeine basis, the 230mg per 12 oz serving they list comes out to 805 mg/bottle, or 2 to 2.5 of my daily usual intake. Maybe 3 if we assume less extraction. Volumetrically it's a bit too close to a day's intake to assume it wouldn't just get finished off, but having made the analysis (now) I can valiantly attempt to keep it to half a bottle a day when next trapped in no-coffee-land with a grocery store handy. Of course, that's often no-refrigerator-land as well... Beats the heck out of resorting to Dunkin, I'm quite sure.

The path of attempting to super-concentrate (and then dilute) never made any sense to me - a lot gets lost in that. Only real upgrade I might apply to my setup would be a magnetic stirrer (rechargeable) that could live in the fridge and stir it all night. The fictional upgrade would be a rather more complex system with similar results, and likely harder to clean. The "cold brew systems" on the market pretty much drove me to where I am with excess cost/complexity and the fixation on making "concentrate." I says, says I: "Here's my French press, here's the fridge, what possible reason would it have NOT to work?" And lo, it does, for me, 11-15 days per pound of coffee, and very little fuss.

 

[MJ5150]

I use 12 ounces of coffee and 1.5 liters of water in my cold brew maker (Filtron). It sits for 12.5 hours and not a minute more or less, then I let it drain. I typically end up with about a liter of cold brew that'll last at least a week, longer in the winter months. I rarely add anything to it, but there is a fantastic Ethiopian Hambela or Guji that if I am able to roast perfectly nails the blueberry bomb. When that happens, we'll add a splash of almond milk and it tastes nearly like a blueberry pancake.
I was introduced to the Filtron about 10 years ago, and have been using it every since. I've participated in all kinds of experimental brews with the filter pad and making changes to it like adding a flavoring, freezing it, and such. That's been fun too.
When we lived in New Hampshire, I wasn't roasting coffee yet, so we had the darndest time finding good fresh roasted coffee. We'd drive to Windsor and go to Boston Dreams. They use Mocha Joe's out of Brattelboro. It was the best we found. There was a roaster in Keene, NH that was decent, Terra Nova, but not worth the drive from Sunapee. Prime Roast wasn't so bad, but we just weren't going to drive that far for decent or OK coffee.

-Mike

 

[pie_man_25]

I use 12 ounces of coffee and 1.5 liters of water in my cold brew maker (Filtron). It sits for 12.5 hours and not a minute more or less, then I let it drain. I typically end up with about a liter of cold brew that'll last at least a week, longer in the winter months. I rarely add anything to it, but there is a fantastic Ethiopian Hambela or Guji that if I am able to roast perfectly nails the blueberry bomb. When that happens, we'll add a splash of almond milk and it tastes nearly like a blueberry pancake.
I was introduced to the Filtron about 10 years ago, and have been using it every since. I've participated in all kinds of experimental brews with the filter pad and making changes to it like adding a flavoring, freezing it, and such. That's been fun too.
When we lived in New Hampshire, I wasn't roasting coffee yet, so we had the darndest time finding good fresh roasted coffee. We'd drive to Windsor and go to Boston Dreams. They use Mocha Joe's out of Brattelboro. It was the best we found. There was a roaster in Keene, NH that was decent, Terra Nova, but not worth the drive from Sunapee. Prime Roast wasn't so bad, but we just weren't going to drive that far for decent or OK coffee.

-Mike

Is there a Windsor in New Hampshire? I'm from a Windsor and never heard of Boston dreams.

 

[MJ5150]

Is there a Windsor in New Hampshire? I'm from a Windsor and never heard of Boston dreams.

Windsor, Vermont.
The town where Vermont was born.

-Mike

 

[pie_man_25]

whelp, I got a 1-cup moka pot, so instead of drinking from the 3-cup one and jumping around half the day, I've been having two of the 1-cup ones (one with breakfast and one with lunch) and feeling pretty good.

I also went walking through Chinatown in Toronto with my girlfriend and ended up picking up a Vietnamese coffee filter and some Vietnamese coffee. I'm tracking that it's more of a beverage that they tend to have on ice with condensed milk, but the stuff isn't bad black, it's a bit thin in body coming from the filter, but in a moka pot it's very finely ground, so it comes out slowly, and and has a thick body to it. The flavour (I imagine compounded by the fact that it's pre-ground and christ only knows how long it was sitting on the shelf) is a bit one-dimensional, but it kinda makes me think a bit of chocolate and popcorn. Honestly, I'd say it's worth a shot to most.

Also, I've been (and this is a waaays out) contemplating roasting my own beans going forward, since it seems like you can just get a bunch of beans and not have to worry about freshness until you roast them.