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Let’s talk coffee

#661
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Excellent! My kettle has a digital temp setting, so I'll give that a try tomorrow morning.



I have no idea what the roasting process is for flavored coffee beans. I suspect that they are tossed in flavored oil after the roasting process. What I do know is the effect of hazelnuts on my system. It's not an "I need an epi-pen" kind of reaction, but it's unmistakeable. I usually get it from coffee, once even just by sitting next to someone in a faculty meeting who was drinking a hazelnut flavored roast. Oddly, it's not a smell I can instantly recognize (like my other allergen, shrimp); I only know it from its effects.

As far as the grinder, I'm going to do a more scientific experiment and get some of my favorite commercial blends in whole bean form and compare them to the pre-ground versions I have been buying. That way, I'll be comparing apples to apples.
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The flavoring process is similar to what you describe, but that is not a flavored coffee. That is a single origin coffee. No one added hazelnut flavoring to it.
Tasting notes are just what a person writes down as they 'cup' the coffee. Tasting notes are subjective, not absolute. Just like listening to music. You'll hear a song and describe what you hear, the guy or gal next to you will describe what they hear. Some things will be in common, some will be unique.
For instance, a friend of mine owns this roastery and also roasts that same coffee: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
His tasting notes are similar and yet different.

But your allergic reaction is a real thing, and I am not attempting to minimize it or discredit what happened. I just wanted to clarify that no one added hazelnuts to that coffee or hazelnut oil. If this roaster had done so, it would have been labeled as such clearly.

As for doing the comparison, great idea. Be careful to make sure roast dates are close between the different beans.

-Mike
 
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#662
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Excellent! My kettle has a digital temp setting, so I'll give that a try tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...

The right temp will depend on your palate, the beans, and the roast. For example, I use water right off boil for light roasts to get as much bright fruit acidity as possible, but I prefer brewing with much lower temps for dark roasts to extract less of the bitter burnt flavor. Extraction is slower at lower temps, so you might need to grind a step finer for pourover or steep a little longer for immersion methods.
 
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#663
Haven't been here in a while because I stopped drinking coffee. I was drinking 4-5 espressos a day and it was getting to be too much. Always had to stop for coffee durng to day to get rid of my headache.
Gave my Breville espresso machine, knock box and espresso cups to my nieces husband. He was a happy man.
Took a half measure and have been drinking tea instead. Start out with a. up of Irish breakfast in the morning and usually another one in the afternoon. So far I have freedom to drink tea or not. It has been about three months, have to see how it plays out. I am a recovered alcoholic and I hate it when substances have too much power in my life.
Time to start a tea lovers thread.
 
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#665
MJ5150 said:
Smart move @slobake. I have dialed back my coffee consumption as well.
I don't know much about tea, but I know my favorite is Lipton black tea. It makes wonderful sun tea. I only have it sweetened if a southerner makes it for me. :)

-Mike
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Lipton hot tea usually upsets my stomach. I do like it of sun tea though. I like iced tea mixed with lemonade. Great thirst quencher.
 
#666
slobake said:
Haven't been here in a while because I stopped drinking coffee. I was drinking 4-5 espressos a day and it was getting to be too much. Always had to stop for coffee durng to day to get rid of my headache.
Gave my Breville espresso machine, knock box and espresso cups to my nieces husband. He was a happy man.
Took a half measure and have been drinking tea instead. Start out with a. up of Irish breakfast in the morning and usually another one in the afternoon. So far I have freedom to drink tea or not. It has been about three months, have to see how it plays out. I am a recovered alcoholic and I hate it when substances have too much power in my life.
Time to start a tea lovers thread.
Click to expand...
If you're so inclined, check out Smith Tea Co. They're pricey, but their blends are very tasty. They have blends specifically for ice tea as well, and they are equally lovely.
 
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#668
That's great @Chris Fitzgerald, and now the fun begins. Some folks keep a log of what does and doesn't work along the way to finding their coffee nirvana. I tried to at first, but stopped.
You'll get yourself to the point soon where it's all automatic and you hardly think twice about it.
Are you making pour overs?

-Mike
 
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#669
MJ5150 said:
That's great @Chris Fitzgerald, and now the fun begins. Some folks keep a log of what does and doesn't work along the way to finding their coffee nirvana. I tried to at first, but stopped.
You'll get yourself to the point soon where it's all automatic and you hardly think twice about it.
Are you making pour overs?
Click to expand...

Yep - pour overs. I'm just new to this and don't yet know how much coffee to use, how fine to grind it, and what temp water will work best.
 
#670
MJ5150 said:
That's all that matters, that it's great to you.
Somewhere there is a bass player plucking away on a used bass they found at a garage sale for $50 with a set of strings older than he/she is, and they think it's great. Who would any of us be to show up and tell them it sounds bad?

-Mike
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Yes, because this is TB... :D
But you are correct, that would be the wrong thing to do.

Meanwhile, I enjoy Sumatran beans and am going to grind some up to make my brew.
 
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#671
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Finally got some new beans yesterday, and the grinder works fine. Still trying to find the range on how much to use per what level of grind, and what temperature to pour though it.
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@patrickhowell makes some great observations above. There isn't a 'do this and get that' standard that'll always work. There's some basics that you can work from, but oftentimes each coffee has little nuances you'll want to adjust your brew method to pull out of the coffee.
For instance, I always grind my light roasted Ethiopian coffees a bit on the finer side and go a little cooler on the water temp so I can get the flavors I want. Whereas when it's time to make a pour over with a Sumatran or Sulawesi the wife loves, the grinds are more like crumbs and hotter water.
Stick with it and you'll be a pro in no time.

-Mike
 
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#672
LOVE coffee and drank it black for YEARS on an empty stomach with no trouble. Just started giving me issues about a year ago and I tried switching to tea. Even eating a little snack with it, the tannins still make me nauseous...so now I eat a snack and drink about 3 or 4 oz of coffee a day instead. So far, so good.

I also drink decaf....love the taste of coffee :D
 
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#673
Trying my first batch of cold brew. 4/1 ratio water to ground beans.
For those of you who drink it this way, do you then dilute it 50/50? I read about that in the article describing how to cold brew, but I have more faith in the collective wisdom of this thread.
 
#676
pisces_bass said:
I’ve settled on a 3:1 water to coffee ratio. I don’t dilute the coffee but I do like it over ice. My process results in using the same amount of ground coffee for 6oz of cold brew that I would use to make 10oz of regular hot coffee. It’s a delicious concentrate!
Click to expand...

Trust this man. He knows coffee.

-Mike
 
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#680
I haven’t found any disappointments among the beans I’ve tried for cold brew this summer. I’ve been working through a pound of each variety, trying different roasts and sometimes different coffee:water ratios. This particular Kenyan bean is the standout that made me wish I had bought a 5lb bag.
A6C5B9C4-828B-4E05-A729-C281859C1517.jpeg


Next up is an Ethiopian guji variety.
 
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