Coffee Problem

mtaratoot · January 30

I just read something that made me laugh:

"I don't have a coffee problem. Honestly. Okay, I have a coffee problem, but it's not really a problem as long as I continue to get coffee."

I happen to really enjoy coffee as well. I certainly don't think it's a problem as long as I don't have caffeinated after about 13:00 or it interferes with my sleep. I used to eschew decaf. I'd say, "What's the point?" Well, the point is that there are some really delicious decaffeinated beans available, and they make a fine cup.

I don't have a problem.

Yes, I do single serve pour-over. Yes I use unbleached paper filters. Yes I rinse them first to get any stray fibers out. Yes I preheat my mug during the winter - no need in the summer. Yes I drink it without any pollutants. Yes I've even started to weigh my beans before I grind them. Yes I usually pour just a little near-boiling water on the grounds to let them bloom before I make the cup.

I don't have a problem.

Yes I have made cold-brewed coffee overnight. I had to stop doing that. Too smooth and too easy to just drink the whole batch in a few days. Yes sometimes in the summer I make an extra cup and put it in a jar and put it in the refrigerator to have in the afternoon on ice. Summertime I can drink a little bit after 13:00. And as far as polluted coffee goes, a splash of evaporated milk in an iced coffee with a little vanilla is a fine treat every now and then.

Would it be a problem if I couldn't continue to get coffee? Maybe. I probably should put some high-quality instant coffee in my emergency kit, because I never have a two-week supply of beans, and certainly not in the days before I go to the store.

It can't be a problem. I don't even have a burr grinder. Can you believe that? It's a sacrilege. I could lose my coffee license for that offense. Nah. But I don't have one.... yet.

Guess who the author of the original statement was.

Do you love coffee?

Is it a problem?

Want to share your favorite roast or blend or brewing method?

yirara · January 30

I sometimes drink a cup. Mostly coffee with cardamom from my local Arab shop. Just put the powder into a small pot, this on my stove, and then try to get as much coffee out without too much sediment and drink from an old yogurt glass that I found in the woods on Åland. Exotic enough? 😅

Honestly, I mostly drink tea. Green or fruit infusions. Fairly weak as I have a big mug. No sugar or milk.

AdahPotatah2024 · January 30

☝️🤪
This is what happens to those of us who love coffee, haha.
It has antioxidants!
I have some local favorites, but rotate the ones that go on sale at the grocery store. Just stocked up on $3 bags of Dunkin Donut Holiday Blend.

My guess. George Burns?

drmwc · January 30

I get 700g of beans delivered each week (350g espresso; 350g filter). I use Square Mile, a London company, who send a different type each week. My favourite is probably relatively acidic light roasted ones, like Kenyans. I do like a naturally processed one now and again, but I wouldn't want all my coffee natural. (Most is probably washed process, with honey processed second,.) They are probably medium roasters when compared to speciality coffee as a whole, but very light when compared with coffee overall.

For filters, I normally go for v60 although I have possibly too many solutions knocking around (French press, Aeropress, mocha pot, syphon, Hario switch, filter machine and a few others). I recently bought a Fellow Ode as my filter grinder; I have some SSP multi-purpose burrs I may put into it; but I'm currently test running the Gen 2 Fellow ones. Before that, I used a Niche Zero. I have a Kinu hand grinder to keep me caffinated if I'm away diving or caving.

For espresso, I have a Decent DE1 Pro. It is a very good machine. I use a Turing DF 83 grinder for this; it seems to work well and I can normally get a very decent cup.

I normally go for my coffee black, with no sugar. I'll occaissonally have a crack at doing latte art, which I'm not very good at.

I have vaguely been thinking of buying a roaster and getting green beans, but I'm not sure I have space for it.

I like coffee!

mtaratoot · January 30

I used to use a coffee press, but I haven't in a long time. It makes tasty coffee. The four reasons I almost never use it anymore are:

I hate cleaning it.
It makes a liter at a time; the second cup will be cold by the time I get to it.
The coffee that's left in the press continues to brew when I pour the first cup. Not only that, because there are still small bits of coffee in the cup, it even continues to brew in my cup.
I read about caffestol. It's correlated with increased serum cholesterol. Paper filters remove it.

When on the river, I have used a variety of methods depending on who's in charge of coffee:

I have a large pour-over filter and an air pot. I can make a pot fairly quickly, and it stays hot. If it looks like we need more, I can boil water before the first pot is even empty. The second pot is ready soon after it's needed, and I can put any leftovers in the raft to have with lunch or when we get to camp.
One friend uses a method that works really well. He puts coarse coffee in a nylon bag and puts it in the coffee pot with cold water the evening before and leaves it overnight. In the morning he puts the pot on the stove and gets it close to boiling, and it's done. It makes good coffee.
Another friend has a really good method that makes surprisingly good "cowboy coffee." He boils water, then pours the grounds on top, then stirs them in. Then he sets a timer. When the time is up, he pours a little cold water on top to settle the grounds, then waits a few minutes more. We strain that through a steel strainer into an insulated container for serving.
I was on one trip where someone brought a percolator. He said my method "took too long." I used to enjoy percolated coffee. It is NOT fast, and it uses a fair bit of fuel if you're doing it on a propane stove. I asked him one morning how long he perked it for. His reply, "Just until it turns brown." No wonder it wasn't very good. It was just brown water. As it turns out, he doesn't even DRINK coffee. Note to everyone: NEVER EVER let someone who doesn't drink coffee be in charge of making coffee for a group. I was glad I had a stash of Starbuck's instant coffee packets that someone had given me a couple years early "for emergency use." They turned my coffee into something resembling coffee. There's more to this story that I'll share soon.....

It was NOT Rodney Dangerfield, but that's a good guess. More contemporary. Hint: it was in a cooking book I got from the library a couple weeks ago.

tuckahoe88 · January 30

I love coffee, too and have always felt that my adoration of it was quite advanced compared to other folks. BUT...After reading the posts above, I now feel like a rank amateur. Maybe a good cup of shade-grown will lift my spirits.😆

mtaratoot · January 30

mtaratoot wrote: »

It was NOT Rodney Dangerfield, but that's a good guess. More contemporary. Hint: it was in a cooking book I got from the library a couple weeks ago.

Clearly I misspelled George Burns.....

springlering62 · January 30

I came to coffee only a couple years ago.

My first coffee maker was an ikea French press, which shattered on the second use. That’s when I discovered Aeropress and I haven’t looked back.

I used to like it with flavored syrups, but now just use a quarter cup of frothed skim milk.

Have tried local roasts, store brands etc, but really like Community Coffee, which is a southern brand.

Quick and easy for me. I can’t even comprehend half of what yall are saying.

mtaratoot · January 30

The person who wrote the quote in question uses an Aeropress and believes it is an essential piece of kitchen equipment. I haven't used one yet. This person also has a recipe for cold brew and says that's mostly what they drink. Probably not the best hints....

mtaratoot · January 30

Just by chance, a friend sent me an article from BBC about how a new genetic map of coffee's DNA may result in better coffee in our future. Probably not any time too soon, but hey - good news is good news!

tulips_and_tea · January 30

I prefer espresso, so I have a Moka pot. It gives me two cups, which is just right. Most of the time I just add a packet of Equal. If I want it flavored, I'll add a teaspoon of good vanilla extract and put 2 oz of either oat milk or soy milk in a little jar and shake it until foamy and pour that on top. Certainly not a coffee expert, obviously!

So, who said the quote? Or I may have missed it...

mtaratoot · January 30

Thanks for reminding me - I should get my Moka pot out and make a cup. I haven't used it in a long time. I wonder how well it will work on my glass range. I bet it will be OK. For sure a good cup.

It wasn't George Burns or Rodney Dangerfield. It also wasn't Frank Sinatra or Anthony Bourdain. Aside from that, I'm not spilling the (coffee) beans just yet....

yirara · January 30

A moka pot once killed a glass stove as unbelievable as it sounds. Was living in a very hot and at times very humid country. Middle of summer, close to 50C. Am out briefly. Air conditioning fails and (just guessing) a water droplet falls from ceiling and switches on the stove. The moka pot still stands on that particular cooking zone. Return home, find massive smoke, a hole in the glass (seriously) and a molten moka handle. Well, that's one coffee problem 😬 Employer was paying for the house and replaced the stove. But still... 🙈

mtaratoot · January 30

yirara wrote: »

A moka pot once killed a glass stove as unbelievable as it sounds. Was living in a very hot and at times very humid country. Middle of summer, close to 50C. Am out briefly. Air conditioning fails and (just guessing) a water droplet falls from ceiling and switches on the stove. The moka pot still stands on that particular cooking zone. Return home, find massive smoke, a hole in the glass (seriously) and a molten moka handle. Well, that's one coffee problem 😬 Employer was paying for the house and replaced the stove. But still... 🙈

Well... I guess I'm not getting out the Moka pot unless I break out the camping stove.

AnnPT77 · January 30

Is commercial coffee a problem?

That's one of today's coffees, from my favorite local.

My home routine is coffee beans usually from a good local roaster (varied types/origins/roasts), non-fancy blade-type grinder, water heated in an old-style whistling tea kettle on my gas stovetop, porcelain filter holder with paper #2 cone filters, oodles of hot skim milk (sometimes frothed with a Ninja non-electric frother, if I'm feeling energetic and fancy), nice artisan pottery mug that fits my giant hands perfectly.

I don't think that's a problem. As a bonus, it's a good protein source for its small number of calories.

mtaratoot · January 30

I am going to try this in the next few days, and maybe even tonight. It's a recipe for "Cold Brew Coffee."

Ingredients:

40 g coarse ground coffee
100 grams boiling water
Pinch of kosher salt
200 grams ice
100 grams cold water

Method:

Weigh the coffee into a pint jar
Add boiling water, stir, let sit three minutes
Add salt and ice; add cold water
Close the jar tightly and refrigerate six hours
Filter out grounds
Add ice
Enjoy

In the past when I've made iced coffee, I just make coffee in a pour-over and then chill it before adding ice. I'm wondering if I could tell the difference. Maybe I should make some each way and do a taste test.

Just to repeat in case there's any confusion: I don't have a problem.

Oh. Yeah. This recipe came from the person who wrote the original thing that made me laugh and start this thread.

yirara · January 31

mtaratoot wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

A moka pot once killed a glass stove as unbelievable as it sounds. Was living in a very hot and at times very humid country. Middle of summer, close to 50C. Am out briefly. Air conditioning fails and (just guessing) a water droplet falls from ceiling and switches on the stove. The moka pot still stands on that particular cooking zone. Return home, find massive smoke, a hole in the glass (seriously) and a molten moka handle. Well, that's one coffee problem 😬 Employer was paying for the house and replaced the stove. But still... 🙈

Well... I guess I'm not getting out the Moka pot unless I break out the camping stove.

I'm sorry, I'm so sorry 😬

mtaratoot · January 31

I am considering buying an Aeropress.

And...

It was Alton Brown.

tulips_and_tea · January 31

Oh, I knew it! I was going to guess Alton yesterday, but got busy at work. Sounds like him...

xbowhunter · January 31

MMMM Coffee!!!!

mtaratoot · January 31

BZAH10 wrote: »

Oh, I knew it! I was going to guess Alton yesterday, but got busy at work. Sounds like him...

I should have waited until tomorrow to disclose it so you could have won the big prize. Instead, I win the prize. More coffee!

springlering62 · January 31

I’ve made super easy cold brew in my Aeropress.

That thing is sheer engineering genius.

mtaratoot · February 1

springlering62 wrote: »

I’ve made super easy cold brew in my Aeropress.

That thing is sheer engineering genius.

Do you have the "regular" size model? How much coffee does it make at one time? I presume it's the same with hot or cold. It seems like it makes a small cup, but it also suggests on the website that it's pretty strong and more like espresso. They seem to suggest adding boiling water to make "American coffee," which I translate to "Americano (espresso and water). I find an Americano not at all the same as a pour-over.

I should see if anyone I know has one and is willing to make me a cup of coffee (and another cup of cold brew for later).

I went to a coffee shop today that doesn't actually make coffee. I met a friend on his last day of work. He retires tomorrow. He always wanted to take a coffee break and SIT DOWN TO ENJOY it instead of filling our refillable cups and taking it to go. Well... not only didn't they have coffee, they only had paper cups. I got a Jasmine green tea, and guess what it tasted like? Yep. The paper cup. Very sad. I won't be back. Neither will he. We only went because it is a very convenient location, and he said, "It's the one place that it's guaranteed not to see anyone else from work."

I came home and made a pour-over decaf.

I do not have a problem!

springlering62 · February 1

I’ve got the regular aeropress model.

I’m the only coffee drinker in my family, and I’m new to it since after the pandemic. I don’t know the coffee drinking or making lingo.

I simply add two scoops to the bottom (my mug is a two cup mug) half, add boiling water to the mark, stir to the slow count of 10, pop the top half in, and after three minutes, press it down to force it through the filter.

The heat forms a vacuum seal and the coffee brews inside the sealed “tube”

It makes a concentrate (?) that the instructions refer to as an espresso shot, and I add water and hot frothed milk to it.

To make cold brew, same process only you use cold water instead of boiling, stir for a full minute, pop the lid on and let it sit for ten minutes. Press, add more ice water, pour all over ice. Delicious with a bit of fat free half and half and a little sugar free syrup.

I’ve seen videos of people doing a fancy move where they brew it upside down. It’s supposed to make a richer coffee. It comes with warnings not to try. The one time I did, I shot boiling water all over me and the counter. No desire to attempt again.

It’s just an ingenious, beautifully engineered peice of plastic.

It’s marked to brew up to four espresso shots.

mtaratoot · February 1

Thanks @springlering62

That's kind of what the website seemed to say. There's a nice man who still works where I used to work who uses one. I've been trying to get him in a canoe for years. Maybe I should "schedule a meeting" with him and see if he'll make me a cup. He probably offered once or more when I worked there, but usually by the time he was making one, I was done with coffee for the day.

Can you find the paper filters for sale locally, or do you have to order them? I like the idea of a reusable filter, and they sell one. I also like the idea of the paper filter removing the cafestol.

drmwc · February 1

I don't really make traditional cold brew. I have a widget I keep in my freezer I can plop pour over through for very nice ice coffee. (One of these:
https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/coldwave)

Here is my espresso corner of my dining room:

This is mid-shot. (The Decent machine has an Android tablet on top of it, and loads of monitors, so temperature, flow rate and pressure at each point of the shot are user-defined.)

This shot was the third off a new bag, so not completely dialled in. It was a bit over-extracted; the next one was very nice.

springlering62 · February 1

mtaratoot wrote: »

Thanks @springlering62

Can you find the paper filters for sale locally, or do you have to order them? I like the idea of a reusable filter, and they sell one. I also like the idea of the paper filter removing the cafestol.

I ordered a supply from Amazon when I first bought it, and wound up with so many, I sent some home with a kid. I’m still using up the first order. Probably have a years supply left. They are so tiny, thin and unlike the large fluted filters that I don’t worry about them. I’d be far more worried about the grounds than the filter. We are inner city. No yard other than a few bushes, def nowhere to attempt to compost.

I’d suggest a community compost bin but these are the laziest old possums you’ve ever seen in your life. We are two blocks from the “square” and some of these jokers drive there. My neighbor drives to the courthouse, which is literally 300 yards from his front door. Defies logic because he walks further than that from the parking deck. My suggestion for a garden club to landscape our pocket park was a major bust lol.

mtaratoot · February 1

drmwc wrote: »

I don't really make traditional cold brew. I have a widget I keep in my freezer I can plop pour over through for very nice ice coffee. (One of these:
https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/coldwave)

Here is my espresso corner of my dining room:

This is mid-shot. (The Decent machine has an Android tablet on top of it, and loads of monitors, so temperature, flow rate and pressure at each point of the shot are user-defined.)

This shot was the third off a new bag, so not completely dialled in. It was a bit over-extracted; the next one was very nice.

I'm curious about the freezer thing; the link didn't work for me.

It sounds like you definitely enjoy coffee, and it is NOT A PROBLEM!

mtaratoot · February 1

springlering62 wrote: »

I’d suggest a community compost bin but these are the laziest old possums you’ve ever seen in your life. We are two blocks from the “square” and some of these jokers drive there. My neighbor drives to the courthouse, which is literally 300 yards from his front door. Defies logic because he walks further than that from the parking deck. My suggestion for a garden club to landscape our pocket park was a major bust lol.

I compost very little around my house anymore. We've got opossums - they aren't native, but are naturalized. We also have raccoons. Worse than the opossums. And... rats. My neighbor has chickens. And ducks. And rabbits. And dogs. And a cat. And... goats. Yeah. So all that food attracts "vectors." I do still spread most of my used coffee grounds around. It's really good for the soil. We are fortunate that the company that hauls waste has a composting facility. For as long as I can remember, we've been able to put yard debris in a special cart. They sell the compost. Maybe a decade ago they started letting us put in some kinds of food waste and eventually ALL food waste. We can put contaminated pizza boxes, onion skins, crab shells, and even bones and animal fat in the bin and it gets composted. A nearby city has a waste hauler that also has a composting facility, but for the longest time they didn't have the permit for food waste. I think they finally got it. It's a really really good idea to keep that stuff out of the landfill and instead turn it into a resource.

We don't call it a Yard Debris Cart anymore - it's a Green Waste Cart. Mine is full pretty quickly after it's dumped these days - all the fruit tree pruning stuff. At some point, and I don't remember when, they started doing weekly collection instead of every other week. Some weeks it's nearly empty, and I don't bother to put it out. Other times of year, like now, it's always full. Sometimes the neighbors share space if they aren't filling up theirs and another neighbor has more than will fit.

It's sad this service isn't universal.

I do still have a compost bin out back. I do put a few things out there. It goes so slow....

AnnPT77 · February 1

mtaratoot wrote: »

drmwc wrote: »

I don't really make traditional cold brew. I have a widget I keep in my freezer I can plop pour over through for very nice ice coffee. (One of these:
https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/coldwave)

Here is my espresso corner of my dining room:

This is mid-shot. (The Decent machine has an Android tablet on top of it, and loads of monitors, so temperature, flow rate and pressure at each point of the shot are user-defined.)

This shot was the third off a new bag, so not completely dialled in. It was a bit over-extracted; the next one was very nice.

I'm curious about the freezer thing; the link didn't work for me.

It sounds like you definitely enjoy coffee, and it is NOT A PROBLEM!

@mtaratoot, Remove the parenthesis that's at the end of the URL.

https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/coldwave

mtaratoot · February 1

AnnPT77 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

drmwc wrote: »

I don't really make traditional cold brew. I have a widget I keep in my freezer I can plop pour over through for very nice ice coffee. (One of these:
https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/coldwave)

Here is my espresso corner of my dining room:

This is mid-shot. (The Decent machine has an Android tablet on top of it, and loads of monitors, so temperature, flow rate and pressure at each point of the shot are user-defined.)

This shot was the third off a new bag, so not completely dialled in. It was a bit over-extracted; the next one was very nice.

I'm curious about the freezer thing; the link didn't work for me.

It sounds like you definitely enjoy coffee, and it is NOT A PROBLEM!

@mtaratoot, Remove the parenthesis that's at the end of the URL.

https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/coldwave

Ah thanks! Neat idea. Kind of like Whiskey Stones.

Coffee Problem

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