If that's your budget then you should buy a hand grinder. Cheap electric burr grinders can't handle the stress of grinding turkish, and you'll most likely burn the motor out. And they won't even grind fine enough for all that trouble.
Coffee |OT| Taste as good as it smells
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If that's your budget then you should buy a hand grinder. Cheap electric burr grinders can't handle the stress of grinding turkish, and you'll most likely burn the motor out. And they won't even grind fine enough for all that trouble.
CrudeDiatribe
Member
Lord_Balkan
Member
I already have a hand grinder
I am willing to pay more if I know it will grind it fine enough.TarpitCarnivore
Member
I already have a hand grinder
Go to Baratza and shop their refurbished page. You wont find a better deal than $100 for the Encore.
I already have a hand grinder
Are you willing to spend $1,000+ on a commercial grinder?
Baratza grinders aren't designed to do Turkish either:
http://www.baratza.com/blog/choosing-the-best-baratza-grinder-for-you-revised/
Lord_Balkan
Member
Possibly
Eventually.It would be nice to know my options. I just buy it already ground, which is fine, but it would be nice to grind them at home. A hand grinder for Turkish isn't easy.
TommyTosser
Member
I want to start drinking coffee cause red bulls and energy drinks are disgusting.
Gonna dive into the deep end and go all black. Force myself to like it.
Gonna dive into the deep end and go all black. Force myself to like it.
Start with keurig, then maybe move up to drip folgers or starbuck's pike place, and then office coffee, and finally something amazing that you make yourself. If you go in the reverse order you will spoil all but the best coffee for yourself for eternity.
manfestival
Member
drinking black coffee is like pouring vinegar into a perfectly delicious soda. Its gross!
Always add sugar and creamer
Always add sugar and creamer
partyphone
Banned
absolutely not true about good coffee brewed well
PassiveObserver
Member
I thought this was the coffee thread.
Barbacoatl
Banned
super-famicom
Member
What kind of coffee are you drinking? I drink my coffee black, and it tastes delicious.
I get my beans from local roasters, usually from http://www.balconicoffeecompany.com
So I've been working on perfecting my brew, I use an aeropress (with stainless filter) and follow most of the procedures from here, use a hand grinder, and use as little sweetner and creamer as possible (about 5g of agave nectar and 6-7g of half&half)
I feel like my weakest point is the beans I am using. I get them from a local place but it can be hit or miss, and runs about $9 per pound.
Are there any store bought beans at around that price that are good, or are all of my best options online?
I feel like my weakest point is the beans I am using. I get them from a local place but it can be hit or miss, and runs about $9 per pound.
Are there any store bought beans at around that price that are good, or are all of my best options online?
Can't go wrong with lavazza but I doubt you'll find it for $9/lb
They could actually work if i could find a way to store it in bulk. Since I only have one or two cups a day, I tend to get smaller amounts to keep things fresh.
partyphone
Banned
I get green beans from https://www.sweetmarias.com/
I think they sell roasted beans but I dunno how the prices compare to other fresh roasted sellers.
paying $6.50/lb for amazing beans is pretty great, though.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
So one thing to keep in mind is those recipes are dialed in to a T. They're using a specific bean at a specific temperature, etc, etc, etc. They're good for starting out points in terms of ratio, but without knowing their grind set up it's hard to properly emulate. I would recommend becoming more familiar with the tastes in over vs under extraction, grind size differences, brewing a lighter roast vs a darker roast, etc. Then from there start to experiment with brewing options.
On the subject of local roasters one thing I am not fan of is the immediate thought that you should buy local. It's very possible to have a local roaster who is actually not a good one. It's good to support local, but it shouldn't be the only course to buying.
Everywhere. This year a lone I've ordered from Kuma, Ruby, Square One, Reanimator, ModCup, Tandem, Metric, Slate, Supersonic and Parlor. Most recently I just signed up for a subscription to Nordic Roasters.
I buy the kilo bag and grind as I need it. For one cup I have a hand burr grinder, and for the french press a bodum grinder. Probably pays for itself overtime since i can buy large quantities.
Great points! I have been refining and getting better over the past few months. I've gone from needing almost a tablespoon of creamer and sweetener to overcome my early batches being ground too fine and overly bitter. I indeed use those recipes as starting points, adjusting times and grind sizes accordingly. I am now to the point of not needing creamer at all (to me, creamer is good to use when the coffee lacks body) and only using about 5g of sweetener.
Trying Lavazza per thespot84's recommendation
If you're really particular you could go to a coffee shop that has it and try the regular and espresso roasts, they're slightly different but nothing to go nuts about
Picked up a kilo of the Super Crema on amazon for $21.50 (subscribe&save) and got an airtight container to hold it
CrudeDiatribe
Member
From this place which is just down the road from me: Anchored Coffee. It's not cheap, but I really like it.
... not if you're drinking good coffee. But to each their own. I certainly didn't start drinking black coffee and don't drink it often now— I like some milk, and love coffee + chocolate so make mochas most mornings.
I'm likely going to be starting a coffee subscription (auto-pilot) with The Roasterie once my current supply runs out. The Full Vengeance blend to be specific.
Not only is a subscription 10% off, but you get free shipping as well. And since it seems most all roasters I've seen will charge $6-$12 to ship just a 12 oz. bag -- this is a huge deal.
I haven't been able to find a better deal (10% off plus free shipping). I'm in New York btw, and I work in Midtown and this still seems like the most convenient since a lot of NYC roasters seem to be too far from my office.
Not only is a subscription 10% off, but you get free shipping as well. And since it seems most all roasters I've seen will charge $6-$12 to ship just a 12 oz. bag -- this is a huge deal.
I haven't been able to find a better deal (10% off plus free shipping). I'm in New York btw, and I work in Midtown and this still seems like the most convenient since a lot of NYC roasters seem to be too far from my office.
Easystride
Member
Dang, am I a bad person? I just get whatever 2 lb bag of dark roast beans are $10 at Costco. I drink it black.
super-famicom
Member
You're not a bad person, you're just buying Costco beans when you can be buying better beans instead
But if you enjoy that coffee that is fine.
If you want, try finding a local coffee shop (not Starbuck) that roasts their own beans.
Easystride
Member
Yea, I tried a couple different blends of Peace Coffee (Minnesota) and I just didn't like them. I should really try some more out. I just like really strong, dark roast. Not too picky. I hate sweet tasting coffee (which seems like a lot of light roast). I will look into some other Minnesota roasters.You're not a bad person, you're just buying Costco beans when you can be buying better beans instead
But if you enjoy that coffee that is fine.
If you want, try finding a local coffee shop (not Starbuck) that roasts their own beans.
Costco $10 coffee for 2lb isn't a bad deal at all, considering it's just Starbucks of some kind under the Cosco/kirkwood brand label. If you lke Starbucks basic roasts it's definitely cheaper than buying the Starbucks branded stuff.
I actually think the best mass market coffee is Gevalia traditional roast. It smells fantastic and has a pretty balanced taste.
I think if you are going cheap, probably my favorite is Trader Joes Dark Roast. It's either $4.99 or $5.99 a lb.
Vinterbird
Member
Has anyone messed with either the Ratio or the Ottomatic brewers? Trying to find out what the next coffee investment should be., and I desperately need to replace my current filter machine.
Trader Joes Bay Blend is pretty good for the price too. I think $6.99/lb.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
A Human Becoming
More than a Member
Any milk frothier recommendations? Lots of highly rated ones on Amazon.
Barkley's Justice
Member
I've been trying different ratios with my Bonavita:
- 80 grams coffee, 40oz water
- 74 grams coffee, 40oz water
- 60 grams coffee, 40oz water
I started with a medium grind but then went coarse
I just don't "get it" with these ratios: the coffee comes out way too strong for my liking. And I like a strong cup of coffee.
It's embarrassing too because I have to warn everyone I'm experimenting. So when other people have a taste of some of the coffee I've been making, I get comments like, "It tastes burnt," "It tastes like chocolate syrup," etc etc...It's obviously OVER extracting. And to be honest, I'm not at all surprised...80 grams of coffee for 40oz?? How is that a magical ratio? That's exactly the ratio Bonavita suggests. It's madness! When I pour a cup of coffee into my white ceramic mug the shit is beyond black. It looks like a syrupy black hole.
There's always a chance that the flow's not quite right, causing the grinds to over-extract. I mean, it's not like a pourover where you can manually control the flow by hand.
I'd recommend using even less coffee, and adjust upward. Like I always say: weak coffee may be subpar, but there's no saving over-extracted coffee.
My physics is probably off, but wouldn't less coffee mean that there's more energy from the water available to overcome the osmotic pressure of the less desirable compounds in each granule? My understanding, which might be wrong, is that the good compounds get extracted first at low energies, and too much energy, such as with a high temperature, or to
o much time, will start to extract oleic acid and other undesirables. If my coffee had bad tastes but wasn't too 'strong' I would consider adding more grounds and keeping the energy content ( water volume, temp and brew time) the same. Worth trying out in extremes to see what the general trends are at least.
I'm not clear as to what brewing method you're using here so I can't really suggest much, but ratios are just one aspect. It could be tasting burnt because the temperature of the water is too high, the grounds have been over extracted by spending too much time in contact with the water, or it could simply be the type of beans you're using and how they're roasted.
EDIT: Saw the previous post....not sure about automatic drip machines, as YMMV since it's bit of a crapshoot depending on what you get. I brew manually, but for a typical sort of drip style (e.g., a Hario V60), I stick to a medium grind, with water just off the boil (~203F), and a ratio a bit on the higher side, depending on the coffee origin (roasts are all consistently pretty medium), at like 1:18.
Barkley's Justice
Member
So the whole thing with the Bonavita is it brews coffee at 195°-205°F (91°-96°C) and it has a special shower head that simulates a drip pour.
It makes great coffee, but I'm really trying to hone it in. And I just haven't found the balance I would like quite yet. I thought the common ratios would help, but I'm getting kindof wack results, as mentioned above.
I'm using a Capresso Infinity Burr grinder and have been experimenting with different beans, all of which are from quality local roasters.
User 85168
Banned
Not really sure how much I can add to the discussion, but having been to their cafe multiple times in KC, their coffees are really good.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
Those ratios you're going with aren't right. Most people go with 1:15 - 1:17 based on vessel, grind, etc. So in your case if you have 40 grams of coffee you would need 60 grams of water.
As for the grinder and beans, one solid piece of advice I was given early on is don't mess around with a lot of different beans when first settling in. If you like how an Ethiopian Yrigacheffe tastes then stick with that until you have it figured out.
Barkley's Justice
Member
Did you mean 60 ounces of water?
So, tell me if I'm doing my math wrong. Here's what I've been working against. Just as a reference, the max the Bonavita supports is 40oz (8 cups @ 5oz each), so that's what I use as my calculation:
40oz (8 cups) = 1182ml
18:1 ratio (water to coffee)
1182ml / 65g = 18.18 ratio
Bonavita recommends 60g for 30oz (6 cups)
30 oz = 887ml
887/60 = 14.7 ratio
so 8 cups at 14:1 ratio would be 80g of coffee
A 16:1 ratio at 8 cups would be about 74g of coffee
TarpitCarnivore
Member
That should have been 600, not 60. You measure your ratio in grams, for both coffee and water. It's always easiest to start with the coffee weight and then find the water weight. A 40g coffee 600g water brew would be 15:1 (15 grams of water per 1 gram of coffee).
The problem with X g for X cups is people's mugs vary so it's hard to definitively say what will make X cups.
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