Thanks KennyBobby for starting the thread. I enjoy my coffee very much. I have a variety of different coffee makers but mainly use a French press. If I’m not using that, I’m usually using an aeropress. My wife likes the Chemex (as someone noted before you can put them on a stove top but only if it is a gas or a glass top. Don’t put it on one of the “coil” tops) and we use that a fair bit too. I also have an electric vacuum press, some mocha pots, a percolator, and a cheap espresso maker. The espresso maker does not make good espresso. Someday I would like to purchase a quality one but that is not in the budget at the moment.
I do have a particular way of brewing but I don’t get too worked up about it. Good water and good fresh ground coffee beans in a strong enough ratio massively outstrips every other aspect. If you have those things down and boil the water and then pour it on immediately, grind a little too course or fine, don’t let it bloom, etc., you should still get a very good cup of coffee. Most of the other aspects have varying degrees of impact depending on brewing method and roast. For example, the purpose of letting the grounds bloom is to help them release CO2. Fresh dark roast has a lot of CO2 in it and light roast has far less. The advantage gained from blooming light roast is thus greater as a lot of CO2 is easily released without blooming a dark roast and the CO2 “gained” is proportionately less for the dark roast. I think water temperature is somewhat important. Fresh off the boil is less than ideal. I got a thermometer and timed the temperature drop in my kettle after boiling. It is pretty consistent and while it rapidly loses the first 5 degrees or so the temperature decline slows down and stays in the sweet spot, 195-205, for a good while. So I boil it and, for example, finish reading my paragraph and then pour it. So I’m not measuring water temperature every time I make coffee nor am I pouring it fresh off the boil. Consistency without “anality”! I follow, roughly, Alton Brown’s French press method.
I have done a decent bit of blind testing with friends and family and nobody has ever been able to tell the difference between 205 and 200 or minor issues like that. I have unfortunately made a few people grumpy with my testing. Some people don’t like it when after they tell you that blooming makes a massive difference in the taste, you put it to the test and they can’t tell the difference or they get it wrong. This is usually what I do whenever I hear of some new must do brewing procedure. I learn the new way, make it that way for a month or so, and then switch back to the old way, and then do a blind test. At the end I evaluate whether I can tell a difference and whether it is worth doing or not.
My favorite coffee is from a company called Mayorga. I really like them as a company and have not found anything better. Contrary to the trend, I much prefer dark roast coffee and I also prefer the South American style dark roast to the European way. Their Cafe Cubano and Muy Macho (both will be some of the oiliest coffee you have ever seen) are my two favorites. Check them out!
Random bonus fact, different brewing methods are more or less efficient and extracting caffeine from different roasts. So for a light roast coffee the most efficient way to extract caffeine is in a pour over but the most efficient way for a dark roast is in a French press. My very informal survey has been that, among coffee connoisseurs, those who prefer pour over tend to favor light roasts, the converse is true as well, while those who prefer a French press favor dark roast, again the converse seems to hold. Are people doing this because they are chasing caffeine or because those methods are more efficient at extracting flavor as well? I have often felt like it might be the latter but I haven’t tested it. ![:slight_smile: :slight_smile:](https://budgetlightforum.com/images/emoji/google/slight_smile.png?v=12)