Coffee Drinkers? (or other hot beverages)

[Augsburger]

I have heard those names before but I never see them. I think they are imaginary HCers...

[HemiSam]

6 hours ago, tyrion said:

I sent an email a while back to OB about the dark roasts no matter what coffee I ordered and the response was that they think it tastes better.  I stopped buying from them at that moment.

Stretch, I'm just a douche.  No need to limit to coffee or otherwise.

You hit it on the head.  Some coffees call for a darker roast and some do not benefit from add'l roasting and a lot of flavor nuances are lost....IMO.  Took me a lot of coffee drinking to figure that out as I leaned towards darker roasts for years when I was younger.

HS

[tyrion]

14 hours ago, HemiSam said:

You hit it on the head.  Some coffees call for a darker roast and some do not benefit from add'l roasting and a lot of flavor nuances are lost....IMO.  Took me a lot of coffee drinking to figure that out as I leaned towards darker roasts for years when I was younger.

HS

I am far from an expert roaster but I have found that there are some beans, a batch of Sumatra I have at the moment, that I have only been able to get a darker (full city or full city plus) roast.  Others do well at lighter to medium roasts (city, city plus).  I drink it all, tend to use the darker roasts for espresso.  The darker roast seem to have less acidity.  It was just the idea that all the coffee OB tastes best when darker did not make sense to me.  Having said that, I enjoyed most of the coffee I bought from them.

[HemiSam]

7 minutes ago, tyrion said:

I am far from an expert roaster but I have found that there are some beans, a batch of Sumatra I have at the moment, that I have only been able to get a darker (full city or full city plus) roast.  Others do well at lighter to medium roasts (city, city plus).  I drink it all, tend to use the darker roasts for espresso.  The darker roast seem to have less acidity.  It was just the idea that all the coffee OB tastes best when darker did not make sense to me.  Having said that, I enjoyed most of the coffee I bought from them.

Very cool that you roast your own, tyrion.  I have a some good friends at work that are chem-E's....brilliant nuts that were big tea drinkers.  I converted them to the dark side and they're roasting their own now and have had some success in my humble opinion.

Roasting is an art and choosing, handling, storing and ultimately deciding how and how long to roast beans is one hell of a dance.  Good stuff and it's great that we have so many options to choose from these days in the way of roasted whole beans.  I would have never guessed that I'd end up going back to a shop out of Tulsa of all places.  Used to be a big fan of George Howell Terroir coffees but they went to seed at some point a few years back.  They taught me a lot though about what I prefer.

HS  

[TMoney]

I have a question as far as storage is concerned. I bought two bags from a local roaster today. It will take me two weeks or so to get through the first bag.

Is the right thing to do to put the 2nd bag in an airtight container in the freezer until I finish the first one?

Edited February 18, 2019 by TMoney

[Dusty Chalk]

Following this question since I’ve gone longer.

[Craig Sawyers]

I buy my beans ready roasted. Been through a number of artisan roasters over the years, but currently use this one https://www.monsoonestatescoffee.co.uk/ 

[grawk]

I wouldn’t recommend buying more expensive beans than you can drink in 2 weeks but freezing them is the recommendation I’ve heard.

[mikeymad]

I have been roasting for several years now and I have always lived by these rules -- "Store roasted coffee in a cool and dry environment (avoid the freezer or refrigerator). An air-tight container with a one-way valve to allow CO2 to evaporate while not letting oxygen into the container is ideal"  But the main rule is coffee is considered 'fresh' for up to 2 weeks, not much more. 

[HemiSam]

TMoney,

This is just my two bits.  I've read exactly what mikeymad posted many years ago now when I spent an excessive amount of time absorbing coffee related info.

I rarely find the quality of beans locally that I have come to appreciate (I got very fortunate a month or so ago and found some local incredible Ethiopian recommended by a friend).  Shipping can be costly, some roasts are limited in duration, and often I don't make the time to make my French press during the work week so my bags can last longer than two weeks.  I agree whole heartedly that coffee is best when recently roasted, but it doesn't go "bad" a few weeks after.  Good coffee is good coffee and the coffee I buy is still pretty damn good after 14+ days.  It does deteriorate....loses some aromatics / flavors but as long as you're not more than say a month into a bag it is still very drinkable in my humble opinion.  

A proper roaster generally supplies a good quality bag with a one way valve.  If yours doesn't, keep one from your prior purchase.  Also, if you're going into a bag daily you're releasing built up CO2 at least once a day so perhaps that will help you rest easier if you prefer a sealed canister...keep it in a cool / dry place like a pantry.  I always keep mine in the supplied bags.  I kept coffee in the freezer years ago to test it and it was not the end of the world as some on the forums would lead one to believe.  

I appreciate the science behind good coffee, but it goes a bit far at times for my liking.  

I'm currently drinking some lovely coffees from La Colombe.  My first time buying from them.  I prefer medium roasts...went well past my all has to be dark phase years ago.  It depends on the beans.  I can highly recommend the Rwanda Lake Kivu and the Bourbon Workshop from them.

Happy cupping...

HS

[n_maher]

27 minutes ago, HemiSam said:

Good coffee is good coffee and the coffee I buy is still pretty damn good after 14+ days.  It does deteriorate....loses some aromatics / flavors but as long as you're not more than say a month into a bag it is still very drinkable in my humble opinion.  

This.  I buy 2lbs every time I buy (to get free shipping) and it usually takes me around a month to get through both bags but I'm not going to pound coffee just to get through a bag faster.  I grind the beans daily and prep in the French press.  This is so much better than 90% of the coffee that I could buy on my way to work and less than 1/4 the cost.

[TMoney]

I’m basically doing the same thing you are, Nate, only pour-over instead of French press.

While it sounds like buying one 1-lb bag at a time is best as far as flavor goes, it also sounds like doing 2 1-lb bags at a time and consuming them within a month also isn’t the end of the world.

And yeah, the cost savings of doing it at home are insane. I used Quicken to look at how much I spent on Starbucks and Peet’s coffee in 2018. It was a lot. This coffee is better and, even at a fairly high cost per bag, so much cheaper. Grinding and brewing in the morning is also kind of enjoyable.

[Craig Sawyers]

Last summer we were on a walking holiday in Switzerland, and on the  wall in the  hotel dining room was a print of this picture. It shows that love of coffee has been going on for a long time.

https://www.pictorem.com/97173/An old man making coffee.html dating from the mid/late 1800's

Also in Neville Shute's novel "A town called Alice" two men are talking in a London Gentleman's club just after WWII. One of them is bemoaning the lack of decent coffee at that time, and remembering real ground coffee, which must be ground no more than a few minutes before being brewed.

Going back  even further to Samuel Pepys in the mid 1600s mentions coffee houses in London. They were used for all sorts of purposes, often meeting places for politics and business discussions.

So, good coffee appreciation has been going for well over 300 years!

[Aura]

two bags i saw come back in stock that may be of interest...

Dark Matter Blood Lord (BA in FEW bourbon and rye barrels)

Old Bisbee Bali Blue Krishna

decided to pass on bali this time. i'm finishing up a bag of Reanimator Yukro Ethiopia that has been really terrific. i think i'm trending toward medium roasts with less bite and more fruit, earthy notes. good chance my next order will be with reanimator again...

[Dusty Chalk]

Looks like I need to try Blood Lord and Unicorn Blood

[TMoney]

I was laughing my ass off at those Dark Matter coffee names and iconography. Pretty awesome.

[randytsuch]

In case anyone still cares about coffee storage, I buy a 5 pound bag from redbird, then separate into bags of about 1/2 pound each.

Then I vacuum pack and freeze the bags.  Pull them out as needed, let come to room temp, open and enjoy.

I either pull one shot or make a cup of drip on most mornings, so it takes me a while to go through 5 lbs. 

Not as good as freshly roasted, but still pretty good.  Once in a while a bag will lose its seal so I pull that one out first, but most stay sealed until I'm ready to use them.

 

Randy

[n_maher]

This could be trouble.

First results were very promising, if not entirely drinkable.  I'll toy with grind just a big more to get a full extraction but tomorrow morning should be fun and interestingly enough, I liked the flavor of the straight latte enough that I don't think I'd add sugar.  That's a big change from how I drink straight coffee.

[mikeymad]

^^ enjoy

I was lucky that Sonja brought a Breville to the relationship.. (larger style with grinder, etc.)

After several months of Costco coffee living out of the airbnb - we unpacked the roaster last night after our move - and immediately roasted a batch of  : BRAZIL QUEIXADA ILICINEA - EDNEI HENRRIQUE - GREEN

https://www.bodhileafcoffee.com/products/brazil-queixada-lliciniea-green

Roasted just to full city (maybe city+)

So nice to be sipping on our own roast again.

 

(no pictures - just savoring) 

 

[n_maher]

Basically loving it so far, with the one exception that the shots seem pretty small.  Don't know if it's just the coffee I have absorbing a lot of the initial water or what, but basically the best process so far seems to be to run a single through it, then a double, to get the volume/flavor right.  I'm sure I'm not doing something exactly right but based on the research I've done I pretty much have the grind and tamp done right so that only leaves the machine.  I did purchase the 3yr warrant thru Amazon so I'm not really worried.  If it bugs me long term I'll get it replaced.  Or I guess I could start monkeying with the settings and see what happens.  Regardless, it was a good week of coffee.

[grawk]

How much coffee are you getting and how long does it take

[EdipisReks1]

2 hours ago, n_maher said:

Basically loving it so far, with the one exception that the shots seem pretty small.  Don't know if it's just the coffee I have absorbing a lot of the initial water or what, but basically the best process so far seems to be to run a single through it, then a double, to get the volume/flavor right.  I'm sure I'm not doing something exactly right but based on the research I've done I pretty much have the grind and tamp done right so that only leaves the machine.  I did purchase the 3yr warrant thru Amazon so I'm not really worried.  If it bugs me long term I'll get it replaced.  Or I guess I could start monkeying with the settings and see what happens.  Regardless, it was a good week of coffee.

How firm is the puck when you empty the basket?  it should come out in one piece and retain very little moisture.  Also, Dan's questions!

Edited August 18, 2019 by EdipisReks1

[n_maher]

1. It takes about 10-12 seconds for the coffee to start flowing, right in alignment with what Breville states it should.

2. Best guess (need to measure) is that the first shot is 1/2 - 3/4oz.  I'll run one this afternoon and see.

3. Puck is very firm, doesn't seem overly moist.  I don't have a knock box so I pry it out.  It may be a bit on the moist side but it's hard to figure what would cause that.  If I go much finer on the grind it seems like I'm likely to get even less volume (more surface area per weight of coffee) and if I go more coarse I'll likely get thinner, less flavorful shots which is not desired.  

 

[grawk]

How long does it run once the shot starts flowing? Before it shuts off at 1/2 to 3/4 oz

 

 

Also, are you set for single or double shot?

[HemiSam]

Apologies for detracting from the exchange.  I'm learning a few things about machines here.  I use a French press.

My first time trying a Zambian coffee and I must say it is very good.  Purchased from Double Shot in Tulsa.  Why Tulsa how a relatively generous amount of good roasters I cannot say, but this is one of my favorite roasters these day.  I lean towards medium roasts on most coffees although do love an espresso now and again.

HS