Coffee Drinkers? (or other hot beverages)

[EdipisReks1]

Well, the E61 fell through, but I found a store demo Breville Dual Boiler for cheap, so that’s what I have coming now. 

I steamed dairy for the first time since this past Christmas, this morning. Boy dairy is sure easier than plant milk, even out if practice. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[HemiSam]

The Hario V60 02 arrived along with CAFEC filters.  I watched James Hoffman's how-to on YT and gave my first cup a go.  

First mistake I made was the recommended dosage.  I should have stuck with the same dosage I use on the Chemex as I find a 15:1 more to my liking.  

It felt more fiddly than my Chemex but a good bit of that was because it was my first time using a different method / tool.  I'll give it another run with the 15:1 and go from there.  I did like that the coffee goes straight into my cup and there is no go between to absorb heat.

The cup was OK but watery compared to what I prefer.  Learning curve and that's part of the fun...something different.

HS

[Covered_Ears]

What was your drawdown? If you're using the CAFEC light roast filter plus a V60 and have a "normal" drawdown time (~3:00-4:30) it very well may be too coarsely ground; I've had drawdowns of, like, 7-9 minutes when grinding appropriately fine with those.

[HemiSam]

5 hours ago, Covered_Ears said:

What was your drawdown? If you're using the CAFEC light roast filter plus a V60 and have a "normal" drawdown time (~3:00-4:30) it very well may be too coarsely ground; I've had drawdowns of, like, 7-9 minutes when grinding appropriately fine with those.

Covered Ears,

It was around 4 minutes to get the 500gr of water through the 30gr of coffee.  I ground a bit finer than what I've been using for the Chemex with these Ethiopian beans from Memli.  

I think with less dilution it will be closer to what I'm accustomed to flavor wise.  I'll try again tomorrow.

EDIT:  I should add it takes about 4:30 to put 450gr of water through 30gr of coffee using the Chemex.

HS

Edited July 24, 2022 by HemiSam

[Aura]

unless I'm mistaken, Cafec filters are supposed to be faster drawing than current Hario-branded tabbed filters. 7+ minutes is way too long.

my typical V60 filter targets are to not be shorter than 2:30 and no longer than 4:00 (variation on brew size and beans... denser and lighter add time). 

[EdipisReks1]

9 minutes ago, Aura said:

unless I'm mistaken, Cafec filters are supposed to be faster drawing than current Hario-branded tabbed filters. 7+ minutes is way too long.

my typical V60 filter targets are to not be shorter than 2:30 and no longer than 4:00 (variation on brew size and beans... denser and lighter add time). 

CAFEC light roasts are much slower than standard Hario filters. The CAFEC Abacas are similar to Hario in drawdown. 

10 minutes is totally normal for a fairly fine grind in the CAFEC light. They are designed to do it; it’s a hybrid method of brewing in the simplest way possible.

I don’t “get” the CAFEC light roast filters, in that I never quite know what to expect, but I really like the results. 

Edited July 25, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[swt61]

On 7/20/2022 at 11:21 AM, Aura said:

slowpoursupply.co/collections/origami-dripper

Thank goodness someone found a way to recycle old pasties! I just hope they were washed first.

[EdipisReks1]

Not my brightest moment. However, I did manage to combine inverted and standard in the worst way possible  

Edited July 25, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[luvdunhill]

I typically adjust my grind to get a specific draw-down time with the Hario tabbed filters for a certain starting weight. This approach seems pretty good for me. I think I start with 23g and shoot for a grind that ends up around 2:30-3:00.

[HemiSam]

50 minutes ago, luvdunhill said:

I typically adjust my grind to get a specific draw-down time with the Hario tabbed filters for a certain starting weight. This approach seems pretty good for me. I think I start with 23g and shoot for a grind that ends up around 2:30-3:00.

luvdunhill,

What water to coffee ratio are you using?

HS

[HemiSam]

Round 2 with the V60 was an improvement.  

In case it is of any use to others:  

• 203 F water temp target;  warm the ceramic V60 first; filter goes in and wet it to remove any tastes;
• 15:1 ratio on Ethiopian light/medium roast (pic included if things go to plan...);  ground with Niche on the coarser side but a finer than my Chemex which uses a thicker filter (I went even finer this time which i believe slowed the process);
• 4:00 minutes total from first water to dampen the 30gr of coffee (60gr of water) and then grabbed the Hario w/ cup and swirled it per Hoffman method up to ~30 seconds...CO2 released IMO; 
• added water up to 230-250gr by roughly 1:15-1:30min...swirled the slurry per above/Hoffman once some liquid cleared;
• added remaining water up to 450gr and used a small spoon to swirl one direction and then the other although this time I flipped the spoon around and agitated the coffee bed directly like I do with my Chemex
• at ~4:00 done and cleared the V60 from my cup and tasted.

Overall, a much better cup for me than my first attempt but I would argue it still seems less forward/full of flavor...cleaner or something than the Chemex which has me scratching my head given the finer filter and same ratio of water to coffee...interesting.  Only delta is 4:30 with the Chemex, I'm assuming given heavier filter more than offsetting the finer grind for the Hario.

I'll play with it again next weekend...

HS

 

 

[luvdunhill]

11 hours ago, HemiSam said:

luvdunhill,

What water to coffee ratio are you using?

HS

17:1 

[EdipisReks1]

I almost always do 15:1 or 16:1 with pour over. 17 is pretty long. 

[robm321]

14-15:1 here. 3 minutes. 

[luvdunhill]

16 hours ago, EdipisReks1 said:

I almost always do 15:1 or 16:1 with pour over. 17 is pretty long. 

Paging the Tice to the Coffee Thread..

[Aura]

On 7/24/2022 at 9:06 PM, EdipisReks1 said:

CAFEC light roasts are much slower than standard Hario filters. The CAFEC Abacas are similar to Hario in drawdown. 

10 minutes is totally normal for a fairly fine grind in the CAFEC light. They are designed to do it; it’s a hybrid method of brewing in the simplest way possible.

I don’t “get” the CAFEC light roast filters, in that I never quite know what to expect, but I really like the results. 

interesting. i don't get it either.

i've used the cafec abacas that hemi posted image of above^ and they are a touch faster draw down vs. hario untabbed. really like the abacas. i heard untabbed hario are done finally but after finding cafec i'm not worried about it.

[luvdunhill]

Ok played with the Niche Zero. Pretty amazing so far. Does it really need a calibration or can I just use it out of the box? So what setting should I try first for the aeropress - will do my best to get the thing right side up

[EdipisReks1]

On 7/27/2022 at 5:23 PM, luvdunhill said:

Ok played with the Niche Zero. Pretty amazing so far. Does it really need a calibration or can I just use it out of the box? So what setting should I try first for the aeropress - will do my best to get the thing right side up

Calibrating takes approximately 5 seconds, so no reason not to. I always calibrate a new grinder. I do AeroPress around 25 (on a calibrated unit). Attached is a picture of the point to which I calibrate.

Right-side-up is all well and good, but the trick is to get the coffee and water, you know, “in the AeroPress.”

Edited July 28, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

Finally received this. 

[EdipisReks1]

Not god awful for the first drink made with the new machine (a decaf). The steam on this is pretty crazy compared to the Bellman.

Edited August 10, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

Took me a little minute to realize the Breville portafilters almost but don’t quite work with standard baskets. I had returned the Normcore portafilter I had bought because I thought the machine wasn’t going to arrive (I had in fact already gotten a refund; the Breville showed up the next day of course) so I’ve reordered (along with the Normcore shot mirror).

The stock basket is pretty small, so I either have to coarsen way up for my normal sorts of doses, or dose down. I’ve chosen to dose down. 14g:30g in about 30. Made for a great latte. Milk texture is just an absolute snap with this machine. 

I’ll lower it a little, when I do the slayer mod, but OPV is set spot on 9, which is nice. 

Edited August 10, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[grawk]

Try a ratio of 1:2.4 with that machine and see what you think...

[EdipisReks1]

4 hours ago, grawk said:

Try a ratio of 1:2.4 with that machine and see what you think...

Will do in the morning. Thanks Dan!

[EdipisReks1]

Longer ratio definitely works great with this basket. Looking forward to getting back to my IMS and VST baskets, though. Soon!

I really like the Dual Boiler. It makes excellent coffee,* right out of the box. Heat’s quickly, great steam. Easy to use and program. Build quality reminds me of, say, the better Marantz separates. I do wish it just had an E61 group, but it’s not that big a deal, as I would need multiple portafilters anyway, as I’m too lazy to move one between two machines. I wouldn’t want a bigger machine, though, unless I had a custom coffee bar. 

2 bar preinfusion followed by 9 bar brew is good enough that I might not even bother with the Slayer mod unless I have the machine open already; I will use the Flair when I want to play around with profiles, at least for the time being. 

*I can get better coffee out of the Flair, but not consistently.

Edited August 11, 2022 by EdipisReks1

[EdipisReks1]

Finally have a bottomless portafilter on the Breville. Boy is this a different machine with a precision basket (IMS competition 20/22, in this case: I pull 20gram with it usually).

Interestingly I am quite a bit coarser with the Breville than with the Flair 58. I suppose this makes sense: even with the 10 second preinfusion I’m doing it still takes a while for the puck to degrade; I’m doing a higher pressure and longer initial infusion usually, and I can feel resistance and ramp up force (not pressure, but torque on the arm) to compensate, which means I can go quite fine. 21 vs 15 on the Niche. I’m running 197 on medium espresso roast (Intelligentsia Black Cat, in this case). 197 is right in the middle of the range  I may go hotter for lighter roasts.

The Breville doesn’t make as interesting a shot as the Flair, but it consistently makes excellent shots. Even some striping and flecks.

Edited August 14, 2022 by EdipisReks1