Coffee and tea-vee

[Blastoise]

Received my coffee from , Guatemalan medium roast from Bluestone Coffee Co. in Montclair, New Jersey.



I forgot my grinder at home over break so I haven't had the chance to try it yet but it smells great. Thanks!

[fun_yunchables]

thank you !

[ptozzi]

I always hear the terms over extraction and under extraction. I understand that one leads to bitterness and the other to sourness, respectively, but how can I train myself to detect when my brew was over or under extracted? The coffee I just received and have been drinking for the last few days is noticeably more complex than my supermarket grounds, but not so much where it's night and day. Should it be? Maybe I am under the impression that good coffee is miles beyond supermarket coffee grounds when it really isn't? I doubt that's the case, and that why I'm writing this. This coffee claims to have notes of sandalwood, nut, and chocolate, but these flavors aren't really balanced, so I'm attributing it to under or over extraction.

The cups I have had over the past few days have been bitter, but not overwhelmingly so, I think all coffee is bitter, even perfectly extracted coffee. I cannot identify any sourness. Should I try a coarser grind, and see if that brings down the bitterness, revealing more subtle flavors, perhaps the sandalwood? Any advice would be appreciated, I'm definitely as new as new can get to brewing coffee.

[can-]

for my palate, what tells me something is underextracted is if you can pick up too much salt. underextracted espresso always tastes like pretzels to me (i actually don't mind this flavor).

I wouldn't worry about secondary "notes" like sandalwood. it's possible that a group of more practiced palates will all agree on sandalwood but that's also just marketing copy that has to exist. you should be able to pick out, with some experience, primary flavors like nuttiness, cocoa, fruit, etc, and also structural elements like how much body does the coffee have, is it particularly acidic and does the acid balance or unbalance the flavor, how long does it linger on the palate (this is often a good barometer for acid- more acid tends to mean longer finish).

there is a problem of language with this stuff particularly with people just getting into it or people who dont know much about it-- if you hand someone a really fruity light roast they might not get any fruit because they're looking for sugar, but really what you mean when you say there's fruit is the bitter elements of grapefruit zest or maybe bright acid of berry skins. or someone can think a coffee is super sweet but actually they're just picking up on vanilla flavors which will trick your palate into thinking there's more sugar than there actually is because you generally taste them together so your brain conflates the two. there is a fairly objective way to taste and describe the stuff but it's definitely learned and it's not super intuitive either. it's just a matter of practice.

if any place near you does cuppings go to one and listen to whoever is running them and try to see if you can put together how it tastes and how they describe it. it's VERY hard to taste coffee in isolation and accurately contrast it with a coffee you had yesterday or last week, especially if your palate is untrained.

[fun_yunchables]

best way is to drink more coffee. and slurping it aerates the coffee to all over your tongue versus when you sip it moves from front to back. taste buds are quite localized so you might not pick up on some more subtle compounds otherwise

i found when first starting out it was much easier to compare several coffees to compare notes of flavor. i'm a believe people are best at deciphering changes in environment (a la relative pitch, eyes sensitive to motion, etc etc) (but don't quote me on this), and i think the palate is no different. you can begin to notice small details here and there when you compare several coffees at a time (don't forget to cleanse your palate in between). one might taste a little sweeter than the other, one might be more acidic, etc. as you develop this palate more you can begin to note the characteristic tastes of certain things. you can even begin pairing coffee with the different things you taste yourself, which helps you further refine your palate (eg if the coffee seems to taste of lime, taking a little lime juice prior to drinking coffee will emphasize the flavors hiding behind that lime flavor you tasted). as you do this more and more on a regular basis you'll begin to recognize them more readily.

as a short aside, an important distinction that i think usually is glossed over is the quality of the acidity in your coffee. acidity is quite natural in coffee, and can manifest in several ways. underextracted acidity to me tastes more like a vinegar-type acidity, while the more pleasant acidity i like tends to taste more like a citrus kind of acidity (kinda makes sense, i believe the acetic acid particle (vinegar) is smaller than the citric acid particle (citrus), and probably will diffuse faster into the solution).

if you only have one bean one possible thing is to keep all variables except one constant. so perhaps you'll grind 5x the same dosage of coffee (to make 5 different cups) all at the same particulate size. If you have 5 of the same sized cups too that'd be nice, and what you can do is pour hot water directly over the grounds (essentially a "cupping" session, but rather than to compare different types of coffees, you are doing it with the same coffees and varying the extraction time, ie, comparing extraction). by letting each sit for differing amounts of time before scumming the grounds from the coffee, you establish varying levels of extraction. then by comparing, you can see how the flavor develops with respect to how extracted the coffee is.

[ptozzi]

I really appreciate the advice and . I'll definitely look into cupping sessions, buying a second bean, and doing my own quasi-cupping at home with the one bean I have.

On the topic of grinding and extraction, what is a good non-electric grinder? preferable in the ~$30-40 range, I like the look of the one you have yunchables. What's the names of the equipment you have by the way? I'd like to try a drip brewer and when I have the money, pick up an electric kettle.

[sknss]

Is there such a thing as good decaf?

[bels]

I have suma organic decaf and it's alright.

[CMYK]

Coffee came in today from !

Also included an awesome note and a Visvim coozie.





It's funny I've been collecting coffee lids to try to make something like this for my room:



Maybe I'll make a companion for it with coozies! (It's too late here for me to have coffee, but I'll report back after this weekend)

[tomsfood]

Got my beans from !

Very delicious! Made two cups now and both have been excellent! Thanks so much!

[Blastoise]

Perhaps we should establish an official procedure on how to respond if someone buys someone else coffee and ships it halfway across the country at their own expense.

It appears that could use some help.




Coffee I received tastes great by the way, thanks again Ptozzi.

[deadkitty]

thanks for the coffee blastoose!! been drinking it all week very tasty

[g2x222]

Hi , maybe I'll catch ya around some time. I live a few blocks from OQ, so it's my coffee shop/roaster of choice at the moment.

[julius]

Just received my coffee!

Thank you mystery care-tagger! either there was no note or I dropped it but to whoever sent it, I've made a pot of it and I'm enjoying it a lot!!
Sorry if I did drop it, I opened it pretty hastily. The smell of it gushed out the moment I pierced the package so I was really(!) excited
And cause I love it so much, here's another picture but of my carafe cozy that my RA made for me

[jrisk]

hey , that was me! I was late to ship so I didn't get to grab you anything in person. My local shop also wouldn't have probably been something that matched what you were into so I figured I'd send you something from one my favorite roasters. glad you like it. that cozy is rad dude.

[JtotheWhat]

Would love to get in on the next one if people want to go international. There are 2 roasters here in Seoul that I am a really big fan of that have a variety of interesting/good roasts.

[JtotheWhat]

@fun_yunchables Terra Rosa is a decent coffee shop, they have a couple locations in Seoul itself as well.. there are a million 'nice' coffee shops here that really send it home in terms of interior design/concept or attention to detail.. but only a couple that really take it to the next level in actual coffee quality in my opinion.. Anthracite and Coffee Libre.

[nevergreen]

i had my first cup of coffee in 6 days. it was everything i needed

[CMYK]

I have moved to tea in the afternoons in an ongoing attempt to cut down on caffeine intake. I now want to purchase a looseleaf tea basket and begin sampling exotic teas. Consumerism follows me wherever I go.

[ramseames]

http://www.grubstreet.com/2013/03/nespr ... rants.html

http://observer.com/2015/06/stop-servin ... staurants/

http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/dr ... 1b9sp.html

what in the fuck

I agree, I've had mediocre coffees at great restaurants before, but pulling crappy shots or just doing a bad job of French press is very different from stooping to pods

[can-]

there's no money in trying to pull off a decent coffee program in a full service restaurant. 3 michelin star restaurants and "fancy" corporate restaurants that pay to have full time baristas do it because it's expected of them but they do it by shifting that incredible expense into your food and beverage costs. everywhere else, i hope for a decent drip that's made in large format airpots and hopefully ordered enough that it has to be brewed more than once a service.

not defending k cups in restaurants but defending bad coffee in restaurants-- you have to understand 3/4 of your guests who come in to dine and order coffee couldn't tell starbucks from your locally and lightly roasted 3rd wave stuff.

[Syeknom]

Bought these two green teas lately.



On the right is a lovely Sencha - my favourite kind of tea for the evenings. Really good quality this pack. On the left a new pack of Kabusecha, which is a tea leaf grown (partially) in the shade. It's kind of a midway point between Sencha and Gyokuro, and needs a low temperature (~60ºC).

[ptozzi]

A couple things:

1. Since I've began drinking coffee more regularly, I've found that if I'm not doing something productive, I get very anxious. I consider this a good thing, especially since it's the end of the semester. I've been way ahead on assignments and as a result, less stressed than I've been toward the end of previous semesters. I also find that I'm a much better writer when I have a caffeine buzz. Coffee is doing wonders for my final papers, and hopefully this will translate to my summer research and getting a paper published with me as the lead author.

2. I'm sick of using coffee cups. What is the Nalgene equivalent for coffee storage? I'm looking for something durable and made in the USA. Size around 16-20 oz.

3. Can anyone recommend my next bean? Looking for something with a caramel-like finish, notes of toffee, chocolate, and nut are preferred. I'm not much of a fan of fruity notes. Spice notes are fine. Something I can order online without shipping being too expensive.

[nevergreen]

towards the end of April I accidentally threw out the filter cap for my aeropress when I was getting rid of the used beans and I've been so lazy about ordering a new one that i just now finally got another. my mom bought a ninja a few months ago so whenever i had coffee at home i used that. i'm excited to use my aeropress again tomorrow. (smiling)

recently tried the couple local coffee shops as well. one of them was super cool, really splendid environment, coffee tasted good. they have lots of different beans too that i wanna try. everyone seemed super super nice. i wanna see about getting a job there part time as a barista.

[nevergreen]

I tried both Dr. Conkey's and Caffe Connection, i wanna apply to Dr. Conkey's. i wish there were more local shops in my area

[jrisk]

My coworker somehow got his referral code to a subscription coffee service posted on one of those coupon sharing sites. He's currently over $2k in credit with this company despite having ordered two Baratza Virtuoso grinders and ordering three or so bags every week.

[anotherdayhere]

I just started working at a shop that serves Verve, which somehow I had never had (no other shop in Pittsburgh has carried them) but oh boy is it good. Been loving all my drinks with their espresso blend, pretty easily the best profile I've ever tasted for milk drinks. Super hyped on geisha season incoming, esp getting it for wholesale 8). Really recommend it to all the third wave enthusiast nerdarios, really exceptional farm ethics and amazingly well roasted.

Finally ascended to tulip with almond milk and have actually been able to enjoy my drinks (milk substitutes have always tasted half assed at the other places I've worked, but something about the espresso really works with them).


Controversial(?) opinion, my girlfriend and I have been pre-grinding coffee at work (on an EK, but still) and keeping it sealed air tight and just using it for easy morning coffee, dropoff in flavor is pretty negligable within a few weeks and the convenience level cannot be fucked up with. Obviously only recommended if you were hand grinding before, haven't taken the plunge on a quality electric grinder for home.

[jrisk]

verve is pretty nice, love that they have free shipping. my go-to when sending friends and family a bag of coffee. coworker got a kenya kii peaberry from them and it blew my socks off. Love kenyans but the couple Kiis I've had take it to the next level.

[deadkitty]

still cant get over verve's 4 group head slayer

[rublev]