The PC brigade vs Dunkin Donuts

[jon545660]

2) Grind beans fresh. Ground beans go stale VERY quickly, so grind before you brew.
.

I've been thinking about getting a grinder. Can anyone recommend a good one?

 

[Rosco]

Wine has a collectors market associated with it, where there is little correlation to taste vs price, to a point.

There's some of that in the single estate coffee commodities market.

But, like anything, they are a craft. There's an understood way to prepare them correctly. It's not particularly complicated. You pay the same amount to make it shitty, or buy a shitty coffee, that you do to get a great coffee. Sometimes less. You pay a little more to get better beans, but not necessarily, and mostly its just knowing where to get beans that are freshly roasted.

There's definitely a price difference between Dunkin Donuts, or other mass produced coffee, and small batch brewed coffee made preperly, just like there's a price difference between Magners and a decent scrumpy, or budweiser vs a cask ale, or flowery orange pekoe assam and some 2 year old dust in a bag. It's not an invented difference. There are errors being made for the sake of production. Just like I can make a sausage egg and cheese sandwich that will shit on something you can buy at mcdonalds, and it's not because I'm a brilliant cook.

If you think those price differences aren't worth the additional taste, that's fine, but if you think you can't discern the difference between quality on that broad a scale, then you have fallen sway to some food related moral relativism, where everything tastes the same and nothing is better. And that's just wrong. And if you think that, then you're wrong. Yea, people go overboard, yes there's social status and identity bound up in this shit. But there's also some very basic chemistry.

There's something very Walter White-ish about this post

 

[Farkmaster]

I've been thinking about getting a grinder. Can anyone recommend a good one?

What method do you use for your coffee?

 

[Best Believe It]

'Cos it's shit and weak?.

And while we're on the subject of beverages - both coffee and wine are the Emperor's new clothes, you pay some con-artists an arm and leg for their products so you have to go with the "oooh isn't this so good much better than the shite them oiks drink". Fuckin' nazis.

You want Tea and Beer not dried poo nuggets and stomped grapes.

A mate of my wife's lives in Edinburgh and never touched a drop of 'proper' coffee before moving there - like me, she indulged in a syrupy latte when you need the caffeine and the sugar at 6 in the morning. But now she makes a big deal about the fact she drinks artisan coffee in a tiny fucking shop with uncomfortable wooden benches, drapes on the ceiling and coffee that smells like tar and costs about twice as much as anywhere else.

It's the same as the craft beer movement - it's just an excuse for people to serve liquid in smaller containers and charge more, and rest assured the Mumford & Sons crowd will lap that shit up.

 

[jon545660]

What method do you use for your coffee?

I currently buy a Peruvian single origin ground coffee. It lasts about a month and I freeze half of it to keep it fresher. I use a proper scoop to measure just the right amount and leave it to brew for 4 mins (timed) in the cafetiere.

 

[Athens]

Never have and never will drink coffee.

Wasted living in Melbourne as apparently some of the best coffee in the world is sold here.

You can get really long queues for the coffee shop down the road from in East St Kilda.

I used to drink 5 cups of tea a day at home in Ireland and anytime I go back for a visit but never have it over here.

As for the crest issue, can't believe its gotten so much air time.

Never have and never will?

It's not heroin, you know.

 

[ILD]

Never have and never will?

It's not heroin, you know.

I never will either. I don't see the point in starting to drink it now. I've survived this long without it and I don't practically like the taste. I don't see the need to acquire a taste for it. Nearly all of my friends drink coffee. I'm not sure how I missed the boat on it.

 

[Athens]

I never will either. I don't see the point in starting to drink it now. I've survived this long without it and I don't practically like the taste. I don't see the need to acquire a taste for it. Nearly all of my friends drink coffee. I'm not sure how I missed the boat on it.

You don't know what you're missing. A nice coffee in the morning can really hit the spot.

Almost, but not quite, the same way a nice beer can hit the spot.

 

[ILD]

You don't know what you're missing. A nice coffee in the morning can really hit the spot.

Almost, but not quite, the same way a nice beer can hit the spot.

I'd believe it man.

 

[Leo]

Shot of Espresso when you're bollixed is ace.
I fucking despise Starbucks though and the foam thing.
The neck of some of those cunts charging 6 quid for a coffee and half filling it up with foam.
Never understood people who actually want foam.

 

[Portly]

I would have no problem with coffee outlets switching to a complicated Italian range of coffees. It didn't take me long to get my head round that. But they need to agree on some kind of consistent formula for what those descriptions actually mean. In some places, an espresso is a thimbleful, as in Italy. In others it is a reasonably-sized cup. In some places a "flat white" comes in a reasonably-sized cup. In others it comes in a giant paper bucket.

 

[Farkmaster]

I currently buy a Peruvian single origin ground coffee. It lasts about a month and I freeze half of it to keep it fresher. I use a proper scoop to measure just the right amount and leave it to brew for 4 mins (timed) in the cafetiere.

The cafetiere means you need course grounds that are consistent. This is much harder to get than if you do other methods that need fine grounds. All of the Japanese conical burr hand grinders, which are nice and cheap have a grinding axle mounted on one end only, so the burr actually moves around on the other end, giving you some boulders and some dust. They were designed to self center on finer grounds. The Hario Skerton is the standard recommendation for one of these nice cheap hand grinders.

It's still a better choice on the cheap than using a blade grinder though with much better results, despite the fact that its not great for course grounds.

If you want to get really nerdy on the cheap, you can take it apart and add a part that adds a spacer for the axle for better course grinds. You'd end up spending probably ~40 between the part and the hand grinder. The results are very good. I used this for years.

Hand grinding too slow and annoying? The Baratza encore is a great electric grinder, its approximately ~$140, and can do course ground consistently.

I use a Lido II which is a hand grinder that some coffee obsessive old man designed after making his career repairing electric coffee grinders and tinkering with the japanese hand grinders. I do this because I was able to get one for free, because it's quite pricey for a hand grinder at probably $230 shipped overseas. Its a really very well machined hand grinder that will last forever. It's the sort of tool you get that you immediately realize will live longer than you do, and that you could bludgeon someone to death with and it would still work. The difference between the grinder and a modified skerton is quite significant, and you can't buy a better grinder than it, but 230 for a large well engineered pepper mill is a reasonable thing to balk at as well.

Edit: oh, and with your method, you'll notice a MASSIVE difference from having better grounds. I use french press as well myself and with more consistent grounds you get less sludge, and a far more clean taste. The problem is that with inconsistent grounds some of your coffee is underextracted, and some is overextracted. Once its all the same sizish (there will still be some fines, they are unavoidable) you get a much cleaner cup.

 

[jon545660]

Thanks @Farkmaster I'm going to try a Hario and see how I get on.

This one looks about right and the first review has a decent video with some good detail.

 

[Farkmaster]

Thanks @Farkmaster I'm going to try a Hario and see how I get on.

This one looks about right and the first review has a decent video with some good detail.

Yea, that one is solid. If the mod below becomes available, go for it. It's not that annoying to mod the unit and it's much improved after (with less jamming too).

http://www.orphanespresso.com/error.asp?error=102&catalogid=4066&prdinc=1