Ya I spent $1000 on this Breville and it’s definitely the “budget” option. It only has one pump, so it can’t pull shots and steam at the same time, but does have a built in, fully adjustable grinder which is nice. I clean her once a month an descale once a quarter, and have had zero issues with her.
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i should edit my statement–‘probably only use if you’re a trained and experienced barista, and/or are trained in the art of cannabis extraction and concentration’. frankly we’d have an edge on most baristas in the understanding of how these systems work.
but yeah, grind size, pressure, temp, residency times, ‘heads’ and ‘tails’, cleaning your machine, all super important to getting a good experience. ‘fire in fire out’ absolutely applies
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Typically unprocessed beans aren’t great for humans, I’d be curious the effects roasting has on the defensive chemicals the coffee plant produces and stores in it’s beans, and the implications of consuming beans that haven’t been roasted
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french press is my favorite by far
My domestic partner was a barista for many years, and in the last couple, while working at her friends little craft coffee shop in town, was trained by the bean supplier Batdorf and Bronson. I got the opportunity to sit in on a training day and was blown away by the science and detail involved.
It also, for the most part, ruined espresso for me. Once you know how it’s supposed to be done, it’s hard to accept that the majority of people have no idea what they are doing and make terrible espresso drinks.
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I’ve been using a $30 AeroPress for weekend espressos the past 5 months or so.
With fresh beans, freshly ground — this thing is awesome. Still not as good as an actual espresso machine (obviously), but pretty damn close. You can still get a good amount of crema with it, especially when you weigh everything out right.
This guy shows off some “inverted” technique he has with the press in a few test runs. Pretty interesting
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Coffee isn’t actually a bean though. It’s a little stone fruit. I know things like apricot pits also have toxins, but of a totally different kind than those in say pinto beans.
I had read at least, green coffee has rather higher caffeine content.
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Heard both the aeropress and chemex were great, I got the chemex and love it.
Based on the fact that a light roast has more caffeine than a dark one, I bet that’s true.
I should’ve said “seeds” instead of “bean”. And more generally, plants concentrate their defensive toxins in their reproductive parts to prevent predation. Eat the apple, but not the seed.
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True enough. I had a professor who started fainting cause he had been eating like a lb of almonds every day. His Dr thought he had a brain tumor. Good thing he asked “anything changed in your diet lately?”
Of course that is a pretty spectacular dosage level. I wouldn’t think some green coffee every once in a while would have much effect. Apparently it is a common drink in Egypt.
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Ya, but the problem is that I’m utterly addicted to coffee…
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I have been wanting to build a lab-grade coffee maker for a while now. My thinking is that the inconsistency is a major issue so having a coffee maker that would precisely measure the inputs (water, water temp, grounds weight, milk) and create a consistently good or better cup of coffee each time. Pair it with an app so you can customize and adjust flavor profiles.
It should be mostly glass or stainless that is easily disassembled and cleaned.
I have a lot of good ideas, but I don;t have the money or time to make it happen.
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Sorta like a Clover machine. But I think Starbucks bought them and eventually axed it
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my friend i absolutely feel you on that. with what i’ve learned in this industry, i could apply it to coffee processes and makers and make some cool shit happen–if i had the time or disposable money.
i do think this is one process that, like many, lose a bit of ‘something’ when the human touch is removed.
here’s the thing: caffeine IS the plant’s main defense. I’ve read that not only does it repel pests but beans dropped on the ground and leaving caffeine in the soil inhibits the growth of other plants in that soil, even other coffee plants. i imagine there are other defensive compounds too, and i’d be equally curious as to what happens to them during roasting.
i know that roasting involves a lot of things happening to chlorogenic acid, there’s some fun charts and graphs out there about it. super interesting in that roasting is but one jumping off point for the eventual end product, but a super important one in that it creates all the things that are there to extract into your brew.
i’ve not read up on the egyptian preparation of green coffee but i suspect it involves a bit of sugar. green beans are insanely bitter and acrid, even when roasted they’ll show this up to a ‘cinnamon’ or ‘city’ roasts (extremely light roasts, and not commonly found for that reason). @MagisterChemist 's point is great, this is a seed, and i think is a big part of why one can get such complexity of possible aromatics–a more complex starting matrix than wine, which is mainly water and sugar, which is fermented. fermentation is only one of the many steps involved in coffee production, namely in processing of the beans, which can make for wildly different flavor profiles produced from the same bean.
its fun to see a bunch of current beverages using ‘green coffee extract’ in their bevs, it’s a savvy way of adding caffeine and appearing to be ‘healthy’ (not to say that it’s not, caffeine isn’t really bad for you)
also also, i used to run a Clover at my first coffee job and it was pretty dope, made a pretty damn good brew, though i could make better. it was more of a showpiece that allowed you to charge $5+ per cup. you’re absolutely right, startbucks bought it and axed it.
These are my two favorite coffees so far.
The Atomic Coffee- Dark Diesel Roast is better as a Coarse French Press Coffee at 200°f or in the espresso machine as a fine ground (whatever the fuck my espresso machine gets too).
The Jim’s Sweet Love Bold is better as a fine ground in the French Press than poured over the v60 <180°f water over espresso ground coffee, 60sec immersion time, filtered over the v60>, or a French Press Coarse Ground at 190°f.
I keep them in my freezer.
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Yep this industry is certainly going to give you a leg up on some other companies that wouldn’t necessarily consider a cup of coffee a good extraction.
There is something special about having to manually measure and adjust, but for most people it’s going to just be inconvenient. Plus most people aren’t going to take it seriously so the adjustments will be inconsistent or not recorded.
Yeah but I would try to make a more simple or inexpensive machine and go b2c. I think the team at Clover shot themselves in the foot because they only got a few million for the buyout whereas kuerig was bought out for 13.9 billion.
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i love the awareness of variables, hell yes. i think you’re right to use slightly lower brews temps for darker roasts, higher temps are better for higher, especially for espresso. that would be why the addition of PIDs on espresso machines changed the game so quickly, before that people didn’t really consider lighter roasts viable for espresso at all.
i will say you’re not doing yourself any flavors by keeping in the freezer, that can impart ‘taints’ aka freezer smells, and just doesn’t buy you much in quality retention. sealed airtight, away from heat and sunlight is ideal <3
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I’ve been thinking about making an espresso machine out of triclamp for the fun of it.
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It would be like a r. o. Filter >rotary water pump > instant hot water heater preset to brew temp> 1"×2" triclamp spool to 5um into cup.
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