That Sour and bitter drink

[lovinthehd]

You guys got me interested in roasting my own coffee and one thing puzzles me. Using my aeropress when I add the hot water to the ground coffee it kind of foams or bubbles up and I've not seen that with any other coffee I've used. Can anyone explain?

 

[lovinthehd]

Finally got a chance to drop by Verve in Santa Cruz. This is the actual location where they roast. Beautiful weather and cool little spot.

Looks like Santa Cruz Bicycles' old digs...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

You guys got me interested in roasting my own coffee and one thing puzzles me. Using my aeropress when I add the hot water to the ground coffee it kind of foams or bubbles up and I've not seen that with any other coffee I've used. Can anyone explain?

Freshly roasted coffee would do that and it's normal. It basically releases CO2. Older the beans -> more co2 escapes. Less CO2 left -> less foam.
In espresso world this foam called by fancy word - Crema and it's highly desirable to have in cup as it adds both more pleasant appearance and smoother taste

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

As soon it gets a bit warmer (feels like 19f now, brrrrr ), I'll clean the garage and post here my coffee roasting station photo I set up there.

 

[lovinthehd]

Freshly roasted coffee would do that and it's normal. It basically releases CO2. Older the beans -> more co2 escapes. Less CO2 left -> less foam.
In espresso world this foam called by fancy word - Crema and it's highly desirable to have in cup as it adds both more pleasant appearance and smoother taste

I'm familiar with crema, the aeropress does that nicely enough in the cup. Same applies in the upper chamber before pressing? So my freshly roasted coffee beans are older than Costco and Peet's coffee beans I've bought?

ps not a big difference in crema in the cup, btw

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I'm familiar with crema, the aeropress does that nicely enough in the cup. Same applies in the upper chamber before pressing? So my freshly roasted coffee beans are older than Costco and Peet's coffee beans I've bought?

Yes. Same thing for chamber filling.
Re: your own roasting - is other way around - fresher beans -> more creama. Peets stuff is pretty fresh (not from Costco - I tried it - it's crap). Amount of crema is also affected by beans type, roasting method, temp and time.
To give you an idea what's fresh. Green coffee shelf life is about 1 year. Roasted coffee should be used before it's 1 month b-day, 2 at most. Ground coffee should be used under 10 minutes, ideally - less than 1 minute.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes. Same thing for chamber filling.
Re: your own roasting - is other way around - fresher beans -> more creama. Peets stuff is pretty fresh. Amount of crema is also affected by beans type, roasting method, temp and time.

Ah, your other post indicates older beans had more crema....

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Ah, your other post indicates older beans had more crema....

How so?

Older the beans -> more co2 escapes . Less CO2 left -> less foam in the cup.

I meant co2 escapes coffee beans naturally, just by sitting on the shelf.

 

[lovinthehd]

How so?

Just misunderstood the way you wrote it.

 

[Swerd]

You guys got me interested in roasting my own coffee and one thing puzzles me. Using my aeropress when I add the hot water to the ground coffee it kind of foams or bubbles up and I've not seen that with any other coffee I've used. Can anyone explain?

BSA got it right, but I think his wording may have been confusing.

Fresh roasted coffee beans continue to give off CO2 for at least 2 weeks or more after roasting has finished. The foam you see when you add hot water is a sign of fresh roasted beans.

I generally finish all the coffee I roast in less than 2 weeks, so I don't see how much foam I'd get with beans more than 2 weeks after roasting. The amount of CO2 gradually fades away. The good flavor from fresh roasted coffee also fades away with similar timing. But that's not to say the CO2 and foam are the direct cause of fresh roasted flavor, they are simply easy to see indicators of freshness.

Unless you buy freshly roasted coffee beans from a local roaster, you're probably getting them more than 2 months after roasting. It's flavor has faded. That's the main reason why people roast their own.

The green coffees I'm now roasting about once a week:

Ethiopia Yukiro Cooperative
Kenya Nyeri Karogoto Peaberry
Guatemala Cuilco – Finca El Regalito Lot 2
Costa Rica Chirripo Finca Jose

The Ethiopian & Kenyan are excellent and the Guatemalan is very good, especially for this time of year. Better Central American coffee will be available in the early summer. The Costa Rican has been disappointingly average. I'm playing with longer roast times to see if that produces a better flavor. That's worked in the past for some other Costa Ricans I've had.

 

[lovinthehd]

BSA got it right, but I think his wording may have been confusing.

Fresh roasted coffee beans continue to give off CO2 for at least 2 weeks or more after roasting has finished. The foam you see when you add hot water is a sign of fresh roasted beans.

I generally finish all the coffee I roast in less than 2 weeks, so I don't see how much foam I'd get with beans more than 2 weeks after roasting. The amount of CO2 gradually fades away. The good flavor from fresh roasted coffee also fades away with similar timing. But that's not to say the CO2 and foam are the direct cause of fresh roasted flavor, they are simply easy to see indicators of freshness.

Unless you buy freshly roasted coffee beans from a local roaster, you're probably getting them more than 2 months after roasting. It's flavor has faded. That's the main reason why people roast their own.

The green coffees I'm now roasting about once a week:

Ethiopia Yukiro Cooperative
Kenya Nyeri Karogoto Peaberry
Guatemala Cuilco – Finca El Regalito Lot 2
Costa Rica Chirripo Finca Jose

The Ethiopian & Kenyan are excellent and the Guatemalan is very good, especially for this time of year. Better Central American coffee will be available in the early summer. The Costa Rican has been disappointingly average. I'm playing with longer roast times to see if that produces a better flavor. That's worked in the past for some other Costa Ricans I've had.

Thanks, yes due to distribution practices I have no doubt my coffee is older than two weeks from roasting; even when I lived in the SF Bay Area and went and bought beans at a Peet's I never had this amount of foaming as I added water....if it's close to the top it can bubble over....but then I've not tried any coffee more than a day or two after my own roasting and am not putting it into a sealed container right after roasting to allow some de-gassing.

The beans I bought a bag of are these; will probably go with something from Sweet Maria's next time. Got an Air Crazy popper and did the moving of the thermostat mod and the last batch was pretty good; was shutting off heat too early before that. Might have to make my own one of these days....

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The beans I bought a bag of are these; will probably go with something from Sweet Maria's next time. Got an Air Crazy popper and did the moving of the thermostat mod and the last batch was pretty good; was shutting off heat too early before that. Might have to make my own one of these days....

Ha, I use same beans myself. First ordered from Amazon, then switches ordering from site itself. It's a bit cheaper. I roast them at highest heat setting for about 13 minutes or about 1 minute after 1st crack. Result is between City to Full city - or light to medium

 

[j_garcia]

I tried that Philharmonic from Philz this weekend. It is a medium roast and has a pretty strong cardamom flavor initially, but after it sits a few min and mellows, it has a nice complex flavor. I really enjoyed it.

 

[lovinthehd]

I tried that Philharmonic from Philz this weekend. It is a medium roast and has a pretty strong cardamom flavor initially, but after it sits a few min and mellows, it has a nice complex flavor. I really enjoyed it.

Just to match your speakers?

 

[j_garcia]

 

[VMAT4]

Can't resist bringing it up. I'm anticipating jeers. Nesspresso anyone? I love mine.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Can't resist bringing it up. I'm anticipating jeers. Nesspresso anyone? I love mine.

First I'll try to educate, not mock you.

From the convenience standpoint I do agree. Pods are easiest and fastest way to make coffee.
Specifically Nespresso (not Keurig) has couple of actually couple of pretty decent pods types (I've tried A LOT of them few years back at the office - we had top'o line built-in Miele machines (which needed LOTS and LOTS of maintenance to keep on working).

But Loving pods shows to me that ether you didn't tried real deal, and I'm not talking Starbucks burnt to the ground stuff. I mean expertly and freshly roasted, finely ground and prepared on good machine espresso by well trained barista.

If you did try such cup and you still "love" pods, then, how shall I say it politely? - you must really place convenience before taste. Decent espresso equipment does indeed cost a bit, but if you and your family drink often - in long term it will be cheaper over 70-75c per pod you're paying right now.

It's like with all good things. You think that camry you drive is a good car, until you tried subaru, especially on a challenging road. Trust me - you will no longer think of camry in same way.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Here's what I recommend as starting point:
First the grinder, Yes Grinder is more important:
This one would be good starting grinder: http://www.1st-line.com/store/pc/Ascaso-I-1-Espresso-Grinder-stepless-doserless-flat-burr-polished-aluminum-12p6669.htm

Machine: Thousands of people bought Rancilio Silvia and very happy with it. It can definitely make very good cup of coffee, but requires decent amount of learning.

If you want world-class machine which is also much easier to master - only for a bit more I'd recommend this one: https://decentespresso.com/de1

My point - if you want to make real espresso at home, practically anything less than these will eventually be simply thrown out and equipment like this to be replace. In the end you spent total more and you had more headaches and bad coffee.

 

[MrBoat]

I drink 3 cups/day. Have tried the fads and have been criticized for my minimalist coffee choice, which has been Folgers 100% Colombian ever since it hit the shelves decades ago. Went to Vegas, and all they had was Starbucks. Ended up finding a Walgreens and bought a Mr. Coffee dripper, Folgers, Coffeemate and a bag of sugar for the hotel room. That's all I drink. 3 cups of coffee in a long day and water. Occasionally a Guinness or some other stout with food.

Yes, the coffee is all wrong, so I've been told. At breakfast at a restaurant one morning before work, a coworker, who always likes to criticize everyone's habits, made a comment about my coffee one too many times. He drinks his black, the only way, according to him. At any rate, I caught myself taking his powdered donut, dunking it in his ice water making sure to get all of the powdery foreign matter off of that otherwise pure dough, wringing it out and set it on his plate. I started to tell him of the sins of the butter and the maple syrup on his pancakes, but he got the point and left me alone about my coffee from there on out.

My girlfriend has a Keurig. I tried to like it, but it's weak and I hate the idea of perpetual proprietary parts and/or adapters for something as simple as a cup of coffee. I make mine one fresh cup at a time. That's my only real quirk with the process, other than the poison I put in it. I do have a grinder and a roaster and I can get beans locally. I like it ok roasted to the double crack, but it's something I don't bother with very often.

Oddly enough, everyone that comes over likes my wrong coffee. I just tell them that it's a welder thing. Welders make the best coffee, after all.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

MrBoat, I think there is nothing wrong with liking pour over (aka drip) coffee. It doesn't mean that you have limit yourself to only off the shelf Folgers.