Experiments in Coffee

While I was home for the end of summer, I purchased a french press and a burr coffee grinder. I have now attempted to make coffee twice, and both times it has come out very, very strong. As my mom says, “If you can’t walk on it, it’s not black enough”.

The first time around, I unintentionally had the grinder set to its finest setting, because I had removed the top burr assembly for cleaning before use. Fine is bad for a french press, because the grounds are too small to be filtered properly. The result is very strong coffee from steeping, plus a little bit of sludge in the last hit from your mug.

Today, I switched the grinder to its coarsest setting, but I forgot to reduce the timer from 4 cups to 2, so I ended up with at least 50% more grounds than I wanted for the amount of hot water I was using. Now that was some black coffee! Also, the grind was less consistent. I think I’m going to go up one fineness level, but also reduce the timer. Hopefully tomorrow morning I’ll get it right.

I think the biggest advantages of this system are that I don’t need to buy filters, and my coffee is cheaper because I buy it as whole beans. Obviously, it’s significantly cheaper than buying coffee at Kohlberg, and I’m not wasting a bunch of paper cups. I also get to make coffee in larger doses :oD.

The only real disadvantage is that I have to wash the french press’ plunger assembly and the grinder’s grounds hopper every time I make coffee. It’s probably a good habit to develop, in terms of washing dishes as I dirty them. Who knows how long that will last…

Stranger In Moscow (Tee’s In-House Club Mix)” from Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix by Michael Jackson


Comments

2 responses to “Experiments in Coffee”

  1. The aficionados claim that paper filters remove some objectionable parts of coffee. Your coffee will nonetheless be better than Kohlberg or elsewhere; starting with whole beans helps. Some people keep them in the freezer; this does help the freshness. Wherever you keep them, let the beans rest for neither less or more than a few minutes after grinding and before brewing.
    Good choice with the burr grinder. Coffee is wonderful.

  2. I keep my bean stock in the freezer, except for the next day’s batch, which is in the grinder’s bean hopper, so it isn’t frozen when I want to grind.

    I grind, heat water, then brew, so that should be the right amount of time.

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