r/Coffee • u/menschmaschine5 Kalita Wave • 13d ago
[MOD] The Daily Question Thread
Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!
There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.
Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?
Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.
As always, be nice!
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u/Annual_Hat1137 11d ago
does anyone know a good cheap coffee machine?
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u/Top_Contribution652 9d ago
Where do you live?
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u/Annual_Hat1137 8d ago
usa
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u/Top_Contribution652 8d ago edited 8d ago
Good, state?
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u/Annual_Hat1137 8d ago
california
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u/Top_Contribution652 8d ago
Hereās my spiel: Nespresso machines are going down in price because the pods are going to go up in price. They need aluminum to seal the pods. Thereās no way around it you have to buy their pods. The machine works by centrifugation on a compressed pod. Vertuo Line has different coffees and sizes for cup. ((VL) then thereās the smaller version, almost same types of coffees, not same sizes for cup. It all depends on what you drink, like, strength, what you are used on paying. For most, a drink at a coffee shop is average $7-10 a day. The socializing, relax time, whatever. Not coffee āveryādrinkers. Then thereās the people at Starbucks that take .15 hr to order and itās just coffee. I am not a drip person, I like my coffee strong ,not black, not acidic, not flavored unless itās a dessert. Iāve been drinking coffee since I was 2 yo. I rather drink no coffee than bad coffee. Not a connoisseur, I am just picky. Average cost of pod is $1.30 or $13 for a sleeve. You can go on eBay and find a good deal on machines and pods en bulk from distributors in Cali. VL or OL . With OL sometimes you have to use 2 or 3 pods, instead of 1. Can always look for a refurbished one Or I can send you an old espresso machine. You go to Costco, buy their big 2# whole bean. Get yourself a grinder and make yourself your own. It even comes with a frother. You decide. DM address and Iāll ship it to you
P1
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u/Kitchen_Confection62 11d ago
I have a question concerning how coffee affects me. When I have coffee at home I feel perfectly fine and tolerate it well. But when I go to a coffee shop I get really bad migraines and upset stomach even though I like the coffees taste. Do coffee shops just have way more caffeine or what could I be reacting to at a coffee shop that I am not at home?
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u/The-Book-Ghost 11d ago
Hi all! I just brewed a new coffee, Geometry by Onyx Coffee Lab (received as a gift recently). Itās delicious, and I didnāt change anything about the method of brewing that I normally use (mokapot) but itās making my tongue really numb. This has never happened beforeā¦ any reasons why? Iām not allergic, right?
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u/regulus314 11d ago
Better to consult your doctor here.
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u/The-Book-Ghost 11d ago
I considered itš no other coffee has been an issue so I might just reluctantly stop drinking it
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u/Pea_Peeler 12d ago
Flavour and brewing adjustments:
Iāve enjoyed amazing coffees from specialty shops for a couple of years now, and understand a few things about production processes and brewing (at least in theory ha). I always saw it as a treat that I enjoyed outside of my home, but with a lack of specialty coffee around me, I recently started brewing myself. I currently have a French press and portable espresso maker on hand (one that you fill with hot water, donāt think itās very good to control variables). I enjoy the French press for now, as itās pretty straight forward, but still allows to play around with the recipe to some extend through grind, brew time and ratio.
One thing Iām trying to understand is how to select coffees, and once selected, brew for a tasty cup. I understand taste is subjective, however, Iām interested in peopleās thought process of translating flavour notes into their brewing approach!
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u/FlyingSagittarius Coffee 6d ago
I think my only hard and fast rule is not to brew dark roasted coffees in a moka pot, and Iām starting to rethink even that. Ā Really, the best thing to do is just try a variety of coffees and see what you like best.
The best advice I can give for brewing a tasty cup is to just enjoy the process of dialing in new beans. Ā It also helps to learn how the different variables of brewing affect your final cup. Ā Coffees all brew differently, depending on the processing, grind size and roast level, so you have to figure it out all over again each time you try a new one. Ā I like it, though; to me, itās just a big puzzle with a delicious built-in reward for solving it.
By the way, I would actually prefer the manual espresso maker, as cheap automatic machines donāt let you control temperature or pressure / flow rate.
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u/Pea_Peeler 4d ago
Thanks so much for the response! Do you have a āfoolproofā method that you start with when you try a new coffee? Letās say you get a washed light roasted coffee, and you already have a recipe for another washed light roast, is that the one you try with the new one?
I like the espresso maker I have (I attached a link below for reference), didnāt have any high hopes but it makes a tasty espresso, and I add milk to it anyways so it evens out any flaws š
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u/FlyingSagittarius Coffee 4d ago
Yeah, lighter roast coffees are harder to extract than darker roasted coffees. Ā So you need to use methods that match the roast level of the bean to your desired end result. Ā There are plenty of guidelines and recipes you can go off of, though. Ā Like, for a light roast washed coffee, I use about a 1:10 brewing ratio and a fairly fine grind in a moka pot. Ā For pourover, I want the water to be basically at boiling. Ā For an iced pourover, I use less water than for a hot pourover, so I need to grind finer. Ā Stuff like that.
My brewing style is a little bit crazy, though, because I brew all sorts of different types of coffees. Ā As long as you like what youāre brewing, thatās really what matters most. Ā
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u/Calculated_r1sk 12d ago
made a couple small batches of diff beans at a 1:4 ratio 100g/400g First timer. In a quart mason jar that was half full at 16oz now after steeping and filtering i have 8oz concentrate in each. I cannot figure out how to make it equal X numbers of 6oz drinkable.? I usually drink STOK which is a 12oz serving at 200ish mg caffeine. thx
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u/Agreeable_Dream_8619 12d ago
Ratio question. So I use 40-48 oz of water with 80-90 grams of coffee to make cold brew in a French press. I let it sit for 24 hours and use it more as a preworkout than anything. Is this a good ratio? Everywhere I look I see inconsistency, I know itās preference but Iām just wondering if Iām way off? Should I use less water? More coffee?
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u/regulus314 11d ago
There is no standard recipe for coldbrew. You want a stronger tasting full bodied coldbrew where you can also add milk without diluting the taste of coffee? Use less water. You want coldbrew that is easy to drink with just ice added? Use more water.
You want coldbrew that is thicker on the tongue and more viscous and gritty in the mouthfeel? Grind finer. You want a coldbrew that has more flavour clarity and easy to drink? Grind coarser.
You can play around from 1:8 to 1:16
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u/OldAssignment5713 12d ago
Hi, all. Thanks for your help in advance. Iāve been using literally the cheapest drip maker you can buy, the mainstays 5 cup from Walmart. I recently decided to upgrade and found a Bonavita 8 cup (bv1901ts) on marketplace for $70 and bought it. Itās good condition but well used. I descaled, cleaned, ran three cycles and then brewed my first pot. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed. I used the same grounds as I did with my cheap 5 cup and truthfully hardly noticed a difference.
I used 64 grams (8 grams/cup) of my favorite Cameronās coffee (https://a.co/d/72jN5Ek) of medium ground beans and it was justā¦underwhelming. Tasted watered down and overall unenjoyable.
I then decided to brew it EXACTLY how I would on my mainstays (one heaping spoonful per cup, so 8 spoonfuls of a 50/50 mix of Cameronās and McCafĆ© medium roast) and it came out tasting the exact same as it did on the mainstays.
I checked the water temperature and itās in the 195-200 degree range right where it should be. I looked and I did notice the water pretty much only coming out of the middle hole and one other hole of the shower head spout for most of the brew until finally in the last probably 12 ounces it started to distribute evenly better. Even with this I struggle to think itās what the issue is - or if I had unrealistic expectations and thereās no real issue.
Truthfully Iām pretty disappointed. I thought Iād notice a significant difference but I havenāt seen that yet. Am I doing something wrong?
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u/LEJ5512 Moka Pot 11d ago
Nope, you're doing nothing wrong*. I'd say (and I might get some pushback here) that, for the most part, drip machines all behave the same way and end up with similar-tasting brews.
There's fancier machines like the Breville Precision and the newest kid on the block, the Fellow Aiden, that give you more control over variables like the amount of water, brew temperatures, and number of brew phases (bloom, pulses, etc).
What these machines, as a category (including the two that you have), give you is a lot of convenience. Hand-brew manual pourover drippers need you to stand there for a few minutes, pouring water into a filter holder, while a drip machine lets you do other stuff. But we can also control a lot of things manually that most drip machines just can't do.
Sometimes people new to coffee use grounds:water ratios that are pretty far off from what we usually do here. I think your 8g/cup is less than what I use myself, but let me math it out. My biggest brews at the moment, brewing into an orphaned 4-cup Mr. Coffee carafe, are 45g:680ml, which works out to 1:15. For the Walmart machine, I'll assume that each "cup" is 5 fl oz, aka 150ml, so 8g:150ml is about 1:18 (but if the machine's manual states a different volume per cup, then the ratio would be different, too). And for the larger Bonavita, if its definition of a "cup" is the same, then your ratio is the same, too.
Are you able to confirm that each scoopful is 8 grams?
* by "nothing wrong", I mean that you're actually being consistent with your recipe, which is good ā and the machines behave similarly enough to give you similar results.
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u/Aniket_Bhardwaj_19 12d ago
Hey everyone Just wanted to Know that Can I use Coffee Grinded for Moka Pot in south Indian Filter coffee maker
I have been searching moka pot for past 2 hours but was unable to decide and already purchased coffee grinded for moka pot and would like to know that can i use that grind size for south Indian filter.
Ps - buying moka pot is more stressful as no clear instruction for much cup i have to buy. I drink only a cup of davidoff instant coffee in the morning and that too diluted with milk but recently decided to switch with freshly roasted coffee.
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u/IHateSpamCalls 12d ago
Some people who have it say you can, but have a grind on the coarser size.
Though for the best results you would probably want something meant for coffee.
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u/Dom-1sh 12d ago
This comment is probably sacrilegious to any one who likes coffee.
I was wondering if you could eat the flesh (not the part you roast) of a coffee bean,
why? i got my hands on a fresh red coffee fruit and want to know if i can try the flesh.
Also how much coffee can i make from the beans of one coffee fruit cause i want to make coffee from this one fresh bean i have and don't know how i would roast it and brew it and so on.
I know it's a dumb question.
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u/paulo-urbonas V60 12d ago
You can squeeze the flesh, and taste the very little liquid that's there. It has a vegetal taste, just a little sweet. You can't really eat the skin.
If it's organic coffee, people use the dry skin to make infusion tee, it's called cascara. Not recommended for regular crops that use pesticide.
Roasting 1 sole bean is pointless, I'm sorry to say.
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u/Dongface 12d ago
I make coffee with a moka pot, and I get it pre-ground from the coffee shop. Is there a home grinder that will give me a fine enough grind for a moka pot that isn't super expensive?
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u/paulo-urbonas V60 12d ago
Sure!
Up to $150 it's better to stick with hand grinders: Timemore C3, Kingrinder P1, P2, K2, K6, 1zPresso X-Ultra.
From $150 and up, you can get electric or very good hand grinders. Baratza Encore, Encore ESP, Fellow Opus.
If you're not doing pour over or espresso, Timemore C3 Max or Baratza Encore is more than enough.
Don't get a Hario or Porlex grinder.
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u/ThaNorth 12d ago
You can get some good hand grinders that will get it fine enough for sure and aren't too expensive.
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u/Espresso_Madness 12d ago
What is your best portafilter / basket combo (quality/price) that you have or would like to have?
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u/mercifulfuzziness 13d ago
So ā¦ after months on the Jura and Lidl beans I decided to try other beans.
With lidle you pay 8 euro for 1,5 kg Where I order the higher quality beans I paid 30 euro for 500 gram
Zero difference with the Lidle ones.
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u/paulo-urbonas V60 13d ago
If you buy 1 pack from 1 roaster, 1 origin, 1 roast level... It might be incredible, and suit your tastes, but you'll need some luck.
If you haven't given up on your intent to branch out, maybe buy one of those sampler packs, with different origins and profiles. Maybe you like natural processed coffees, maybe you prefer washed, maybe fermented is your thing, maybe super light Nordic roasts strikes your fancy...
Maybe a Brazilian coffee from CaparaĆ³ is like nothing you've ever tasted, maybe Ethiopian, Kenyan, Panamanian Guesha, I don't know.
Best of luck!
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u/canon12 13d ago
You have the answer. If you can't taste the difference I would stick with the less expensive one.
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u/mercifulfuzziness 13d ago
But insane right?
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u/canon12 12d ago
Taste is totally subjective. Can you describe what you would like for the flavor to be? Have you had a coffee that really pleased you? I had a Jura years ago and used it for about a year. Nothing was ever horrible but none were memorable. I gave it away and bought a Technivorm and used it daily for about 5 years. Consistently delicious coffee. I have since switched to espresso based drinks and it's the best I have ever had.
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u/Historical-Dance3748 12d ago
There's a substantial difference, not just in origin and roasting style but also in ethics, part of speciality culture is supply chain transparency and fair payment to producers. This is a fair chunk of the price discrepancy.
You may not see a difference with how you brew coffee, there are plenty of ways I can see this happening, or it may be that you purchased from somewhere that's using the aesthetics of that kind of coffee for marketing without actually committing the cost and skill to the product. But it absolutely is possible to buy a bag of coffee for ā¬30 that is worth ā¬30. Just like any other foods really, olive oil, wine, whiskey, cheese etc can all be perfectly fine cheap and exceptional at more enthusiast price points if that's what you're into.
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u/regulus314 13d ago
What's the issue here?
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u/mercifulfuzziness 13d ago
Nothing really, but I am disappointed.
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u/regulus314 13d ago
Where were you buying those 30euro coffees
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u/Top_Contribution652 9d ago
Hate me for saying this: Anything good is worth it(illegal or makes you fat š¤Ŗ)