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Stilly

By Stilly,
in Food & Drink

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bear

bear

Posted
Posted

I'm a one mug a day drinker so trebling that would be a big step up. I'm sure if I had the concentrate ready to go in the fridge my coffee consumption would shoot up though as it'd be even handier than the Aeropress.

I just like seeing methods that take some of the hassle out of making a decent cup of coffee to be honest. The Toddy looks like something that'd be easy to foul up at first but you would only have to do one cleanup every week to ten days.

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Baz

Baz

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Posted

Kopi Luwak is lovely (I bought some off hasbean years ago after seeing it in an episode of CSI of all things) but it's just so ridiculously expensive (50g for £26 at the current prices) that you feel a bit self indulgent even grinding the beans.

tumblr_kpzxp5IIc81qzdsi5o1_400.jpg

I'm back in Bali now and tempted by this - around £28 for 100g (in a pack with a coffee cup thrown in) but for sure could find it cheaper if I shop around.. is it really worth it though or just a gimmick?

If it's any good maybe I'll get some of these palm civets and start a production line...

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wev

wev

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After spending the past few months drinking Little's instant coffee I bought a (cheap) coffee maker and some Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Kenyan ground coffee, was not expecting it to be as drastically different as it is. Mind blown, habit changed.

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Mortis

Mortis

Posted
Posted

I'm back in Bali now and tempted by this - around £28 for 100g (in a pack with a coffee cup thrown in) but for sure could find it cheaper if I shop around.. is it really worth it though or just a gimmick?

If it's any good maybe I'll get some of these palm civets and start a production line...

It's a very unique taste , slightly nutty but with no bitterness and a lovely aftertaste. I'd say for anyone that likes coffee you should try it at least once - if only to see peoples reactions when you give them a cup and while they drink it tell them the origins of the brew :)

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Mortis

Mortis

Posted
Posted

After spending the past few months drinking Little's instant coffee I bought a (cheap) coffee maker and some Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Kenyan ground coffee, was not expecting it to be as drastically different as it is. Mind blown, habit changed.

You should try some fresh roasted from hasbean - the Kenya gethumbwini peaberry they have at the moment is delicious.

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sir stiff_one

sir stiff_one

Posted
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Depends on the machine, how often it's used, how often it's cleaned, how often it's serviced, to what degree it's serviced (to they test the water etc). When I was managing a cafe, I got quite nerdlinger about the coffee, and from then on I feel we served decent (Illy beans) clean tasting coffee. I made sure our filters were clean, and that beans were rarely ground and left to go stale. Pre that, it was anything goes. An expensive machine serving out bitter tasting brown stuff, because no one knew any better. In the High Street I've always found Pret the most consistent (largely because their machines are automatic), but Nero often tasted the same. It'll largely be down to the staff and how much of a fuck they give. Costa has always been the worst for me, Starbucks always the weakest default coffee.

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Monkeyspill

Monkeyspill

Posted
Posted

I had a coffee from Costa the other day. It was worse than Gregg's coffee! How can that be?

I can make as good coffee as most coffee shops using Illy ground in a moka pot...I'm notparticularly good at making coffee or anything, it's just that most shops are a bit rubbish. You might as well get a jar of Nescafe and save some money.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Alexlotl

Alexlotl

Posted
Posted

Got an Aeropress and Kyocera ceramic burr hand-grinder earlier this week, and I'm making my first forays into proper coffee.

Love the Aeropress so far - so damn easy to clean, and makes beautifully smooth coffee. I'm using locally roasted coffee designed for Drip/French Press, very dark and fragrant.

Ritual at the moment:

1. Boil Kettle. While it's boiling, use Aeropress funnel to pour beans into the Kyocera (not what it's designed for, but works splendidly)

2. Once kettle has boiled, start hand grinding beans. Takes about two minutes.

3. Set up Aeropress chamber with filter and tip in freshly ground coffee. Pour water into plunger up to #2 and check temperature with thermometer (with my current grinding speed, it's usually exactly 80 deg C here, perfect for the Aeropress)

4. Put chamber on mug, slowly pour water from plunger into chamber, stir for ten seconds with paddle. Quickly rinse paddle and wet plunger end.

5. Insert plunger, rest both hands on it, rest chin on hands, slowly slip lazily towards the table enjoying the smell of the coffee.

6. Quickly remove filter holder, pop coffee puck into the rubbish. Rinse end of plunger and filter holder, stick it all on the drying rack.

7. Top up double-shot with remaining hot water from kettle for an americano, or add microwaved milk for a pseudo-latte.

Great coffee and no washing up :D

The Kyocera seems to be great, gives a really even grind. Can't do more than two Aeropress-scoops worth of coffee though, so strictly for one-cuppers. When I started looking at learning coffee-fu, the cost of electric grinders and horror stories of reliability/quality really put me off, so it's a great cheapo solution.

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Scribblor

Scribblor

Posted
Posted

Picked up some Taylor's Hot Java Lava today, to use with my Aeropress, as I'd run out of my coffee I got from Imperial Teas of Lincoln.

Apparently it's strength is 6, and it's 'a powerhouse blend, made for those who love their coffee rich and dark, with an intense caffeine kick'. I may have to double the amount I've been putting into the Aeropress in order to actually taste the stuff. Using a 2-strength Aeropress and filling my mug up with hot water to make a dirty Americano leaves me with something substantially weaker than using two teaspoons of Douwe Egberts Continental Dark instant coffee.

Basically, if you're someone who loves your coffee rich and dark, with an intense caffeine kick, give Taylor's Hot Java Lava a miss.

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Alexlotl

Alexlotl

Posted
Posted

Where from?

Orphan Espresso over in the US. Postage to New Zealand was pretty reasonable, and it was both cheaper than buying an Aeropress from the official NZ stockist, and buying a Kyocera direct from Japan via eBay. They also have an excellent rep with returns/warranties etc, which was reassuring.

I hadn't really been digging into the grounds when stirring for fear of damaging the filter, but I really went for it today, and it released so much more oil than previously - incredible cup of coffee!

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zxcvbnm

zxcvbnm

Posted
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I agree with a few people; I dislike Starbucks' coffee. I also find Nero and Costa a bit strong. Maybe I'm just too fussy! I've got my own coffee machine, so I can make it just to my taste, which is nice! :-)

I prefer the taste of Costa to all the other chains, but ALL of them serve it way too hot. When I was in Italy the coffee there was mildly hot at best, not the scalding temperature it gets served over here.

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Exidor

Exidor

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I hadn't really been digging into the grounds when stirring for fear of damaging the filter, but I really went for it today, and it released so much more oil than previously - incredible cup of coffee!

Do the upside down thing mentioned earlier in the thread. No worries about ripping your filter and an amazing cup of coffee.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Moz

Moz

Posted
Posted

I prefer the taste of Costa to all the other chains, but ALL of them serve it way too hot. When I was in Italy the coffee there was mildly hot at best, not the scalding temperature it gets served over here.

My mother in law to be is a dyed in the wool Italian, she takes her coffee back and complains if it isn't mouth-burningly hot.

I once tried to explain that if you use water thats JUST come off the boil, it completely kills the flavour, but what's science compared to the knowledge of old Italian women.

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Alexlotl

Alexlotl

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Posted

Do the upside down thing mentioned earlier in the thread. No worries about ripping your filter and an amazing cup of coffee.

Actually, I was underestimating the engineering that went into the Aeropress - the wide end on the stirring paddle is specifically designed to prevent the bottom of the paddle hitting the filter - try it on an empty chamber and see.

I did give inverted a try, but there wasn't really any appreciable difference - I get barely any bleed-through from my fairly fine grind anyway.

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wev

wev

Posted
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Rota did an ASDA shop online the other day, was delivered yesterday, in it were two bags of coffee grounds, one of which was Hot Java Lava. It's rated a "6" the only two ground I've had so far (a Nigerian one and a Mexican one, both Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range) have been rated 3 iirc :unsure:

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Scribblor

Scribblor

Posted
Posted

Rota did an ASDA shop online the other day, was delivered yesterday, in it were two bags of coffee grounds, one of which was Hot Java Lava. It's rated a "6" the only two ground I've had so far (a Nigerian one and a Mexican one, both Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range) have been rated 3 iirc :unsure:

Picked up some Taylor's Hot Java Lava today, to use with my Aeropress, as I'd run out of my coffee I got from Imperial Teas of Lincoln.

Apparently it's strength is 6, and it's 'a powerhouse blend, made for those who love their coffee rich and dark, with an intense caffeine kick'. I may have to double the amount I've been putting into the Aeropress in order to actually taste the stuff. Using a 2-strength Aeropress and filling my mug up with hot water to make a dirty Americano leaves me with something substantially weaker than using two teaspoons of Douwe Egberts Continental Dark instant coffee.

Basically, if you're someone who loves your coffee rich and dark, with an intense caffeine kick, give Taylor's Hot Java Lava a miss.

I reckon you'll be alright. The Sainsbury's Taste The Difference dark roast (rated 4) is far darker and stronger than the Taylors.

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  • 5 weeks later...

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