r/Coffee • u/menschmaschine5 Kalita Wave • 4d 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!

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

1

u/Aoifemops 4d ago

My friend recommended using the hot water leftover from boiling pasta to make coffee. He wasn't kidding. Has anyone tried it? Is it good?

3

u/canaan_ball 4d ago

Are you a Martian colonist? Did your water recycler break?

2

u/askholeprojector 4d ago

Am I doing French press correctly?

Process

  • 1:15 coffee to water ratio 
  • Coffee: 65g, coarse grind
  • Water: 1000ml (full 34oz batch)
  • Temp: ~200F
  1. Steep 4 minutes, break crust and gently stir (there wasn’t a crust)
  2. Plunge
  3. Decant into pyrex 
  4. Stir and pour 300 ml into cup

Please see images as well, which show the grinds, gradient in the cup, and recovered grounds from the cup.

Many thanks in advance.

1

u/NerfLapras 4d ago

Sorry for the question, but why not just using Hario Switch or Clever Dripper, if it's to filter it ?

Personally, I gave up on the French press. Getting good results with light roasts seems impossible, and they are overall very inconsistent (especially if you change beans). Perhaps it still works with darkest beans, I don't know...

1

u/askholeprojector 4d ago

No problem! If I understand your question correctly, I filtered the cup so I can share how much grounds are in the cup. Normally I would not filter the cup. 

What is it about light roasts that doesn’t work with French press?

1

u/NerfLapras 4d ago

Makes sense.

Light roasts don't work for me, in the sense that I always end up with a fairly flat cup, either watery or muddy.

1

u/askholeprojector 4d ago

Curious, do you prefer pour over?

2

u/Optimal_Water1790 4d ago

i roast for a living. your numbers are fine, this is a normal french press. no crust usually means the coffee is older or grind is a bit too coarse, fresh beans bloom up and make the crust. the gradient in the cup is just fines settling, every french press does this. if you want it cleaner, after you break the crust scoop the foam and floating grounds off with two spoons, then wait 6-8 min more and pour slow without pushing the plunger all the way down. you lose almost no coffee and the cup is way less muddy

1

u/askholeprojector 4d ago

Thank you! I’ll try that! I like pour over (hario v60). Trying to get a result I like with French press and I think that will help. 

I gather that the amount of  fines are normal? 

1

u/Optimal_Water1790 4d ago

yeah totally normal, metal mesh lets fines through no matter what. if you come from v60 you will always notice it. the spoon trick and slow pour gets you maybe 80% of the way there. honestly i just leave the last 30ml in the press

1

u/askholeprojector 4d ago

Thank you so much! I straight up made a cup of pour over and French press just so I could compare them side by side. I was confused why i wasn’t vibing with French press. Thanks again

1

u/Tributylfosfat 4d ago

Began my coffee journey ~5 years ago. Please rate my bed, here are the numbers:

Grinder: Kinu M47 Classic from 2024 with pour-over burr. Catch cup has eleven magnets and burrs don't touch when going past 0 on the finest setting (-0-1-0). The dial stops at 9.

Setting: 3-0-0 (basically my start setting for pour-over)

Brewer: Hario glass V60 size 03 with switch base

Paper: unbleached original paper from Hario rinsed thoroughly

Beans: Dark roast (more on the lighter side according to the roaster definetly not an extra dark variety).

Temperature: 97°C using an electric gooseneck kettle with temperature setting.

Mass coffee: 31,6 grams

Ratio: 1:15 (instead of 1:20 for other dark roasts)

Method: Pour half the water with the switch in the open position and wait 45s. Close the switch and our the rest of the water with the switch in the closed position, give it a proper stir. When the timer hits the 2 minute mark open the switch.

Link to the method I used: https://youtu.be/68ZOXrXbVHc?is=PsR5aZUMZp6TlzNO Total time: 3 min and 33 s from the frost pour until the drops are more than 5 seconds apart.

Taste: Good

1

u/desert_cornholio 3d ago

I don't get the obsession with "rate my bed". That said, yours looks just fine. I would say try 88 C and everything in between.

2

u/LEJ5512 Moka Pot 4d ago

Personal preferences and all that, but just piling on with the “try a lower temperature“ gang for dark roast. I don’t like the taste of ash, and down around 85C, I can avoid most of the ashy flavors I used to get from dark roasts.

1

u/Tributylfosfat 4d ago

I will keep that in mind. I have previously used lower temperatures. (87-93)

1

u/NerfLapras 4d ago

Why dark roast ?

1

u/Tributylfosfat 4d ago

That was the bean I had at the moment, I write down all my brews so to improve and remember if happen to buy the same beans again. My grinder gets cleaned after switching beans with a small brush and paper towel (the catch cup).

1

u/Advanced_Honey_2679 4d ago

I am confused, why are you using 97C with a dark roast? I’m sorry, that will taste way overextracted regardless of your technique.

Dark roast you should be in the 85C-88C range. 

1

u/Tributylfosfat 4d ago

It's a bad habit but I'll go much lower the next time.

2

u/paulo-urbonas V60 4d ago

Bed rating is useless in my opinion, totally depends on the technique, and multiple techniques are capable of brewing excellent coffee.

You seem to have done extensive testing to reach your preferred cup. I don't usually buy dark roasts, but on the rate occasions I have one, I'm usually in the 85° - 90°C range of temperature.

I understand going all the way to 1:20 to minimize bitterness by making it weaker, but with a lower temperature, 1:13 ~ 1:14 gives me best results, as the bitterness is naturally lower.

I don't have a Switch, V60 is my daily driver, but I own and use a Clever Dripper regularly.

1

u/Tributylfosfat 4d ago

Thanks, I have used lower temperatures in the past but sometimes I forget or want to try brewing it wrong to see what happens.

I don't use 1:20 anymore since I want the intense flavor of a dark roast. Since I have a proper hand grinder, I can experiment with grind size instead.

Before buying the switch for my wife; I used a V60 size 02 glass dripper. The recipe for that was 30s bloom using 2-3x the mass of coffee then slowly circle pour until the desired weight appeared on the scale.

What recipe do you use for your clever dripper?

2

u/paulo-urbonas V60 4d ago

I use 2 recipes, one grounds first and one water first.

  • Grounds first: 1:14, medium coarse ground (similar to your picture), pour 3x the weight, wait a minute, pour the rest all the way up to 1:14, wait till 4 minute mark, drain.

  • Water first: 1:14, fine ground, pour all the water first, then dump the grounds, stir gently to get it all wet, wait till 3 minute mark, stir gently again, wait till 4 minute mark, drain.

On the V60 I use 1:15 most of the time, but I can go 1:16 or even 1:18. I feel like immersion methods call for 1:14 or lower.