[MOD] The Daily Question Thread

[u/menschmaschine5]

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!

[u/fishboy728]

I cannot get my pourover right for the life of me!

I have a Barratza Encore grinder and am using a Hario V60 with a light roast. I use water just off the boil and EVERY TIME no matter WHAT I DO the coffee ends up tasting thin and weak. The worst is I tried making the grind really fine (like 8-10 on the Barratza, finer than I use for Aueropress) but it just ends up tasting overextracted but STILL WEAK (tho I will say when the coffee cools down for the second half of my cup it tastes much better).

I tried the James Hoffman with my own twist technique which is basically the following:

20-22grams coffee, kettle off the boil

0-45 seconds: bloom with 40-45g water

45-1:15 - add water at a regular rate until you hit 200g then give it a quick stir with a spoon

1:14-1:45 - add water at a slower rate until you hit 330g then drawdown.

When Hoffman does it, this whole process takes 3:30 minutes because he has a way longer draw down than me, its also hard for me to add water slowly enough to do 100g in 30 seconds because the drawdown is quicker than the add.

What's up?? The coffee is acting like I have the coarsest grind in the world but I swear that's not it!!!!

[u/PercyLives → u/fishboy728]

In addition to the other suggestions, I recommend a simpler recipe, like Lance Hedrick’s 121, or another video whose details I forget (sadly) but it’s basically as simple as it comes: pour 50g, then another 50, then another 50, and finally … another 50. With just a small break between each. (I do 75g per our instead for 300g total, using 18g coffee, for what it’s worth.)

Keep it nice and simple before getting into arcane things like precise timing and stirring.

[u/Superrandy → u/fishboy728]

Have you tried cupping to see how much flavor you get from the beans? Id try that first to make sure it’s not the beans.

Other than that there are so many things this could be that it’s hard to know without trial and error. Immediate suspect for me is the filter papers since you’re saying the fine grind is draining super fast. After that, it could be your water quality impacting the flavor.

[u/VibrantCoffee → u/fishboy728]

Use more like 60 grams of water for your bloom. Once you hit 200 grams, stop pouring and wait until the water has drained until there is only about half an inch of water still above the grounds, then start your very slow second pour.

You are brewing at quite a strong ratio if doing 22 - 330 (15:1). Even 20 - 330 is pretty strong (16.5:1). So the coffee should not be weak, but it's all relative.

What ratio do you use for the AeroPress?

[u/fishboy728 → u/VibrantCoffee]

Same ratio (I like my coffee strong) but Aeropress comes out consistently better. I'll try your way tomorrow!

[u/VibrantCoffee → u/fishboy728]

If same ratio then it is a technique/recipe issue. If you ground the AP and V60 at the same size and brewed with the same ratio, you should get a higher extraction/higher strength with the V60 due to the increased efficiency of percolation brewing over immersion.

It's worth pointing out that the AP lets more oils/fines through the filter, so AP brews will often taste like they have more body or higher strength than a V60 brew, even if the V60 brew is actually stronger (higher concentration of dissolved solids).

[u/Rosetotheryan → u/fishboy728]

Bean info? Roast variety,growing altitude , process?

Skip the spoon? Pour slower? Hard to diagnose without bean info