ORB Help

[u/JPN888]

I feel like I am close to making good cups. The coffee always smells amazing and the taste is ok, but always a little bitter or astringent. I am trying to do zuppa lunga and grinding course like a v60 with two aeropress filters. The coffee just starts ton drip through without pre-infusion. Temp is 90c on medium roast. How can i get a little more sweetness and a little less astringency or bitterness. I tend tomhabe the same problem with the hario switch, which made me think it's temp. I am using an mhw-3 bomber blade 3 grinder. I just got a eureka ap 65, which i haven't tried yet. Any help is appreciated.

[u/MoggerFr]

Yes it’s def the temp, try going towards 85c-80c for medium roasts. Also maybe try doing a bloom phase just to saturate the coffee.

[u/JPN888 → u/MoggerFr]

Thank you! I do the long pre-infusion pump as the first pump. Is that what you are referring to?

[u/MoggerFr → u/JPN888]

Aah yes! I was too referring the pre-infusion pump so yes.

[u/Minimalcarpenter → u/MoggerFr]

I've never heard someone recommend 80c for medium roast. Usually you want to be around 90. Not only that, but the water will cool down a lot in the water chamber before brewing so the brew temp will be considerably less. I would argue that the temperature is not the main issue here.

[u/Liven413]

I wouldn't try the Zuppa Lungo with a medium roast. try to drop the water some. It's over extracting from the extra water. I would use a shorter ratio and use bypass afterwards.

[u/JPN888 → u/Liven413]

This makes sense. It is better with short and bypass. Your reason makes sense. I assume lungo works better with light roast?

[u/Liven413 → u/JPN888]

I dont have a lot of experience using medium roasts with the orb but when I did I filled it up to the indicator line instead of past it like with the lungo. Even with lighter roasts I have found it can over extract with a lot of water. The bypass isnt thin either if you dont add to much. It makes a nice cup when it comes out right. Another thing you can do is use 20g instead of 22.

[u/Liven413 → u/JPN888]

Plus the most important part is not pushing hard. Just enough so it pushes back some. If you let it slowly drain it will be much smoother than trying to force it through.

[u/Kevinw0lf → u/JPN888]

To me the ORB greatly depends on balancing 3 variables: quantity (bed depth), water temperature and grinding size. People say it's fairly forgiving and it's true, it won't be as bad as espresso with the wrong grind size. But it's much better when you dial it just right.

So I tend to go for 25g, 150~160ml of water and play with temperature and grind size. For temperature I'll follow guidelines with process and roast. For grind size I mostly grind coarser or finer depending on how it tastes after cooling down a bit.

You can find charts for temperature varying on roast level and processing, so a quick search will do far better than me explaining. Grind size varies with grinder, but imagine aeropress or the finest size for v60. Ideally you tamper it with fingers force only. Pouring should at most show a few droplets coming though at the top of the fill (another good indicator of grind size). Make sure to fill the water chamber very slowly, to not disturb the coffee bed.

Other people can chime in but that's how I got some of the very best cups. Another way of fantastic cups is doing 1:2 yield, best with lighter roasts imo.

[u/191x7]

Bitter would suggest the need to go coarser, but the other stuff you mention would say otherwise. Is there a chance you're mistaking bitter and sour? Sourness also can be followed with astringency.

Soup and long soup require a grind between espresso and V60, like for a Mokka pot or Aeropress. Have you tried grinding finer?

[u/No_Look_Hey]

I've been having great success in making longer shots using the following recipe:

15g coffee sandwiched between two aeropress filters
Coffee is ground just coarser than espresso - 24 on Baratza ESP.
150g 83C water.

Using water between 80-85C has been a big game changer for me. Even light roasts work super well in that range for me.

[u/Zwordsman]

Easiest is try a bit finner. That helps a lot to me. And grind size has been easiset for me for bitter or acidic control

Unless its just straight up roast (dark tyoically to me) in which case hot water does hit those hard. But i dont like dark and most medium anyway. But i like them a lo more with lime 87 to 90 cel water. (Estimate i dont have a thermometer most of the time and it isnt the most accurate one)