Miscellaneous Giant steps towards a great coffee ?

[dexdex]

From the Bay Area, Oakland CA.

Sidenote: when you live close to Italy 🇮🇹, it is rather unexpected to use coffee from the US 🇺🇸. But hey, coolness has no borders. And the beans are from Colombia 🇨🇴 anyhow.

 

[Pete Thomas]

I’m a big fan of De Longhi machines (after going through so many others)

But I wonder why they chose that name for beans (re:marketing)?

 

[skeller047]

For great coffee, use a better coffee maker. I like the V60 system made by Hario in Japan. I use 20 grams of coffee to 400 ml of water. Water should be just under boiling, 205 F or 96 C. Lighter roasts do better with slightly cooler water. Coffee is ground just before using, and finer than what most people think is right for pour over.

* Wet the filter first (I use hot water, but not necessary)
* Put the ground coffee in the filter, and make a little depression in it.
* Bloom with about 50-60 ml of hot water. Wait about 30 seconds, for the CO2 to escape (you will see the bubbles)
* Add about 150 ml of water, and gently stir so coffee is mixed throughly
* When all that water has filtered through, add another 100 ml. Wait until it filters through
* Add the last 100 ml. and wait for it to go through.

This all takes about 5 minutes, but now you have 400 ml of wonderful coffee. 2 medium cups or 1 big mug. Best way to start the morning. Add milk or cream and/or sugar to taste - I drink it black, but the SO likes it with cream and sugar.

If you can’t take the water’s temperature, bring your teakettle to a boil, then take it off the heat for a minute (or 2 if you are using a lighter roast), that will be close enough.

A small kitchen scale is less than $25; I use it to weigh the beans, and weigh the water as I add it to the filter. 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram, so it’s easy to keep track. Once you have your eye in, you can skip the scale. 20 grams of the beans I like is two coffee scoops. Different beans, I get out the scale. I know how high up on the filter cone 150 ml is, and 100 and 50 too, so that part is easy. But frankly, the actual amount of the bloom plus 3 pours is not critical, I judge the last pour by looking in the large mug I brew into.

It’s fun trying out different beans from different roasters, whenever I see a new blend or a new roast of a location I’ve liked before, I try a pound or two.

There’s an interesting blend from a couple of American saxophonists, Dave Pollack and Ryan Devlin. It’s called “Wrong Notes Only”. They have a podcast on YouTube called “The Hang”, and there’s a link to the coffee in the description there.

Enjoy!

 

[thomsax]

I used to buy vinyl, CD's, CC's in USA. Before internet. When I got the lists of available music they also offered coffee. Why should I buy coffee from USA ..... . ? Sometimes I drink Blue Mountain Coffee from Jamaica. Not my cup of té.

 

[dexdex]

Pete, do we Europeans always get the full picture ?

First, this coffee was brought back from San Francisco by my daughter, in her luggage, as a wink to my jazz, saxophone and coffee addictions. No nonsense online order.

Now, why Coltrane ? This coffee brand is located in Oakland, a city associated with civil rights, and the company is explicitly owned by “Afro-Americans”. Thus the ethno visual on the package and their web site. Mr. Coltrane remains a strong symbol of this ongoing endeavor. This is at least my understanding.

The "marketing" communication can be found on their website.

 

[greenstripe]

You could just go to the Red Bay Coffee website and there's a description of the product and why they called it Coltrane:

Coltrane | Colombian Medium Roast

Colombia Single Origin | Medium Roast Tasting Notes Orange · Nectarine · Chocolate About This Coffee What sets John Coltrane apart is his unmistakable style and extraordinary range—a source of inspiration for our Coltrane coffee. This roast is a tribute to his artistry, with rich dark chocolate...

www.redbaycoffee.com

Colombia Single Origin
Medium Roast
Black grape, dark chocolate, cane sugar

John Coltrane, the African-American creative genius is the inspiration for this very special coffee profile. What made John Coltrane so unique is his amazing range of notes and his unmistakable style. We recognize, this is an unattainable aspiration however, Coltrane will forever inspire our quest to create a legendary coffee experience.

Coffee Story

A cohesive group based on common spiritual and community values, they grow coffee in a way that respects the integrity of the land and their surroundings, according to their indigenous belief system. Thanks to the high level of confidence and trust among members and leaders of the group, they are also able to unify and implement cultivation and processing techniques with relative agility and ubiquity, allowing them to offer a product of consistent quality and low environmental impact.

 

[dexdex]

@skeller047, thanks for your detailed procedure.
As I mentioned above, Italy is close to my home, and has strongly influenced the Swiss coffee culture. 400 ml of coffee (thanks for using continental units...) sounds like huge here.
The typical "italian" automatic machine (the general public DeLonghis are made in Romania) goes form roughly 30 ml (ristretto, small espresso) to 200 ml (doppio lungo, double long). The main purpose of the model seen here is "one touch" operation. No scale, no spoon, nothing. It turns out to be very easy and clean, almost as the aluminium capsules we have been using for a decade.
The coffee is ... almost as good as in the local "caffè" bars there.

 

[Targa]

For great coffee the easy way.
Open jar of Nescafe Expresso.
Put one heaped teaspoonful in mug.
Add one heaped teaspoonful of brown sugar.
Almost fill mug with boiled water.
Add milk.
Stir.
Drink.

 

[Pete Effamy]

You can’t use the words : great, coffee, United States together unless you also use: can’t get..

 

[dexdex]

You can’t use the words : great, coffee, United States together unless you also use: can’t get..

As a matter of fact, I made my first trip to San Francisco last April, and since then I slightly changed my mind. There IS a strong (pun intended) and diverse coffee culture in the Bay Area, which clearly updates the often negative or ironic stereotype about the coffee in the US.
The brand above is only one example, and it shows how active the market can be.
In April we stopped at the small bar at the southern side of the Golden Gate Bridge, and they were promoting coffee coming from Burundi, Africa.
I know, this doesn't say anything about how the coffee tastes, but it shows another facet of a market trying to offer alternatives to the mainstream big business players.

 

[greenstripe]

I think where a coffee originates does have a very strong influence on how it tastes, climate and growing conditions, plus species of bean etc. So it is possible to predict the general character. Of course anyone can ruin a potentially good coffee.

 

[Pete Effamy]

…served in a trough with a litre of milk

 

[skeller047]

Regarding coffee and the SF Bay Area. I grew up in Berkeley, right across the bay. In the 1960s, coffee was a huge thing for college and high school students, and there is a section of Telegraph Ave just south of UC Berkeley which had, at the time, 2 or 3 coffee houses per block. I learned about good coffee there as a teenager, and was a customer of the very first Peet’s Coffee shop on Vine Street. I bought a hand grinder, a moka pot and 3 pounds of coffee there to take with me to college. My mom shipped a couple pounds a month to me. Mr. Alfred Peet himself showed me how to brew pour over coffee using a Chemex flask (similar to what I wrote above). Peet’s is now an international brand, and roasts millions of pounds per year - not necessarily a good thing, though they keep their standards fairly high.

Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks, is now just as coffee conscious as the Bay Area. Before I retired, my company sent me to Seattle 2 or 3 times a year, and I have many friends there, so became familiar with a few local roasters there. I occasionally buy some and have it shipped to me, but there are local dedicated coffee roasters all over the Bay Area and I have tried many of them. My favorite coffee comes from a small San Francisco roaster, though I also continue to drink Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend.

My favorite single-origin coffee is from Sumatra. My wife prefers some coffee we get from a small roaster in Veracruz, Mexico. Specifically a tasty bean organically grown at a higher altitude in Oaxaca.

I think any European coffee drinker could find something to love here in the Bay Area.

 

[mizmar]

I think any European coffee drinker could find something to love here in the Bay Area

Depends where in Europe.
Not that there isn't a health selection of great coffee shops ready to sculpt a palm frond in frothy milk and a few places take up Coca-Cola-Costa's Coffee; but Scandinavians are absolutely wedded to toasted water. Preferably matured in a thermos for a couple of hours.

 

[Pete Effamy]

Last time I was in Paris the American-style “bowl” of coffee seemed to be becoming the norm.

Whatever the shot tastes like, mostly it is ruined by the sheer amount of hot milk. The best coffee I ever had was around the corner from St Mark’s Square in Venice.

Most coffee outlets would probably serve decent coffee if only they revised their cup sizes. 250ml and above is a shot of coffee with too much water or too much milk.

60ml is a typical espresso sized cup.

 

[dexdex]

Happy to read that eventually Starbucks starts to think about coffee. It is about time. Their café in Milano, Italy, is a very nice spot, located in a former palazzo style central post office.
Hey @skeller047, Telegraph, Berkeley, rings a bell. Considering the 60s you mention, did you know the Tsubo, where my top favorite live jazz album was recorded ? Speaking of Wes (and Griff), Full House.
Reading your post clearly explains why we Europeans feel at home with the coffee culture around the Bay.
By the way, Keller is a typical Swiss name, do you know where your family has their roots ? Could also be Germany, Austria, France…

 

[dexdex]

Coltrane, but also … shorter.

 

[skeller047]

Happy to read that eventually Starbucks starts to think about coffee. It is about time. Their café in Milano, Italy, is a very nice spot, located in a former palazzo style central post office.
Hey @skeller047, Telegraph, Berkeley, rings a bell. Considering the 60s you mention, did you know the Tsubo, where my top favorite live jazz album was recorded ? Speaking of Wes (and Griff), Full House.
Reading your post clearly explains why we Europeans feel at home with the coffee culture around the Bay.
By the way, Keller is a typical Swiss name, do you know where your family has their roots ? Could also be Germany, Austria, France…

Thanks for that @dexdex . I don’t know Tsubo, when I was a kid I bought records at a store on Shattuck Ave. It was near my high school. Don’t remember the name…

I believe my father’s family came from Germany. My father was embarrassed about his history, probably because he served in the Navy during WWII, and he often tried to claim his family was from Ireland. My sister knows more than I do because she went down the DNA family tree rabbit hole. My mother’s family came from England and Scotland, but many generations back. Somewhere back in that tree there is some native American blood. So I’m a mutt 🙂 A coffee and jazz loving mutt.

Regarding coffee serving size @Pete Effamy, I understand espresso quite well. Well enough to know that I don’t want to go to the expense and time to be able to make it myself. If I want a stronger “shot” of coffee, I have an Aeropress, which isn’t espresso and isn’t pour-over, but somewhere in between.

I dislike milk and the fancy diagrams that people draw on top of their lattes. Give me a straight shot and maybe a sugar cube. Or a macchiato…

 

[wakyct]

I don't make coffee often at home but when I do it's all Aeropress. Mind blown out of the box when I saw you could do it upside down/inverted (safety note, do not plunge upside down 😉 ).

I think the thing with big coffee drinks in the USA is most people here are more interested in "coffee-like drinks". It's like the difference between margaritas and sipping tequilas.

 

[Pete Effamy]

Thanks for that @dexdex . I don’t know Tsubo, when I was a kid I bought records at a store on Shattuck Ave. It was near my high school. Don’t remember the name…

I believe my father’s family came from Germany. My father was embarrassed about his history, probably because he served in the Navy during WWII, and he often tried to claim his family was from Ireland. My sister knows more than I do because she went down the DNA family tree rabbit hole. My mother’s family came from England and Scotland, but many generations back. Somewhere back in that tree there is some native American blood. So I’m a mutt 🙂 A coffee and jazz loving mutt.

Regarding coffee serving size @Pete Effamy, I understand espresso quite well. Well enough to know that I don’t want to go to the expense and time to be able to make it myself. If I want a stronger “shot” of coffee, I have an Aeropress, which isn’t espresso and isn’t pour-over, but somewhere in between.

I dislike milk and the fancy diagrams that people draw on top of their lattes. Give me a straight shot and maybe a sugar cube. Or a macchiato…
View attachment 27037View attachment 27037

I've heard good things about Aeropress