I like the guy. He’s hipster but also smart, articulate, entertaining, and informative. He investigates everything about coffee-- buying, roasting, grinding, brewing methods, tasting, and everything in between and beyond.
In one of his videos, he went to IKEA and bought all of their coffee-related items, tried out, and evaluated each one. I just watched a video about coffee substitutes, i.e., chicory, dandelion root, acorns. In another one, he tasted something called “Georgia Coffee Jelly” – I think that’s Georgia, USA, not Georgia, Russia. He talks about moka pots and dalgona. I guess he’s a coffee snob, but not snobbish about it. Just a curious fellow.
I love his earnest tone of voice, his intense but controlled passion. His single-minded exploration of his chosen topic. I like the judgmental but apologetic face he makes when something tastes bad… "I’m so sorry, but this is absolute crap. No question."
But there’s no snobbery in him. He has standards and assumes his viewer does, too. Of course, we also want a review of every frigging coffee-related item that IKEA sells. And I did. When I made my first trip to IKEA, I bought the beautiful thermal pitcher. Which I have never used but like to look at.
Interesting hair. Mine looks like that when I wake up, but I’ll bet he puts some time and effort into his do.
I like that he recognizes that he’s often talking about vast investment in a hot beverage. His 2019 gift guide included a bluetooth-enabled smart mug. “It’s absurd. I realize it’s absurd and overpriced, but I love it and use it almost every day.”
And I think it’s often, “This is not up to my standards. I recognize I have outlandish standards, but there you are.”
I’ve zero problems with coffee dorks—I am one—but I was surprised that the video I saw of him discussing the perfect French Press technique, didn’t mention water infusion temperature. So that was surprising.
Frankly, water temperature has a bigger effect on flavors in the resulting cup, than just about anything else within reason for a given batch of roasted beans. OK, grinding them ultra fine would change it more, but I was more talking about one click vs an adjacent click on a typical burr grinder.
Try it with a good digital thermometer. I think you’ll be surprised, like I was, just how important water temperature is to good coffee.
It varies on the coffee. I use 205 for some Sumatrans. I use 198-ish on the unwashed Ethiopians and Yemenis. I really need to be more systematic. What generally happens is I’ll buy something freshly roasted (which is another key: no older than 2 weeks. It makes a difference.), grind, pour, 205, and get told, this is a little ashy tasting. Or pour at 195. ‘This is a little woody tasting.’ Then alter the temperature on the next batch. Eventually Goldilocks finds my coffee just right. Me, if I don’t like it that much, that’s what half and half is for.
I’d start at 205 on the pour. Wrap a towel around the carafe to try and prevent heat loss, and then follow his method. I find with Ethiopians that there can be gobs of proteins and other matter that lead to some huge foams developing with the cap of grounds. These can shoot past the spout and onto the counter. To prevent that I’ll stir with a chopstick as I add water to cut the foam, and rinse off the chopstick into the pot. It can be messy.
Thanks. I haven’t done French press in a while. I go through phases. But I feel inspired to dig out one of my French press pots.
I’ve just been watching James and I figured out another reason why I like him. He possesses and presents an exhaustive body of knowledge about something that is inconsequential, i.e., doesn’t amount to a hill of (coffee) beans. Hehe. I love that. It’s very comforting in these crazy times that someone could put so much energy into something that’s interesting, and that I’m interested in, but doesn’t really matter.
When I watched this video about the discovery of Yemenia coffee, I got super excited…even though I certainly couldn’t tell the difference between different varieties of coffee. His enthusiasm is infectious.
Apparently there’s some controversy whether they truly have something new, or whether they’re just trying to rebrand something old they don’t really have rights to. I look forward to Hoffman’s update on the issue.
Ooooo! Yes, I watched it mere moments ago. I love the idea of putting in the water first and then gently stirring in the coffee. Never woulda thought of that.
I just got my box of stuff I ordered from Hoffmann’s Sqare Mile. A little mug (8 ounces! that’s small!), some beans, and a set of his grind size samples.
