I basically just skip espressos on vacation and settle for coffee. Unless I’m fortunate to discover a decent espresso place. Starbucks are not worth hunting down to me, their espresso is invariably so inferior as to be a real waste of time and money and taste buds.
Every once in a while I find a little mom and pop place that knows how to make a proper espresso, though.
I used to roast all my own coffee. I had a Swissmar, The Alpenrost if I recall correctly. I liked the machine, but I had reliability issues and had it replaced (free, at least, under warranty) twice before I gave up on it. The HotTop had just come out and got good initial reviews, but was hard to get and my interest waned, so I have yet to get back into roasting.
My biggest complaint was that the Alpenrost was the largest roaster available before getting into pro equipment, and it would still only roast about 1/3 to 1/2 pounds at a time. My wife and I go through plenty of coffee, so it seemed like I always needed to fire up another batch.
Makes a hell of a lot of smoke too, more than a standard range hood can deal with.
I would be interested in hearing more about this, provided it is not considered proprietary info.
While we enjoy our lattes, we aren’t coffee aficionados so we think our super-automatic is pretty great. Apparently it’s a low end one, as it cost about $650. When you compare our rate of consumption to the going rate for the nearest good commercial latte, it pays for itself pretty quick.
My father was roasting coffee beans in an old air-pop popcorn machine for a while. He thought the resulting coffee was okay but it was too much trouble.
I don’t want to hijack this into a “Ask the…” thread, but I’ll answer what I can.
I’m just curious what the flavor attributes are that you are judging.
I’m not going to lie, while I’ve found the SDMB to be hugely influential in my enthusiasm for various foods and drinks, espresso is one case where it has intimidated me to the point of not wanting to get a machine for home use.
It’s really not that tough. Decent semi-automatic home machines can be had for 2 or 3 hundred dollars, most come with video clips as to how to best use them (and more can be found on youtube), and you can be making espressos as good as or better than most chains in a few hours.
But then if one gets into it, there’s so much room to fine-tune the process, and spend lots of time and money in the process, if one chooses.
Or not.
I found a local roaster over the summer, who roasts right here in Roger’s Park, at the Monday Farmer’s Market around the corner from my place. He buys organic cooperative coffee from all over. Right now I’m finishing up some Ethiopian. I was sad the Market was ending, until he told me a local store called The Armadillo’s Pillow carries his coffee. That store is only a couple blocks from me. Happy.
I just do the coffee press, and have a hand-grinder. I really like my mornings/afternoons in the kitchen to not be marred by loud electric motor sounds.
The scorecard right now includes dark roast, nutty, woody, chocolate, wine/berry, cereal/grain, prune/molasses, burnt, ashy, papery, green/vegetative, fermented, rubbery/skunky, caramelized, as well as the basic tastes: sweet, sour, and bitter. We also score astringency and body, although those aren’t really flavors.
Wow. Sounds arduous. No wonder people have to qualify and train.
I would love to do that, too. My tasting ability is strictly amateur, although I did learn a lot about coffee while working at Starbucks. Say what you will about them, but they’ve done a lot to inspire appreciation of specialty coffees.
I finally broke down and got a Keurig. I had used Melitta coffee with the cone-drip method for years and avoided Keurig because I was worried that there wouldn’t be any k-cup varieties I would like as much. The ones that came with my machine (model B60) mostly sucked, but then I can’t tolerate dark roasts. But the 2 Green Mountain varieties were very good.
I don’t have a very refined palate and so don’t make fine distinctions but I think I’ll be happy with those 2.
I probably should go a bit out of my way to find better coffee though. I bought Don Francisco before my local store stopped selling it and liked it quite a bit more than Melitta. Oh well. It’s the price I pay for being lazy.
Nice setup -and good tips.
I’ve got
Several Bodum canteens
A Rancilio Silvia. I, too would love to have a machine with two boilers. (QtM who did the temperature control unit for you?)
Ascaso grinder (excellent, seamless grind setting).
As for beans I buy them freshly roasted, but I don’t prefer anything in particular for espresso - I go with whatever my coffee roaster recommends. For the Bodum I usually drink South Indian Malabar coffee. Very little bitterness.
Water: Nothing special, though we have to filter it, since the water is quite hard around here.
Aah. Coffee!
The irony is that I don’t know what I’m tasting! Everything comes to us as numbered sample without any other identifier.
Dave at http://hitechespresso1.virb.com/ did the job.
I like their coffee okay. But I swear, I’ve never gotten a decent espresso from them. Miniscule to non-existent crema, burnt and bitter. And I’ve tried lots of different outlets, across the country, looking for a different outcome. Now, if I go there, I get coffee.
And lately when I’ve been in their shops, all I see are the fully automatic espresso machines! :eek: :dubious:
That sounds fascinating. Do you all have an aroma wheel, like is used in wine appreciation? If so, what does it look like? Can you provide some of the metrics that your group uses for assessing coffees: scoresheets, that sort of thing? Does your group rely on reference scents at all. What are the standards that you grade against? I see that you’ve answered some of my questions in your reply to Oslo.
I’ve found triangle tasting to be fun in wine appreciation. Really forces you to pay attention and makes sure that you’re tasting what’s there, not what you think is supposed to be there.
For the OP: I really need a burr grinder to avoid the sludge that Brown Eyed Girl talks about. For me, it’s French Press with beans from Java Coffee and Tea in Houston. Usually, it’s either Mocha Sanani or one of the Sumatra/Sulawesi “dark as midnight” group. Beans from ‘La Minita’ Tarrazu from Costa Rica are excellent too. Their Jamaica Blue Mtn. is spendy but not as crazy expensive as I would’ve thought. A little too expensive for everyday though.
I like coffee, but it’s often too harsh for my taste. I find that cold brewing really helps. I follow the instructions from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, and it works great. I typically go semi-hedonistic, with sweetened condensed milk and fat free half and half. With those add-ins, Eight O’Clock coffee, pre-ground, works just fine. If I wanted to drink it straight, I’d go for something with a bit more body and caramel notes, fresh-ground.
You want good coffee - Indian.
Freshly roasted 90/10 coffee to chicory ratio and made in a french press-type maker.
Added to frothy full fat milk or cream (whipped, not steamed)…
Nectar of the gods.
Come to my house any morning and I will make converts of you all!