coffee anyone?

[(petri)]

Any recommendations in London? 

Workshop have 3 locations, all good. Alchemy at St. Paul's is great. You can get a London coffee map from any good spot and see how crazy the scene is atm. Only boring issue is Square Mile's dominance in beans.

[herpsky]

Do you have a good grinder? Probably the coffee houses have better ones. I've made tests with my cheap home grinder versus for example EK43, and the grind quality (read: coffee particles are similar sized, so they extract in same 'speed') makes a whole lot of difference when using aeropress, v60, kalita etc.

i have a barratza virtuoso. i mean, i don't have a 3000 dollar mazzer but i've been told that it's a good grinder

[DaBestSpoona]

somone educate me on metal aeropress filters.

 

apparently, the us aeropress champ used an artisanal japanese made metal filter. 

 

your thoughts on this? (or other metal filters)

 

I have the able one, and some other one from kickstarter.

 

Its personal preference, you get a cup thats more similar to a french press, and sediment comes through.  

 

I'm experimenting. I didn't like it at low temp like 85 degs. Now I do 95. It came out too dark. Then again, if I do dilute it, it tastes like crap. I've had really good cups of aeropress at coffee shops so I must be doing something wrong. Maybe I should steep less. Maybe I  shouldn't sitr. Hmm.

 

Do you have a water filter?  Some shops use either reverse osmosis water filter or the japanese charcoal one.

[herpsky]

I have the able one, and some other one from kickstarter.

 

Its personal preference, you get a cup thats more similar to a french press, and sediment comes through.  

 

 

Do you have a water filter?  Some shops use either reverse osmosis water filter or the japanese charcoal one.

my local spot says they use reverse osmosis water. i use this spring water. where can i cop?

isn't dasani, like, reverse os'd h2o?

[DaBestSpoona]

Spring water has a lot of minerals.  According to Wikipedia Dasani is reverse osmosis and minerals added afterwards.  

[herpsky]

Spring water has a lot of minerals.  According to Wikipedia Dasani is reverse osmosis and minerals added afterwards.  

Hmmm. What to cup then?

[DaBestSpoona]

Maybe a pur or brita?  I have this giant charcoal filter thing under my sink, its sold by some cult my mother in law belongs to. 

[(petri)]

Brita won't work well enough for me with UK tap water. Taste difference (with filter coffee) is huge compared to good bottled waters. Apparently some bottled waters are better than others, depending on mineral content.

 

I've heard Square Mile Coffee requires every coffee house to use reverse osmosis water with their beans.

[herpsky]

Hmm. What's the consensus on bottled water then? Dasani?

[pompadork]

If anyone wants videos of comfy hiking coffee breaks

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/outdoorcoffee/videos

[(petri)]

I've been happy with Poland Spring or Dasani. Personally I doubt RO. Feels like dead water to me.

 

Here's an interesting study: http://www.ceremonycoffee.com/blog/13-jan-2014/water-water-everywhere

 

"We found acid-subduing waters (higher hardness, pH, alkalinity, and TDS) seem to do better with coffees that are lower acid to start with. For example, we found that the deeper Brazil Cerrado was more enjoyable with soft RO water than the brighter Kenya Kabare was. We suppose this is because the Brazil had less acidity to lose than the Kenya did. Since we’re looking for acidity in our Kenya, we were disappointed that the RO water did not bring it out.

 

Here's a list I found with TDS measured:

Volvic Natural Spring Water: 137 ppm

Fiji Natural Artesian Water: 260 ppm

Dannon Natural Spring Water: 200 ppm

Aquafina Purified Drinking Water: 30 ppm

Dasani Purified Water: 80 ppm

Arrowhead Spring Water: 120 ppm

Evian Natural Spring Water: 340 ppm

Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water: 180 ppm

Poland Spring Water: 50 ppm

 

btw I'm thinking of buying Baratza Virtuoso too. Many pro's been saying it's great for its size.

[conqueror]

have only had my porlex mini for a few months and the handle is already flying off every few seconds. sucks.

[po_boy_fuuma_hatesbargerz]

If you've only reached the Baratza Virtuoso level of coffee autism, you're probably not going to be able to tell different water characteristics apart. 

 

Once you get to Bunn-zilla levels of ridiculousness, then I can imagine it'd play a part.

 

Dark Matter Chicago is doing some interesting barrel-aged coffees, Ethiopian natural aged in bourbon, El Salvador natural aged in Chartreuse. I like the idea, but I bought a pound and was kinda of sick of the idea by the end of the week, too much bourbon after-taste going on. As an espresso I think it works because the bourbon is more muted and the acidity helps balance, but as a pour-over or press, I felt a little nervous about bringing alcohol-scented coffee to work.

[Layne]

On the topic of water, I use tap water filtered through my Brita pitcher when I'm at home.  I've tried Dasani and Ozarka (Texas spring) and I can't really tell a difference.  My office has those 5 gallon jugs of Nestle Pure Life, and while I don't love the taste on it's own... the coffee is still good.

 

I bought some bourbon barrel aged coffee from a local place called District Roasters and it was good.  That said, there's no way I could drink the stuff every day.  IMO it's more of a novelty thing that's cool every once in a while.  I took some to work and made a pour-over in our kitchen and the bourbon smell was ridiculous.  Two people walked by and asked if I was putting whiskey in my coffee. 

[po_boy_fuuma_hatesbargerz]

^^ Yeah, it's cute for a cup or two but that's really as far as it stopped impressing me and became kinda ridiculous.

 

@Tokyoites like herpsky etc,

You guys try any of these places?

http://sprudge.com/in-tokyo-roasting-coffee-masterfully-at-age-one-hundred-79240.html

http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2013/daibo/

[pompadork]

http://www.kinto.co.jp/products/

 

Cute

[lchi]

[WillKhitie]

Hello thread. Afraid I'm going to have to ask about the can of worms that is Tokyo coffee. I'll be over on vacation and wanted to ask what is everyone's recommendations.

 

NOTE: Let's establish some caveats prior to keep it slim: a. trim it down to the best cup (or two) you've had, and b. let's leave secondhand accounts out of it.

 

Based on the internet and local recommendations, my list currently stands at the ff:

 

1. Bear Pond

2. Blue Bottle 

3. Omotesando Coffee (potentially for just the experience, tried their beans prior.)

[pompadork]

Passu @ blue bottle. little nap da best.

maybe minority opinion but coutume is the best tasting coffee I've had. still don't go often.

goodcoffee.me

Edited June 29, 2015 by pompadork

[WillKhitie]

I should hit that Little Nap up. Didn't know their coffee was good.

 

Previously thought that it was just impeccably branded. Heavily abused their branding for a local project. 

 

[kiya]

Hello thread. Afraid I'm going to have to ask about the can of worms that is Tokyo coffee. I'll be over on vacation and wanted to ask what is everyone's recommendations.

 

NOTE: Let's establish some caveats prior to keep it slim: a. trim it down to the best cup (or two) you've had, and b. let's leave secondhand accounts out of it.

 

Based on the internet and local recommendations, my list currently stands at the ff:

 

1. Bear Pond

2. Blue Bottle 

3. Omotesando Coffee (potentially for just the experience, tried their beans prior.)

 

Start by buying this, it's the first coffee book/mag written about coffee in Tokyo (in English): http://www.selfedge.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1424&search=drift

 

Also, don't miss About Life Coffee, i believe it's the best espresso in Tokyo with Be A Good Neighbor being a close second.

[Plaisantery]

Got a Clever Dripper a month or so ago and I gotta say this is my favorite method so far. Super simple to use yet the coffee is consistently good.

[frasier oiseau]

. 

Edited July 19, 2015 by frasier oiseau

[herpsky]

Start by buying this, it's the first coffee book/mag written about coffee in Tokyo (in English): http://www.selfedge.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1424&search=drift

 

Also, don't miss About Life Coffee, i believe it's the best espresso in Tokyo with Be A Good Neighbor being a close second.

I picked up DRIFT from a local coffee shop. Had no idea the magazine existed but I can vouch for the quality of the magazine. One hunnit percent. Omotesando koffee is decent. I don't know. Maybe I don't know shit about coffee but I still feel like places like Sightglass, Heart, Verve, and Barista are far better than Tokyo's "best" coffee shops.

 

I'm drinking Heart's decaf as I'm typing this. I've been really into drinking decaf. My days are tough and long, and sometimes i wanna sit down and drink a beeru but that's p unhealthy so I just brew a cup with decaf beans from a reputable roaster and unwind. Sure, I prefer regular obviously but we shouldn't entirely discount decaf as shitty coffee.

Edited July 6, 2015 by herpsky

[herpsky]

Also, I would like to add Kalita waves are a total game changer. It's great for people with 0 skill and 0 patience. You just can't fuck it up.

 

I would like an acaia scale but I don't know if it's really worth the $. The bros at my local coffee shop say it's the shit. 

Edited July 6, 2015 by herpsky

[teeo]

what gooseneck kettle are u guys using? looking at the bonavita gooseneck variable temp kettle so i can also use the temp settings for tea. 

 

where to cop aussie heads? 

[conqueror]

Hello thread. Afraid I'm going to have to ask about the can of worms that is Tokyo coffee. I'll be over on vacation and wanted to ask what is everyone's recommendations.

 

NOTE: Let's establish some caveats prior to keep it slim: a. trim it down to the best cup (or two) you've had, and b. let's leave secondhand accounts out of it.

 

Based on the internet and local recommendations, my list currently stands at the ff:

 

1. Bear Pond

2. Blue Bottle 

3. Omotesando Coffee (potentially for just the experience, tried their beans prior.)

 

http://supertalk.superfuture.com/index.php/topic/24601-coffee-anyone/?p=3129700

[herpsky]

what gooseneck kettle are u guys using? looking at the bonavita gooseneck variable temp kettle so i can also use the temp settings for tea. 

 

where to cop aussie heads? 

i have one. it's p good. it's actually kind of hard to control the water flow unless you fill it up to like 80%. the pulse pour is hard to do on this. 

[FatCook]

what gooseneck kettle are u guys using? looking at the bonavita gooseneck variable temp kettle so i can also use the temp settings for tea. 

 

where to cop aussie heads? 

 

Got mine from fivesenses. You could also just google and compare prices easily if you're shipping it over, a few retailer has em I'm sure.

 

Besides that I used a small soy sauce tin while I was travelling before. Was an impulse buy but for $7 didn't mind it compared to spending $80 on a proper goose neck kettle for my aeropress. 

[frankie_four]

Using Kalita's Wave Pot and I am happy with it. Very good control, good temperature stability and nice touch.