Apology to the Coffee gods...

MikeTodd

So I have kind of ragged on the BOTL and SOTL that have talked about "artisan coffee" and things like a french press.
Recently at my parent's house, my eyes were opened to the wonderful world of the french press. Even with just your run of the mill maxwell and folgers, I felt like it made a huge difference from the conventional coffee pot and kuerig. Now, it doesn't fit well with my grab n go mornings for work, bit I am thinking that a french press might be in my future for my weekends! 
So now, I sincerely apologize and am now looking for suggestions on what types of coffee to try. I like it strong but with some cream and a sweetener. I am thinking a purchase to the Excellent Cup might be in the future for me!

Gray4lines

Fresh roasted makes a difference. You'll be happy if you buy from Peter, I bet.  French roast usually likes a coarser grind too, if you can.

French press is easy and I agree, keurig for convenience, but absolutely there's a difference in the results. No need to be a snob, if it's good it's good!  

silvermouse

and Keurig coffee costs about $35/lb....

MikeTodd

silvermouse said:

and Keurig coffee costs about $35/lb....

We use the reusable K cups and put maxwell house or something in them.

peter4jc

Let's get on Vherf one of these nights, @MikeTodd and take a look at some options.  That is, if you are truly penitent, which is sounds like you are. 

avengethis

I know a guy with two thumbs and that has an extra French press.

MikeTodd

peter4jc said:

Let's get on Vherf one of these nights, @MikeTodd and take a look at some options.  That is, if you are truly penitent, which is sounds like you are. 

One problem...I live out in the middle of nowhere so my options for internet are Dial up or Satellite. Satellite is $50 a month for 5g of download. So with those options, guess who doesn't have the interwebs?? This guy! The Vherf would kill my phone data plan.

Edna20

No internet??? Good Lord, how does a Luddite such as yourself use a Kuerig?  

Just kidding, but I must warn you, as others on this site have mentioned, once you start with the fancy coffee you soon will have a difficult time drinking the swill from your machine. 

genareddog

Peter is your man. His product is, well excellent. 

Rockethead26

Take a look at the EsproPress French press. Thermally insulated for that hot second cup and double filtered to get rid of the cowboy coffee effect. The medium stainless is perfection for French press. I also concur that you need fresh roasted beans, just few days to a week or so p last their roast date. 

peter4jc

I'll echo Rocket's comment on the Espro.  They're not cheap and can be a pain to clean, but for full-immersion brewing they're hard to beat.


And... thanks for the order @Gray4lines!

MikeTodd said:

peter4jc said:

Let's get on Vherf one of these nights, @MikeTodd and take a look at some options.  That is, if you are truly penitent, which is sounds like you are. 

One problem...I live out in the middle of nowhere so my options for internet are Dial up or Satellite. Satellite is $50 a month for 5g of download. So with those options, guess who doesn't have the interwebs?? This guy! The Vherf would kill my phone data plan.

You could go to the library, and we'll whisper about coffee. 

Gray4lines

peter4jc said:

I'll echo Rocket's comment on the Espro.  They're not cheap and can be a pain to clean, but for full-immersion brewing they're hard to beat.


And... thanks for the order @Gray4lines!

MikeTodd said:

peter4jc said:

Let's get on Vherf one of these nights, @MikeTodd and take a look at some options.  That is, if you are truly penitent, which is sounds like you are. 

One problem...I live out in the middle of nowhere so my options for internet are Dial up or Satellite. Satellite is $50 a month for 5g of download. So with those options, guess who doesn't have the interwebs?? This guy! The Vherf would kill my phone data plan.

You could go to the library, and we'll whisper about coffee. 

You're welcome. All this coffee talk and I'm out! Excited to see what comes and try it out.

First_Warrior

Got a question for you coffee heads. How long do you wait before pushing your press plunger down? What amount of time does it take to get the max goodness out of your steeping coffee?

Rockethead26

First_Warrior said:

Got a question for you coffee heads. How long do you wait before pushing your press plunger down? What amount of time does it take to get the max goodness out of your steeping coffee?

4 minutes using water that cools from boiling for about 30 seconds, or 200° F.

Martel

Rockethead26 said:

First_Warrior said:

Got a question for you coffee heads. How long do you wait before pushing your press plunger down? What amount of time does it take to get the max goodness out of your steeping coffee?

4 minutes using water that cools from boiling for about 30 seconds, or 200° F.

I'm at 4:30.

NorthsideSmoke

Looking forward to trying out the fresh roasted Pete. But I swear that's as far down this rabbit hole I go

avengethis

For my french press I hit the grounds with just enough water to get the bloom started and let that sit for 30 seconds.  Then add the rest of the water and let it go another 3:30 before pushing the plunger down and pouring out the coffee.  On a french press I bring my water up to 200 degrees.

MikeTodd

avengethis said:

For my french press I hit the grounds with just enough water to get the bloom started and let that sit for 30 seconds.  Then add the rest of the water and let it go another 3:30 before pushing the plunger down and pouring out the coffee.  On a french press I bring my water up to 200 degrees.

Thanks for the tip! There are so many options!

peter4jc

The steep time is a factor of the grind level.  It's like a teeter-totter; the finer the grind, the shorter the steep time - the coarser the grind, the longer the steep time.  Also factored into it is the quality of your grinder; with a great grinder you'll have more uniform particle size which in turn gives a more uniform extraction.  With a **** grinder you have too-large particles and too-small particles.  The too-smalls, and way-too-smalls (or fines) will over-extract and give you more bitterness.

So, I set my grinder to a fairly fine setting and steep for 3min.  But when I'm in the other room typing out these answers and it goes to 5min, it doesn't hurt all that much.

I never thought of the pre-soak and bloom technique, Brad, but it might kinda make sense.  I can see where it would benefit a pour-over more and a press pot less (the idea behind it is that the coffee grounds are releasing CO2 (since you and I are using fresh coffee) and that layer of CO2 can interfere with the water's ability to interact with the grounds, so you wet them and let the CO2 disperse before adding more water.  But with full-immersion, i.e. press pot or Clever Dripper..  well, I need to think this through.

avengethis

When I first got the french press I came across this technique and it seemed to work.  I guess I never have tried going full water at the beginning.  

jlmarta

avengethis said:

.......I guess I never have tried going full water at the beginning.  

Nor have I. When I was first looking into how to use my Clever dripper I read about the 'wet and let bloom' technique and I've always done it that way. Guess I should forego my 'a n a l-ness' and try it the other way to see what happens.... 

jarubla

All this talk of coffee has made me thirsty...

peter4jc

jarubla said:

These pretzels are making me thirsty...

FIFY

Yakster

One of the big problems with ground coffee is getting all the grounds wet.  A good trick with a French Press or other immersion brewer is to put some of the water in the brewer and then dump the coffee in followed by more water.  That way the grounds get soaked from both sides instead of just getting water on the top, then you can stir the grounds to get things really wet and unclumped.

I've done this with the inverted Aeropress and I always do this with the vacuum coffee pot (siphon pot).

avengethis

Oh yeah when I put my initial water in i stir with a wooden spoon and then when I add the rest of the water i stir again.

Martel

Yeah, I pre-soak in the press.  Figured it couldn't hurt to outgas, even though I had some of the same questions about it as Peter, and I really want to make sure all the grounds are wet with no air pockets and clumps.

I use a pretty coarse and even grind so it needs the longer extraction.  I started with 4:00, but it was on the verge of not being enough with some coffee.  4:30 seemed good after the one day I tried 5 but had to go TCB on the Throne and didn't get there for a while.  That was odd because I usually don't have the "rush" until after the coffee!  Anyway, 4:30 seems to be about right for my grind, press, latitude, and whatever phase of the moon it happens to be, oh, and my personal preference.

Yakster

Coffee seeds are plant matter with a large amount of insoluble cellulose in them.  There's also something called hemi-cellulose that will break down and provide more sweetness in your brew, but it takes time, usually around four minutes to break it down.  This is what I've heard, I tend to favor brew times that are around four or five minutes but I can't say that I've ever really tried to taste the difference and figure out if I get a sweetness boost from the breakdown of hemi-cellulose.

peter4jc

I just add the water with a vigorous pour, and there are no clumps or air pockets.  If I'm near the pot, I give a good swirl during the steep so the grounds don't just sit on top and float.