I did not measure the brew temp, I just went by the size of the water vapor bubbles. I've been getting great coffee from my BraZen, hard to find a reason to change my brew method except to make a cup at a time.
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Me, too. I am on my second one -- wasn't careful about keeping errant drops of water off the display and eventually it failed; support said it wasn't repairable. Well thought out brewer.
I don’t have as many coffee things as some of you but currently I’m in possession of a Chemex and several Hario drippers
But the newest is my Hario switch. As some of you know it’s a hybrid immersion/dripper. I have been enjoying the results and having fun experimenting with the variables. Any tips? Lemme know.
Had some pounded coffee today. Our power went out at 7:00 PM last night. I woke up at 2:00AM and still out. I couldn't sleep so I got up and trudged up to my studio through 8 inches of wet snow. I had to crank up my wood stove to keep stuff from freezing. No power no propane tube heater. I got my little propane stove out to heat water for some of Peter's famous beans. Beans was what I had, no power no bean grinder. I preformed a sacrilege. I put the beans in a clean steel can and found a steel rod 16 inches long by 1 inch in diameter. I pounded the beans for 2 or 3 minutes and had a fine press of coffee. Power came back a 9AM.
All arabica coffee is genetically similar: how can beans taste so different?
Flavour variations are mainly the result of changes at the chromosome level, sequencing effort finds.
Scorned by some and like by others. I Ground and brewed the last of the Pinon Coffee we picked up in New Mexico this morning. The wife likes it over ice in the afternoon.
Logistics cannot win a war, but its absence or inadequacy can cause defeat. FM100-5
All arabica coffee is genetically similar: how can beans taste so different?
Flavour variations are mainly the result of changes at the chromosome level, sequencing effort finds.
I seeded this paper on the Home-Barista forum which resulted in an interesting discussion, bringing up how epigenetics due to environment can alter gene expression.
This is a link to a Facebook Marketplace listing for an antique coffee roaster. There’s a short video of it in operation. I thought it was interesting. Thought some of you might enjoy it.
Today I brewed a pot of coffee, poured it out, and brewed another pot. I poured it out because I could smell the potato defect in this coffee from Burundi while it was brewing. I could have avoided wasting the water by smelling the ground coffee before brewing, something I normally do to coffee from Rwanda and Burundi which can have this defect which smells a bit like raw potatoes, but I was pressed for time and skipped that step. One bad coffee bean out of the 60 grams I ground can spoil the whole pot. I've even heard recommendations before if you're doing batch brew with large batches to grind the coffee in half-batches to minimize the amount of coffee tossed.
This is a PSA, smell your ground coffee from Rwanda and Burundi before brewing.
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I got the same thing yesterday, in that same Burundi (I'm assuming it's the Natural from me, yes?) I'm guessing I've roasted 60# of this coffee so far, and it was the first time I've come across it. In fact, it was the first time I've noticed the potato defect in any coffee, and because I hadn't experienced it before I had no idea what was going on. I thought I had pooched the roast, and started wondering which customers got one of the three lbs from that batch. I'm hoping I am the only one who got the bad bean. Thanks for reminding me of this, Chris.
Interesting article, Edward. That lines up with my experience, I don't feel any energy boost from my normal day-to-day coffee consumption, sometimes I'll even feel a bit tired after drinking coffee, but I do feel a boost when I drink extra coffee in the afternoon on the days I go into the office.
Many of you are familiar with a tails blend, that's when you don't have enough of one coffee so you mix it with the next bag of coffee and make an ad-hoc blend. These can be spectacular but are often not reproducible because you probably didn't keep good track of the percentages of the components.
I also routinely do a heads blend. I roast coffee on a bi-weekly basis and usually roast two or three different single-origin coffees. I'll store the roasted coffee in quart sized canning jars, but whatever doesn't fit in the jar goes into a smaller jar. I'll end up with two to three quart sized jars and then one or two smaller jars with the leftovers often mixed together. I also start my roasting session with a coffee that I think will be good with a darker roast first and that's the one I'll start drinking first (after going through the heads blend) while the lighter roasts get more rest so that they'll be near peak when I start drinking them.
This morning was one of those times, I finished the last of the quart jars from the roasting session on January 7th and started on the heads blends from the 27th. This morning was a fun and funky Philippines Liberica Batangas, an Ecuador Finca Terrazas del Pisque, and a Costa Rica Red Honey Don Oscar. The coffee tasted pretty good, I could tell that the Liberica Batangas was in there but it only added to the pleasant characteristics without bringing any negative characteristics to the cup.
Time to go up and pour another cup.
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I asked my Wife about the coffee and she said that she enjoyed it but that it wasn't as sweet as the other coffee. I assume that she means the Liberica which is very sweet, but also very dirty and has lots of signs of poor processing and prep, I had to cull a lot of green coffee defects before roasting. Also, she drinks her coffee with a splash of French vanilla creamer which may affect how these coffees taste. I do like the Liberica, it could be really great with better prep, but this coffee from Ecuador was really clean and had some good sweetness which I really enjoyed, and a taste of classic coffee flavor to boot. Easy to enjoy coffee.
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@peter4jc said:
I got the same thing yesterday, in that same Burundi (I'm assuming it's the Natural from me, yes?) I'm guessing I've roasted 60# of this coffee so far, and it was the first time I've come across it. In fact, it was the first time I've noticed the potato defect in any coffee, and because I hadn't experienced it before I had no idea what was going on. I thought I had pooched the roast, and started wondering which customers got one of the three lbs from that batch. I'm hoping I am the only one who got the bad bean. Thanks for reminding me of this, Chris.
Maybe you can sell potato flavored coffee to the same group that enjoys pumpkin spice??
Friends don't let good friends smoke cheap cigars.
Comments
Any idea why? The Brazen temp adjustments might make a difference, did you happen to measure the brew temperature?
I did not measure the brew temp, I just went by the size of the water vapor bubbles. I've been getting great coffee from my BraZen, hard to find a reason to change my brew method except to make a cup at a time.
Ima have to break my Yama 5cup out one of these days... just to make sure it still has the magic.
Me, too. I am on my second one -- wasn't careful about keeping errant drops of water off the display and eventually it failed; support said it wasn't repairable. Well thought out brewer.
My Wife commented on the coffee this morning, saying that it was especially good.
Maybe she liked the extra body from the solids the filter removes. Some folks prefer unfiltered coffee, despite the carcinogens.
I don’t have as many coffee things as some of you but currently I’m in possession of a Chemex and several Hario drippers
But the newest is my Hario switch. As some of you know it’s a hybrid immersion/dripper. I have been enjoying the results and having fun experimenting with the variables. Any tips? Lemme know.
Had some pounded coffee today. Our power went out at 7:00 PM last night. I woke up at 2:00AM and still out. I couldn't sleep so I got up and trudged up to my studio through 8 inches of wet snow. I had to crank up my wood stove to keep stuff from freezing. No power no propane tube heater. I got my little propane stove out to heat water for some of Peter's famous beans. Beans was what I had, no power no bean grinder. I preformed a sacrilege. I put the beans in a clean steel can and found a steel rod 16 inches long by 1 inch in diameter. I pounded the beans for 2 or 3 minutes and had a fine press of coffee. Power came back a 9AM.
Good thinking, c
Keep your eyes open for one of these in your travels...
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00165-x
All arabica coffee is genetically similar: how can beans taste so different?
Flavour variations are mainly the result of changes at the chromosome level, sequencing effort finds.
Scorned by some and like by others. I Ground and brewed the last of the Pinon Coffee we picked up in New Mexico this morning. The wife likes it over ice in the afternoon.
I seeded this paper on the Home-Barista forum which resulted in an interesting discussion, bringing up how epigenetics due to environment can alter gene expression.
https://www.home-barista.com/coffees/flavor-variations-in-genetically-similar-arabica-coffee-t91860.html
Thanks, Chris, I'm headed there now. RNA messaging has been an active area of research.
https://www.facebook.com/share/6q5TWhaPtN5T2tZi/?mibextid=79PoIi
This is a link to a Facebook Marketplace listing for an antique coffee roaster. There’s a short video of it in operation. I thought it was interesting. Thought some of you might enjoy it.
There's quite a few of these old roasters still around, and the full restorations are beautiful.
The used one gets my respect, these two are too pretty
--showing my working class roots, lol
Today I brewed a pot of coffee, poured it out, and brewed another pot. I poured it out because I could smell the potato defect in this coffee from Burundi while it was brewing. I could have avoided wasting the water by smelling the ground coffee before brewing, something I normally do to coffee from Rwanda and Burundi which can have this defect which smells a bit like raw potatoes, but I was pressed for time and skipped that step. One bad coffee bean out of the 60 grams I ground can spoil the whole pot. I've even heard recommendations before if you're doing batch brew with large batches to grind the coffee in half-batches to minimize the amount of coffee tossed.
This is a PSA, smell your ground coffee from Rwanda and Burundi before brewing.
I got the same thing yesterday, in that same Burundi (I'm assuming it's the Natural from me, yes?) I'm guessing I've roasted 60# of this coffee so far, and it was the first time I've come across it. In fact, it was the first time I've noticed the potato defect in any coffee, and because I hadn't experienced it before I had no idea what was going on. I thought I had pooched the roast, and started wondering which customers got one of the three lbs from that batch. I'm hoping I am the only one who got the bad bean. Thanks for reminding me of this, Chris.
Same coffee, roasted 700 grams and hit the defect on one of the last pots of this batch. Once you smell the potato defect it becomes unmistakable.
Turn it into coffee vodka.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/decades-of-research-shows-coffee-makes-you-healthier-happier-but-if-you-want-to-boost-your-energy-level-memory-theres-a-7-day-catch.html
Interesting article, Edward. That lines up with my experience, I don't feel any energy boost from my normal day-to-day coffee consumption, sometimes I'll even feel a bit tired after drinking coffee, but I do feel a boost when I drink extra coffee in the afternoon on the days I go into the office.
Many of you are familiar with a tails blend, that's when you don't have enough of one coffee so you mix it with the next bag of coffee and make an ad-hoc blend. These can be spectacular but are often not reproducible because you probably didn't keep good track of the percentages of the components.
I also routinely do a heads blend. I roast coffee on a bi-weekly basis and usually roast two or three different single-origin coffees. I'll store the roasted coffee in quart sized canning jars, but whatever doesn't fit in the jar goes into a smaller jar. I'll end up with two to three quart sized jars and then one or two smaller jars with the leftovers often mixed together. I also start my roasting session with a coffee that I think will be good with a darker roast first and that's the one I'll start drinking first (after going through the heads blend) while the lighter roasts get more rest so that they'll be near peak when I start drinking them.
This morning was one of those times, I finished the last of the quart jars from the roasting session on January 7th and started on the heads blends from the 27th. This morning was a fun and funky Philippines Liberica Batangas, an Ecuador Finca Terrazas del Pisque, and a Costa Rica Red Honey Don Oscar. The coffee tasted pretty good, I could tell that the Liberica Batangas was in there but it only added to the pleasant characteristics without bringing any negative characteristics to the cup.
Time to go up and pour another cup.
Coffee has always been my friend. Sure glad to have the flavor of Peter's Famous Beans these days.
Reflections in a can of c-rat coffee
How many times
did you sit up with me?
Kindle my thoughts,
be my only friend.
how many times did I ask you
for an answer?
Sitting in my hole at night
waiting together
to die, maybe.
You were my only company,
you kept me going.
I forsake the world sometimes,
yes.
But never you.
Don’t you see,
you were my friend
and I was yours.
I looked into your
black depths
and was nourished
by your warmth.
Sometimes you would not
let me rest.
I hated you for that.
But how could a grunt
hate his only friend?
A lot of time
has passed now.
But I still have you.
Old friends are the best.
Rodger Jacobs
Started in 1968 finished in 2005.
I'm going to print that out and slip it in my copy of Stained with the Mud of Khe Sanh.
I'm drinking a fantastic cup of Ecuador Finca Terrazas del Pisque that I roasted Saturday. Really chuffed with this roast.
I asked my Wife about the coffee and she said that she enjoyed it but that it wasn't as sweet as the other coffee. I assume that she means the Liberica which is very sweet, but also very dirty and has lots of signs of poor processing and prep, I had to cull a lot of green coffee defects before roasting. Also, she drinks her coffee with a splash of French vanilla creamer which may affect how these coffees taste. I do like the Liberica, it could be really great with better prep, but this coffee from Ecuador was really clean and had some good sweetness which I really enjoyed, and a taste of classic coffee flavor to boot. Easy to enjoy coffee.
Maybe you can sell potato flavored coffee to the same group that enjoys pumpkin spice??
If it could taste like mashed potatoes, I'm in!