It also makes it easy to brew coffee with cinnamon, hot spice, or whatever else you like with your coffee. Blends it all together nicely.
Cleaning is not quite as easy as it is with an Aeropress or other paper filter device, but it’s close.
For example: https://www.amazon.com/French-Coffee-Press-Espresso-Stainles...
My wife and I walked into a random coffee shop in Salem, MA and ordered coffee. A Swiss teenager prepared it while reading a paperback (used to live in Zurich so I recognized the accent when he was conversing with his mother). It took forever and he didn't bring it over until it was ready to be pressed.
Never had a better cup in my life, I forget what beans and roast, have no idea what the place was called, etc (I was a tourist on my honeymoon from Canada and I didn't have a roaming plan so I had turned off my phone, forgot to bring a notepad, and I have a terrible me memory for nouns).
My wife thought it was "just ok". :)
Sounds like you wife is a German :)
Your method sounds to me like it'd have some grounds and fines floating around in it, which is okay but I'm not a huge fan personally, and it'll also be multiple things to wash (though, they sound like easy washes). I also don't have nice coverable drinking bowls, or even very nice cookware for boiling water up in.
My method's pretty easy twice a day, but it's not perfect either: I couldn't make this somewhere else, but... I do live here. :) That said, it did take a while for me to find a good grind size with my machine, and to find scales and cups that fit under my espresso machine's group head and had the right range etc required, and I've got to wash my little espresso cup I pour into, and I had to buy my own non-pressurized portafilter basket, so it took some real time to come together right.
I'll have to try your way out!
I received it as a christmas present and must have lowered the cost in my memory: it's a breville café roma, which isn't listed on their site in the US these days, but is still in Canada? Which is where we ordered it!
At the time I think it was actually ~$200 CAD, but it appears to be about $200 USD now when I view US Amazon. Sorry for the misinformation :)
What I wanted to say is a year or so ago I started doing a pre infusion. Run the pump for about 5 seconds until the first drip comes out. Then turn it off and let it sit until the heating indicator turns off again. Now pull your full shot. I get a much better result doing this.
Do you have a grinder that works well with it? I have just been buying Illy espresso as I find it gets the best result compared to any grinder I willing to buy (I love the cans, too). I'd like to get back into roasting and grinding but just haven't found the right grinder in my admittedly cheap price range.
I've never got the preinfusion step to work the way I want. I tried it a bunch after buying the non-pressurized basket, and found I'd get pours coming out way too fast (like <5s) no matter how hard I tamped, even at >18g in the basket, doing almost exactly what you mentioned! I think they worked okay in the pressurized one though.
I've since settled on ~16.5-17.5g at ~12.5 on the grinder (from 1-50), and tamped briefly about as hard as I can comfortably press. Comes out good enough every time that I stopped timing anything and just pull to the 34g weight (+5-6g of drip after) these days.
I'm inspired to go grab a coffee. :)
No inverted method but just doing as it said on the box, except I let it steep for a minute or so before plunging. Freshly ground beans, just using (Dutch) tap water from an all metal kettle.
The downside for me is that it requires hardware I don't have already and is difficult to travel with. Metal pots and glass/ceramic bowls are available in most kitchens.
It seems crazy that the best coffee maker in the world is only available in plastic.
As you said, boiling water in plastic just doesn't work for me.
On a more snobby note, the thing that surprised me was how easy it is to roast coffee using a popcorn maker. I got the coffee sampler and popcorn maker and it was off the charts good. Absolutely fresh coffee, with the added advantage of sometimes just eating a few coffee beans after roasting :)
I don't like the Aeropress because it's plastic, requires cleaning of separate parts, and requires purchasing a new product, which as much negative karmic weight.
I don't like the Aeropress because it's plastic, requires cleaning of separate parts, and requires purchasing a new product, which as much negative karmic weight.
I just eyeball it honestly. You'll know when you poured the water too hot from the bitter taste :)
So that's where I'm at now, buying big packs of paper filters for my Aeropress and V60. I'm not sure how to move past it. I guess I just tell myself it's infinitely better than Keurig for less waste and massively better flavor.
Anecdotally I had some cholesterol issues and found that going to paper of metal made a difference, surprisingly. Probably not significant but seemed to help in my case (I was drinking a lot of coffee then). Now I can't stand the oily texture of a French press.
Do you have any sources on paper vs metal? It seems highly unlikely to me, that paper filters could be more environmentally friendly.
I have to give it a minute when I visit the folks though.
Wondering if there’s a low-bullshit reusable coffee filter medium to remove some of the oils.
What I want to get sorted most right now is water. I use tap water, but I need to filter it because it’s really, really calcareous. Most filters are made of plastic, or at least plastic cartridges with the filter medium. I was thinking about using glass or metal instead and somehow machine a container for the filter medium and buy that stuff in bulk. I really don‘t want to buy bottled water to make coffee.
Any thoughts?
Do you know what kind of cloth is commonly used? I imagine it's something like linen, cotton, or hemp?
If you're concerned about waste, a filter is far preferable to bottles of water or consumer-grade water pitchers, even if there's plastic involved.
Not all filters can remove all the impurities added by today's water channels and sources...
Bottled water which is single-source, in bottles which leach less, AND has a short travel distance is rare...
In most areas, well water and other natural bodies is best tested regularly by a lab which will tell you the results...
I've heard of a few other methods of water purification, such as multi-step macro-process, but I've yet to try them myself.
What can be done to enjoy coffee, without so much oil?
I'd be interested to know if reducing that oil actually helps with heartburn though because I'm surprised there'd be enough there to cause problems. Or at least to cause noticably more problems than the caffeine and acidity of the coffee.
It's still acidic, but for instance Aeropress says coffee brewed with an Aeropress and paper filter has about 20% the acidity of a regular drip brew (and about 10% of a french press). (As far as I know this is largely down to paper filters and lower brewing temperature, both of which you can emulate other ways.)
Obviously only a personal anecdote, and for most people it'll never make a difference, but as your stomach becomes irritated it doesn't take much to make it worse. On a bad week, just drinking some black tea (ph~5) rather than green (ph~8) or putting a bit of black pepper on something can be enough to have me in pain for hours. Think like, normally it might not hurt to poke your arm, but if you've got a big bruise it doesn't take much to make it hurt.
On a good week, drip coffee through a metal filter is largely fine. On a bad week, it's painful but coffee from the aeropress still sits mostly okay.
You might want to try cold brew as well.
In order to make it still tasty, I would prioritize getting whole beans and smashing them up yourself not long before brewing.
I would do this while avoiding plastic contact, e.g. a metal-bowl coffee grinder or one of those hand grinders (which I have not tried but assume work pretty well.)
I've had cowboy coffee like you described, boiling-brewing-pouring, it was tasty. I'm a bit lazier than you are, I think.
Edit: thanks for sharing, btw. I love being able to hear from someone so knowledgeable.
1) Many parts which must be cleaned.
2) Often the parts are plastic, which is unacceptable combined with hot water (or any, really.)
3) The glass is very fragile, potentially leading to breaking and even injury. Usually top-heavy designs, too.
My FP doesn't have any plastic components in the filter area, only in the top.
Yes, I have broken some FPs, one by juggling it out of a high cabinet and one by scrubbing it too aggressively while soapy. Like someone said, there are steel presses available as well.
1) Agree, personally I am too lazy to clean it every time, just rinse it in water
2) Agree, though, everything in contact when brewing is metal or glass
3) Had my current french press for 6 years without issue.
Nonetheless, guess the difference boils down to personal practicality.
After cracking my umpteenth glass cafetiere (what you call a french press in the US), I bought a metal one - that was around 10 years ago, and it's still going strong!
It's easy to clean too, but then every one I've had has been.
My no-effort method is to get a technivorm (not cheap, but not super expensive) and run that first thing in the morning with fresh grinds -> Super fast for 3+ people and good quality coffee. If I have the time - I'll do a pour over.
It cleans up quick, pop out the compressed spent coffee grind puck into the trash and rinse under water then you are done!
The same dark roast [edit, added same] from V60 is much easier on my stomach. I wonder what might be the cause.
Metal filter / no filter coffee usually is the most irritating, so I’m trying to aviod that.
The funny thing is I've never really considered it before, since the whole process of starting up a stove and cleaning up carefully seemed like such a hassle, but I got a stainless steel model (Bialetti Venus) which is both induction-capable and soap-friendly. :)
But I suppose a disposable filter is slightly more.
I know more than 20 different ways of making coffee.
Here is the best coffee brewing method I've come up with.
First, I get some CLEAN water, and I boil it in an unfinished metal or ceramic-finished metal pot. I use a regular pot so that I can see inside. I also like to let a little bit of the water evaporate...
While it's getting ready, I get the best and freshest coffee grounds I can muster, it's better if I can grind them on the spot, but that's not always available.
I put the coffee grounds, as much as I think is necessary, into a glass or ceramic bowl, and pour the boiling water over them. I optionally cover and/or stir and let steep.
After about 5-15 minutes, I pour the coffee into another glass or ceramic bowl, letting the grounds stay at the bottom of the first bowl.
The coffee is now ready for drinking. To keep it warm, I cover it and leave it in the oven for insulation, or use an electric plate. It usually doesn't last long. It's good cold too.
The second best method I know is cold-brewing in a similar fashion, takes a number of hours I haven't tracked yet.
If anyone is interested in learning why this method is better than all the others, please reply with the method you think is better and I will explain why you're wrong. :^)
Edit: The method in the video is quite good, and my only complaint is that it uses disposable filters, which leads to unnecessary materials harvesting, human labor, biome squeeze, diesel use, waste output, and other artifacts of production.