Feel like this needed to happen... I need a place to talk beans, equipment, etc. My coffee "nerdiness" is quickly approaching my beer nerdiness...

My current everyday setup:


Use the Chemex for weekends.

Still working on dialing in grind settings, water to coffee ratio, etc. on the Bonavita/Encore. Really liking the membership through Slate. Different beans every 2 weeks.

So... Whatcha brewing these days?

Guatemalan La Bolsa, french press

In.

Give me the coffee!

I am a coffee nerd gone wild. It goes well with my cigar habit.

I have tried literally hundreds of premium coffees.

Favorite coffee is from Ariana Farms in Hawaii.
Currently I am on a LaVazza kick. Makes a solid espresso.

I rotate between cold brew & espresso. I make it daily using French press. I know it supposedly stores well but I don't like as much within a day.

I cannot do drip coffee. It is the one device I don't have.

On occasion I do Turkish coffee. Really love it but gotta be in the mood.

I value small coffees with good flavor. Been on an espresso con panna kick. Odd for me as I'm a purist and generally don't do creams.

Agave nectar is the only acceptable coffee sweetener for me.

I hate Starbucks coffee but really appreciate them when I don't have other options.

I have many thoughts and this just scratches the surface. I'll enjoy this thread!!

Brent C Harriman
SoundWave Audio Video
o:888-511-SWAV
c: 281-361-2730
brent@swaudiovideo.com

20g brewed in 12oz @ 200F

I make almost exclusively espresso, with a periodic French press. My standard bean is Lavazza Super Crema. A couple of weeks ago my son came back from a college mission trip to Nicaragua and he brought me back a pack of Cafe Las Flores, Grandes Cosechas espresso roast that he picked up In a market. I liked it well enough to order some online.

I will say that changing my grinder from a basic Cuisinart to a Rocky Rancilio has made a big difference.

I really need to start making my own cold brew (especially in the summer months). Currently drinking Cuvee black and blue for my cold brew fix... It's alright.

Yea that cold brew method posted earlier sounds reliable.

Daily I use my French press. Also have pourover and cold brew.

Order mostly from n-touch on here from Dodd Coffee. They do a great job with their beans.

Agreed...Super Crema is my daily go to on an espresso

Cafe Las Flores is great

I use a chemex almost daily. I mostly buy beans from NoVo here in Colorado. Was just in Seattle this weekend and visited the Reserve Roastery. Couldnt pass up buying some Geisha, even at $96 per pound.

Just got into the fresh beans/fresh grinding for my daily morning coffee. Really liked the Henry Toro blend from Amaya Roasters (same people as Catalina Coffee for those in Houston). I like to use French Press if time allows, but will do automatic drip otherwise. One thing I am curious about is why so many coffee nerds prefer some form of espresso over coffee. What am I missing?

12thAngryMan said:

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I like to use French Press if time allows, but will do automatic drip otherwise.

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When would time not allow? I don't see how a press takes longer to make a pot than an auto drip.

It's easy to insert filter, grounds, and water, then hit "on" for the automatic drip and leave it to do something else. I hate walking away from the French Press because it's easier to over-extract if I get distracted with my morning routine.

Set a timer. I can get quite a bit of my morning routine done while waiting for the water to boil. After that, hanging out for 4 min is well worth the wait.

Had a gift card to an online coffee shop, so I picked up some Verve Sermon to try out a fruitier blend. At the end of the day, it probably won't be my daily drinker, but the blueberry notes are so strong it's ridiculous. Makes for a very different/interesting cup.

What kind of grinder do you use/recommend?

Do you grind just what you use that day?

Where do you get your beans? Not interested in paying $96 a pound.

In addition to the drip coffee, we have a DeLonghi Nespresso machine. In addition to the Nespresso pods, we have a couple of reusable pods. Use illy espresso and have yet to try the LavAzza we bought. Trying to learn the science/art of filling the reusable pods...

Baratza Encore (one in the first post) is a great grinder. Relatively cheap too (if you consider how much you could spend on grinders).

I'm a big fan of the bean subscriptions... Only thing that I like around this area is Cuvee, but it's tough to find it fresh. Subscription guarantees I'm getting fresh beans weekly.

I measure my beans by weight every morning and grind. Finally think I've dialed in the coffee to water ratio.

12thAngryMan said:

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One thing I am curious about is why so many coffee nerds prefer some form of espresso over coffee. What am I missing?

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A full, rich, complex flavor profile that you don't get in non-espresso beans.

The best way I can describe it: drink a Lonestar, then a craft beer. Both are tasty in their own right but are in entirely different worlds flavor-wise.

Currently going through the coffee that sponsors the podcast I listen to. May try caveman next, if I can convince myself the markup is worth it.

I have a french press setup with an old grinder I got at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's starting to go out, so it's time to find something to up my game a bit. I definitely haven't tried to get ratios right. Grind a bin of beans, toss in the french press and pour the water from a pot. Lots to work on my technique.

Current bean of choice is a Guatemala Antigua blend from local roastary What's the Buzz in CS.

As I think about it, my parents are in Hawaii (O'ahu) this week. Any recommended beans I can get them to bring back?

I've used a Chemex daily for the past couple years but used to do a french press every day for the three or four years prior to that. My grinder has slowly been getting worse and worse about making a ton of dust so the filter was really helpful to keep me from having a large amount of sludge in my last sip. I really need that last sip. It's bad enough now that some of the more brittle beans create so much dust that they slow the brew process down. I'd like to buy a new grinder but that's a can of worms I'm afraid to open. I also have a Porlex hand grinder I've used quite a bit when working in the oil patch in West Texas. Generally I brew with an Aeropress when I'm out there and dilute it a bit with hot water.

My girlfriend's youngest sister travels for work every week and keeps me supplied with fresh beans from wherever she is that week. Currently I'm brewing Juggernaut Esspresso blend from Perc Coffee Roasters in Savannah Georgia. I liked this one so much I ordered two pounds from them online.

Novo Ojo de Agua is in the hopper for this week.

AggieJason said:

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12thAngryMan said:

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One thing I am curious about is why so many coffee nerds prefer some form of espresso over coffee. What am I missing?

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A full, rich, complex flavor profile that you don't get in non-espresso beans.

The best way I can describe it: drink a Lonestar, then a craft beer. Both are tasty in their own right but are in entirely different worlds flavor-wise.

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Traditionally, "espresso" was reserved for best of the crop beans. Pressure brewing accentuates flavors and exposes more subtle flavors than drip or immersion. So, lower quality beans brewed in espresso machines could make bad notes more obvious. They also roasted espresso dark for consistency - it's easy to roast dark and it always produces the same caramel note, masking most other flavors.

But there's no difference in espresso and non-espresso beans today. Farmers are refined in cultivating a crop. You have crazy light roasts all the way to dark roast designated for espresso. Which today, is a roasters blend that they think would make a good espresso. So when you see espresso today; it's a hey, we think these beans will produce these intended flavors under pressure brewing.

I've been on Red Bird Espresso for three or four years now. It's awesome and $55/5# bag express shipped.

I did grab some cheap beans from Trader Joe's this weekend and cold brewed it in the whipping siphon. Cheaper the bean the better when cold brewing as it's just plain tasting, non-acidic coffee by the end. 100g coarse ground, 500g water, charge 2x nitrous oxide, 4 hours in the fridge, discharge the siphon, coffee flavored whippets if you want and filter through a Chemex.

Is that an Epica electric kettle? How do you like it?

I'm using a Cuisinart grinder and Mr. Coffee auto-drip that's probably pushing 15 years old now. Tried an Aeropress, but I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it, and I'm usually running late most mornings. I was almost certainly doing it wrong...just never really took the time to figure it out. Plus I load up one of those 30 oz Yeti clones for the office, plus another 8 oz cup with breakfast. Not really suitable for the Aeropress...

Glad this thread came up as it is relevant to my current interests!

I'm in the process of buying some espresso equipment. I didn't want to spend a fortune so here is what I'm thinking:

Machine: Delonghi Dedica - Need it to be easy enough so my wife can use it. We are really pretty basic and mostly enjoy lattes. Also, our counter space is limited for the foreseeable future, so I really like the slim design.

Grinder: Breville Dose Control Pro - I thought about the Baratza Encore, but saw mixed reviews on whether it could produce consistent grounds fine enough for espresso. I'm not a huge coffee nerd, but I just figured that the Breville was only $50 more, and had a few perks over the Encore that I think would be worth it.

What kind of accessories (Thermometer, knock box, etc.) would you guys recommend to go along with these?

Pm me before you buy quail depending what you can I may be able to beat prices. Nice setups everyone.

Can't recommend n_touch and Dodd Coffee enough. Been buying from them for about 6 months now, and my church is about to start using them.

At home, I use Hario v60 most of the time, but I'll use our Ninja coffee station if we need larger quantities. Right now, I'm drinking Dodd Ethiopian and loving every drop. The Costa Rican Terrazu they had this spring was on point, too.

I used to be a French Press, then AeroPress guy, but in the same amount of time, a pour-over produces a much better flavor.

I'm real sad that my Kilenso (in the first picture) is almost gone... Just a damn fine cup of coffee every morning.

RangerRick9211 said:

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I've been on Red Bird Espresso for three or four years now. It's awesome and $55/5# bag express shipped.

I did grab some cheap beans from Trader Joe's this weekend and cold brewed it in the whipping siphon. Cheaper the bean the better when cold brewing as it's just plain tasting, non-acidic coffee by the end. 100g coarse ground, 500g water, charge 2x nitrous oxide, 4 hours in the fridge, discharge the siphon, coffee flavored whippets if you want and filter through a Chemex.

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How quickly do you go through that 5 pound bag? In my (very) limited experience, even when ground right before brewing, fresh roasted beans tend to lose flavor/freshness after 1-2 weeks.