I Finally Bought Something

Cup of Black Coffee

So I have been writing about specialty coffee equipment in this blog for over 4 months now. I have discussed my successes and my failures. I have shared my discoveries of coffee equipment, and my fascination with the pour-over process, but I have yet to actually purchase any coffee equipment, until yesterday! So what did I get?

From the time that I entered the specialty coffee scene I have been interested in the chemex. Perhaps it’s the beauty of the device or maybe the Chemex 6 cup Pour Over Brewer simplicity of a decanter as a coffee brewer, but I fell in love. However, as it is with most puppy love stories, I have to say that I did not end up with the chemex. I contemplated purchasing it so many times, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger. I think the real issue for me was the lack of durability that the device proved to have. I once took our office chemex home for a weekend and realized how extremely fragile it is. I have two small children at home and all it takes is 1 greasy hand to see my investment being smashed to pieces within a matter of seconds. Also the price begins to get a little overwhelming, after filters and a kettle, we are getting too close to $100. That’s a lot to ask for a coffee maker that may break in 3 weeks. french press

So with the chemex out the question was what next? I contemplated the Eva Solo for about half a second, until I saw the price. Then it was out; plus I already have a full immersion brewer in my bodum french press. Now please don’t confuse my words here. I am not saying that the Eva Solo is sub par to the french press; that is not the case. It is a different brewing method and quite a tasty one at that, but I want to branch out with my styles, and go with a less expensive pour-over.

This leads me to the hario v60. This little cone of goodness was my first introduction to pour-over coffee. I must admit that, at first, I was scared of the brewing method. I was so worried about hitting the edge and messing up the extraction that I rarely even tried brewing. However, after some time, I saw it more as a challenge and began making one cup v60′s for myself. Now I am hooked. Not only do I love the taste, I love the method. It is so fun having that much control over the brewing process. I really like trying to get a perfect cone shape and coffee extraction every time. So after much deliberation, and price consideration, (The v60 is far less expensive than any other manual brewer I have seen) I bought the Hario Coffee Dripper v60 size 02 clear plastic brewer. I also purchased 200 Hario v60 filters and a hario buono kettle.

Prima Coffee plastic Hario v60 Hario v60 02 filter Hario Buono Kettle

I am super excited about my purchases and I can’t wait to try them out with some great coffee over the Christmas holidays. What was your first specialty coffee purchase?

2010
12/17
CATEGORY
Brewing equipment
Buying Coffee Equipment
coffee supplies
Prima Coffee
2 comments

Just a Quick Note

So I haven’t written anything lately because frankly I have had little coffee inspiration. Maybe it is the busyness of Christmas, or the fact that I have not bought any great coffee in awhile, but I have been somewhat at a loss for coffee experiences. However, my good friend Lee came over last night and brought with him some great coffee. He brewed using a v60 and a Eva Solo. I enjoyed the v60 as always (I think it will end up being my first pour-over brewing method purchase) but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Solo. The coffee he brewed up for the Solo was a Papua New Guinea Mt. Hagen. The mouth feel of the coffee was so different, very similar to the french press, but better in my opinion. The coffee flavors were wonderful, it was a nutty flavor with a burst of citrus, and super smooth. It was perfect for a cold winter evening.  I have never had a really good cup from the solo until last night and I must say, I am sold. I don’t know if it would be my first choice for a purchase (due to its price) but I really enjoyed it’s product. The key to it, just like all brewing will be technique. I really don’t have the technique down for the Solo, but when it is good, it really is good.

Prima Coffee's Eva Solo 1.0 liter Coffee Brewer

2010
12/14
CATEGORY
Black Coffee
Coffee Brewing Complexity
Eva Solo
Prima Coffee
1 comment

It’s Christmas Time For The Espresso Lover

Christmas Living Room

My wife loves Christmas. It is her favorite time of year. She gets all giggly when we get out the decorations and go get the tree. My house becomes a flurry of tinsel, wrapping paper, lights, and cinnamon candles. It’s really an amazing thing to watch your entire living area become transformed into a winter wonderland. I am so thankful for my wife. She really makes Christmas a lot of fun.

MyPressi Mini-Mill Christmas Bundle The other thing that makes Christmas a blast is the giving of presents. I really enjoy blessing others and letting them know how much I love them. So this Christmas I want to make you aware of a great deal that you can take part in for the coffee and espresso lover in your family. Prima Coffee is offering two discounted Christmas bundles: a Mypressi Twist with Hario Mini Mill Slim Grinder, or the Mypressi Twist with the Prima Coffee espresso tamper. Both of these bundles are priced $165 which is a savings of over $20 (for the mini-mill) and a $30 (for the tamper).  We have used the MyPressi here at work several times and it makes some great espresso.

Mypressi Tamper Christmas Bundle

So if you are wanting to give your coffee lover a great gift this Christmas, check out this bundle, and other coffee equipment bundles offered by Prima Coffee. And remember that we give and we love because Jesus Christ first gave and loved us. He is the reason for our giving and our living. Merry Christmas Everyone.

2010
12/10
CATEGORY
Christmas
espresso bundles
Hario Mini-Mill
MyPressi Twist
Prima Coffee
Tamper
1 comment

Who Doesn’t Want a Free T-shirt?

Free T-shirt

Every time I ever go to a conference or a seminar there are always those event booths. You know the ones I’m talking about. They are the ones that provide that awkward moment as you pass by with your head hanging low just barely glancing at the table, so as not to attract attention, but just enough to see if the are giving away free candy. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about; we have all been there. We stroll past the booth trying to avoid eye contact, so that the creepy overtly outgoing “booth guy” won’t try and steal us away to talk awkwardly about how we should buy a hot tub for the next 30 minutes.  The only redeeming qualities to these booths, as I alluded to above, is FREE STUFF. Everyone likes something for free, even if you will never use it, even if it is ugly, and even if you have to talk to a stranger for 30 minutes to get it.  Something takes over us when we walk by a table with free stuff. Even if we don’t need it, suddenly, we just HAVE to have it. I mean seriously, no one needs a another little screwdriver pen, or memo/calender min-notebook, or refridgerator magnet/bottle opener; but we all suddenly have to have it when we see it is free. The best prize however, is the T-shirt. The free shirt is the cream of the crop when it comes to booth “swag” (as guys around my office like to call it). This may be due to the fact the the t-shirt is the most monetarily valuable item or maybe it’s because we all secretly hope that the “brand image labeled t-shirt” will somehow make us look cool and vintage when we sport it. (Kinda like the next 3 Wolf Moon Shirt).  But even if that doesn’t work out, at least we have another piece of clothing to wear when we work outside or just want to sit on the couch.

So why do I digress into all this t-shirt swag talk? Well it’s because Prima Coffee is giving away a FREE Prima-Coffee t-shirt with every order Black Prima Coffee T-shirtpurchased that totals over $35. Seriously, no gimmicks,  no order limit, and no creepy sales guys trying to get you to buy 10 years worth of subscriptions to Southern Living Magazine. Just order something over $35 from Prima Coffee, tell them your size and color preference, and voila, free t-shirt. And these are pretty awesome t-shirts. A “must have” for any coffee hipster out there. And that’s not all! They are also giving away a MyPressi Twist, Prima-Coffee Tamper, and Skerton Mini-Mill Hand Grinder! All you have to do to win is take a picture of yourself or someone else in your Prima-Coffee shirt, post it on their photo contest page, share it on Facebook and Twitter, and then get you friends to vote for it. The image with the most votes wins the coffee equipment bundle!

So don’t waste your time browsing the conference booths, just get online, buy some rad coffee gear, and get your free hipster Prima Coffee tee. It will be totally worth your 15 minutes, and no hot tub purchase is necessary ;)

2010
12/08
CATEGORY
coffee supplies
Hario Mini-Mill
MyPressi Twist
Photo Contest
Prima Coffee
Prima Coffee T-shirt
Tamper
1 comment

Musing Over Methods

Beautiful Black Coffee

My last post got me to thinking about how intricate (and fun) the pour over coffee process is. Before coming into the specialty coffee scene, I was completely fine with sticking my coffee in a generic coffee maker and waiting five to ten minutes for a brew. In fact, I thought I was pretty hot stuff because I had my own Walmart blade grinder and bought generic whole bean coffee instead of the crappy “pre ground” generic coffee. I was walking around like MC-Hammer- “ah, Can’t Touch This“. Oh, ignorance was bliss. My eyes now open to the intricacies of coffee and the wonder of the human pallet, I am now taken back by the subtle changes (like the movement of a coffee filter) that can affect the entire brew. There are so many of these little changes that affect a great brew, such as: water temperature, coarseness of the grind, timing of the pour, strength of the pour, type of filter, whether the filter is pre-wet, density of the beans, region of the beans, how long it has been since the roast- just to name a few!

Then you have to remember the subtle changes in brewing methods and human preferences. For example, you can get two very different cups of coffee when brewing one cup with a Hario V60 and one with a Chemex. (Not to mention the Hario Bonmac Siphon, Clever, Aeropress, and Eva Solo)  And you can get even more variety when two people with different brewing preferences brew using the same method. For example, check out the subtle differences in this guys brewing preference vs the breakdown of this guys brewing methodology when using a Hario V60.   If you took the time to read each article, you will find strengths in both, and subtle differences. This is what I love, everyone has there own flavor! There is no exact right way to brew coffee. Sure there are really good, well thought out, and proven methods that we should look to; but there is still so much room for exploration. While in business school I had to take a lot of business statistics classes. I remember crunching numbers late into the night drinking my sugary cream saturated coffee. Little did I know, coffee is full of statistics (and doesn’t need cancer causing creamer to be good). There are so many variables and possible constants with which to compare, the possibilities seem endless.

Overall I guess this post is about how much I enjoy the complexity of coffee, even though at times it can annoy me when I make a wrong turn in a brewing process. I can’t wait for all of the experiments and tinkerings ahead of me. Who would ever know that a little black cup of bean saturated water could cause so much joy, frustration, and wonder.

2010
12/03
CATEGORY
Black Coffee
Coffee Brewing Complexity
miscellaneous
My Mistakes
Uncategorized
Leave a comment

It’s The Little Things That Matter

Once a again I am writing a blog based on one of my mistakes. I admit that I am at best a novice coffee connoisseur but it is really annoying to make these mistakes.  However, mistakes are how we learn the best right? (Or at least that’s what I tell myself )

So onto the mistake. This morning I was feeling a bit drained and decided to make some of the great Ethiopian Sidamo coffee that was brought to us by LaGrange Coffee Roasters.  I decided to use a chemex and was making about 60 grams of coffee for the early morning office crowd. I ground up the coffee with a Hario Skerton Hand Grinder. I pre-wet my Chemex White Square Coffee Filter and got ready to do my pour-over. Everything’s good right? Wrong! I missed one important aspect, the position of the filter. Now this may seem like a very trivial aspect to the overall process, but as I found out today it is the little things that matter. I placed the 3 sided filter into the chemex but with the thin side towards the spout. Bad idea! Using my buono kettle (I love that thing) I began my slow pour. After the bloom I began moving the water in concentric circles and emptied about half of the water until the Chemex was almost full. However, instead of my usual steady drain of coffee, I began to see a sputtering effect Chemex Coffee Brewing Filteraround the spout area. It almost appeared that the water was boiling out by the way that the air flow was misdirected by the spout. Also it was leaking down the sides. I kept trying to pour down the middle but I couldn’t get a heavy steady stream. It was a straight up botched brewing! Ugh, I was so upset, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I had to pull the coffee filter out completely full of water at 4 minutes 20 seconds. I saved the coffee somewhat, but it only brewed about half of the allotted amount. The result was a minor over-extracted cup of coffee that was displeasing to me all around. I did everything the same as I normally do, right? So what was the problem? It was the filter. With a three sided filter I had to make sure and put the thick side facing the spout. This helps with air flow and keeps the extraction even (and from coming out the sides and top).

Due to my competitive nature, and desire to do things correctly, I decided to brew another batch. You know what they say, “Practice makes permanent (not perfect)”- so I must practice it correctly to get it right. I repeated the same process, only I changed the filter and made sure it was in the correct position. This resulted in a much better cup of coffee, extracting perfectly, ending around 4 minutes. Another lesson to put away in the record books. Sometimes I wonder how many mistakes I must make in order to brew well. I wonder how many mistakes the inventor of the chemex, Peter Shlumbohm, made just to get his design perfect?Inventor of the Chemex Peter Shlumbohm

2010
12/03
CATEGORY
Brewing equipment
Chemex
Hario v60 Coffee Dripper
How to brew coffee
miscellaneous
My Mistakes
Over Extracted Coffee
Prima Coffee
Uncategorized
1 comment

The Grind Matters

Coffee Grounds
So this blog is about my journey into specialty coffee and it must include more of my failures. This morning I used the last of my coffee beans to brew up a 1 liter Chemex for my co-workers. I was grinding with a Hario Skerton Grinder and did a “grounds test” before I fully ground the coffee. The grind setting was a bit fine for a 1 liter, so I decided to mix it up. I must note that the Hario Skerton for all of its wonderful attributes is a pain when changing the grind setting. It is also very hard to manipulate accurately. I gave the grinder a few turns to loosen it up, but unfortunately this was far too much. After grinding the coffee I took a good look at my grounds and thought that they were a bit coarse. I decided to try it anyway. Bad idea. The water went through the grounds like a hot knife through butter. I was already through half of my water by 1:15 on the clock. I tried pouring slower but due to the fact that, the grounds were less compacted and the water had more area to flow through,  my potential coffee was slipping through the grounds seemly unhindered. The final result? A under extracted chemex of coffee. I have always worried about having an over extracted cup, but never an under extracted.

The cup wasn’t so bad after it had cooled. In fact the flavors still came out, even with my mistake. I was still upset with myself, and I learned a valuable lesson. The grind matters. This also led me to thinking of different ways to make coffee. I need to be really careful with my grind settings, and I look forward to experimenting.

Despite my failures the guys at work were very kind, and who could really refuse free coffee. :) Also Chris from www.smellthesmoke.net dropped off some free Ethiopian guji sidamo and we have already brewed 2 pots today. That coffee is the junk! It definitely made my day all better.

Coffee being poured

2010
11/19
CATEGORY
Brewing equipment
Chemex
coffee supplies
Hario Skerton
How to brew coffee
Under Extracted Coffee
2 comments
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

%d bloggers like this: