A good tasting coffee makes all the difference.
Essential equipment
Invest in these:
- Scale (0.1g precision)
- Brew kettle with precision thermometer (I use Fellow Stagg)
- Coffee canister (I use Airscape)
- A good burr grinder (I use Niche Zero, or Comandante when travelling)
- Aeropress
Dialing
When coffee tastes bad, change one or more of these factors. It may take several attempts to get it right.
-
Grind size
- Get a good burr grinder! 1
-
Water temperature
- higher for light roasts; lower for dark roasts
- even a +/- 5f adjustment can make a difference
-
Coffee to water ratio
- I generally do not vary this, and keep it fixed at 10:100g.
- Change to a new coffee matching your preferred flavour in the flavour wheel 2
Generally speaking, you mainly want to vary grind size and/or water temperature.
Brew methods
How I typically make coffee:
Inverted Aeropress recipe
- Invert the Aeropress
- Add 10g 3 of coffee (grind about 10.1g, to account for grinder retention)
- Water temp at 175f-194f (depending on beans)
- Start timer; pour about 40g; and stir until ~25 seconds
- Pour rest, total 100g.
- Brew until 1m 25s
- Press for ~30seconds (don’t push; use gravity from arms)
- Add ~35g of hot water to brewed coffee.
If you use fresh coffee with your preferred flavour profile, and select the right grind size and water temperature for those beans - expect this method to consistently produce a great cup of ~125g of rich coffee (from 10g beans) that is equivalent in strength to what the Québécois call café allongé.
Kalita Wave 155 recipe
TODO: This recipe is usually not successful (probably because I tend to use espresso blends?).
- 10g of coffee
- 185-194f water temp (depends on beans)
- 35g pour, wait 35 secs.
- Pour rest, total 135g. Wait till water comes through.
Bean reviews
Legend: <water-temp>f; <comandante-grind>c. All measurements are assuming the “Inverted Aeropress recipe” above.
iDrinkCoffee beans
Ongoing review of beans from iDrinkCoffee, my preferred supplier of beans due to consistent freshness.
| Coffee | Taste | Notes | Grind notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monsoon Malabar | Smokey | 👍 | 180f; 17c (35c+185f in Kalita) |
| Brazil Santos | Chocolate | 👍 | 190f; 15c (32c in Kalita) |
| Sweet Blue, Daterra Farms | Chocolate | 👍 | 190f (or 185f); 14c |
Cafe Smith
A local cafe chain I have been trying.
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1653 Espresso Blend
- 185f; 14c
- Sumptuous! Great aftertaste.
Learnings / experimentation
- More coffee doesn’t impact sleep when fasting during the day (ie. OMAD close to bed time)
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Eating (creamy) butter in between cups helps ‘reset’ taste receptor.
- Though eating a meal is ideal.
- Roast coffee myself