UPDATE (June, 2023): I now drink cold brew coffee which is better in many ways.
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
Dialling
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 15g of coffee
- Water temp at 165f-190f (depending on beans)
- Start timer; pour about 50g; and stir until ~30 seconds
- Pour rest, total 150g.
- Brew until about 2 minutes
- Gently but consistently press for ~30seconds
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 rich coffee 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.
Beans
I tend to buy my coffee beans online from iDrinkCoffee.
Learnings / experimentation
- More coffee doesn’t impact sleep when fasting during the day (ie. OMAD close to bed time)
-
Eating (creamy) butter in between cups helps ‘reset’ taste receptor.
- But eating a meal is ideal.
- Roast coffee myself