Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Learning more and more about coffee, I decided to take the plunge into making my own brewing water based on the recipes from Barista Hustle, Jonathan Gagne, and Mitch Hale. I'm by no means an expert in tasting coffee, but I thought it would be fun to experiment and share what I find with all of you.

To start out, I'm making the basic 2-part BH SCA water recipe based on the mixing instructions from Mitch Hale and comparing it with my tap water to see if it's worth the effort of mixing up my own water on the regular.

Starting out, my tap water is actually pretty decent. While I don't have a report of precisely what's in it, a TDS measurement put it at about 53ppm, and the town water report says average hardness is about 33ppm, so it's relatively pure and soft from a TDS standpoint. However, I know dissolved gases and chemical compounds can mess with flavor, as well. So my brew water starts out from fresh deionized reverse-osmosis water with a TDS of zero ppm. It'll be about as pure as you can get without commercial or lab-grade equipment.

My test beans are from Kestrel Coffee Roasters in Burlington, VT. They are branded as an El Carpintero blend from Colombia and definitely appear to have different roast levels mixed into this single-origin coffee. Roaster's notes list flavors of cinnamon, pear, and maple syrup.

https://preview.redd.it/yggrzg9xfyzd1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=7582163c7cbcf55f5521f61c8c7ec51cf6d316b6

https://preview.redd.it/ys8twi9zfyzd1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=6046140ba93a8f614ce5592734cf4ee3d1f465d6

My test method:

• 100mL pour-over through a V60 filter inside a metal conical filter
• 10g of beans ground identically between two brews in my Ode Gen 2
• 20mL of water off boil to bloom followed by 100mL of water in two pours

There's a noticeable color difference in the two brews, with tap being slightly darker.

https://preview.redd.it/0z9yzyn0gyzd1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=c776e83fc648617dbb13700cc852c423d3aafd97

Flavor notes:

• The tap water has some flavors that remind me of bitter nuts, almost like tannins, maybe a bit of honeydew or pear, with moderate acidity and body.
• The BH SCA water is noticeably sweeter with much lower bitterness. I still get some melon or pear flavors, and I start to detect the roaster's note of maple syrup to a small degree. Still moderate acidity and body, but it feels slightly more juicy than tart.

I've also tested brewing espresso with some dark-roasted beans and we noted a lot less of the bitter roasty/smoky flavors when using the BH SCA water.

So... is it worth making my own water? I'll keep experimenting to figure that out. But as of right now, it does seem to make a decent improvement in the flavor profiles of our brews. It might not be as noticeable in a milk-based drink like a latte, but even then it wasn't as smoky. It's definitely an improvement over our tap water.

I'd love to hear from others. Have you run into similar experiences? Did you play with brew water? How different is your tap compared with custom brew water?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to the weekly /r/Coffee thread where you can share what you are brewing or ask for bean recommendations. This is a place to share and talk about your favorite coffee roasters or beans.

How was that new coffee you just picked up? Are you looking for a particular coffee or just want a recommendation for something new to try?

Feel free to provide links for buying online. Also please add a little taste description and what gear you are brewing with. Please note that this thread is for peer-to-peer bean recommendations only. Please do not use this thread to promote a business you have a vested interest in.

So what have you been brewing this week?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I'm chasing the theory that my cone brewers (Moccamaster, V60) are suppressing florals in favor of enhancing body. LilyPad makes two basically different V60 ceramics to adjust this in favor of florals.

Is anyone else playing with either the original V60 + LilyPad with V60 filters or the newer (I think) LilyPad Lotus in a V60 with Kalita filters?

I have tried a lighter decaf Counter Culture with the V60/Lotus/Kalita and it was noticeably different, need to do a side-by-side before judging it further. I'll try some Intelligentsia Ethiopian or George Howell Mamuto AA/AB next. The latter coffees are my goto beans and will determine whether the bed shallowing is an improvement.

The fundamental theory is that shallower beds make the extraction at the top more consistent with the extraction at the bottom; I can imagine this reducing complexity and/or enhancing quality, I do not yet know.

Let's see your battle-stations or new purchases! Tell us what it is you have, post pictures if you want, let us know what you think and how you use it all to make your daily Cup of Joe.

Feel free to discuss gear here as well - recommendations, reviews, etc.

Feel free to post links to where people can get the gear but please no sketchy deal sites and none of those Amazon (or other site) links where you get a percentage if people buy it, they will be removed. Also, if you want battle-stations every day of the week, check out /r/coffeestations!

Please keep coffee station pictures limited to this thread. Any such pictures posted as their own thread will be removed.

Thanks!

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Bought an encore in 2020. Maintained it well, grinding 60g a day max for pour over.

One day the dial stops twisting and is stuck on about 30.

Send it off for repair and hear nothing for a month. When I chase I get a call to say it’s broken and can’t be fixed.

I’ve read a lot about how these things should last, how they can be repaired and how good the customer support is. None of these ring true for me. If they’ve offered a discount or something would have potentially bought another one but I don’t think I will now.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hi everyone. So I have been using a 1 liter french press for about a year and just recently bought a Timemore C3 Max grinder to finally start getting into freshly ground coffee and such. Right now I have a Costa Rica coffee roasted on 28/Sep/2024 which according to the cafe where I bought it it should have citric and floral flavours. My most recent brew went as follows:

1. Ground 33 grams of coffee at 13 ticks for 500 mL of water.
2. When the water just began to boil, I filled half the press with it, waited around 15-20 s and returmed the water to the kettle.
3. Pour the ground coffee in the press.
4. When the water seemed to began boiling again, apparently around 96-97 °C, I first poured 250 mL to the press.
5. Stirred heavily the coffee for 6 s
6. Poured the rest of the water.
7. Steep for 4 min
8. Break any crust formed, this time didnt saw any.
9. Wait for 4 additional minutes.
10. Serve a cup and the rest into a thermus

Compared to my previous tests, something I changed this time was using bottled water instead of the usual water I get from a purification post in my city. The cup had a very tinny taste of taffee but most of all, it felt "juicy", dont know how to put it in other words, it also had some mild sweetness, it did not have any bitterness and overall I enjoyed it a lot.

But becauae I did not really felt any citrus flavors, which according to the cafe where I bought it it has, I believe I can still improve the favour of my coffee, any of you have any tips I would appreciate it:)

This is a thread for the enthusiasts of /r/Coffee to connect with the industry insiders who post in this sub!

Do you want to know what it's like to work in the industry? How different companies source beans? About any other aspects of running or working for a coffee business? Well, ask your questions here! Think of this as an AUA directed at the back room of the coffee industry.

This may be especially pertinent if you wonder what impact the COVID-19 pandemic may have on the industry (hint: not a good one). Remember to keep supporting your favorite coffee businesses if you can - check out the weekly deal thread and the coffee bean thread if you're looking for new places to purchase beans from.

Industry folk, feel free to answer any questions that you feel pertain to you! However, please let others ask questions; do not comment just to post "I am _______, AMA!” Also, please make sure you have your industry flair before posting here. If you do not yet have it, contact the mods.

While you're encouraged to tie your business to whatever smart or charming things you say here, this isn't an advertising thread. Replies that place more effort toward promotion than answering the question will be removed.

Please keep this thread limited to industry-focused questions. While it seems tempting to ask general coffee questions here to get extra special advice from "the experts," that is not the purpose of this thread, and you won't necessarily get superior advice here. For more general coffee questions, e.g. brew methods, gear recommendations for home brewing, etc, please ask in the daily Question Thread.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I have played with the wheel from BH but I'm guessing I just need to improve my tasting skills to be able to identify what I'm actually having and how to get where I want.

Do you guys have any recommendations on a course that can help me specifically with this "I know the names on the wheel, but I don't know what is this taste I'm feeling and how to describe it in coffee terms"?

It's been a while since I got stuck on a cycle of good extractions for a few months and a "season" (usually about three weeks) of weird ones - those, I can't figure out why and how to adjust the extractions. The notes become muted, the mouthfeel is like a kick, kinda dusty/powdery and feels like it takes one second after the sip to feel any taste and the weird ones comes like a punch. Under and over extracting by adjusting the grind size doesn't seem to make a difference.

Thanks

It also brings down the brew temperature, like significantly.

Recently I 've been messing around with AeroPress recipes with very fine grind settings (espresso-fine) and pretty long steep time (4~6 mins). In theory, doing so will produce over-extracted (and by that people actually mean astringent?) coffee but I decided to stir the hell out of these brews anyway to increase the extraction yield even more.

The brews turned out to be pretty tasty. They were full-bodied. They were sweet. So higher extraction yield dosen't always mean bad coffee? But I want to make the coffee even sweeter by cranking up the extraction yield even higher. With the assumption that vigorous stirring brings down brew temperature a lot in mind, I did an experiment:

1. Use very fine grounds (~18g) as usual.
2. Add boiling water (~100ml) as usual, the slurry temp is ~92 °C.
3. Stir vigorously as usual, now the slurry temp drops to ~80 °C. That's a drastic drop.
4. Add more boiling water (~130ml) to bring up the temperature again. The slurry temp is ~95 °C now. Hooray!
5. Wait for 4 mins and plunge, taste the coffee.

Now it tastes like shit.

That unpleasant flavor we call over-extration is very noticable here. The coffee is so harsh that I feel like my throat is burning. I pour the coffee into the sink and think to myself: what's happening here? Is it...

A: Since vigorous stirring brings down brew temperature a lot, I wasn't acutally making coffee with very high extration yield before, so of course the coffee tastes fine and bringing up brew temperature will ruin it.

B: Strategies to boost extration yield actually have very different effects. Maybe the extration process of astringent compounds in coffee is much more sensitive to brew temperature than to grind size and steep time.

What's your experience with strring and brew temperatue? I 've drunk 4 cups of coffee today and can't do anymore experiment for now. Please share your thoughts on this.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Welcome to the /r/Coffee deal and promotional thread! In this weekly thread, industry folk can post upcoming deals or other promotions their companies are holding, or promote new products to /r/Coffee subscribers! Regular users can also post deals they come across. Come check out some of the roasters and other coffee-related businesses that Redditors work for!

This also serves as a megathread for coffee deals on the internet. If you see a good deal, post it here! However, note that there will be zero tolerance for shady behavior. If you're found to be acting dishonestly here, your posting will be removed and we will consider banning you on the spot. If you yourself are affiliated with a business, please be transparent about it.

There are a few rules for businesses posting promotional material:

• You need to be active in /r/Coffee in a non-self-promotional context to participate in this thread. If it seems you are only here to promote your business in this thread, your submissions will be removed. Build up some /r/Coffee karma first. The Official Noob-Tastic Question Fest weekly thread, posted every Friday, would be a good place to start, and check out what is on the Front Page and jump in on some discussions. Please maintain a high ratio of general /r/Coffee participation to posts in this thread.

• If you are posting in this thread representing a business, please make sure to request your industry flair from the mods before posting.

• Don't just drop a link, say something worthwhile! Start a discussion! Say something about your roasting process or the exciting new batch of beans you linked to!

• Promotions in this thread must be actual deals/specials or new products. Please don't promote the same online store with the same products week after week; there should be something interesting going on. Having generally “good prices” does not constitute a deal.

• No crowdfunding campaigns (Kickstarter, Indiegogo, etc). Do not promote a business or product that does not exist yet. Do not bait people to ask about your campaign. Do not use this thread to survey /r/Coffee members or gauge interest in a business idea you have.

• Please do not promote affiliate/referral programs here, and do not post referral links in this thread.

• This thread is not a place for private parties to sell gear. /r/coffeeswap is the place for private party gear transactions.

• Top-level comments in this thread must be listings of deals. Please do not comment asking for deals in your area or the like.

• More rules may be added as needed. If you're not sure whether or not whatever you're posting is acceptable, message the mods and ask! And please, ask for permission first rather than forgiveness later.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I have always heard that coffee should be consumed between 2 days after roast and 14 days after roast and that 30 days is the absolute limit or all flavor will be gone. Recently, I've been drinking a lot of very lightly roasted coffee that often looks more like black tea than coffee when brewed. I came across a couple of roasters that recommended at least 30 days of degassing and one of those recommended that "peak" was 60 to 90 days.

My local roaster recently got a Loring roaster and is able to fully develop their coffee with much lighter roasts than their old drum roaster. I recently left some of their coffee to degas (in a paper bag) for 21 days and then 50 days. At 50 days, I actually liked it more than when it was between 2 to 14 days.

Any thoughts on why it might be advantageous to let the coffee sit longer, especially if it's really light roast?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to the weekly /r/Coffee thread where you can share what you are brewing or ask for bean recommendations. This is a place to share and talk about your favorite coffee roasters or beans.

How was that new coffee you just picked up? Are you looking for a particular coffee or just want a recommendation for something new to try?

Feel free to provide links for buying online. Also please add a little taste description and what gear you are brewing with. Please note that this thread is for peer-to-peer bean recommendations only. Please do not use this thread to promote a business you have a vested interest in.

So what have you been brewing this week?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Let's see your battle-stations or new purchases! Tell us what it is you have, post pictures if you want, let us know what you think and how you use it all to make your daily Cup of Joe.

Feel free to discuss gear here as well - recommendations, reviews, etc.

Feel free to post links to where people can get the gear but please no sketchy deal sites and none of those Amazon (or other site) links where you get a percentage if people buy it, they will be removed. Also, if you want battle-stations every day of the week, check out /r/coffeestations!

Please keep coffee station pictures limited to this thread. Any such pictures posted as their own thread will be removed.

Thanks!

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I've been in the coffee community for 2 years, I like to make coffee using my aeropress, and I love hand grinding my coffee. I started out with a porlex mini II and the coffee was extremely sour to the point of undrinkable, and no matter what setting I ground or how hot I boiled my water or how long I brewed my coffee, it just kept giving me the same extreme sourness I despised, after I immediately switched and bought a JX pro, all in all I spent like 300+ on two budget hand grinder and still with the JX pro, I tasted some astringency that overshadowed the flavor notes I was supposed to get from the coffees I bought.

Just recently I finally decided to buy myself a c40 to see if I could taste an improvement from it compared to the JX pro and it actually shocked me how much better the c40 was compared to the JX pro. The flavor was night and day.

The astringency I got from the JX pro was completely gone with the c40, and the I could actually taste the flavor notes from the coffee I bought. The improvement was so much better than I expected and now all I really feel is regret for not buying the grinder sooner.

Now I know there is the 1zpresso q air and q grinder (not even sure if there's a difference between these two) and maybe they will taste similar to the c40, but all I really feel at this point is regret spending all that money on the two "budget" grinders when I could have used all that money to just buy a c40 right off the bat.

Maybe it's because I didn't do enough research on grinders at the time and therefore didn't buy a proper grinder for the type coffee I was making but regardless, I starting to shift to the perspective that if you're a new-comer to coffee, and really want to start making your own, I much rather recommend you get something expensive like a k-ultra or c40 and get a guarantee of quality and longevity rather than something cheap and potentially discarded for an upgrade in the future. Budget grinders should really just be used either for traveling or if you know what you're doing with it.

Just a little thought experiment I made up to test my understanding.

I have prepared the following 3 shots of the same bean, keeping extraction yield the same:

• Ristretto (1:1.5)
• Espresso (1:2)
• Lungo (1:3)

Obviously, all other variables are kept the same too eg. pressure, temperature etc.

In order to keep the extraction yield the same, I would have to adjust the grind size accordingly. i.e. A larger grind size for lungo than ristretto and espresso and likewise larger grind size for espresso than ristretto.

Assuming that due to the adjustment of grind size, the extraction time of all 3 shots turned out to be the same. (refer to question 2)

Now, say if I were to prepare additional ristrettos and this time instead, I add water to it to match the volume of espresso and lungo. Let’s call them espresso* and lungo*.

My question is,

1. will lungo* and espresso* taste the same as lungo and espresso?
2. How likely is it that the extraction times for the 3 ratios will be the same ?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I'm planning on making an Arabica Farm in the Philippines someday with an elevation of 1,400-1,600 meters above sea level. And, I heard that "Shade Grown Coffee" is becoming popular due to taste improvements.

My thoughts were to use a Nurse Tree as the shade tree planted ideally enough to shade and have some sunlight through the canopy. And the Nurse Tree that I chose is the endemic Narra Tree, being an ideal nitrogen fixer and has a higher leaf drop to provide mulch for the coffee plants. I will also train its canopy through a planned pruning over the years to make it wider so that I wouldn't need too many trees and plant more coffee seedlings.

To you coffee enthusiasts that had tasted "shade grown coffee," what are your thoughts?