My coworker, John, asked me this morning, “Did you have coffee this morning?”
I replied, “Yeah, but I’m drippin’ 8 O’ Clock.”
It must have been in the way that I said it. But John took it as a statement of utter desperation. Not only did I use 8 O’ Clock beans, but I didn’t even use my French press or vacuum pot – I brought out my drip maker! Where is my coffee ethics? Where is the snobbery?
I may have felt that way, but I didn’t mean it that way.
Last night I bought a 12 oz. bag of 8 O’ Clock coffee from Giant Eagle. $5.25 on sale. It didn’t hit me until today, but that’s $7 a lb. Green Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from La Prima is $6.50 a lb. Sometimes when the pocketbook gets thin, it’s easy to feel guilty indulging in good coffee. But good coffee (granted I have to roast it myself – but that’s half the fun anyway) is cheaper than cheap Giant Eagle coffee that’s even on sale!
No more will my conscience cheat me from a good cup of coffee in the morning!
So what do I do with my 12 oz bag of 8 O’ Clock? Well I want to explore how to best go about learning how to best describe what I taste in coffee. So here is my ambitious endeavor: can I describe the taste of 8 O’Clock coffee? Is it possible to be more descriptive than saying, “It tastes like coffee”?
What’s Guy been up to the last 2-3 weeks? The previous vacuum coffee pot posts highlight [sorry no pun intended] the Hario Halogen Beam Heater. As you can tell I stole the photo from the Avenue 18 website. Hario, a Japanese company, plans to sell these in the US for $385. They even have a website in the works – but no orders are currently being taken yet.
$385!!! There must be an easier and cheaper way to make this. For sure the wow effect of the light shooting up the vacuum pots are cool. But $385!
Hardcore coffee aficionados are able to distinguish the subtle taste differences in coffee made from a French press, an Aeropress, a Chemex, or a vacuum/siphon pot. I don’t quite consider myself to be in that league yet. I do taste some differences (although I’ve never had a cup made by Aeropress) but not enough to recommend fellow novices.
But the honest truth about vacuum/siphon pots is that it puts on a great show. If you want a dramatic improvement of taste over a drip coffee maker, make some coffee in a French press. It is the cheapest and the easiest. If you want to be able to feel like you’ve become an overnight coffee expert, make coffee in a vacuum/siphon pot.
Let me break it down. There are only three things to deal with when making the best cup of coffee: 1) the beans, 2) the water, 3) the brewing method.
THE BEANS: Buy beans of good quality. Buy beans roasted to your liking. Only use freshly roasted beans. For the perfectionists, fresh roasted coffee only lasts for 2 weeks, then they’re stale. Don’t store them in the freezer or refrigerator – it only makes them taste bad. For the very taste, grind the beans within seconds of adding the hot water to them.
THE WATER: Make sure the water tastes good. I just use a Brita filter. Then make sure the water is hot enough. Most home drip coffee makers, if not all, do not get the water temperature hot enough. So how hot is hot enough? 190-200F. To get this temperature without a thermometer, heat up the water in a kettle until boiling. Then wait for about 45 seconds. Now it’s hot enough.
THE BREWING METHOD: If you got the beans and the water right, then the brewing method becomes a matter of preference. I immediately noticed the difference between drip and French press. I also like Vacuum or Syphon pots. This past weekend I didn’t have any of my coffee makers – so I used the drip basket with the filter paper, placed it over the coffee pot, ground the beans and poured it into the basket, poured hot water into the basket and let it drip. Since the water was hot enough and the beans were fresh, the coffee tasted quite good.
My wife’s family with all of her cousins (on her mother’s side) typically get together over Thanksgiving. They’ve been doing it for over 20 years or more. It’s becoming more of a challenge since we are now spread out in cities like Nashville, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Rochester, NY.
This year my wife asked me before going, “So are you going to bring all of your coffee stuff and at least try them out on my brothers?” (She is the only girl among three brothers – although only two out of the three brothers are coffee drinkers.) My wife’s youngest brother was responsible for bringing the coffee beans. I brought my Cuisinart Grind and Brew, a French press, and my Bodum Santos Vacuum Pot.
Overall the vacuum pot was the hit. First of all, watching it brew the coffee is entertaining in itself - the mad scientist effect. Second, by brewing the coffee for 3-4 minutes, it becomes as rich as the French press, yet without as much of the grit.
This past weekend my family and I visited my brother-in-law and his family in Rochester, NY. Before going I checked Craigslist to see if anyone in his area was selling a French Press or a burr coffee grinder. It turned out that someone in Buffalo (through which we travel on our way to Rochester) was selling a “Bodum Santos vacuum coffee maker” for $10. I immediately searched YouTube for vacuum coffee makers. It really looked like a cool way to make coffee. CoffeeGeek.com also had a really good article recommending the vacuum/syphon coffee maker and giving good step by step instructions on how to use it. So on our way back, adding an extra hour to our trip back home, I stopped to pick the coffee maker up. I made a cup of coffee in it this morning. Mmm, good coffee. Same impact of taste as the French Press, but without the grit.
My coworker, John, asked me this morning, “Did you have coffee this morning?”
What’s Guy been up to the last 2-3 weeks? The previous vacuum coffee pot posts highlight [sorry no pun intended] the Hario Halogen Beam Heater. As you can tell I stole the photo from the Avenue 18 website. Hario, a Japanese company, plans to sell these in the US for $385. They even have a website in the works – but no orders are currently being taken yet.
