Introduction and a question

[KarlWalsh]

Hi I''m new here Fairly new to the coffee scene and I''m slowly becoming more addicted, more-so in my final year of education. I''m now up to two cups a day, a large amount for someone who seemed to have an aversion to hot drinks, especially caffeinated ones.

I use a small press, without milk this doesn''t fill my mug much but I''m going for a larger press soon.
You see, the coffee I drink doesn''t seem very pure, there is always a black sediment in the bottom, very very fine particles that obviously passed through the filter. I think this detracts from the taste of the coffee, but I''ll be honest I wouldn''t know, all I can confirm is that my coffee is never quite as tasty as something I would buy from a coffee shop.

is this sediment normal?

I was thinking of buying a stove-top espresso machine. My last experience with one of these was burnt coffee grounds, but since it wasn''t mine I didn''t have a chance to experiment. Would this produce better tasting coffee than my press?

If you have any other coffee tips/advice that would be great, especially those regarding the preparation and brewing of coffee.

Karl

 

[caffe biscotto]

Hi Karl,

I use a press for some of my coffee as well. To reduce the amount of sediment in your cup, you will need to use a coarser ground coffee. I personally don't mind the sediment in my cup, it's usually just in the last gulp. It gives me something to chew on at the end, ha!

You can enter "press" into the forum search and you will find what others have said regarding the french press method and tips on how to cut back on the unwanted sediment.

Anyway, I'm honored to to be the first to welcome you to Coffeeforums.

 

[Davec]

another small tip for making coffee in a Cafetiere. When you have pressed the plunger down wait for about 60 seconds then very gently tip the cafetiere JUST enough to get the coffee coming out and NEVER, stop and straighten it up then begin to pour again (if that makes any sense), as it stirs up the sediment.

if you have to stop, tilt the cafetiere back JUST far enough to stop liquid flowing then move to the next cup, be careful not to swirl the liquid around.

Using a cafetiere that is too large is not a great idea, and using one that is too small means you always have to tip it right up to get your cup/s and then of course down comes the silty stuff.

So you always need to have a little more coffee in the cafetiere than you intend to use!

hope it helps

Dave

 

[caffe biscotto]

I hadn't thought about it like that. Try to leave the sediment in the bottom of the pour and stop pouring just short of the end, like you would with some wines and beers. I've always poured every drop to get all the munchies out in the end, but that's just me.

 

[PinkRose]

Hello,

There is a filter screen that you can get for your French Press. It's called a Nylon Fine Sediment Filterscreen. It is an additional filterscreen you insert in your press to remove more of the fine sediment particles. It is especially useful if your grinder produces powder along with the coarse grounds, (like a whirling-blade type grinder does).

If you go to the Sweet Maria's web site, the filter is described on this page (scroll down the page to find it):

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.brewers ... ress.shtml
http://www.sweetmarias.com/frpress.nylon-screens.jpg

Rose

 

[KarlWalsh]

Wow my post took so long to turn up I was sure I hadn't clicked submit correctly, in-fact I was going to post again today

PinkRose: The nylon filters look very interesting, and seem to be just what I'm looking. I purchased a new press over the weekend and the amount of sediment has reduced considerably. Only £4 too, are the Bodum presses really that much better to warrant a further £10 or so?

biscotto: Thanks for the warm welcome, I'll try chewing them on the next cup see what they taste like

Davec Great tip cheers.

On a side not I almost purchased some Jamaican Blue Mountain from my local Whittards but only because I read some passing comments about its quality.

Since it was £12 for 125g I gave it a miss, perhaps I can find it cheaper elsewhere.

 

[caffe biscotto]

............ I purchased a new press over the weekend and the amount of sediment has reduced considerably. Only £4 too, are the Bodum presses really that much better to warrant a further £10 or so?

I'd like to know this as well.
Why are Bodums more expensive than other brands of french presses?

 

[PinkRose]

Hello KarlWalsh

If you click on the link (below) and read the forum topic, you will see that I was recently looking for a substitute for Jamacian Blue Mountain coffee because it's now about $50 a pound.

Topher recommended the Papua New Guinea. I tried it and found it to be an excellent substitute (and it costs much less). I like a medium roast, which is similar to Jamacian Blue Mountain, but some places also offer it in a darker roast.

http://www.coffeeforums.com/viewtopic.p ... dc8143aa2b


By the way, don't be discouraged if you have a problem posting a message to this forum. Strange things happen sometimes.

Recently, when I have tried to post a message to this forum it takes me about four tries to get it to go through. It keeps coming up as "Invalid Session, Please Resubmit" I just keep on hitting "submit" each time and hope for the best. The message eventually goes through and it gets posted. It's annoying, but I guess I have to live with it.

Rose

 

[KarlWalsh]

Hello KarlWalsh

If you click on the link (below) and read the forum topic, you will see that I was recently looking for a substitute for Jamacian Blue Mountain coffee because it's now about $50 a pound.

I usually buy ground coffee from the supermarket, I'm currently drinking Monsooned Malabar. I'll be sure to try Papa New Guinea if I can find it.

I have no idea how to describe the taste of coffee, the supermarkets here in England often label them from 1 to 5 and those that I particularly enjoyed were usually a 3 or 4.

I recently found a fresh coffee shop, not too far from my university campus. They apparently roast the beans and will even grind them to order. Smells really good walking from outside and I'm going to get something from there on Thursday.

I find it very difficult to write without using 'I'

 

[Davec]

i'm in the UK karl where abouts are you.

Oh and also if you want to find yourself an unbiased UK coffee forum (your allowed to join more than one), in the same way this one is unbiased, simply check out my website button. It's handy because we have meets, in the north and the south, so you can actually have some hands on experience of other peoples machines and roasting.

 

[KarlWalsh]

i'm in the UK karl where abouts are you.

Oh and also if you want to find yourself an unbiased UK coffee forum 9your allowed to join more than one), in the same way this one is unbiased, simply check out my website button. It's handy because we have meets, in the north and the south, so you can actually have some hands on experience of other peoples machines and roasting.

I live in Bristol at the moment but heading to London in June. Nice site, I'm having a look around right now. The beginners guide will be handy.

 

[caffe biscotto]

Sorry to nose in on you Davec, though your website button is a very important one in this forum and KarlWalsh should check it out, as it's a fine button indeed.

It's just too tempting for me to pass up an opportunity to mention the overuse of the pronoun "I".
As KarlWalsh pointed out:
"I find it very difficult to write without using 'I' "

It is a difficult task, to explain your situation or opinion without using it. However, that's the challenge. That's the fun part of communicating. Someone who uses this pronoun may come off as being egotistical, as if everything is about me, me, me. Funny thing though, if you find a way to use the more humble looking "me" instead, it makes a better impression, at least on a subliminal level. It needs no capitalization. To quote Cindy from another thread, "a very numb feeling little coffee person.....me". It is a humbler pronoun, isn't it?

Anyway, this is something that caffe biscotto needs to work on too. He's using "I" too much in his posts.

 

[KarlWalsh]

http://www.whittard.co.uk/ProductDetail ... uage=en-GB

This has to be the nicest coffee I have ever tried but then again my taste for coffee is not fully developed, it appears my preference is a dark roast though.

This next coffee sounds interesting but could someone explain, in a nutshell what French roast is and why this bean is roasted this way?

http://www.whittard.co.uk/ProductDetail ... uage=en-GB

How are my pronouns biscotto?

 

[KarlWalsh]

Finally bought some new coffee

It's from Lagoa, Brazil and is unlike any other coffee I have ever tried.

I'm, not even sure I can describe the taste and smell when it's brewed, almost like a faint flower taste but I have never tasted flowers so that could be wrong

Roasted today, and was ground in front of my eyes.

I'm gonna have to brew another soon to try it black :lol:

 

[Davec]

let me guess, it's "Brazilian Fazenda De Lagoa Peaberry", the beans are not like a peanut half (as are most coffee beans), but like a whole peanut, but smaller, they are called peaberries?