coffee forum, ?????, ?????, fresh coffee beans and tea house

[tnpatton]

Hi guys,
So I finally got the Coava Disk 008 yesterday. I decided to do a 3 day experiment with it. Each day, I will choose a different brewing method and make 2 brews in the Aeropress: 1 with high temperature and 1 with low temperature. I want to see which technique and which temperature works best for me.

Coffee is Columbia Finca San Luis from Gimme Coffee in New York. Tasting notes on the package say: blackberry, cranberry, grape, lemon-zest

Experiment #1: Using the Coava Brewing Parameters that come with the new 008 disk (borrowed from this Japanese barista: http://ameblo.jp/bar14n/ )

Put 18g of coffee(paper filter grind) into the chamber.
Pour 220g of water (freshly boiling water) slowly 30 seconds
Wait 50 seconds.
Stir gently 10 seconds.
Plunge slowly 40 seconds.

1st brew using 95C water:
Immediate smell of vegetables but quickly turned to smell and taste of grape juice.
Very tart, as if biting into a green apple.
High, lemony acidity.
But as it cooled, it became bitter and tasted like burnt caramel.

2nd brew using 80C water:
Smell of blackberry jelly.
Taste of juicy blackberries.
Less acidity but thicker, creamy mouthfeel.
As it cooled, it tasted of vanilla cookie.

For me, #2 was the winner. It didn't have the high acidity and juiciness of the first brew (as could be expected with the lower temperature), but the brew was stable and enjoyable even after it cooled for 25 minutes.

Tomorrow's experiment: Another Coava method from their website. http://coava.myshopify.com/blogs/news/2429072-inverted-aeropress-disk-method

Day after tomorrow, I will try Boris' method from his Facebook page on the upside down Aeropress.

[tnpatton]

Brewing Parameters:
Add 13g fresh ground coffee to bottom of chamber, resting on plunger. Use a medium-fine grind.
Prepare water roughly to 195-200 degrees, pour into brewing chamber, starting a timer at the beginning of the pour. Fill chamber to the very top.
Wait until the timer reads 1 minute.
At the 1 minute mark, flip the aeropress onto a cup
At 1:45, slowly begin pressing the plunger down, gently forcing the water through the coffee and filter, into the cup. This should take roughly 30 seconds, finishing around 2:15 total.

95 degrees Celsius
Aroma of red berries
Immediate taste of bitter chocolate
Sharp acidity but no citric fruit taste

Overall, bitter and overextracted taste

80 degrees Celsius
Aroma of blackberries
Immediate taste of grape juice
As it cooled, it tasted of blueberry cupcake and melted fruit candy
Mellow, smooth mouthfeel

I did another brew using a paper filter with 80 degrees Celsius, and it the brew was quite different.
As expected, the coffee was crisp, clean and bright
Flat body
Explosion of blackberry taste
As it cooled, it tasted of red wine

Like yesterday's brew, I prefer the cooler water temperature brew. Actually, I think I prefer the paper filter.

[tnpatton]

Boris' Upside-down Method

Today, I decided to try Boris' method: "200g water in my mind, I'm aiming for 15.4g brew the coffee at about 80-90軏 (depending on roast and origin, again) so I start with the mid point 85軏 pouring in water. I want the whole pouring process to be even, gentle but swift - 10 seconds start the timer.
stir, around 5 to 10 seconds, just to make sure all grounds are saturated with water time reach 0:45, press! A gentle pressing action, say a 15-20s press, will do the job fine."

90C water:
immediate smell of grapes.
taste of red wine, tart purple grapes and vanilla cookies.
very little bitterness.
However, it quickly loses flavor as it cools.

80C water:
Immediate taste of smooth blackberry jelly.
No red wine taste like above.
Low acidity

Of the three methods I've experimented with this week, I prefer Boris'.

[Peter]

????formula???, ?咗??formula????????吓!

[boblam]

I did push Aeropress all the way and get a nice 'puck' but my cup is always bitter before it really cools down.

Barista Jam told me be4 not to push it all way but I didn't get the clear instruction.

Mark Prince of Coffeegeek gives a clear indication of where to stop plunging, ie don't push the bloom into your cup... My bitterness disappeared and the cup is clearer.. This is kinda like a new mantra of avoiding all the gas, ie bloom/crema, in the coffee. This may be a very basic for Aeropress expert around here but I just post it just in case...

http://www.coffeegeek.com/guides/aeropresscoldbrew