This seems like we are firmly in audiophile scam territory
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wait wut
oleato sounds too close to āolestraā
I may have to consider this. I make approx. 5 matcha drinks per week, and after about two years the basic Amazon chasens start shedding.
Is that really so bad? Approx 500 uses seems not terrible.
Even the good chasens will begin to wear out over time, though certainly the Japanese made ones should last longer if cared for, though I will also say that the Japanese ones are a bit more delicate than the Chinese ones.
Part of preserving the longevity is to make sure youāre not mashing the bottom of the cup with the prongs when whisking (Iām guilty of this), and also buying one of the little chasen stands, which helps it retain its form.
Just finished a bag of this stuff
https://leavescoffee.jp/en/products/ethiopia-yirgacheffe-aricha
This was a super frustrating roast. The beans were extremely well-behaved in the grinder (very few fines, basically no chaff, very consistent). Cups had great body, but started out a little bitter, and adjustments didnāt seem to be reducing the bitterness, I eventually settled around 10K with a 15:1 ratio before I was satisfied, but I just couldnāt get any distinct notes. The flavor wasnāt muddy, but it seems that there was just so much going on that no single flavor could break through the noise. Cups were pleasant, just completely unremarkable.
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Stymied at 10K. If Baratza were Spinal Tap fans you wouldnāt have this problem. These days Iām fairly convinced itās the water, and I think brewing with distilled and then titrating the result to the cup might be the holy grail solution. I almost always end up grinding natural Africans coarse and generally have no idea how people are doing 450 microns on those.
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youāre probably right but this is just one of those things where Iām drawing a line in the sand, this aggression will not stand, man
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That lotus water stuff Lance makes is really interesting for this. Iām tempted to play around with it but I have a bunch of third wave water packets Iād prefer not to have go to waste
If you have TWW, you could cut it with distilled to get the hardness down to a softer number (60 ppm range) and then add the alkalinity back in droplets. If I remember right, the general hardness in 1 gallon is about 180 ppm and alkalinity is around 40 ppm, so 2 parts distilled : 1 part TWW should create a nice base for titration. You can buy the individual Lotus bicarbonate bottles for $12.50 but I have no idea if one should be preferred to another.
I donāt know what any of this shit is and Iām intrigued
I forgot to mention I bought one of these a few weeks ago:
https://www.amazon.com/Hario-V60-Drip-Assist-02-Clear/dp/B08XBJNVQH
It is basically useless for me, I generally grind 15g of coffee for a single brew, and the drip holes on this thing are drilled assuming thereās more coffee in the cone, all of the water hits the cone higher up than where the coffee is, so most of it slides āunderā the coffee and it basically instantly drains.
I used it twice and basically put it back in the box.
Anyway, melodrip has a pre-order on now that is shipping next week.
so I went ahead and ordered one of those.
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I still have the shower head from the Curtis CGC laying around that I havenāt done anything with yet. Too many projects not enough time. I was watching videos yesterday about setting up cyclone separators for particle collection in wood shops and got a bright idea, but the thing Iām narrowly focused on at this point is matching the water to the coffee. Once I got a good recipe for this Ethiopia I have 2 lbs of itās been pretty much great brews every day.
nothing earthshattering in this interview, but still interesting
https://keystotheshop.com/2023/03/401-founder-friday-w-jack-benchakul-of-endorffiene-in-los-angeles/
I made small adjustments to the water chemistry and grind size today and wow the coffee was just unreal bad. I had figured out that 5:1 ratio of this distilled to current batch of spring water I have on hand worked really well and was grinding at 9C for this particular coffee. Tried blending 5.25:1 with 9M grind and itās undrinkable.
Totally forgot that I ordered this until it showed up today. The US distributor still only seems to do wholesale so I ordered from the UK and I guess it took a few weeks to get here. Iāll let yāall know tomorrow if it makes a difference
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So this is a really nice looking and feeling product. Hereās a pic of it all set up
I definitely noticed more aroma on my brew but the only difference in the cup was less harshness. This Ivan Solis anaerobic washed bag from black and white coffee Iāve been working with hasnāt produced any notable cups yet though so Iām going to try some comparisons with different coffees over the next few days. This one may just need more time to rest, itās only like 2 weeks off roast right now.
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