Coffee Talk (and Tea)

Sundry Chitchat
2391

ok so I’m trying the slow-feed grinding but jesus this is a huge pain in the ass, mostly because of the popcorning. I have the older style vario single-dose hopper, it has a little anti-popcorn widget but it’s obviously not very good. The new style is essentially the same design but just more compact so I wouldn’t expect any difference.

I put the beans in the lid and then sort of cup my left hand over the hopper as I feed the beans in from the lid, and this mostly works but stuff still pops out and it’s extremely tedious. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue doing this, but if I do, I’ll probably just drill a hole in the lid and put a funnel into it (at which point it’s … basically the original hopper, just shittier?)

2392

here’s the old style hopper

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and the new

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the little metal bit is actually a change, might be interesting because the current design doesn’t do a great job of depressing the safety lock (if you breath funny when you remove/replace the cover it moves the bottom piece just enough to disengage the safety switch which is annoying as hell).

1 Like
2393

Yeah I wanna say basically none of these grinders are optimized for slow feeding. It’s less annoying on a shop grinder because they process a 20g dose nearly instantly, and the coffee travels the length of the auger to the burrs so it’s not quite as much popcorning but you still get some. The Fuji type has a metal door that I gradually open to control the feed rate.

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I don’t use the hopper lid to hold the dose for this reason. I leave it on and just slightly open it enough to feed part of my dose from another cup. Usually about 5g at a time on a 20g dose. I’ve tried the feeding one seed at a time thing and ain’t nobody got time for that.

*I’m also not confident that I’d do better than random guessing in a blind test on slow feeding vs all-at-once. I was slow feeding every day for a while but then went back to all-at-once and didn’t notice anything outside of normal brewing variance.

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2394

on zoom at my new job today and got the “IS THAT A TEA CUP” from the CEO, didn’t feel like getting into it so I said “I got tired of breaking regular mugs so I started using these so I’d be more careful” :expressionless:

2395

First coffee machine by Ninja. A catch all kinda machine. James does not approve. Well kinda.

2396

Alton Brown using a 12:1 ratio? but it looks like he’s grinding pretty fine (not super familiar with the Ode but that looksnlike a pretty fine setting).

(no idea if this link is going to work)

2397

Yeah I’m just gonna assume he’s doing it wrong. That looks like a gen 2 ode which will be much finer at that setting than gen 1 burrs. I’ll assume he’s probably drinking some charcoal roast too. Like imagine a 30 minute FoodTV episode just aligning that mfer. Seems like he’d rather just pretend like it’s good.

2398

I’m drinking a Tanzania peaberry at the moment and the seeds are smaller than usual. These remind me of the Mokka seeds which are uniquely tiny, but the other weird thing is that this is one of the fastest draining coffees I’ve ever brewed. Was expecting small to result in high density with lots of fines and slow draws like Ethopias, but it’s the exact opposite. It’s only ok so far though, like 85 points maybe, i.e., bog standard specialty coffee with no defects but doesn’t do anything remarkable.

2399

The white Gen 2 Ode is a Prime Day Deal for $276. No idea if that’s “lowest price seen” kind of thing or not.

2400

This guy done it backwards

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1 Like
2401

List of life experiences that are better than a latte:

2402
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2403

The Worst Show on Television tried to do a segment on the UC Davis coffee program.

Two free Bingo squares just in the preview pic:

BLEND
MEDIUM ROAST

1 Like
2404

Anyone try/look at this? Looks like something I might get

2405

In general I wouldn’t recommend a device like this but I’d have to know more about your specific use case.

Which grinder will you be using?
Which coffees will you be buying?
How much coffee will you be making? (single dose, large batch, both, …)
What does your quality vs. convenience curve look like?
Have you vetted the xBloom Studio (its nearest competitor)?

For coffee gear, automatic brewers have low VORP and high $ / VORP for every factor other than convenience. This one’s going to have a minimal value-add over an off-the-shelf Mr. Coffee machine if you’re not also using a high-quality grinder and coffee, and that’s because you’re paying a premium for features like this

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which aren’t going to matter if you aren’t starting with amazing coffee that’s milled properly. In fact, I’m skeptical that it’s going to matter at all or would even be a thing you’re going to spend any significant time tinkering with. That’s a lot of tech to emulate the minutiae of manual pouring but really not any less tedious if you’re taking the time to program the brewer and do comparison tests. On the other hand, if you’re subscribing to Fellow Drops and downloading the recipes *and they’re actually good* then it might have some value.

2 Likes
2406

Looks like we only got two takers on this, but I’ll be subscribed to something indefinitely because I’m tired of sourcing coffees. I’m currently on Happy Mug Roaster’s Choice A, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the best option for me personally even though it’s great value. Optimal for me would be two 12 oz bags per month to cover my 20g daily dose, but maybe that’s too much / not enough everyone else. So I think we’d actually need to work through the different options.

2407

I’m having this unusual Honduras microlot. Huge candied fruit note that reminds me of pink bourbon. Dry aroma is just as wild. It’s darker than I usually go but doesn’t taste roasty at all. $5 for 4oz. Not sure about the others but Roaster’s Choice A is a secret Kenya that’s not on the menu.

2408

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3 Likes
2409

Waikiki cafe reviews:

Starbucks: opens at 4AM. A++++++++++ no notes

Island Vintage Coffee: opens at 6, decent shot, nice little tiny diner mug demitasse, no sparkling water or spoon, B-

Kona Coffee Purveors: doesn’t open until 7, great pastry selection (there’s a line here before they open), great baristas, excellent shot, water and spoon, A- (because they open late)

B-side coffee: in a very cool brutalist hotel, excellent vibes, friendly baristas, shit espresso. C.

Bean about town: really had high hopes for this one based on reading, but the coffee was bad, no bathrooms until 10:00am even though they open at 7:00 (the restrooms are in a different part of the building). Bad vibes. C.

Hawaiian Aroma: no. Don’t. Worst shot I had this week by far, barista was aloof, asked for my shot “for here” as always, cashier actually acknowledged this request, still received a paper cup. Told the barista the order was for here, she was like “you mean, like, in a mug?” And she just dumped it into a demitasse. F.

Halekani Bakery: extremely popular (associated with a super tony hotel) amazing pastry selection. Despite the fact that this place is fronting a very high-end vibe they have zero drinkware and looked at me like I was nuts. The drip was decent, and they do have the most premium to-go cups I’ve seen (really nice lid in particular). C-

Sunny’s Daily Grind: coffee is bleh out of one of those super auto push button kuerig type espresso machines, just got a drip that was ok. Breakfast menu looked amazing, came back here for lunch since it’s a block from the convention center, fish tacos were fantastic, cow-orker reported his breakfast burrito was also amazing. I’ll give it a C- for coffee but B overall.

Maliki Coffee and Pastries: turns out his place is a bakery and not a coffee place, D+

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2410

This cup is really nice!

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