are there really counterfeit V60 filters out there? I’m seeing a 3 pack of 100-count bleached filters on amazon for $19, which seems like a really good price, but it’s sold by some “samaurai japan” seller. I have definitely gotten counterfeit shit from amazon before when buying from 3rd parties but this ships from amazon so I’m guessing it’s a higher chance of being legit.
3-pack is $19 but a 6-pack is $50???
We use the old nespresso capsule system and it sucks. I actually am tempted to switch over to the crema maker
Those are tabbed. Not the same as the original Japanese papers which are faster and obviously different texture to the naked eye. If your grinder has any kind of elevated fines production the tabbed will give you fits. Can you be troubled to get the real ones from Prima (or another reputable seller) who are guaranteed to have new genuine merchandise? They have a better price on the untabbed than Scamazon. Free shipping at $49 so what I do is load up and forget about it for a year.
Maybe also get the tabbed version for value / comparison:
This guy does an A/B with your grinder and a Happy Mug Burundi:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/8cb4qu/test_hario_v60_new_tabbed_filters_vs_old/
Have you considered refilling the pods with your own coffee? I’ve seen people doing this. It might be a little extra work but you should be able to save money and drink better coffee in theory.
Never really been a coffee drinker but my sis got me this earlier this year.
It’s really pretty and makes, in my philistine mind, good coffee.
Too much work tbh.
In most other areas if my eating/drinking I spend more effort in trying to get high quality products at a decent price.
But when it comes to my morning coffee, coming downstairs half asleep, popping a capsule, pressing a button, and sipping coffee a minute later is worth the expense.
New coffee today:
My first rip matches the description. It starts out with a lemon acidity but quickly morphs into a crystal clear floral that reminds me of rose water. The acidity is present throughout. I’m only getting two distinct phases out of it but they are both highest quality and the transition is lovely. The only hint of an off-flavor I can detect is maybe some bitterness in the lingering aftertaste. This is another example of a great floral coffee yet different than the last I reviewed: think steeped flower petals vs. earthy black tea infusion.
In general, I find Brazilian coffees to be pretty boring. Most of the ones I’ve tried were nutty with notes of caramel and barely detectable acidity. Not sure how much that comes down to variety, processing, or roasting. I’d say they are generally nice gateway drugs for people whose idea of coffee matches that flavor profile (i.e., most North American coffee drinkers). But this one is unique, and, like the Peru, reminds me more of funky Ethiopian wildcard coffees.
Another observation: I think it’s important to have at least two coffees on hand that are quite different. My palate seems to adjust to even highly unusual coffees after a few days now. In that regard, it’s sort of like Indian food: if I eat it sparingly, say every other week, then it retains the maximum surprise factor on my palate / brain.
This guy is brilliant.
In another video he does the immersion bloom then pours it into the cone and finishes with a pour over like we talked about.
I’ve also been watching these roast alongs and learning a lot. The actual roasting part is pretty boring unless you are really nerding out. He constantly makes small changes to the gas and air flow while watching the color and making notes of everything. In this video, the gesha he roasts has a short “middle” compared to the SCA reference roast. He cups a short, long, and reference at the end.
So Hoffmann mentioned that there are (original) nespresso pods with specialty coffee. Couldn’t find anything that looks trustworthy on a quick googling. Anyone have any idea where to look for it?
I’m not really grunching as I’ve read most of the thread, but I’m trying to better consolidate information by asking the below:
Let’s say my wife and I just wanted to dump our shared Christmas budgets (let’s say $500-700) toward massively-improving our coffee experience going forward, with two goals in mind:
We currently have a low-level conical burr grinder, a mid-level Ninja autobrewer (not SCA-certified), and a glass pour-over with Chemex filters. There’s no huge rush, so I’m happy to shop for deals, wait for availability, buy refurb, etc. in order to maximize value. I also happily welcome hand-grinding if that gets me the best bang-for-buck.
Are the following priorities correct?
Specific recommendations and/or adjustments are welcome. Thanks!
I looked quickly on CoffeeReview which has a section for pods/capsules and came up with this place. They are based out of Miami:
If you are balling out of control and to spend £50 on 4 capsules with £20 shipping to USA (or free at £200), there’s this:
They have 10% discount for first-time buyers with email signup!
I have some specific thoughts on what you should be looking at, but first I have to dump this coffee and try again. Today is the first time I can say water quality alone can make a huge difference. Did everything the same today except change the water recipe and this coffee is undrinkable.
Gourmesso is a terrifying name. They are also significantly cheaper than nespresso. I’ll give them a shot
Comandante recently increased in price because they’ve upgraded from MK3 to MK4. The big change appears to be swapping out the catch jars with a composite material that won’t break. The one complaint that kept me from getting it was the glass jars breaking which is not only annoying but also limits its value as a travel grinder. There are some other design improvements as well but the specifics aren’t clear. If you buy one, make sure you know which version you’re buying since the MK3 shouldn’t cost more than $250, but people holding discontinued MK3 stock will probably try to pass off the new higher price on buyers.
The pros are that it should be relatively maintenance free and last virtually forever. You’ll never have to swap a motor. It’s a portable device you can take anywhere (does this apply to you at all?). It’s so good that baristas use it in competition, and some of the best cafes use it, which is to say the grind quality is as good as you’ll need. Another big advantage is grind reference: since C40 is nearly ubiquitous in speciality coffee, you’ll often see people provide the number of clicks from zero they used for a specific brew. That can take a lot of guesswork out if you’re trying to troubleshoot a brew. You can also grind spices with it.
The only cons are basically the price and the fact that it’s a hand grinder now that they’ve fixed the catch jars. If the C40 was $150 it would be a no-brainer snap buy for everyone. Have you ever hand ground coffee before? This is a premium device and will cut through beans like butter compared to cheaper units, but it’s still a hand grinder. How many grams of coffee are you dosing each morning? It only holds 40g to 45g at a time and you might find that grinding that much coffee or more is a major pain in the ass.
For about the same price, you can get a new Fellow Ode or used Baratza Vario. You’ve read my skepticism on the Ode, but I think it becomes more viable if they ever start shipping the v2 burr. Buying used Vario obvious comes with some risk and implied DIY. However, as I think I’ve now proved, the level of DIY can be as simple as inserting a foil shim under the removable top burr and doing a marker swipe test. This is a process you can expect to do with even a $3k flat burr grinder though.
With any electric grinder, I think the first and obvious failure point (outside of plastic fail-safe mechanisms) is the motor. For the Baratza units, we know that part is $40 and can be replaced by the user. I’ve already replaced one in my Encore after about six years, but I attributed the cause to extremely under-roasted beans by a bad roaster attempting his first light roast. For the Fellow grinder, we don’t really know anything about the motor other than it’s some special variable torque thing. This is the aspect I’m most skeptical about because, unlike the Baratzas, there are no Odes that have been in service for over a decade, and the vibe I get from them is trendy, consumery disposable goods as opposed to serious tools.
The takeaway is that if you set a budget of $350 for the grinder, there’s no clear winner and you’ll have to consider how the trade-offs apply in your case:
Comandante strongly defeats any convenience factor but is probably the most known quantity in terms of guaranteed grind quality and long-term durability. In theory, the ceiling for grind uniformity is slightly lower than the flat burr grinders.
Fellow Ode is probably the most convenient in terms of being a turnkey solution but we’re still waiting to see if they ship upgraded burrs and have no long-term reliability data.
Used Vario is also convenient and has the capability for hyper-alignment if you’re inclined to do the work yourself. Every part is user replaceable. Downside is all of the things that come with buying used. Adding $75-$100 to the grinder budget can probably get a Baratza direct refurb with steel.
You need a good machine for this, but I think the upside is that you won’t have to mess with pour over anymore. In terms of which machine is best in your case, I’m not sure. But if you budget $350 for the grinder, that leaves $350 for the machine which extends you all the way out to a Technivorm:
Thanks, LM. Can’t thank you enough for the time and thoughtfulness of your reply. We probably average 60g/day between the two of us. Previous hand-grinding hasn’t felt like a chore, and the MK3/4 looks quite a bit faster based on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVUW5RC9eQ. Portability is handy for camping but not necessary, though long-term sustainability is a huge plus. We’ll be passing our existing equipment down to some broke friends, and I’d like to minimize long-term consumerism footprint.
I’ll do some more thinking based on your suggestions, and maybe wait a bit to hear re: the Ode. Thanks again!
If you buy direct from Fellow you’ll get the v1.1 burr which is a small improvement over v1.0 and apparently just good enough to grind for finer V60. Personally, I grind rather coarse for V60, but paying $300 to not have the option seems weird when it was the whole point of the grinder. However, drip grind is coarser than V60, so it may end up working just fine for you if you decide that machine drip is end game.
Also, given that this isn’t urgent, you can probably sit back and watch for sales / coupons. Pretty sure Fellow has already had 10% to 20% coupons on this grinder and Amazon had a Prime Day price on it, albeit the v1.0 stock which seems to be the version you’ll get through Amazon with their warehouses full of old stock.
As you can probably tell, I’m highly skeptical of Fellow products. I bought the Stagg kettle for someone as a gift and it was behaving strangely in under two years with minimal use. The reviews for their products almost seem fake to me, like mostly pre-release hype and people who’ve had the product for two days. Vibes of tech bro startup capital partners-backed venture that rapid prototypes emerging market trends for cheap offshore production. Why would a company of their magnitude need to Kickstart a coffee grinder? I don’t see any pros recommending their stuff after several years of daily use, which doesn’t mean the Ode won’t turn out to be great but it’s an entirely unknown quantity right now.
