Already has 33 bids so maybe it gets bid way up but who knows. There haven’t been a lot of these or Fortes on secondary recently and the Baratza refurbished store has been empty. I’d say under $300 is a good deal and $350+ more than I’d pay given what’s on the market now. The upgrades on the new Vario that @pvn bought are significant (metal grind chamber, adjustment arms, and knobs) which you can get into for under $600 w/ steel.
I’ve been trying to dial in a Honduras anaerobic and this is one of those coffees where 5M grind is much closer than 9M. Oddly, the 9M was both sour and bitter, yet somehow it really opened up and the bitterness disappeared at the lower grind setting. I think I can push this one even finer.
got the replacement steel burrs earlier today, immediately installed/aligned (just shimming)/calibrated. The ceramic burrs were touching at 2Q, after shimming I was getting the touchpoint around 3Q, and I backed that off to 2Q. I had about 2lbs of old stale beans laying around so I ran those through, not enough to properly season (I’ve read 10lbs is the “minimum”) but whatever, I went ahead and made a cup.
Much duller than the last couple of cups I made with the ceramic burrs this morning. noticeably fewer fines (at 8P with both ceramic and steel), as expected. A lot more chaff (same beans) sticking to the side of the catch bin. Brew time is a lot faster, I’m guessing fewer fines clogging the filter are letting the water through faster? I’ll probably push this finer and see tomorrow (I really shouldn’t be drinking coffee this late).
I think duller is a good description of going to a flat steel. Less of the bold flavors, more muted but it allows the subtlety to come through. I took this Honduras all the way down to 4M today and it wasn’t undrinkable, so I think it just depends on the bean. I’m honestly not even sure if 5A or 9A was closer to the correct profile. Neither tasted quite right to me and the acidity is kind of sour at both points. Makes me think maybe the water I’m using isn’t hard enough.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what a pain it is to dial coffees in perfectly and came up with the idea to run a “V60 matrix.” By that, I mean I’m gonna buy multiple V60 01s and set it up sort of like a cupping, except I’ll actually be brewing multiple (up to 4) V60s at once. Right now I’m thinking a good number is three devices? So for example, I grind 9A with 75/40 water at 208F in V60#1, repeat at 5M for V60 #2, then for #3 it’s 9A with 150/40 water at 208F. That way I have a basis (#1) and can rapidly compare change in taste to two different variables at once while holding everything else constant. Thoughts?
Well I purchased my first beans from a local roaster (Press coffee). I’m not sure what constitutes a gourmet coffee but the quality of these beans are light years better than anything I ever bought from the store!
I’m a creature of habit and don’t normally like change. When I find something I like, I stick with it. So it was with some reluctance that I took Lawnmower man’s suggestion and ordered a Ethiopia single origin guji tero with notes of blueberry, white peach, and cane sugar. My fear was that it would be far too exotic tasting for me. I was wrong!
These notes came together in a smoothness that’s difficult to describe. It wasn’t at all overbearing as I suspected it might be. In fact, it had almost a delayed effect and took a perfect amount of time before the combination of flavors hit the palate, sometime after the sip and just before swallowing. I thought this would be a later in the day or after dinner coffee, but I can see this also fulfilling the role as a flavorful morning wake-me-up. Even thought it’s an extremely interesting flavor, it doesn’t let you forget that you’re drinking coffee
I assume most here have purchased from a roaster, but if you haven’t done so yet, I highly encourage it. You will appreciate the difference in quality. I can’t say enough good things about it
That delayed flavor burst is wild isn’t it? Some of the geshas I’ve had were the best at it. Would have guessed it was tea as soon as it hit my tongue and then bam.
If you still have some of the tabbed V60 filters, that might be a good test of how many fines you’re producing. Since I switched the Vario, the tabbed seem to work just as well as the untabbed for me. Seems like they only run slightly longer (15 to 30 seconds?) and never clog for me, so I feel like it’s another variable I can switch up if I can’t quite dial a coffee in how I want. Definitely think there are some coffees that benefit from the longer contact time.
I saw a YouTube with a guy that just dumped a single pour into a v60, no bloom or spin or anything. Ended up with grinds all up the side. Another guy was like “does this give you good results?” and he was like “usually no.”
So I figured I’d give it a try. Went a bit finer (9M to 7M) plus hotter water (95 C), 15:1 pour on a dark roast. Turned out pretty good actually. Got some of what I think are the intended flavors for the first time. Tried it again the next day and it was trash. This is hard.
I have a Colombian natural here that I can’t get to come out exactly right. I think I nailed one day out of ~20 where I actually got the sweetness to render properly, and it tasted like orange juice. Most brews were kind of sour with an astringent aftertaste (these are two competing concepts). So at the end of the bag I decided to grind finer and pour 12:1 with a bypass. The bitterness from the finish mostly disappeared, but still no sweetness, and I didn’t have any magnesium-rich water (for example, Third Wave Water) on hand to see if that would make a difference.
*Update: After letting the 12:1 brew cool to 135 F, it’s much better. Now it tastes like orange juice with a somewhat chocolaty finish. That’s typical–coffees will taste brighter at higher temps, but this is a huge difference. I tend to prefer ones that are drinkable at higher temps because you get to experience a wider range of flavors and it’s also tough to hold at a lower temp before it cools too much.
Vario+ update, 10 days now with the steel burrs. I’ve run about five pounds of stale beans through to season the burrs, and after a few weird results I’m really starting to get some fantastic cups on a pretty consistent basis.
The first few cups were extremely dull and muted, and the cone was draining too fast, so I went finer. Started around mid-8, Turned it down to 6P and started getting bitter and smoky/charred flavor. Started going coarser again, results were all over the map and by the end of the bag I was getting discouraged.
Ran a few more lbs. of old beans through and opened up a new bag. Started at 8M, very sour, draining way too fast. Got down to 6L with pretty good results, but a really strong bitterness as the cup cooled. Started grinding coarser and 8E or so started noticing that smoky flavor again. Kept nudging coarser and around 8R it got incredibly good suddenly. I mean, some of the best cups I’ve made. Ended the bag at 8O, the last six cups were insanely consistent and just absolutely top tier. Super juicy, crisp apple and cherry notes.
Just opened a new bag of colombian typica from Sey yesterday and started at 8O, right where I left it. Quickly moved to 9K and then 10K it’s pretty great already.
Yeah caffeine is almost entirely metabolized through CYP1A2 to the degree that it’s used as a probe to test 1A2 function, so any strong inhibitor of 1A2 would probably do that.
What type of beans are you using? I think with beans that have delicate flavors, blooming is a must. In my (very limited) experience, the bloom allows the bean’s flavors to come thru in such a way as an after taste toward the back of the mouth right before the swallow. A no bloom (or insufficient bloom) renders a more stark experience which dulls the notes and has an abrupt finish. But maybe that works fine with dark roasts? I haven’t tried any with the V60 yet
I’m drinking an Ethiopia Guji natural from B&W. It has a dark berry acidity with some mild florals. Good but not great, which I think may be on my end. I’ve been missing a lot lately so will need to do a grinder alignment check soon. I’ve played around with the water and that doesn’t seem to be the problem.
Note: I mostly use the untabbed Hario filters for Ethiopians now and the cheaper tabbed filters for everything else. IME it’s usually only the dense Ethiopian beans that are at risk of clogging. But my point is that having both on hand is probably a good idea. There’s also Sibarist ($$$) and the Cafec filters.
Thanks. I’m about 3 weeks in with my V60 and it’s definitely a process. I’m just now getting what I consider good brews. I haven’t heard of the Rao method. I’ll have to try it
I’m on new beans now. Old beans were an Ethiopian dark roast. I thought I was getting something similar (same roastery, same bean, same tasting notes) but realizing now it’s just the same bean in a light roast. So far I’ve butchered every cup. I had one that took 7 minutes (!!!) to drain and came out looking super muddy. 100C water. There was no bitterness though. It still tasted overwhelmingly acidic. I think I’d prefer to cut that down, but idk, if it’s a good light roast acidity I’d rather learn to appreciate it. Also I have no idea how I would do that beyond getting darker roasted beans.