Coffee Talk (and Tea)

Sundry Chitchat
1149

We’ve talked about partitioning brews in here before and tasting the separate results before adding them back together. You should definitely try this if you haven’t already. The part I found interesting was this claim about 10:1 being optimal. It’s basically in line with what I was saying about the back half of your V60 water not extracting anything good. For every coffee I’ve tried this on, the final 50% of the water makes an extremely weak drink with vegetal / bitter flavors, so the end of the brew is basically just there to dilute what’s up front. It’s my observation that basically all of the good stuff comes off early which is why I think “pour all of the water immediately for super fast drawdowns” is my preferred method. However, the 10:1 matches up with this:

:thinking:

Have you tried just pouring a straight bypass on the last 7x of the water?

1150

I will try this tomorrow morning

1151

this definitely FEELS correct to me

1152

Do you reheat the kettle water after pouring 10x or does it cool down?

1153

I put my kettle back on the base whenever I’m not pouring to keep it as close to boiling as I can.

1154

Do you know of any other mixins I can buy? Either from other brands or TWW varieties that are better rated?

I’d happily try other things but I’m simply far too lazy to figure out mixing my own mineral blends.

1155

What are the best hand grinders these days? I’m going to be doing a cross country move soon and want to be prepared to brew on the road and while I get settled in and unpack all my shit.

1156

TWW has a newer “dark roast” packet that seems like it would be closer to traditional water recipes. Then there’s the GCWater droplet kits. Lance had a Kickstarter for a water kit that looked good but seems to be sold through. It’s not hard to make this stuff yourself, just annoying for the initial setup.

For hand grinders, the 1zpresso JX seems like maybe the best value while many people think the Comandante has the best grind quality. I’ve never tried either of them though. However, I seriously doubt the Comandante could beat the Ode in the cup which is crazy given that it costs more.

1157

First cup with the acid bypass method is… not great. A little sour, still drinkable but not pleasant.

I planned ahead and did the bloom and first major pour separately, 2x and then 8x for a total of 10x, but then I went ahead and did the last pour (7x) as well, into a third cup. I actually like the last pour better than the 1st big pour, and ended up adding about half of that pour to the main pour and it turned out… OK.

I will try it again with a finer grind and see how that goes.

1158

That’s odd. I’ve partitioned a lot of brews into two different cups and have never enjoyed the second one. Always tasted extremely weak and vegetal to me. I tried this cinnamon anaerobic at 10:1 with a 6 part bypass. Moved the grind down to 6M/7A due to much shorter contact time (not sure if that makes sense here).

The result is similar to yours I think: it’s brighter than the normal brew, has some of the sweetness but tilts sour. Maybe 12:1 was the number or perhaps I needed to grind even finer. I think it tastes separated than what I was making before though.

We need to see what an extraction yield plotted against cumulative water volume for a V60 looks like. I dunno if anyone has done that.

1159

Had some coffee that brewers in the area are perfecting for an upcoming competition.

The taste was so different compared to what I’m used to in a good way. Normally, I drink espresso and am used to the strength but this was filtered coffee in a v60 and I kinda understand what that YouTube coffee guy describes a bit better now.

1160

What did it taste like?

1161

I dunno what this is but I can’t stop watching it. Is she the James Hoffman of Japan?

1162

Not as strong as I expected. I think that was the point though because coffee that’s too strong might cover the fruity notes that I tasted. Normally, I drink espresso which is just super-strong and that’s it really.

Anyway, I hope they do well in their brewing competition. If they end up making something like that, they’ll probably be competitive.

1163

Better results this morning with the acid bypass. Ground a bit finer and it made a big difference (just moved one notch from 9N to 8N). Still need some more tweaking but this could be a good thing.

1164

Nice. I need to invest in this V60 01 matrix I was talking about so I can pour several at the same time and compare.
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@Rugby

Did you ever figure out a grinder for home? I did some more research and am thinking the Baratza products aren’t as strong of a recommendation in Australia. I’ll explain below.

The Fellow Ode (495 AUD) seems like the best value for flat burr grinding. The thing I’d be somewhat hesitant on is the fact that they’re supposedly releasing a v2.0 stock burr by “end of 2022” that actually grind fine enough for V60. If you buy this now, verify that you are getting the v1.1 burr, which can grind fine enough but just barely, and not v1.0. The good thing about the Ode is that you can upgrade the burrs since it’s basically a platform for 64mm discs, and there are many 64mm options out there (expect to pay 275 AUD for SSP burrs which are considered the best).

Regarding Baratza, the new Baratza Varios and the Forte BG (brew grinder) do not appear to be distributed in Australia for some reason. Given that and also the fact that you probably won’t get the same level of customer service you’d get in the U.S., I think they are slightly tougher to recommend. You’d need to get the Forte AP (1,089 AUD) and then swap the burrs to steel at additional cost (85 AUD).

Two wildcards:

The Mahlkonig X54 (990 AUD) is a new machine and Mahlkonig’s first home grinder. It comes with 54mm steel burrs, but my understanding is that they are aimed a bit more toward espresso than the Ditting 54mm steels in the Baratzas, so I’d budget for that. I’ve seen some claims that the factory alignment is good enough that alignment / shimming procedures aren’t required–great if true but I dunno how robust that observation is.

The Comandante C40 (379 AUD) is generally regarded as the best portable hand grinder on the market. There are plenty of specialty coffee people who swear by it including some of the top roasters like Onyx. However, it’s almost the same price as the Fellow Ode and its small conical burr certainly cannot grind in the same class as 64mm flat discs. I’d only consider it if counter space or total cost are major factors for you. The Australian closeout prices on the Mk3 model is the deal you’re looking for, not the newer Mk4 which is more expensive than the Ode.

If I was in your shoes, and considering all factors together (price, reputation, grind quality, reliability, etc.), my preference would be ordered like this:

Fellow Ode > Comandante C40 >>> X54, Forte and others

1165

Lol. This is some weird fucking timing.

I had sat on this for months since my last post. I literally pulled the trigger on the forte last night about 4 hours before you posted.

From what I can tell. The forte comes with ceramic burrs installed but with steel burrs in the box. So I’ll just swap them out.

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1166

If that’s true then huge win. If it’s not true, they’re only $60 USD and will probably outlast you.

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1167

Fingers crossed!

I’m excited for it to arrive and try it out.

I’m upgrading from a hand grinder. I quite enjoy it. But Mrs Rugby hates it.

My only hesitations on the forte were 1. The cost. Because it gives me everything I want but at a price markup. And 2. Ground retention.

But it’s only money and it will last for years. And I think a tilt and tap method will get most of the grounds out. According to the internet.

1168

Retention should not be an issue at all. I’m getting near zero retention on the Vario after flipping the flapper and using RDT.