You’re looking for the Gabi Drip Master. Comes in two styles, A and B, with A having a large conical water reservoir. Cliffs: He says you want version B because the other one drops temp too far.
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April coffee guy says right off the top in that first video he’s using 94 C water so definitely not in the “always brew max temperature” camp.
*In video 2, he brews a natural Panama gesha (spelling bonus points) at 92 C. The most interesting thing to me though is 762 um for a 12g dose. My (very approximate) target particle estimator says 475 um for a 12g dose in a V60 with 762 um matching up with 19g. This is all stuff that trolls on certain coffee forums would flame away at because they just parrot the same shit over and over without actually critically evaluating it. If my trials and experiences are worth anything, the Nordic roasters seem to be nailing this stuff with methods and recommendations that are almost completely at odds with the ones that certain coffee celebrities have pawned off on us.
Also note that they didn’t adjust grind size or temperature for the Gabi cup in video #2 which predictably leads to lower extraction. You’re gonna get some heat loss from the device itself and also lower agitation. They didn’t do a matched TDS comparison.
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That dig wasn’t directed at Hoffman. He’s probably the most open-minded and least offensive coffee influencer. There are a few others who I absolutely despise because their approach seems to be (1) appear, (2) demonstrate some coffee magic trick, and then (3) disappear into the ether without answering the technical questions or criticism. Then they magically reappear months or years later with some new stupid trick, often in direct contradiction to an earlier thing they were claiming or doing.
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Here is the lead-in video on pouring structure that’s relevant to this discussion and worth watching. Notice what he says about TDS here: The highest one isn’t the best. It’s too muddy and doesn’t have the clarity or balance they’re going for. That’s what I’ve been saying about the dudes who are out there pitching maximum extraction (before astringency) as an end goal–they’re captured by the woo of a measuring device. I also think it’s a lot easier to “sell” that number as an influencer since no one can taste the coffee you’re making on Youtube. April is an actual cafe and roaster who is dependent on the coffee being good.
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Oh weird, looks like Hario actually makes one of these flow controls for the V60. I was on their site not that long ago and didn’t notice it.
Anyway, Patrik doesn’t seem to like it, speculating that maybe there just isn’t quite enough turbulence with these things. I’d probably go with the Hario over the Gabi because he mentions it has very consistent flow rate. Looks like the Gabi has some q.c. issues with the hole sizes.
Meanwhile, I’ve ordered the Curtis sprayhead to see if I can street engineer something a bit better than these. I’ll probably pick up the Hario too b/c that would be very convenient for travel V60.
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The other thing that would be helpful imo is a smaller V60. Is there actually a size 1? Shorter drop from the dripper/gabi/melodrip to the bed would be nice.
Maybe, but it’s hard to know. There was a clear difference between center pour (1.17 TDS) vs circle / circle-center (1.37 / 1.35) in video #198. The difference between circle and circle-center is completely within the MOE of error of the device he’s using, so based on this limited data I’d say they are exactly the same. That’s the problem here, right? He claims they prefer being under 1.30 TDS, and that’s presumably what the circle-center method is designed to achieve. So either he borked the pour and introduced too much extraction, or we don’t really know the answer due to lack of instrument precision.
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Yeah there’s an 01. Shorter drop is gonna be even lower turbulence though isn’t it?
I couldn’t quite understand what a “circle-center” pour is. Is that explained in another video?
If it is patrik talking about this it’s a pour where the first half by volume is circular and the second half is in the center. He recommends this for blooms in at least a couple recipes I’ve seen.
I’ve always felt more consistent with hario 01; a few years ago it wasn’t always easy to get filters but now no problem
I’m blown away by how far you guys have pushed this thread in the last year; LMM you should go pro. Many thanks for all the great advice here
As far as I can tell, this is a niche that doesn’t translate into any kind of business idea except for maybe a Youtube channel where each day I tell you about an exciting new service called Foursquare. I’ve played with the math and one of the problems is that to get any kind of volume / scale, you’re basically batch brewing into paper to-go cups where a lot of the nuance is lost. My dream cafe of a microscopic coffee speakeasy that seats eight and has an insane menu of cryogenically-preserved single dose vacuum packets you can select from the vault seems like a straight money loser. If I was mega rich I’d definitely do it.
Yeah once I got past a certain competency level, ordering pour overs, even at a cafe operated by a decent roaster, became a lot less interesting. There is just no real ability for even knowledgeable baristas to properly dial in a pour over and still maintain any profitability, especially if they’re offering multiple beans/roasts.
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Do this as a pop up. Run it for a few days in partnership with a patisserie or bakery and do a coffee tasting menu matched with cakes and treats. Charge 200 per head. 3 sittings of 8 each for 3 days. 14,400 in revenue for 3 days.
A long time ago I worked as a bartender, and I was really only in it for the Tom Cruise cocktail angle (minus all of that dumb bottle twirling). At one point I knew around 350 cocktails stone cold and could pour you and your friends any combination of oddball drinks quickly and accurately.
The reality is that most of the jobs aren’t that, and the ones that do exist are tough to get because they’re way more interesting and tend to pay well. By contrast, the bartenders at most (chain) restaurants and similar places are almost always pure trash and I hold them in contempt. In fact, there are only a few that even stand out in my mind. One was this guy at a really loud dance club that was always slammed, and maybe this was an asshole move but each time I went I’d throw him the most inane order I could possibly think of, he’d hear it and sort of smile, and then just totally nailed all of them. I feel like this is that.
There are places here already doing this kind of thing. I mean mostly it’s roasters doing classes, cuppings, education, that sort of stuff. I’ve seen some combined events like you’re saying. There’s a mini donut place here that actually brews good coffee, which they order from some of the top places like I do but then batch brew it. It’s ok, but like I’m saying above you aren’t getting your $4 worth from a wax paper cup.
There’s also a lady I’m friendly with who started a coffee place, and I think it’s a great idea. She rented out what used to be a tiny bank branch, so it has the drive-thru setup. Her business must be like 95% window service and she draws quite a line in the morning, serving coffees from good specialty roasters but only charge maybe $2/cup. When she started, she actually had plans to let customers order V60s and Chemex, which you can still make out in ghost writing on the letterboard menu, but that was before they realized they’d be mostly a window business. No espresso but she’s moved into pastries now. Coffee is a super tough scene.
I went back to this Colombia natural today that I sat aside for off-gassing. It was roasted on 5/7 and looks like a medium to me. Before I was getting a lot of fines and struggling to produce a good cup. Today I got a brilliant cup that has the very pronounced sweetness that rounds off the acids. It’s just slightly bitter in the finish, so now the remaining work is figuring out how to make that disappear without losing the magic.
I took a shot at an iced coffee earlier. So these are just bypass brews with the ice serving as the bypass. The problem is the amount of ice required–it’s like one third to one half of your normal water volume. That means the hot water brew is going to be a way lower ratio than normal which makes this pretty difficult imo for acidic coffees. I was practically just guessing how much finer to grind which often doesn’t end well. The result seemed underextracted, but it’s tough to tell given how cold it is. Maybe the extraction is fine and iced coffee just sucks (my starting assumption), but I think the only way to really know is to start with a normal hot brew bypass for a point of reference. If I can’t make a 12:1 w/ bypass up to 16/17 taste good hot then there’s no reason to think an iced version would be good either. This method might be limited to non-acidic coffees.
Ok this makes sense. Tim Wendelboe definitely isn’t doing a bypass on acidic iced coffees.
The sugar is a hard no for me but I’ll try since I’m doing this for friends who asked about iced coffee. HB had some solutions: reusable ice cubes or make coffee ice cubes to avoid the dilution. Of course, if you have the time you could always chill the drink like Tim does here in a champagne bucket and serve it up in a flute haha.
Try making the ice colder?