I got my moccamaster in today and tried a brew with it. Same grind size, dosing, and water ratio that I feel is pretty well dialed in on my v60. It tasted lighter and cleaner, but lost some of the fruity notes and gained some chocolate. I’m guessing the biggest difference is the cross sectional area of the #4 filters is bigger than the v60 so it’s probably less extracted? Could try a finer grind maybe? Either way it still had a good taste, I think I like my v60 cups better but that may just be my pride talking. Def happy to have the machine for the girlfriend though.
I also got the machine and grind was way too coarse on first attempt so nothing to report really. Analyzing the brew bed, it seems like maybe you can improve it a bit by pulling the carafe for a moment when the water starts to get a bit of immersion / bloom. Thing that surprised me was how quickly it brewed a half carafe. I went ahead and dialed it in for Maxwell House 
for when my parents visit and I gotta say, it was way better than I was expecting. I noticed that the Filtropas are pretty slow when I was draining the rinse water, so my guess is that they fall somewhere between V60 and Chemex. Have you ever had Chemex coffee before? It’s lighter and cleaner than V60 like you described.
More thoughts on these water meters. I think it’s actually a tough decision between the $47 and $27 versions. The pricier one having somewhat better build quality and normal batteries were the selling points for me, but I dunno if that’s worth $20 to most people. I ordered directly from this company’s very low-tech website instead of their ebay account b/c cheaper. Didn’t get much communication from them or even a tracking number but the piece arrived quickly. Unit is simple to use and seems to be quite accurate. I diluted 230 PPM water earlier with 50% distilled and got a ~116 reading as expected. To give some indication of the build, the COM-100 battery compartment (the very top) is a screw-down piece with a rubber gasket, so the entire unit really could survive being submerged in water.
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Is that a plastic brewer? I’ve gone through two packs of the tabbed now that have fit mine perfectly. And have you recharged that scale yet? Mine seriously hasn’t been charged in at least a year and still has 2/3 bars. Thing must have a goat battery or circuit design that doesn’t bleed off.
yeah it’s plastic and yes, the battery on this thing apparently lasts forever
I think this bag of filters is just… cut bad or something. There is a LOT more excess material than on the untabbed filters, which I think is just … pushing the filter away from the dripper? IDK. But the little tug is working fine for now.
Yeah I dunno because I’ve gone through two bags and 200 filters this year and they’ve fit perfectly. I’m checking the bag for markings now and noticed this
MADE IN JAPAN
right under the barcode. That’s odd, I thought the tabbed filters were allegedly made in some Euro country. Barcode reads:
VCF-02-100W
4 977642 723320
and the only other mark I see that may indicate anything is on the bottom of the bag:
10157 4
I tried another one today. The speed of this machine caught me off guard again, and I’m impressed by how quickly water is hitting the grinds after I flip it on. I went finer (8F), used 450g water to 25g coffee (their recommended ratio of 18:1), and pulled the carafe at the start to get a bloom / immersion. Allowed it to sit for about 30 seconds and stirred the slurry gently, and this resulted in a more even final bed.
The coffee is pleasant enough but lacking sweetness, not sour but “leans sour” in the acid profile, and has a slight chocolaty bitter finish. Overall impression tracks with your observation that this makes a clean, crisp cup. Reminds me of a Chemex. If I had to guess, the first part of the brew is UE due to the flat bottom like you said, and then the bitterness is coming from the high ratio or too much contact time at the end.
So my next adjustment would be to lower the ratio and use a longer steep time. I think the ability to pull the carafe and turn this into a hybrid immersion / perc like the Hario Switch or Clever Dripper is the most interesting aspect. Can also play with the flow rate switch which I haven’t done yet. I will say this: experimenting on this machine feels like a lot less work than pouring V60s.
I thought I might be getting some of this just looking at the bed. The water was only hitting about half the grinds for a while until the water level rose above the entire bed. Stirring the bloom seems important.
I wanted to grind finer for my second try but I forgot so I tried some other variables instead. Prerinsed the filter using the machine (just used hot water before cause I thought the select switch meant the machine would demand an entire half carafe at minimum - realize now there’s a lot of flexibility in water levels or turning the machine off). Gave the bloom a stir and turned the machine off until it degassed. End result tasted a lot more similar to my v60 brews. I wonder if it would also make sense to start the brew with the carafe removed if you think the filter shape is resulting in some initial underextraction? Theoretically I would think there’s some amount of time you could let the water stay in the filter bowl until it’s ideally extracted?
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Same
Mine is 101623, I am guessing this is some sort of date/lot code since it appears to be stamped on, presumably as they roll off the line.
I’ve started it twice now without the carafe, letting the water get to about half cone height. Like maybe a full minute of infusion. Got really flat beds and pretty good cups but still haven’t nailed it. Optimal immersion time will heavily depend on the coffee and profile you’re going for I’d imagine. Also hu: I picked up some of the Walmart house brand #4 filters and they seem thinner and faster.
Yeah weird must be batch variability. I’ve definitely had that problem you’re showing before but not in a good while. However, maybe your pulling trick is something we should all be doing.
Getting non-BS info on tea in the west has been somewhat dubious ime. The “ceremonial” grade designation is mostly a western marketing thing afaict, but I take it to mean quality that is high enough for koicha, the thick paste preparation style. So the problem here is you have to use several grams of powder to just a few ounces of water to get that consistency, and that can get costly.
I haven’t ordered matcha in years but think this was supposed to be a reputable source? I’m borrowing some tips from the coffee universe here: they provide a farm/source name, it’s single cultivar, and they have some details on selection/processing.
@Ikioi might have better insight about where to buy from. Like, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the best of the best can only be found on non-English sites.
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Thanks.
Even that product is $60 for 15 servings (it says $78 in your post link, but when you get to the site the price is $60…maybe it’s on sale). $4/cup doesn’t seem that terrible. But I guess these probably aren’t Starbucks-sized cups.
Right a “cup” in this case is a 1 oz beverage. Of course, you can dilute it to usucha and get a 3-4 oz drink. My cup costs drinking 10.5 oz of the best coffees in the world is $1.50. Advantage in matcha is the simple preparation and low equipment cost though.
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Yeah I’ve just been following this thread passively, but your commitment to the coffee game is quite impressive. I think your quality per $ ratio is going to be hard to top.
Even thought I don’t drink coffee, I’m pretty sure I’d pay $100 to drink one cup of one of your brews where you think you knocked it out of the park. I just really want to see what all the fuss is about.
It seems like it is something that is impossible to get in a store. Maybe that guy in LA with the small store you mentioned.
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My absolute favorite comes from the lesser-known Yame region, made by Hoshino Seicha. Excellent as Koicha or Usucha. However, it’s not organic. Not sure how good the linked grade is, but their highest grades are wonderful.
My go-to organic matcha, which I prefer drinking on a daily basis due to lack of chemical fertilizers, is this one, as I know the operators and have confirmed it’s a quality, certified-organic matcha from Uji, which is the most popular tea region in Japan, and it’s a good ceremonial-grade matcha at a reasonable price.
In terms of flavor, non-organics will tend to have a naturally sweeter flavor than organics, which tend to be more “earthy” all else being equal, as the fertilizers used in non-organic matchas enable a longer shade-growing period, which produces more umami.
But since matcha involves consuming an entire tea leaf as opposed to just steeping it, and that means also potentially consuming chemicals, I prefer healthier organic tea as my daily go-to beverage.
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So how many servings of tea do you get out of the 30g tin?
I usually use a generous 1g-scoop portion, so I’d say about 25 or so.
Another matcha-drinking tip. In Japan, matcha is usually enjoyed with wagashi, or traditional Japanese sweets. But these are unavailable in the US and can be quite pricy.
As an alternative, matcha pairs well with dark chocolate.
Also, use either a bamboo whisk or motorized frother to whisk. Nothing else will work properly.
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Have you tried any of the single farm, single cultivar stuff that costs a fortune?
So there are some sellers in the US advertising such matcha varieties that cost something like $200/oz. or whatever. Breakaway Matcha is the main one I’m familiar with.
I’ve never seen such high-priced matchas in Japan. My guess is they are just buying these retail and then reselling them at outrageous prices.
I tried one such matcha here in Japan that was about $50/oz. US, and while it certainly had a unique and interesting flavor, I didn’t think it was that much better than a high-quality grade I can get for about $30/oz.
In short, you should be able to find perfectly acceptable high-quality matcha in the $25-$40 range, and if you’re paying more, you’re not getting significantly more in terms of taste for your money.
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