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Community => The Lobby => Topic started by: m0d on March 20, 2009, 11:30:25
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Engage!
How is your best coffee, for home use, made?
I am looking for a better coffee experience, without too much expense but with all those Nespresso and Senseo machines out there (I have a senseo, it's OK but not a scratch on a real Espresso) it's mighty difficult to find.
Anyone have any particular machines, setups or advice they can offer regarding this? After all I assume some of us net dwellers are coffee addicts, I'm not quite there yet, won't be long though!
My favourite type of coffee is the Espresso. They have a proper D.Egberts coffee shop machine here at work, me wants that sort of quality at home to wake up to!
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Personally, I have a Sunbeam espresso machine at home. (I'll post pics, if I remember to.)
There are a few things about making a good coffee:
1. Always use freshly ground beans, if possible.
- If you can't, make sure that you buy the beans freshly ground, only enough for a week, and keep them in an opaque container in a cool place (not the fridge).
- If you get *really* into it, you will need to determine the correct coarseness of your grind for the beans you use and your altitude. You may need to vary it slightly according to atmospheric pressure as well.
2. Always use a machine in which you actually fix the basket to the machine -- the automatic machines will _never_ produce as good a coffee.
- Any machine which is a 'Push here for a short' type won't produce the best coffee.
3. When you're pouring your shot, you want to go between 20 and 30ml -- you should stop the shot when you see the colour change in the shot as it pours.
4. When you steam your milk, make sure to get the correct angle for the 'whirlpool' effect in the milk. Your milk should be at the right temperature when you can't touch the palm of your hand to the side of the (stainless steel) jug for three seconds.
Other hints:
- Preheat your cups with warm water before pouring the shot.
- Keep your (empty) jug in the fridge, so that it's cold when you steam the milk in it. This will help you to achieve a nice silky milk texture.
- It's definitely worthwhile finding good beans. Here in Australia, the best of the best are the Five Senses beans (roasted here in WA), which are just fantastic.
- Always use filtered (or spring) water for your shot -- the shot is about 90% water, so if your water tastes bad, your coffee will taste bad.
- Soy milk is an abomination. :D
And yes, I am a coffee addict. And a coffee snob. :D
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Ahoy there in the command center, this looks like a dream topic for you. Should almost split it to the programming section. :D
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Wow barryvan, that sounds pretty scientific. :P
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@Barryvan: I'm in the middle of something at the moment, otherwise I would have gotten back sooner - sorry about that. Awesome reply, if not a bit too out of reach for me. Operative words being 'at not too much expense' I guess that both means machinery and time ;) I don't know what you do for a living but that must take some considerable time in your morning routine.
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You'd actually be surprised, mZerod. :) Making a coffee in the morning only takes about five minutes -- most of that is cleaning up afterwards. And making two coffees doesn't take any longer. Oh, and I'm a programmer. :)
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yeah just one regular mug-full (two cups) of coffee takes about 5 minutes to make, and 5 minutes to drink. We have an old D.E. coffeemaker, so old there are hardly any pictures of it on the internet, which makes the coffeemaking process a rite of its own. It only has 2 knobs. :azn:
(http://images6.speurders.nl/images/46/4639/46397396_1_detail.jpg)
We also have a Senseo, but I hate it for the laziness it evokes in others which makes them deny me a proper coffee, I hate it for its styled shape, its ugly and unfitting name, the limited quantities, the humming sound it makes, the foam it puts on my coffee, but most of all, that taste, or rather, distaste! I can't believe people actually like that bocht, as we call tasteless liquid substances in Dutch. >:(
edit:
sorry, got carried away there... my point is, just use a regular coffeemaker as depicted above, and if you use a special coffee scoop to put the coffee powder in the filter, let it have a little "head" of powder on top. One scoop per two cups, and if you want two cups, put in the water a little over the mark on the outside. Good coffee needs a while to seep through, to properly pick up on the aroma on the way down. But if you're in a hurry, use the "more than two cups"-mode of the machine, if it has any.
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Our coffeemaker, the Braun AromaPassion KF 500, may not be anything special, but the force field it emits (fig. 1) somewhat matches the colour scheme of the new TMA.
(http://www.braun.com/global/products/fooddrink/breakfast/coffeemakers/aromapassion/models/kf500white.ImageJPG.294.431.100.jpg)
Figure 1. The KF 500 force field protects coffee from unauthorized access
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Has anyone had a go with a Nespresso machine, I'm wondering what they are like.
@raina: lol :D
@woolters: yes im fed up with my senseo, i have a massive tank on it mind you... so the water isn't really the issue for me.
Unfortunately, percolated coffee isn't anywhere near Espresso potency, is it?
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Percolated coffee is an entirely different kettle of fish. (Well, not really, unless you like weird coffee. :/)
In short: no, percolated coffee isn't as strong as an espresso, because an espresso machine actually pumps water through the grinds, whereas a percolator lets gravity do the work. That being said, if you use a roast that's designed for percolators, you'll still get a decent result.