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Espresso Machines Plumbed In Espresso Machines - does it make sense? Least Expensive Machine for Decent Espresso? Return to Coffee Topics Master Index

Thanks to a heads up from Chad, one of our Food Media and News Forum hosts, I've been alerted to the introduction of an intriquing new product It's a bit confusing when one investigates more fully. Going to the original home page of Mojo Coffee Home Page takes you to a single page web site showing an actual microwave based home applicance that appears to be targeted specifically for use with their prepackaged green beans (I believe this is what they refer to as the "Wave Roast unit"). Now go to the "other" page of Mojo Coffee Index Page This site is more complete and has photographs of a person preparing their 'WaveRoast" coffee but show it being done in a conventional microwave. The implication here is that the prepackaged beans can be used in any old microwave oven. Perhaps they offer suggested roast profiles for those using a regular microwave (e.g. x number of minutes at the Lo or Med power setting follwed by x number of minutes at Hi power settign). I'm curious to get the reactiosn of others in this forum. Do some of you who are perhaps a bit less fanatical about coffee than the hardcore aficionado interested enough in convenience to invest in such a machine and sacrifice counter space for it? I see the real mass market appeal as being those folks who want something with the convenience of microwave popcorn - just throw it in, press a button and go. The benefits as I see them: 1) The folks who sell the prepacked cartidges of green beans stand to make a fortune if it catches on. There have been previous efforts to tie ongoing consumables purchase into the ownership of a machine (the OxyClean / Fast Orange folks who market the Zach & Dani's roaster try to do this with a "coffee club"). Despite this... such previous efforts have not been particularly successful because other roasters can utilize green beans purchased anywhere - packaging is not an issue. The money is in the blades.... not the razor. 2) It's possible that this may allow one to produce a cup of coffee that is better than the average grocery store prepackaged coffee, even whole bean coffee of good quality that is purchased in vac seal bags. It's possible.... not definite. The shortcomings - real and also possible: 1) Most likely a very high unit cost per serving of coffee - just compare the unit cost of bulk popcorn to the unit cost of microwave popcorn (have to do it by serving size rather than weight due to the extra shortening and additives in the microwave. 2) The concept calls for roasting the coffee just before it's going to be used roasted coffee typically requires a minimum degassing period of 12 - 24 hours before it is at its optimal level of taste and drinkability. I've tasted coffee that was ground and brewed within a few hours after roasting. It was okay but often very grassy tasting. The same coffee always tatsed far better a day or two later. Many espresso blends actually taste best after a 3 day resting period. 3) If it roasts too fast it will definitely have the potential for producing roasts with a bright and acidic flavor profile. Okay for some coffee varieties but not for others, especially not good for espresso blends. Many people using consumer level hot air roasters invest in a voltage control device known as a Variac that allows them to lenghtne the roast and get the smoother flavor profile that extended roasting allows (if done properly). 3) The charactersitics of roasted coffee are intrinsically related to the caramelization of sugar related compunds cainteined within the beans. I'll be very curious to see if microwaving can really achieve the same effect but I'll remain open minded until I have a chance to try some.

Espresso Techniques Frothing milk for lattes and cappuccinos Return to Coffee Topics Master Index

I am keenly aware of the devout feelings that coffee drinkers have towards their brown beverages. I'm making a series of designs along those lines, and was advised by a fellow eGulleteer that some of you might brainstorm and help me out. The first of my designs can be seen on these products. I'm working with old-fashioned clip art, and have several other things in mind. But I love that one graphic so much that I am considering using it again with different words. If anyone feels inspired to lend a phrase, feel free. My intro to that section of my website says, "Might as well face it, you're addicted to Joe." Feel free to confess, divulge, or trumpet your love of the little brown bean. Edit to note: I have even created left-handed and right-handed coffee mugs.

Cooking and Dining Good Coffee in Expensive Restaurants - why not? Espresso and Haute Cuisine - is espresso taken seriously? Hard Coffee Drinks - what do you add? Return to Coffee Topics Master Index

Cold Coffee Iced coffee drinks - recipes, tips and techniques Return to Coffee Topics Master Index

Grinders Best coffee grinders - what and where? Inexpensive grinders - blade or burr? Return to Coffee Topics Master Index

Home Roasting Green Coffee Beans Buying Co-op Fat Guy's Home Roasting Part 1 Fat Guy's Home Roasting Part 2 Fat Guy's Home Roasting Part 3 Fat Guy's Home Roasting Part 4 Fat Guy's Home Roasting Part 5 Dog Bowl - Heat Gun Roasting General Discussion of Home Roasting Blending beans Return to Coffee Topics Master Index

Coffee Beans Great bean types and brands In Search of Master Roasters Decaf Coffee Storage - freezer, fridge or cupboard? Return to Coffee Topics Master Index

Brewing Techniques Drip Makers Least expensive machine for decent espresso? French Press brewing Moka Pots Vacuum Brewing Return to Coffee Topics Master Index

A recent discussion with Fat Guy about ways in which the Coffee & Tea forum might be elevated, promoted and imbued with a unique character of its own has prompted introduction of a forum index. Many topics that have fallen to lower pages have worthwhile information for both eGullet newcomers researching coffee topics and long time forum regulars looking for previous discussions. Additional content will be added in the future, some of it in the form of lockedtopics that will be mini-tutorials, but most of the threads will remain as is for additional replies. Any suggestions for subjects that should be referenced in the index will be appreciated - just PM me with the details or feel free to reply to this thread for open discussion. I'll also add a Tea section to the index in the near future. As always, thanks for your support of eGullet in general and our little caffeinated corner in particular!

Coffee Topics Coffee Beans Brewing Techniques Cold Coffee Coffee Cupping and Assessment Espresso Techniques Espresso Machines Home Roasting Grinders Cooking and Dining

I cracked open my bag of Community Coffee-Chickory Coffee this morning. The last time I had it was back in 1997 in NOLA when a guy named Joe Canizaro sold $140M worth of real estate in downtown NOLA to my client. But I digress.... Mr Mayhaw, I tried to raise this in your blog and think it was lost, but what exactly is chickory and why do y'all mix your coffee with it? When I tried it this AM, it was..well a little herbacaeous tasting. Not unpleasant by any means, just different. Can you 'splain?

I just got the new Jessica's Biscuit catalog (mail order cookbooks) in the mail, and discovered that they've gone into the coffee business. I haven't tried it yet, but from the description in the catalog it sounds like they're getting good coffee and selling it at a reasonable price. They're also selling green coffee by the pound, which may interest the home roasters out there.

I drink a fair bit of coffee (5-6 cups a day). For years I've had my coffee with a bit of cream or milk - no sugar. Recently I've started to like it black. I find there's more coffee "flavour" that way. Am I just going through a phase, or is this part of a normal taste progression?

Thanks to the eagle eye of Rachel Perlow, who is always spotting good bargains on Amazon (use your eGullet link please!), I recently acquired a Bodum vacuum pot coffee maker. This is a totally manual operation that requires an external heat source to boil the water. Bodum, one of the leading manufacturers of vac pots, offers an electric version in two sizes as well. Many of you have likely seen an electric vac pot for sale at your local Starbucks as well. Vacuum pot coffee brewing has been around for a long time - since the 1840's. It's believed to have been developed in France (figures). I believe its real heyday was in the 1930's through the early 1950's. The introduction of the electric percolator (an insult to lovers of good coffee everywhere) appears to have hastened its retreat to semi-obscurity, just as the appearance of the original Mr. Coffee auto drip maker pushed the percolator into the dustbin of history. Vacuum brewing has made a well deserved comeback due to the relative ease of operation and the quality of the coffee it produces. There appears to be a bit of renewed interest in electric percolators as well but I'll hope that goes the way of the brief resurgences of disco music and bell bottom trousers - some styles should stay where they are. Popular brands include Hario, Cory and Bodum. The method of filtering ranges from cloth to glass rod to plastic mesh. Older vac pots are considered highly collectible and see great interest on Ebay. You may find one at a yard sale or thrift store - check carefully to ensure that any and all rubber gaskets are present and not cracked or deteriorated. In many cases replacement gaskets are available but it could drive up the cost of your "bargain". So, with $39.95 invested and a bit of Jamaican Blue Mountain taken from the freezer and thawed, I set out to put this gizmo through its paces (the coffee was a birthday gift from my parents - pre-roasted and fresh enough but I froze it right away for later use as most of my coffee consumption is in the form of espresso). I should add that I was shamed into doing this by Mayhaw Man, who diplomatically pointed out that, in another thread, I had promised to do this post haste and still hadn't delivered. I owe him for that great blog but I also just needed a kick in the pants to get started. Here's the gear filled up with water and ready to go - the vertical black cylinder supporting the upper pot on the right is just used to "park" the upper pot on the counter when necessary, due to the glass rod assembly that protrudes below the pot. On the stove and firing up. The very limited instructions advised that a separator ring was recommended for gas stoves to ensure safety of the glass pot but I've seen elsewhere that it's suggested only for electric stoves. I just put the darn thing right on the burner and kept the gas at medium. I used a bit more than one standard coffee scoop of grounds per 6 ounces of water and used a medium fine grind - about what you'd use for auto drip coffee or perhaps just a tad coarser. I may use a bit more coffee next time. The grind should be a bit finer than one uses for French Press but use your judgment - if using a blade grinder you may have to go coarser than I did to avoid coffee dust in your grind. The fine powder sometimes yielded by blade grinders could clog the filtering arrangement and impede the movement of the coffee. It is recommended that the top should not be added until the water is almost at the boil. I was unaware of this at the time and left the top on the entire time but it seems to have worked just fine anyway. In the next photo we see the water heading north. It has boiled and the vacuum pressure created in the lower pot has caused it to head up the glass filter tube and settle in the upper pot. It's a great concept - the water rises when it boils, passing through the coffee and settles in the upper pot at just below the boil - the ideal temp for brewing. A bit of water remains in the lower pot because the glass syphon tube does not contact the bottom - there's about 1/4" of clearance. The water remaining in the lower pot will mix later with the finished coffee. It's recommended to leave the grounds and water in contact with one another for one to three minutes - then remove from the heat. Some suggest breaking up the grounds that float on the surface when the water first appears in the upper pot, just to ensure that they're evenly dispersed but this is personal preference. The bubbling that is visible in the upper pot is the vapor that's emerging from the vacuum in the lower portion of the pot - it is NOT boiling! Recirculating boiling water through the coffee grounds repeatedly is how percolators do their nasty and reprehensible thing - yuck. I don't like percolator coffee.... can you tell? After being removed from the burner (Bodum provides a sort of plastic sleeve/trivet assembly that the pot can be placed in after removing from the heat), it's placed at room temp on the counter and the coffee quickly begins its trip south to the lower pot, leaving the grounds in the upper pot. This happened very rapidly with my first attempt - probably a sign that I didn't grind finely enough. Okay - now we have a pot of coffee - appears to be very full bodied like French Press coffee with lots of coffee oils included. The test is in the cup (my favorite coffee mug) After all this hoopla... how did it taste? Delicious. I tested it black before adding half 'n half and it was indeed a very smooth and full bodied cup of coffee. My reference point is having recently made this same coffee (JMB) with a Melitta manual drip filter cone. The vac pot coffee seems fuller bodied but doesn't quite have that sometimes overwhelming presence of oils and aromatics that is more typical of French Press coffee. This initial test has been promising. I drink French Press coffee on rare occasions and often find it to be just a bit much for my liking. The vac pot method appears to yield most of the advantages of press pot coffee but minus the sludge. I need to do more testing but the cup was extremely satisfying and it's a very cool process to watch. There are some fancy vac pot sets on the market (some Hario models among others) that use a spirits burner and may be placed on the dining table to brew the coffee and entertain your guests. It's a fascinating process and I can see the appeal although it's less convenient than some other methods. It's worth mentioning that cleanup was a cinch - I just rinsed the grounds down the drain and put the two parts of the assembly in a dish rack to dry. If you remain intrigued and wish to know more.... everything you ever wanted to know about vac pot coffee (and even stuff you probably don't care about) may be viewed at Coffeekid.com - personal web site of Coffeegeek founder Mark Prince He has some good tips and hints on buying used vac pot gear as well as a detailed discussion of the history of vacuum coffee brewing.

It's getting warmer, and in Springtime a young man's fancy turns to iced coffee. Today I almost achieved iced coffee nirvana. Tall Glass Fill 2/3with leftover extra-strong presspot coffee Add plentiful sweetened condensed milk Add a slug of U-Bet chocolate syrup Add ice Stir Enjoy The two things that would improve on this, as I see it, would be frozen coffee cubes instead of ice, and some of that Ghirardelli chocolate syrup Alacarte pointed out. Some people like to use espresso as the coffee base, but at the volume I drink I'd be getting something like 14 shots per serving. So...? How do you do it?

Here's a brief, but important caveat in the Times. Coffee consumption is something I always ask clients about if they are having symptoms of anxiety or insomnia. Richard A. Friedman, M.D. on caffeine intoxication.

I have heard of making Cuban coffee by dumping sugar in a filter basket and then running your coffee through it. Also by using a Moka and adding sugar? Is there an authentic way? Best way?

I'm considering purchasing a stove top coffee maker within a few $$ and small enough to fit in my tiny kitchen and I have considered the Bialetti. Have anyone here used this machine or tasted coffee from it? There are several different models - aluminum ones to stainless steel. I chose the stainless steel for ease of cleaning and health reasons. I'm not a daily coffee drinker but when I do have a cup of Americano, it's gotta be good. Coming from Brazil, Starbucks and other American franchises tastes bitter and/or doesn't have that lingering richness which I found in Sao Paulo. I'm planning to use Lavazza Gold...even Illy pales by comparison. It is cheaper, smoother and yummier! I just want to know what your opinions are with regards to the Bialetti. Thanks.

I buy my coffee beans either from a local roaster or from a gourmet shop that sells private branded pre-packaged beans. The beans from the local coffee roaster shop are very oily. Once I'm done with the 1/2 lb batch, the container where I store them is slick and oily on the inside. When grinding these beans, my grinder has oil streaks, and the ground coffee tends to stick to the sides a bit. I find that I need to use much coarser grind with this coffee or my machine (Capress EspressoPRO Model #112) can't push water through. On the other hand, the coffee from the gourmet shop is not nearly as oily compared to the other beans. I can use fine grind (1.5/2 setting on my grinder) and get somewhat better crema. How oily should the coffee bean be? Does this vary with bean variety or freshness of the roast? Does it make a difference?

On our recent 3-week road-trip through the Southeast in our luxurious Plymouth Grand Voyager SE minivan we traveled with, among other things, a bulldog, a Tempur-Pedic pillow, and a carton full of espresso apparatus. We aspire someday to have a clothesline stretched across the back seat of our Buick. Our DeLonghi "caffe espresso" unit, Solis Maestro grinder, Brita pitcher, a 1-pound bag of coffee beans, and the various attachments all fit snugly into a standard-size file box (like they use at law firms, um, not that mine was stolen from any previous employer) with the lid off. I've just gotten to the point where, at home, with all the variables pretty well under control, I can pull a consistently acceptable shot with this setup. On the road, however, the challenges were greater. I often found myself discarding the first shot, recalibrating the grinder, adjusting the tamping pressure, and otherwise taking stabs at improving the situation. Usually after about 10 minutes of fiddling I was able to produce a decent second shot, despite all the variables introduced by setup, takedown, humidity changes, rapidly aging room temperature beans, etc. In South Carolina we ran out of beans (consumption was much higher than expected on account of all the waste) and actually found a great little coffee place just across the border in Gastonia -- Blue Coffee -- where the guy (his name is Blue thanks to his hippie parents) roasts in-house in small batches and really knows his stuff. Still, I had to make adjustments for using a new product. Then there was the time I packed up the apparatus and drove off without remembering to empty the drip tray. Oops. That was a little messy. All in all, an interesting experience. I imagine we saved about $10,000 by not buying several $4 espressos everyday -- not that we could even buy a decent espresso without a 30 minute drive in most of the places we were visiting. Thank you for listening.

What's up with this cold-brewing business?

I got inspired enough by doing the foodblog this week to dig out my trusty coffee roaster and get back into roasting. In all fairness, the primary reason I have not roasted since last summer is due to being in transitional living quarters from July '03 to January '04, before moving into my new house. The house has a great roasting spot on the counter in an inside corner with two windows. Perfect cross ventilation for that pesky smoke. I have quite a backlog of beans to work with and will test out some different blends over the upcoming month or two but my current goal is to establish a "half-caf" or even "quarter-caf" blend that wil have reduced caffiene yet still deliver the flavor and crema I seek. I love having a good cappa or latte after dinner in the evening but my need to sleep at night is usually in conflict with the caffiene. I went home at luchtime today and roasted the first half of a batch of espresso blend for use this weekend. Most beans, when intended for use in espresso coffee, will require about a 24 - 48 hour resting time after roasting. This is best done in a container with the lid cracked slightly open. It can be consumed sooner but really hits its sweet spot in about two days and stays good for about a week after that if stored in an airtight container ina cool or room temperature place, out of direct light. I have loads of green beans right now - was going to use Jim Schulman's WTC recipe (Way Too Complicated) but forgot to bring it home with me. Jim is legendary over in alt.coffee and Coffeegeek forums. He's a regular coffee guru and a real gentleman. I decided to wing it and do a "semi-decaf" blend. Decaf beans tend to deliver a bit less flavor and less crema than regular beans when used for espresso. When preparing a blend of regular beans for espresso, most blenders use a "base bean" - something relatively neutral in terms of flavor notes and relatively mild. Many Brazilian beans meet this requirement - it's common to use about 30 - 40% base bean and then a blend of others to achieve different flavor notes. Decaf changes things - its more subdued flavor profile dictates a different matching of beans and a mellower base bean is not as approproiate. Here's what I'm doing: 1 part Sumatra WP decaf (water process) 1 part African Highland Blend WP decaf 1 part Uganda Nanga Farms Robusta* 2 parts Indian Monsooned Malabar Coelho's Gold 1 part Yemen Moka Haimi This blend may be a bit too much - five bean types is pushing it but I'll see if it works. I'm testing to see how far I can push up the ratio of decaf before I lose the cream and big flavor notes that I'm seeking. There should be a good balance of fruit and chocolate notes in here. * Robusta is famous for being the crap commodity coffee that makes its way into canned supermarket coffee all over the world. It tends to grow more abundantly and more easily in greater volume at lower altitudes but by most serious coffee drinkers standards often has undesirable characteristics . It does add a certain type of bitterness that some Italian blenders find desirable as a balance but more important, it produces abundant crema. My hope is to offset the bitterness by including a larger proportion of of the Monosooned Malabar and have the Robusta counteract the reduced crema output caused by use of decaf. Nanga Farms is one of the few well known high quality robustas available readily here in the US and is close to the same price as Arabica beans. The beans at weighing time: The Alpenroast ready to go to work before the lid is closed: It's a drum roaster, a bit smaller than a bread machine, and sells for about $280. I got mine used for $175 and contrary to reports about many earlier units that were finicky and unreliable, mine has worked great. The manufacturers claim that this is a "set it and forget it" unit like bread machines but to get good results, one must start listening to the sound and pace of the cracking beans starting at about 13 minutes and also make note of how the smoke smells. I usually shoot for a roast best described as Full City + - darker than a medium roast but not to the French Roast level. Some people use temperature probes and spreadsheet software, carefully documenting their roasts so they can achieve repeatable results with particular beans types and blends. I'm just not that geeky (maybe I am but I'm just too lazy!). I just listen, smell and stop when I think it's done. Seems to work okay for me. Typical roasting time is about 15 - 17 minutes. The beans are close to cooled off but not quite when the roaster spits them into the collection bin. I spread them out on cookie sheets and stir to finish the cooling process. Fluid bed (hot air) roasters of the consumer variety start at about $100 but many folks use old popcorn poppers. Unregulated air roasting takes beans to the final roast level very quickly - about 4 to 6 minutes. This tends to yield a brighter finish to the roast - good for some people but not to the liking of many, especially for espresso blends. Voltage regulators (known as Variacs) can control this process and allow consumer hot air roasters to roast more slowly by varying temperatures at different points in the roasting cycle, thus achieving results more akin to a drum roasters. Commercial fluid bed roasters such as Sivetz are an entirely different beast and not really relevant to this discussion. Our own eGulleteer Mike Lloyd is a big proponent of the benefits of low tech roasting with simple tools. Here's a very extensive Coffeegeek discussion on Heat Gun / Dog Bowl coffee roasting

Many of the home roasters who hang out on coffeegeek.com have banded together to buy green coffee beans at wholesale prices. We have a website at www.greencoffeeco-op.com. We have identified several coffee brokers or importers in the Seattle, Oakland, New Orleans and New York areas who are willing to sell green coffee by the single bag. A typical bag weighs between 110 and 150 lbs., depending on the origin of the coffee. A vote is made to choose which type of coffee to purchase, and people put in for an allocation of coffee in five pound increments. When the bag has been sold, a local co-ordinator pays for the bag, picks it up from the warehouse, and distributes it in person, or by mail, to those people who have ordered and paid for the coffee. The coffee is sold at cost, plus shipping at cost, with an additional small fee to the co-ordinator to compensate that person for his/her time and effort in picking up and shipping the coffee. The coffees that have been recently purchased typically sell between $ 0.85 to $ 1.75 per pound, as compared to buying the same coffee from a green coffee vendor at $ 3.00 to $ 6.00 per pound. I myself just got 20 lbs. of an excellent Sumatra Lintong for $ 32.00, as compared to the $ 60 to 100 I would have normally paid from a green coffee vendor. We are looking for new members, so please check out the website if you are interested in quality green coffee at wholesale prices. This is a strictly volunteer effort by the members, and we would be very interested in finding some members in the Bay area, who could provide logistical and distribution services for some of the coffee importers in that area. Please post to this forum if you have any additional questions. I hope to see some of you on the website!