Idiots At Eater Attempt To Show How To Brew Coffee At Home

[weinoo]

The fact that I call them idiots is my opinion only. YMMV.

 

But on this video, which attempts to show you how to brew great coffee at home, they leave out perhaps the most important thing about brewing great coffee at home.  That is, if you consider what makes up about 95% of coffee important.

 

Yes, folks, as often said on smart sites, like eGullet, and Tasty Travails, they say nothing about starting with good tasting water.

 

(They also don't pour water through the filters first, which I also believe is important.

 

Enjoy.

 

https://youtu.be/IjXhQaV56GA?list=PLUeEVLHfB5-Rxp6-IYL1Xxb_SHl5FnhrQ

Edited March 30, 2015 by weinoo (log)

[Shalmanese]

The fact that I call them idiots is my opinion only. YMMV.

 

But on this video, which attempts to show you how to brew great coffee at home, they leave out perhaps the most important thing about brewing great coffee at home.  That is, if you consider what makes up about 95% of coffee important.

 

Yes, folks, as often said on smart sites, like eGullet, and Tasty Travails, they say nothing about starting with good tasting water.

 

(They also don't pour water through the filters first, which I also believe is important.

 

Enjoy.

 

https://youtu.be/IjXhQaV56GA?list=PLUeEVLHfB5-Rxp6-IYL1Xxb_SHl5FnhrQ

The video appears to have been made in SF which has naturally great tasting water. None of the top cafes in the region do anything to the water beforehand as far as I can tell. It's understandable why they forgot to mention it since it's not part of their process.

[weinoo]

The video appears to have been made in SF which has naturally great tasting water. None of the top cafes in the region do anything to the water beforehand as far as I can tell. It's understandable why they forgot to mention it since it's not part of their process.

 

A: How do you get San Francisco from that video? They show Parlor coffee from Brooklyn, Intellegentsia from Chicago, Blue Bottle from, ummm, Brooklyn, and Four Barrel. Was there a clue I missed?

 

B. Inexcusable to not mention the water. It's 95% of what's in your cup.

[cdh]

Weinoo... you split time between NYC and DC, as I recall.  Does your method change at all depending on where you're at?

[Martin Fisher]

So folks who want a great cup of coffee would know enough to use good, [usually] expensive coffee, but not good water?

That doesn't make sense to me.

Garbage in=garbage out.

[weinoo]

In DC, as in NYC, I used the same technique. Brita filtered tap water to make coffee.  We are no longer splitting time between the two cities - only NYC now.

 

When traveling, we have often rented apartments, even for as little as 4 or 5 days. Making coffee on the road, I use bottled spring water.

 

If folks are being instructed, as they are in the video, to use good, (usually) expensive coffee, then they should also be instructed to use good, (usually) cheap water.

Edited March 31, 2015 by weinoo (log)

[cdh]

Interesting... I know NYC tap water is just fine, provided your building doesn't have decaying rusty pipes between the main and your tap... DC's water was always massively overtreated with chlorine in my experiences there...  The Brita was enough to tame that aspect of the DC water?

[scubadoo97]

I would think if you were interested in making great coffee you would be one that would be drinking filtered water anyway. I guess it was understood and didn't have to be mentioned

[weinoo]

Do you think this video is aimed at people who are already knowledgeable in drinking great coffee? Or do you think it's aimed at click bait?

[weinoo]

Interesting... I know NYC tap water is just fine, provided your building doesn't have decaying rusty pipes between the main and your tap... DC's water was always massively overtreated with chlorine in my experiences there...  The Brita was enough to tame that aspect of the DC water?

What dissipates chlorine isn't the Brita - it's time.

 

Look - let's face it. I can understand (sorta) everyone's love of eater. Bottom line - it's a shitty video, regarding teaching people (i.e. the general populace) how to make great coffee at home.

Edited April 1, 2015 by weinoo (log)

[Martin Fisher]

I don't love Eater...I love good water and good coffee! 

[scubadoo97]

I have no love or hate for Eater and thought the video was okay in that it talked about using fresher whole bean coffee, better grinders and better brewers. All things which are accepted in the quest for better coffee and let's be real, the general populace doesn't give a shit as can be seen by the number of k-cups and the cans of Folders sold

[weinoo]

Well then, what's the point of the video?

 

If the general populace doesn't give a shit and uses K cups and Folgers, the rest of the populace, who does a shit already knows those things (better grinders and better (?) brewers), don't you think?

[cdh]

What did Eater ever do to you to get such animosity?  I don't read it.  Is it worth the energy to launch this salvo of hate at them?  If it just their coffee heresy, Slate could use a few critical glances too, since they recently did a "You're Doing It Wrong: Coffee" piece too.

Edited April 1, 2015 by cdh (log)

[weinoo]

If they're going to pretend to teach via videos, then they should teach, not just produce slick garbage.  

 

This stuff has been done to death - even here, on eGullet, as a matter of fact, and I'll continue to rail against vox eater as I see fit.

 

But, thanks for the advice  .

[andiesenji]

Frankly, I fail to see any advantage to relying on "amateurs" for instruction in preparing coffee.

There are a plethora of sites maintained by coffee pros who have studied the science of brewing and their advice is easy to follow and thoroughly explained.

I direct inquiries on my blog to these sites because they have the answers to every question imaginable.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Not to mention a whole chapter in Modernist Cuisine.

[mkayahara]

Sadly, water quality is an all-too-often overlooked topic in most areas of cooking. I only really started to become aware of it when looking into modernist techniques, where it can really screw up your hydrocolloids. Not long after, I moved to a location that has some of the hardest water in Canada, if not North America. (Just mixing sodium alginate into my tap water, filtered or not, will form a lovely gel.) But it goes way, way beyond modernist cooking: water quality has a noticeable impact when preparing beans, dashi, tea and, of course, coffee. It's a factor that deserves more attention.

 

Anyway, Brita says on their website that their filters reduce the "taste and odour" of chlorine. Is that just marketing hype?

[rotuts]

Brita also removes calcium.  they are not allowed to say that for Political Reasons.

 

I know as I have calcium test strips.  for the AlexiaPID

 

brita water still tastes fine to me

[Martin Fisher]

I agree that good quality water is definitely a must in the kitchen.

A 6-stage reverse osmosis filtration system (with permeate pump) was the very first thing I installed after purchasing this house.

[cdh]

Totally agree that water properties really do have effects on food results.  Tea made with Pennsylvania water is totally different than tea made with Hudson Valley water.

[palo]

Agreed with all above regarding the need for good water, but good coffee, not necessarily expensive, and appropiate measure are just as important if not more so.

 

p

[paulraphael]

I use a britta in NYC for drinking water, especially for tea and coffee (not for cooking water though, generally). Mostly for chlorine. There's always at least a hint of chlorine flavor in our water here, and sometimes in the summer they crank it up to the point where it smells like a pool. Unpleasant straight, disgusting in coffee. After a pass through the filter I can no longer smell or taste it, and the water's great for coffee.

 

Also a lot of buildings have nasty old pipes. Like the one I'm in now. I don't know why some buildings are so different from others. My last building was 100 years older than this one but the water was better. Here it tastes like some of calcium and iron and god knows what. The britta does a good job eliminating these flavors also.

 

If I were afraid of anything truly dangerous in the water (heavy metals, organic contaminants, viruses etc..) I'd want a much more serious filter. But the britta's good for keeping things tasty.

[Shel_B]

On ‎4‎/‎2‎/‎2015 at 5:08 AM, mkayahara said:

Anyway, Brita says on their website that their filters reduce the "taste and odour" of chlorine. Is that just marketing hype?

 

I use another brand of filter which is similar to the Brita, and it's easy to taste the difference between the filtered and unfiltered water. I'd imagine the Brita would produce similar results - come to think of it, a friend uses the Brita and there is an improvement in the taste of his water.  I use filtered water for coffee and tea brewing, and for any cooking purpose, such as making pasta or using water in soups, etc.  Any water that gets ingested or in which food is cooked is filtered.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Shel_B (log)