The Physics of Coffee
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Greetings Kind Regards I have much to say on the subject of coffee. First of all do you know about this fellow https://coffeeadastra.com/[^] He's a scientist fascinated by coffee. I've been experimenting w/ whole bean freshly ground coffee the past year or so having gotten tired of store brand instant. I purchased several USA15 - USA25 bags of various brands. After not being overly impressed w/ any I ordered a bag from England to me here in North Carolina from none other than Mr. Coffee YouTube'r James Hoffman on the assumption if his coffee does not impress none will. Upon arrival I excitedly made a cup and drank waiting to be thrilled. I was left disappointed. It too was not overly impressive. His website https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/[^] describes his various coffees as having "notes" of e.g. i.e. to wit "cherry, pineapple, syrupy", "date, hazelnut, cacao", "orange, caramel, almond" etc. If I want notes of cherry or date or orange I will consume a cherry a date etc. The best coffee I ever had did not have "notes". It was many years ago at the house of my aunt and uncle. They had purchased a Krupps coffee maker w/ gold filter. Each week we would visit on Sundays. I would _run_ to the coffee maker, make myself a cup, and glug. It was delicious. Permit me to tell you what it tasted like. It did not taste like dates or almond. It tasted like ... _coffee_!. Amazing. The brand of coffee utilized was none other than Folgers ground, not even freshly ground whole bean. For those outside USA who may not know it is a common nationally advertised inexpensive brand, nothing fancy. Unfortunately after a few months the magic disappeared for reasons I do not know. I assumed the filter had gotten overly used perhaps but again I do not know. I have given up on searching for high quality coffee and have settled on whole bean by Caribou which I find has a smoothness, Yuban ground which is mild, inoffensive and low acrylamide content, Folgers (ground, instant regular, instant decaf, all which almost actually taste like coffee except for some chocolate notes unfortunately). Of course I do not utilize tap water, always filtered. My brewing technique is "cowboy". I am surprised plastic is utilized in coffee makers and drippers etc. I only utilize glass and ceramic.
Very interesting & in-depth info. Lots to consider here. I had a Krupps and Krupps coffee long ago & it was very good. There has also been a huge shift in coffee varieties over the years (20-30) for sure & it has changed a lot so that it is quite difficult to get the "original coffee flavor" that we had back in the day.
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The water definitely makes a difference. Just a warning here - a friend of mine damaged his coffee machine with too pure water which leeched out copper from the boiler and caused issues. It may be something worth researching.
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I started drinking coffee when I was around 8 years old. In New Orleans, everyone takes their coffee drinking seriously. Kids get it with milk. I am NOT however a coffee aficionado. IMO the water doesn't matter so much unless it is full of sulphur, "egg water" in Mississippi. The cup doesn't matter, the temperature doesn't matter. It just needs to taste like coffee for me. At home, I drink dark roast, with chicory. Try it if you get a chance, I think you'll like it. The only coffee I ever met and didn't like was gas station/convenience store coffee. Too old, too stale. too burned, and too acid.
Ed
We have a high content of sediment (maybe lyme) that gets into our groundwater here (Ohio). Various surrounding areas are better / worse. You can literally destroy a coffee maker in 1 month if you don't filter the water, because it will be filled with lyme scale. That's probably different than a lot of places too.
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Member 14968771 wrote:
There are many "brands " of beer and one used to advertise "it's the water.."
Advertising. Water will taste like water.
Member 14968771 wrote:
I wonder if I can bring my own GLASS cup
HEATHEN! Coffee is drunk from ceramic.
Member 14968771 wrote:
I am sure the paper cup manufacturing will not go broke...
Glass would be better than paper, since it doesn't influence the taste. Glass cools down quickly though.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
Eddy Vluggen wrote:
HEATHEN! Coffee is drunk from ceramic.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Allow me oh wise one, to introduce you to the humble Caffe Latte. I can promise you, only the least experienced at the art would ever expect or ask for one of them in a ceramic vessel. ;) I'd have a quiet word with those that taught you how to coffee if I were you. Heaven only knows which other disservices they've done you. Knowing your luck, they probably gave it to you in a baby bottle or similar. ;P
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Eddy Vluggen wrote:
HEATHEN! Coffee is drunk from ceramic.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Allow me oh wise one, to introduce you to the humble Caffe Latte. I can promise you, only the least experienced at the art would ever expect or ask for one of them in a ceramic vessel. ;) I'd have a quiet word with those that taught you how to coffee if I were you. Heaven only knows which other disservices they've done you. Knowing your luck, they probably gave it to you in a baby bottle or similar. ;P
enhzflep wrote:
Knowing your luck, they probably gave it to you in a baby bottle or similar. ;-P
Yup. They added milk though.
enhzflep wrote:
Allow me oh wise one, to introduce you to the humble Caffe Latte.
Humble it should be, if it pretends to be caffee. ..and keep that muck away from me.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Well water here: hard water and has high iron content also. Probably not ideal.
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CO2 doesn't belong in tea nor coffee. --edit Carbon also not a mineral.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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We do have a softener - I actually perfer the taste of the unsoftened water. Best wishes - CR
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CO2 doesn't belong in tea nor coffee. --edit Carbon also not a mineral.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
"Carbonated Coffee"? Or have a Coke or Pepsi.
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"Carbonated Coffee"? Or have a Coke or Pepsi.
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Coffee Bean? A long time ago I thought that the taste of coffee was 99% dependent upon the type & quality of the coffee bean itself. Along the way, I have discovered that more important than the bean quality is actually the quality of the water. I use a Zero Water - see amazon example[^] filter system & my coffee instantly became 50% better (subjective measurement of __more pure__ coffee taste.) Water Is Very Important If you want better coffee, make sure your water is very clean / pure. However, very recently I discovered another thing that I am actually stunned about. This One Shocked Me The coffee flavor is actually dependent upon what I drink the coffee out of. Obviously, at an extreme, if you drink it out of a dirty bucket it is going to taste less like coffee. :rolleyes: I recently purchased a Contigo Stainless Steel Insulated Mug -- see amazon example[^] and it has really amazed me how much better the coffee tastes. The inner surface of this mug is stainless & has an interesting physical property that the coffee doesn't "bond" to it at all. And it actually effects the taste of the coffee. It's so much better and I really can't believe it. Of course, my coffee is staying hot much longer al
I have a ZeroWater pitcher, and it's amazing. Water here in the desert is so hard, kids have to get a weapon permit to carry a water pistol. Vets openly tell clients not to give their fur babies tap water - it will kill them. I use RO water that I have to buy from vending machines - that's obscene! But it still measures as unhealthy on the TDS meter that comes with the ZeroWater pitcher. Yes, it dramatically changes the taste of anything that takes water to make, including scotch and water. Great invention!
Will Rogers never met me.
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Greetings Kind Regards I have much to say on the subject of coffee. First of all do you know about this fellow https://coffeeadastra.com/[^] He's a scientist fascinated by coffee. I've been experimenting w/ whole bean freshly ground coffee the past year or so having gotten tired of store brand instant. I purchased several USA15 - USA25 bags of various brands. After not being overly impressed w/ any I ordered a bag from England to me here in North Carolina from none other than Mr. Coffee YouTube'r James Hoffman on the assumption if his coffee does not impress none will. Upon arrival I excitedly made a cup and drank waiting to be thrilled. I was left disappointed. It too was not overly impressive. His website https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/[^] describes his various coffees as having "notes" of e.g. i.e. to wit "cherry, pineapple, syrupy", "date, hazelnut, cacao", "orange, caramel, almond" etc. If I want notes of cherry or date or orange I will consume a cherry a date etc. The best coffee I ever had did not have "notes". It was many years ago at the house of my aunt and uncle. They had purchased a Krupps coffee maker w/ gold filter. Each week we would visit on Sundays. I would _run_ to the coffee maker, make myself a cup, and glug. It was delicious. Permit me to tell you what it tasted like. It did not taste like dates or almond. It tasted like ... _coffee_!. Amazing. The brand of coffee utilized was none other than Folgers ground, not even freshly ground whole bean. For those outside USA who may not know it is a common nationally advertised inexpensive brand, nothing fancy. Unfortunately after a few months the magic disappeared for reasons I do not know. I assumed the filter had gotten overly used perhaps but again I do not know. I have given up on searching for high quality coffee and have settled on whole bean by Caribou which I find has a smoothness, Yuban ground which is mild, inoffensive and low acrylamide content, Folgers (ground, instant regular, instant decaf, all which almost actually taste like coffee except for some chocolate notes unfortunately). Of course I do not utilize tap water, always filtered. My brewing technique is "cowboy". I am surprised plastic is utilized in coffee makers and drippers etc. I only utilize glass and ceramic.
Curious how others clean their coffee makers. Mine is a drip system - it heats water which boils up then drips through coffee grounds in a filter. Once a month I "brew" a cup of vinegar to dissolve the hard deposits that form on the heating element. (Otherwise the machine only brews about 3/4 of the water before it quits.) Then several rinses to remove the vinegar. Thanks! - CR
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Curious how others clean their coffee makers. Mine is a drip system - it heats water which boils up then drips through coffee grounds in a filter. Once a month I "brew" a cup of vinegar to dissolve the hard deposits that form on the heating element. (Otherwise the machine only brews about 3/4 of the water before it quits.) Then several rinses to remove the vinegar. Thanks! - CR
Just saw this message. I have used vinegar in the past too -- because we have "hard" water here and it will eventually destroy your coffee maker. However, since using the Zero Water filter it makes it so you never have to clean your coffee maker again. It filters out all of the stuff from the water. I hated the vinegar because like you said you have to cleanse the vinegar before you get a good cup of coffee again.
