My concern with plastic wouldn't be in the grinder mechanism, but in the brewing mechanism. I'm not a fan of heating plastics in liquids or foods I'm about to consume.

 

I have been drinking coffee, for the sheer pleasure of it, for 28years.
Cafe Bustelo, gold pour over filter & settled cold water heated to 200*.
9/10ths coffee in fifteen minutes, and about 40 cents a cup.
I've owned,and do own various methods of brewing but,I've gotten it down to the bare essentials.
Greg

 

Bought an aeropress yesterday. Have made 3 cups so far. First one was OK. Second one was kinda nasty. The one this morning was pretty darn good.

Using Stumptown "new season's holiday roast" beans that were roasted on Saturday. Tee hee. And a super cheap $20 keurig blade grinder.

I think rather than spending the money on a grinder, I'll just buy quality grounds and go with that in the future. We shall see.

 

I bought a manual carbide burr grinder on amazon for like 27
throw that blade grinder in the trash and get one, consistency is purdy important.

I've found the most common way to ruin the taste with an aeropress is by burning the coffee. if you're using boiling water, you'll need to press right away and quickly. if you want to let it sit with inverted method, you must use 170-180* and not any more, and even then 3 min max.


..I think I've tried every Peets blend there is by now. I tend to fancy the darker roasts

 

I used some local roasted Beanetics cro magnon in my regular brewer and in the aeropress and crap I miss great coffee (instead of cheap/fair-to-good coffee).

The easiest way to deal with the hot water of the aeropress is to let the water boil then lift the container off the heat and wait for the roiling to cease. when the water is still, you're at around 200F give or take. It's pretty much the ideal temp. From there you have to tune your brewing with grind size or dwell. It's pretty hard to get "too bitter" from a blade grinder and water off the boil using an aeropress.

Blade grinder needs about 5 seconds (maybe 10?) to get small granules. Longer turns it to dust that will float away on a breeze.

Stick to 2 minutes max on the press. Subtract out 15 seconds if you're letting it bloom before pouring all the water in but keep the max to 2 minutes.

If you still end up with bitter coffee, it could be just too dark. Most mass market (peets included) will roast fairly dark compared to a local roaster. If your beans are shiny and an almost black shade of brown, they're over roasted.

For example, the "good" coffee we get at work is Kirkland Costa Rica. It doesn't mention roast on the bag, but these are clearly north of Vienna and somewhere around French roast:



Find something that doesn't shine and is still a chocolatey brown.

 

Coffee gurus. I need an opinion on a xmas coffee gift idea.

Best gift for a coffee drinker? Ultimate brew mug? Grinder? Exotic beans for all the yums?

Looking for something that is useful & convenient for daily use that doesn't break the bank.

 

My beanz (not to be confused with my nutz but I can send pics of those later bby)

 

kirkland costa rica is available at my local costco
you're saying it's good stuff?

it doesn't have a roast date on it, does that not mean that it's probably a few months old?

Agreed regarding peets dark being really dark, but I likes it that way. And I love that all their blends clearly have date of roasting stamps on em, which is more than most common dept store coffee's do

I'm staying away from baller 40-50/bag beans for now until I get on a higher level of coffee snob

 

No I meant "good" in quotes. Like compared to the mediocre crap we usually get. Or compared to sanka. work has lower standards than I do and is more cost sensitive. we stopped buying peets autoship a long time ago.

 

Comments on my beans? Those really are my beans, took that photo this morning.

 

**** yeah, coffee people!

I've been in to the Aeropress for a year or so great cup of coffee, and easy to experiment with. With the bend I'm using now (Sumatran Dark roast) I go 2 scoops 190 water, 30 second bloom, fill, stir, and be for 2 minutes. On weekdays it's poured into my protein shake.
Thinking of taking it to work, and picking up a chemex for the house. Also need an electric kettle.

 

got this at the house



delicious, but kinda wasteful (takes a full 5-6 teaspoons for a "3 cup" size, which really is 1 really potent cup)

and also have this



Much more economical, but nowhere near as potent/strong flavor



Ed,
No idea on your beans, but they're not shiny, which according to most snobs, means they're good?

 

That's how I was taught to make coffee as a kid.

I still have a 30+ year old Moka pot.

Was kind of surprised when Rev Greg mentioned making Cafe Bustelo in an aeropress. The thought that it could be brewed in anything other than an espresso machine or moka pot never even occurred to me. Like using those expensive lambskin condoms to cover your fingers while doing an oil-change...

 

I use a gold pour over filter. No paper to get in the way. I pour the water, stir it once and let it drip. It really does a good job, albeit a little wasteful.
Greg

 

I just picked up a Baratza Encore burr grinder and a stainless steel reusable filter for my Aeropress...dear god, a quality burr grinder makes all the difference with your esperesso. So smooth!

Using Caffe Ibis beans from this company out of Northern Utah, super good quality stuff, ask for Mike tell him Jeff from Great Harvest set you up.

 

doesnt a steel filter make the aero into a regular french press?

kinda sorta?

 

It seems kind of like you'd lose the nice fine particle filtration of the paper and no longer be able to use espresso grind.

 

Why would it? Just makes it easier to make coffee in the morning, the filtration is just as good as paper as well. $12 and you spray it off with water and wipe it down, good to go!

 

maybe that one is uber fine, I dunno
if it works thats pretty cool, but you still gotta take it out and clean the thing, so kinda not much less work

 

Its nearly the same price as 3 years worth of paper, and I have to clean it.