Gooood coffee -how do you make yours??

MissHoneyBun

Im quite partial to a nice coffee (Starbucks, Bewleys, McDonalds <:eek:>) so my boyfriend recently bought me some coffee grounds and a percolator from Starbucks 'cept I havent ever made coffee in a percolator before so I'm winging it. I keep getting the coffee/water ratio wrong so does anyone have some measurement/brewing tips for making coffee in one of these things? Thank guys

Gran Hermano

Just to clarify, as different people use the term 'percolator' to describe
different coffee makers, is it a device like this or this?

If it's a percolator:

1. Fill urn with water for the number of cups of coffee you want.
2. Place coffee grounds in the basket. 1 tbs per cup of water.
3. Fit basket into the urn.
4. Heat the water to boiling.
5. The boiling water will be forced up through the coffee grounds and the brewed coffee will accumulate in the urn
6. Watch the coffee bubble up through the glass dome to measure how dark (strong) it's getting.
7. Brewing should take about 5 minutes.
8. Remove the filter basket with the used grounds and pour.

If it's not an American style percolator can you please advise what it is.

MissHoneyBun

Gran Hermano, it's one of these glass ones:

http://www.1stincoffee.com/bodum.asp

Maybe "cafetiere" is the correct term?? Im not sure...

Gran Hermano

It's what's commonly called a French press or press-pot.

There's a good guide here on coffeegeek.
Pay particular attention to grind and steep time.
If you're using preground you can skip to mid-way in the article.

JIZZLORD

i got a wee scoop thing with my french press. it's the equivalent on 2 teaspoons. and it's generally 1 scoop per cup.

eclectichoney

That's 1 scoop per cup, not mug! I use a french press myself and usually use 2 good scoops for a mug.

Lafortezza

Quick question: when using a press-pot, what temperature whould the water be? A minute or two after coming off the boil?
I prefer my coffee to be fairly hot, but I've heard boiling water affects the taste.

Gran Hermano

lafortezza wrote: »

Quick question: when using a press-pot, what temperature whould the water be? A minute or two after coming off the boil?
I prefer my coffee to be fairly hot, but I've heard boiling water affects the taste.

You do not want to pour boiling water on to the ground coffee, you'll scald
the coffee and end up with a bitter drink.

Aim for water between 90 and 93 degrees Celsius. You can boil the kettle
and let it sit for 10-20 seconds before pouring onto the coffee if you
don;t want to faff about with thermometers.

There's some debate over the exact best temperature (different
roasts can brew better with slightly hotter or colder water).

If you want a hotter drink, make sure the cup/mug and French press you're
using is pre-heated - simply pour in boiling water into the cup whilst you're
brewing coffee in the French press.

You can also get an insulation jacket (like a tea-cosy for a teapot)
for the French press.

More info here:
http://www.toomuchcoffee.com/wiki/index.php/French_Press_(Cafetiere)

JIZZLORD

eclectichoney wrote: »

That's 1 scoop per cup, not mug! I use a french press myself and usually use 2 good scoops for a mug.

true, but most french presses are sold by cup rating

eclectichoney

Indeed jizzlord, which can be a bit confusing for those of us (i.e. me ) who use them (incorrectly!) interchangably! I remember when I was getting my first 3 cup (1 mug!) french press, looking at them thinking, you'd never fit enough water in that for 3 coffees

I'm one of those uncivilised hardcore mug users I guess

JIZZLORD

i use mugs too, i just guestimated the amounts when i started off and now i'm so used to it it's all good

MissHoneyBun

So it's 2 scoops of coffee grounds per mug?
To about a mug of water then?
Im seriously challenged by this French Press of mine, Im a bit of a perfectionist and Im wasting so much nice Starbucks by making dreadful coffee :mad:

eclectichoney

yeah I think it's a scoop per 4 oz of water, and there is about 8 oz in a normal sized mug (if you use one of those funny shaped larger mugs I wouldn't know where to begin!) I use a good two scoops and then top up with water (I have a 3 cup Columbia Bodum french press - it yields a nice size mug's worth). Too little coffee is a disaster imho.

L31mr0d

personally I have a drip filter and have found the perfect balance to be 6.5 tablespoons of coffee beans per 5 cups (i.e. ~2 mugs) Anymore is not noticable and any less and the coffee starts to taste bitter. But each machine will be different, also each person has a personal taste preference.

It really is trial and error. Keep the water amount the same and increase the coffee amount each day until you get it to a point that you like the taste. A common misconception is that if it tastes bitter you have used too much coffee. THIS IS WRONG, if it tastes bitter then you have overused the grounds, you will need to add MORE grounds to stop it tasting bitter.

Also, i'd recommend buying beans and grinding them yourself. There are a good few stockists of beans on the sticky in this forum. I'd personally recommend M&D's in Dublin, I religiously buy a kilo of varying beans off them every forthnight.

Feelgood

I like mine like I like my wimmin....

Strong and Black.

mattyboy20

Yup. Strong and black is the only way to go. No sugar, no milk, just pure black coffee! Ummmmmmm........

seraphimvc

lol yup last time i ordered pure black coffee at Starbucks the maker there kinda show me a salute!