Replacing Stove Top?

mfield

Hi guys,


We have a been making coffee in our house using a Bialetti Stove Top and Lavazza Qualità Rossa for years and I was saying to my Dad that he should really switch it up, as I'm sure there's a far better coffee experience to be had without breaking the bank.

Of course that's never going to happen, so here I am sussing it out!

So, can anyone tell me what's the best way to go for getting great tasting coffee that's not going to break the bank. I was looking at the Has Bean site, but to be honest I don't really have a clue.

Any help would be muchos appreciated.

Dahtac

I would say three options on the cheap.

A plastic hario v60 pour over, costs next to nothing and makes a great cup. Easy enough to use but does require a better grind quality than the next two options.

Or go for the classic French press, great cup unless you are a diehard fan of a cleaner cup. Easy to use but a bit annoying to clean.

If you prefer a cleaner cup, but similar in body to a French press an aeropress is a great piece of kit, nice and cheap, easy to use and to clean. There are no lack of tutorials online.

I would recommend investing in a grinder and some fresh beans to get the most out of the above three. The hario Hand mills are really good quality and far cheaper than a good electric. Also they are the perfect size for these three as none of the above require massive amounts of beans.

mfield

Many thanks for the reply Dahtac.

The aeropress looks like a really handy piece of kit.

I forgot to mention, generally when coffee is made in ours, it's for 4 cups (using a 4 cup stove top at the mo). Would the Aeropress do the job for this too?

So if I get an Aeropress, Hario handgrinder and decent beans, I'll be good to go?

mandarin

The Aeropress can make up to 4 cups, although you would need some kind of carafe to do so (if you're brewing for one, you can just place the aeropress on top of your cup and push).
The hario hand grinders are excellent but they're best suited for 1 or 2-cup brewing. I use the hario mini mill, which can only hold enough grounds for 2 cups (roughly 30g). I think the hario skerton can hold up to 50g, which would just do 4 cups, but might be a bit of an effort regularly grinding that much (especially with the lighter roasts, which are much slower to grind).

Dahtac

The aeropress can brew about 250ml of coffee at once. Very few people use the standard brew guide from the box. You can see the typical usage on Brewmethods.com

With the AP you would need to brew at least 3 different times if you were to mix the brews together or 4 times if you wanted 4 mugs of coffee.

My usual choice of method for 3-4 people would be the chemex, although this is pricier, about 50 quid as opposed to about 20 or less for the others.

You could also go with one of the larger v60 sizes, 45g of coffee (the skerton mill will easy accommodate this) and 750 ml of water poured over, just make sure you have a large enough decanter. The v60, at least the plastic one, is far cheaper then the chemex, although it is a really lovely piece of kit.

Has Bean have brew guides for all of these up on the website as well so you can get an idea of the work involved.

With regards coffee, if you go through 250g of coffee in a week I can't recommend taking out an In My Mug subscription more, fresh coffee delivered once a week. Averages out at 6 euro a bag or so if you get a three month one and is well worth the investment.

mfield

Great info, thanks again guys.

I am looking at the Chemex 6-8 Cup and the Hario Skerton grinder.

Has Bean don't stock both, so I'll get the grinder off Coffee Angel.

I dunno if we'd go through 250g of coffee in a week, but I'll order a bag and see how we go.

Is there anything else that I may be missing or that would be recommended?

Dahtac

Sounds great. Brewing for 4 people I would probably use 45g coffee and 750g water. You should get about 5 brews out of a 250g bag for that.

Only other thing I would recommend is a cheap stainless steel teapot for pouring the water over the grinds. The spouts are pretty decent for controlling pour and you don't really need to spend the extra on an expensive pouring kettle. You can pick one up in Dunnes for a tenner or less if you don't already have one lying around. I practiced for the Irish Brewer's Cup using a cheap one from Dunnes and it worked out pretty well for me.

mfield

Dahtac wrote: »

Sounds great. Brewing for 4 people I would probably use 45g coffee and 750g water. You should get about 5 brews out of a 250g bag for that.

How long does a bag of beans keep for?

Dahtac

Optimal Freshness is about 4 weeks after the roast date. At which point you may see some of the flavours become cloudy, dull and uninteresting. But some coffees are amazing well past that date. I have had great cups for 2 month old coffee recently.

mfield

Dahtac wrote: »

Optimal Freshness is about 4 weeks after the roast date. At which point you may see some of the flavours become cloudy, dull and uninteresting. But some coffees are amazing well past that date. I have had great cups for 2 month old coffee recently.

Ah sure that's great, I'll order a two bags to kick things off with the Chemex order.

Do you get your beans from Hasbean or is there any decent suppliers here in Ireland?

Dahtac

I get mine predominantly from Has Bean, I currently have about 13 months to run on my current subscription.

If you are looking for Irish sellers take a look at the Coffee Angel site, they have some amazing coffees on offer. Third Floor Espresso on Abbey Street also sells bags of Has Bean coffee. There are a few roasters dotted around the country (no flaming now please) but I have heard very mixed reviews about the roast quality.

mandarin

Speaking of Irish suppliers and Coffee Angel...this link provides a listing of the various Irish roasters and makes a strong case for buying local, see
http://www.coffeeangel.com/en/news/The%20Patriotism%20of%20Survival/

mfield

Thanks for the tip Dahtac, I actually have a stainless steel teapot that I got a while back and I have hardly used it.

Anywho, I ordered everything today along with the Filter Starter Pack. Should be interesting!

alastair

mandarin wrote: »

Speaking of Irish suppliers and Coffee Angel...this link provides a listing of the various Irish roasters and makes a strong case for buying local, see
http://www.coffeeangel.com/en/news/The%20Patriotism%20of%20Survival/

Interesting thread.
I'm mostly with Dave tbh.

Fight! Fight!

Dahtac

mfield wrote: »

Thanks for the tip Dahtac, I actually have a stainless steel teapot that I got a while back and I have hardly used it.

Anywho, I ordered everything today along with the Filter Starter Pack. Should be interesting!

Learning the ins and outs of the chemex has been one of my most rewarding coffee experiences to date. Enjoy