Filter beats espresso? Am I just unsophisticated?

trap4

I'm still a relative newbie to (proper) coffee but even so I've gone through a suprising 'journey' over the last several months.

During the summer I was doing a lot of research into Nespresso in the belief that what I really longed for was (easy) espresso quality coffee at home. But I'm glad I didn't invest. Instead I bought myself a stove top top to complement my old french press. And I grew to like the stove top a lot.

But.... In recent weeks I got a Columbian bean from M&S and started making it in the french press. I started timing my brewing and began plunging at 3min10sec as opposed to the 4+mins months prior to that. And wow... this has been a revelation to me. For the last fortnight I've enjoyed what I would consider the best coffee I've ever had outside of 3FE or Coffee Angel.

So the big revelation has been how much I'm enjoying filter coffee and getting flavours now that I just don't seem to get in espresso based drinks. In fact I've ordered an Aeropress to see if I can replicate the only two coffees that I felt beat my own (in 3FE and Coffee Angel, both done with Aeropress).

My question is this - am I just an unsophisticated coffee newb who'll eventually develop the palate to enjoy the flavours of different espresso based drinks? Or is good filter coffee where it's at? Is properly brewed filter the best possible coffee?

snollup

Hi Trap 4, there is absolulty nothing wrong with having a preference for filter. Some might even say that filter is more sophisticated then milk based espresso drinks. At the end of the day though its all about what you enjoy and not what others think you should!

Am not sure if you are grinding your beans yourself but if not a decent grinder should be your next purchase. Will make the world of difference to your brew.

Jezek

I think you can't compare the two - it's like comparing a stout to a lager, I love all kinds of coffee and all kinds of beer, but I have my favourites, we are all different and it's not about sophistication of taste.

However, I would make sure to sample a lot of (different) espressos before dismissing them as something I don't like.

Curry Addict

as others have said, neither is necessarily better and both are great when done well.
you will get an even better result if you use a better bean than the m&s Colombian. I get the m&s luxury italian or colombian when i run out of good beans, its ok, better than all the other supermarket beans but there is a lot better out there!

OldBean

I generally find filter more complex and interesting. Espresso based drinks are great, but unless something has been recommended highly to me, I'll take the filter instead.

bigar

I really prefer filter and always drink that at home. Just a shame not a lot of places serve decent filter coffee so I always need to go for an Americano.

cuculainn

Curry Addict wrote: »

as others have said, neither is necessarily better and both are great when done well.
you will get an even better result if you use a better bean than the m&s Colombian. I get the m&s luxury italian or colombian when i run out of good beans, its ok, better than all the other supermarket beans but there is a lot better out there!

Sorry for jumping on this but can you recommend beans for a french press and also a grinder?

I get my beans at speciality counter in Supervalue, they have a grinder that can be set to different levels, but not sure if it is a course enough grind for french press as there does be alot of sludge in the bottom of cup....coffee tastes good though

donnacha

Bailies are a great local roaster and typically have offers for 10/15/20% off if you do a bit of googling.

They have a whole range of their coffees that they recommend for filter: http://www.bailiescoffee.com/categoriesList/359/try-these-coffees-in-your-cafetiere.aspx

You can buy from them in whole bean or ground for cafetiere - I'd recommend avoiding pre-ground and investing in a hand grinder or if budget allows going for an electric burr grinder.
Bailies sell the Hario Skerton - its a great bit of kit and I bring it with me whenever I'm on the road (though some of the other hand grinders available are slightly smaller): http://www.bailiescoffee.com/productdetails/104/skerton-hand-grinder.aspx

If your in Dublin then you could just drop into Coffee Angel on Sth Anne St if you want to buy from a bricks and mortar - Karl can also offer some suggestions depending on your own tastes.

Curry Addict

cuculainn wrote: »

Sorry for jumping on this but can you recommend beans for a french press and also a grinder?

I get my beans at speciality counter in Supervalue, they have a grinder that can be set to different levels, but not sure if it is a course enough grind for french press as there does be alot of sludge in the bottom of cup....coffee tastes good though

try some of these http://www.coffeemojo.ie/coffee/ free postage if you buy over 40e. great local company to deal with.

bigar

You don't need to go for these "specilalist" coffee shops. There are some decent coffees to be had for your filter in Lidl and Aldi. I am always suprised that people go for these coffees that cost over 5 euro for 200 grams.

Gran Hermano

bigar wrote: »

You don't need to go for these "specilalist" coffee shops. There are some decent coffees to be had for your filter in Lidl and Aldi. I am always suprised that people go for these coffees that cost over 5 euro for 200 grams.

There is a massive difference between freshly roasted beans and beans that have spent months sitting on a supermarket shelf.

donnacha

bigar wrote: »

You don't need to go for these "specilalist" coffee shops. There are some decent coffees to be had for your filter in Lidl and Aldi. I am always suprised that people go for these coffees that cost over 5 euro for 200 grams.

There isn't anything all that specialist about them - they are just freshly roasted, and roasted to a profile that may suit a particular method of brewing. I'm curious to know what the decent coffees are that you've had at Aldi and Lidl?

Bohrio

bigar wrote: »

You don't need to go for these "specilalist" coffee shops. There are some decent coffees to be had for your filter in Lidl and Aldi. I am always suprised that people go for these coffees that cost over 5 euro for 200 grams.

Coffee has a life span (with this I mean the coffee will start loosing properties)

More or less 2 minutes for ground coffee
2 weeks for roasted coffee
2 years for green beans

Obviously this is not 100% accurate but you get an idea.

Also, I pay on average 12 euro per kilo of green beans. That's approx 3 euro per 250 gr (200 after roasted). Typical Lavazza coffee will cost around 4.5 euro per 227 gr and Illy goes for around 8 euro.

Coffee you buy in shops have been roasted months ago so its not the feshest

xonne

Bohrio wrote: »

Coffee has a life span (with this I mean the coffee will start loosing properties)

More or less 2 minutes for ground coffee
2 weeks for roasted coffee
2 years for green beans

Obviously this is not 100% accurate but you get an idea.

Also, I pay on average 12 euro per kilo of green beans. That's approx 3 euro per 250 gr (200 after roasted). Typical Lavazza coffee will cost around 4.5 euro per 227 gr and Illy goes for around 8 euro.

Coffee you buy in shops have been roasted months ago so its not the feshest

Hi, can I ask where you get your green beans?

Bohrio

xonne wrote: »

Hi, can I ask where you get your green beans?

Sorry for the delay... mainly sweetmarias and http://www.coffeemojo.ie/. Believe it or not prices are more or less the same (if we consider shipping costs of course). good thing about green beans is taht you can buy a few kilos and store them for month and they wont go bad...

Kevin @ coffeemojo its very good and loves talking about coffee and roasting... and it rarely takes more than one day for the beans to arrive once you have placed the order.

xonne

Bohrio wrote: »

Sorry for the delay... mainly sweetmarias and http://www.coffeemojo.ie/. Believe it or not prices are more or less the same (if we consider shipping costs of course). good thing about green beans is taht you can buy a few kilos and store them for month and they wont go bad...

Kevin @ coffeemojo its very good and loves talking about coffee and roasting... and it rarely takes more than one day for the beans to arrive once you have placed the order.

Do they have a shop in Dublin?

Bohrio

xonne wrote: »

Do they have a shop in Dublin?

The roastery is in wicklow. Seetmarias is in Canada I believe

Coffeemojo its not a shop per say (although i think they are open if you want to pop over to pick up and order) its a true roastery.

xonne

Thanks for the info.