Coffee sediment bottom of cup.

Whispered

We recently got a smoothie maker and started using it to grind our own beans. I make peanut butter etc in it so it's definitely strong enough to grind beans. However, at the bottom of every cup is a lot of leftover coffee sediment. We are making it using a cafetière.
Do you think we aren't grinding it fine enough (it looks fine) or too much? Problem with the cafetière?

jive

If using a smoothie maker then you are essentially chopping the beans rather than grinding them; you're going to get a mix of coarse pieces and finer pieces.

When using a cafetiere some sediment is to be expected. Most of it will remain in the cafetiere but some will make it into the cup. Regardless, it's just fine coffee bean at the end of the day and while it might not feel nice in your mouth it should settle at the bottom of the cup - just leave a small amount of coffee in the bottom of your cup if you don't want to drink the sediment.

Whispered

Thanks. We've used a cafetière for a long time now so happy enough with a bit but this is a lot more than usual. Like sludge on the bottom of the cup, a lot of it. It's like the coffee isn't mixing with the water properly at all. Maybe I need to blitz it for longer.

Makes sense what you say re chopping vs ginding, although it tends to be quite fine. The smoothie maker is one of those bullet type ones and specifically said could be used for coffee. That's half the reason we got it. I'll be really disappointed if that's the issue!

Thanks again.

jive

Whispered wrote: »

Thanks. We've used a cafeti?re for a long time now so happy enough with a bit but this is a lot more than usual. Like sludge on the bottom of the cup, a lot of it. It's like the coffee isn't mixing with the water properly at all. Maybe I need to blitz it for longer.

Makes sense what you say re chopping vs ginding, although it tends to be quite fine. The smoothie maker is one of those bullet type ones and specifically said could be used for coffee. That's half the reason we got it. I'll be really disappointed if that's the issue!

Thanks again.

No problem. If you really don't like the sludge you should look at another brewing method such as the below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hario-Dripper-Measuring-Plastic-Transparent/dp/B00JJIOJ7E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494424409&sr=8-1&keywords=V60+kit

The filter works better than the mesh you have on a cafetiere, there's pretty much zero sludge regardless of filter size!

Manzoor14

jive wrote: »

If using a smoothie maker then you are essentially chopping the beans rather than grinding them; you're going to get a mix of coarse pieces and finer pieces.

Whispered wrote: »

Maybe I need to blitz it for longer....
...although it tends to be quite fine.

I was getting similar issues when I got a new grinder. In my case in was eing ground too fine and many tiny particles were making it into my cup. So I adjusted the grinder settings to make my grind more coarse. Hasn't eradicated the sediment completely, I still get a bit in the cup, but not enough to bother me.

So maybe blitz it for a little less time, rather than longer, so you have a coarser grind? I'm not sure how it'll work, I never tried it in a smoothie maker before, but might be worth a try!

mor.tar

You'll probably get more sludge if you grind the beans longer! Blade grinders create a lot of fine powder, which is what's passing through the metal filter of your cafetiere and settling at the bottom of your cup.

You will actually get better results grinding your beans for a shorter time.

If not, you can get rid of the sludge if you pour the cafetiere coffee through a paper filter, or you could get a better grinder (burr grinder, not blade grinder).