sweasel.com

The joke is, the coffee maker wasn’t that expensive, but the filters are eye-watering. They come from Japan, too.

I have to find a cheap alternative.

Ah, The inkjet printer approach.

My workday cup is an espresso from the corner shop. If we take our own cups in, they give us a special price. It’s hot and strong and like being smashed in the face and told to wake the fuck up, stupid! I take it aggressively black.

I like it very much.

If I’m lazy and in a hurry and need a little caffeine hit, I’m not above a cup of instant.

This poncey coffee thing is for those moments you think you want something a little special.

Ah, so bloom the coffee the same way you bloom spices like garam masala or garlic and ginger if perhaps for a different reason.

Thank you for the splainery!

Question please as your experience and book reading and stuff makes you much more informed than a mere vegetable:

We use a small french press and make it good and dark and strong (but add me to the “Starbucks tastes wrong” crowd).

However, I always wonder how long to let the grounds brew in the boiling water- I usually do a couple of unmeasured minutes or a bit more… the next question is : should you let it “steep” with plunger up or pushed down? I currently leave it plunger up to let the grounds (did somebody say) bloom, and take the plunge just before serving.

However I have no idea what the correct art or science says….

We used a Chemex pour-over carafe for years, and it made the best drip coffee. Then we went steampunk.

The Japanese adore anything with a ritual so faffing around blooming grounds and such would so be in their wheelhouse.

@Stoaty I keep a jar of Medaglia d’Oro in the freezer for the occasional iced coffee. Nuttin wrong with that.

Some Veg, I use a French press, too, so I literally cut and pasted this bit from the book:

French Press:
Suggested ratio: 60–70g/litre
Grind size: Medium to medium-fine
Boil water, pour over grounds, leave 4 minutes.
Stir
Using two spoons, scoop off any foam from the surface (really? Why?)
Wait another 3-5 minutes, the longer the better. Grounds fall to the bottom.
Press until the mesh is at the top of the liquid – never press down to the bottom
Decant gently

I did all that- Chemex, roast my own, grind it, make a ritual to appease the Coffee Gawds…

and ended up with a nice Bunn drip unit that makes excellent coffee that I buy ground in 12oz bags. Ya’ll are overthinking this.
Black Rifle Black. Good stuff.

I have concluded that in general coffee tastes better to me when someone else makes it.

Usually at a nice little restaurant for breakfast or dinner.
Sometimes at Buc-ee’s on the way to East Texas.
Even the spoon standing kind from a pot over the campfire where the formula is “handful of coffee, fill pot with water to just below the interior spout line, let burn, add whisky.”

Oh, technochitlin – aren’t Black Rifle Coffee the guys who got in an internet slapfight with Stocking Mill Coffee because SMC accused BRC of being fake conservatives who actually donate to Democrat candidates? I mean, coffee is coffee, but bruh.

Thank you Ms Weasel –

I must say (as uneducated I) type this literally barefoot and in the kitchen (hey, two out of three ain’t bad!) I am not in total agreement with the Experts in yer book thare.

1. The foam! The foam, the foam! The whole point of the French Press in my humbles opinion is the foam. MY religion believes that the foam is actually the oils in the coffee which contain the nuances of flavor that separate coffee from black heated water. A paper filter absorbs those oils.

2. Eight minutes to make a freakin’ cup of Joe? Those last four minutes to extract flavor wouldn’t be necessary if they weren’t skimming most of the flavor/foam off in the first place.

My inability to listen to and agree with authority were factors in my retiring early years back…. but still I thank you for telling me what they say.

I’m not even sure I understand what either of you is talking about. What foam?

Foam like from an espresso machine? The fancy coffee drinks where they make shapes in it. Pretentious and artistic, peak prog.

This darkish brown foam….

https://us-browse.startpage.com/av/anon-image?piurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcosmiccupcoffee.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F10%2Fhow-to-brew-coffee-in-a-french-press.png&sp=1677699368T29e0dd226edeab210d223e70247f4650466a1158adc4ea1e0a05dc1f2e561cc8

Ms. Weasel-
aren’t Black Rifle Coffee the guys who got in an internet slapfight with Stocking Mill Coffee because SMC accused BRC of being fake conservatives who actually donate to Democrat candidates?

Since I don’t see a damn bit of difference between the parties, it matters not. It’s good coffee.

@Some Veg

Oh yes, the foam is where the flavor is with a French Press for sure. I never got the hang of the French Press, always had some grounds in my coffee.

@Jon that’s foamed milk spooned on top of the coffee…very pretentious bullshit most coffee shops do to justify their outrageous prices. Italians eschew cappuccino, it’s strictly a sissy morning drink. Real men quaff a double espresso in one gulp. Yeah, it’s Italy… “gives a shoulder shrug”.

“Crema is a velvety thick, reddish-brown foam produced by the water forced through the grounds under pressure and it is what gives the coffee its body & flavor, otherwise it’s coffee-colored water.

Does anyone remember these? Mom had one and as a kid, I was enthralled watching the water being sucked up the glass tube.