Maybe a month or two ago, I was scrolling through all posts and saw someone asking which is the best brand of coffee. The bag pictured was suggested, so I ordered it off of Amazon, and it has been sitting in my pantry until today. I ordered a Hario V60 and Stagg EKG PRO Studio a few days ago, which were just delivered. After watching a few YouTube videos, I learned how to pour it, kind of. The coffee is so good that it doesn’t need anything added to it. So, thanks; I can’t drink the stuff in the lobby anymore. :)
Is there anything else I should pick up? I was thinking of getting a Fellow Gen 2 Ode Brew Grinder next, but I’m open to suggestions.
Is this whole thread an ad? It’s weird how many specific brands are being talked about, and how only positive things are being said…
That’s just how coffee snobs are. I’ve seen plenty of “recipes” that dictate specific equipment. The V60 is a super standard pour over, but you could just use a $5 Melitta. I don’t even know what the other device is. A grinder? A kettle?
Coffee people are worse than car or PC people sometimes.
“I have a Mario Switch and it makes the best coffee if you use the Up Up Down Down AB method with medium coarse pre-wet grounds from an TG-16 ceramic grinder.”
Coffee people are literally just like audiophiles.
Subjective experiences are the most susceptible to complete snake oil.
That being said, the Stag EKG is a damn simple and good electric kettle without costing as much as a Hario kettle. Timer, temperature hold at a very large temp range, a good gooseneck with a low flow for pourovers and quick heating without overshoot. It does take damn near forever to fill a pot with 500ml if you just want to pour tea water quickly.
Every hobby is like this. I don’t know how you’d talk about coffee without mentioning the specific kettle, grinder, scale, beans, etc.
Easy. The most important thing is the beans and the technique. The specific kettle, grinder, and scale are so unimportant, as long as you have even an OK burr grinder.
It’s funny that you didn’t list the brewing method because that is important. An AeroPress, for example, brews coffee differently from a drip maker, and that can change the final product a lot. Your scale or kettle? Not at all. All that matters is a somewhat accurate weight and water at the right temperature. Not brands. Not models.
You shared brands and models but didn’t say anything about your grind size, water temperature, time, or coffee weight.
Then again, this post was about the beans themselves and not a recipe, but I don’t even know why mentioning the model equipment you had was important.
I’m not trying to be too hard on you. Discussing equipment is definitely part of the hobby, but all you did was list what you had like showing off a shiney new toy to your friends. It doesn’t seem important to the post. I think that’s why the original commenter spoke up.
I think that’s why the original commenter spoke up.
My post was a shoutout to the original poster. I didn’t know who they were, and I wanted advice before making another nearly $300 purchase on coffee-making equipment. I’m glad I posted because I almost bought an electric grinder when a manual one suits my needs better (limited space, single user). At the end of the day, I post for the same reasons you post. I’m sorry you didn’t like it.
I’ll start. I use a popular midrange espresso machine to grind whole beans just before use each time. I also only buy local, freshly roasted coffee beans. In my city, there are a half a dozen great places to buy them, but coffee is subjective, so my favorite won’t be yours.
I buy shitty local brand and they taste like shit because they’re the cheap kind. I cover up the flavor with sugar and milk.
Except when I’m not poor. And then I buy from my friends who source truly delicious beans and I savor it unsullied
It’s funny, some of my favorite espresso ends up not teasing good in the lattes I tend to favor (sweet cream, vanilla bean.) Part of the fun in coffee is finding flavor pairings. One type and one method is never the best. The same goes for brands, though you do often get what you pay for to some degree.
My guy, going from Zero to 100 so fast. Love to see it.
Food for though on grinders: How much coffee are you going to be grinding at once? Do you need an electric grinder?
The are very good manual grinders that will produce as good if not better results for half the price of the Ode.
I own a C40 Mk4 Nitro Blade seen here And I absolutely love it. The ritual of cranking the beans through the grinder is kinda therapeutic for me.Regarding beans please do not stop at this one brand.
For me, the magic of specialty coffee is just how different a cup of Guji Ethiopian coffee can taste from a Brazilian coffee.
Find some local specialty roaster and start sampling the expansive world of coffee.Welcome to the club, it’s great to have you.
Hey, thanks for the great advice! I’m definitely leaning towards a manual grinder now, especially since I don’t need to grind a lot at once. 15g-30g per day I think.
And you’re absolutely right about exploring different beans. I’ll start looking for a local roaster. Really appreciate the tips, and I’m excited to be part of the club! 🙌🏼☕
It takes like, 30 seconds to put my 11 gram dose through my grinder on a medium, filter coffee setting (25 clicks on the Comondante)
I was worried when I started that it would be a massive hassle, but it’s really not (in my opinion, experience is subjective :p)If you haven’t found him already Mr James Hoffman on YouTube is an insanely knowledge and engaging resource on all things coffee.
Lots of excellent watching there to help you start out on your coffee journey.That’s cool; I’ve actually seen this guy before. I wrote down a pour-over recipe from him once. It’s 15g with a 1:16.7 brew ratio at 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
I’ve noticed both you and another person mention drinking 11g. Is that with approximately the same brew ratio as above, or am I completely off?
May be a different kit? I use an Aeropress and follow a recipe of 11g grounds to 200ml water.
I don’t have a V60 (yet ;) ) and haven’t read up about the ratios there.
But it’s likely to be different, as the Aeropress is an immersion brewer, while the V60 is a percolation brewer.
Oh, that makes sense. Thanks.
I like my Baratza ESP grinder, but only because I also have the bellow attachment. Whatever you end up with don’t forget the water spritzer to spray the beans before grinding. Also, you’ll need a kitchen scale if you don’t have one.
I think it would take me months to go through 3lbs of coffee as I only use one cup a day, which is only 11g of coffee.
I just started doing a wetted butter knife through my beans before I grind them and it seems to work pretty well! I use a Baratza Encore that I upgraded the burr in.
Fancy. What burr upgrade did you pick up? I haven’t used mine enough to need this, but could order and have it laying around for future me.
Same here. I just did the math, and it would take me 45 to 91 days to go through this whole bag. I’m glad I like it so much! Lol
I might be going with a manual grinder now, especially since I’m limited on space, but I’ll look into getting a spritzer too.
I could have gone with a manual, since it’s only one cup a day, but I know myself and would quickly be annoyed with the grinding process. Also, there is maybe twice a year I need to brew coffee when people come over. Does the grinder take space? Yes. It’s like the size of a small blender. I put it in the dead corner of the counter top.
Let us know what you end up with. I may get a manual for travel fun.
What’s your coffee consumption like?
About two cups daily.
Then I would agree that’s definitely a good purchase considering g how long to will last you 😊 Enjoy!
Thanks 😋
Something you may find is that your coffee will lose flavor over time - for example, we get 2lb/month from a local roaster (usually ~2 days off roast) and there is a noticeable (to me) decrease in flavor by the end of the month.
If that’s your experience as well, you can try buying smaller quantities, using a vacuum jar to store coffee, or freezing the bulk of the coffee and only taking out what you need for a shorter period (read up on best ways to freeze coffee first).
I bought myself an expensive 1zpresso hand grinder last year and I wish I’d done so sooner. I brew Aeropress and v60 pour over 99% of the time and having a really good grinder just makes both that much better. The Hario skerton I used for years was incredibly inconsistent by comparison. Anyway, get yourself a good grinder.
Thanks, someone else mentioned hand grinders too. I’ll compare some of them later on tonight. These all seem like really great suggestions!
It’s good to have a variety of brew methods available. I have my V60 and my French Press, but during the week my mornings get busy and I can easily polish off a pot on my own so I opt for my Moccamaster. It makes a solid clean cup.
I’m curious how this compares to the New Mexico Piñon Coffee Company’s coffee.
Probably the same. I think it’s more about the Piñon than who makes it. I was already a huge fan of hazelnut. I could be way off though.
It’s tamer, in my experience. I thought the NM Piñon one was somewhat artificial tasting. Could be because I’m not a fan of their coffee in general, though.
Edit: looking into it, it might actually be because the NM Piñon one actually includes flavoring, whereas the Rio Grande one does not. Neat.
Is there a Piñon coffee you’d recommend? Love the taste of the NMCC, but hey, if there’s better, I’m all for it.
I actually would recommend the Rio Grande one! It’s solid, and more well balanced, I feel. Also a little nostalgic because that’s what my parents drink. It also smells like dark chocolate and piñon when it’s brewing so it adds a little magic to the morning.
Man, now I’m torn. The Rio Grande is actually made Back East these days , as opposed to Albuquerque. But I’m going to give it a shot. Thanks!
Good to know. Thanks!
For some reason, that image reminded me of:
It tastes like that too!
K now I’m sold too. Going to buy some now.
I would be too if it was available here
For other beans, I absolutely love CxffeeBlack. Their GujiMane is a winner, but I haven’t had a bad roast from them.
If you want to mix things up, look at getting a Hario Switch for an immersive brewer.
I have not tried them, but the writing on the CxffeeBlack website makes me feel so old:
A limited release honey process joint from the homie “Big MAMO”. This mug is crazy. Don’t sleep 🔥🔥🔥
Haha, yeah… As someone in their 40s, I get that.
fr, fr - I got you, fam
Just bought a couple of their 4oz coffees, thanks for the suggestion. The Gera Honey dark roast I have high hopes for since I hate light roasts but I don’t really understand what the fuck they’re taking about on their product pages. All I understood was dark roast so I’ll giveit a shot.
And on the total opposite side from the neo-African coffee roaster you suggested, Harrio has the hipsteriest hipster pictured on the Switch product page. Instantly made me hate the product with absolutely no basis for that opinion. Interesting dichotomy of suggestions, 9/10 would look at again.
I definitely have a wide range of weird coffee stuff/likes.
I bought the Hario Switch at a crate and barrel (first time ever in that store, but they had it in stock). I mostly picked it up because it’s dual purpose unlike pretty much any other coffee thing I have - it’ll do both immersive brewing and pour over, and it breaks down for travel fairly easily (I have a little pelican case that holds three brewer, a hand grinder, and filters).
I’m super glad you liked it! I was pretty confident it would be loved when I suggested it a while back. I’m sitting here enjoying a delightful cup of it right now.
Thanks for the tip. You were right. I never knew coffee could be like this. Do you add anything to it? Are there any others like this you could recommend?
If you don’t plan on getting into the expensive espresso habit then the Ode 2 is an excellent grinder for pour over. You’d have to spend a lot more to get significant improvements.
If you don’t have a scale, make sure you get one ASAP. It doesn’t have to be one of the special “coffee” scales. A simple digital kitchen scale that reads in 0.1g increments is good enough.
Just to add, having the timer on the scale is very handy. I got a cheap Chinese-made one for like US$2.
That magenta though…
I live in New Mexico and love pinon coffee. If you want to try another this is the one I buy. New Mexico Pinon Coffee is the brand name too lol.
Thanks, I love the variety!
Oh man! I saw that post too and have it on my wishlist but I have been dragging my feet on purchasing. Looks like I’m checking out today! Haha. As for your question, I picked up a Varia VS3 (2nd gen) grinder with the upgraded burrs and I love it!
It tastes like chocolate and nuts, which I’m really into.
The Varia VS3 looks interesting. It can do espresso grinds, which I want to get into someday, and I love expensive pre-orders. It’s about the same price as the C40 Mk4 Nitro Blade too. This is going to be a tough choice, lol.
In addition to a scale, a vacuum jar. Storing your coffee right helps. With the right container, even ground coffee will last a month.
for me trying out different beans from specialty coffee shops is part of the experience. They’re almost always high quality but diversity of origin, farm and roast offer lots of depth
