As I mentioned in a previous post – I get asked this question quite a lot. So for the month of January I logged every cup of coffee I drank, using a splendid website called Daytum.
So – how many coffees? In January I drank 126 cups, so on average a daily consumption of 4.1
Below is a quick breakdown of my consumption, as well as an explanation of what was logged, and what wasn’t.
Footnotes:
At the London Gastronomy Seminars I was given a Mypressi Twist to play with by the UK distributor. I had been toying with buying one having seen the hype online, so this was a rather pleasant surprise.
I didn’t really get a chance to play with it til yesterday afternoon. I’ve played with it some more today and this is just a quick summary of my thoughts and what I think is particularly interesting about it.
First off – it makes pretty good espresso. I know I am hardly the first person to make this observation, but I think everyone who tries it is pleasantly surprised. I think with a few adjustments to technique then you can get something better than any espresso machine in its price bracket, or up to two or three times its price. If you like milk drinks though – then this may not appeal to you. (more…)
A rather splendid new website launched today, and I think it is a great idea and potentially very, very useful for us all.
It is called Brew Methods and I strongly suggest you visit, bookmark and begin sending the link to everyone you know.
You can read more about it by its creators on cleanhotdry, but the premise is simple – a single place online you can send anyone who wants to know more about brewing coffee, and there they will find links to various different tutorials, write-ups and videos.
There is also a submission form so you can help increase the amount of knowledge aggregated there.
Outstanding!
I didn’t do very much this Christmas. (It was wonderful.) I did, however, do something that I almost never do: make coffee at home.
I don’t make much coffee at home for a lot of reasons – I work a lot, I have lots of lovely coffee and equipment at the roastery a mere half mile away, and sometimes its nice to be at home and not do anything related to work. Christmas was different, I made coffee at least once a day with some basic kit: a hario skerton hand grinder, a v60, a standard electric kettle. What did I learn?
Back in 2006 I published a recommended reading list. Since that time my collection of books has (worryingly) increased so I thought I should probably update it. I could easily write a list of coffee books that one should avoid (having learned the hard way) but I suspect that would get me into rather a lot of trouble, so I shall leave that for now. I’ve broken it down into two parts and then down into sections, and have indicated which are nice to have, and which I would consider are essential on that subject.
I will try and keep this one updated – if you think I’ve missed something obvious then let me know. I haven’t recommended books I don’t own, so this means some books may be missing that you would expect to see here.
These tips probably apply more to a commercial environment than a domestic one, but hopefully there are some useful reminders for anyone in here.
We’ve all ended up chasing an espresso, somehow a delicious espresso remaining elusive. These may seem obvious but all get overlooked from time to time. (more…)
This, shockingly enough, isn’t about espresso. It is about brewed coffee, and the fact that brew temperature is completely wrecking my head. We talk a lot about brew temperature but what we are really talking about is water delivery temperature.
I love my Uber boiler, I love the control and the delivery temp stability. With this, however, has come the painful and embarrassing realisation that it doesn’t matter. Alright, that is perhaps an overstatement – temperature has massive influence on the quality of the brew, that is undeniable. I may love the control of the Uber, but having a consistent and controllable temperature really just shifts the problem from the exit spout to the vessel underneath.