Cupping is something that occupies a constant pocket of my mind – the process, the purpose, the results and everything in between. Like many people who often fall in love with coffees on the cupping table I also like full immersion brewing a lot. Often that means the french press.

Cupping, as a brew method, seems to break the rules. While the brewing process is likely slowed quite a lot by the break and clean part of the process (the stir at around 4 minutes), there is still ground coffee and water sat together for 30 minutes or so. And at the end of that 30 minutes some coffees taste utterly fantastic.

If you ask most people how they grind for press, compared to cupping, they’ll say coarser. This doesn’t seem to make sense. The main part of the brew is done in a similar time – 4 minutes – and with a press pot we separate the liquid from the grounds pretty early on. How are we going to get a cup as good as the bowl when the grind is coarser and the total brew time shorter.

I wondered if the agitation of the pressing action played a part – and with traditionally brewed press pots I think it does. If you haven’t stirred and scooped the foam off then there is probably lots of ground coffee that suffers some form of percolation as the screen moves it through the liquid coffee to the bottom of the press.

So today I did a little experiment. I brewed two press pots:

The first was brewed as I usually do: 60g/l (in this case it was 24g/400g water), 4 minutes, break and clean, press and then after a minute or so I served/decanted. The grind was a little coarser than cupping (2 steps on our VTA6).

The second I treated like a cupping bowl. Cupping grind, 4 minutes, break and clean and then I left it sitting there for 10 minutes (around the time a cupping bowl starts to get really tasty). When it was time to pour I put the strainer in but didn’t plunge – I just poured it through the mesh.

I then served everyone in the roastery a sample of each in a simple blind tasting. The french press method had a higher acidity, juicier perhaps, but at the expense of some sweetness, balance and mouthfeel. 5 to 1 went with the cupping method.

For those who delight in the details I also finished up by running the numbers. The french press method had squeaked in a little over 16% extraction. The cupping bowl a little over 18%.

There were a few take home lessons:

- We’ve been underextracting most of our french press brews. With good coffee they are pretty tasty, but this needs to be fixed. Our french press grind now matches our cupping grind.
- This test would have been more interesting had I used the same grind for both presspots. I will run that one tomorrow or next week.
- It is really hard to overextract a french press when it comes to brew time. I used to firmly believe in decanting as soon as possible. I can no longer justify that idea.
- The Honduran CoE lot from Cafe Grumpy was tasty despite our mistakes. (Always fun to test with interesting coffees!) I think I’ve said before that very delicious coffees can sometimes remove the incentive to keep experimenting.
- I need to test the effects of agitation through pressing, as most people don’t do the break and clean when drinking coffee at home.
- I need to test the difference between a 4 minute, 5 minute and 6 minute brew/break time.
- French press now might be the ultimate lazy way to make coffee.

I bought the apps as soon as I saw David’s post about them – I had known something was coming for a little while, but had just been a bit smothered in work stuff.

So far I have to say it’s great.  What has been most useful has been the ability to save and email recipes with notes about the coffee – something that I really need right now!  I’ve been working on syphons quite a lot recently, trying to find the simplest route to tastiness.  The geek in me loves complex technique, but a bigger part of me likes elegent, simple solutions – not just from an aesthetic point of view but also for repeatability.

I’ve been trying to do some cupping bowl experiments, but I’ve found this much trickier – there is continued extraction after the break, so the question is (in my head): when do we want a cupping bowl to hit its peak of extraction?  Just after the break? At 10 minutes? At 20?  I’ve pretty much discounted my previous cupping bowl tests, as my methodology was stupid – but I plan to repeat the experiment after SCAA – will post anything interesting I get from the results. Along with a big post about cupping in general that I keep meaning to write.

I’ve gotten off topic a bit – the iPhone app is great, the new bundle means the entry price point has come down and metering both espresso and brewed coffee is cheaper too.  This is a good thing – my only complaint: you can’t buy apps for other people.  It would be nice if you could buy the app for staff – but this is Apple’s fault, not Vince’s!

MojoToGo

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.

This is quite a large post so if you want to skip down just click on the relevant section:

Part 1:

Espresso Preparation
Coffee History
Coffee Science
Coffee Origins

Part 2:

Coffee Growing
Coffee Roasting
Coffee Equipment
Hard to find/Rare Books

Espresso Preparaion

The Professional Barista’s Handbook – Scott Rao [Essential]

It often feels like no one is writing books on coffee any more, but this was a breath of fresh air. Detailed information on technique and theory, some new ideas well presented and written with an open mind.

Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques – David Schomer [Essential]

I don’t think I know many coffee professionals who haven’t read this book. Whether you agree with some of his ideas, or his strict opinions on espresso preparation, you have to acknowledge the influence of both Schomer and his book. I read it twice through in one sitting when it first arrived, and it felt good to finally have a book that went some way to quenching my thirst for knowledge.

Technique may have moved on, but I think this will be a good and useful read for many more years.

Espresso Italiano Speciailist – Luigi Odello [Nice to have]

We often, as an industry, romanticise Italian Espresso while trying to do something totally different with our espresso set up. This is a great book for understanding where Italian Espresso is now, to get an idea of how it is seen and defined in Italy. There may be lots to disagree with, but there is also a lot of what we do put into better context.

Coffee History

Black Gold – Anthony Wild [Essential]

I will admit that this isn’t the liveliest book on coffee, and its approach to coffee trade and Fair Trade in particular are somewhat frustrating. To some extent it is a product of the time it was written in.

What makes this book valuable is the quality of research that went into it. This wasn’t a case of the author just spouting and regurgitating coffee’s history. Myths are debunked, accurate dates and events are given. This was particularly useful for me when trying to understand the real timeline for coffee’s spread across the globe – as both drink and crop.

Heavy reading but worth it.

Uncommon Grounds – Mark Pendergrast [Essential]

Very much a US-centric history of coffee, but nonethless still very interesting. Valuable again due to the quality of its research and the fact that the author came to clearly know and love his subject.

The Coffee-House: A Cultural History – Markman Ellis [Nice to have]

There are a number of good books on the coffeehouses of old – I also particularly like Anthony Clayton’s london centric one, as well as Ulla Heise’s more general book on European ones. This is a great overview, even if there is a little bit more detail in other texts. The coffee house society is something I find particularly fascinating, perhaps because I’d like to see a lot of that culture make a return!

Also recommended:

The Devil’s Cup – Stewart Lee Allen

Coffee – H.E. Jacob

Coffee Science

Espresso Coffee: The Science of Quality – Viani & Illy [Essential]

No great surprise here, but then no one has published anything that is both as broad and concise. A great wealth of information on coffee and espresso, from agronomy to roasting to tasting. And this is just the stuff the chose to publish – have no doubts that there is plenty they aren’t releasing. An amazing company, no matter what you think of the coffee. (Assuming you’ve had it fresh!)

Coffee: Recent Developments – Clarke & Vitzthum [Essential]

Following on from the Illy book, this is a pretty hardcore text but I consult it often when looking for specific research. It covers everything from instant coffee to espresso (though is woefully light on other brewing methods). It briefly appeared on Scribd but I think it has disappeared since.

Coffee Flavor Chemistry – Ivon Flament [Nice to have]

The title is at once completely accurate and slightly misleading. This book is essentially a reference text cataloguing the individual aromatic compounds found in both green and roasted coffee. It should be deeply boring, and I suppose it is. I am amazed, however, at both the range of compounds that smell similar as well as the baffling complexity of coffee. Sometimes the extra detail on how they identified which compound, or in which coffee it is often found is very interesting. If pictures of aldehydes sound like a terrible thing then this book is best avoided.

Coffee Volumes 1-6 – R.J.Clarke [Nice to have]

I spent a very long time looking for the complete collection of these 6 books, and if you see anywhere for under £300 then I would advise buying it for no other reason than it would be a great investment. (I am grateful to a blog reader who kindly sent me a link to a scandalously cheap collection). A huge collection of information on just about every aspect of coffee (the volumes are titled, in order: Chemistry, Technology, Physiology, Agronomy, Related Beverages & Commercial and Technological Aspects)

It is perhaps a little outdated, but I still find a great deal of valuable information inside them and I’ve barely dipped a toe.

Coffee Origins

Cafe De El Salvador, Land of Coffee [Essential]

I had to debate whether to put this one in under essential, but as it is my favourite book on origin then I think I have to. I am not sure of the best place to buy this – if anyone has a link please let me know.

I may be a sucker for El Salvador but I think this is one of the most beautifully photographed books on coffee growing, as well as the most detailed. It covers each of El Salvadors growing regions well – in a way that makes me wish I had a book like this for every producing country.

The History of Coffee in Guatemala – Regina Wagner [Essential]

Much like the previous book I wish there were one of these for every producing country.  The level of detail in the history of Guatemalan coffee is superb.

Brown Gold – Andrew Uribe C. [Nice to have]

This probably belongs in the rare and hard to find section, but I do think it is a great book. Written over 50 years ago it offers amazing insight into the world of coffee at that time. The photos are pretty amazing too, but you can ignore the recipes thrown in at the end – I assume they were to make the book more saleable at the time.

Look for Part 2 before new year.  Comments, recommendations or thoughts welcome!

Firstly I needed to load up on snow.  I was surprised how much I needed to get the required weight.  I melted it first to make sure everything looked ok.  Apparently in Norway they tell kids not to eat snow because it has worms in it.  This snow had no worms in it.

Once boiled we were ready to go.  I chose the Muchoki for this for no sensible reason other than I haven’t had a cup for a few days.  For the sake of nerdiness I stuck a TDS meter in it before it got hot.  20ppm – assuming the meter is reasonably accurate.

I didn’t take any photos of the brewing process, because I was busy… brewing….  (One day I will do a videocast!)

Then we drank it.  It was pretty good, though a touch overextracted.  Huzzah for snow!

1. Yes, yes – I know we are all bored to tears with hearing about Twitter, but sadly we are stuck with it so we might as well embrace it and microblog ourselves into a stupor

At the moment I still can’t give much away, it is nothing to do with espresso, it isn’t a coffee brewer either but I hope it will be great.  I have yet to see a finished unit, and I gather the aesthetic side is still quite open.  I’ll likely be heading over on the 1oth for a quick play with it, and to make coffee for people at the show and to talk about the project a little more.

Like a kid in a candy store…….

I wasn’t trying to recreate espresso with the little brewer – I just wanted to find a way to use it so it made clean, sweet and tasty coffee with no bitterness or astringency.  It took a while and I ended up grinding coarser than even I expected.  There aren’t a lot of good brewing guides around for stove top brewers – but credit to the Stumptown one for ideas and inspiriation.

I am aware that with these videocasts I am not reinventing the wheel – I don’t claim any great originality.  I just want to present methods that are easy and repeatable that have great results.

Let me know what you think:

Videocast #4 – Stove top/Moka Pot from James Hoffmann on Vimeo.

Music:  Half Asleep
by School of Seven Bells, from the record ‘Alpinisms’

Videocast #3 – Chemex/Pourover from James Hoffmann on Vimeo.

For more information there are some notes on the Square Mile blog.

Comments and discussion always welcome.

So – stuck for what to buy the coffee lover in your life?

First off – don’t buy them an espresso machine unless they’ve speicifically asked for one.  Seriously – do NOT buy it.  I started my coffee career off retailing domestic coffee machines, and I know that most end up in a cupboard.  Making espresso is a messy time consuming business, and while the idea of a lazy Sunday morning cappuccino appeals in theory it doesn’t happen in reality.  Pay someone else to make espresso drinks – if the drinks are good they are worth every penny.  This includes bean to cup machines and especially Nespresso machines.  Get that thought out of your head!

So – if not an espresso machine then what?

Grinders

Well – every coffee lover needs a grinder.  If they love coffee but don’t have a proper burr grinder then this is the best possible thing you can buy them.

At the low budget end you have:

Dualit Burr Grinder

Bodum Antigua Burr Grinder

Don’t go cheaper than these for an electric burr grinder.  They are a bit noisy but they do the job across a range of grinds (though some aren’t great at espresso)

In the mid range you have:

KitchenAid Grinder

This is by no means the perfect grinder – but it is quieter, quite pretty and is good value for money.

If they want an espresso grinder then I would suggest heading to a suitable coffee forum like TooMuchCoffee, Coffee Geek or Home-Barista and having a search through which grinders and which vendors are recommended.  (Though please remember to have a good search before posting – chances are someone has already asked the same question!)

Brewers

If they have a grinder then maybe a nice way to brew coffee.  I’ve already waxed lyrical about the Bodum Columbia French presses, because they are beautiful, unbreakable and double walled.  Amazon’s pricing is great (thank god for the New and Used links!)

Bodum Columbia French Presses

I remain fond of my one swiss gold brewer which is the

Bodum Kona

If you really, really feel like treating someone then you could buy them a nice pouring kettle (great for making pourover filter coffee, or Chemex coffee – and VERY hard to find), or maybe a nice Vacpot from they guys at Barismo in the US.  (Don’t forget to scroll down the page to see all the items)

I wish I had some links to some nice Cloth brewers but I don’t!

Coffee

Of course they need something to brew – sorry for the plug but I can’t help but recommend a nice 6 or 12 month subscription (UK only)

Whatever coffee you buy – make sure you buy it as close as possible to Christmas from whichever great coffee roasters is most local to you.

Any suggestions for things I have missed then let me know in the comments and I will update this as soon as I can!

I know I cross posted this on the Square Mile Blog, but I thought I should post it here too. Feedback is always welcome, and yes – I am still totally obsessed with brewing on scales!

Comments are open again!