/ck/ - Food & Cooking

While somone's talking about them, does anyone know where I can find a timer small enough to mount to a french press?

>1) Does that desirable french press brew's thickness necessarily come from the grounds that make it through the filter (generally considered undesirable)?

Thickness comes from how long you let it brew in the press. The longer it sits, the thicker it'll get. How thick you want it is up to individual preference.

>2) Are burr grinders really that necessary?
Depends on what you're doing, but in general a good conical burr grinder will make any coffee taste noticeably better than blade ground coffee.

If you're just brewing a regular cup, a burr grinder is nice but not essential. Additionally you don't need a high end burr grinder since your grind size is generally going to be coarser - a $40 Mr. Coffee burr grinder will give better results than a blade here, for example.

For something like a shot where you need very fine, very consistent grounds, you absolutely need a good burr grinder or your pull is going to taste like ass.

>I brew something like 1:15 coffee/water, just using a level coffee scoop.
The 'golden ratio' for coffee is general 1:17, but again that's up to individual taste. Counter intuitively, less grounds = stronger cup (less grounds means each ground spends more time completely immersed, increasing overall extraction time) so if that's you thing a lower ratio is fine. If you want something more balanced or acidic, increase the ratio to around 1:17-18.

>>6438999
Huh. are you not using it in the kitchen, or without a phone/watch? I'd assume The Google knows. It's probably just a matter of refining your search.

>>6439000
>1)
Thing is, I had that nice thick texture(?) when I didn't sift out the dust. So it's looking very much to me like that powder is what thickens up the brew. I brew for 4 minutes, stirring the bloom back into the rest after ~30 seconds. What kind of range of time would you say I should play with?

>2)
If anything I'd get one of those Hario manual ones that go for like $30. They seem to be thought of as the best options without going full barista mode. Interestingly though, I've always read that they give pretty consistent fines, but the courser settings are where they get a little shaky. As for the coffee ratio, since I don't measure with a digital scale (again, not quite convinced it's all that necessary) I'm just estimating by what people say of a level Tbsp being about 5g. On that note, might as well add a...

3) What is the point of using a digital scale for super precise measurements, when you will need to experiment once or twice with an unfamiliar roast anyways, and afterward will already know how to adjust it to taste?

I'm due to make another batch in a little while, so if anyone has some good tips I'd be willing to try them.

i put table cream in my americano, so i dont really notice anything youre talking about

i grind my beans on medium-fine, and use a faema espresso machine

>>6439000
I tend to go 1:15 like this

https://vimeo.com/channels/369043/46612013

>>6438999
>>6439000
checked

Since there's no real local coffee suppliers where I am, I've always had to buy beans at Starbucks (their various medium roasts, sometimes Sumatra which says it's slightly dark). More recently we got a Fresh Market in town, and I was excited to try something else. Been trying some Intelligentsia & Counter Culture roasts, but they seem undercooked. Acidic, too light, and not satisfying to me. Even Starbucks' blonde roasts were more substantial than these. I'm getting frustrated because none of these other companies give me any information about what kind of roast is in the damn bag - aside from the flowery language their marketing team farts out. What commonly available roasters out in the southeast offer something closer to what I'm looking for?

Also, still really interested in the questions from >>6438965
& >>6439017

>>6439440
>i enjoy dark roasted coffee

everyone in the coffee scene knows light/light-medium is the way to go

>>6439447
*medium
0/8

>>6439447
normal people know that everyones tastes vary and people like different things