WGOM Advice

Tools of the Trade: Coffee

34 Comments

I initially thought about simply raising this question in the Cup of Coffee. I like a good, strong Cup, so extracting a conversation from the post wasn't something I did lightly. But then I got thinking about all the times I've tried looking for a particular recommendation in a particular thread in the Cup. Sometimes I find it, sometimes I don't. So I thought it was a good idea to feature an occasional stand-alone post on the tools we use to make our hobbies – drinking coffee, homebrewing, cooking, vehicle repair, home improvement, photography, whatever – more enjoyable. Let's collect all the WGOM's best hobbyist practices in one place.

We've been using French presses here at Chez Hayes for years, and for the most part we love the coffee we get from them. My two gripes about French presses are the lack of insulation, which makes it difficult to linger over a cup if you know you'll want a second one, and the thin, brittle glass of the carafe/beaker common to many brands, which is a hazard when combined with slippery dish soap. After several years of good service our (third?) Bodum Chambord broke when Mrs. Hayes was washing it.

I don't mind getting another French press knowing that the glass is going to break at some point. But given this opportunity, I'm thinking about my coffee-making options. I've considered trying an AeroPress, but an AeroPress isn't a solution when you're making coffee for a small group of friends after supper. We have a very serviceable 12-cup percolator (thanks, Michael Ruhlman!) for entertaining larger groups, so what we really need now is something that can make good coffee for 2-4 people.

A further wrinkle: Mrs. Hayes isn't interested in anything too fiddly. Whatever we get has to be fairly straightforward to use. Neither of us can stand the taste of microwaved coffee, which probably rules out cold brewing (which might be too fussy for one of us, anyway).

So, do we keep using a French press and accepting the two-year replacement cycle? What other brewing methods are you folks using?

34 thoughts on “Tools of the Trade: Coffee”

  1. We own a Bodum Brazil French Press (our 2nd), but only have time to use it on the weekends. We first had French Press coffee on our honeymoon and much prefer the flavor to drip. It appears that both the Brazil and Chambord are available with less delicate beakers - stainless and BPA-free plastic respectively. Something to consider though it doesn't necessarily help with the lack of insulation.

    I can't recall if I've ever had percolated coffee, but auto-drip works for our busy lives. Our big thing is buying good coffee, rather than inexpensive stuff, and going whole-bean for the weekend French Press. I can't/don't want to afford coffee house prices and my office has good coffee in the break room, so we purchase quality stuff for the drive to work.

    We've gone through about 4 different styles of auto-drip and have settled on this model from Hamilton Beach. It's convenient, easy to use, keeps warm for hours with minimal "overdone" or "burnt" taste (even at the end) and seems to address the issues we had with the previous 4.

    1. Our big thing is buying good coffee, rather than inexpensive stuff, and going whole-bean for the weekend French Press.

      Why not go whole bean for both? I really only make coffee on the weekends, but sometimes I'm lazy on a Sunday morning and don't want to go through the french press process. I got one of these as a wedding guest and it works great. I set the grind to whatever size I need depending on whether I'm French Pressing or auto-dripping and I'm off.

      1. We have a grinder, not as nice as that one you've got, but make use of it on weekends. Grinding during the week is a non-starter in my house. I'd rather sleep 2 extra minutes than grind coffee.

        1. the wife grinds the evening before as she sets up HER coffee maker for the next morning. Not as good as just-in-time grinding, but certainly no worse than grinding beans at the store.

  2. Neither of us can stand the taste of microwaved coffee, which probably rules out cold brewing (which might be too fussy for one of us, anyway)

    I like to use the bS method of French Press cold-brewing: Grind coffee as normal the morning before, place into Press as normal, add cold water and let sit for 12-24 hours. Not fussy at all and I find that, even microwaved, it tastes better than a hot brew. Now, that does you no good when it comes to making after dinner coffee, and your mileage on the microwaving part may vary, but it eliminates the insulation problem.

    1. hey, an endorsement!

      I swear by the cold-brew method. It makes a rich, smooth, low-acid coffee. Three minutes (or 2.5 minutes) in the microwave to heat it up and it still tastes great.

      I also have a coffee toddy, but rarely use it. I don't think it yields as flavorful a brew as cold-brewing in the french press.

      For crowds, I got no answer.

      1. I've been hawking your method since you introduced it. I can't get any takers in real life, but I've been trying.

      2. I've yet to try this, despite promising myself I would after the last round of coffee prep discussions. Tonight!

      3. I may give this a try. Fortunately, I won't have to worry about the taste of microwaved coffee when I reheat it, as we have no microwave. Perhaps a gentle stovetop reheating will not break down the coffee the way the nuke box does.

        1. another approach is to cold-brew at double strength, then do half coffee, half boiling water.

        2. also, CH, as a further endorsement from a mutual friend (or at least BookFace friend), my co-Alma Mater-er Kirstin took up my clarion call and now swears by the cold brewing method.

    1. In case it wasn't clear above, I should add that I'm hoping this becomes a collaborative series addressing the diverse interests of the citizenry.

    2. Yes!

      ...I've tried looking for a particular recommendation in a particular thread in the Cup. Sometimes I find it, sometimes I don't.

      Me too. I wish I had time to go back and collect them all: cars, beers, televisions, DVD players, cell phones, cell phone providers, laptops, e-readers, etc. (like an indexed Our Features) but they're usually so spontaneous that they're hard to locate within the daily Cups and I don't have the research skills of some around here.

      1. Our Advice perhaps. I could backdate a post in a category or tag that includes advice/tip threads people found useful.

        4. Is it possible to add a macro or summat to the comment command options to allow Citizens to self-tag specific comments? Or is that too convoluted?

          1. If you added a unique string of text then it could be searched. That's about the only thing I can think of. Said string of text could be a short tag to keep it from being visible.

            1. so a button that added <p-style="font-size:1%">StickList</p> like this:

              StickList

              ??

              (I bumped the actual up to 15 pct so that something would be visible)

                1. so, invisible text shows on the sidebar, but you can't find the text string in the thread with a search? Huh.

        2. I'm not sure who all has back-end access, but I have even better luck searching through the WordPress dashboard.

          1. that's what I usually do, but it requires certain super powers. Pepper's reminder about google site searching is probably the way to go, pending sean's magicks.

  4. CH: I missed this post earlier, but I wanted to point you to this. It's $99, which is kind of steep, but you don't have to break too many of the glass presses to make it pay. Plus, 51 oz. and insulated.

    I have contemplated this several times, but have never pulled the trigger.

    1. Ooh. On the speedy side, so I may have to clear a few paychecks first. But it sure fits the bill.

  5. CH, as a someone formally in the coffee business, may I humbly suggest a Chemex for you 4-6 person needs. Pour over on a larger scale.

    1. Crazy. I just read this article and came here to share something which was new to me...."pour over" coffee.

      I’ve always opted for unplugged, no-think, early-morning ways to brew. That’s why in my book The Joy of Coffee I advocate manual drip, a simple version of what today’s shops call “the pour-over”—and what I call “the agonizing pour-over.” My method involves putting grounds into a metal filter (which lets through more flavor than a paper filter), evenly pouring a small amount of hot water over the grounds to thoroughly wet them, and then letting the flavors “bloom” for 15 to 30 seconds or so before pouring the rest of the water over the wet grounds in a slow but steady stream. Simplicity itself, even if the hot-water-to-grounds ratios for different amounts of brewed coffee that I recommend in the book took weeks to work out.

    2. I've been curious about Chemex for a while. It's similar to a pour over, no? I think I've mainly avoided that style because of the paper filters - they just seem antithetical to the experience I've come to think of as "good coffee."

    3. Hmm, them Chemexs (Chemexes?) look really interesting, actually. The pour over's been getting a lot of use lately, and one of those could be a nice upgrade.

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