Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Been pulling shots at an indie shop for a couple years now and somewhere along the way my whole home routine shifted in ways I didn't expect. It's not about gear upgrades or anything like that. It's more about patience, I think. You spend eight hours dialing in grind size and paying attention to every variable, and then you get home and suddenly just dunking grounds in a French press feels almost meditative by comparison. The pressure is gone and you can just let it be a cup of coffee again

The weird flip side is I've gotten more critical too. There's a local roaster I loved before I started this job and now I notice things in their bags that I can't unknow. A little too much roast development on what's supposed to be a light, stuff like that. Not sure if that's a gift or a curse honestly

Just wondering if anyone else works in coffee, or even just spends a lot of time with it, and found that the relationship to your home cup shifted. Whether it got better or just got more complicated. My coworkers seem split on it and I keep going back and forth myself

Brewed Awakening is a small roastery on SE Division Street that serves amazing single-origin pour-overs.

I'm very new to coffee and I'd like to know your preference in purchasing roasted coffee beans. To what extent do you consider the traceability of coffee beans before you decide to buy it since many roasters in Indonesia—as far as I know—rarely include any information related to the farm or producer of the beans, which deters me to proceed my purchase since I believe that letting people know the farm and producer are important to value their work/effort in cultivating the beans. If such information is absent from the website or the package, would you still buy it, or it actually doesn't matter that much?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

With the second screenshot i think i understand vaguely about what people are angry, but it seems strange to find infos only on random post instagram ? I will not say i don't trust the SCA can't be an evil association, but do you have any trustable sources or is this just ramble from some people ? Thanks in advance

Edit: To clarify this refers to the Nanofoamer Pro.

Hi! I am posting this for anyone else who has this product to be aware of a design flaw that represents a possible hygiene risk. I am not qualified to say how much so: and this may be something that bothers some people more than others. I can only say it's something I've found.

The issue relates to the mesh screen.

The screen disassembles from the impeller to facilitate cleaning. However: the mesh screen itself does not disassemble - and herein lies the problem.

Over time, small amounts of milk work there way inside the plastic housing where the mesh meets the plastic on the inside. Once inside, the milk cannot escape. You can imagine what then happens over a period of time.

I found out when mine failed: a plastic seam on the outside peeled open, and inside was revealed a smelly load of brown and black sludge which started to ooze out.

I've since cleaned most out, but you can still see some of it in the picture.

So far: the response from the manufacturer is to replace the mesh screen every six months. However, this wasn't clear when purchasing that this is a "consumable" part of the product. I have been using this for two years: that's two years of milk buildup that I would have otherwise have no way of being able to clean.

So: if you have one of these, you may appreciate being aware and knowing you should replace your screen frequently to avoid the build up.

If you don't have one yet, and were planning to: I hope this was useful to be aware of.

I made a batch of cold brew a while back that I swear produced some crema (like in espresso) which I didn't think was possible. I tried repeating and replicating my process since but to avail. I have since switched to matcha since my process for that is a lot quicker, but I've been craving more caffeine, and I'm almost obsessed with getting it thicker and thicker. So, I had the thought to add a bit of concentrate to it, but I want that crema to go along with it. I'm currently watching Fast X, vroom vroom.

tl;dr does anybody know a method of cold brewing that produces crema?

Hey coffee people, I’ve been using my 25 cup drip tower for a few years and have seen a few other uses in my time such as dripping alcohol over botanicals ect.

What are some cool ideas you have seen/ tried?

Working at an indie shop and the shift has been gradual but it's very noticeable now. A year ago I could describe a washed Ethiopian and people would nod along, grab it, happy days. Now there's this whole new wave of regulars who come in specifically hunting for cofermented or anaerobic lots, and they have vocabulary that honestly surprised me the first few times I heard it across the counter.

It's made my job more interesting in a way I didn't expect. Explaining a cofermented natural, the ones processed with added fruit or specific yeast strains, used to feel like a weird niche conversation. Now it opens up a twentyminute chat about fermentation as a craft, which I'm very much here for given how much that overlaps with things like botanical processes and microbiology.

What I'm genuinely curious about is whether this trend reads differently to people who are sourcing or roasting versus those of us just serving it. From behind the bar it feels like it's reshaping customer expectations around what coffee is allowed to taste like, which is a fairly big deal. Are roasters finding that these lots are easier or harder to work with compared to a conventional natural? And is the flavour profile landing the way producers are intending it to, or does something get lost by the time it hits a brew bar?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I am confused about what refractometers do for you.

I have been looking at some threads on here that criticise refractometers because they don't actually measure specific gravity, which they say is what is needed to calculate TDS.

Surely calculating density is relatively easy. Put 100mL of beverage in a cup and weigh it.

BUT once you have density, how do you find/calculate the TDS?

For that matter, even if you have refractive index how do you get TDS?

Hello everyone,

I’m currently building a very small barbershop and I’m looking for a nice-looking espresso machine to enhance my service and also the look and atmosphere of the shop.

I like everything chrome-looking, and my budget for the machine alone is around €1,000. I’ve seen a lot of reviews online, but they all seem to be tailored towards home use, so I’m not really sure what would be the best choice for me.

Here are a few things I’m looking for in a coffee machine:

• It should be able to run all day (I could turn it off during lunch time).
• It should handle both espresso and steaming milk.
• It should be easy to use. Good coffee is important, but it’s a barbershop, so I’m not going full-on barista with this one.
• I don’t have much time to spare.

I’ve got some experience with a very nice machine from the last shop I worked at. It was a Rocket Boxer, I believe — obviously quite fancy for a barbershop.

I don’t need something that big or fancy, since at the end of the day, I’m a barber, not a barista. I basically just want a nice machine as a little extra, so my clients feel like they’re getting a bit more bang for their buck.

So, what would you recommend?

I oredered a kilo of medium roast arabica from my go-to roaster (like i do every month) and it turned out to be a bad batch, bad enough that even my sister's husband who often drinks black nescafe could feels the excess bitterness in the coffee. I emailed the roaster and they immediately sent a fresh raost by air courirer. The new coffee tastes good, like usual.

What to do with the old bag of coffee I have? It's almost a kilo. I use an aeropress and follow james hoffman's recipies for black as well as milk based drinks. The old one tastes watery (lack of body), too bitter and like dark roasted robusta.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

How good or bad was coffee for a soldier during that time? How good or bad was coffee in general? I wish there was a way to try it.

I’m recently laid off and considering opening a cafe near me.

I’ve got 6 years as a barista and 4 of them as a cafe manager.

Problem is I’m not sure what it would take to succeed.

I know the basics and have a solid business plan but, what makes a cafe stand out to you?

Why do you want to keep going back where you do?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Fellow coffee enthusiasts, help me settle a debate/inquiry amongst friends.

I'm in my mid-thirties and remember growing up only drinking hot coffee. Sure there were Starbucks frappuccinos and Tim Horton's ice capps, but no one was walking around drinking iced coffee or cold brew. As I remember it, this was a more recent thing (in the last decade). When I look at the people in my life, friends, family, etc. who are in their 40's+ they mainly drink hot coffee. The people who are younger, still in their twenties, pretty much exclusively drink iced coffee or cold brew.

When I was in college in the early 2010's, we drank hot coffee--I don't recall iced coffee at all.

So--what was your experience?

Was cold brew/iced coffee a thing in the early 2010's and I just don't remember it? Is this whole 'always cold brew all year' thing a more recent thing? Or am I just losing my memory with age (ha)?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

I have heretofore been measuring water and beans on a food scale. Good enough for government work...or so I thought. One gram resolution, wide surface--thought it was good.

Then I got a espresso machine, and while waiting to set everything up, kept hearing about these little scales just for coffeemaking. So being gear-addicted, I purchased a decent one off of Amazon, 0.1g resolution, timer, rechargeable. I use it with my main coffee production workflow, a hand-grinder and an Aeropress.

MY GOD, PEOPLE. For some reason, my coffee is more potent and tastier, and having a timer on the scale (versus glancing at my watch, that I hopefully did when the brew started) has been more convenient than I thought it would be.

Yes, I know this sounds elementary: "measuring stuff precisely yields results" isn't a real shocker. But tasting the difference is one. To anyone thinking that such an accessory is just an affectation or being "extra", or acquiring gear for no good reason--shitty non-for-purpose equipment, or "just eyeballing it" is limiting you.

That is all.

Hey everyone, I’m living in the United States right now i’m looking for where I can buy some kopi luwak in San Fran. I don’t really care about the ethical aspects of the coffee I just want to know a regular supplier. Thanks everyone