What’s the best bean sub these days? Did Trade for a bit and it was pretty good…just wondering what else might be out there
Fellow drops has been good for pour overs, definitely better than trade for about the same money. Nice that you can pick and choose when to order. Can be a little pricey though and it’s definitely focused on pour over.
My Chemex broke today in a kitchen casualty. I only ever made 1 or 2 cups at a time in it but used it almost every day. Is there a better alternative? Aeropress? Some sort of ceramic single serve pour over that just brews directly into the mug?
I had Atlas for a few months and enjoyed it. However, I use Fellow Drops now. I like that it’s not an actual subscription service. I have an option to buy a new bag each Tuesday. Works great since I tend to travel a bunch and don’t have to worry about pausing a subscription or having beans go stale.
Fellow also has a rotating line of beans from the recent drops available on their site - same shipping rate ($2 a bag). Cheaper than getting it from the roaster themselves.
Bold Bean put together a late-summer release of 3 "rare" beans they've curated. I got the 1st installment this week & it's been phenomenal. I'll let you guys know when they do the next one, in case someone else wants to grab. Spoiler https://boldbeancoffee.com/shop-coffee/p/rarecoffeeclub ECUADOR - PICHINCHA AND IMBABURA - ANAEROBIC FERMENTATION - CANOPY DRIED(August 22nd roast/ship date) An astoundingly sweet, clean and perfectly-balanced coffee. Look for a syrupy body complemented by delicate flavor notes similar to fleshy peach, honeydew melon, jasmine and tropical fruit. A sweet, caramelized sugar aftertaste completes the wholly pleasing experience.
yeah let us know. That release is sold out any advice on their other coffees or subscriptions specifically for espresso?
I just missed it. Didn’t see the email and by the time I went o buy them that weekend they were sold out already
My bad. I probably should've mentioned it here, but didn't occur to me when I got the email. I'll post the next one. Really all their stuff is great (they've been featured twice this year on Fellow Drops)... can't go wrong with any of their single origin beans.
Dear High Cotton et all, I am a lifelong Chemex user, but I need to transition to a family size drip coffee maker (preferably with a carafe so that delicious coffee stays delicious for hours.) Give me your recommendations. Espresso not necessary, but I’ll entertain. Sincerely, BrickTamland
You’ll only get 2 from me. I think the MoccaMaster is more versatile. As it has an adjustable filter, so you don’t always have to brew a full pot. (this might not be as functional as I imagine it to be)
Just grabbed the fall winter release. COSTA RICA - SANTA MARIA DE DOTA - EL VAPOR - NATURAL PROCESS (November 22nd roast/ship date) An extremely clean and nuanced, yet totally unique and expressive, natural process coffee. Look for notes of lush, juicy stone fruit (apricot, nectarine, peach, yellow cherry) along with tropical fruit, candied berry, floral and dark chocolate tones a juicy acidity and a deep, sugarcane sweetness. KENYA - OTHAYA GURA - DOUBLE WASHED(December 27th roast/ship date) An immensely complex, full-bodied and sweet coffee. Notes of mixed citrus (oranges, grapefruit, lime zest) and stone fruits start the cup and are complemented by soft, tropical and floral tones similar to a fine oolong tea. A sweetness similar to caramel and fudge-y chocolate round the cup out and linger in the aftertaste. Sweet spice and golden raisin qualities add to the coffee’s distinct complexity. UGANDA - MBALE - MOUNTAIN HARVEST - NATURAL PROCESS (January 24th roast/ship date) Vibrantly fruit-forward and sweet. Big, intense flavors of raspberry and dark chocolate are complemented by wild notes ranging from grape bubblegum and fruit wine to rum cake and candied ginger. Oftentimes these wild coffees are a little unbalanced but in this case all of the wildness is remarkably constrained in a very clean cup. An astonishing coffee that you won’t want to miss.
I was able to pre-order earlier this week & just got the 3rd bag from the 1st rendition. They've all been excellent. In case anyone else wants to partake: https://boldbeancoffee.com/shop-cof...I*&ss_campaign_sent_date=2022-10-28T13:01:26Z
I roll with v60 (my preference to extract the most flavor ) or Chemex. Lots of other options though. BB has brewing instructions / methods on their site as well.
I should have done this earlier but with all the subscriptions I get and unique coffees. I made a google sheet on phone to simply track my opinion of each coffee. I thought I’d remember what I liked. No. Right now I get coffee from Coffee Collective, Trade, Bold Bean and Blue bottle.
i've struggled in the past to get the taste right with homemade cold brew concentrate. Sometimes metallic taste, sometimes sour, sometimes watery, etc but i gave it another shot, so i don't spend all my money on cold brew, and i've made some adjustments to the process that i'm very happy with Spoiler 1- coarse grind two 12oz bags of coffee (i have been using Larry's bolivian light-medium roast) 2- remove 33% of the water from a 1-gallon jug of spring water 3- add the coffee to the gallon jug, shake well 4- wait an hour, top it off with water, leave it on counter 5- wait 12 hrs 6- pour the coffee into a big antifreeze funnel from autozone, with metal filter, leave upright, drain for a while (10 minutes? 2 hours? unsure what is optimal) 7- filter that result thru small funnels from autozone, with paper filters (i do 4 at a time) 8- bottle result and refrigerate
Gotta go with what works. If you ever get tired of the filtering process, I've had great luck with those large sacks for cold brew (empty tea bags that you can tie closed). No mess and you can just toss them.
This is what I use (small one). You're making larger batches than I do, but this should get you in the ballpark. https://a.co/d/fwHEWs5
Just found this thread, cold brew drinker here. Lots of good reading, I'm sure I'll have questions. Now I feel like I've been drinkimg instant Folgers for years, lol.
There are some really cheap and really expensive options but both can upgrade you coffee experience 100x over instant Folgers.
Everything has its time and place when it comes to coffee. I’ve brewed from a 100$ bag of Gesha and instant coffee on the same day. that being said, some of the instant coffee being put out by roasters these days is pretty solid, especially for travel or work.
For the espresso folks, what are your starting ratios? For most blends I’m 2:1, for single origin or lighter roasts usually 3:1. Sometimes I’ll get a blend that for whatever reason works better 3:1. WDT? Hand tamp? Spring tamp? Set depth tamp? I’ve got a WDT I made with a wine cork and some mandolin strings. I have a dosing funnel on my portafilter. After grinding, I WDT with the funnel still on to save from a mess. Remove the funnel and then use a set depth tamper. 99% drink Americanos so I weigh the hot water I’ll need for the dilution, then pull the shot right into the water. I think this keeps a pretty good crema on the Americano. I have a Breville machine I’m running in “manual mode”, but I know it’s only a matter of time before I step that up. That’s 15 in, 30 out on the shot, and then pulled into about 3.5x that volume of hot water.
Coffee at the office is terrible. I’m there a total of 4-5 times a month, which isn’t enough to bother with bringing my hand grinder & Aeropress. Not to disappoint, I’m talking Bold Bean Instant, that works out to about $3/serving. It’s worth it, as it’s convenient & still better coffee than all but a few local spots.
Counter Culture has some single serve bags you steep like tea bags. Never tried them but have heard they are pretty good all things considered.
Haven’t seen those around, but I’m sure those are good too. I try to support local, whenever possible.
Black and white has some fancy instant that's drinkable, but not great. For my money, cold brew is where it's at for the times when fresh beans aren't practical. It can be great with virtually any supermarket coffee.