/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>16770035
Tried basically every brewing method known to mankind. Cheap espresso machine, expensive espresso machine, french press, pour over, chemex, vacuum brewer, moka pot, clever dripper. Basically called it quits once I discovered the AeroPress which imo is the best compromise between consistency/taste and practicality.

Lessons learned:
- Fresh beans and a grinder is a must. If you're not grinding your beans you're not drinking real coffee. Wilfa Svart/Black is the most bang for buck grinder on the market.
- Water boiler with variable temp is also a must. Electrolux EEWA7800 comes at a bargain price.
- Specialty coffee is not as important as having good quality fresh beans. The difference comes down to roast, specialty coffees are usually a light-medium roast when the bag says medium, which gives more fuity complex tastes. And also freshness, which you can circumvent by digging through the bags at the grocery store and grabbing those in the back and then storing the beans in an airtight container.
- The easiest way of frothing milk (aside from an espresso machine ofc which is a pita for many different reasons) is in a french press, like a small one cup Bodum.
- Stick with the original AeroPress recipe and not those retarded hipster upside down minute long methods etc. 80C for medium to dark roasts and 85C for light roasts, 10 second stir followed by a slow press. The quick brew and low temp is what allows the coffee to maintain its complexity and you can easily modulate the brew with a seconds more or less stirring time, keeping everything else consistent.
- Don't bother weighing the beans. Weigh once when you open the bag and remember the volume, then repeat the process for the next bag. This is exact enough. They're only anal about weighing in commercial settings because they have retarded zoomers making the coffee and it would be impossible to maintain consistency without a short leash - they do the same thing with fastfood workers.