GoodShave's Coffee Journal

I am using the 40:60 method today, seeing if I can detect that enhanced sweetness using the modifications for highlighting sweetness. I have a medium-dark roasted coffee from Wicked Joe (Topsham, ME) called Big House blend. Didn't notice much, but maybe a smoother mouth feel. But I did notice a wonderful difference in Jim's Organic Coffee Ethiopia single origin. I am about to go make another cup now!

And I am being tempted to get more gear, reading your recent posts, David, regarding the April brewer. I have pretty much taken over 1 corner of the kitchen counter and the cabinet above it! I may have to ask the zoning board for more room, ha ha!

I am using the 40:60 method today, seeing if I can detect that enhanced sweetness using the modifications for highlighting sweetness. I have a medium-dark roasted coffee from Wicked Joe (Topsham, ME) called Big House blend. Didn't notice much, but maybe a smoother mouth feel. But I did notice a wonderful difference in Jim's Organic Coffee Ethiopia single origin. I am about to go make another cup now!

And I am being tempted to get more gear, reading your recent posts, David, regarding the April brewer. I have pretty much taken over 1 corner of the kitchen counter and the cabinet above it! I may have to ask the zoning board for more room, ha ha!

I am glad you noticed a difference with the brews. It can be very frustrating to use a complicated recipe and not have a good cup to show for it.

Coffee brewers/drippers multiply in my home almost as fast as coffee mugs (ha ha). I have the same issue, but I put the ones I am not currently using in a box in the basement and rotate them in as needed. I may PIF a few brewers once the roads are back to normal and it is not such a trek in the snow and ice to get to the post office.

Sometimes just adding a stir of the slurry or using a shower head device (Melodrip, Gabi Dripmaster B, Hario Drip Assist) can breathe new life into the brewers that you have. I think having a conical and a flat bottom brewer would be a good combination to have on hand. Using the Gabi Dripmaster B with the April brewer is giving me some of the best brews from that brewer yet. I have read that there have been QC issues with the Gabi Dripmaster B since 2020 and I don't know if those issues have been resolved as of yet.

The April brewers are tailored to very light roasted beans but you can make them work with medium roasts by adding more pours/changing to different recipes. A lot of the Hario brewers are designed with dark roasts in mind, so not all of their brewers are rated for the higher temperatures suggested for lighter roasts. Different brewer materials require different levels of preheating so that they do not cause your slurry temperature to be lower than you intend.

Let me know what you are looking for and I may have information already about them.

Today's brew was with Atomic Coffee Roasters (Peabdy, MA) - Guatemala Ayarza beans using the Stagg XF with Stagg XF filter and Flair Pro Dispersion screen. I used the Dylan Siemens Single Serving recipe.

I ran across a post on another site where a person mentioned how different the Stagg XF was from the Stagg X and that Stagg X recipes don't tend to work for the Stagg XF since it brews differently. So it was nice to find another recipe designed for the Stagg XF.

This was the first time using this recipe and my pour times were not exact to the recipe. Once the coffee cooled down, the chocolate flavor appeared but the raspberry flavor was no where to be found. I went with the recipe settings (1:16x ratio) but I prefer a 1:15 ratio for my brewing and will go with that ratio next time. Maybe some tweaking of my settings would help pull out the raspberry.

Today I made two brews with the Atomic Coffee Roasters (Peabody, MA) - Guatemala Ayarza beans as I wanted to try more recipes with these beans. The first brew was with the glass Hario V60-01 using the original Gabi Dripmaster B instructions. It was a pretty weak cup of coffee with the tasting notes pretty faint. That is probably the reason that the Coffee Chronicler's advanced brew recipe incorporates a bloom and agitation before using the Gabi B.

The second brew was with the glass Hario V60-01 Switch using the Melodrip 'B' recipe, but keeping the switch closed as I poured in the bloom water (then immediately opening the switch). That turned out to be a pleasant cup but I noticed there was not much separation of the tasting notes as compared to my brews using the April brewer with the April Gabi B recipe. I thought I would have more flavor separation with the V60. Even when I did the Melodrip 'B' recipe without the immersion fill, I could only taste one of the tasting notes (though my water temperature was a little cooler in that brew, 94C vs. 100C). I think this is the first time I have tasted an example of different levels of note separations between different brew methods.

I think this is the first time I have tasted an example of different levels of note separations between different brew methods.

That is pretty cool, congrats!

Today's brew was with Atomic Coffee Roasters (Peabdy, MA) - Guatemala Ayarza beans using my glass Kalita Wave 155 with Kalita 155 filter using the Kurasu 3-Pour recipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APWXuSMW5Nk

Here is an explanation for that recipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRMDn8ZBzLA

I would say the initial taste was a little brighter than my other brews with these beans using other brewers and recipes. Four the second pour, I poured fast and low to the bed as the recipe said that pour should be aggressive. I worried that I poured too fast as my time was about 10 seconds faster than suggested (though I know different beans will influence draw down times). As it cooled, it developed a nice taste. I usually go with a 1:15 ratio but this one was 1:14. Even so, I think I might want to tweak things to get a little more extraction (but not too much more). It was a tasty cup!

Today, I wanted to break out my Varia FLO dripper with my Atomic Coffee Roasters (Peabdy, MA) - Costa Rica La Pastora beans.
The first brew was using the Kurasu basic recipe with the 'Medium 1' screen. There was no raspberry notes to go with the chocolate notes but I did get some caramel notes that were very nice.

This evening, I decided to go with the Alternative Brewing 4:6 recipe, targeting heightened acidity (more brightness) and a light body. I used the Kurasu logo 'Fast 2' screen (Bright, Clean, Sparkling Clarity). I was hoping increasing the acidity would bring out the berry flavor and it did! I thought the light body was going to be too tea-like but as it cooled, it developed more body. This was a good cup. I will try the same recipe but go for the medium body tomorrow and see what happens.

I did run across this simple V60 recipe today which I may try at some point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlLqJwJHjp0

Today, I used my Varia FLO dripper with my Atomic Coffee Roasters (Peabdy, MA) - Costa Rica La Pastora beans.
I went with the Alternative Brewing 4:6 recipe, targeting heightened acidity (more brightness) and a medium body. I used the Kurasu logo 'Fast 2' screen (Bright, Clean, Sparkling Clarity). I think I liked yesterday's 4:6 brew with the light body variation better because it had more tasting notes. Maybe I will look at my lighter body recipes going forward.

Hey David

I didn't search your thread to see if you mentioned this before, but I think I'll be ordering this Aeropress cap soon.
https://aeropress.com/products/aeropress...filter-cap

Some days off I use only the V60, other days the Aeropress, and the cap looks interesting to me. Instead of trying to invert the press and make a mess (as I am accident prone!), this seems like a cool option. If you have one or have used one, I'd love to hear what you think!

(And Atomic Roasters appeared in my FB feed (all ads and cat vids as I try to keep social media fun) and am tempted to try some medium-dark roasts if they make such a thing! I've been glad you are enjoying the fruity and light roasts, and wish either my palate was better or that I could take the time to train myself to taste the notes. But as I've read, Life's too short to drink bad coffee! So I just carry on...

Hey David

I didn't search your thread to see if you mentioned this before, but I think I'll be ordering this Aeropress cap soon.
https://aeropress.com/products/aeropress...filter-cap

Some days off I use only the V60, other days the Aeropress, and the cap looks interesting to me. Instead of trying to invert the press and make a mess (as I am accident prone!), this seems like a cool option. If you have one or have used one, I'd love to hear what you think!

(And Atomic Roasters appeared in my FB feed (all ads and cat vids as I try to keep social media fun) and am tempted to try some medium-dark roasts if they make such a thing! I've been glad you are enjoying the fruity and light roasts, and wish either my palate was better or that I could take the time to train myself to taste the notes. But as I've read, Life's too short to drink bad coffee! So I just carry on...

Eric,

I do have the AeroPress Flow Control Cap and I recommend it. It allows you to fill the chamber with water without having the unit on a mug or in the inverted position. This works well if you have high counters and want to make it easier to pour from a lower height. It also allows more pressure through the grinds and generates a slightly stronger brew.

The cap has little projections in it to support the filter. I was concerned about the paper filter from buckling under pressure against those projections, so I put my AeroPress (plain, not gold) stainless steel filter in the bottom of the Flo Control Cap and then put a paper filter on top of the steel filter (to absorb oils). That combinations makes it comparable to the Fellows Prismo attachment which is suggested in one of my favorite recipes by Jonathan Gagné. I have also read that some people prefer the cap+stainless steel filter for brewing with the AeroPress.

I received an email today that AeroPress has a 15% off sale on accessories, so it may not be a bad time to pick things up.

Before Christmas, I picked up an extra AeroPress funnel and an extra AeroPress Go lid. Having two funnels means I can press into a mug smaller than the AeroPress cap (with the benefit of preventing hot coffee from squirting out of the sides of the Flo Control Cap if I don't have it on tight) and have a second funnel to add coffee to the chamber without dusting the counter with coffee grounds (when brushing out my grinder into the chamber). It also works well for adding ground coffee to narrow wave filter brewers (like Stagg XF or Kalita 155) keeping the ground coffee inside the filter and not between the waves and the brewer. The AeroPress Go lid makes a great, unbreakable dosing cup that you can squeeze so the beans are directed in a small channel when filling your grinder.

I plan to PIF my AeroPress Go. I figured I would buy the accessories I use with my other brewers so that I can give away full units to someone else.

Happy Brewing!