Shaving notes of the MaineYooper

Thank you so much for the tips, Good Shave !! I will be trying them out soon. I did try a finer grind, and while it had less of acidity, it was also too heavy or thick. I kept all variables constant except grind size.

I really like the idea of a flat bottom dripper. I have a Bee House flat bottom that I will try next.

Again, thanks for the help!

And I couldn't stop myself! I just brewed a 200ml cup using the 4:6 method and the Bee House dripper! First sips are the best yet! I did my standard 6g coffee to 100 ml water, and a coarsened the grind some, back closer to the recommended pour over size.

Love your signature Eric 

Not too many know of the "chimes" of the modem any more, unless they can hear a fax machine!

I was talking about your shave related signature

Thank you so much for the tips, Good Shave !! I will be trying them out soon. I did try a finer grind, and while it had less of acidity, it was also too heavy or thick. I kept all variables constant except grind size.

I really like the idea of a flat bottom dripper. I have a Bee House flat bottom that I will try next.

Again, thanks for the help!

And I couldn't stop myself! I just brewed a 200ml cup using the 4:6 method and the Bee House dripper! First sips are the best yet! I did my standard 6g coffee to 100 ml water, and a coarsened the grind some, back closer to the recommended pour over size.

That is great news!
I am glad you were able to get a good cup of coffee out of those beans.

Razorock Hawk 
Feather ProGuard 
Canada Shaving Soap 
Klenzo handle and Maggard 20mm SHD badger 

A new razor in the house!



The updated Sabre arrived this morning, and I purposely held off shaving until the mailman delivered the razor. A quick inspection and some testing out the interchangeable safety bars done first, then up the bathroom for a shave.



I opted to use a favorite soap and brush to get the job done. And I feel I should point out that I prefer what are commonly known as milder razors to the more aggressive ones. I like to say that I prefer comfortable efficiency! As I have had some rough first shaves with a new GEM blade, I decided to cork this one first, as that often seems to "tame" the blade for me. It didn't work today. 

When I had the pervious version of the Sabre, I found Level 1 to be very nice and easy, and Level 2 very close and comfortable as long as I paid attention. Today, as I shaved almost 30 hours after yesterday's shave, I opted for safety bar 2. 

First impression of the first few strokes was that it has a bit more blade feel than I remember. But as others have mentioned, there is some room to adjust your angle in order to feel less blade. Like rocket mentioned, I think I also had muscle memory of other GEM razors and even the DEs I have been using lately working against me. I will need to find the best angle for me and work to keep it. When I had that angle, there was almost no blade feel, just the smooth glide and cutting of whiskers!

While I did get a great shave, I had a lot of red spots. To be fair, I don't think they are the Sabre's fault, but my skin. I think my facial rosacea has been mildly irritated lately and that leads to the little acne -like bumps that form getting mowed down by shaving. And the blade, as I mentioned earlier, may also have played a part against comfort as well. But all was made right by the alum block and a cold water rinse!

Will be watching with interest as I held off buying for now to see reviews

I Finally got consistent good cups of the Gimme Coffee's Honduras Angle BBs coffee. I went back to Hoffmann's Ultimate V60 method, which is what he calls "pulse" pours of water in 5 roughly equal parts. The grind had to be a little finer to slow down the flow, and I was/am able to get consistent cups that are good. Not great, but good. In fact, this Trade Coffee exercise seems to be reinforcing on me that I have already found the coffee I like, and that these small batch roasts have highlights and subtleties that are lost on me! I am halfway through my 6 bag introductory phase, and today I would not renew, since the unique characteristics and flavors are undetectable by me. 

But then this arrived, along with the new Sabre.


I used the same method mentioned above, and have had 2 great cups of coffee! No acidity noted. I would renew the subscription if the coffees were like this. And what is interesting is the roaster calls this "medium-dark" but Trade Coffee lists it as Medium, like all the others I received. Maybe I prefer medium-dark coffees?

I am glad you were able to get some good cups of coffee!

I think each roaster has their own definition of what 'medium', so you just have to try a roaster and see what their medium is like.
Maybe you could contact a roaster and ask them what their 'medium' roast definition happens to be or to see a picture of the beans to see their color.
I wonder if the scale of 'city', 'city+', 'full city', etc. is any more specific or not.

Here is a visual chart of roast levels (that uses the 'city' scale) that might come in handy to compare the bean you have with ones you like.
https://library.sweetmarias.com/using-si...-of-roast/

Eric, I’m glad your enjoying your coffee experience. It’s really eye opening what you can find in a cup with a little effort and an open mind. There are plenty of variables to experiment with on your way to your “perfect “ cup of coffee. I’ve used the Hario V60 for years with the Sweet Maria’s pulse technique (I posted the video in the mmm coffee thread but can repost it if you want) I used a ratio of 24 grams coffee to 350 grams water for years but recently went to 18 grams coffee to the same water volume and I’m happy with that. I’ve also gone to mostly light roasted beans in search of the greater complexity and that has been fun. I’m partial to Ethiopian and other African beans which really shine in the lighter roasts. I think it’s really cool when my roasted beans brewed in my cup show some of the flavour notes that the green bean vendor (Sweet Maria’s) says they should have. The journey continues.

For example, I brewed a cup of this coffee this morning roasted to city roast and I can say I detected all of the listed notes. It was a very nice cup of coffee