topic Re: I created a Coffee Snob in Kitchen

I created a Coffee Snob

Icegoddess — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 02:35:02 GMT

I'm a tea drinker; and I don't even drink coffee. I'm not even that particular about my tea. I rotate beween 3 or 4 black tea blends that I get at the grocery store. None of that frou frou tea for me. Hubby has a Keurig and grinds his own Peets Dark French Roast for use in the My K Cup.

However, about a month ago we were eating lunch at Shaggy's. They have a bunch of TV's on the wall, usually showing sports. One of them usually runs reruns of I Love Lucy or The Adams Family. But, this particular day it must've been The Food Channel because an episode of one of Alton Brown's shows came on about making the perfect cup of coffee. Hubby's back was to the TV, but I thought he might enjoy a play-by-play from me on the show highlighting the particular points. I figured that would be it.

Au Contraire. He starts obsessing over finding this method of making coffee. I said "I thought you were happy with your coffee." "Well, it's okay, but...." We had off to MT for our yearly ski trip and returned last week. Monday he comes home with a Williams Sonoma bag with this coffee system in it. BTW, it's called the pour-over method. It's not a machine. What he got was the 6-cup Chemex system which consists of a pretty glass carafe with a funnel-shaped top in which you put the metal filter that comes with it in along with paper filters that you also buy to go with it. There were other specific points about water temperature and the correct grounds to water ratio, but I'm sure you can look up the episode if interested. He claims the coffee is so much better this way although takes longer than the Keurig. Also, I see Amazon carries a gold filter which will eliminate the need for the paper filters, so I'll probably get that for him for his birthday next month. I do remember Alton saying the gold filter made the coffee taste even better.

The lady at Williams Sonoma explained all about this system (since she apparently is also a coffee snob), and showed him how much they cost on Amazon and gave him a discount so that he ended up paying less than for that system on Amazon, so I thought that was very nice.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

patbz — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 02:49:23 GMT

@Icegoddess : If you are currently using a Keurig there are definitely better ways to make better coffee. DH is also a coffee snob and got rid of our Keurigs in order to buy a Breville (our older son, a professional chef, swears by it).

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Icegoddess — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 02:58:43 GMT

@patbz wrote:
@Icegoddess : If you are currently using a Keurig there are definitely better ways to make better coffee. DH is also a coffee snob and got rid of our Keurigs in order to buy a Breville (our older son, a professional chef, swears by it).

@patbz, if hubby is happy with his new system, I would happily get rid of the Keurig and just encourage him to stick with that. It takes up less room on the counter since it is a simple carafe. Also, the Keurig splatters and hubby doesn't wipe up the the coffee splatters. I don't use the Keurig at all. I have an instant hot water spigot at the sink I use for my tea.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Kachina624 — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 03:08:34 GMT

@Icegoddess When I was in college majoring in home ec., one of our assignments in food lab was to make a pot of coffee using every conceivable method, then scientifically compare them. One of the experiments was with the device you describe. It may have had a different name but was very popular at the time...had a piece of wood around the middle. The 25 girls in the class all agreed it had the best flavor, very smooth and mellow with no bitterness

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Icegoddess — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 03:21:05 GMT

@Kachina624 Yep, that's what it looks like.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

sunshine45 — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 04:00:28 GMT

"pour over coffee" is becoming very popular again. chemex has been around for MANY years now.

i recently switched from a mr coffee coffeemaker to an electric percolator and i am loving my percolated coffee so much more. i also purchased a french press to check out. maybe i will add a chemex to the mix also?

LOL.......so now i have a keurig, a mr coffee, an electric percolator, and a french press. i also have an electric smeg kettle for boiling water.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Icegoddess — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 04:13:38 GMT

@sunshine45 I bought a Saladmaster percolater years ago with my former husband. Not sure why I kept it since I don't drink coffee. It is still in primo condition much like my Saladmaster electric skillet and my one skillet that is not non-stick. Good quality items. But, it takes a long time to perk.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Yahooey — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 05:21:11 GMT

@Icegoddess

there is a place where pour overs has a prominent spot on the front counter

each Chemex has a timer - the barista pours a little - sets a timer so the coffee can bloom first and then she pours addional water within a time period

as each timer beeps she goes pours more water - much like a ballet

I usually order a latte there - maybe I'll order a pour over next time

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

sissel — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 06:16:14 GMT

DD & Fiance must have the same thing, I am a k cup person, morning or rare times afternoon cup so had to sit for a week to watch her dog while they were on vacation looked at that machine grind coffee make it into k cup or carafe Oh No too much to figure out. LOL I like k cups limit my coffee, if I did a carafe I would drink it all day which I don't need. I do miss the electric pot but know too much coffee for me. DD & fiance are coffee snobs too. DD tells me all the time k cups isn't good for environment I know.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

DbinMD — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 10:35:00 GMT

I agree that there are better ways of making coffee. I need coffee fast so when I first get up, the Keurig does the job. But I bought the Nespresso. Talk about good coffee, its actually the best coffee I have had. Very rich in flavor and in taste.. I have been making a cup in the afternoon. My sister gave me a way to make it, Do either the espresso or the double espresso, put the milk foam on top and drizzle some honey on top, It is awesome!

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Icegoddess — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 13:55:11 GMT

@sissel wrote:
DD & Fiance must have the same thing, I am a k cup person, morning or rare times afternoon cup so had to sit for a week to watch her dog while they were on vacation looked at that machine grind coffee make it into k cup or carafe Oh No too much to figure out. LOL I like k cups limit my coffee, if I did a carafe I would drink it all day which I don't need. I do miss the electric pot but know too much coffee for me. DD & fiance are coffee snobs too. DD tells me all the time k cups isn't good for environment I know.

@sissel you can recycle K cups in some parts of the country, but not here. We recently got a new recyclables company and they only allow small-mouth plastic bottles. We also can't recycle glass anymore. Used to at least be able to take glass to a specific place to recycle. I have a friend who lives about 2 hours from here and she says they can't even leave that little plastic ring that's left behind on plastic milk cartons when you open them.

I believe there are companies that make compostable K-cups which would be the way I would go if I were a coffee drinker since I already have compost bins.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Icegoddess — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 13:57:57 GMT

@DbinMD wrote:
I agree that there are better ways of making coffee. I need coffee fast so when I first get up, the Keurig does the job. But I bought the Nespresso. Talk about good coffee, its actually the best coffee I have had. Very rich in flavor and in taste.. I have been making a cup in the afternoon. My sister gave me a way to make it, Do either the espresso or the double espresso, put the milk foam on top and drizzle some honey on top, It is awesome!

@DbinMD hubby used to have his own Espresso machine before we got married. It's actually probably still taking up valuable cabinet space in the kitchen. That was why I was rather surprised that he was not familiar with this method of coffee-making. I expected him to elaborate on why Alton's method was better or not instead of deciding to change his entire method of making coffee.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

faeriemoon — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 14:17:38 GMT

Surprised they named the thing Chemex. I thought they omit "chem" from everything these days because of all the bad connotations associated with anything chemical.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Icegoddess — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 15:15:42 GMT

Yay! Hubby is enjoying his new coffee process so much he said we can put the Keurig in storage. He doesn't want to get rid of it altogether because we might need it for company (and the fact that getting him to discard anything is like pulling teeth). So, I told him to give it a good vinegar cleaning or else it might not work if we did bring it out again.

@faeriemoon I believe the brand has been around a long time and was named before everybody decided all chemicals were bad. Well, not me personally, but at least the more vocal consumers.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

ECBG — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 17:23:13 GMT

@Icegoddess That's a cute story. I can just see all of that coming into the house and his anticipation!

At my house over the years, all of DH's excitement has been over rope to spelunk with.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Kachina624 — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 18:00:26 GMT

@faeriemoon Those carafes go back to the 50s or earlier. The 'chem' word was trendy back then.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

denisemb — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 19:24:37 GMT

Is the pour-over coffee maker the same as a vacuum coffee maker? (I don't drink coffee).

Years ago, we were fortunate enough to have dinner at WDW's Victoria & Albert's. DH said it was the best coffee he'd ever had and promptly bought one.

Just asked what happened to it & he said he gave it to someone at work as it was a pain to clean, LOL. He also went through a French Press phase.

Now it's a Bunn-o-Matic.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Icegoddess — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 21:51:14 GMT

@denisemb wrote:
Is the pour-over coffee maker the same as a vacuum coffee maker? (I don't drink coffee).

Years ago, we were fortunate enough to have dinner at WDW's Victoria & Albert's. DH said it was the best coffee he'd ever had and promptly bought one.

Just asked what happened to it & he said he gave it to someone at work as it was a pain to clean, LOL. He also went through a French Press phase.

Now it's a Bunn-o-Matic.

@denisemb , no it is not a vacuum system. It's quite simple although time consuming, looks like this:

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

Bridgegal — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 02:45:50 GMT

I've used that method off and on over the years but you have to start over the whole process for each cup of coffee. I guess I'm lazy but I just don't want to go thru all of the steps for multiple cups of coffee. Melitta has the cone that sits on top of your cup and that's what I used. I still have the cone that I bought in the 70's.

Re: I created a Coffee Snob

sissel — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 03:41:15 GMT

those recyle cups are #5 we only do # 1 & 2 so not in my city