CoffeeMakersEtc

In Fetco’s first foray into “Brewing Sessions” podcast, they explain the 6 basic elements that can affect coffee taste: brewing temperature, formula of water-to-coffee, contact time, grind particle size, turbulence and freshness after brewing.

Temperature: Matt Greg, a regional sales manager with Fetco, explains that coffee should be brewed at 195-200F - generally toward the low end for high altitudes, toward 200F for more moderate altitudes. If you brew at too high of a temperature, the water elements from the coffee that will cause a tinny, metallic taste. At too low a temperature, not enough flavors will be extracted from the coffee to achieve a good coffee taste.

Formula of Water-to-Coffee: The next most important step after finding the correct brewing temperature is deciding the right amount of your coffee to use when brewing.  As a general rule, you want to use 3.25-4.25 oz. of coffee per 64 oz. of water. The key is to find a good balance for the particular coffee you are brewing - too little coffee and you will emphasize the low, smoky, bitter elements of the bean; too much coffee and you will highlight mostly citrus and acidic tones. The perfect formula will balance the flavors and give you a rich, balanced cup.

Contact Time: The contact time begins with the spray-over time and ends when the coffee exits the brew basket. An optimal contact time extracts a balance of flavors from the coffee, and it depends on size of batch and kind of coffee you are brewing.

Grind Particle Size: A larger particle takes longer to break down than a smaller particle, plus the water will pass through larger grinds faster without extracting as many flavors. With too small a grind, the water will pass through the entire ground too easily, and can pick up too many undesirable flavors. The larger the batch size you are brewing, the larger the grind size you want, otherwise, the water will extract too many flavors from the bean

Turbulence: The churning motion that occurs in the brew basket. The more churning, the more flavors absorbed by the water.

Freshness after Brewing: After about 20 minutes, coffee sitting on a burner will start to break down and affect flavor - the oils become more rancid and bitter. Thermal servers can alleviate this problem, but coffee can even continue to cook in a thermal server. If is best to keep coffee in a thermal server and use it within a couple of hours.

A great podcast - hopefully the first of many.

Tags: Coffee, Fetco // Add Comment »

One of our favorite grinders - the Baratzo Virtuoso - was named “Gadget of the Week” by Barron’s magazine on March 17th.

Making a case for getting the most out of your coffee in a time of rising coffee prices (up 40% in the last year), Barron’s proclaimed the Virtuoso a great grinder for it’s hardened steel conical burrs, 40 grind settings, uniform grind, and low static production.

You can read the article here (at least while the link works).

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Travelling to Kansas City and need a great macchiato? No problem, just check into EspressoMap.com and get directions to The Roasterie and 2 PT’s Coffee.

Travel without fear - 140 locations for great espresso in the US are currently listed, based on first-hand experience, recommendations from fellow baristi, and general reputation.

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We often get emails from people wanting really hot coffee, and we don’t have a great, definitive answer for them. Coffee needs to be brewed at 195-200F in order to taste right - if you brew it hotter than that, it will taste bitter. All coffee brewers are designed to brew in that range, but the thermostats on any particular brewer will be a little different, so there is no guarantee that you will get a brewer that brews “hot.”

I would say that Bunn brewers probably have better thermostats than other brands, so their brewers would be more likely to brew at a good, high temperature. Bunn brewers have a hot water reservoir, which helps to insure that the water is the correct temperature (as opposed to heating-on-demand), but some people don’t like them because the brewer is always on heating the water.

If you want really hot coffee, you would probably want a brewer with a pot that sits on a warmer instead of one that brews into a thermal carafe, because the coffee in a thermal carafe will slowly cool in time.

I hope this information helps.

Tags: Bunn, Home Coffee Maker // Add Comment »

CoffeeMakersEtc is proud to announce that we now carry Zojirushi Airpots. For a few years now we have carried their Fresh Brew Thermal Coffee Maker and Zutto 5-Cup Coffee Maker.

Zojirushi has long been recognized as the best airpot in the business. In fact, they trademarked the name “airpot.” What makes their airpots the best? Better construction and longer heat retention.

Tags: Miscellaneous // Add Comment »

We get asked this questions occasionally, and I always remember the time I was watching a guy make espresso. He ground the coffee, and then had a slight problem with his espresso machine. The machine was fixed and ready to go within a couple of minutes, but he nonetheless declared his freshly-ground coffee “old,” discarded it and ground more coffee for his espresso shot.

Was that going overboard and an act of coffee snobbery, or was he correct?

Tough questions are tough to answer. The simple answer is that green (raw) beans last at least 2 years, whole roasted beans last 2 to 4 weeks if properly stored, and ground beans immediately start losing flavor once they are ground.

If you can buy green coffee beans and roast them yourself, you can ensure that you will always have fresh coffee. Most beans you buy, though, have no roast date on them, and expiration date are only so helpful, since they are made at the whimsy of the roaster.

The best you can do to ensure fresh coffee taste, short of roasting your own beans, is to buy whole bean coffee - preferably direct from a local roaster - and use it within a couple of weeks. If you buy ground coffee, consider getting a grinder, or just get used to the fact that your coffee will be lacking flavor.

Aside from all of that, though, I think the correct answer is that you can consider your beans no longer fresh when you can no longer deal with the taste - or lack thereof - of the coffee that they make. If you don’t mind drinking coffee that you bought ground 2 months ago, then consider yourself the better for your easy-going nature. If you think coffee you ground 2 minutes ago is now old and unusable, then go ahead and grind some more.

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Factoring in how hard they are to please, the experts at CoffeeGeek gave the Krups FMF Coffee Brewer a great review.

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Need to brew 6 gallons of coffee quickly? You can with the new Titan Dual Coffee Brewer from Bunn. The Titan brews into two, 3-gallon ThermoFresh Servers in 6 minutes or less - up to 34.3 gallons of perfect coffee every hour.

The high volume brewer includes the latest flavor management features from Bunn, including pre-infusion, pulse brew and digital temperature control.

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Fetco has introduced the new CBS-2021eP (Petite size - 21.25″ tall) and CBS-2021eG (Grande size - 27.50″ tall) Extractor brewers. Both models feature a cascading spray dome, which has a sprayhead that is held in place with a magnet for easy removal and cleaning - no tools required. It also provides for even and full saturation of the coffee bed, and prevents water from collecting behind the sprayhead.

Both are priced to be entry level models to the Extractor line of brewers, and include options such as prewet, bypass, brew temperature, drip delay and brew volume control.

Tags: Commercial Coffee Brewer, Fetco // Add Comment »

Everyone craves the perfect cup of coffee. How to make it? Start with a Chemex brewer, then follow the advice of Arno at Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco in this video from Chow.com.

Tags: Chemex, Coffee, Home Coffee Maker // Add Comment »