[Closed] STW Coffee experts

Are you leaving the lid open?

Too much heat perhaps.

Coffee should ooze through. If it's spurting throuh, I would say the water is too hot, there's steam and you're probably getting somewhat burned coffee. Could be nicer if you use lower heat.

No, not leaving the lid open! With lid closed I still get the first push coming through that violently it spurts. Tried flame on minimum as well as turned up. Should the coffee be packed down or scattered?

Should be pretty well packed down. I find that it tastes best if you take it off the heat at the first gurgling sounds.

Should be pretty well packed down

I find that it tastes best if you take it off the heat at the first gurgling sounds.

By packed down I mean fill the holder, level it off and screw the top on. Always comes out fairly well packed down when I emtpy it.

Fair enough. That's what I do as well. I thought you meant pack it down before screwing the lid on

Ah,

fill the holder

Yes, you need to fill the holder, and the water tank too (up to just below the safety valve). The one I had had a little extra bit to make the chamber smaller if you only wanted half a pot - didn't work very well though.

Sack it off and buy an Aeropress....

Quicker, cleaner, easier and better brews. What's not to like?

Any tamping pressure is dependent on how fine the grind of the coffee is, which if supermarket/high st pre ground varies greatly (and the coffee is already stale before it even gets to the shop) so a bit of a moot point discussing tamp pressure.

If it spurts with the lid on then it's probably not a bialleti stovetop (the best) plus if you can turn the gas back towards the off point so the flame is minuscule you may get better results.

Sack it off and buy an Aeropress....

Quicker, cleaner, easier and better brews. What's not to like?

Really? I use a stove top at home and love it. Aeropress at work is a compromise. It's good, but it's not as good as a stove top IMO

Interesting this.

My wife bought me a mahoosive stove coffee pot and didn't notice that it makes 9 cups of espresso in one go.

I tried partially filling it with coffee (i.e. really loose, couple of spoons) in order to make just a couple of cups and it tasted horrific even with reasonable (Lavazza) coffee :-/

Do I drink rancid coffee or make 9 espresso's at a time?

Buy a small 1-2cup one, it will pay itself back fairly quickly with better coffee and no waste.
(lavazza is grim over roasted stale mass produced coffee though)

Either that or make 9 at a time and reheat as required in the microwave. 😉

MrSmith - educate me in what's a nice (reasonable) espresso coffee then! I have no clue really ..

Anonymouse - tempting but I don't think I'd sleep again, ever.

You will have a local roaster, try them or try mail order from climpson/Hasbean etc (theres loads out there) basically anywhere that has the roast date stamped on the bag not somewhere where there are large bags/bins of coffee sitting there going stale. You can order bags pre ground which while not ideal is still a lot fresher than anything in the supermarket. Be prepared to pay £5-£6.50 for a 250g bag which is lavazza/illy money but a big leap in quality.

Read the descriptions, often there are references to stone fruits/ cherries or chocolate/sweet/caramel pick something you like the sound of, acidity is not a bad thing and not the same as bitterness (over extraction), you are never going to get the full plavour profile from a stovetop but should still be a nice drink.

(Just got back from an espresso tasting for caffeine magazine and buzzing like a loon)

references to stone fruits/ cherries or chocolate/sweet/caramel

IME this is all bullshit, coffee should taste like coffee.

The beans from Hasbean are seriously overrated on here and, whilst they make a decent cup of coffee, are crap for espresso. I get the darkest oiliest beans from http://www.stmartinscoffee.co.uk/ and can't half tell the difference.

Currently awaiting the arrival of this year's crop of nom-tastic elephant beans...

Blimey. Thanks! I shall have a looksy online..

fairly good guide here:

[url= http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/coffee-knowledge/brewing-guide-to-stove-top-espresso-makers.html ]Stove top espresso guide[/url]

basically, fill water to just below level of safety valve, coffee ground med-fine, don't tamp, lowish heat, remove as soon as it starts pouring through at a steady rate.

IME this is all bullshit, coffee should taste like coffee

Having been on a few tastings/cuppings there is still a range of flavours in good coffee, no it doesn't taste like ribena or chocolate but there are subtle flavours in there that can be described even if it's just a basic 'choclatety' or 'slightly acidic'. It doesn't take much to educate your palate.
All beverages have an accompanying flavour wheel, the coffee one is not as complex as the beer one. If you like beer (real beer not carling/Jon smiths) you cannot deny the citrus flavours that exist from the use of southern hemisphere hops.

A coffee flavour wheel:
[img] [/img]

A beer one:
[img] [/img]

Re: Bullshit

From Hasbean:

In the cup expect huge toffee, sticky sweet toffee, but then there's a blast of lemon acidity (sweet lemons) before the toffee marches back with a huge hit of Nutella chocolate spread. In espresso there is a hint of candy floss too. Super sweet coffee.

I didn't like it, neither did my coffee drinking friends.
Maybe the problem is we don't like toffee? Actually I do, and I know what toffee tastes like. And I know what BS sounds like

P.S. WTF is Balsamic Rice?

Actually I'm not surprised you don't like Hasbean when you say ". I get the darkest oiliest beans from http://www.stmartinscoffee.co.uk/ and can't half tell the difference" that suggests you like over roasted slightly bitter coffee rather than the modern fruit driven lighter style that you might get from Hasbean, I'm not a fan of old school charcoal style coffee or the fruit driven stuff, I get to taste a lot of coffee and was given some square mile sweetshop blend recently that I gave away as its's not my style. I didn't dismiss it as rubbish coffee though, just buy what I like (currently climpson and sons sidamao)

I'm not a fan of old school charcoal

You will be when it comes back into fashion 😉

+ 1 for Aeropress. Got a stove top and an Aeropress. Aero press is nice, less hassle, preferable.

I don't think you are meant to tamp the coffee down in a stove top btw.

IME this is all bullshit, coffee should taste like coffee.

Tastes (and smells, same thing) are made up of certain volatile organic chemicals. The same chemicals can be present in different and apparently unrelated things.

So that's why wine can have hints of vanilla, lavendar or whatnot, whilst still tasting overall like wine.