Coffee

• Power failure / breaker - Using the microwave and the coffee maker at the same time on the same circuit will trip the breaker. Don't do this or we'll have to exile you to Millikan for a week.

• Types of Coffee - Peet's is good. Whatever Bram sent us is good too. Jamaican Blue Mountain is also nice. And we like real Kona. Please don't make artificially flavored coffees (e.g., vanilla) in the Zojirushi coffee maker--it taints the flavor of later pots

* 'Water Quality: please use Arrowhead water from the chiller ! ( thanks to AJW )It is essential to get distinctive flavor through as you brew

• Water / C'mixture ratios - Full turn on the grinder with a medium grind corresponds to 6-6.5 cups of water (as measured by the maker). Don't vary from this ratio by very much or else we'll all be unhappy. (this section needs more info to deal with fine grinds and light roasts).

• Rinsing the Carafe - Before brewing new coffee, the carafe has to be rinsed. Filling it up with hot water and leaving it soaking for a few minutes is a way. Do this before filling up the coffee maker's tank with cold drinkable water. Then proceed to Preheating the Pot.

• Preheating the Pot - This phase is crucial. Because we lose ~5-10 deg F in coffee temperature in the first hour, its advisable to pre-heat the carafe before brewing, especially if its a light volume of coffee. The proper way to pre-heat is to run the tap hot and then insert the carafe after the water is too painful to keep your wrist in. Then let the water fill it once, wait 30 seconds and then fill again with hot water. Wait another 1 minute for the heat to be absorbed. The thermal conductivity of stainless steel is too low to skip these wait times.

• Cap tightening - The top lid of the carafe is to be plugged as soon as the brew is complete. To pour coffee, align the alignment dots and tip the carafe by ~80 deg. After the pour re-tighten the lid; the dots should now be separated by ~165 deg.

• Grind size - Do not change the grind size unless you know what you are doing.

• Filters - Use the unbleached paper filters. If we are all out you may use the flat bottom filters for 24 hours. Grad Students are in charge of filters and should be notified immediately if the stock of filters go low.

• Type of water - Use bottle water/filter water or, if not possible, tap cold water but don't use DI water. The quality of coffee improves dramatically using good water like good filtered water or bottle water.

• Mug Preheating

• There are two accepted methods for "mug preheating":
• (1) Run the mug under hot water from the faucet for ~1 minute or
• (2) Fill the mug with water and warm in the microwave. This works better for mugs with a large heat capacity.

• Milk - Best to get half and half. There's an ultra-pasteurized version at Whole Foods which has a red carton and a picture of a cow on it. This version has a cap on it and will keep unspoiled for ~1 month.

• Ice Cream in the Coffee - Its possible to put ice cream in your coffee. Valera knows about how to do this properly.

• Record keeping - Write the date, time, your initials, and the type of coffee on a post-it note on the cabinet above the coffee maker

Mug with Dry Ice in it. This is not appropriate for coffee, but is not bad for iced coffee:

Coffee and Green / Coffee Fluorescence

This is an example of a coffee disaster. Do not replicate such behavior.

• Peet's
  • Major Dickason (MJD) - Peets' reference
  • French Roast - Smoky, very bold, minimum acidity. Coffee for the work. Best for Cafe Au lait.
  • Italizan Roast - Slightly weaker and a little more detailed than French Roast. Good with italian sweets like Torrone. (probably)
  • Kenya - more acidity. More complex flavor.
  • Sumatra - Similar to the darks (FR or IT), but tastes like soil? or wood? Very good.
  • Guatemara - Peets' Latin American beans are not so applaudable, but Guatemara is nice combination of acidity and deep taste.
  • Ask Koji how to import Peets from Abroad
• Some premium peets:
  • JR Reserve - x4 price/lb of usual. Quite elegant taste.Deep flavor and long decay time in the mouth. But slight aicdity makes the taste very light. The best in peets.
  • Surprisingly peets teas are also very good.
• Ethiopian Yergacheffe
• Jamaican Blue
• Kona
• Kauauai
• Wagonga
• Rwanda Karaba: has to be consumed immediately after brewing! score 15 @ 0 sec and score 1 @ 300 sec This is a NONO

• Coffee Ranking by Steve as of taste and smell on the scale of 0 to 100 1, 95 Wagonga: Sumatran Mandehling Organic, medium- strong dark roast,well rounded, smooth chocolateeee....
  • "the best I ever had" Steve 4/25/2007, tested last 3/18/2010
  2, 93 Wagonga: Kenya Masai AA, medium roast, not as full as Mandehling, great..... tested 5/26/2010 3, 92 Wagonga: Fairtrade Ethiopian Limu Organic, lighter roast, little-bit flowery-limy, broadly smooth,
  • tested 6/9/2010
  4, 75 Peet's : Major Dickerson....best local dark roast 5, 65 Starbucks: Home Bland of COSCO, medium roast, great value.... 6, 59 Wagonga: Fairtrade Honduran Marcala Organic, light roast, no tail, greenish-tree-bark without
  • real character, tested 6/4/2010

* please make your own comments

* John Miller has just arrived with new shipments of Wagonga Coffee from Australia on 9-21-2010

• I (Steve) checked in 250mgs of known as best " Sumatran Mandehling- medium strong roast There are two more bags of unknown quality of Timor and Papua New Guine. Thanks John

Coffee Spectroscopy Articles