How are you grinding, if applicable?
How are you brewing it?
What’s your favorite brand of instant, if applicable?
Are you satisfied with the taste?
Do you need ideas on how to make it better?
How are you grinding, if applicable?
How are you brewing it?
What’s your favorite brand of instant, if applicable?
Are you satisfied with the taste?
Do you need ideas on how to make it better?
Absolute beginner here, don’t have any knowledge about coffee culture, all my life drank Nestle instant coffee so I wouldn’t recognize good coffee even if the best barista threw it in my face.
I’ve recently picked up a French press and cheap Melitta ground coffee and have been using the James Hoffman method. Today I brewed some freshly ground moka grains, also frothed some milk to go with it. I liked it but found it somewhat bland, maybe I made some poor choices so suggestions on method/beans are welcome, just fyi I live on a small town where we don’t have real variety and also it is expensive.
I wouldn’t say Nescafe is bad. It has a decent fragrance, and it’s smooth, but the flavor isn’t as nice as what I can get out of a french press.
Since I started french press, I found the taste so rich that I haven’t needed to add creamer anymore like I did when I was drinking instant. Drip coffee from a coffee shop now tastes like weak sauce to me.
Water temperature is important. Hot, but just short of boiling, around 195-205F. I am fortunate to already have a water boiler pot that heats water to a constant 195F, so that’s where I base my brewing recipes from. For those boiling water on a stovetop, it’s heat water to boiling, then remove the pot from the burner, and wait 2-3 minutes for it to cool to the correct temperature. Sample the water temperature with a meat or candy thermometer until you get your own setup’s timing down.
How long to brew though: Dark roasts are more forgiving, and I can brew anywhere from 4-8 minutes to get decent flavor out of them.
Medium roast brewing is trickier. Too long past 4 minutes and the brew acquires an astringent “rough” mouth feel.
Each and every different bag of beans or grounds that I’ve tried takes a slightly different recipe to achieve a decent flavor.
The moment I open a new bag of coffee, it’s a daily experiment until I dial in my process.
I start a new bag with the standard brew time of 4 minutes. Brew is too weak? Add a minute to brew time the next day. Brew tastes astringent? Subtract a minute from brew time. Brew reaches astringency before I can get a good flavor? Grind finer and start over.