Back in The Before Times when I worked in an office with other human people, people would just dump tons of ground coffee into our drip machines in hopes of making some kind of super-coffee. I'm...
Back in The Before Times when I worked in an office with other human people, people would just dump tons of ground coffee into our drip machines in hopes of making some kind of super-coffee. I'm talking double or triple the amount necessary. I'm not a huge coffee stickler but I can't stand the taste of overly-strong coffee in particular - it just lingers on the back of my tongue - and we always ran out of coffee so quickly.
We had a contract with a local roaster who provided us with industrial coffee machines and delivered beans to us regularly. They kindly attached stickers with instructions for everything on the coffee machines themselves, right about at eye-level. I'm a pretty simple woman: I followed the instructions. People started to notice that when I made the coffee it tasted better than average. I got asked what my secret was multiple times. Wild.
The premise of this article that adding more beans doesn't make your coffee stronger is verifiable to be false. Just test it yourself. Not once did they mention brew time. They just talked about...
The premise of this article that adding more beans doesn't make your coffee stronger is verifiable to be false. Just test it yourself.
Not once did they mention brew time. They just talked about their "golden ratio" of water to coffee. But if the water takes longer to pass through the beans, then there's going to be more extraction.
That being said, if you increase brew time, along with increasing the number of beans, your coffee will indeed be much much stronger then having a quicker brew time with less beans.
Yep - my partner and I switched to a french press 4 or 5 years ago now and have used it every morning since. Absolutely love it. Quick and easy to make the right amount. We also use a coarser...
Yep - my partner and I switched to a french press 4 or 5 years ago now and have used it every morning since. Absolutely love it. Quick and easy to make the right amount. We also use a coarser grind on our burr grinder and have good results with it.
Recently got a hot water tap boiler thing to replace our kettle, which massively improved the whole process. The linked boiler heats up 4L of water to your preferred temp, then keeps it hot and dispenses it when you press the button. I fill it up once every other night or so and it just means that if I want coffee, I have coffee in about 5 minutes because the water is ready to brew with. Highly recommend if you make multiple cups a day (or for aeropress users!)
My advice, as someone that went through this some years ago: don't go for tea that comes in prepacked baggies. Go to a tea shop and buy loose leaf instead. Use with paper filters not a strainer,...
My advice, as someone that went through this some years ago: don't go for tea that comes in prepacked baggies. Go to a tea shop and buy loose leaf instead. Use with paper filters not a strainer, as the metal modifies the taste of the tea in a noticeable way.
Also, if you're a habitual coffee drinker that changes their caffeine daily dose, you will probably suffer withdrawal symptoms for 1-2 days. :)
I've tried making the switch to tea a few times but I always end up coming back to coffee. I drink a lot of iced tea which can replace my afternoon cup sometimes, but I've found that switching to...
I've tried making the switch to tea a few times but I always end up coming back to coffee. I drink a lot of iced tea which can replace my afternoon cup sometimes, but I've found that switching to tea, especially if you just replace your normal coffee cup count 1:1 with tea, is just not comparable in caffeine as you said. Even with "higher content" teas I tried.
It's also a matter of rewiring your brain to not expect the coffee aroma as a part of it all. As much as the caffeine affects me, the smell of coffee and aftertaste, especially in the morning, is strongly linked for me to feelings of excitement, inspiration and positive childhood memories and that gets me going, too. Losing that is a big part of the switch that brought me back after a while.
I'm glad to hear you mention that. I never really consider it, but association is the main factor in coffee for me too. Iced coffee just doesn't get me moving because I need all the things my...
I'm glad to hear you mention that. I never really consider it, but association is the main factor in coffee for me too. Iced coffee just doesn't get me moving because I need all the things my brain has made up about hot coffee. In the afternoon, I'm better off with a cup of hot decaf than with a cold iced coffee
It doesn't necessarily have to be physical... ritual can be psychologically addicting too, which I have experienced first hand as an ex-cigarette smoker. After so long of not having smoked...
It doesn't necessarily have to be physical... ritual can be psychologically addicting too, which I have experienced first hand as an ex-cigarette smoker. After so long of not having smoked cigarettes, they themselves are no longer what I miss or crave anymore. For me, it's the ritual of taking a short break to go outside every few hours to pace around, put something in my mouth, and inhale it, that I can't seem to shake. Which is why I found it so hard to quit for so long by going cold turkey, chewing nicotine gum, or using the patch. And is why vaping helped me finally quit for good, since I can still fulfill many of the same ritual elements I have come to be addicted to, without also including the same level of nicotene or negative health aspects.
So perhaps just like vaping does for quitting cigarettes, you need to try to replace some of those ritualistic elements of coffee making/drinking with tea based ones instead?
Seconding the loose leaf tea suggestion, @vegai. And worth noting if you don't have access to a tea shop in your local area, there are also quite a few online tea shops that are quite good. e.g....
Seconding the loose leaf tea suggestion, @vegai. And worth noting if you don't have access to a tea shop in your local area, there are also quite a few online tea shops that are quite good. e.g. David's Tea is one of my absolute favorites, since it delivers to Canada and has a large variety of really unique blends.
Also, not every tea needs to be camellia sinensis (green/black tea) based either so don't be afraid to experiment a bit until you find something that hits you just right. E.g. My favorite variety of teas are generally rooibos based, which has a naturally nutty/earthy and mild berry-like taste to it. My favorite blend of which is Coco Chai Roobois, which has Rooibos, Cinnamon, Ginger, Coconut flakes, Cloves, Pink peppercorns, and Cardamom. It tastes a bit like spiced mulled wine, if you are familiar with that.
Measuring stuff is the only step of coffee making that I never go through with. I have a tiny kitchen, lost my measuring cups years ago, don't have a scale, and most importantly waking up is such...
Measuring stuff is the only step of coffee making that I never go through with. I have a tiny kitchen, lost my measuring cups years ago, don't have a scale, and most importantly waking up is such a chore that the thought of having another step to the whole process is depressing. I used to buy coffee every morning, so at least I'm up to making my own now... and maybe one day I'll try measuring it.
Back in The Before Times when I worked in an office with other human people, people would just dump tons of ground coffee into our drip machines in hopes of making some kind of super-coffee. I'm talking double or triple the amount necessary. I'm not a huge coffee stickler but I can't stand the taste of overly-strong coffee in particular - it just lingers on the back of my tongue - and we always ran out of coffee so quickly.
We had a contract with a local roaster who provided us with industrial coffee machines and delivered beans to us regularly. They kindly attached stickers with instructions for everything on the coffee machines themselves, right about at eye-level. I'm a pretty simple woman: I followed the instructions. People started to notice that when I made the coffee it tasted better than average. I got asked what my secret was multiple times. Wild.
The premise of this article that adding more beans doesn't make your coffee stronger is verifiable to be false. Just test it yourself.
Not once did they mention brew time. They just talked about their "golden ratio" of water to coffee. But if the water takes longer to pass through the beans, then there's going to be more extraction.
That being said, if you increase brew time, along with increasing the number of beans, your coffee will indeed be much much stronger then having a quicker brew time with less beans.
They do mention brew time and other factors:
Yep - my partner and I switched to a french press 4 or 5 years ago now and have used it every morning since. Absolutely love it. Quick and easy to make the right amount. We also use a coarser grind on our burr grinder and have good results with it.
Recently got a hot water tap boiler thing to replace our kettle, which massively improved the whole process. The linked boiler heats up 4L of water to your preferred temp, then keeps it hot and dispenses it when you press the button. I fill it up once every other night or so and it just means that if I want coffee, I have coffee in about 5 minutes because the water is ready to brew with. Highly recommend if you make multiple cups a day (or for aeropress users!)
My advice, as someone that went through this some years ago: don't go for tea that comes in prepacked baggies. Go to a tea shop and buy loose leaf instead. Use with paper filters not a strainer, as the metal modifies the taste of the tea in a noticeable way.
Also, if you're a habitual coffee drinker that changes their caffeine daily dose, you will probably suffer withdrawal symptoms for 1-2 days. :)
I've tried making the switch to tea a few times but I always end up coming back to coffee. I drink a lot of iced tea which can replace my afternoon cup sometimes, but I've found that switching to tea, especially if you just replace your normal coffee cup count 1:1 with tea, is just not comparable in caffeine as you said. Even with "higher content" teas I tried.
It's also a matter of rewiring your brain to not expect the coffee aroma as a part of it all. As much as the caffeine affects me, the smell of coffee and aftertaste, especially in the morning, is strongly linked for me to feelings of excitement, inspiration and positive childhood memories and that gets me going, too. Losing that is a big part of the switch that brought me back after a while.
I'm glad to hear you mention that. I never really consider it, but association is the main factor in coffee for me too. Iced coffee just doesn't get me moving because I need all the things my brain has made up about hot coffee. In the afternoon, I'm better off with a cup of hot decaf than with a cold iced coffee
It doesn't necessarily have to be physical... ritual can be psychologically addicting too, which I have experienced first hand as an ex-cigarette smoker. After so long of not having smoked cigarettes, they themselves are no longer what I miss or crave anymore. For me, it's the ritual of taking a short break to go outside every few hours to pace around, put something in my mouth, and inhale it, that I can't seem to shake. Which is why I found it so hard to quit for so long by going cold turkey, chewing nicotine gum, or using the patch. And is why vaping helped me finally quit for good, since I can still fulfill many of the same ritual elements I have come to be addicted to, without also including the same level of nicotene or negative health aspects.
So perhaps just like vaping does for quitting cigarettes, you need to try to replace some of those ritualistic elements of coffee making/drinking with tea based ones instead?
Seconding the loose leaf tea suggestion, @vegai. And worth noting if you don't have access to a tea shop in your local area, there are also quite a few online tea shops that are quite good. e.g. David's Tea is one of my absolute favorites, since it delivers to Canada and has a large variety of really unique blends.
Also, not every tea needs to be camellia sinensis (green/black tea) based either so don't be afraid to experiment a bit until you find something that hits you just right. E.g. My favorite variety of teas are generally rooibos based, which has a naturally nutty/earthy and mild berry-like taste to it. My favorite blend of which is Coco Chai Roobois, which has Rooibos, Cinnamon, Ginger, Coconut flakes, Cloves, Pink peppercorns, and Cardamom. It tastes a bit like spiced mulled wine, if you are familiar with that.
Measuring stuff is the only step of coffee making that I never go through with. I have a tiny kitchen, lost my measuring cups years ago, don't have a scale, and most importantly waking up is such a chore that the thought of having another step to the whole process is depressing. I used to buy coffee every morning, so at least I'm up to making my own now... and maybe one day I'll try measuring it.