I have the beans but will be doing it in a few days time playing it back
….which means I should try to fix what isn’t broken! Faff!
Anyone got any good Switch methods I should try?
How was it? I’m doing it tomorrow
It’s clearly something that takes practice!
Basically we found it hard to judge relative cups, and it changed a lot as they cooled. That said there were clear differences, it’s just that repeated tasting meant things became samey unless you took a pause.
It’s actually rather similar to listening to hifi. If you switch rapidly you flip between things sounding different and then the same, then you need pauses to cleanse the palate. Sometimes listening for more extended periods shows the differences more.
Anyway, it was fun.
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I’ve been noticing a distinct powdery residue left in dregs in the bottom of my mug after enjoying a brew.
Is this likely an indication me burrs are wearing out would you think? It happens on different types of beans and even a courser grind.
Might have always happened and just never noticed before.
I thang yew.
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How long do burrs on a hand grinder last?
Use 2 filters. 
Genius!
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Right then, £20 on a pour over at Calico, why not?
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Heroic. 
In a switch. Closed, bloom and first pour. Swirl. Open after about 20s, drain, close, second pour, swirl, 20s, drain.
It’s delicious, but the value thing is a challenge.
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Ok, so after early promise, I decided the Sibarist booster gee-gaw wasn’t much cop in the Bluebottle dripper. It was still drawing down frustratingly slowly with the fast filters. In the Kalita however, it does work. The coffee lightened up somewhat, but I was still feeling that generally it wasn’t acidic enough. This is what it looks like in the bottom of the Kalita.
With the 40/60 recipe, the first pour controls the acidity and remembering this, I then fiddled with it over several brews. Previously, I was just doubling the weight of the coffee for that first pour, but then tried adding more water, a fair bit more. I started by more than trebling the weight of the grounds in a not particularly scientific - lets go all in type effort to see what’s what. This was too much and over successive brews I reduced it incrementally until it tasted balanced.
I have now got to twice the weight of the grounds plus a further third. So as an example, 30 grams of coffee has a first pour of 80 grams of water. Double the weight of the coffee plus a third again. I have now tried this with a 15, 18 and 21 gram brew and the ratio works!
Through this fucking about, I have realised that it is all about the filter sticking to the bed of the brewer and choking off the exit holes once fines get washed down there. If the brew stalls a bit, you can lift the filter up, to re-seat it and it’ll start flowing again. What if there was such a thing as a bottomless brewer?
37 quid for a bit of plastic. Cunts.
I don’t know what ratio you use, but I go for 1:15 coffee to water total.
I do it in 48g pours which seems to work well, so for 16g dose my initial bloom is 3x at 48g. Some coffee it’s a bit much so I just knock it back a bit on the first pour and make up for it incrementally on all the others.
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1:16, generally…
That isn’t that 10 pour brew then?
Have you tried the Sibarist Fast filters, Dom?
So I do 48g initial pour fast and direct
The. 48g with a mellow drip. At this point most of the co2 bubbles have gone.
Then the last 3 48g pours are all with the mellow drip and on the last one I just give it a little swirl.
Never tried the fast papers, tempted thoigh
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Ah, I didn’t know you melodripped too! The Fast papers do make a difference, I think, which is why I went down this rabbit hole. I have brewed coffee with them that I haven’t got close to with the Bluebottle filters. They need a much finer grind and any vigorous pour disturbs the bed too much and slows the brew down. The coffee then just tastes sweet, and you lose a bit of definition.
Now I have gone through all this, I’m not sure I can resist the Orea bottomless thing and a melodrip. I reckon I may be able to grind finer still!
It is surprising how little you can disturb the bed using the melodrip. Not sure why I called it mellow above though.
It is very different seeing a completely flat bed and clear water above it with no agitation. Might cure your issue as when agitated the fines totally block the bed
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Yes, I think actually that I have it pretty good now, but I think there maybe more to come, particularly if I can grind finer still.