I don’t like coffee. Or, at least, I didn’t think I did. I don’t like the strong coffee taste of basic coffee, if that makes sense?
Randomly, I dove in to light roasts with a mission to find coffee I would enjoy, and have found some really interesting stuff. I’m finding multiple coffees I would say I truly enjoy as I pick up cacao and various fruits. The coferments have been interesting but are often too oily for my liking outside of the first few weeks post-rest where the coferment really shines.
The first step in that process was getting decent equipment so I picked up a 1Zpresso K-Ultra, some V60s, an OXO rapid brewer and a Bookoo Themis Ultra coffee scale.
I started ordering S&W beans off of Reddit recommendations and have found a few I really enjoy like the super clean India Kerehaklu Estate S9 Lime Cultured Washed, complex Ethiopia Worka Sakaro, and chocolatey Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Idido Yismashewa Anaerobic Natural.
I’ve still only tried the one roaster, though, which brings me to my question:
I totally understand your point about not liking stronger coffee. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to help with suggestions as I am on the opposite end of the spectrum than you as I prefer strong bold, flavoured coffees, dark roasts, and things like that lol.
Glad to hear you have found some light roast options that you like and best of luck with the search on finding some more. I’ve always enjoyed a great cup of coffee or tea with a good session vape matched up with a stick vape.
What dark roasts do you like? While they aren’t so much my thing, my kid likes dark decaf and wife prefers dark to anything else since it’s more kind to the digestive tract.
For the V60 I really like 50% pour to bloom then 50% water in immersion (it’s a v60 switch) for 2 minutes.
For the OXO which I’ve used most recently I do 25g ground beans to 200ml water. K-Ultra set to 44-47 clicks. I pour and put the pump on top and pump once slowly, then after 10 seconds or so have slow continuous pumps to maintain pressure as it passed through the grounds (~3-5 seconds per pump but it’s based on the resistance which I’m trying to keep consistent).
That OXO method has brewed some of the best, full bodied, sweetest cups I’ve had to date. It’s an incredible piece of equipment for the price!
Haha… that’s too funny. What a coincidence! Yeah, I’ve tried a few of their other flavours and I just came straight back to this one all the time. Just exactly what I’m looking for.
one of my current fave roasters is DAK from Amsterdam. I just bought another box this morning. it’s expensive, and a little hard to dial in so far, but amazing when it is
I love a good dark roast coffee and now have some new ones to try. Next up is that Kicking Horse Grizzly for sure. With the DAK coffees any suggestions of a dark roast? Would the Alchemist 2025 or the Cream Donut be a darker roast if tried?
I’ve only tried two DAK’s, and i don’t think either was dark. I tend toward a medium roast these days. I just read the box for their flavors, and I gravitate towards chocolatey and/or nutty beans.
The OXO is dope. I use that and a milk frother to make latte’esque drinks. I pretty much just buy Happy Mug, I’m always happy with their coffee. Their beans also make excellent coffee ice cream.
I’m in the market for a milk frother, actually! I don’t mind straight but the rest of the family prefer some milk. We use Planet Oat Barista Lovers milk but can really only warm it in the microwave currently.
Which frother do you use and would you recommend it?
You get what you pay for. I’ve had two non-steam frothers that can only do so much. I use the best one for my travel coffee setup (yeah, I’m that guy). My breville barista pro was good with steamed milk, or so I thought, until I got my fellow series one. Holy shit, that thing does it right. The perfect steamed milk can, imo, make a coffee great as much as the bean can. I use Chobani extra creamy oat milk.
This is the travel frother that gets the job done on the road…
It may be worth it to see what local roasters are in your area. Ask some questions about their sources and roasting methods. You can get high quality that has been recently roasted for a decent price with a little luck.
I love the V60 for simplicity & versatility. I can optimize certain things based on the characteristics of the coffee, and as a pour-over convert, it feels intuitive.
We have a small independent roaster in McHenry, IL called Heady Cup Coffee Roasters, and I swear by their beans. Their house blends are consistently excellent, and they rotate enough single varietals to keep me fresh.
I enjoy pairing cups with hash rosin, especially light roasts. I currently have a white honey geisha by Sebastian Ramirez (Colombia) they roasted and can’t get enough of it. Just today received these Ecuadorian Sidra & Bourbon varietals, too.
Also recently moved into a new apartment with a breakfast counter, which I’m outfitting as a personal dab/coffee bar. There are striking similarities between brewing pour-over coffee and dabbing hash rosin, in both flavor activation & extraction. At a high level, one could say that brewing utilizes heat & water like dabbing does heat & air to derive clarity of flavor from substances prepared from fresh produce.
Coffee & cannabis are rather culinary in that sense. It’s fascinating!
There are two main avenues the coffee nerd can pursue - beans and brewing gear. I’m a bean guy, and a home roaster to boot. I roast mainly single origin beans in small batches, generally only to the first crack, “city roast.” I like basically all Ethiopian varieties, but the current bag is Colombia Supremo.
In terms of brewing gear and techniques I’m an absolute heathen - cheap blade grinder, cheap drip pot. I promise almost nobody can tell the difference between drip and pour over, which makes perfect sense to me after really learning about drip pots. Paper filters forgive many sins.
