However...
(anyone who gets that reference wins a prize)
@Scepticalscribe Drinking tea is, clearly, a seditious act engaged in only by some commie, pinko, un-American foreign type!
Fooey!
As my grandmother would say...a bi gezundt!
But really, dear friend, I hope you feel well soon.
And now to my favorite subject… me. (narcissism once again rears its ugly head)
For the past year and a half I have not tasted coffee. You can only imagine what passed for coffee in the institutions where I spent almost 6 months in rehab after I very cleverly broke my neck. Needless to say I was certainly not going to drink any of that stuff. Upon returning home it was clear that I could no longer use my espresso equipment and I chose, until a few days ago, to maintain my coffee fast.
About a week ago I decided it was time to break that fast. Since espresso was out of the picture I decided to go with French press. The first thing I had to do was to alter to my expectations and not expect to get espresso taste out of a French press. Having done that, I am once again thrilled to be drinking good coffee and, since I have been free of caffeine for year and a half, quite enjoying the buzz I'm getting off a 10 ounce cup of good coffee.
I have been playing around with two variables… grind and brew time. Contrary to all the instructions I have read online I am currently at a six minute brew time, rather then the apparently universal instruction of four minutes. I have the grind at a point where I only get a tiny amount of grinds at the bottom of my cup. I'm using a Blue Bottle medium roast coffee, but would like something somewhat different so I ordered a dark roast from Intelligentsia.
Okay, I am now soliciting all and any suggestions, instructions, or ideas regarding the production of French press coffee.
And so it begins again…
Fantastic to see you online again, @Shrink, and gracing our very favourite thread, no less. A very warm welcome back.
I cannot compete on a caffeine free status - with this flu I (still) have, I have been a mere week or so without coffee. Actually, today, I made a cup - Hario dripper - for both myself and Decent Brother. My sense of taste is still not fully functional, and so, while it was nice, I cannot say it was sublime. Enough of my woes, and on to yours.
That sounds as though it has been a miserable and trying time.
Very well then. French press coffee:
Since you last visited these threads, I have fallen head over heels for the subtle delights of Ethiopian coffees, and those are some of my personal favourites, especially the coffees that hail from the Yirgacheffe region (which I, personally, prefer to the coffees from Sidamo). But that is very much a matter of personal taste.
However, the thing is that Ethiopian coffees tend to be light anyway, and also tend to be roasted quite lightly. (And no, that is a step too far: Roasting my own strikes me as a step too far, at least for now). So, this is not a coffee for those who have liked the full roasted styles, although I have come to like them a lot.
From Intelligentsia, my very favourite coffee has been Los Inmortales, from El Salvador, which is currently in stock (they tend to have it available in the summer). Another I am partial to is their Organic Los Delirious from Nicaragua, which is another coffee that is available in summer. And yes, they also stock a Yirgacheffe, I am delighted to report, although I cannot offer an opinion on it, as I tend to get my Ethiopian coffees from the Ethiopian Coffee Company in London.
Actually, I have been known to let my coffee steep for six minutes - or more - in my Le Creuset French press; suffice to say, I am not one of those who stands with a stop watch in hand, especially if I have decided to attend to an email or two while waiting for the coffee to brew. Indeed, eight minutes (because I have been occupied elsewhere) is not unknown. This has never hurt the coffee (especially the lighter styled Ethiopian coffees).
I remember that your set-up - both espresso machine and grinder - was entirely and exquisitely manual.
For your current situation, I think a French press an excellent solution; it can make great coffee and is almost idiot proof; it is also a very forgiving method (as witness the fact that a six minutes brew time rather than four minutes will not murder the coffee), a feature that I like a lot.
Re grinders, I recall your stunning London machine, an exquisite pice of machinery, a masterpiece of engineering; for now, though, I think something powered by electricity (with the inevitable burr grinders) worth considering.
Terrific that you are gracing these threads again.
