New Members Experience of Using Cafetiere (French Press)

[cmorgan]

OK this is my first post. Mods - if I am posting in the wrong place or doing something wrong please let me know.

Here goes;

I am very much a beginner in this having recently started to grind my own coffee as, I became increasingly disatisfied with the results from my drip filter using shop bought ground coffee.

First off I bought a grinder and decided on a hand grinder instead of an electric blade or burr grinder. I found a Zassenhaus Mokka hand grinder on Ebay and paid £20 for it.

I decided to dust off my cafetiere instead of using the drip filter as I found the results so variable with the drip filter.

I am not sure whether my Zassenhaus is grinding too coarse. I found I get the best results by using it on the finest setting but even then the grounds look quite coarse (certainly coarser than shop bought ground coffee) and inconsistent. I was toying with the idea of dismantling the grinder to see if there is anything obviously amiss although I am fearful of breaking my new toy.

I measure in the proportion of 8 teaspoons to 1 pint of off the boil water. I then pour the water onto the grounds, stir and leave for 4 minutes before plunging and enjoying. The coffee tastes good certainly much better than my previous efforts with shop ground coffee but could I do better? My questions are as follows;

1. Is my Zassenhaus Mokka grinder working properly is it fit for purpose. When pouring the coffee using the above method the coffee seems fairly see through is this correct? Once in the cup the coffee is a brownish colour rather than black. Should it be like this, should I be letting the coffee sit longer in the pot?

2. Should I upgrade my hand grinder to an electric one? I am only intending to make cafetiere coffee so don't need something that will go too fine.

3. I am storing my beans in the freezer and grinding from frozen is this ok? I only drink coffee at weekends as I am trying to cut down (I much prefer a few decent cups to several poor ones) so a 250g pack lasts a few weeks.

4. I currently buy Java and Colombian beans from the Tesco finest range. I keep changing my mind as to which I prefer and think I will plump with the Colombian based on its milder but more complex taste. Should I buy from a specialist coffee shop / internet? If so which one?

5. Should I check the temperature of the water. At the moment I let the kettle boil and leave for a couple of minutes before pouring?

6. What recommendations would anyone have to improving my coffee experience for minimum investment? I am reasonably happy with my coffee experience but know I could do better. I am certainly not striving to spend £100's or even £1000's of pounds to get the ultimate experience. The OH would kill me! My birthday is coming up (21 again) so suggestions for an inexpensive present would go down well (OH is asking what I want - about £50 budget).

In short I am looking for tips on my journey towards an improved coffee experience. Any help and guidance would be appreciated. I hope this is the right place to post this and that my questions aren't too basic.

Many thanks
Colin

[mhuk]

Welcome to the forum!

In no particular order:

Don't keep beans in the fridge or freezer. If you're serious buy your beans fresh from Hasbean or buy green and a roaster.

Don't use boiling water, use it "Just before" it boils. How long to leave it- which tastes best to you?

Best improvement for £50 would be a 2nd hand grinder and to use freshly roasted beans.

There will be 15 more opinions along shortly

[bogner]

hi and welcome

first of all I've got a Zassenhaus too, and I'm very pleased with it .. I have no problems grinding fine enough for drip or french press, if I turn the knob on the grinder to it's finest I can hear the burrs 'grinding' each other when I turn the handle .. can you hear the same on yours? I find this setting too fine for drip og french so I usually turn the knob a couple of rounds the other direction - grind a little and look at the coffee, then maybe a small adjustment and the grind away

I had the same problem as you with the coffee being see-through - I found out that it happened when I ground to coarse, the coffee couldn't extract properly ..

with regards to the hot water, I usually bring it to a boil and then let it sit for a couple of minutes ..

I actually found this coffeegeek guide quite useful

other than that I suggest ordering beans from HasBean or get into the whole roasting thing yourself - it will make wonders for your coffee ..

[cmorgan]

Welcome to the forum!

In no particular order:

Don't keep beans in the fridge or freezer. If you're serious buy your beans fresh from Hasbean or buy green and a roaster.

Don't use boiling water, use it "Just before" it boils. How long to leave it- which tastes best to you?

Best improvement for £50 would be a 2nd hand grinder and to use freshly roasted beans.

There will be 15 more opinions along shortly

Thanks MHUK will take the beans out of the freezer and look at Hasbean. Not sure I am ready for the roasting experience just yet but maybe one for the future. What make of grinder would you recommend?

[mhuk]

There are a few reviews on the site. For £50 you won't get much new but you may get one from a member here upgrading or fleabay often have them. And there are a stack of reviews on coffeegeek.

If you use the search facility for "grinder" you should have plenty to read

[cmorgan]

Thanks Bogner. I don't think my Zassenhaus is working properly then. Have definitely set it to its finest setting and have noticed it squeeking quite a bit (not sure if this is just the handle). I think I might take it apart and have a look at it.

Second recommendation for Hasbean. Will definitely take a look! Will have to start thinking about roasting as well. Wow this is becoming a bit of an obsession!

[mhuk]

Wow this is becoming a bit of an obsession!

known around here as Upgraditis

[Gouezeri]

Hi Colin and welcome to the site!
First off, I'd like to say don't worry about all the posts you see from people discussing expensive HX machines, there are lots of ways of enjoying really good coffee and expensive machines like that are just one end of the spectrum, and far from a pre-requisite! Which brings us to the most important thing, beans need to be though of as like any other fresh produce. This means not only trying to use them within a relatively short period of time but, more importantly, actually knowing when they were roasted in the first place! You'll find lots of recommendations for Hasbean here, simply because he has the most stock and it is all as fresh as you can get. Best thing to do is to send Steve a pm on here and ask him for his "Coffee on a budget" "how to brew with a FP" and "HasBean 10 Commandments" texts. There's should be enough info there to keep you busy and having you making coffee as good as anyone else around here.
D

[Paul L]

Actually Dom, does Steve have those texts on his site?

I'm for reading all that I can in general whether directly relevant to personal set-up or just expanding the knowledge. Especially as my guidance to others so far is limited to "buy yourself an Aerobie from Hasbean" along with the bean comments

[Gouezeri]

Er, no, not all of those texts are up on Steve's site (which is a pity, cos I think they'd be useful for people, and they've been ready since Jan ... I dunno, the lifestyle of an internationally renowned coffee roaster ).. nor was I going to post a link to a commercial site from which I personally receive pea shingle kickbacks So, the advice still stands, pm Steve.

[Paul L]

Thanks Dom, I spend a pound or two with Steve here or there so I'll ask him next time I call

[cmorgan]

Spent the afternoon stripping down my Zassenhaus. Maybe there was something loose because once put together the grinds were far more consistent and much finer - in fact the coarsest grind was finer than it was before. Just made a coffee (I have been off work today so count this as a weekend) and what a difference. All of a sudden the end result is much better and very powerful. Bogner - I see what you mean by the burrs grinding together now, it definitely wasn't doing that before.

Gouezeri - thanks for the advice have PM'd Steve as suggested. Do I take it Steve is from the Hasbean site? Going to look at that site now to buy myself some beans.

Many thanks for all of your responses.

kind regards
Colin

[Steve]

PM sent Dom ignored again !

[Gouezeri]

Don't forget the usual 2kg bag of San Stevo dark roasted pea shingle for the recommendations

[lukas]

Colin, nice to see your grinding problems resolved. In addition to the Coffee-Geek howto, may I suggest another viewpoint from my blog: http://einfachkaffee.de/lukas/blog/french-press-tips/

I found it to make quite a difference with lower extraction times ... may the fun be with you