Brewing with a Cona

by **pault** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:55 pm

ha ha Matt - you fell into my cunning trap :lol:

the grinder I was using was my old Pavoni Jolly Doser (minus the useless doser) to avoid having to mess around with the Mazzer ...

so you reckon grind finer or coarser? and increase the up time on the stove by 30 seconds or so?

by **phil** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 10:22 pm

Personally I use a coarser grind and try for an up-plus-drain time of no more than 3:30 - 4:00.

by **matts** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 10:52 pm

phil wrote:up-plus-drain time

'drain time', that's so much more refined than 'suck down' :wink:

Matt
'dreadful coarse antipodean'

by **phil** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 10:06 am

I'm sorry Matt it must be my ageing schoolboy sense of humour - "up-plus-suck" was giving me mental images I couldn't handle right then!

by **wlodek** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 11:33 am

How interesting to find a Cona thread. I really like mine and the mild brew it produces, plus the 'after dinner science show' effect.

The flip-side is the effect it produces with any Portuguese guests, who often can't believe their eyes and try to re-read the name of the device before either getting embarrassed or laughing their heads off

W.

by **phil** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:53 pm

Oh dear Wlodek you're going to have to explain that or I'll ask our Portugese resident member to do so.

by **wlodek** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 8:52 pm

phil wrote:Oh dear Wlodek you're going to have to explain that or I'll ask our Portugese resident member to do so.

You asked ... When I served coffee to my bunch of students including a Portuguese one, he choked a bit, went slightly pink, cracked a silly joke and then explained that this is a very rude word for female genitals. I take it you don't need further translation.

Well, what can I add? I still like the coffee it makes.

W.

by **phil** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 8:55 pm

Oh dear.

I wonder what this does to their sales in Portugal? I don't even want to think about it.

by **wlodek** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 9:47 pm

Whoever mentioned schoolboy humour ...

by **pault** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:09 pm

bad day at work, brewed some 3 day old Harrar in the Cona,

grind just right, up time just right,

gorgeous mug & the necessary doughnut!!!!

does life get any better?? - sorry, of course it could - if I could have timed the last slurp to match Liverpool beating Arsenal in injury time

:lol:

by **Steve** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 11:33 pm

He He man after my own heart. You dont find many coffee nuts who like there footy too

by **matts** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:48 am

Not wanting to disturb the reverie but reading the Reds financials might make Paul choke on his doughnut...

It sounds v nice but personally I'm after something more savoury after work (made with hops principally :wink:

...) Or was it afternoon tea time?

Who else would be after brewed coffee say post 5pm but pre dinner??

Matt
'footie fan too'

by **pault** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 2:03 pm

Yes - this is my afternoon repast - whereafter a good bottle of wine is in order.

and I'm calm about Liverpool's finances - I'm convinced they'll find a long lost John Lennon will & testament which says to leave all his money to LFC and Yoko will have to stump up,

then we'll have it confirmed that Alex Ferguson is in fact from an alternate universe of biased, short-sighted and grumpy aliens and has been recalled to fight the evil empire of fair play and no extra time till Utd do manage to score whereupon the whistle is promptly sounded (I know that's quite a long name for an empire) ....

ooops, one too many coffees today already it seems .... :twisted:

by **walts** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 4:57 pm

All very interesting stuff. Being on the verge of buying a Cona Bijou. 1 pint model I am now scared stiff and wondering if I am on track. I have tried to assimilate all that has gone before on this subject but not that sure that I have it right. So....I would npot want to brew a pint as my wife does not like real coffee. So I am thinking along the lines of filling the Cona with, say 6 ounces for one cup. Is this feasible? Now....I wait till all the water has risen up, but isn't there the danger of the Cona overheating and cracking as all the water has boiled away? Or...Do I take it off the heat as soon as the last drop has risen and before the heat can crack the glass? I am getting the feeling that this is going to be one nightmare operation, but the thought of that delicious brew makes me want to go on. Put me right on this lads. Please!

by **HughF** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 10:54 pm

Walt : One alternative to consider is the (electric) Bodum mini e-Santos. Phil sold me his old one as he didn't like it. Maybe I'm more easily pleased but it works for me... what I do may not be optimum but it will give you an idea of the process :

Set Rocky grinder on 25, use 7 grams of coffee beans per 1/4 pint (sometimes slightly more), grind into the top part, put up to 1.25 pints of water into jug, wet the rubber seal at the base of the top part under the cold tap, ease top part onto the jug and switch on at the base. Do something else for c. 4 minutes, remove top part and pour jug into mug(s). (It will apparently keep the coffee hot afterwards for a while but I haven't tried that feature.)

I have stopped using a cafetiere at home and I'm going to buy a new e-Santos to use at work, retiring a cafetiere there as well. Much less need to worry about sediment, much less fuss generally, a very clean-tasting slightly milder brew than cafetiere (the way I use it anyway).

I think someone here (Phil?) rated electric vac pots below manual ones in coffee quality but if you are worried about using a manual vac pot, an electric vac pot like mine is £45 from Amazon.co.uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A8VV6/ for the 0.75 litre Bodum mini e-Santos only, HasBean sells the larger 1.5 litre one - http://www.hasbean.co.uk/cgi-bin/beanlist.cgi?type=Special%20Offers&order= - (£79.95 on offer).

Cheers,

Hugh

Brewing with a Cona

oh joy!

I'm not worried

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