Coffee Party USA

This morning we were visited by my friend Kris, and an assortment of brewing techniques. We called it our coffee party!

You will see the usual suspects ranging from Chemex to French press. The idea was we would try coffee based on the brewing technique. The two coffees we used were a decaf espresso and a Peruvian coffee, both roasted by Kris. 

Our first trial was the espresso, using the Chemex and the Hario. Part of my coffee journey is to learn an understand the various brewing techniques. The more advanced coffee lovers will already know what I am talking about, but the newer people are in the same boat I'm in. So I apologize to those who may be more advanced in the coffee world.

With the Chemex system, coffee will only come into contact with the filter and a non-porous glass. This system is designed to take a lot of the impurities and bitterness out of coffee. In our tasting today, we found that the flavor of the espresso was very mellow. There was little bite to it.

With the Hario, the cone shape adds what they call "depth" to the coffee. There is a larger hole where the coffee drips into the pot. The size of the hole can dictate the change the taste of coffee, based on how it is flowing into the pot. 

So which method did we prefer. All three of us decided the Hario made the espresso taste fuller, more like what we would expect an espresso roast to taste like.

Next we compared the Hario to the porcelain drip system(second left in the picture above. The difference between the two systems is the Hario has a larger hole. The porcelain drip system has a tiny hole. Kris told me the porcelain system is one she sees most coffee houses use for a pour over. 

Again in this case the Hario seemed to have the better taste, however it was closer this time, and I don't believe it was unanimous. In theory the smaller hole drip process would seem to have a better taste and flavor, because the water has more time to interact with the coffee before it goes into the cup or pot. I will only speak for me, I thought the Hario was much better.

For our next test, we ground the Peruvian coffee, and we used the French Press and the Clever Coffee Dripper. 

These systems take more time. The both have a filter which prevents grounds from getting into the coffee. Still some ground can make their way to the bottom of the cup. 

I believe we were all in agreement that we liked both of these of all the methods we tried today. The coffee tasted stronger to us. We liked the bite and fullness of the coffee. 

I wouldn't turn down any coffee from any of the brewing techniques we had today, but for me, I preferred the French Press the best. It tasted more like coffee from my coffee maker. Of course this may more the more refined drinker cringe by my saying that, but hey, my blog, my likes. :-)

This was a terrific morning. We all got a bit overloaded on coffee. I think professional cuppers and tasters have stronger stomachs than we do. Still it was fascinating to see what a difference a cup of coffee is based on the brewing method.

Charlie