Did the cold brew in a french press, and it was great! After 18 hours of steeping, it was perfect (given the temperatures outside). After that, it went bitter again, but also, the ratio of coffee to liquid had shifted quite a bit as I started to drink the coffee without removing grounds.
Filtration also was great, no sediment whatsoever.
Others have suggested that pour over would even emphasise the bad taste. Hm, I might conduct a single cup experiment one day none the less.
But yeah, in my family, I also have those people who actually seem to want their coffee taste as bitter as the 8th season of Game of Thrones was. Offering them anything else feels like throwing pearls before swine.
I believe we misunderstood each other here. I was under the impression that a homogeneous particle size distribution was desirable, as this allows for the most even extraction, where a heterogeneous distribution would mean that the finer particles are extracted too much (hence make for unwanted bitterness), while the bigger pieces are extracted too little (so that sour notes creep into the coffee). Am I getting this wrong?
That sounds really good. Iāve got a french press already and at the moment, the nights are so cold here that I just might just let it steep outside over night.
Microwaving isnāt anything Iād frown upon, apart from my bias at least that I almost exclusively associate that with old, stale and overall horrible taste when it comes to coffee. But I might just try that as well. Thanks for the suggestions!
My questions whether you do this with every method stems from that especially with espresso - or what I can do with an Aeropress to mimic it -, slow feeding takes significantly more time due to the fine grind size, and to my taste, the improvement is really insignificant compared to a more coarsely ground pour over. On the other hand, my espresso is little more than a concentrated regular Aeropress coffee, and the beans I have at hand for this particular variant are supermarket material, hence also less than ideal. Would be interesting to test what difference this makes with a portafilter.
To my understanding of the accompanying theory, the particle size distribution shouldnāt be as widespread on finer grind settings anyway, so that would also explain my experience.
I donāt mean to put you off a wonderful vintage grinder, but isnāt grind variance considered bad? If with that you mean, using the a more technical terminology, heterogeneous particle size distribution. Because that would result in both over- and underextraction happening in your brew at the same time.
Again, if everything works fine for you, donāt let me try fix a problem you donāt have.
I do grind fresh usually. Itās only that we got this stuff at home already and I hate wasting coffee when itās going stale just because no one uses up an open bag, even if itās bad coffee.
As a bonus, knowing how to get anything remotely decent from these raw materials, it would enable me to do so when I donāt have my nice things with me, be it at work, at my friends & familyās homes or on vacation.
Yeah, Iām aware. Thatās the reason why Iām reluctant to use my good consumables in aimless experiments.
What Iām looking for really is some way to deal with overly bitter grounds, and I know the basics of extraction. Maybe someone just happens to have gone down that path already and can say something like āPut them in a french press, 50 grams per Liter, water not hotter than 85Ā°C, steep for two minutes maxā or so. š
Did the cold brew in a french press, and it was great! After 18 hours of steeping, it was perfect (given the temperatures outside). After that, it went bitter again, but also, the ratio of coffee to liquid had shifted quite a bit as I started to drink the coffee without removing grounds.
Filtration also was great, no sediment whatsoever.