Ho-hum. Another perfect cup of espresso...

[CoffeeBuzz]

I'm a new Brewtus II owner (less than one 1 month), and wanted to
share with you guys and girls that I've finally mastered the art of a
repeatable cup of espresso. Granted, I am using a forgiving blend
(Black Cat) but my shots are now the same, one after another.

Along the way I have discovered a few things. Among them:

1) Breaking the clumps (WTD) is a must with the Rocky. I use a
teasing needle (a needle on the end of a wooden stick)
2) Proper distribution (I use my fore-finger) and proper tamping are
essential to eliminate side channeling
3) 16g dosing is my standard, but up-dosing to 18g brings out more of
the Chocolate flavor in Black Cat.
4) I have not been able to tell the difference between bottled watter
(Crystal Geyser) and my under sink RO in the cup. It's kind of like
looking for the difference between two slightly different shades of
white primer under a coat of dark brown paint. It might be detectable
with instrumentation, but not with my palate. But I am still new at
this, and will continue to experiment.
5) My palate can detect the difference between Crystal Geyser and my
RO straight up, but the difference is very minor. (I have a 4 stage
RO system.)
6) The bean makes all the difference in the world. You can't pull a
good cup from a bad or stale bean. (Am I missing something here?)
7) Two of the three local roasters burn their espresso roasts. The
beans are dark and oily, and taste like burnt carbon in the cup.
Maybe a lower brew temp will help; I haven't tried yet.
8) If someone would come out with a medication that cancels the effect
of caffeine I could drink more coffee. Unfortunately, decaf just
doesn't cut it. (Recommendations anyone?)

Anyway, I've got to get back to work. Thanks everyone for the
informative, entertaining, and educational topics on this site. (All
600+ of them)

-dg-

[Zed]

You took the post out of my computer :-)

I was just about to post something similar. I just received a package
of some really good beans from http://www.49thparallelroasters.com/
Up to now I had acceptable beans but not awsome ones like these.
They are 1 day old and already better than anything I brewed before.
So I think, beans are really important. I think that is obvious to
most of the regulars here.
What really brought out the consistency in my brewing is having a
certain amount of beans in the grinder's hopper. I was always
cleaning between grinding sessions and was dosing into the grinder per
shot. NO MORE.
since I started using the hopper again with beans in it , the grind is
more uniform. I have not had a puck fail or squirt and I had such a
beautiful shot today, I could not believe it. Today I made the best
espresso and the best cappa so far. (have the Brewtus since early
December).
I think I just reached a point where I'm satisfied with espresso
pulling. I can't believe I'm saying it!!!
Now I can/will focus on my milk steaming.
but yeah, HO HUM!!!!!
Zed

[Chris Bailey]

Agreed to most of what's been said as well.  Beans make an absolutely huge difference!  What's interesting, is when I was using a super auto, the beans produced noticeable differences between different beans, however, the espresso was a lot "milder"/less in flavor in general, that apparently that masked poor beans.  I used to love Lavazza, and bought it by the kilo :)  It worked really well in my super auto, but it is downright horrible in my BII - the beans are basically stale by the time they can get to you (unless I guess you FedEx'ed them direct from Italy :)

Anyway, I've wanted to try 49th Parallel myself, but the shipping cost to the US makes it pretty much prohibitive (Zed are you in the US?  Did you just take the hit on the shipping, or did you find a way to get it here in reasonable time without costing a considerable amount?).

The best I've had to date, has been Ecco Caffe's Reserve Espresso.  It's about $14/lb I think, and has produced hands down the best shots.  These guys are fairly small, run out of northern CA, have Andrew Barnett, use some Cup of Excellence, yada yada yada, but damn, that Ecco Reserve is great stuff.  I've been the most consistent with Zoka Paladino though, probably cuz that's far and away what I've used most (I can buy it "fresh" (couple days after roast) locally).  Took me a while, but now I have it dialed.  I've been buying all sorts of different beans since getting my BII last year, so have been experimenting a lot.

One thing I've found though, and maybe I'm just slow, but I've decided that if a particular bean seems fairly good, that I'll use it for a couple weeks/pounds, before moving on to something else.  REason being that it allows me to fine tune it that much more.  Some beans I seem to be able to dial in pretty quickly, but others I find I need time to not only find the right grind and dose, but the right temperature setting (this was sort of the big "aha" for me - to see how big a difference changing the temperature made).

Anyway, here's to great shots...

On Jan 23, 2008 8:32 PM, Zed <majo...@gmail.com> wrote:

You took the post out of my computer :-)

I was just about to post something similar.  I just received a package
of some really good beans from http://www.49thparallelroasters.com/
Up to now I had acceptable beans but not awsome ones like these.
They are 1 day old and already better than anything I brewed before.
So I think,  beans are really important.  I think that is obvious to
most of the regulars here.
What really brought out the consistency in my brewing is having a
certain amount of beans in the grinder's hopper.  I was always
cleaning between grinding sessions and was dosing into the grinder per
shot.  NO MORE.
since I started using the hopper again with beans in it , the grind is
more uniform.  I have not had a puck fail or squirt and  I had such a
beautiful shot today, I could not believe it. Today I made the best
espresso and the best cappa so far.  (have the Brewtus since early
December).
I think I just reached a point where I'm satisfied with espresso
pulling. I can't believe I'm saying it!!!
Now I can/will focus on my milk steaming.
but yeah,  HO HUM!!!!!
Zed

--
Chris Bailey
chris....@gmail.com

[Zed]

I know what you mean. I am in Canada, but shipping was still a pretty
penny. not sure how much to the US, but mine came in at $35. I
ordered it express, next day by noon shipping. But I also ordered a
couple of their cups. I guess with shipping, the pound cost came out
at around $22. pretty steep but I wanted to try their coffee, no
matter the cost. I won't order from them all the time, but on
occasion for sure. I really enjoyed those shots yesterday. They'll
be even better today and tomorrow I'm sure. The good thing about them
is even if they are across the continent from me , they roasted
Tuesday and I had it Wednesday at 10 am. I got it at work and my co-
workers were going nuts smelling the coffee through the valves :-)
49th parallel told me to wait a few days, but I could not wait to try
it, I went through quite a bit of coffee. ( I ordered 4 pounds) I'm
going to use up most of it fresh but will freeze some to see how it
changes after, say.... 4-6 weeks in the freezer.
The funny thing was that I nailed the grind and dose the first try. I
got 2 oz from 16.6 coffee in 33 seconds. Tiger striping, no blonding
even at the 2 oz mark, but I ran out of room. The pressure needle on
the B2 has never been this steady 9 bars ever (OK, for all the 7
weeks I owned him :-)).
In case you can't tell, Im totally psyched!
Zed

> On Jan 23, 2008 8:32 PM, Zed <major...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > You took the post out of my computer :-)
>
> > I was just about to post something similar.  I just received a package

> > of some really good beans fromhttp://www.49thparallelroasters.com/

> chris.bai...@gmail.com- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[jwor...@alaska.net]

The hopper question: I have not used the hopper on my Mazzer Mini at all,
because it is my understanding that light and air are not good for the
beans. So I keep my beans in the freezer in the dark, in airtight
containers, and bring out only 1/4 pound (~113 grams) at a time, kept in an
airtight container with opaque walls, at room temperature.

I also do not use the hopper because I do not want to grind more or less
coffee than I need for a shot. If you grind from the hopper, doesn't that
mean you may leave ground coffee in the doser, or, if you do not have a
doser, you may have excess ground coffee that you discard once the filter is
full?

What amount of beans do you keep in the hopper at a time? And is there an
explanation for why beans in the hopper would be better than placing a
measured amount of beans directly into the throat of the grinder?

Allen

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Zed" <majo...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 7:32 PM
To: "Brewtus" <bre...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Ho-hum. Another perfect cup of espresso...

[Neil Atwood]

While I don't want to dis your practice Allen - and if you are only making a
couple of cups a day, it probably makes sense.
But I reckon we can be just a bit too retentive about this bean freshness
thing. I roast at home for myself and a small group of customers in a 2Kg
Has Garanti. I roast about 20Kg a week all up.

For all the coffee drinkers in my house, I pull anywhere from 4-18 doubles
from my M1 (the Brewtus is called the Minore in Oz) each day, so I dump
enough beans in the hopper for a few hours of drinking (meaning about a
third to half of the hopper). I will do that a couple of times through the
days. The beans otherwise live in zip lock foil pouches at room temp. The
beans don't sudden stale in that time. I certainly clean out the Mazzer of
stray grinds at the end of each day (a 2 second suck with the vacuum take
care of that).

I know for sure that most beans benefit from resting for up to 7-8 days post
roast, and so a couple of hours sitting in the Mazza's hopper isn't going to
magically make them stale. ;-)

Regards

Neil A.
Sydney, Oz
http://ministrygrounds.net.au
__________________________

[Chris Bailey]

I've seen freezing mentioned a few times here.  From what I've researched and listened to, this is actually a bad thing to do.  Yes, it is better than refrigeration, but think about it: is frozen fish as good as fresh, even if it was frozen the same day it was caught?  Nope.  Listen to the Coffee Geek podcast if you really want a full on expounding on why not to freeze.  And, just to be clear, this is freezing of roasted beans, as apparently for green it's potentially even a good thing to do (apparently there's a lot of study going on about this right now).

I use the vacuum sealed containers myself.  I go through a pound a week, so the lifetime seems within tolerances.  I do notice after maybe 5-6 days that things start to decline though.  

As Zed said, there also seems to be variance in where the ideal day is, after roast, to use the coffee.  I know my local roaster has done a lot of testing on that, and anytime I was buying from them, they could tell me, with a given batch, when was ideal ( e.g. 2 days, 4 days, 6, etc.).  Most to me, after about a week or not really good, but some I've had great luck with as late as 10 days after roast, and even noticed it got better with some level of age (e.g. was best late vs. early).

As for the bean hoppers, etc. I've recently switched to using just a shots worth of beans at a time, pulled out of my vacuum sealed thing, but like someone else mentioned, as well as what the Vivace book says, it seems that the beans flying around in the grinder may not produce as good results, and that having a solid mass of beans pressing it down is best.  I have a Macap, and like most grinders I'm sure, it has a little flap that covers the grind area at the base of the bean hopper.  So, I can pour a shots worth of beans in there, and then close that, which keeps the beans from flying around too much, but they still can.  I've noticed since switching to this, that I am getting a bit more pitting/spray - not always, but whereas I almost never got it before, I'm seeing it enough to make note of it now.  So, I'm unconvinced.  I may go back to putting basically a day's worth of beans into the hopper each morning (which would mean my last shot might succumb to these problems as well, but I guess that's the trade off).

--
Chris Bailey
chris....@gmail.com

[jwor...@alaska.net]

Thanks, Neil, I am aware that one can get too fixated and ridged in their
processes, and I want to try new ways of doing things. Because I try new
ways to do things, that is probably why I think my espresso is a little
better these days.

I buy my beans from a local roaster, who claims that the beans are frozen as
soon as they come out of the roaster. And I buy the beans by the pound from
their freezer. Unfortunately they do not date the beans, so I have no way of
knowing when they were roasted and how long they have been in their freezer.

I make only 3 double shots a day, maybe 4 or 5 on Sat and Sunday. If I thaw
an entire pound at one time, by the time I have used up the pound of beans
they are very oily. So I thaw only 1/4 pound at a time.

I could pour that 1/4 pound into the hopper, but the next thing I am hung up
on is weighing out the exact amount for each shot, and not wasting any
coffee, every shot made from freshly ground coffee. I would think that
grinds that stay in the doser from breakfast till supper time will lose
something.

Thanks again.

Allen

[Poker Barry]

One of the difficulties of leaving the beans in the hopper is rancid
oils. If one is scrupulous about cleaning the hopper than it is no
problem. Next problem as stated is measuring the amt needed for a
shot. Measurement still can be done by adjusting the setting in the
hopper. But it is much easier to just add the need beans for each
shot. Then the problem becomes how does one keep the pressure on the
beans for uniform grinding. Easy Insert your 58 mm tamper in the lumen
of the grinder on top of the beans.

> > From: "Zed" <major...@gmail.com>

> > Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 7:32 PM
> > To: "Brewtus" <bre...@googlegroups.com>
> > Subject: Re: Ho-hum. Another perfect cup of espresso...
>
> >> You took the post out of my computer :-)
>
> >> I was just about to post something similar.  I just received a package

> >> of some really good beans fromhttp://www.49thparallelroasters.com/

> >>> -dg-- Hide quoted text -

[Neil Atwood]

I understand the challenge of managing roasted beans for a small number of
shots a day Allen, and as I said I don't want to sound critical of your
particular practise.

Like Chris, I'm dubious about the freezing of roasted beans except for
unusual circumstances, or as an emergency supply, and any roaster who does
not put a roast date on his beans... well... But that's another issue.

I happily admit to not weighing my shot doses, and the tiny amount of grinds
that stay in the doser from session to session, well lets just say that for
me, there are plenty of other variables I'd be much more worried about!

Cheers

[Zed]

Allen, that's how I did it too, always kept a 1/4 pound beans in
seaparate ziploc bags.
I always measured / shot to keep waste to a minimum.

I read your reply earlier but I wanted to measure the amount of coffe
I waste with this new method.
Well, I wasted a grand total of 0.8g of coffee today during the
cleaning.
Then I started my grinder, then I judged when I had enough grinds in
my doser , then dosed and measured. Incredibly I ground exactly 16.5g
coffee and that's what ended up in my portafilter. That included all
the grinds that I brushed into the doser right after the grinding
session. NOW i realize that I will not always be able to judge the
amount, so things may vary. Earlier I needed an extra 1.5 g for a
dose, so I pulsed the Macap for less than a second and voila I had the
exact amount with much less than a half gram waste.
The consistency of the pull was night and day better after this
switch, so even if I wasted 2-3 g of coffee per session I would not
mind, It's well worth it IMO. for me anyway.
Zed

On Jan 24, 11:46 am, <jworr...@alaska.net> wrote:
> The hopper question: I have not used the hopper on my Mazzer Mini at all,
> because it is my understanding that light and air are not good for the
> beans. So I keep my beans in the freezer in the dark, in airtight
> containers, and bring out only 1/4 pound (~113 grams) at a time, kept in an
> airtight container with opaque walls, at room temperature.
>
> I also do not use the hopper because I do not want to grind more or less
> coffee than I need for a shot. If you grind from the hopper, doesn't that
> mean you may leave ground coffee in the doser, or, if you do not have a
> doser, you may have excess ground coffee that you discard once the filter is
> full?
>
> What amount of beans do you keep in the hopper at a time? And is there an
> explanation for why beans in the hopper would be better than placing a
> measured amount of beans directly into the throat of the grinder?
>
> Allen
>
> --------------------------------------------------

> From: "Zed" <major...@gmail.com>

> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 7:32 PM
> To: "Brewtus" <bre...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: Re: Ho-hum. Another perfect cup of espresso...
>
>
>
>
>
> > You took the post out of my computer :-)
>
> > I was just about to post something similar.  I just received a package

> > of some really good beans fromhttp://www.49thparallelroasters.com/

[Zed]

sorry I forgot to answer one of the questions:
the reason to keep the beans in the hopper is to keep a constant
pressure on the bottom beans and to keep them from jumping around .
they would inevitably be ground to differing sizes and end up with
some powder in the end.
i keep between 4-6 shots worth (or 60-100 g of beans in there and keep
refilling it as it empties.
if I run out of coffee i will clean the hopper and do a more thorough
cleaning of the Macap.
I think I got the idea from Ken Fox on HomeBarista. I was skeptical
at first but I'm convinced that this is the right way. With my
grinder anyways.
Also, the Macap has a dark hopper to keep some light out and day or
2 worth of beans won't mind a little light for such a short period. I
keep the rest of the coffee in ziploc bags or in their original foil
bags. Or freeze the amount I can't use within 10 days or so.
I'm trying out a lot of different variables to see what works for me.
I hope to settle down soon to some degree of normalcy :-)

On Jan 24, 11:46 am, <jworr...@alaska.net> wrote:

> The hopper question: I have not used the hopper on my Mazzer Mini at all,
> because it is my understanding that light and air are not good for the
> beans. So I keep my beans in the freezer in the dark, in airtight
> containers, and bring out only 1/4 pound (~113 grams) at a time, kept in an
> airtight container with opaque walls, at room temperature.
>
> I also do not use the hopper because I do not want to grind more or less
> coffee than I need for a shot. If you grind from the hopper, doesn't that
> mean you may leave ground coffee in the doser, or, if you do not have a
> doser, you may have excess ground coffee that you discard once the filter is
> full?
>
> What amount of beans do you keep in the hopper at a time? And is there an
> explanation for why beans in the hopper would be better than placing a
> measured amount of beans directly into the throat of the grinder?
>
> Allen
>
> --------------------------------------------------

> From: "Zed" <major...@gmail.com>

> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 7:32 PM
> To: "Brewtus" <bre...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: Re: Ho-hum. Another perfect cup of espresso...
>
>
>
>
>
> > You took the post out of my computer :-)
>
> > I was just about to post something similar.  I just received a package

> > of some really good beans fromhttp://www.49thparallelroasters.com/

[Zed]

Chris, I'm not sure if I agree with you or Mark Prince for that matter
regarding freezing. I will make my own judgement once my trial is
over but so far with lesser quality beans I did not notice a whole lot
of difference between fresh roasted and frozen coffees. I think Mark
was actualy speaking of keeping roasted beans in the freezer in a open
container and taking it out daily thereby introducing moisture.
HomeBarista did a test (blind test) to see if they could find any
difference between freshly roasted and frozen and the results were
very favourable to freezing coffee. As far as I know they are the
only people that did blind testing.
I think you need to keep a few parameters in mind though: use a
manual defrost freezer, to keep temperature variation to minimum.
Seal small amounts of coffee air tight and only remove whole packages
and slowly bring it up to room temperature, again to minimize
condensation.
What my limited tests show that the frozen coffee was nearly as good
as fresh. say 95 percent. still better than 3 week old coffees.
the only thing that I noticed that the window of freshness once coffee
was taken out of the freezer became much smaller than the window for
fresh beans. 10 days to maybe 4, so freezing small portions may be
important. I'm not certain yet but these are my preliminary results.
I think the ideal way to freeze may be by using 1/2 liter mason jars,
use a vacuum sealer to take out all the air then freeze. When ready
to use frozen beans, take them out of the feezer, place them in the
fridge for a few hours, then take them out of the fridge an let it
warm up to room temperature slowly without opening the jar.
Of course if you have access to local roasters or you roast your own
you may not need to go through all this trouble, but if you need to
order a lot of beans from a reputable roaster and the shipping charges
are really high, then this is a viable method. My last order had a 35
dollar shipping charge. It's really hard to justify that to my wife
if I only order 1-2 pounds. But thats a personal thing and a
compromise, I concede. Still I'm making a bigger difference just by
keeping my beans in the hopper or using a modified Staub method to
tamp combined with WDT.
I will revisit this in a few months time to be sure!
Zed

On Jan 24, 4:20 pm, "Chris Bailey" <chris.bai...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've seen freezing mentioned a few times here.  From what I've researched
> and listened to, this is actually a bad thing to do.  Yes, it is better than
> refrigeration, but think about it: is frozen fish as good as fresh, even if
> it was frozen the same day it was caught?  Nope.  Listen to the Coffee Geek
> podcast if you really want a full on expounding on why not to freeze.  And,
> just to be clear, this is freezing of roasted beans, as apparently for green
> it's potentially even a good thing to do (apparently there's a lot of study
> going on about this right now).
> I use the vacuum sealed containers myself.  I go through a pound a week, so
> the lifetime seems within tolerances.  I do notice after maybe 5-6 days that
> things start to decline though.
>
> As Zed said, there also seems to be variance in where the ideal day is,
> after roast, to use the coffee.  I know my local roaster has done a lot of
> testing on that, and anytime I was buying from them, they could tell me,

> with a given batch, when was ideal (e.g. 2 days, 4 days, 6, etc.).  Most to

> me, after about a week or not really good, but some I've had great luck with
> as late as 10 days after roast, and even noticed it got better with some
> level of age (e.g. was best late vs. early).
>
> As for the bean hoppers, etc. I've recently switched to using just a shots
> worth of beans at a time, pulled out of my vacuum sealed thing, but like
> someone else mentioned, as well as what the Vivace book says, it seems that
> the beans flying around in the grinder may not produce as good results, and
> that having a solid mass of beans pressing it down is best.  I have a Macap,
> and like most grinders I'm sure, it has a little flap that covers the grind
> area at the base of the bean hopper.  So, I can pour a shots worth of beans
> in there, and then close that, which keeps the beans from flying around too
> much, but they still can.  I've noticed since switching to this, that I am
> getting a bit more pitting/spray - not always, but whereas I almost never
> got it before, I'm seeing it enough to make note of it now.  So, I'm
> unconvinced.  I may go back to putting basically a day's worth of beans into
> the hopper each morning (which would mean my last shot might succumb to
> these problems as well, but I guess that's the trade off).
>

> On Jan 24, 2008 8:46 AM, <jworr...@alaska.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > The hopper question: I have not used the hopper on my Mazzer Mini at all,
> > because it is my understanding that light and air are not good for the
> > beans. So I keep my beans in the freezer in the dark, in airtight
> > containers, and bring out only 1/4 pound (~113 grams) at a time, kept in
> > an
> > airtight container with opaque walls, at room temperature.
>
> > I also do not use the hopper because I do not want to grind more or less
> > coffee than I need for a shot. If you grind from the hopper, doesn't that
> > mean you may leave ground coffee in the doser, or, if you do not have a
> > doser, you may have excess ground coffee that you discard once the filter
> > is
> > full?
>
> > What amount of beans do you keep in the hopper at a time? And is there an
> > explanation for why beans in the hopper would be better than placing a
> > measured amount of beans directly into the throat of the grinder?
>
> > Allen
>
> > --------------------------------------------------

> > From: "Zed" <major...@gmail.com>

> > Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 7:32 PM
> > To: "Brewtus" <bre...@googlegroups.com>
> > Subject: Re: Ho-hum. Another perfect cup of espresso...
>
> > > You took the post out of my computer :-)
>
> > > I was just about to post something similar.  I just received a package

> > > of some really good beans fromhttp://www.49thparallelroasters.com/

> chris.bai...@gmail.com- Hide quoted text -

[Zed]

Barry that's what I used to do too. But the last few beans will still
hop around without a hopper full of beans :-)
thus creating some powder.....
I think as long as you clean the hoppper 1x/week you should be ok for
rancid oil residue....
I would challange you to try it and take a look at the difference when
pulling shots with a naked portafilter.
If you see no difference, then your method is best for you. It is
definitely simpler to dose/shot as per your method.
but really who am I to challange you guys. I'm still the last kid in
the class. so, please, I hope no one takes offence at my
exuberance !!!

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Chris Bailey]

Indeed I have not tried freezing.  I am not surprised by results of older or poorer quality beans not being as affected - they probably didn't have as much flavor and complexity to begin with, so going from bland to a bit more bland, is, well, still bland ;-)  I'll check out the home barista thing, but just logically it makes sense to me that freezing would diminish the quality - it changes things, no matter how much we like to think it preserves stuff.  It will affect the oils and chemicals and so on, just like it does to other foods.  Sure, I eat various frozen food, and it's not as if it's bad, but it's not as good as fresh.

I am not somewhat disappointed by this aspect though, as I don't like the fact that I have to pay shipping weekly for coffee (assuming I'm not buying local, which is not an option for most people, unless you happen to live in a hot spot like some of the NW cities and Vancouver, etc., or various lucky other spots).  This is one reason I was so bummed when the quality of my once favorite local roaster went way down (others feel the same way, yet the company doesn't seem to think so).  This has also led me to favor buying beans from places like Stumptown, Ecco Caffe, Victrola or various others that are within a close enough distance to me (I'm in Oregon), that I can pay for US mail or UPS ground, to get relatively cheap shipping ($4-6 US), and still get it in 1-3 days or so (very luckily, if I order from Stumptown, I usually have it the day after it was roasted!).

Ok, and not to beat this, but yes, fully admitted I've never tried freezing, and that my data is based on what I've read and heard, from what I believe to be reputable sources, etc., but of course is biased by my interpretation.  All that said, I just believe in buying and using fresh, and not going the freezer route, even if it means I can't use 49th Parallel on a regular basis since the shipping is exhorbitant.  If I lived somewhere that forced me to use 2nd day or overnight shipping regularly, and so on, I might be more inclined to try freezing.  Luckily I live pretty close to some good bean sources (although, I am somewhat jealous of folks in Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, and one or two other spots, that can walk in and buy some of these great beans locally :-/

chris....@gmail.com

[Zed]

just in case anybody wanted to read about coffe freezing:
http://www.home-barista.com/store-coffee-in-freezer.html

[jwor...@alaska.net]

Thanks all for the ideas and positions on freezing, hopper use, etc. The
first thing I am going to do, tomorrow morning, is use my 58 mm tamper in
the throat of the grinder after I put in the 16 grams of beans. I am
presently using a 58 mm filter, which keeps the beans from flying out of the
grinder, but does not keep them compressed. It makes sense to me that
keeping the beans compressed as they are ground will make a difference for
better or for worse and folks here seem to think for the better.

Then, after a few days of that, I shall try the hopper, hoping I can judge
when to turn off the grinder. One thing I thought of: while I am still
weighing the beans, use a stop watch to time how long it takes for the
measured weight of beans to be ground, then use that same time as a starting
point when I use the hopper. And since the Mazzer Mini has a timer switch,
who knows, maybe I will find that a certain setting on the timer switch will
grind just the right amount of coffee for me.

Regarding weaning myself off the frozen beans, I have looked at the cost of
having Espresso Vivace in Seattle ship a pound of their roast - it is $13.00
per pound, and I would guess the shipping would be 3-4 dollars. This would
be fresh-roasted, dated, and not frozen. I am paying I think $11.95 per
frozen pound now from our local roaster/coffee shop, and I have to figure
the cost of gasoline to go to their store. It is not in a part of town that
we normally do our shopping.

So, I have a plan of action - I will not stagnate and stay in the same rut.

Oh, and by the way, I have changed my tune about cleaning the grinder
(Mazzer Mini): one definitely should regularly unscrew the large adjustment
nut and clean out all the accumulated dust. Vacuuming from the chute and the
throat does NOT do it.

Allen

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Zed" <majo...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 3:25 PM

[Allen Worrall]

Thanks Neil. I am getting a good education and benefiting greatly from this
thread.

Allen

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Neil Atwood" <nat...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 1:59 PM
To: <bre...@googlegroups.com>

[Poker Barry]

I guess we should also note I use a heavy weighted desert wood Thor
ridgeline tamper.
http://www.thortamper.com/index.html

> From: "Zed" <major...@gmail.com>

> >> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Zed]

I envy all who are able to get fresh roasted quality beans locally or
at least at cheap delivery charge.
In my neck of the woods there are none :-(
I guess I will need to get into roasting......

> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -

[Zed]

Allen, just one thing if you time your shots: you may have enough
grinds earlier if you use the beans in hopper method. I think it
takes a couple of seconds longer if you dose per shot. Just one thing
to consider. Your grinder may be different to mine, though. Oh and
also you may want to adjust to a little courser grind too.

Btw I had a few people over today and made a few shots and cappas,
the wasted amount of coffee was 0.9g in the beginnig of the process,
and there was no grinds left at the end. For the last shot I had 12 g
ground, but 2 short pulses of the grinder left me with 16.2. close
enough for my usual 16.5 dose.
I had two italians in the crowd and both said they have never had such
a good cappucino (5 oz total/cup) in their lives! I asked them if
they were serious or they are going to talk behind my back :-)
They were!
Good to know......
I was even able to come up with some crappy latte art which they
thought was neat :-)

> From: "Zed" <major...@gmail.com>

> >> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Allen Worrall]

Congratulations, Zed. That is the supreme compliment.

I will keep in mind what you have said about the changes to expect when I
use the hopper. Thanks.

Allen, in Fairbanks, where it is minus 31 C tonight, and dropping rapidly.
Going to be a cold night.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Zed" <majo...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 2:57 PM

[Barry Luterman]

84 here in Hawaii

[Allen Worrall]

Thanks Zed. I thought this was a very well done study.
Allen

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Zed" <majo...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 6:52 PM

To: "Brewtus" <bre...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Ho-hum. Another perfect cup of espresso...

>

[Zed]

Lucky! you don't need a freezer to keep coffee :-)

It's a balmy 0 here.

On Jan 26, 12:17 am, "Allen Worrall" <jworr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>  Congratulations, Zed. That is the supreme compliment.
>
> I will keep in mind what you have said about the changes to expect when I
> use the hopper. Thanks.
>
> Allen, in Fairbanks, where it is minus 31 C tonight, and dropping rapidly.
> Going to be a cold night.
>
> --------------------------------------------------

> From: "Zed" <major...@gmail.com>