How are your coffee beans lately? Mine are AWFUL!

[Bohdan]

Something to consider is the water quality and its influence on the coffee taste.

They also released a recipe to make ideal water for your coffee but I can't find it on their site.

I have added it as a PDF. 7030 water_recipe.pdf

[rrich]

$12 a Kilo???

That is about 2¼ pounds.

We buy mostly Kona blend from a variety of makers and the latest is about $8 for 12 ounces or ¾ pound. And I'm not even thinking about the exchange rate.

[ian]

Surely there’s an ACTUAL WORD for a “coffee snob”, and if not, someone should think of one. Any neologists on the forum?

Mick -- aka Glider -- suggests coffee sommelier

[ian]

$12 a Kilo???

That is about 2¼ pounds. a bit under. A kilo is actually 2.197 lbs, but who's counting?

We buy mostly Kona blend from a variety of makers and the latest is about $8 for 12 ounces or ¾ pound. And I'm not even thinking about the exchange rate.

are you sure that you know what real coffee is?
None of that boil for hours crap that your typical yank considers "coffee".

Now if you've experienced an expresso made by a real honest to god Melbourne barista you've experienced a Melbournian's version of real coffee.
Coffee in Sydney is subtlety different to that generally available in Melbourne and different again to that sold on the Sunny Coast.



I've decided that life is far too short to drink crap coffee. And that includes Starbucks.
A tourist town like Banff has many coffee places.
Coffee from Evelyn's is passable, that from Good Earth is better, but Whitebark makes the best skinny latte

[FenceFurniture]

Someone's got to say it. Buy another brand and see what it tastes like.

Maaaate....first post....

So then I thought maybe it's just all the stuff coming out of the Melbourne roasters that Aldi get supplied form, and I bought a packet of Lavazza Quality Ora this morning. Same thing - no real improvement in the crap flavour. I even brought out the old coffee pot, only to find that it delivered the same poor result.

Next time you hear me say, "I'm driving through Wentworth Falls so put the billy on", I'll be carrying my Bialetti. It's past time our differences about your stainless steel round bottomed jobbies and my aluminium conical Bialetti were put to bed.

Yebbut that doesn't change why the coffee would suddenly become shight flavoured, regardless of which pot I use - particularly when just 2-3 weeks ago the flavour from the new one was really good (using my regular dark beans from Aldi).


I've just discarded the first run of water through the new filter, so just waiting for enough water to put on a brew. I'll use the regular dark beans for that.

[FenceFurniture]

Something to consider is the water quality and its influence on the coffee taste.

Covered....

For a few years I was only using filtered water. A few months ago I did an A/B test, and as I thought the coffee liquor is such a strong flavour that there was no discernible difference (and we have a pretty good water supply up here - sometimes over chlorinated).

However, for the various tests this morning I went back to using using filtered water, so it can't be that.

$12 a Kilo???

Inexpensive or affordable doesn't mean cheap - read Optimark's post.

[Bohdan]

The specific impurities that affect the taste cannot be removed by a simple filter as they are fully soluable. If the mineral content of your water supply has changed by, for example, the runoff from fire affected catchments, your filter will have no effect but your coffee will taste off.

[FenceFurniture]

Just had a Skinny Flat White (not my favourite) and it tasted as it should. I always find flat whites too rich on milk though. What I'd like to buy in a cafe is a long black with milk added....just as I do here.

Anyhoo, it ain't me. Lola also had coffee out today and it was as it should be.

So, I bought a 250g can of Illy beans, and at $60/kilo one would hope they are good. That's brewing up an tap water right now....standby!

Also bought 2 litres of Demineralised Water ( I actually wanted Distilled, but not available). It says not recommended for consumption, but I can't see why not. Anybody?

[Glider]

Also bought 2 litres of Demineralised Water ( I actually wanted Distilled, but not available). It says not recommended for consumption, but I can't see why not. Anybody?

Because they won't guarantee the biological integrity. i.e. It could have pathogenic bugs in it.

mick

[FenceFurniture]

So, I bought a 250g can of Illy beans, and at $60/kilo one would hope they are good. That's brewing up on tap water right now....standby!

Well I wouldn't say they are worth $60/kilo, but it doesn't taste like shight either. That's enough coffee today for me!

[ian]

Also bought 2 litres of Demineralised Water ( I actually wanted Distilled, but not available). It says not recommended for consumption, but I can't see why not. Anybody?

Jeeze, it's nearly 40 years since dad retired. He had an MSc (nuclear chemistry) and was my go to resource for this sort of thing.

From memory -- dad's been dead for coming on for 10 years -- the "not recommended for consumption" sticker probably has something to do with the demineralisation process removing trace elements (and vitamins (?) ) that are essential for nutrition.
Also, Dr Google says: "The problem with demineralization is that it will not remove bacteria or viruses like distilling would."



edited to add this link https://www.who.int/water_sanitation...entschap12.pdf

[FenceFurniture]

The demineralised from Coles tastes fairly neutral, but not as totally bland as distilled. Maybe I might find some distilled at the hardware. (or Woolworths)

Our catchment area here didn't get burnt during Black Summer. That's not to say that some other crap didn't get into it - after all, Elvis was drinking out of it for months during the fires. (but that would have affected the taste of the water ages ago)

[rrich]

"That is about 2¼ pounds. a bit under. A kilo is actually 2.197 lbs, but who's counting?"

Ian,
My CRC (Chemical Rubber Company) book of mathematical tables says 1 Kg equals 2.204 pounds.

But what is 7 grams among friends?

[ian]

My CRC (Chemical Rubber Company) book of mathematical tables says 1 Kg equals 2.204 pounds.

But what is 7 grams among friends?

thanks for rating me as one of your friends.



I shouldn't trust my memory with conversions.

[Alh01]

The demineralised from Coles tastes fairly neutral, but not as totally bland as distilled. Maybe I might find some distilled at the hardware. (or Woolworths)

Our catchment area here didn't get burnt during Black Summer. That's not to say that some other crap didn't get into it - after all, Elvis was drinking out of it for months during the fires. (but that would have affected the taste of the water ages ago)

I have a wee testing device for demin water, and the water from Bunnies usually has the lowest impurity count (around 0.8 ppm), while the Coles and Woolies stuff usually reads around 15 ppm in the last couple of years. The Bunnies stuff is cheaper too.

If you do use any of the demin waters, watch out for corrosion of your SS coffee pot, as the low minerals in the water can strip metals out of any container. The 70/30 water seems a safer bet.

We have fabulous locally-roasted beans up here too, more expensive than your Aldi beans, but consistent and it's good to support local industries these days. But one of the best coffees I have tasted when travelling was down your way at a cafe in Oberon, made on some beans from near Byron Bay that were packed in a gold bag. Perhaps it was your local milk, but it sure tasted good.

Also, I wouldn't totally discount the possibility that you picked up a bug that affected your tasting ability. We came home from Europe early this year, when COVID was starting over there but unknown here. Our coffee tasted terrible for a few days, and my wife was really crook for about a week. They wouldn't test us then if you weren't actually dying, but we thought it was a chance she had it, and we isolated ourselves from the world. Taste came back eventually, and the coffee's been good ever since.