Better Coffee Q&A

Thanks for taking the time to go through our Better Coffee questionnaire. 

The first thing I notice about your answers is that you would love to have better coffee and use less creamer. And yes, that’s perfect. That is what we're here for. 

My mom grew up in Louisiana and when I was a kid it was a big treat for her to get a bag of Community coffee. BUT, one of the things I realized early on in my pursuit of excellent coffee is that there’s a big difference between pre-ground and freshly-ground coffee. In fact, coffee freshness became such an important part of my coffee journey that the DoubleShot has very strict freshness standards starting with the roast. When coffee is roasted, sugars are caramelized and oils are cooked inside the beans. A byproduct of roasting is carbon dioxide, and it pressurizes tiny pockets in the coffee beans, protecting the oils from oxidation. Over 7-10 days, that gas escapes and an equilibrium is achieved with ambient air. The oxygen then causes the oils inside the beans to become rancid, and that’s what leaves a bad taste in your mouth after a cup of stale coffee. Once coffee is ground, all those oils are exposed to oxygen and the time goes from days to minutes until the coffee is stale.

That was a long-winded way of saying that you’ll immediately have a much better cup of coffee if you purchase a grinder and buy whole bean coffee. It seems like a lot of unnecessary work, but I assure you it’s worth it. I even hand-grind my coffee each morning and it’s become an important meditative ritual to start my day. 

If you’re in the area, you should come by and visit. The myriad flavors in a coffee can be amazing even without flavorings being added to it. I’m quite sure we have coffee that you would really enjoy without creamer or artificial flavorings. 

We also have options for grinders, and any of my managers would be happy to talk to you about them. If you’d like to set up a time to meet and taste some coffee and see what options we have for equipment, let us know and one of us will schedule a time with you. You can definitely have better coffee, and we’d love to be a part of that.

Thanks for taking the time to fill out our Better Coffee questionnaire.

It looks like you’re well on your way down the path of great coffee. I see that you recently bought an Encore grinder from us. Please let us know how you’re liking that, and if you need any help dialing that in or if you have any problems with it. 

I also use a Hario dripper at home most days. And I switch out kettles now and then, trying new things. But I’ve been using the Fellow Stagg for a while, and I like the way it heats water just to the set temp in a very elegant way. 

The interesting thing I enjoy about making pourovers is that I can really get into the nuances of individual coffees by changing my brew temp by 1 degree either way, or by changing my grind size by one click either way. I usually use a 1:12 ratio, which is what we use here at the DoubleShot, but I sometimes go to a 1:11 or 1:10 for variation. And all that makes a difference. 

If you’re looking to keep it simple but want more spice in your life, I’d recommend another manual brewing method. My backup is the Aram Espresso Maker  which we don’t currently have in stock. But it’s a great manual espresso machine. We are expecting that back on the shelf hopefully in a month or two (you know how things are right now with supply chain). Another great brewing method, surprisingly, is the aeropress  Just brewing coffee with it the way that it was intended can make something akin to an americano. 

Mark and I recently recorded an episode of the AA Cafe podcast about a bunch of home coffee brewing methods. You might check it out at aacafe.org on the DoubleShot website: https://aacafe.org/household-brewing-methods

Let us know if you have questions. I’m confident we can help you broaden your spectrum of coffee making methods and help you achieve more creativity for better coffee. We’d be happy to schedule a time to meet with you and taste some coffees here and show you a few of the alternate brewing ideas we have in-house.

Thanks for taking the time to fill out our Better Coffee questionnaire.

Looks like you’ve got a nice setup for brewing coffee. I think I can give you some ideas to try and change some brewing parameters to get a different taste from the coffee.

Brewing with a Chemex can be tricky. Because of the way it’s designed, the flow rate is considerably slower than other pourover devices. That alters the way you need to adjust your variables. If the coffees are tasting bland, I would say that it sounds like either your water temp is too cool, your grind is too coarse, or your ratios are too high. I like to stick with a 1:12 ratio max, but you can definitely cheat up from there if that’s your preference. So if I were using 40 grams of coffee (out of my Comandante grinder), I would use 480 grams of water. Can I assume you’re using a scale? If not, Hario makes a great one. 

I always start with an initial pour of around 60 grams of water to saturate the bed of grounds, and then I wait 30-35 seconds before continuing the pour. My default water temp is 199º F, and I mess around with it up or down 1º from there to alter the taste of the coffee. In order to find a good grind size, I judge by flow rate. If you can pour very slowly and it doesn’t pool much, you’re there (I know that’s not very descriptive, but how does one judge grind size without a cumbersome sieve?). So my advice is to find a flow rate you like, and then start working with different water temps until the coffee tastes the way you want it to (or more so). 

Only other thing I’d recommend is someday getting a Comandante grinder  I love mine, and it makes that morning ritual into something so tactile and somehow more meaningful (not to mention that the grind consistency and repeatability is unmatched). 

Let us know how better we can help you out. I’m swinging a little in the dark, but definitely want to help you get the most out of your coffee experience.

Thanks for filling out our Better Coffee questionnaire.

I have some good news. There are many avenues you can take to have better coffee. The first thing I would recommend is buying a grinder. This will make all the difference and open up your options to try all kinds of coffees. Once coffee is roasted, it has a short shelf-life (10-ish days, in my opinion) before it tastes stale. But once it is ground, that shelf life shrinks to just minutes. Trust me on this, I’ve built my business on coffee freshness. So you should only grind your coffee right before you intend to brew it. 

Now, what kind of grinder should you buy? Well, a lot of people want to start out with a blade grinder because they are inexpensive, but these really aren’t made for grinding coffee - they are spice mills. So a burr grinder is the type you need. It will allow you to grind fine for espresso and coarse for a more immersive method like a percolator (which I wouldn’t really recommend, btw). 

I don’t want to go too deep for starters because simply grinding your coffee and using a percolator will make better coffee. In fact, if you like bold coffees, I’d recommend our Sumatra. It has a nice kick you’ll likely enjoy.

BUT, percolators have an inherent problem because they get too hot and running the same water over the coffee repeatedly causes over extraction, which can make your coffee taste really bitter. If you want to try something different, I’d recommend a french press. I don’t actually have one for sale at the moment, but you can find them anywhere, and they’re easy to use (coarse grind, 200º water, steep for 4 minutes and then plunge). 

Thank you for filling out our Better Coffee questionnaire. 

Sounds like you have your coffee and gear all lined out like a pro. 

I can give you some pointers on tamping to try and help sort that out. If you’re using a double portafilter basket, I like to use around 19-20 grams of coffee. You’ll need to dial in the grind size as you change the way you’re tamping because every adjustment will cause the flow rate and extraction to change. In order to avoid the water making wormholes through the puck, you’ll need to tap the portafilter as you’re dosing coffee into it. This will help the coffee settle from the  bottom to the top. Otherwise you’ll just be tamping the top layer of coffee. Second thing is to level the coffee in the portafilter and then make a light tamp to create a flat, level surface. If your puck is uneven, the thinner side will over extract. Lastly, tamp hard and polish the puck by spinning the tamper as you release. This is not commonly accepted, but I’ve found that the harder you tamp, the coarser you can grind your coffee, and for some reason that seems to result in a sweeter cup. 

Let me know if any of that helps. Happy to explore some other ideas.

Thanks for filling out the Better Coffee questionnaire. 

I’ve never heard of 1973 coffee but that’s the year I was born! I looked it up online and I’m guessing it’s actually 100 years earlier than that - and maybe you discovered it on a cruise ship?

Nonetheless, I can help you here. 

French press is a fine way of brewing coffee, BUT you have to have coarsely-ground coffee in order to use this immersive method. I’m guessing the coffee you’re buying is ground for drip, which will be much too fine for a french press. 

Secondly, coffee’s aromatics are found in the carbon dioxide contained within the coffee beans as a byproduct of the roasting. Over time, this CO2 escapes and the oxygen in ambient air begins to make the oils in the coffee go rancid (oxidation). This all takes place over 10 or so days after roasting. But once you grind the coffee, this process is accelerated and will go stale in a matter of minutes. I would guess you’re missing out on the exquisite flavor of coffee because of this. So I would recommend buying whole bean coffee that is fresh roasted and grinding just before you brew. You should look for a burr grinder designed for coffee.

A local roaster should have fresh coffee. I roast twice per week and we ship within 48 hours of roasting. 

Thank you for filling out our Better Coffee questionnaire.

We can definitely help you make better coffee. 

My mom grew up in Louisiana, so when I was a kid, it was always a special treat to get Community Coffee. BUT, I’ve since learned that coffee goes stale and stale coffee leaves a bad taste in our mouths. 

The Moka pot is an interesting way of making coffee, and it has its merits. The one drawback to using a moka pot is that it necessarily uses boiling water to extract the coffee. Ideally, coffee is brewed with water on the cooler side of that - around 200 degrees. Best solution for this is to move to the mountains - at 6,000 feet elevation water boils at 200 degrees. Colorado, here we come!

Anyway, moka pot isn’t your problem. It’s the coffee. I would recommend buying a burr grinder and finding a local roaster to get your coffee from. We sell an entry level burr grinder called the Baratza Encore. 

Once coffee is roasted, it will show noticeable staling in 7-10 days, and once it is ground, that time goes from days to minutes. I would guess that most of the taste you don’t like in the coffee is caused by these rancid coffee oils.

If you don’t have a good local roaster, we always ship within 48 hours of roasting, and we have a great subscription option to make delivery more convenient. 

Let me know what we can do for you to help you start drinking better coffee instead of bitter coffee.

Thanks for taking the time to fill out our Better Coffee questionnaire.

I do have a couple suggestions that might help steer you in the direction you’re looking for. It sounds like ideally, you’d be making espresso at home, but as you and I both know, a quality espresso machine is expensive and requires a lot of maintenance. 

So the first and least expensive thing I’d suggest is for you to try a different coffee in your aeropress. A good Costa Rican makes a really nice drip, but in my opinion they can be a little one-dimensional in espresso-type preparations. Our Ambergris Espresso Blend is one that I developed specifically for making espresso, and it works really well in the aeropress. Part of the reason is that it’s blended in part with the Indian Monsooned Malabar, and that coffee comes out buttery and produces a lot of crema when brewed under pressure. 

If you’re really determined to make espresso, and like a manual method, I have just the thing. I’ve been using the Aram Espresso maker at my house for a couple years, and it’s really a nice machine. It’s pretty simple to use, and it doesn’t require any electricity. And because of that simplicity, it’s also easy to clean and maintain. And it really does make a true espresso. I made a video showing how it works. You can see it on our website: DoubleShotCoffee.com

Thanks for taking the time to fill out our Better Coffee questionnaire. 

Looks like you also might be a listener of AA Cafe - if so, thanks for tuning in.

You have some good questions, and I have answers. So hopefully this will help. Let’s start with rinsing the paper filters. In my experience, this is only necessary if you’re using unbleached filters - the brown ones. Those tend to taste like a paper sack, and if you don’t rinse them before brewing, it tastes like you’re drinking out of one. Assuming you’re using white, bleached filters, pre-rinsing is just a waste of water in my opinion. 

Ratio. When we make pourovers, we use a 1:12 ratio of coffee to water. But in auto-drip, we tend to go with a 1:16 ratio, especially in larger batches. The smaller the ratio, the more coffee you’re using, so the beverage will simply be stronger. That’s just a taste thing. If you go with too big of a ratio, you will risk your coffee being over-extracted, which will not only taste weak, but also astringent. So if you were goin to do a 1:16 and brewing a “10 cup pot” (coffeemakers consider one cup to be 4 ounces - which is half a cup - I’m assuming this is some very old marketing ploy), that would be 40 fluid ounces of water - or 1183ml. Water is easy to convert from ml to grams because it’s a one to one ratio. So that means you’re using 1183 grams of water. Divide that by 16 and you get the weight of coffee you should use: 74 grams. I’d start there, and go up or down a few grams to see how you like the coffee best.

Grind size is the trickiest of all your questions. Once your ratio is set, the water temp will be relatively constant in your machine, and you can play with the grind size to finally dial in the last variable. For drip, you want to use a medium grind - whatever that means. It shouldn’t be powdery like espresso but not too coarse like a pile of sesame seeds. If the grind is too fine, the coffee will taste bitter, too coarse and it will taste weak. There’s no magic bullet for this one - just takes experimentation to get it right. But that’s part of the fun. 

If you ever want to step up your game to the next level, I’d recommend checking out a pourover kit to make coffee by hand. It can really accentuate all the variables you asked about, and take your understanding to the next level. We have all the gear you need to get started on the website: DoubleShotCoffee.com

And the baristas are always happy to show you how everything works.

Thanks for filling out our Better Coffee questionnaire.

Sounds like you have a nice setup. Your question could be a tricky one, and the only way to figure it out is through some trial. 

I assume you’re using a scale. First thing is to see what ratio of coffee to water you’re using. I personally like to use 1:12. A lot of shops go a lot higher, like 1:16 or even more. But I just like a more robust cup. So you might try that. So if you’re using 30 grams of coffee, you’ll want to pour 360 grams of water. Pre-wet, wait 30 seconds, and then continue your pour until the end.

Water temp depends on the coffee, and 1-2 degree changes will change the taste of the coffee. In my experience, the lighter the roast, the higher the temp it requires. For this Ethiopian, I’d recommend starting around 199ºF.

With a Chemex, you can have a flow issue that will tend to overextract the coffee. To fix this, you will need to coarsen your grind a bit from what you would use in a Hario V60 or other pourovers. The only way to really find the right grind is to watch for pooling. If you’re pouring very slowly and still getting a lot of pooling, make the grind coarser.

After that, it probably really depends on the coffee and the roaster. We have a nice variety of naturals that should give you a good fruity cup: DoubleShotCoffee.com

Thank you for filling out our Better Coffee questionnaire. 

The good news is, I’ve been where you are and the fix is simple. You can definitely make better coffee.

Basically, as you probably know, there are two types of grinders: blade and burr. A blade grinder is not really meant for coffee - it’s a spice grinder. They’ve been marketed for coffee because they’re inexpensive and it’s better than purchasing pre-ground coffee. The problem with a blade grinder is that you end up with a lot of finely-ground coffee and chunkier pieces. In order to make good coffee, the grounds need to be all the same size (or as close as possible). The way a burr grinder works is by adjusting the distance between the two burrs, the coffee is crushed and only passes through when it is a uniform size. This creates optimal, even extraction when you pour water over the bed of grounds - which is critical in making coffee. Because you have a lot of powdery coffee from your blade grinder, this is causing the bitterness in your cup. You can find entry level burr grinders from Baratza or even at your local discount store.

Chemex is a good way to make coffee. But you’ll get a better result if you use a gooseneck kettle. It just allows you to pour precisely and slowly when making the coffee.I use this one at home: Stagg EKG

But if you want a stovetop version, I recommend this Hario kettle.

There’s a lot more to the technique of it all, but just by changing your grinder, I promise you’ll have better coffee instantly. 

And if you’re looking for a delicious coffee, these naturals are always my favorite.

Thanks for filling out our Better Coffee questionnaire.

First off, it sounds like you’re on the right track. Hario dripper, gooseneck kettle, filtered water, Maduro… This is basically what I’m doing at home these days. 

I’m pretty sure I know how you can make coffee that’s closer to what we’re doing here. It’s all going to come down to the variables: grind size, water temp, and ratios. 

Grind size is difficult to determine, but I judge mine by flow rate. It needs to be just coarse enough that you don’t get a lot of pooling when you pour very slowly. Once you’ve got that set, you can play with the water temp to regulate the way the coffee tastes. Too bitter, use cooler water. Probably start around 199º for the Maduro. And yes, one degree makes a difference, oddly enough. The last thing, and probably the one that is the difference-maker for you, is ratio of coffee to water. There’s a lot of variation within the industry on what the proper ratios are, but I like a more robust cup, so we use 1:12, and this is also what I do at home. Sometimes I go down as far as 1:10, just for a change-up. But I never really go over 1:12. So if you use 30 grams of coffee, you should use 360 grams of water. I assume you’re using a scale. If not, this is the go-to: Hario drip scale

Also, I don’t know if you’ve tried our other naturals, but if you like Maduro, I’m pretty sure you’ll like this.