learning – Page 2 – Thoughts On Coffee Artistry

March 16, 2015April 9, 2024

Water Temperature Experiments for Coffee (3):…

From my initial inquisitiveness about what temperature is reached when you leave boiled water standing, a whole lot of other questions gathered. The reason for the initial inquisitiveness was about making good coffee and having some idea of what temperature the water might be at when there is no thermometer to hand: because the taste and characteristics of the coffee are affected by the temperature of the water.

From in initial set of observations and thoughts, I had a need to try some different scenarios to explore whether all the things that I thought might affect the rate of cooling had any meaningful effect.

Actually on my first modifications, I didn’t really get any very different results from pouring the water into a ceramic mug to cool rather than the plastic jug. I guess if my observations were more precise there might have been a small discernible difference, but obviously not big enough to show up for me.

However, measuring the temperature of the water in the vessel where it was boiled (electric kettle in my kitchen experiments) made a big difference – seemingly in the rate of cooling and in the temperatures reached in my 10 minutes of recording temperatures each time.

Not really surprising, but I’m attributing this (perhaps rather rashly, but it seems logical) to the cooling on the water from the pour from the kettle to the jug (or mug), as well as to the fact that the tapered shape of the (at least my) kettle exposes less water directly to the air.

Lilac line represents observed temperatures of water in kettle at time (mins:secs) since water boiled.

Rather than getting to c 95 degrees Celcius within the first 15 seconds, that temperature wasn’t reached until 2 and a half minutes. And the 90 degrees wasn’t breached until after 5 minutes of cooling, rather than approximately 60 seconds in the open-top experiments as I’ll now call the first set!

It took over three times as long for the water to cool to c85 degrees Celcius: 7 and a half minutes rather than approx 2minutes 30 in the open-top ones. The rate of cooling also seemed fairly steady in these Kettle experiments rather than changing (slowing down) in the open-top experiments.

Lilac line represents observed temperatures of water in kettle, yellow line for water in open-top container.

This means that if using a rule of thumb as to what temperature the water is at some time after boiling, there could be some great differences depending on where your water is (in relation to where it boiled).

More to come – as we still haven’t got to an answer that is practical ……

please note: boiling and hot water can be dangerous if not handled with care!
(despite the haphazardness of some of my approaches above, I did take some care and would suggest anyone else does the same: and children should be accompanied by an adult)

March 14, 2015April 9, 2024

Water Temperature Experiments for Coffee (2):

So thinking of my first experiments – consistent as they were (within their own world of haphazardness) – I wasn’t really satisfied that I’d ended up with a measurement of the right thing. It was informative and revealing, but what about:

– The fact that I had done my observations at room temperature (the rate of cooling would have been different if the temperature were much lower or much higher).
– The fact that the vessel was made of plastic (of course the ability of the vessel to conduct heat will have an impact)
– The vessel was unheated on the first observation, but would have warmed up a little on later experiments (so slowing the rate of cooling?)
– The size of the vessel – surface area – probably has an impact on the speed of cooling, and especially, I’m guessing, the surface area of the top of the water.
– The fact that I had poured water into an open topped vessel of itself was likely to be important – what of the water that had remained in the kettle,
– What if I had poured the water into another contained and covered vessel? (such as a Bouno pouring kettle)
– And after all of that, it’s the temperature at which the water actually hits the coffee grounds that matters – so how to measure that?? And could this be particularly important if the rate of cooling on the pour is actually faster than the rate of cooling when water is standing.

I decided to repeat my experiments with some variations –to take account of what I thought would be the most important aspects:

Pour water into a ceramic mug – different material, smaller surface area, especially smaller top of the water.
Measure the temperature in the water boiler (kettle used to boil the water). Without lid (practicality rather than best experiment).
Measure the temperature in a Buono kettle (having been poured from another kettle which boiled the water). With lid replaced between readings.
Measure the temperature of a Buono kettle with lid being slowly poured directly onto the bulb of the thermometer – the closest I can easily get to measuring the water as it hits the coffee.

Inadequacies in all of the above in the way that they are conducted, what they are demonstrating, and whether they are measuring anything near reality – but interesting and a bit of fun. And some conclusions possible, I think!

More to come in future days -including the realisation that Newton had a law for ( some of) this……

March 6, 2015April 9, 2024

Gradually Piecing Coffee Learning Together…..

Through accident, experiment, and impediment it’s possible to gradually realise that there are better ways to make better coffee.

Realising not to pour on absolutely boiling water, realising that there are a wide variety of coffees available, realising that there are ways to become more consistent or methodical in your approach to coffee making, and that there is a choice of many ways of making coffee.

Piecing all this together brings an awareness that coffee making can be a bit of an art that you can enjoy for itself aswell as for the caffeine kick!

In fact each part can be made into a bit of an art. There’s the choosing of the coffee to buy, the decision about which way (brew method) to make your coffee, the process itself including the grinding of the beans, the pouring of the water, the timing of the process, and the method of delivery (which can be experimented with and varied to produce discernible, and perhaps sometimes not so discernible results), and of course the sitting down and savouring the result.

Basically you can take your coffee making as seriously as you want. If you know what you like and you know how to make it and don’t want to think any further than that, then fair enough. But if you want to you can explore the coffee and the coffee making process and even turn it into a new hobby! You can explore different tastes and simply enjoy learning the various processes that can be applied to the coffee to vary the flavour.

At Artistry Coffee we became fascinated by the old and new techniques that there are to create hand-brewed coffee: and have enjoyed exploring and collecting together some great products to make coffee with.

My main basic learning came about in the last decade through blundering around with various cafetieres and a simple one-cup drip filter maker. Gradually coming to some of the realisations above.

In the last couple of years I have:
– discovered the art of the pour-over method and greatly enjoyed taking time over the process of pouring and making the coffee
– discovered hand grinding, and explored various grind settings that affect the interaction of the water and the coffee grounds.
– and discovered that there really is so much to explore about coffee making. We have favoured exploring hand brewing options rather than anything with machines: as for us it feels closer to the coffee.
Experiencing the AeroPress coffee maker as a way to quickly make a cup of coffee that packs a punch was great, and it still remains a favourite.
As well as the ease and simplicity, and yes cleverness, of the Clever Dripper which has an innovative valve shut-off system to help serve the coffee.

I don’t think you ever end the learning about coffee beans and the growing methods though.

Enjoy making coffee, whether in straightforward ‘just get me the caffeine’ mode, or in ‘fascinated, artistic, exploration’ mode.

February 24, 2015April 9, 2024

There’s something in the water….

More and more I realize that the starting point for things really matters – so for coffee the water and the beans are the prime ingredients. So it’s obvious really that what you do with each of these is fairly key to what ends up in your cup. It’s perhaps one of the first things that you learn about coffee that it’s not good to use absolutely boiling water as you make the cup.

Even with instant coffee this can be pretty early learning. The fizz of the granules as the water boils them is interesting but not a prequel to a good cup of coffee. So the water and what you do with it in making the coffee is important.

The water temperature should probably be a good 5 to 10 degrees off boiling point, and for some coffee making even lower than this. I don’t know the full science behind this, but it does make some common sense that the water can be too hot and spoil the grounds (or the instant). So a little patience after the kettle boils can only be a good thing.

I do want to do some experiments with what happens to water after it has boiled: partly for fun, and partly jut to be inquisitive.

It’s also true (OK perhaps not strictly speaking, but certainly practically speaking) that water does not equal water does not equal water.

We all know the stories of washing your hair in hard and soft water areas – or the dishes, or clothes – and perhaps the fact that water can taste different on holiday or in different locations. So it’s got to be no surprise that there are characteristics to the water that we use, and these affect the taste of the water and therefore the effect that the water has on the coffee that is made.

There are even discussions amongst the most eloquent of the coffee aficionados about which spring water is the best one to use to make your coffee.

That may be a bit extreme for most people, but it highlights the point that the water does affect the end result. So water filters may not be a bad idea, or at least being aware that water matters and at least keeping an eye on not scalding the coffee by being too eager after the kettle has boiled.

February 13, 2015April 9, 2024

How I wished I’d paid more attention….

My weekend coffees in the noughties facilitated then by supermarket bought ground coffee – of such better quality than my weekday ones facilitated by instant coffee – were also made to a better method than I realised at the time.

Actually it was a fairly simple and very plasticy mechanism, but one where hot water dropped slowly through a plastic container with holes in it onto the ground coffee below, and then through a mesh into the cup at the bottom. So even though I never described it as such this was genuinely a Drip Filter coffee which gave a good chance of getting the best out of the coffee that I had bought.

Oh how I now wish I had paid a little more attention – attention to the coffee I bought, the different blends I tried, the way the device made the coffee. Had I done that I might have progressed through the coffee journey more quickly, and appreciated the views along the way a bit more too.

Coffee this way was surprisingly straightforward to make – it kind of made itself while getting breakfast ready, or seeing what the kids were getting upto. Pop the grounds in, pour the water into the top container, put the lid on – then pick up the coffee in a couple of minutes. The little device still sees the light of day occasionally!

Easy for a busy Saturday morning before taking our youngest son to music school. Or now and again with the luxury of breakfast in bed on Sunday before heading off to church.

At the time the fact that the coffee tasted better than during the week seemed good enough.

Only more recently have I really appreciated how much more it’s possible to learn about coffee – and realised that if you’re interested enough you may never run out of things to learn – and that its a bit like wine: the more you know, the more you discern, the more you appreciate, the more you realise that there is still more to learn.

So journey fast or journey slowly, journey a short way or a long way – but enjoy your coffee journey.