Coffee Break 5-29-2024

The main topic of discussion in this episode of Coffee Break with Ray Owen is the importance of using the right grind for different brewing methods. The hosts discuss the various brewing methods such as French press, drip pot, and espresso, and explain how the grind size affects the taste and extraction of the coffee. They also mention the different types of grinds for specific brewing methods, such as coarse for French press, medium for drip pot, and fine for espresso. The hosts emphasize the need to match the grind size with the brewing method to achieve the best flavor. They also mention the importance of not reusing old coffee grounds as it can result in a bitter taste. Overall, the episode highlights the significance of grind size in brewing a good cup of coffee. Welcome back everybody to another episode of Coffee Break with Ray Owen. Jo, Jo, how are you doing today? Mighty fine today. Well, that's good. My biggest challenge is getting through this wind. Yeah, it's very windy up here. Good old North Dakota wind. We apologize if that's getting into the feed, but it's just whipping to beat none other. So, what would you like to talk about today? I always bring up the topics. Let's have you bring one up. Well, I think the biggest challenge for people, and they may not even know it's a challenge, but they will know, is finding the right grind for your brewing method. You know, it's funny you say that. I was talking to somebody the other week, and they noticed that my typical brewing method is through a French press. And they use a French press, too. And we got onto the topics of what type of coffee that they use, and they say, well, they just go to the store and grab whatever off the shelf. Most of the time that's ground for drip, because drip's one of the most popular and most common forms of coffee grinds. And he then proceeds to tell me that at the bottom of his French press it ends up murky and muddy, and it's kind of hard on the press. Well, it's because he's using the wrong grinds for it. Yes, sir. When I told him that, he was like, well, I don't understand any of that. So he kind of just brushed it off. But I think it's something that's very important, because not only are you talking about preserving the integrity of your machine, but you're also talking now about what's the best brewing, because grinds get into a lot more specifics than somebody might think. They get into the aspect of how the water is filtered through the grinds to be able to provide you that coffee. That's correct. And each brewing method needs to have a specific grind so that you're extracting the coffee in its most pristine form. For instance, for espresso, it's a short burst of time, right? Yeah, 25 to 30 seconds. It's about 25 to 30 seconds. But now when we're talking about a cold brew, or not, well, we could talk about cold brew too. Sure. That takes 16 hours. Or let's talk about a French press. That takes four minutes. And the difference is with your espresso grinds, you have them very fine, because the water is passing through them very quickly. So they have to extract all of that essence out of the coffee at a faster pace. Right. It's a pressurized extraction process. Yes. But whereas with the French press, you have the water steeping in the grinds, or you have the grinds steeping in the water. Right. And what you get out of that is a four-minute press cycle before you press it down. That's right. So then you extract all of the flavor out of that. That's right. And then you have your regular, what most people use is just a drip pot. But there are different grinds for that as well. If you have a flat bottom like a bun, it's a little coarser of a grind than you would for a cone drip, where your coffee filter is more cone-shaped than not. And that one, you can use a finer grind because the water is directed right to the center of those grounds, versus on the flat bottom, you want a little bit coarser because it's going to take more time. Unless you had a sprinkler head on that coffee pot. And I think I might have heard about something like that coming up. So it would shower the grinds instead of just having the water soak them. Right, yeah, that's correct. You know, I think that we're a little bit all over the place. And that's probably because there's so many different options. And that might be because we find the need to be able to tell the people all the different processes. And we're always off script. That's true. It's like herding cats around here. I think so. So let's start with square one. Square one is going to be the coarsest grind coffee that you can get, which is just coarse ground. There's different versions of coarse ground, too. There's a medium coarse and there's a regular coarse. Exactly. With your regular coarse ground coffee, you use that, and as we've already discovered, your French press and your cold brew. And through those, it's because you have the water passing through at a slower pace. Yeah, it just sits in the water and soaks. And the more we move on through coarse all the way to Turkish, because that's a very big difference between the two of those. Absolutely. It gets into the playing of the time cycle. So really, in essence, coffee is a time cycle, and the coarser you have, the longer the time cycle is going to be. The finer it is, the shorter that cycle is going to be. That's right. And then you also have, as far as a coarser grind, and you have two parts to that, and that's your electric perk coffee pot. It's not as coarse as the coarsest, but it is coarse because that water is going to be shooting up through the stem on that electric perk and steeping and brewing that coffee down into the pot. Now, that takes about an hour to do. Yeah, it takes a while, but what people don't realize on those perk pots is they have to take the basket out when it's done brewing. Because if you don't, or say, for example, even in your French press, if you use a finer grind, you're going to be extracting more bitters out of the coffee grounds, and it's going to be for a nasty cup of coffee, because once that brewing cycle is done with any of the brewing methods, I know people that actually might throw more fresh coffee grounds on the old grounds that they've already brewed, and to me, that's about as nasty as you can get, because you're just extracting the bitterness out of the already brewed coffee grounds, and you're throwing new ones on there, so that's not recommended at all. And that goes for any brewing method? Correct. So, let's talk about those for a second. Which one is your favorite as far as the coarse grinds, and why? Favorite brewing method? Yes. Well, I love a hot French press. That's really a great cup of coffee, and I love the cold brew, because you can mix that, you can drink it as strong as you want, you can do pretty much anything you'd like to with a stronger extraction. There is no bitterness to that cold brew, in my opinion, if it's done right, because you don't have any hot water that's hit those grounds. So, I would say French press and cold brew would be my favorite, but I do love espresso. Well, that's something else that we'll get into. That's a completely different grind. We're just going through the different options here. So, and with the medium now, because there's five options as far as coffee grinds going on our machine, there's a lot more than five, but through this site that we're using, there's five. The next one is a medium, and like you were saying, a medium ground is for your coffee pots, it's for your cone filters? No, that's a finer grind. A finer grind that'll say your drip. So, then what's a medium grind? I would say the medium grind you would use in your drip pot, and then the finer grind you would use in your drip pot, and a pour over. Hmm. I don't like filtered coffee, basically, so that's why I don't prefer a pour over over French press. Or espresso. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay. So, medium, looking at this, it says medium grinds will use a cloth or a metal filter. Mm-hmm. So, that's any of your filtered coffees, which require a medium. Mm-hmm. And so, then your Keurig systems, they would also take a medium grind coffee or medium fine. It would be a fine. Mm-hmm. It's kind of interesting, is there anything else that takes like a fine grind besides the Keurig systems? Yeah, if you have a cone filter in your drip pot, that would be a fine grind. And why would somebody have a cone filter in a drip pot? Because it channels all of the water down into that filter system. It goes straight through. There's no flat bottom that needs to sit and soak up the water. It strains it more efficiently. So, as far as medium to fine grind coffees, not super fine, but fine. Yeah. You would say none of those are your preferred brewing method. Not mine personally, no, but a lot of people, that's what we grew up on, was it started out with the perc pot over the campfire, and then when electricity became available, people started using their electric perc pots and coffee pots. Flat bottom was kind of a standard for years and years, and then they came up several years ago with the cone filter, which is really good because it shoots it straight through those grounds. Isn't that something? Back in your day of the 70s, there was really only one type of method, as far as brewing coffee goes in your house. Yeah. Nowadays, people can have a French press, or they could have their pour overs, or they could have their aero presses, or they could have their espresso machines. Exactly. And espresso machines now are like flat screen TVs are too, because at one point in time, they used to be very expensive to have in your house. Yeah. Now they're relatively reasonably priced. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I've got a really nice one I've had for about 10 years sitting on my kitchen counter that is a workhorse. It's really a good one, yeah. And you don't have to spend several thousand dollars on one either. Nope. No, this one I think was under a thousand actually. So now here's some espresso grinds, and those are fine, of course. Yes. And there's different types of espresso grinds too. You have your fine ground espresso. What does that do? It depends on the machine. If I put a real fine grind in my espresso machine, it won't extract that coffee. It has to be like a perfect just. If you're going to look on the upper level of espresso grind, it would be the coarser of the espresso grind. So if you're using the wrong type of espresso grind, it will choke your machine up, and it won't extract as well. That's right, yeah. Everybody taking notes? I hope so. If your machine's choking up, now you know why. Yeah. And then we have the not so famous but delicious finest grind of all. What would that be, Rio? It's named after people. It is, in a country. Yeah, it's called Turkish. That's what it is. See, I know something. Yeah, you do. And that one, you actually use a pot called an ibrik. A what now? Ibrik. Say that five times fast. Yeah, there you go, I-B-R-I-K. It is a very, very concentrated, delicious brew, actually, and they drink it in shot glasses. So what you do with that is you have that little pot with the long handle, you put it on your burner, you fill it up with water, and it depends, there's different sized ones, and you put the proper measurement of coffee in the particular size that you're using and stir it, and then you bring your water to a boil and take it off the heat. It won't boil, it just foams up. The coffee will start rising all the way to the top of the pot. And then you take it off the heat and you put it back on and do it one more time so that coffee gets pushed up to the top. You don't ever want to roll and boil it. And then you take it off the heat, you give it a stir. If you want to put sugar in it, that would be the time to put sugar in it. And then you pour yourself a shot. And in that shot glass, you end up with about a third of the shot glass full of what looks like mud, coffee grounds. And the rest is really good drinking. So just don't drink the bottom third. Otherwise, it's going to taste like a, well, not a slew, but it's going to look like one. It'll look like one. You'd need a spoon. You can't drink it. It's that packed down in there. It sounds like cowboy coffee, except for it's made in the 21st century. Exactly. And you might want to use like a finer ground espresso for like a Bialetti, which is a stovetop espresso maker. And those are pretty handy. I gave mine away to somebody that was really having difficulty getting a good cup of coffee out of whatever brand they were using. A stovetop espresso machine. Well, yeah, it's a pot, not a machine. And you just, you fill up a little, they've got a dosing cup in there. You fill it with your espresso. And then you put the water in the bottom. And then you turn the burner on. And you get a really lovely cup of espresso out of that. I've never heard of that before. Oh, yeah. But you see, that's what this podcast is about too. I learn new things. Our viewers learn new things. You already know everything. I feel like I failed you, Rio. You don't know what an ibric or, well, you know what an ibric was, but stovetop espresso machine. Well, that's why we all come here for an education every week. And see that? I just said stovetop espresso machine. Yeah, so you called it a machine too. Espresso pot. Yeah, it's a pot. Nothing electronic in it. So is there a chamber where the grounds go? Yeah, it's like a little. And then it just kind of, the water boils and it gets some of that, extracts the essence from the coffee, and then you end up with a stout cup? Kind of is on the same premise as your electric perk pot, or a stovetop perk pot. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's got a little dosing cup in it. And then you put your water, and it's a pressurized system too. And then it brews the coffee within that closed container, that vessel. So it must be rather unique or not very well used? A lot of people use them. And the ones that use them love them. I'm not so much old school. Like I have an Ibrik, and I'll make a Turkish coffee every once and again, and I don't have my stovetop espresso pot anymore because, like I said, I gave that away, but I could get another one. So then what would you say is a rare brewing method but also one that should be used more? Well, if you really, really want a stout, good cup of coffee, I'd say your Turkish coffee. You've got to make sure you have the right blend of coffees in that pot, and we have an exceptional Turkish blend. Yeah, so shop no further than Mojo Roast, everybody. That's where you can get your coffee to be able to make that Turkish stuff. That's exactly right. Or anything else. Or anything else. And we'll grind it all for you, too. You've just got to tell us what you like. Yeah, what brewing method are you using, and we'll take care of it from there. And so to recap this, there's five types of brewing methods that we've gone over, and within those, there's many different versions of it. Right. Slight variations. So it's best for people to understand what their machine calls for. Exactly. Because like you were saying, your espresso machine is going to take a coarser espresso grind. Somebody else's espresso machine might take a finer grind. That's right. Well, I was going to say, too, on the Keurigs, we didn't touch on that, did we? No. Well, a little bit. Yeah, on the Keurig, you want to use a fine grind. So if you're using the cup where you can put your own coffee into, not the pre-measured Keurig cups, if you use that, then you would want to have a fine grind. So let's just go over the five to recap it. You have your coarse ground. Again, cold brew and French press. You have your medium coarse ground, which is going to be your pour-overs or your perk pots or your electric perk. What's the difference between electric perk and perk? Electric perk is the electric pot, and perk is the stovetop perk pot. Do they both take the same amount of time to brew? Not really. The stovetop one, I actually have one if you want it, and you can play around with it. See, that's how easy it is for us to get sidetracked from things. I know. Quit bringing up difficult topics. So then you have your medium ground coffees, too, which is going to be all of your filters, and then you also have your medium fine grinds, which is going to be your Keurigs or your machines. Cone drip pot. Yeah, well, that's a filter. And then you have your espresso machine or your espresso grind, and then lastly you have your Turkish, which is extra fine. Yeah, it's like talcum powder. Fine. It sucks up the grinder every now and then, too, because of how fine it has to get. Yeah, you're right. It's finer than a powder. Yeah, but it's a delicious cup of coffee. I've never had it, and it doesn't sound very good because it sounds like, like I said, cowboy coffee. Yeah. Get your kettles out. That's what it is, too. Just crack an egg. Well, bringing that up real, a lot of people back in the day used to crack an egg in their coffee, and the reason for that, people that are doing it nowadays do it because the old timers did it, and they don't know why. They thought it made it something special, but it was basically just so that egg would take the grounds that were floating on the surface of the coffee down to the bottom. Do they put the shells in there, too? Some people do, and there's all kinds of weird wonky stuff out there people do with coffee, but there's really no purpose to that. If you guys are out in the wilderness, and you have a gallon of water, and all you need is a French press, because then you could just heat it up on there, pour your water into your French press, put your grounds in there. That's it. Or put your grounds in there first, and then put your water over top. There you go. You don't need to do it the old-fashioned way, okay? There's a reason why there's been innovation in this industry. Yes, and you could also take that old-fashioned little perk pot and set it on the campfire. That's how it works. Put your grounds in the basket, fill it up with water, and it'll perk away on that campfire. So, now, what's your all-time favorite brewing method across all of them? I would say across all of them would be espresso. And why? Because it's so flavorful. I'll fill up, or you fill me up, a 16-ounce to-go cup full of espresso. I never drink anything in my coffee, and it's so delightful on my palate. I just love it. And it seems like a lot of people, they can't handle as much coffee as you. I know it's drinking 16 ounces of espresso. Well, yeah. Some people just want one or two shots, not 16. Oh, no. When I had a coffee kiosk, I would pull up, and I'd call the girls ahead of time, and I'd get a 20-ouncer full of espresso. The newbies would be panicking, like, what does she want? And the old-timers would say, just fill it up, don't ask questions. So, is that something that you would think that not everybody should be trying, is have a cup of espresso? You might want to work your way up to it. I'm just telling you what I like. It's kind of interesting. It seems to be one that's used the most in, like, coffee shops, as far as every drink that requires coffee is mostly espresso. Yeah. You know, you get the most flavor out of that, or so they say, anyway. My favorite way is a French press, mostly because I think that espresso is, and it might not be the right word for it, it seems bitter to me. Yeah, it could be. It could be the variety of coffee that maybe doesn't suit you. Or I'm just a pansy, and it's too strong. But, see, I was really generous in my coffee shops. If anyone got a 16- or a 20-ounce coffee beverage, they always got four shots. See, and I think the average is about two. Two or three, yeah. And if you wanted a 16-ounce, well, if you wanted a 12- and a 16-ounce, we would do three. And the 20- and 24-ounce, we'd do four shots. And then for those that are daring enough, she'll just fill a cup of espresso for you. Or she would have, I should say. Yeah. So where can people find you? We are at MojoRoast.com. We're on Facebook, Mojo Roast, and we're on Instagram and threads, Mojo Roaster. Am I missing anything? Twitter, X, whatever you want to call that. Mojo Roaster. Well, I think that's all of them then. I believe so. Until they come out with another one. Yeah. You might be coming up with something good coming down the pike. We don't know. I'm going to learn as much as I can about coffee, and I'm not going to start a social media company, I'll tell you that much. There you go. Yeah, it's already been done. Yeah, why are we trying to reinvent the wheel here? Exactly. There's no point for that. Yeah. But is there anything else that you can think of? No, I think if somebody is going to consume a product, make sure it's the best product that you can find out there on the market. Mojo Roast will always be transparent and open with our consumers. We will answer any questions somebody has. Whether it's about brewing methods or our coffee quality standards or anything else that you guys have related to the coffee industry, we're always happy to answer your questions. Did I take the words out of your mouth? No, you didn't. People actually call and they're surprised to hear me answer the phone. It's important to me. I need to be there for the consumer, for the coffee lover, and walk them through the process and help them with their decisions. I haven't had a disappointed person yet. Well, that's what this whole thing is about, too. It's why we started this podcast is to be able to inform people. Share our journey. It may be boring at times. We don't try to make it boring. It just happens to be sometimes. But we hope that you guys are getting an education out of this. That's right. And at that note, I think that we can conclude this. We'll sign off for today. It's been almost two months. Hard to think of that, isn't it? Boy, I can hardly believe it. A coffee break with Rio and Joe, Joe and Rio, however you want to put it. We don't really care. But until next time, thanks, everybody, for listening, and hopefully you guys will get a nugget out of this.