Coffee

So I got my scale a day early...arrived this afternoon. It weighs in increments of hundredths of a gram, up to 1# max. It is surprisingly accurate for a cheap little thing. I weighed some coins, and the quarter (the heaviest) came in within .02g (or 0.35%) of spec. That could easily be attributable to a tiny amount of wear. I've got a 500g calibration weight on order to test & maintain the scale's accuracy. But it's close enough for jazz...and for government work.

I made a batch of "Perfect Coffee Water."

To restate, per gallon of distilled water you add:
.94g epsom salt (magnesium sulfate)
.55g calcium chloride (a non-sodium salt used as a sports drink electrolyte)
.64g baking soda (to increase the ph/make it more alkaline)

As I was weighing the stuff out, it seemed like such minuscule amounts so as to be inconsequential...but by way of comparison, the level of minerals in medium-hard water is only 140-210 parts per million. So I mashed the stuff with my mortar & pestle to make the calcium chloride easier to dissolve and put it in the jug of distilled water.

I just made another pot of White Monkey with it, using 8 TB instead of 10 TB of coffee. It's getting closer to a really good cup of coffee...probably needs another 1/2 TB or so of grounds.

As to the effect of the Perfect Water...I got no real way of knowing. This formula is meant to hit the sweet spot of "best flavor extraction." And I now have all the components, so I may as well use them. The bags of stuff will last many lifetimes over and distilled water is only 60¢/gallon. So I can be absolutely certain of what's going in my machine. At the very least, it should never have a scaling problem.

 

No, I've never tried it.

 

"Exigent Circumstances"

It's the universal Get Out Of Jail Free card in government contracting.

 

I've been going through this epic thread--learning as I read--and had to comment on this.

I just read that medium-to-coarse is the best grind for most home machines due to the length of the brew cycle.
>A too-coarse grind for the length of the cycle makes it "under-brew."
>>When coffee under-brews, the brewing cycle is finished before all the flavor is extracted, making the coffee weak.
>A too-fine grind for the length of the cycle makes it "over-brew."
>>When coffee over-brews, the brewing cycle continues after all the flavor's extracted, giving the coffee an off-taste.

For all the "weigh your coffee rather than scoop it" advice in my Bonavita manual, the only reference to grinding is to "do it fresh." I'm surprised they don't cite the optimum grind for the brew cycle (and temperature) of their machine.

I think I need to grind mine more coarsely than I have been. It might improve the flavor.

 

I've also decided that the electric grinders burn the beans, so I use a crank grinder and I grind them slowly.

 

My past 3 deliveries have beat their original estimated delivery date. I just received one this morning delivered by Fed Ex that was scheduled for tomorrow. I had the same thing happen last week with an item coming via USPS, and again today with an item arriving via USPS that was scheduled for tomorrow. But Amazon also seems to be a little slow on some stuff...I have stuff I ordered a couple of days ago that are coming from Amazon but are not schedule to arrive until next Wednesday.

Another issue is that it seems that lots of stuff gets shipped internally to regional Amazon distribution centers and then consigned to the "last leg" carrier. So I can't get definitive delivery visibility until the day before the stuff arrives.