Copied post from Cigar forum Re: Coffee strength

Joined Jul 2005
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MI
I posted this in the cigar forum to answer a question. Since I am fairly new to coffee, I hope I have all of my information correct.


Most people that think coffee is too strong, usually it isn't. Most of the time, people don't add ENOUGH coffee to the pot, thus extracting too much from the little amount of gounds there is, causing it to be bitter. I bet if you got a press recipe (coffee to water) from Bloofington, Vince or the others, I bet you will be more than supprised at the amount of coffee grounds. For me, its 2 heaping tablespoons per 6 oz. water. If you like it "milder", brew to full strength, and dilute after. Also, dont leave the coffee pot on the warmer. This also leads to bitterness. Use a carafe. Sorry for the treadjack, I am going to post this in the coffee forum too.
 
For an eight cup Freedom Press, which is about 30 oz., I use 37.5 grams of beans, about 1.25 grams per ounce of water used. Keep in mind that here in America, if you look on a food chart, a "cup" of coffee is 6 oz. of liquid in your cup. Because European measures differ from ours when referring to coffee, hence an American has to beware when purchasing coffee brewers, like a Freedom Press or doing any kind of research. In other words, if you were buying say, an eight cup percolator, it would yield 48 oz. of coffee, and not 30 oz. like my "eight cup" Freedom Press.

It's always good to measure how many ounces of coffee will be yielded from your maker. When I learned that these "eight cup" Freedom Presses I was buying were really yielding me only 30 oz. of coffee, that's how I was able to determine the 37.5 grams of beans per press method. I did this because for drip or percolator methods, I have seen the recommendation of 1.4-1.5 grams of coffee per ounce of water. Since a Freedom Press will extract more flavor from the bean than either of the above methods, I decided to try 1.25 grams of beans per ounce of water, and it has worked fine for me.
 
Thanks, Bloofington. That was clear as....Coffee. :D I can see I am going to have to do some more reading up on this topic... very interesting, and am anxious to try it out. Unfortunately, right now all I have is a cheap Mr. C*ffee machine. I have read the rave comments about your freedom press though...I am going to have to get one for myself. I appreciate your input, and don't be surprised if you get a PM from me soon, with more questions!
 
:duh: Damn Bloof! Just out of couriosity, I know weight has nothing to do with volume, but about how much is 1.25 grams in terms of volume? I.e. 1.25= 1.5 tablespoons, is the measurement I am asking for.
 
Although I must confess... you will have your work cut out for you... My coffe background has been limited to certain national brands of preground coffee. Mostly 100% Columbian. I do not even know where to begin with all the coffee you can get at some of the sites you have suggested in other threads (Petes, Green Mountain Roasters, etc.) Where does a complete newbie begin?
 
so let me get this right...

A cup of water = 8oz
A Cup of Coffee = 6oz
but...
An "8 cup" Freedom Press only yields 30oz, which figures to be
1 cup = 3.75oz

yeah, that makes perfect sense...lol! no wonder my coffee tastes like crap :p
 
Wow, Capt. Okay, going from memory on research I did many, many years ago, I believe that I remember back when I was using a percolator, that for percolators and drips, and maybe it's even on the bags I buy my coffee in, that a pound of coffee should yield about 60 cups.

Okay, let's see how this works. My Freedom Press yields 30 oz., or five official food chart "cups" of coffee. Since I use 37.5 grams of coffee every time I make an eight cup (Euro measure) presses worth, and a pound is 453.6 grams, that yields, yes, that means I can make 12.096 presses worth of coffee with a pound, or that I'm getting 60.48 "cups" of coffee per pound.

Hope that helps. I may be a dumb blonde, but I'm a whiz with number, so get back to me with anything else.
 
Yes, it's all very confusing sometimes, but if you do a little analysis and bust the numbers, it will all work out. Just remember, yes, for baking and cooking purposes, a "cup" is eight ounces, just like it says on the side of the Pyrex measuring cups. And yes, if you look on a food chart, a "cup" of coffee is 6 oz. And if anyone here has ever heard the expression "demi-tasse," it is really a French word combination, and has become standard measure for a serving of coffee throughout Europe. And yes, "demi" in French means half. I forget the literal definition of tasse, although it might in fact mean "cup" but I'm not sure.

At any rate, this is why a product manufactured in Europe, or sometimes Canada, by French speaking North Americans, is going to say eight cups on the side of the box and have Americans going . . .

:dunno: :dunno: :dunno: :duh:

when they're trying to figure out how come their coffee isn't tasting right. Trust me, just find out how much coffee your maker yields in total ounces. You can do this just by taking a measuring cup and find out how much water it takes to fill up the device. Then, figure in 1.25-1.5 grams of coffee per ounce of water, OR if you figure that a pound of coffee should give you approximately 60 six ounce (American measure) cups of coffee, you should be able to figure out what the heck a tablespoon is. Or Google "weights and measures." I have done this on occasion, and there are fabulous web pages devoted to clearing up confusion on weights and measures.

Oh right, Green Mountain, Peet's, Oren's, and I hear there's some place called Uncle Beanz that some guy at Cigar Wise is associated with, all good places. And don't forget the AmBack store. There's coffee there, too.
 
Got it. So all I need to get is: a Scale, A roaster, A burr grinder, A freedom press, and a CALCULATOR!! :shock: :p and oh yes...some coffee. pheeww!!
 
I have been drinking Starbuck's French Roast. I buy it whole bean and grind it in a blade type grinder. I use about a quarter cup volume of ground coffee beans to make 24 oz of brew. I drink it out of one of the mugs I have that hold 16-18 oz, with cream and sugar. I dont have a scale handy, and I never counted how much coffee I get out of a pound of beans, but I like it.
 
MarkG said:
I have been drinking Starbuck's French Roast. I buy it whole bean and grind it in a blade type grinder. I use about a quarter cup volume of ground coffee beans to make 24 oz of brew. I drink it out of one of the mugs I have that hold 16-18 oz, with cream and sugar. I dont have a scale handy, and I never counted how much coffee I get out of a pound of beans, but I like it.

That is the key to any hobby/passion... love what you do, and do what you love!

Peace
~S
 
Yup, what he does works for him, and that's the bottom line. There are rules and guidelines to everything, kind of like a football field. On that field there is a surface where, as long as guidelines are observed, one may then run free.
 
Hey Bloof, I was looking on Oren's site and found this freedom Press:

BONJOUR MONET 12-CUP (48 oz) $39.95

by your calculations should this be about right for two people to each have two cups (standard coffee mug) of coffee? And do you recomend going at it like this, or getting a smaller one and brewing a new batch for each serving (one mug each per serving)? The larger one works well with my laziness, but I understand that one should not keep heating or reheat coffee... and I sometimes tend to "nurse" a cup for a while, especially if I am doing something else as I drink.
 
Well, that model will actually yield eight 6 oz. "food chart" (American measure) cups of coffee. You could either go with the 8 cup model, which usually yields me about 30-32 oz. of coffee, or if you like to have hot coffee without constantly having to make a new pot, get the 12 cup press you saw, and also get yourself a Krups carafe. I have carried one of things around and opened it later on to find that 10-14 hours later, the coffee was still piping hot! :eek:mg:

Occasionally, 12 hours later, the coffee was not all that hot, but that was after carrying it around outdoors for a while.

If kept indoors, it's likely that you could easily open it up to 12-14 hours later. A 32 oz. Krups carafe would be ideal, because then you could consume 16 oz. or more of coffee, and whatever's left would fit in the carafe. Then you have at least two mugs left for later, however later that may be.
 
Thanks Bloof. For me, a "mug" of coffee ends up being 10-12oz, so I like the idea of the 12 cup press and using the carafe to keep the secong half warm.

I also noted that Sweet Maria's is sold out of Zassenhaus grinders, and says there is a supply issue. Are you aware of another place to get a good manual grinder? I hate to out the $150 for an electric one at this point.
 
There's a Zassenhaus thread over at Cigar Wise. One guy linked a site with every model that Zassenhaus makes. It's on their Coffee forums.
 
thanks again. I found the site. are there any advantges/disadvantages to a open hopper vs. a closed hopper model? which would you recomend?


Now, I will try to stop pestering you for a while :lol: