Coffee
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The reason I'd suggest not moving to Chemex day 1 is that it's a little more complicated to get a great coffee out of, it's less tolerant to mistakes, a bit harder to clean, and a bit more fragile. Outside of the US it's also WAY more expensive (a 6 cup chemex is $200AUD).
Finn, that's exactly what I'm talking about;
2 Cup sized ceramic Hario v60 + filter papers &
Hario Buono Kettle -
Beans there's no real factors that work globally, it's a very local thing for the most part. There's literally 100's of factors involved in beans.
What you can look out for as a generalization;
- Fresh beans (roasted within 2-3 days of when you purchase)
- Roasted for Filter
- Single Origin
If you find a shop who does that you'll have a great coffee shop on your hands and a great supplier of beans for life IMO. All 3 points together are a sign of quality throughout their supply chain.
I've never had a bad coffee/beans that's met that criteria. Some I enjoy more than others, but never bad.
After you've got that locked in you need to ensure dose, particle size, and water temp are right. These will turn an okay cup into a great cup.
The kind of coffee a v60/chemex/aeropress will deliver is that like a fine wine/cigar. There's MANY flavours, and it's not just "coffee", some taste like honey, others whiskey, others, berries/stone fruits, some floral, some are really heavy in body, others really light. Often a single cup will have many flavours coming through at the same time….
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BTW if you're going down this path, you should pick up a decent ceramic grinder whilst there. Both the Hario hand grinders work well, Hario Skerton is my pick of the 2. Hopefully if you go to a local shop and buy all of this @ the same time they'll give you a discount. My local shop threw in a free bag of beans when I got the grinder.
I'd imagine to get full kit will set you back ~$150USD, with a bag of good beans.
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^yup a good hand grinder of your own would be great. That way all the different variables to making a good cup would get dialed in for your ideal setup.
I myself was stuck choosing between a hario hand grinder and a porlex. Either way, particle size is extremely consistent and both grinders are easy to maintain between each use
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This will be my next purchase.
http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-Variable-Temperature-Electric-Gooseneck/dp/B005YR0F40/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1377397644&sr=8-22&keywords=electric+kettleGooseneck and temp
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@llvlaglne, yeah the porlex is a great grinder too. Only reason I didn't suggest is that I'm hoping if Finn drops some scratch on all Hario they give him a better discount.
@Urbs, please keep me posted on that :). I've been tempted, but Mrs Snowy is a tea drinker and would not be impressed having to use such a spout every time she makes tea, so I'd end up with 2 electric kettles. The Buono is a very attractive looking kettle as well as function so I'm "down" with having/using it.
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@finn -
http://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/
They'll have almost everything you'd want and need…. Coffee equipment wise. Plus they have YouTube videos reviewing the items they distribute
