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How Do You Brew Your Drip Coffee at Home?


Nextmanup

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9 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:


I’m now worried that I am not cleaning mine right! I just basically rinse it out with water most days, and it seems perfectly clean.

That’s all it takes, but a little bit of coffee grounds will end up in the sink.  Our garbage disposal broke a while ago and we’ve been living without it.  A spoonful of coffee grounds in the sink is enough to be a chore to clean. 

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18 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

 

There are two wrong answers: "instant" and "decaf."

 

 

 

Always keep a jar of instant, in case Bookman the Library Cop shows up.  No sense springing the gourmet s*** on him, when he would probably be happy with some freeze dried Taster‘s Choice.

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5 minutes ago, Gray Beard said:

That’s all it takes, but a little bit of coffee grounds will end up in the sink.  Our garbage disposal broke a while ago and we’ve been living without it.  A spoonful of coffee grounds in the sink is enough to be a chore to clean. 


oh, I got you. I dump the grounds into my garbage disposal— without that, I see what you mean re disposing of the grounds.  The French press itself though is really easy to

keep clean.

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54 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:


oh, I got you. I dump the grounds into my garbage disposal— without that, I see what you mean re disposing of the grounds.  The French press itself though is really easy to

keep clean.

The conversation about cleaning a French press raises an interesting side note.


I have always been of the opinion that coffee grounds will clog your sink drain and they should not go down the drain.

 

Anyone have an opinion on that?  When I clean out my current machine's basket, I dump it into my kitchen garbage sack and bang the inside of the garbage container several times to really get everything out of the basket.

 

I then rinse whatever is left in the sink, and some small amount of grounds do go down the drain, but it's quite minimal.

 

Am I wasting my time?

 

I have also heard of people who save coffee grounds in a coffee can or similar, and then use them as fertilizer of sorts for plants around the house.  Not sure if that really is good for plants or not, but I'm not much of a gardener.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Gray Beard said:

That’s all it takes, but a little bit of coffee grounds will end up in the sink.  Our garbage disposal broke a while ago and we’ve been living without it.  A spoonful of coffee grounds in the sink is enough to be a chore to clean. 

Actually... Coffee keeps ants away.  So I read, sprinkle away!

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2 hours ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

An article that I read years ago maintained that the only ‘wrong’ way to brew coffee is via percolator, since the temperature goes higher than the 195-200 degree F. that coffee water should not exceed.  Apparently, above that temperature releases bitter compounds in the brew.  

That seems logical as coffee snobs definitely obsess over brewing "perfect" and consistent brewing temperature.

 

The other thing coffee snobs preach is using a proper burr grinder, and not a cheap "food processor" type thing with a spinning blade.  You want to crush/grind the beans not slice them up.  

 

By far the #1 thing you can do to improve your daily cup of coffee is to switch to beans that you grind in a burr grinder just before brewing the coffee.

 

If you are already doing that, about all that is left is quality of beans or beans that suit your taste, and rigorous control of brewing temperature which is right around 200 degrees F.

 

The difference between a $300 cheap espresso machine and one that costs $2,500 is in large part the expensive machine's ability to hit and stay at the right temperature setting, along with lots of other things.  But as semi-automatic espresso machines go up in value, you are largely paying for temperature control.  My point being there must be something to that.

 

Here's a cheap ($37) burr grinder that probably works fine, from Cuisinart.  I don't have this machine myself.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DBM-8-Supreme-Grind-Automatic/dp/B00018RRRK/ref=asc_df_B00018RRRK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167136162413&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16413312498646321310&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9012010&hvtargid=pla-274404261805&psc=1

 

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19 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

The conversation about cleaning a French press raises an interesting side note.


I have always been of the opinion that coffee grounds will clog your sink drain and they should not go down the drain.

 

Anyone have an opinion on that?  When I clean out my current machine's basket, I dump it into my kitchen garbage sack and bang the inside of the garbage container several times to really get everything out of the basket.

 

I then rinse whatever is left in the sink, and some small amount of grounds do go down the drain, but it's quite minimal.

 

Am I wasting my time?

 

I have also heard of people who save coffee grounds in a coffee can or similar, and then use them as fertilizer of sorts for plants around the house.  Not sure if that really is good for plants or not, but I'm not much of a gardener.

 

 

 

 

 

Three things should never go down the drain in quantities of magnitude (ask me how I know)

 

1. Coffee grounds.

2. Eggshells

3. Carrot or potato peelings

 

Trust me, people. You don't want to be undoing your plumbing at 10pm because of this.

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18 minutes ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

Three things should never go down the drain in quantities of magnitude (ask me how I know)

 

1. Coffee grounds.

2. Eggshells

3. Carrot or potato peelings

 

Trust me, people. You don't want to be undoing your plumbing at 10pm because of this.

This is always what I thought, but some folks have said here they just dump their French press down the drain as that is the easy way to clean up.  Maybe it's just not enough material if you are only making like 1 or 2 cups in a French Press?

 

EDIT:  Found a couple plumbing websites that said never, ever put coffee grounds down the drain.

 

One said the 2 worst things you can put in your drain, and which cause the most trouble, are GREASE and COFFEE GROUNDS.

 

Problem is they don't break down.

 

PS:  They DO seem to be recognized as a good fertilizer for plants as well.

 

Edited by Nextmanup
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44 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

I have also heard of people who save coffee grounds in a coffee can or similar, and then use them as fertilizer of sorts for plants around the house.  Not sure if that really is good for plants or not, but I'm not much of a gardener.

 

My wife is a gardener. Our coffee grounds (paper filter and all) go into the compost bucket, eventually becoming fertilizer.

 

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9 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

Does anyone here take their home brewed coffee seriously enough to have invested in any sort of special coffee machine for the purpose?

 

I mean something beyond your standard drip brewer coffee machine.

 

Anyone go the vacuum siphon route?  French press?  Pour-over drippers?

 

I'm talking traditional American drip coffee here, not espresso machines. 

 

 


We have a Technivorm.   For the price, you cannot beat it.  We also have a decent grinder which I think helps. That, and good coffee beans, and I would say we do take our coffee brewing fairly seriously here.

 

Edited by Buffalo_Gal
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32 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

This is always what I thought, but some folks have said here they just dump their French press down the drain as that is the easy way to clean up.  Maybe it's just not enough material if you are only making like 1 or 2 cups in a French Press?

 

EDIT:  Found a couple plumbing websites that said never, ever put coffee grounds down the drain.

 

One said the 2 worst things you can put in your drain, and which cause the most trouble, are GREASE and COFFEE GROUNDS.

 

Problem is they don't break down.

 

PS:  They DO seem to be recognized as a good fertilizer for plants as well.

 


These are old wives tales, IMO. Maybe if you have old plumbing and are putting down A ton sludgy grounds every day, then your pipes can be clogged.  But I doubt 3 tablespoons of less fine grounds every day will clog the drains. 

 

i could be wrong, but I’m not worried about it. 

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2 hours ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

Three things should never go down the drain in quantities of magnitude (ask me how I know)

 

1. Coffee grounds.

2. Eggshells

3. Carrot or potato peelings

 

Trust me, people. You don't want to be undoing your plumbing at 10pm because of this.


add crusty dried up wet cat food to the list

 

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6 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

I'm talking traditional American drip coffee here, not espresso machines.

Off the drip topic, and although they have one, my parents just spend $850 on a professional espresso machine

 

Something like this

 

 s-l640.jpg

 

Clearly take their coffee way too seriously.

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