Good Non-Espresso Brew Method

[milowebailey]

The problem is not where to start with a good non-espresso brew method, it's knowing where to stop.

The www.brewmethods.com site has some nice how-to's and videos to get you started.  I'm currently enjoying playing with the Kalita/Tiamo flat bottomed brewers in the 185 and 155 size, but they're a bit pricy.  There's a post on H-B that talks about taking a Melita #4 filter and folding it to fit, thought, to get over the price and scarcity of the Kalita filters.

The Kone is great, I really enjoy it with the Chemex but here you can use a V60 as a filter holder too.  I like to brew Iced Chemex with the Kone, hot brew it over ice and then fill up a canteen or metal water bottle and sneak it into the movies during the summer (a nice, bright Kenya or Ethiopia is great this way).

Chris

I really expected a chart or graph from you..... are you okay?

[jano]

I'm just wondering which type of brew method would be a good idea to get into aside from espresso.
Whether press or vac pot or something else just need some opinion to help me decide
Thanks!

Oh oh I know the answer to this one.  Pick me pick me!  The answer is... Coffee.

[milowebailey]

My bad, here's my Q4 2012 and partial Q1 2013 brew methods chart.  These represent the brew method for the servings of coffee that I've consumed.

Much better!!

[SJM]

My bad, here's my Q4 2012 and partial Q1 2013 brew methods chart.  These represent the brew method for the servings of coffee that I've consumed.

Much better!!

Really, Chris, you had us worried there....

Susan

[BoldJava]

I tend to discount posters who let siphon tumble to 8th place <smirk>.

[Jeffo]

Current favorite is microwave cowboy coffee, and pourover using Swiss Gold filter as second favorite.

Microwave cowboy coffee method:

7 ounces water with 10.5g coffee. It's ground about as fine as typical drip or slightly finer. Add cold water to Pyrex measuring cup. Put in microwave for 22 seconds and stir well to get grounds off the side of the cup. 33 seconds then stir quickly just to get grounds suspended. Then quickly set to 49 seconds (in case I get distracted by something sparkly) and stop immediately when the first boiling bubbles appear. Stir. Wait 5 minutes to steep and grounds to settle. Remove grinds floating on top using two spoons as cuppers do. Pour without filtering into a mug slowly until sediment appears. Or pour part way until grinds show up, then pour through Swiss Gold to catch those grinds for the last part until coffee is gone and grounds are left.

This could be adapted to use up to a two cup measuring cup I would think and of course different microwave strengths will be different.

I looked up my post on this from a few years ago and see that I've changed it quite a bit, reflected above.

[jano]

Current favorite is microwave cowboy coffee, and pourover using Swiss Gold filter as second favorite.

Microwave cowboy coffee method:

7 ounces water with 10.5g coffee. It's ground about as fine as typical drip or slightly finer. Add cold water to Pyrex measuring cup. Put in microwave for 22 seconds and stir well to get grounds off the side of the cup. 33 seconds then stir quickly just to get grounds suspended. Then quickly set to 49 seconds (in case I get distracted by something sparkly) and stop immediately when the first boiling bubbles appear. Stir. Wait 5 minutes to steep and grounds to settle. Remove grinds floating on top using two spoons as cuppers do. Pour without filtering into a mug slowly until sediment appears. Or pour part way until grinds show up, then pour through Swiss Gold to catch those grinds for the last part until coffee is gone and grounds are left.

This could be adapted to use up to a two cup measuring cup I would think and of course different microwave strengths will be different.

I looked up my post on this from a few years ago and see that I've changed it quite a bit, reflected above.

I've been doing something like this recently, turning out very very good.  It needs one of the microwaves that does the power on/off at non-100 power levels. 

15g sifted coarse grind into a 2 cup pyrex with about 1 cup off-boiled water added to it.  I put the microwave on for 4-5 minutes at 20 or 30 power level.  It creates an awesome show, creating automatic agitation.  Idea stolen from here after it was demonstrated to me by a member of another forum (HRO) -- make sure to skip to 50 minutes and 35 seconds (the forum seems to be stripping that part, otherwise you'll get an hour long presentation that'll put you to sleep):

NBC2012 - David Walsh: Why We Brew How We Brew

The waterfall effect when the water comes to a boil with the grounds is really really cool. 

[John F]

Boiling coffee in the microwave.... I can't bring myself to try it. 

[jano]

I dare you to try it   

Again - your microwave must be of the "cheaper" kind that turns on/off and is not continuous. 

I'm thinking it'd be a real easy way to make coffee at the office, or as an intro for those who don't have any gear.

The only real challenges:
 - if you initially boil water in the microwave, be very very careful of super heating the water (examples all over youtube of exploding water)
 - make sure to use a largish container, as during the brewing process, the grounds/water will rise up quite a bit, and can boil over

You can pour through paper filter (which will clog up quickly) or through a kone and/or swiss gold.  K3 en route, so I am using a SG for now.

I looks seriously gnarly... I will try to make a video of it this weekend. 

[espressomaker]

Would anyone be interested in setting it all to a vote?

[John F]

I'd find it hard to vote one prep but if only one it's pourover for me.

FP second and AP third.

Then vac pot, then Chemex, auto drip, then moka pot.

Hey, it turned out to be easy. 

[peter]

Would anyone be interested in setting it all to a vote?

All that would do is give you a slice of brewing methods in use at that particular time.  I may be wrong, but I'd wager many members have more than one 'favorite' way to make coffee and cycle through them, and if we vote you'll only get a snapshot of what we're using right now.  Three years ago the vote might have gone to the aeropress, two years ago to the Clever Dripper, and this year the winner is pourover, but the method that gets the most votes doesn't mean much; we're a fickle bunch of fiends here.

The question is, why rely on what we're doing?  Just grab a press pot, use it for a week, grab a pourover, use it for a week, grab an aeropress, use it for a week, do cowboy coffee in the microwave for a week...

[BoldJava]

Would anyone be interested in setting it all to a vote?

...  I may be wrong, but I'd wager many members have more than one 'favorite' way to make coffee and cycle through them...

The question is, why rely on what we're doing?  Just grab a press pot, use it for a week, grab a pourover, use it for a week, grab an aeropress, use it for a week, do urban  cowboy coffee in the microwave for a week...

Spot-on.

[Tex]

I'm just wondering which type of brew method would be a good idea to get into aside from espresso.
Whether press or vac pot or something else just need some opinion to help me decide
Thanks!

And of course this begs the question; "If you have a good espresso machine (the very epitome of excellent coffee) why in the world would you drink anything else?"

[John F]

Same reason you don't eat Panag curry every meal forever.