Pourover Throwdown, Lake Cheddar

[peter]

How come me and Jeffo are always the only ones to vote right on these dumb polls?

[BoldJava]

How come me and Jeffo are always the only ones to vote right on these dumb polls?

Just because the club's vote is square against you doesn't mean you won't lose.

Hario is in the kitchen, stretching out hamstrings.  About to brew a Kenyan with it to help loosen them.

B|Java

[Jeffo]

What poll did I vote on? I'm thinking north.

[BoldJava]

5:13PM.  Peter shows.  No brewer.  Truth.

Intimidated.  Sent home to get it.

B|Java

[BoldJava]

Wild Bill's Small Ceramic.  Wonderful texture.  Good for a 10-16 oz cup.

B|Java

[MMW]

Wild Bill's Small Ceramic.  Wonderful texture.  Good for a 10-16 oz cup.

B|Java

Oh that's purty.  Those other two had better make some dang fine coffee to keep up.

[headchange4u]

Me likey Wild Bill's brewer.

[BoldJava]

I am very tactile.  I love WildBillz small ceramic.  Touch.  Sight.  Feel. 

I will put up photos on my Google account by tomorrow a.m., with narrative over here on this thread.  Guys can add comments.

Fair warning:  We got as g-e-e-k-y as I have ever seen us.

B|Java

[BoldJava]

Let's try a link to the Google album.  Slideshow available with captions.  (Move mouse over picture and tools appear to advance to next picture).

http://picasaweb.google.com/davidborton/PouroverThrowdown#slideshow/5398583172908737954

B|Java

[milowebailey]

One Question...... where are the GCBC t-shirts?

[BoldJava]

One Question...... where are the GCBC t-shirts?

T-Shirts.  Budd, this is Wisconsin in late October.  We have put those T-Shirts up over a month ago.

B|Java

[milowebailey]

One Question...... where are the GCBC t-shirts?

T-Shirts.  Budd, this is Wisconsin in late October.  We have put those T-Shirts up over a month ago.

B|Java

Nice try......

[John F]

I think there is something to be said about the Hario just based on the smile BIJava has on his face.

If it's that much fun using it's gotta be good.  

[BoldJava]

Short-cut to the bottom line: Who won?  We all did.  It was a “push.”

Long post?  Well, we fiddled and futzed more than I have ever seen us.  We decided up front that the whole effort was absurd and we were going to have a good time doing the absurd.  Mission accomplished.  Good folks, good time, good fellowship, good coffee, good chicken.  

After the first cup, we moved to an identical ratio for testing purposes:
16 oz spring water:  27 grams of coffee (I like and make mine stronger, typically, as I am a 'skosh of halfundhalf' boy).

Impressions:

^  S|M's Clever Coffee Dripper – really is a cleaned-up presspot cup.  No sludge but the body and 'umph' of a French press cup.  Peter steeps for 3:15 with it.  It consistently offered the most body of the three entrants.  Good cup.

^  Bill's ceramics take the beauty prize from many directions – touch and looks.  Very sharp, though I was partial to Denise's handwork art in the pottery.  Talk about gorgeous functional art, this is it.  Bill's cups were consistently the 'softest,' probably from the most rapid throughput <?>.  Not sure; could be the Chemex bleached filters as Bill tried one of my Melitta bleached filters and the cup seemed to gain some body.  Good cup.

^  Hario V60 Ceramic, number 1 (good for 10-14 oz of coffee).  Remains my favorite but I am biased, admittedly.  I love the ceramic and the hefty feel (9+ ounces in weight for a tiny 1-cup pourover).  It produced the most consistently bright, fruity cups (except for the time I pooched the amount of coffee).  Fluted physics?  Who knows.  

So which is best?  You choose.  There isn't a bad choice in here.  All winners.  Differences are subtle and differences could be shaded further merely by the barista in control.  

I like the Hario #1 for those times the Czarina is coffee-d out and I am drinking alone.  Quick, easy 10 ounce cup with a dip of the brewer in hot water and the clean-up is done.  Love the hefty weight when I am working with it.  I am not into plastic so it's ceramic only for me.

Gents/Denise, jump in there and add impressions.

Thanks folks for a delightful time.  Rumor has it that Brother Sheridan might pay us a visit the next time around at the B|Java abode.

B|Java

[BoldJava]

Filters.  Well, this could be a thread all of its own.

I typically use Hario's unbleached filters but before today's throw-down, I hit the supermarket and grabbed Melitta's number 2, coned, oxygenated.  I merely folded it at right angle and it worked perfectly.  The paper is similar to the Hario's in porosity and the steep lasted about 1:25 for a 10 ounce cup, standard with the Hario V60#1.  You can stretch the steep as long as you care to, though at some point, you are getting lower temps if you move too slowly.  



I am going to prepare cups using the Melitta oxygenated and have it go head to head with the unbleached Hario and see if I can discern a difference.  Others have told me that the Melitta blows out the bottom ... with my volumes, that didn't happen and I don't see it happening.  HeadChange has the white Hario filters on the way so I will add them to the mix.  Heavens, I am getting a stash of pourover filters as deep as my stash of greens.

For my tastes, the Chemex filters hold back too many of the oils.  The unbleached Chemex leaves a paper taste that is too distinct ... it really sings out to me.

Try several out; your mileage may will vary.  Add your two cents to the thread and we can all learn together.

B|Java