From start to finish, an easy read. Informal, yet very educational. No non-sense, straight to the point. The type of book you'll keep around for quick reference.
A 5-star rating on my GoodReads.
Here are my highlights:
- Ideal coffee to water ratio: 1:15.
(pg.26) - Grind reference for V60: fine sea salt, AeroPress: granulated sugar.
(pg.29) - Pour toward the middle: ... you should be sticking relatively closely to the middle of the coffee bed.
(pg.38) - ...the point is to keep the water moving so it is evenly distributed across the entire bed.
(pg.39) - (on Pulsing method)... you take breaks at certain intervals to allow the water to drain... one break every 50/60 grams.
(pg.41) - (on Blooming)... when you wet coffee grounds, they swell and bubble as the carbon dioxide is released.
(pg.42) - (Stick to bleached paper)... as natural filters tend to give coffee a papery taste.
(pg.53) - Overextracted coffee - the kind that has spent too much time with hot water - tends to taste bitter.
(pg.61) - When you use a blade grinder, some coffee beans get pulverized while others remain coarse.
(pg.86) - Oxidation happens when oxygen molecules from either the air or the water in the coffee mingle with other molecules to create entirely different compounds that taste different from the original ones. Hence, stale coffee.
(pg.104) - Almost all instant coffee is robusta.
(pg.108) - Brazil is the biggest coffee producer in the world.
(pg.131) - All green coffee beans are kind of boring - they don't smell or taste like much.
(pg.144) - Some people like the terroir of the plant associated with wine. Other people like the aging/barreling process associated with whiskey.
(pg.148) - Higher-quality beans are grown at higher elevations.
(pg.168) - Cold coffee beans break apart in the grinder more consistently.
(pg.182) - Coffee too acidic (sour), likely means your brew is underextracted.
(pq.252)
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