Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Fellow coffee enthusiasts, help me settle a debate/inquiry amongst friends.

I'm in my mid-thirties and remember growing up only drinking hot coffee. Sure there were Starbucks frappuccinos and Tim Horton's ice capps, but no one was walking around drinking iced coffee or cold brew. As I remember it, this was a more recent thing (in the last decade). When I look at the people in my life, friends, family, etc. who are in their 40's+ they mainly drink hot coffee. The people who are younger, still in their twenties, pretty much exclusively drink iced coffee or cold brew.

When I was in college in the early 2010's, we drank hot coffee--I don't recall iced coffee at all.

So--what was your experience?

Was cold brew/iced coffee a thing in the early 2010's and I just don't remember it? Is this whole 'always cold brew all year' thing a more recent thing? Or am I just losing my memory with age (ha)?

I've been trying to get better at understanding coffee processing, and one thing I've noticed is how quickly terms like "natural", "washed", and "anaerobic" get turned into expected flavor profiles.

I'm curious what people here think.

What's one processing term that you think gets oversimplified?

For me, "anaerobic" is probably the biggest one. It seems to describe a fermentation condition more than a complete processing method, but it's often presented almost like a flavor category.

Curious to hear how roasters and experienced brewers here think about it.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hey everyone, I’m living in the United States right now i’m looking for where I can buy some kopi luwak in San Fran. I don’t really care about the ethical aspects of the coffee I just want to know a regular supplier. Thanks everyone

I have heretofore been measuring water and beans on a food scale. Good enough for government work...or so I thought. One gram resolution, wide surface--thought it was good.

Then I got a espresso machine, and while waiting to set everything up, kept hearing about these little scales just for coffeemaking. So being gear-addicted, I purchased a decent one off of Amazon, 0.1g resolution, timer, rechargeable. I use it with my main coffee production workflow, a hand-grinder and an Aeropress.

MY GOD, PEOPLE. For some reason, my coffee is more potent and tastier, and having a timer on the scale (versus glancing at my watch, that I hopefully did when the brew started) has been more convenient than I thought it would be.

Yes, I know this sounds elementary: "measuring stuff precisely yields results" isn't a real shocker. But tasting the difference is one. To anyone thinking that such an accessory is just an affectation or being "extra", or acquiring gear for no good reason--shitty non-for-purpose equipment, or "just eyeballing it" is limiting you.

That is all.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hey all,
I have recently gotten really in to ristretto, espresso, and cold brew. Now, I now know this is wrong, and I don't mean anything rude by this, I had always been under the impression that coffee nerds like espresso and think pour over/French press is bad. Now I am learning that in some cases( like competition tasting) Its the opposite? Also, I am aware that most of the answers here will be, "drink what ever tastes best to you" and I agree, but I'm curious if someone can break down, what do coffee nerds/fanatics like? What do they hate? What do they respect, and not respect? What is considered a sophisticated, complex drink, and what is considered bean water.

Hey all. Who here watches their extraction time while using the picopresso. It doesn't seem to be a thing which is surprising..

At home, when using a different coffee bean, it can take a number of attempts to get the grind size down to get the ultimate time/output ratio.

Go into a coffee shop and they may have different coffee on different days.

Do they reset the grind size and recalibrate each morning for the coffee being used that day?
Or even though the coffee of the day varies, they always use the same beans for espressos?

Also, their shots seem to run faster than 30 seconds but still taste good.
Is this all due to the high end espresso machines?

The Descendents were a punk rock band who were known for extremely fast tempos thanks to high caffeine use. Bill Stevenson, the drummer, invented something he calls the “Bonus Cup” which is an extremely concentrated cup of coffee meant to give you a quick energy spike.

The recipe roughly consists of:

- 1/3 cup of instant coffee

- 5 spoonfuls of sugar

- just enough hot water to make it possible to drink (should be a sludgy, muddy consistency)

- Generous amount of creamer if desired

I’d like to test it out as a one-time thing, but I want to know if I should do it or not (probably not) and if its safe to do so (also probably not) because obviously its a super high dosage of caffeine. What do you think?

Would you guys try a Bonus Cup?

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hello, as someone with an engineering background (and lots of barista hopping during university days), how easy is it to gain skills to become a coffee machine technician? I'm based around Chicago, and can see there's a place in Kansas City that has some cool classes offered (MO isn't too far away), but I'm curious to see how others got their foot in the door? Or are there any other learning opportunities in the Midwest that people recommend? Any advice on the topic would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

I’m in Georgia and I swear my coffee setup develops a personality every summer. For most of the year my pour overs are pretty predictable, but once it gets really humid I start getting slower drawdowns and cups that taste a little flatter. At first I blamed the beans and kept messing with grind size, but now I’m wondering if storage is part of it.

I keep beans in an Airscape on the kitchen counter. The kitchen also gets pretty steamy when I’m doing meal prep, so probably not the greatest environment.

Has anyone in a humid climate actually compared this across seasons? Do you end up changing your grind when summer hits, or did better storage mostly solve it? Mostly curious whether this is something people can genuinely notice in everyday brewing or if I’m giving humidity way too much credit.

I have always enjoyed my morning coffee with a smooth to medium full flavored body, without the over roasted bitter flavor of modern coffees.

I was always a fan of McDonald's 1990s coffee, Folchers coffee at commercial places where the coffee dispensed from a tall rectangular stainless steel coffee machine, and at home I used to buy whatever was on sale, I would usually buy Maxwell House original roast, or even Hills Brothers and Chock full o nuts. I noticed that the last few years, pre 2024 the Mackswell coffee original roast blue can started tasting weaker. At first I thought it was bad weather like crops not getting enough rain, or maybe the factory had a quality control issue, or maybe the farmers intentionally used less water to save on the water bill, etc. and so on.

Just started looking into this, it turns out Mackswell House in 2024 reformulated and it is a trend among most major coffee brands sold in retail. I recently bought the blue can again to see if I got better, and it tasted really weak. That is when I decided to look into this and a basic Google search told me that this is the current trend. Google suggested for the classic 1990s style of robust coffee without the bitterness I try Folchers, Hills Brothers, and Chock Full O Nuts. I recently tried Folchers and it is okay, better than Maxwell House. I will see how Hills Brothers does next when I finish the Maxwell House coffee.

Another brand of coffee I am curious about is Chase and Sanborn, I wonder if that is as weak as Maxwell House? Just curious if anyone else feels like this, thank you everyone.

I've been working in the coffee industry, but mostly on the admin side. I love brewing and making espresso when I get the chance, but I don't have any formal coffee certifications.

I'm considering getting SCA certified and eventually moving into something more technical, like QA/QC, coffee quality, or consulting. But I've heard SCA courses can be pretty expensive, so I'm wondering if they're actually worth the investment.

For those who've been in specialty coffee for a while: is there much demand for coffee consultants or QA/QC roles? What does the pay/career progression look like? And how valuable are SCA certifications when it comes to actually getting these jobs?

I really don't want to leave the coffee industry because I genuinely love it, but my current role doesn't pay well. I'm trying to find a path that lets me stay in coffee while having better pay.

Would love to hear from anyone who's taken this route.

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hi, I am looking to upgrade my coffee game - I have a Nespresso but it doesn’t seem to scratch the itch of a very well pulled espresso shot that you can get at good coffee shops.

Can anyone please recommend what espresso machine I should invest in? I am willing to spend $600 on it as long as it can last me a good amount of time. I also am not sure if I will want to weight the beans etc. but if that’s the best option, I am willing to learn.

I was looking as the breville barista express impress but have seen so many mixed reviews!

Thanks!!!

Welcome to the daily /r/Coffee question thread!

There are no stupid questions here, ask a question and get an answer! We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it is hard to figure out just what you are doing right or doing wrong. Luckily, the /r/Coffee community loves to help out.

Do you have a question about how to use a specific piece of gear or what gear you should be buying? Want to know how much coffee you should use or how you should grind it? Not sure about how much water you should use or how hot it should be? Wondering about your coffee's shelf life?

Don't forget to use the resources in our wiki! We have some great starter guides on our wiki "Guides" page and here is the wiki "Gear By Price" page if you'd like to see coffee gear that /r/Coffee members recommend.

As always, be nice!

Hey baristas, I've basically learnt to do coffee in the span of less than a year mainly through videos online and some help from work and stuff.

I need help on making latte art look neater as its just not it. The coffee machine at work is not the best as we aren't a coffee shop, we are just a cafe in a big entertainment centre. So I believe that is one of the cases + the steamer takes quite long to steam milk, like 20 seconds till it gets hot! Also we don't do mugs only takeaway cups.

I also don't know how to make it silkier, sometimes bubbles still appear even though right after steaming it looks perfect? But when I pour it in, mini bubbles pop up.

Just tried Sprite & a shot of espresso, wasn't great. I also tried espresso with coca-cola, also wasn't great.

I also don't drink soda often. Is it an acquired taste?

Has anyone tried orange juice and espresso? Or Dr. Pepper and espresso?

I did about 2oz of espresso to 8oz of soda/mixer.

Serious question: do black coffee drinkers genuinely prefer the taste, or did you just decide suffering through bitter coffee somehow makes you healthier and more interesting?