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Date: 06 Jul 2006 21:05:20
From: Carmen
Subject: Score! Tips on a Utopia?
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Hello,
The Coffee Fates were kind to me today, and I scored both a Starbucks
Utopia (the Starbucks branded Bodum vac pot) and an unused Melitta
coffee roaster in thrift stores! (The roaster is a toy, I've never had
a vac pot before, but have the basics for this one down. Using my
normal proportions, and a medium level (but somewhat coarser grind than
I use regularly) grind the coffee seemed weaker than normal. Is there
any rule of thumb for vac pot users that you follow vs your normal drip
pot proportions?
Carmen
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 08:59:35
From: Omniryx@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Score! Tips on a Utopia?
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invisible_ordinary wrote:
> From your description, it sounds like you are not getting enough
> extraction from your coffee... which means grind finer. not sure what
> your normal method of prep is, but generally with a vac pot, you would
> grind finer than normal, rather than more course.... iirc, the
> santos/utopia has a nylon(?) filter, similiar to your french press, so
> you should at least grind a course as that... though if it has a glass
> filter, you are able to grind quite a bit finer (cory and cona have
> these). basically, you should grind as fine as you can as still allow
> the coffee to travel 'south' when done brewing. It will also depend a
> little on how good your grinder is - how consistant the particle size
> is... better grinders are more capable of finer, more even grounds w/o
> it being easily apparent in the cup (i.e. bitter).
Agree completely with InvOrd. I grind about 3-4 Rocky clicks finer for
the vacpot than for the technie. Silex has a glass rod filter but you
can choke it if your grind is loaded with fines.
Will
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 08:44:53
From: Carmen
Subject: Re: Score! Tips on a Utopia?
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invisible_ordinary wrote:
> From your description, it sounds like you are not getting enough
> extraction from your coffee... which means grind finer. not sure what
> your normal method of prep is, but generally with a vac pot, you would
> grind finer than normal, rather than more course.... iirc, the
> santos/utopia has a nylon(?) filter, similiar to your french press, so
> you should at least grind a course as that... though if it has a glass
> filter, you are able to grind quite a bit finer (cory and cona have
> these). basically, you should grind as fine as you can as still allow
> the coffee to travel 'south' when done brewing. It will also depend a
> little on how good your grinder is - how consistant the particle size
> is... better grinders are more capable of finer, more even grounds w/o
> it being easily apparent in the cup (i.e. bitter).
Thank you. I'll try grinding finer first, keeping the proportions the
same as when I brew drip (commercial Bloomfield) everyday. My thought
process was likening it to French press, so grind somewhat coarser. It
does have a nylon filter. My grinders are both good quality for drip -
a KitchenAid Proline and the Starbucks branded Saeco burr grinder.
Once I get the technique down to where the coffee comes out good I'm
looking forward to entertaining my friends with this. :-)
Carmen
> d
>
>
>
>
>
>
> In article <1152245120.354592.313450@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>,
> Carmen <carmensrt@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 08:38:01
From: Carmen
Subject: Re: Score! Tips on a Utopia?
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John LaBella wrote:
> > > Hello,
> > > The Coffee Fates were kind to me today, and I scored both a Starbucks
> > > Utopia (the Starbucks branded Bodum vac pot) and an unused Melitta
> > > coffee roaster in thrift stores! (The roaster is a toy, I've never had
> > > a vac pot before, but have the basics for this one down. Using my
> Although the output of the melita roaster "leaves something to be
> desired". THe chaff gathering device is transportable to various pop
> corn poppers with greater heat output. I have constructed various tubes
> out of sheet metal that I fit into my collection of poppers then I can
> perch the chaff gatherer on top and roast a little less littered.
I already have several popcorn popper roasters as well as the Turbo
Crazy I built, so the Melitta was just a toy (at a whopping $4!) to
play with. Mostly I was just tickled that someone had sent this thing
to a thrift store for me to find. I like "panning for gold". <G > I
roast outside, so the chaff can blow where it pleases. My backyard is
deep woods, filled with 'coons and possums and foxes and chipmunks. A
little chaff is no big deal.
> Did the Melita still have the sample of green beans?
Yes! Totally complete. Perhaps someone got it as a gift and did the
'smile and chuck it in a closet' thing.
Carmen
> Welcome to the handbasket.
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 08:29:37
From: Carmen
Subject: Re: Score! Tips on a Utopia?
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Omniryx@gmail.com wrote:
> Congrats on scoring a bargain, Carmen. I make coffee as a table ritual
> once in a while using my grandmother's pre-WWII Silex. It makes
> delicious coffee--better than the usual drip from my Technie--but I do
> have to use more grinds per cup than usual. Not sure why. Maybe a
> vacpot guru can inform us.
Thank you. I'll first try the same weight proportionately while
grinding finer as suggested by invisible_ordinary, then if that doesn't
do the trick I'll go back to the original grind but increase the amount
of coffee. I didn't know what I was missing - it's highly
entertaining. <G > I'd decided not to buy a vac pot for two reasons
(1) consideration for my long-suffering husband and the sheer amount of
money I already spend on coffee gear (what if I didn't care for vac
pots?) and (2) Traditional vac pots take a long time according to my
research and I'm not a patient woman. When an electric Bodum came
along for $5 (marked $10 but electronics were half price yesterday) how
could I resist? All I had to do was find the base (someone had
misidentified it as a clock and put it in with clock radios) and I was
out the door!
Carmen
Still feeling like I got away with something. <G >
>
>
> Carmen wrote:
> > Hello,
> > The Coffee Fates were kind to me today, and I scored both a Starbucks
> > Utopia (the Starbucks branded Bodum vac pot) and an unused Melitta
> > coffee roaster in thrift stores! (The roaster is a toy, I've never had
> > a vac pot before, but have the basics for this one down. Using my
> > normal proportions, and a medium level (but somewhat coarser grind than
> > I use regularly) grind the coffee seemed weaker than normal. Is there
> > any rule of thumb for vac pot users that you follow vs your normal drip
> > pot proportions?
> >
> > Carmen
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 06:48:39
From: invisible_ordinary
Subject: Re: Score! Tips on a Utopia?
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From your description, it sounds like you are not getting enough
extraction from your coffee... which means grind finer. not sure what
your normal method of prep is, but generally with a vac pot, you would
grind finer than normal, rather than more course.... iirc, the
santos/utopia has a nylon(?) filter, similiar to your french press, so
you should at least grind a course as that... though if it has a glass
filter, you are able to grind quite a bit finer (cory and cona have
these). basically, you should grind as fine as you can as still allow
the coffee to travel 'south' when done brewing. It will also depend a
little on how good your grinder is - how consistant the particle size
is... better grinders are more capable of finer, more even grounds w/o
it being easily apparent in the cup (i.e. bitter).
d
In article <1152245120.354592.313450@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com >,
Carmen <carmensrt@gmail.com > wrote:
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 04:53:10
From: Omniryx@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Score! Tips on a Utopia?
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Congrats on scoring a bargain, Carmen. I make coffee as a table ritual
once in a while using my grandmother's pre-WWII Silex. It makes
delicious coffee--better than the usual drip from my Technie--but I do
have to use more grinds per cup than usual. Not sure why. Maybe a
vacpot guru can inform us.
Will
Carmen wrote:
> Hello,
> The Coffee Fates were kind to me today, and I scored both a Starbucks
> Utopia (the Starbucks branded Bodum vac pot) and an unused Melitta
> coffee roaster in thrift stores! (The roaster is a toy, I've never had
> a vac pot before, but have the basics for this one down. Using my
> normal proportions, and a medium level (but somewhat coarser grind than
> I use regularly) grind the coffee seemed weaker than normal. Is there
> any rule of thumb for vac pot users that you follow vs your normal drip
> pot proportions?
>
> Carmen
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Date: 07 Jul 2006 12:28:14
From: John LaBella
Subject: Re: Score! Tips on a Utopia?
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> > Hello,
> > The Coffee Fates were kind to me today, and I scored both a Starbucks
> > Utopia (the Starbucks branded Bodum vac pot) and an unused Melitta
> > coffee roaster in thrift stores! (The roaster is a toy, I've never had
> > a vac pot before, but have the basics for this one down. Using my
Although the output of the melita roaster "leaves something to be
desired". THe chaff gathering device is transportable to various pop
corn poppers with greater heat output. I have constructed various tubes
out of sheet metal that I fit into my collection of poppers then I can
perch the chaff gatherer on top and roast a little less littered.
Did the Melita still have the sample of green beans?
Welcome to the handbasket.
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