# My coffee is tasting rank.....



## Wuyang (Mar 21, 2014)

Lido 2,,,,( about 4 lines on grinder) drip machine or Aeropress.....freshly roasted beans.....and my brews which I have with a good glug of milk are tasting rank.

If I swirl the coffee around in my mouth I'm getting a nasty undertone in front top of my mouth.....can't say it's bitter or sour just a nasty taste......never got this until recently.

I add water to Aeropress at 95/96°c. I roast myself in the popper takes around ten minutes, removed before 2nd crack. Sometimes I may have a coffee when they've cooled down or wait a few hours, saying that I've some a few days old and they still taste a bit rank.

Any ideas or suggestions? I've just bought some supermarket beans just to see if there any better.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Clean everything thoroughly....


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Also try a lower immersion temp for the Aeropress - maybe 88c or similar


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Wuyang said:


> Lido 2,,,,( about 4 lines on grinder) drip machine or Aeropress.....freshly roasted beans.....and my brews which I have with a good glug of milk are tasting rank.
> 
> If I swirl the coffee around in my mouth I'm getting a nasty undertone in front top of my mouth.....can't say it's bitter or sour just a nasty taste......never got this until recently.
> 
> ...


Sorry what does "4 lines on grinder" mean, 4 marks coarser than marked zero (sounds fine if so)?

Sounds like you might be under-extracting, maybe try developing the roast a bit further?

Do you have any info on brew times, weights etc?


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

bottled or mains water?


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## Wuyang (Mar 21, 2014)

Thanks all.

Grind.....four notches courser than zero.

Water type......tap (Sheffield)

Aeropress.... Invert add 18g beans, top up water roughly half way....stir for around 10 sec, top up with water, stir 5 sec, add lid/ filter turn upside down......then shake twice over cup rapidly, plunge say 30 sec.

MWJB........ when you say develop roast more do you mean take it further towards second crack?

I will try above advice.....the supermarket beans although not great don't have that bad taste mine have.


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

there is some water mains work going on in Sheffield- might be worth checking your area for any work going on, https://www.yorkshirewater.com/extra-services/in-your-area.aspx


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Wuyang said:


> Thanks all.
> 
> Grind.....four notches courser than zero.
> 
> ...


I find short brew times & lighter rosts with the Aeropress very hard to get a balanced coffee, a darker roast can be less of a problem with lower extractions (in fact, even supermarket beans can taste surprisingly good with a quick brew), so yes, if this is just showing up with latest roasts try edging closer to 2nd crack.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Maybe as well give the popper a really good check for any build up of oils or things like that?


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Also could be your green beans ( although try bottled water first to rule that one out): how old, where from (country), how stored and where whilst in your care, is it still occurring with the same batch or restricted to one roast etc ? Does a different bean give you the same problems.

Is going to be a process of elimination, if water or nothing obvious jumping out at you. Could have been a duff / phenolic/ "cabbage" bean that once ground could spoil the whole amount ground potentially also leaving some grind residue in the lido, unlikely but, to carry on spoling subsequent grinds (good clean of all equipment coudl be a good call as above)

Had a phenolic bean in a PNG batch of greens once, nothing obvious from visual inspection of beans spread out on a tray before popping into the gene at the time, nothing obvious post roast with the beans that I could see, only became apparent when I spat the espresso all over the kitchen as tasted like neat Milton / jeyes fluid, eeugh.

Hope you sort this

John


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## Wuyang (Mar 21, 2014)

Equipment cleaned.....although not too bad....and thank you everyone for your comments.

I wondering if something to do with the beans.....there the last few of the ones I've been getting from coffee compass....the 3 x 1kg for £20 plus postage.

I really don't know much about green beans as I've probably only been popper roasting for six months so if anybody has any advice about buying green beans that would be great.

I generally am just doing my one cup drip machine, Aeropress and occasional clever dripper, I like chocolate types as apposed to acid types......

So again any advice on beans appreciated.......I haven't got a big budget and would be looking around £12/kg ish.

Thanks wuyang


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## Wuyang (Mar 21, 2014)

johnealey said:


> Also could be your green beans ( although try bottled water first to rule that one out): how old, where from (country), how stored and where whilst in your care, is it still occurring with the same batch or restricted to one roast etc ? Does a different bean give you the same problems.
> 
> Is going to be a process of elimination, if water or nothing obvious jumping out at you. Could have been a duff / phenolic/ "cabbage" bean that once ground could spoil the whole amount ground potentially also leaving some grind residue in the lido, unlikely but, to carry on spoling subsequent grinds (good clean of all equipment coudl be a good call as above)
> 
> ...


Forgot to say.......Honduras SHG..coffee beans, Brazil and a Kenyan,,,,,,,,they don't tell you anything other than that when you buy them...just the area...they say there surplus beans...good quality...selling cheap so don't want to highlight the farm

I really wouldn't know good beans from bad or what to look for when buying to be honest......my budget of £12/ kg probably limits me to some degree.

Some of the beans I have been storing in the bags they came...silver lined plastic type or I have put them in plastic air tight containers.

This wasn't isolated to one roast,,,,,happened on my last few roasts 4/5 roasts.

thanks


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Wuyang said:


> I like chocolate types as apposed to acid types......
> 
> Thanks wuyang


I think you are making a connection here that sounds reasonable, but is in fact a fallacy. Coffees that taste very acidic are usually under-extracted (not brewed efficiently, or maybe the bean is under-developed & won't allow an efficient brew). The more acid you get into your coffee the more balanced & sweeter it becomes, before dropping off into terminal bitterness/over-extraction.

The acids in coffee tend to extract proportionally with total solubles.


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## Wuyang (Mar 21, 2014)

MWJB said:


> I think you are making a connection here that sounds reasonable, but is in fact a fallacy. Coffees that taste very acidic are usually under-extracted (not brewed efficiently, or maybe the bean is under-developed & won't allow an efficient brew). The more acid you get into your coffee the more balanced & sweeter it becomes, before dropping off into terminal bitterness/over-extraction.
> 
> The acids in coffee tend to extract proportionally with total solubles.


Thank you for helping .....I've a lot to learn........you certainly know your stuff


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## Scotford (Apr 24, 2014)

I'd look into your water first. Method and recipe second then check all your equipment third.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Scotford said:


> I'd look into your water first. Method and recipe second then check all your equipment third.


What are we looking for in the water, frogspawn? 

A viable recipe (short brew time) with water that's not wildly out of the norm, will still produce a cup that isn't "rank".


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

So supermarket beans taste ok but your home roasted ones are rank. 3 different beans from CC. It's very unlikely IMO that 3 different bags of CC greens are bad. The most obvious answer is that your roasts are most probably the culprit. Can you purchase any of the said greens as pre roasted by CC? That would be a useful comparison. If not, maybe buy a bag of decent quality pre roasted from a reputable roaster and see how they fair.


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## Scotford (Apr 24, 2014)

MWJB said:


> What are we looking for in the water, frogspawn?
> 
> A viable recipe (short brew time) with water that's not wildly out of the norm, will still produce a cup that isn't "rank".


I though someone had said there was waterworks in his area at the time?


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