# star anise taste, French Press



## hopsyturvy (Jan 7, 2013)

For the last few weeks I've been brewing Square Mile's Jirmiwachu (http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/jirmiwachu-espresso) in a French press and been getting highly variable, but always delicious, results. From green hazelnuts to floral fruitiness, once a real kick of strawberry flavouring.

Most recently, I got distracted and left a pot to brew for way longer than usual - perhaps as long as ten minutes. The result had an amazing and distinctive taste of star anise, which I'm not sure i've picked out in coffee before.

So I'm wondering: might there be a way to capture this taste without overextracting quite this much? Would a different brew method draw that character out? Or grinding more finely? And why do I get such varying results with this particular bean compared to others?


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

Complex naturals like the Jirmiwachu do seem to have tons of different flavours going on. Did your ten minute brew taste bitter? It might not have necessarily over-extracted as extraction slows down a great deal after the initial few minutes. French press is a good method for a long steep as the fines sink to the bottom and shouldn't receive much agitation when plunging and pouring a cup. You could grind coarse then sift to remove finer particles and steep for a long time without worrying about the small bits over-extracting. Not stirring before steeping could help reduce extraction from smaller grinds too.

It could just be that the coffee was cooler, with more flavours opening up after the wait. You could try an ordinary length steep then decant and leave it for a while before sipping to see if the spice is there.


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## Outlaw333 (Dec 13, 2011)

What grinder are you using? Jirmiwachu is a very dense little mixed heirloom(as are the majority of Ethiopians) and if your grinder isn't A1 your grind consistency will be will be far more erratic than say a Bourbon from El Salvador, that coupled with the Jirmi's complexity and you are going to find a massive diversity in flavour profile brew by brew, what is your brew recipe and are you controlling all the variables you can?


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## hopsyturvy (Jan 7, 2013)

Thanks guys! Plenty to think about from just two posts, I'm glad I joined









Earlepap, it was a lot less bitter than I'd have expected, and yes, unstirred, so perhaps not that over-extracted. Temperature is a definite possibility, I'll give it a try and report back (if I remember!) And I guess it makes sense with lots of flavour layers, that even small changes to the brew (I'm not being super consistent) would have a bigger effect.

Outlaw, I'm using a hario slim, and I know it's producing rather uneven grinds, although I didn't think it would have such a big effect in a french press. Why does density affect the grind? Is it literally just the physical strength of the beans?


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## tribs (Feb 21, 2012)

Embrace the complexity and diversity of flavours from this wonderful coffee.

Also try resting some of the bag (in good conditions) and try at 3-4 weeks past roast. They seem to really come alive at this point. I finished a bag today (5+ weeks post roast) and I have it empty on my desk so I can enjoy the aromas


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## hopsyturvy (Jan 7, 2013)

I think by now (I don't have the bag in front of me) this is about 4 weeks off roast, so that has probably been contributing too. I guess different flavour elements fade at different rates, which will change the profile?


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

hopsyturvy said:


> I think by now (I don't have the bag in front of me) this is about 4 weeks off roast, so that has probably been contributing too. I guess different flavour elements fade at different rates, which will change the profile?


That would make sense. I think brighter, fruity, acidic flavours are the first to fade leaving more room for the spicy notes you're talking about.


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

It might be worth trying out this bean hopsy - http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/buziraguhindwa

The tasting notes are bang on.


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## hopsyturvy (Jan 7, 2013)

Hm, I will, just as soon as we've got through our bag from Nude!


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## Outlaw333 (Dec 13, 2011)

hopsyturvy said:


> Outlaw, I'm using a hario slim, and I know it's producing rather uneven grinds, although I didn't think it would have such a big effect in a french press. Why does density affect the grind? Is it literally just the physical strength of the beans?


Wearing different coloured pants will affect the grind my friend!!







I'm not totally sure why dense beans are such a pain to grind but my theory is that with a greater level of energy required, the harder the bean, the more prone to shattering unpredictably they become when they hit the burrs, while a less dense bean is nibbled in a more controlled manner, sort of like cracking nuts in a nut cracker, the tougher ones always explode! It seems to be less of an issue the finer you are going though. As well as being generally of a higher density, mixed heirlooms are a mish-mash of beans of all shapes and sizes which will mean each one will behave differently in the burrs.

As I'm sure you know, even in a french press, smaller grinds(fines) will become overextracted before your target sized grinds reach optimum extraction and the opposite with over sized particles. Low agitation and the fact that fines sink to the bottom should mean that a french press is less affected than pourover methods but I can't confirm either way as I very rarely use one.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Hopsyturvy, do you have any other brewers as well as the french press? I tend to make French press brews with a fine grind, then run them through a filter cone, or Aeropress, to catch the sediment (well, most of it). If your grinder is more consistent at a finer grind, then grind finer and adjust the time to suit. I often use an espresso grind, 95C water, slow fill including a little stir to make sure all grounds are wet, then steep without agitation for 3-4minutes. Tasting off the top after a minute or two to determine when to plunge & decant.

That said, for the reasons Outlaw333 states above, fines do not always necessarily mean a poor French press brew (though consistency is always desirable). You often get a column of extraction, getting higher levels of extraction as you get further down the pot (even when using a good grinder set coarse, grinding fine seems to reduce this effect some), and much of the sunken fines & very overexracted coffee will be retained in the grinds under the plunger/filter disc & not necessarily make it into the cup. You could also decant into a few, prewarmed cups, one by one, to aim at getting the best "cut" of the brew.


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## hopsyturvy (Jan 7, 2013)

I have a V60, but haven't had great results from it yet, which I thought might have been partly due to fines clogging the paper. I had been planning to try double-filtering a French Press brew, although I have to say when I had some brewed this way at Dunne Frankowski I felt it lost something in the body and richness. Also on my to do list: putting a shim in the grinder... (http://www.roaste.com/CoffeeBlogs/yeahyeah/Hario-Mini-Mill-Mod)


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