# Survival Brewing / Fresh Grinding: No Science



## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

We all prattle on about the important of grinding fresh and brewing precision, but when was the last time these weren't an option, and you had to just make do? Is chucking some water over some coffee and crossing fingers all that bad?

I spent the last four days away from home and couldn't be arsed to take a hand-grinder, scales or brewer with me. I knew where I was going had a French press so I ground 250g of coffee pretty coarse and stuffed it in my bag. The coffee itself was past its best at a few weeks post-roast, but I had a cup before leaving so knew what it was capable of. A bean from Burundi with a creamy body, some spice and dried fruit, with a medium acidity.

Technique:

- Boil tap water of unknown quality in cruddy kettle and leave for a minute off boil.

- Eye ball 60g of coffee for around 850ml of water.

- Pour water over coffee in the FP and submerge grinds with plunger.

- Steep for 6mins then plunge.

Morning 1 (~24hr post-grind):

Not that bad! Probably over shot the dose, which most likely helped as it tasted strong but a little under-extracted. Some fruit and acidity, big body; gulped it down happily.

Morning 2 (~48hr post-grind):

Poured too much water resulting in an over-extracted and weaker brew. Not great, but better than the pre-ground Tesco coffee I had after it by virtue of the complexity in taste, and a lack of roast flavours.

Morning 3 (~72hr post-grind):

Brew ratio was closer to intention than the day before, but the flavours from day one had mostly departed. Not unpleasant, just "meh".

Morning 4 (~guess!):

Not much coffee left so poured much less water in - though still a bit too much. Insipid and watery, nothing but generic "coffee" taste. Didn't even finish the cup.

Conclusions:

The French press is forgiving as always but it's best to err on the side of too little water. I guess this is obvious anyway since you can always dilute a brew that's too strong, plus up-dosing to mask extraction issues is a known solution/cheat.

Grind "freshness" wise, I was surprised by the quality of the first brew. Sure if I had been at home and had the ability of precision, the taste would've been more noticeable, but since I wasn't - and didn't - the difference between this and taking a hand grinder would've been marginal.

Day two was alright as well, and if I hadn't over-shot the water I doubt there'd have been too much of an issue with the taste.

After this everything went down hill and I began longing for my Porlex - any tastes were muted to buggery; it might as well have been Gold Blend. Actually, I had a sip of some Gold Blend and it was preferable to what I made.

What I've taken from this - and what I hope is discernible through the cod-science and poor sentence structure - is that if you're in a situation where all the variables of coffee brewing are essentially guess work, you might as well pre-grind (up to two days). Of course freshly grinding is better for taste, but if you don't know the water, and have to eye ball ratios then the likelihood of making the most of that taste is dramatically decreased. I don't think the extra luggage and faff of hand-grinding in a foreign land is worth it.

And more, much more than this, at home with capacity for geekdome, there's validation that this silly business is worth it; I did it my way.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Its funny, the best brew coffees Ive made myself have been at work. I have no scales & no idea of water temp or mineral content.

However I do grind on site with my poorlex a premeasured dose of 12.5g for the aeropress


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

I had a day off the other week, when I got into work the next day my colleagues showed me their new French press, "Since you weren't in yesterday we thought we'd have a go ourselves...it wasn't as good as yours, but we can't go back to having a cup of old acorns!". "Old acorns" being instant.

They don't have a grinder & probably couldn't be bothered to grind on demand if they did. The procedure was described to me as "one 7g scoop per cup", a cup being a mug holding 200-220g (what's that 30g/l?). Preground Percol "espresso" preground "for filter & cafetieres" is the bean of choice. I was heartened by their uptake of freshly brewed coffee & at the same time slightly apprehensive, bracing myself for the severely underdosed, overextracted attack of the generic, stale, overroasted brew...it never came! Simply by reading the instructions on the packet it is possible to brew a passable cup of coffee, from preground.

Is it bright, fruity, floral, challenging, cup of excellence good? No. It is however hard to identify a malfunction/fail. If I was served this in a non-specialty cafe/restaurant I'd be quite happy, I certainly wouldn't complain. If I take the greatest of care with my brews, using generic beans, there's not a lot in it. If I use great beans, I get a great result. Sadly it appears I am not a gifted coffee brewing genius...I just choose to use good beans! :-0  :-( :-0 :-l :-( ...and so on.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

garydyke1 said:


> Its funny, the best brew coffees Ive made myself have been at work.


Something to do with the old conundrum, why do fish and chips always taste better outside.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

The Systemic Kid said:


> Something to do with the old conundrum, why do fish and chips always taste better outside.


There is a tangable difference in flavour.

I measured the work water today - 89C !!!!

At home I use 94-97C

Id love to know TDS/ph etc....Ive 'borrowed' 4 litres of the work water and will play at home tomorrow versus my customer water blend


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

Great expectations. If I spend ten minutes weighing, grinding, blah, blah, and the result is poor - I'm disappointed. When someone else makes me a cup I can only be pleasantly surprised, or vindicated.

Totally agree with you about the most important thing being the bean MWJB.


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