[geeks] Barbeque Geekery

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 10:48:56AM -0400, Dan Sikorski wrote:
> I've been using a brita filter for a long time.  It makes enough of a 
> difference in my water for me to continue using it, although, since i 
> keep it in the refrigerator, it could easily be that since the water is 
> colder from the pitcher than the tap and that causes me to not notice 
> the impurities as much.

I don't know. From practical experience I found that Brita filters from
the U.S. did not filter out the minerals in the water here. They came
from Philly, so there may be regional differences. I also bought some
made in Canada here and they did not do as well either. 

>  In my apartment, which had city water, i could 
> easily tell the difference since i noticed chlorine taste and smell in 
> the tap water.  Simply keeping water in a pitcher can let that out 
> though. 

That does take some time. I think it has to be exposed to the air
which here means dust, animal hair, etc. :-) Jerusalem is a very dusty
place.


>  My house has well water, and i notice a difference when using 
> the brita filter as well.  I also continue to use it at the house since 
> keeping water in a pitcher (any pitcher, not just the brita) allows it 
> to release the radon gas that, according to my water test a year ago, is 
> in the water, albeit at a low level.  One of the easiest places to taste 
> impurities in water, to me, is in coffee and tea.  Regardless of brewing 
> method, bad water makes bad coffee. 

The people on mailing lists that are in the U.S. and are much more into
these things use Berkey filters. They say the filters remove things that
really make their well water taste bad, such as sulfur. They run between
$200 and $300 in the U.S. and no one sells them here, so I would have
to import one on my own, which would double the price or more. 

You're right about the water, although someone I knew in the 1970's always
added a pinch of salt to his Mr Coffee.


> How would you compare drip coffee to vacuum pot coffee?  If you've ever 
> used a press pot, how does that compare to the vacuum pot?

This is purely subjective. First some basic chemistry. Coffee flavor consists
of oils which don't dissolve and solids which do. The exact combination of
temperature of the water, how long it contacts the grounds, pressure,
etc effect the balance and therefore the flavor.

The exact results from a drip coffee make are effected by the temperature
of the water, how much coffee you put in it, how finely it is ground, etc.
In general, I find it the most pleasant way of making coffee since I no
longer have a vacuum pot. The biggest difference between the two of them
is that the vaccum pot gives you consistent results. As long as you use
the same amount of water and the same coffee, it will come out exactly the
same, which IMHO was a smooth pleasant cup of coffee.

Filters can do it to, depending upon how hot the water is, how quickly you
pour it in etc. I use an electric kettle that shuts off around boiling,
and a melita #2 filter in a #4 funnel. It's not magic, I bought a case
of the #2 filters and then lost the funnel and have not been able to
find one. 

This forces me to pour water twice to get a regular sized cup of coffee.
The first one runs quickly through and the second pouring takes a lot longer
and I get the balance I like. I did not get the same balance using
#4 filters, but I did get it using #2 filters in the #2 funnel.
I think it's the second pouring that does it.

Although I have a "French Press", I rarely use it because I don't like the
taste from it. I expect that if I were to have my coffee using a French
roast (very dark, even darker than Starbucks), coarsely ground, and had
something, e.g. sugar and milk to offset the bitter flavor, I'd drink it.

But I don't really have access to the coffee, and don't add sweetner
and milk, so it stays on the shelf. 

To summarize, if you like a consistent smooth cup of coffee, then a
vaccum coffee maker would be a good investment. As I said before, I'm
limited to one cup a day, so it would have to be a very small device to
be of any use to me. I'm the lone coffee drinker. My wife and kids drink
tea, except for my oldest son who does not live here. 

It's taken me years to find a supermarket coffee that IMHO tastes good,
and I buy a package (half a kilo) once a month. I split it into two
Illy Espresso cans (I had bought a case of it once when I had money),
and put them in the freezer. It's a race against time for me, by the
end of the month they start to taste like "pencil grounds" and I can't
drink it. 

Today I went out for brunch and the restaurant served a common item here,
a single use funnel from a company called Rombouts. 

As an example:	http://www.rombouts.com.sg/products_filter.htm

It's pretty good, and I'm sure it makes economic sense to them because
it's only weird people like me ("Americans") who don't want an espresso
with warm milk (in Hebrew they use the word for "mixed up" which is the
same as "fubar").

In fact the only way you can get anything like regular drip coffee here
is to ask for "fill-TER" or "caf-FAY a-MER-i-cai-eet". Although often it's
just bad espresso with added water.

> I drink press pot and drip coffee black.  I do enjoy mochas, but prefer 
> them when they are not overly sweet.  Personally, i cannot stand 
> artificial sweeteners in anything.  They all have a strange taste or 
> aftertaste to me.

To me sucralose (splenda in the U.S. is the best), but barely eddible
is better than inedible. 


> I also think their coffee is overdone and overhyped.  There are two of 
> their coffees that i have liked.  One is their new Pike's Place blend, 
> and I don't remember what the other was.  I order coffee from Peet's 
> Coffee and Tea, i like it much better than Starbucks.  I also prefer to 
> go to local coffeehouses when i'm going out for coffee. 

You'd love it here. There are tons of them.

Geoff.


-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM