new coffee measure for a new year

the other day, when searching for an answer to "why does this good coffee taste kinda crappy?" i came across some brewing recomendations from the estimable Thom:

- 1 blue scaa scoop of beans (well, grinds, technically) per 8oz water
- wait 1-2 minutes off the boil before exposing the beans to your hot water

i was using about 2 blue scaa scoops of beans per 8oz water, and waiting about 15 seconds off the boil. since my coffee was overly bright (to the point of sour astringency) i suspect my problem was more the former than the latter.

the new coffee, brewed to thom's specs, is fantastic. same bean, more chocolate, no unripe-banana. less body, yeah, but far more depth and range of flavor. a much more balanced and likable cup. the difference is extremely obvious (and good!).

this morning, when roasting up a batch of vienna moka kadir, an explanation occurred to me for how i had gotten to this sorry state. perhaps, once upon a time, i roasted some coffee fartoo dark, and in compensation, i piled on the beans (which is what you do with a bitter, overroasted bean). then, when i began roasting lighter, instead of decreasing my bean proportion, i kept it artificially high, resulting in perpetually over-extracted coffee. oops!

in any case, now i get to go back and re-try all those "ick, too bright" coffees of the last 6 months or so (sigh) (yay!) and also, enjoy a nice, vienna level moka kadir.

plus a bit of new knowledge.