Reefers can brew the world's best coffee !!!

How do you brew your coffee?


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Midrats

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I take my coffee extremely serious so I go the extra distance and roast my own coffee. This way I control how light or dark I want my roast to be. I start with green beans from Sweet Maria's. (https://www.sweetmarias.com/) The advantage here is getting the best beans from around the world and from a group of folks who are even more serious about coffee than me. Just take a look at the Full Review of a particular coffee and you'll understand. Also, Sweet Maria's deals in Fair Trade whenever possible.

Currently I use the Fresh Roast SR500 for my roasting. It takes about 7-10 minutes to roast and cool a 4 oz. roast. A side benefit is that the garage smells wonderful for several hours after roasting.
Sweet Maria's is great. I learned a lot from their site when I was first getting into it. I'm lucky and have Burman Coffee Traders right down the road so I can go peruse all the coffee right in the warehouse and get recommendations from the staff there.
 

bdejong1112o

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Ha, you found me. Super coffee fanatic here. As with others I roast my own. Started with small 4oz air roaster and last year went all in on a 1lb sonofresco roaster. I source beans from several sources and have even bought them 150lbs at a time. When do I sleep? Never. I brew in all the ways; Drip, Espresso, Moka Pot, Aeropress, Cold Brew, French Press. It never ends for sure. Right now my absolute favorite machine is the Brevile Precision Brewer. A little high on the price but it was a measurable difference in the final product. Everyone who has had it noticed it right away. It will even do cold brew and pour over in a V60. Man, I need another cup....
 

aquaterra

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Looks like ive been using my aeropress wrong, I never did the steep step upside down. Anyways I think you might get a better extraction from the 0 tds water, it may make the coffee more acidic though.
 

bdejong1112o

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Funny thing is that there was a company pitching on Shark tank an additive that added certain minerals back into the water for flavor. Personally I only use a simple britta pitcher but may give it a try pulling from the RO stage.
 

Midrats

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Ha, you found me. Super coffee fanatic here. As with others I roast my own. Started with small 4oz air roaster and last year went all in on a 1lb sonofresco roaster. I source beans from several sources and have even bought them 150lbs at a time. When do I sleep? Never. I brew in all the ways; Drip, Espresso, Moka Pot, Aeropress, Cold Brew, French Press. It never ends for sure. Right now my absolute favorite machine is the Brevile Precision Brewer. A little high on the price but it was a measurable difference in the final product. Everyone who has had it noticed it right away. It will even do cold brew and pour over in a V60. Man, I need another cup....
I'm jealous! Those Sonofresco roasters look NICE.
 

bdejong1112o

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They are awesome. Got a great deal on one from a local roaster who upgraded to a 6lb version. Cranks out 600g of coffee at a time with almost immediate stop to the crack. You my friend have the best location though. I order from Burman quite often when they get some interesting stuff in.
 

rushbattle

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Funny thing is that there was a company pitching on Shark tank an additive that added certain minerals back into the water for flavor. Personally I only use a simple britta pitcher but may give it a try pulling from the RO stage.

This. Coffee extraction needs three components: alkalinity, calcium and magnesium. Their concentraion and ratios are important as well. Nearly everyone is better off carbon filtering their tap water as opposed to using RO water.

This thread is pretty cool. https://www.home-barista.com/knockb...ter-treatment-for-coffee-espresso-t41636.html

8B87969E-1B0B-4801-84AA-0AB59F8FCC5C.png
 

burtbollinger

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tap water + technivorm moccamaster + fresh burr ground whole beans...I'd take the pepsi challenge with any other method. I've done french press, moka pot, and aeropress....for ease of use and taste, technivorm moccamaster and a good grinder is king.
 

Neo Jeo

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THE DI is bad for you, it will give you the "runs"
 

Neo Jeo

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I use a RO system to drink out of with a PH+ added. It adds elements also to my water and raises the PH to kill free radicals.
 

hart24601

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You can drink ro/di just fine if you are a normal healthy person. Tastes terrible, but it won’t hurt you. Few threads with that talked about with Randy if you search. It's become a urban legend that it's bad for you.

That being said I drink cheap free coffee at work. Don't really care about taste!
 

XNavyDiver

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Keurig... with RO (Not DI) water. My RO filter feeds a 5g pressure tank under the sink, with a drinking water faucet. Feeds the fridge door water and icemaker, as well.

No need to drink DI water... you'll just burn up DI resin. RO water flows back through the DI cart on it's way to my sump closet for ATO and water changes.

I know Keurig isn't the best coffee maker, but since I'm the only person here that drinks coffee, it doesn't make much sense for me to brew a pot. It's quick and easy... that's all I'm really looking for.
Keurig guy here also. I was a French press guy for years. Got tired of grinding and all the mess of used up grounds.
 

andrewkw

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I just made my first pot of RO/DI coffee. It definitely does taste different, I'm not really sure if better is the right word, but its certainly not worse. My wife says it's much smoother and I would agree. I should have made a pot with tap water first to compare. To be fair we have a really cheap wal mart coffee maker, but really high quality coffee that is roasted locally. We are drinking the last of the christmas blend which was roasted on November 20th but there have been times where we buy it in the store and it's stamped roasted the day before and the same week is quite common.
 

Midrats

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Keurig guy here also. I was a French press guy for years. Got tired of grinding and all the mess of used up grounds.
Agreed, French press is a PITA. It makes a good cup but a little too viscous for me. Not really down with the solids and oil slick.
 

siggy

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Any other coffee fanatics?
Fine Job Mark, see what you started?;)
Coffee extraction needs three components: alkalinity, calcium and magnesium.
I thought my Bunn made a good cup, and now I see we are back to testing water parameters. I can't wait to see my wife's expression;Joyful when I break out my hana tester while making coffee.
 

XNavyDiver

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Agreed, French press is a PITA. It makes a good cup but a little too viscous for me. Not really down with the solids and oil slick.
I've been a top shelf coffee appreciator for a long time, but not enough of one to go to the lengths of some folk do at home. I've know the other end of the spectrum also when I was in the Navy. Coffee from the "Goat Locker", little more than rocket fuel with a touch of diesel and salt.
 

rushbattle

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Fine Job Mark, see what you started?;)

I thought my Bunn made a good cup, and now I see we are back to testing water parameters. I can't wait to see my wife's expression;Joyful when I break out my hana tester while making coffee.

I use my salifert kit for alk in my coffee water! The Ca and Mg kits are too high range, but kinda work. I use a GH kit to test both at the same time.
 

Midrats

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I've been a top shelf coffee appreciator for a long time, but not enough of one to go to the lengths of some folk do at home. I've know the other end of the spectrum also when I was in the Navy. Coffee from the "Goat Locker", little more than rocket fuel with a touch of diesel and salt.
Boatswain's Mate coffee. Our mugs could never be washed. If you cut one in half there'd have been rings like a redwood tree. The first thing I'd do when a new guy would check in would be to send him to wash all the mugs in the Chief's mess :D
 
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Mark Derail

Mark Derail

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I take it one step further and roast my own coffee. It's the only hobby I have that has actually saved me money. Super top shelf green coffee can be had for a fraction of what the boutique roasters charge for a pound.

I've used RO water in the past but needed to add some minerals back to it so the coffee wasn't so flat. Stripped water really isn't ideal for coffee making. Now I just run my water through a carbon block to remove the chlorine taste.

For my morning brew I use a Technivorm drip machine that I have had for 15 years and still looks and works like new. They are built like a tank in Holland and worth the high price tag. In the afternoon I like to hand extract some elixir with the ROK.
IMG_20170815_121446.jpg

That looks like a super-sized industrial Aeopress. Real cool looking too. I'm going to look into making my own roast.

As far as "bugs" or bacteria being in the RO unit, I doubt it, I use it too often - plus I boil it.
 

Sipec

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I think the RO/DI water is bad for you is it pull the minerals from your body, as for RO water ive drinked it for years and i not dead yet, much better than the tap cause you never know what will come out. Ive seen on tv someone holding a lighter to they’re tap and the water igniting.
 
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