daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
I’ve started to drink more decaf coffee during the week, and grinding the beans by hand and pouring thru the filter has become a process I really enjoy! And I think the flavor is really good! I’m using a Hario filter and decanter which flows well so I am not waiting a long time like I have to do with my metal filter. I like that. Yum.
We’ve been upgrading our car-camping gear recently and one area that we were lacking in was our camp coffee prep. I’ve always pre-ground the beans at home and brought it with us in a plastic bag, but I decided to buy a Hario Mini-Slim Ceramic Coffee Mill so that I can grind the whole beans just before brewing. Freshly ground coffee is so much better than pre-ground!
This mill is hand-operated with a crank and takes about 2 minutes to grind 12 grams of beans, which is a good amount for one cup of coffee. On this mill’s measuring scale, that means filling it to the #1 marker. It definitely requires a little bit of muscle, so if you don’t have strong arms and wrists, a coffee mill such as this might not be a good idea. On the flipside, the extra exertion would be a good way to get your blood flowing in the morning. 😀
I need to mention that the coffee mill comes with a barcode sticker on it that absolutely sucks to remove. It tears and is super gummy, and the mess gets everywhere. Just getting it to the stage where I can use Goo-Gone on it took a while. What a pain in the butt!
I bought these instant coffee packets at the supermarket today. Each box cost less than a dollar, whereas if you buy “backpacking coffee”, you’ll be paying over a dollar per packet. Granted, the backpacking coffee is supposed to be much tastier, the price is over my threshold. 😄
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Sadly, our Braun Coffee Mill finally died. It served us well for maybe 18 years or so, and just a couple of weeks ago I was thinking about how amazing it was that it was still going strong after all this time. Well, that may have jinxed it because the motor started having a little trouble a couple of days ago, and then today it stopped altogether. 😢 But wow, I can’t complain! It did its job well.
But hey, I needed to make coffee so I got out our antique coffee grinder, and got to work. This little thing is actually pretty good! It’s a Burr-type, but it takes a while to grind by hand and I don’t want to do it every morning.
Therefore, I went online and ordered a new coffee grinder. I’ll post about it after I’ve tried it, but I’m excited about using it. Like the hand grinder, the new one is also a Burr grinder, whereas the Braun was a blade-type, which cuts the beans. Burr grinders crush the beans and it’s supposed to yield tastier coffee… I guess we’ll soon find out!
またね〜
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Mariko and I are both coffee drinkers (and Bay is turning into one as well) which means we need a steady supply of coffee beans for our morning drinks. The photo above is the latest coffee we are trying, and I have to say, it’s pretty good! I always drink my coffee black, so I can easily tell if it’s too bitter, and this one is very smooth – almost too smooth, but what’s nice is that Mariko buys lots of different coffees, so before long, we’re onto something new.
One thing that makes a big difference in the taste of the coffee is grinding whole beans rather than buying the coffee pre-ground. Even before drinking, that smell of the freshly ground beans is awesome! Another bonus is that if the coffee happens to be too bitter, you can create a coarser ground next time for a milder taste. Conversely, I’ve also used the grinder to “freshen up” pre-ground beans (which tend to be less flavorful) and give them a stronger flavor.
I’ve read that the Burr-type grinders are the best, but we’ve had our Braun electric blade-type grinder for over 15 years and it’s still going strong, so we’ll probably keep going with it until it dies (which might be never).
I hope you had a nicely-caffeinated day! ☕
またね～
