luminosus Senior Member Joined: 9 Jun 2004 Posts: 5 Location: San Jose, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Braun KMM-30 Vac Pot: Hario Nouveau Roaster: Poppery II
Posted Wed Jun 9, 2004, 6:33pm Subject: How do you correctly brew using SwissGold 1-Cup?
Hi...this is my first time on this board; pleased to meet everyone!
I have a question on how to use the SwissGold 1-Cup brewer...I'll start by explaining what I did and hopefully you guys can point out what's wrong with the process. Thanks in advance for all your help!
I used the Braun KMM-30 grinder, set to 10. Scooped up one SCAA scoop (the blue one that came with my order from sweetmaria's...that is a standard scoop right?), dumped the grinds in, put the water drain on, put in a mugful of water (just off boil), and before I could reach for the lid and close it, it's done filtering. The whole process took around...40 seconds? And as you can imagine, the result is pretty tasteless.
So, I tried it again, this time ground to 6, the coarser end of espresso. Repeated everything, and voila...~60 second extraction time. Taste does not improve much.
I have fiddled around with all the variables for about 10 times in total...I've reduced the water amount to half a mug in hope that it'll yield a stronger brew; I've changed the grinder setting around and tried to spread the grinds evenly on the filter; I've lifted the drain higher so that the bottom doesn't touch the grinds, if that mattered at all; I've even filtered the liquid through twice. None of these worked. Am I just trying too hard to find the taste that I can get from what I'm accustomed to, the Hario Nouveau? But regardless of what I regularly drink, the result that I currently get from the one cup brewer is pretty bad. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Posted Wed Jun 9, 2004, 7:18pm Subject: Re: How do you correctly brew using SwissGold 1-Cup?
Welcome to CG :)
I use about two tablespoons, give or take a half-tablespoon (I only use the swissgold at work) of freshly roasted (within a week or so) and freshly ground (that morning, just before I leave for work) coffee per mug of boiling water. As far as grind, I use a Rocky and grind at around 30-35 past the zero point, which is finer than what I use for press-pot (40-45) and much coarser than what I use for espresso (8-10). It takes 3-4 minutes for the water to drain through.
It's definately going to taste different than drip, if that's what you're used to. I find that many times when I serve people press-pot for the first time, it takes them a bit to adjust to the difference in taste. What beans are you using? Are they fresh? Are you grinding them immediately before brewing?
It sounds like you're on the right track, just keep tweaking until you get it where you like it.
Jeff
"If it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all."
luminosus Senior Member Joined: 9 Jun 2004 Posts: 5 Location: San Jose, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Braun KMM-30 Vac Pot: Hario Nouveau Roaster: Poppery II
Posted Wed Jun 9, 2004, 9:33pm Subject: Re: How do you correctly brew using SwissGold 1-Cup?
Thanks for the reply! I'm using whatever beans I happen to have...I've tried the Brazilian Ipanema Dulce, Mandheling, and Ecuadorian ESCafe from a co-op, all bought from sweetmarias.com - I've just for a few months entered the world of home-roasting-with-popcorn-machine, and am absolutely loving it! I usually roast in the afternoon and let them sit on the counter in an open metal bowl until the morning when I grind and brew...so freshness shouldnt be an issue. The taste that I've been used to is the vac-pot...actually that's the only brewer that I have, until I heard about the swissgold-- I've never gotten consistent results when I brew less than three cups on the vac pot (which comes out to be a bit more than 12 oz) so I decided to give the swissgold a try.
When you put in the ground coffee do you spread it across the filter? And also, when you put in the water drain does the bottom touch the grind?
Posted Thu Jun 10, 2004, 5:21am Subject: Re: How do you correctly brew using SwissGold 1-Cup?
It's funny, I'm drinking a cup of pour-over right now, and it just doesn't taste quite as good as it usually does. That just goes to show it doesn't take much variation to lose the perfect combination.
There's really no need to spread the grounds around much, other than giving the filter a shake to spread them out a bit so that no gold shows through. You've probably already noticed that the water goes into the filter assembly quickly at first, making a slurry. Once the slurry fills the assembly, the water level begins to drop more gradually, as it's now going thru at the rate the slurry is draining through the filter.
I don't think the grounds touch much at all when I attach the water drain, but there may be some contact. Theres certainly no resistance.
Jeff
"If it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all."
Posted Thu Jun 10, 2004, 5:58am Subject: Re: How do you correctly brew using SwissGold 1-Cup?
I bought one of these a while ago.. and was disappointed. I wasn't able to produce a good cup out of it. In the beginning, I believe my problem was that my concept of a 1 cup is much different than their concept of 1 cup.. so I was trying to use too much water (even though I compensated with more coffee). When I gave in and just filled it as is, my results were better.. but nothing to write home about. I haven't given up on it... but it sure is a finicky little thing. It is relegated to that rare time when I just want a little bit of joe... mainly in the evening.
x Senior Member Joined: 29 Sep 2002 Posts: 322 Location: x Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Jul 14, 2004, 3:19pm Subject: Re: How do you correctly brew using SwissGold 1-Cup?
Hello, I haven't had great luck with this little bugger either. I use about 2 tablespoons of coffee and fill the cup full, even using Rocky at a grind of about 45 above true zero it seems to take forever. I piddle around lifting the water cup for a few seconds at a time and that seems to speed the process to about 3 or 4 minutes. I only use it once in a while if I plan on giving neighbors coffee for drip. I guess it needs practice like everything else. Loring
Posted Wed Jul 14, 2004, 5:45pm Subject: Re: How do you correctly brew using SwissGold 1-Cup?
I have no problem brewing a great cup (8 oz) in it! My Rocky has a true zero start point & the Swissgold KF300 "One cup" grind is 40. I grind 7-10gr of coffee. Fill with water off the boil. Time to filter is 60-90sec, above all ENJOY!., right? {:-)
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