Well, that was a cool looking place!
The last days were full of traveling and exploring new places and the hotel we stayed at was definitely a spectacular place to visit. Because I don’t trust the coffee that the hotels and restaurants offer, I was bringing a good deal of my filter coffee equipment. I usually pre-grind my coffee into single doses, but this time I decided to swipe the dust off an old coffee grinder that was almost forgotten.
I have owned this grinder for about 10 years now, give it take, and since I bought my electric grinder it was staying in a kitchen cabinet.
Of course, I was bringing my scale and the Filter coffee that I bought last week from the local specialty coffee shop. It would be more suitable for this grinder and the V60 coffee brewer. The only thing that I wasn’t sure of was the grind size setting on this exact grinder. I don’t think I have ever ground filter coffee on it. Maybe I have done just some experimental grinds, but nothing more.
21 grams of coffee are in. Now it’s time to grind. I cannot say this is a fast manual tinder, so I needed about 3-4 minutes to do the work. The result that I got was visually far from the desired, but after all I was giving it a chance. The ground coffee particles looked far too fine… not all of them, but they were on the finer side.
I decided that it was a good decision to pour all the water at once, without blooming phase, in order not to extract too much of a bitter taste. To my surprise the coffee filtered very fast, in about a minute and a half. I thought this would be a relatively good one, but I couldn’t be sure before I try it.
The coffee itself was looking great and the color was dark brown with some caramel and reddish hues. The cozy counter of the room was waiting for us and I have to say these were one of the most comfortable chairs I have drank coffee in. They were soft and offered a nice place where you can put your feet on. Time to pamper ourselves!
Coffee wasn’t that under-extracted, but the taste was more sour-ish, without much sweetness. Even for a V60 it needed a much more intensity. Otherwise it was tasty and fruitful. The brewing could have gone just a bit better, but I had some more time to fine tune my brewing process. One step coarser grinding and switching to my usual filter brewing routine would do the work.
Second brew was just right and coffee tasted perfect. I could not really believe that with some fine particles in, the coffee didn’t have bitter touch to the taste at all. It felt like a proper V60 coffee. This made me think if it’s not a good decision to grind my filter coffee on this manual grinder and use the electric one for espresso shots only… When I switch from espresso to filter on the electric grinder, I need to sacrifice 4-5 grams of coffee just to kick off the fines from the grinder internals. And if this manual grinder works that fine, then it’s a really reasonable choice.
Now… one more thing! Before we left the place I decided to try one of the coffee capsules that were in the hotel room. The machine was similarly looking to these Nespresso brewing and Dolce gusto machines, but a different brand.
I had a choice to use a small paper cup, or this large water glass. I made the wise choice here. Next… I had multiple choices of coffee capsules. Intensive, Decaffeinated and Arabica ones… I chose the Arabica for the reason it should taste flavorful and not so bitter, for being a bit lighter roasted.
The short espresso was way too short, but I didn’t mind it. If it was tasty, then it would be well approved. Time to taste this one… as soon as it reached my mouth, I understood that it was the right decision to bring my specialty coffee and all the coffee gear I needed. The coffee was way too bitter and had a strange and unpleasant taste. It was very dark roasted and nothing from the pleasant arabica flavors was left in the beans. If I see this brand again I would never go for it. Not even try a sip of this. It jus ruined the pleasant flavor from the good filter coffee.
But… it looked very nice in this big water glass, didn’t it? I would maybe brew such a coffee only to make some photos. And that’s all!
Overall, this was a spectacular place to brew and enjoy some coffee. And the chairs really were one of the most comfortable in my life. Hope to visit this place again one day.
And that all for my Saturday coffee post. I’ll be happy to read your comments and engage with you.
See you soon and have a nice weekend!
Wow! It is so enticing my friend. You are very lucky to brewed this super aromatic and satisfying coffee in a special place with a cozy ambiance. Know that I so love the setting and of course the way it was done. Best regards and have a wonderful coffee moments with your loved ones.
The place really was awesome! And coffee was the best thing to additionally boost up the atmosphere!
I imagine they were both great. How nice that you were able to do it the traditional way 👏.
The filter brewing method is convenient all the time and everywhere!
I totally agree. In my opinion, it maintains the essence of the coffee flavor.
That's a genius idea to take your manual grinder with you. It looks like a decent one that is comfortable to use. It's even better if you only need to grind the exact amount to use each time.
The best idea that I could come to was taking this grinder with us. My coffee easily beats 99% of the hotel/restaurant coffees. 😁
Now that I have tried it I realized that I can use it at home too!
Hello sir @mdosev. Seeing your step-by-step brewing a coffee, I am who had already finished one cup of coffee, now I want to brew some more for my trip tonight. Greetings Friendship Coffee. Blessing