In search of the perfect cup of coffee at home
August 25, 2013 8:28 AM Subscribe
"We were roommates, Marine infantry officers, perpetually sleep-deprived from the training, the planning, the preparations for war. Back then coffee was little more than a bitter, caffeine-delivery system. It was just what we needed to stay awake. We were missing so much." And so begins the story of two former marines and their quest for the perfect cup of coffee.
One should note that their work is based US standard tastes, which haven't changed much since the original 1950s MIT studies, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). European tastes tend towards stronger coffees, as charted by Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE), but the Norwegian Coffee Association (NCA) has their own standards.
Also note that the SCAA Golden Cup Award has provided ranges for the optimum cup of coffee, compared to the exact ratios found by professor Ernest Earl Lockhart others at MIT in the 1950s.
There are also discussions to be had regarding roasting of and freshness of beans, but we'll stop here.
One should note that their work is based US standard tastes, which haven't changed much since the original 1950s MIT studies, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). European tastes tend towards stronger coffees, as charted by Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE), but the Norwegian Coffee Association (NCA) has their own standards.
Also note that the SCAA Golden Cup Award has provided ranges for the optimum cup of coffee, compared to the exact ratios found by professor Ernest Earl Lockhart others at MIT in the 1950s.
There are also discussions to be had regarding roasting of and freshness of beans, but we'll stop here.
I still measure my coffee by volume, but if you want to be precise with you water/coffee ratio, use a scale. Baratza even makes grinders with built-in scales.
And if you thought $300 was a lot for a Moccamaster, now's there's the $550 Bunn Trifecta with control over infusion time and turbulence.
posted by morganw at 8:42 AM on August 25, 2013
And if you thought $300 was a lot for a Moccamaster, now's there's the $550 Bunn Trifecta with control over infusion time and turbulence.
posted by morganw at 8:42 AM on August 25, 2013
If the spoon doesn't stand on its own in it, it's not an appropriately strong cup of coffee.
posted by seawallrunner at 8:47 AM on August 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by seawallrunner at 8:47 AM on August 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
CORRECTION: If the spoon doesn't stand on its own, and hop up and down while spinning like an eggbeater, it's not an appropriately strong cup of coffee.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:53 AM on August 25, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:53 AM on August 25, 2013 [7 favorites]
Refractometers:
Some purists chafe against the idea of introducing a device like this to measure the quality of a cup of coffee. As former Marines, it reminds us of a similar debate on the topic of gun control.
Are guns the problem, or is it how people use them?
Are refractometers the problem, or is it how people use them?
These are hotly debated issues and for good reason. But both are tools, and just like any other, they can be misused.
Other than that, its all a little too technical for me.
Here's my system: Wake up, pour a cup of hot fresh coffee from the pot that Mr. SLC has made.
If he's not home, rewarm some of yesterday's, or head out to the Starbuck's drive through.
Yes, my life is good.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:00 AM on August 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
Some purists chafe against the idea of introducing a device like this to measure the quality of a cup of coffee. As former Marines, it reminds us of a similar debate on the topic of gun control.
Are guns the problem, or is it how people use them?
Are refractometers the problem, or is it how people use them?
These are hotly debated issues and for good reason. But both are tools, and just like any other, they can be misused.
Other than that, its all a little too technical for me.
Here's my system: Wake up, pour a cup of hot fresh coffee from the pot that Mr. SLC has made.
If he's not home, rewarm some of yesterday's, or head out to the Starbuck's drive through.
Yes, my life is good.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:00 AM on August 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
I bought a Chemex, and used it for a couple of years, and aside from the scar on the back of one hand from when I accidentally poured boiling water on it one hungover morning, the only thing that I took away from it was that any taste difference was my brain insisting that it had to taste better if the method was more labor intensive.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:03 AM on August 25, 2013
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:03 AM on August 25, 2013
Ah, is there no hobby that men (sorry to stereotype, but it's usually men) can turn into a gadget obsessed, measurement driven extravaganza?
The real key, and I know this from experience, is to be friends with someone who is pursuing these goals. You get their cast off equipment for a lot cheaper than on the open market, and can usually learn how to get 90% of the results with 10% of the effort.
It's a shame I don't like coffee though, I know someone who roasts his own beans, and installed a pid controller to get exact temperature within a tenth of a degree. And it's damn good coffee, but if you don't like coffee...
posted by zabuni at 9:06 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
The real key, and I know this from experience, is to be friends with someone who is pursuing these goals. You get their cast off equipment for a lot cheaper than on the open market, and can usually learn how to get 90% of the results with 10% of the effort.
It's a shame I don't like coffee though, I know someone who roasts his own beans, and installed a pid controller to get exact temperature within a tenth of a degree. And it's damn good coffee, but if you don't like coffee...
posted by zabuni at 9:06 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I love my Chemex. It's entirely possible to make lousy coffee with a Chemex; starting with bad coffee, using too little/too much, water too hot or too cold, et cetera. I'm no Gale Boetticher, but I think the single greatest feature of the Chemex is that all surfaces that come in contact with the coffee are glass, so you don't wind up with that terrible rancid stale coffee oil funk that you get from plastic filter baskets after a while.
posted by usonian at 9:14 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by usonian at 9:14 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
This really comes down to what your taste buds tell you. I prefer strong and even a Moka pot on occasion. I even have a good espresso maker for my afternoon "tea."
I never drank coffee back in the Folger's, light roast, pre-ground, canned days. I couldn't even taste it. The old joke was, "This coffee is like making love in a canoe; it's f*cking near water!" :-)
And I can't let this go without referencing this old coffee commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRYfouuHPvs&feature=fvwp
posted by CrowGoat at 9:24 AM on August 25, 2013
I never drank coffee back in the Folger's, light roast, pre-ground, canned days. I couldn't even taste it. The old joke was, "This coffee is like making love in a canoe; it's f*cking near water!" :-)
And I can't let this go without referencing this old coffee commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRYfouuHPvs&feature=fvwp
posted by CrowGoat at 9:24 AM on August 25, 2013
Halloween Jack, you're doing something wrong.
Also, because it's relevant, I'll link to Brew Methods here, which is a nice compendium of video guides by baristas for ratio, time, and grind for a variety of brew methods.
posted by a halcyon day at 9:28 AM on August 25, 2013 [5 favorites]
Also, because it's relevant, I'll link to Brew Methods here, which is a nice compendium of video guides by baristas for ratio, time, and grind for a variety of brew methods.
posted by a halcyon day at 9:28 AM on August 25, 2013 [5 favorites]
What does their being Marines have to do with anything?
Most important thing you can change to get a better cup of coffee, regardless of brewing method (and in North America that's almost always some variant on the pourover): GRIND IT YOURSELF JUST BEFORE BREWING. NEVER, EVER USE PRE-GROUND COFFEE.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:43 AM on August 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
Most important thing you can change to get a better cup of coffee, regardless of brewing method (and in North America that's almost always some variant on the pourover): GRIND IT YOURSELF JUST BEFORE BREWING. NEVER, EVER USE PRE-GROUND COFFEE.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:43 AM on August 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
So, if I'm awake enough to run through some complicated system of coffee delivery, then I don't really need the coffee. Conversely, if the process is any more difficult than throwing the beans in the grinder and then in the filter and pouring water in the hopper, it's not going to happen at 6:30 in the morning.
posted by octothorpe at 9:45 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 9:45 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
I just use a cheap French Press, grinding my coffee beans every morning. It works very well, though I guess it isn't trendy like it was a couple years ago. The trick though, is it has to be strong coffee.
posted by happyroach at 9:48 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by happyroach at 9:48 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
All that matters: hot, black and brewed sometime this year.
posted by drinkcoffee at 9:48 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by drinkcoffee at 9:48 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
All that matters: hot, black and brewed sometime this year.
posted by drinkcoffee
Eponyohforgetit
posted by nevercalm at 9:53 AM on August 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by drinkcoffee
Eponyohforgetit
posted by nevercalm at 9:53 AM on August 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
I used to work at a 24/7 studio, and they had coffee for the crew about 18 of those hours. Some of us would work from 3am until 10pm several days a week, so it was essential that the coffee was plentiful and strong. It was. It tasted terrible, but there was a lot of it and it was like rocket fuel. After a while, we were forced to cut back because it seemed like we were always kind of sick to our stomachs from all the coffee we were drinking all day and night.
One day, one of the crew walked past the kitchen and watched the new little catering guy making the coffee in a 5 gallon machine. He scrubbed the brewing thing with a little Comet on a sponge, didn't rinse it, then brewed the coffee right on top of it.
This sounds better than that.
posted by nevercalm at 9:57 AM on August 25, 2013 [5 favorites]
One day, one of the crew walked past the kitchen and watched the new little catering guy making the coffee in a 5 gallon machine. He scrubbed the brewing thing with a little Comet on a sponge, didn't rinse it, then brewed the coffee right on top of it.
This sounds better than that.
posted by nevercalm at 9:57 AM on August 25, 2013 [5 favorites]
What does their being Marines have to do with anything?
Service means citizenship! WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
posted by entropicamericana at 9:57 AM on August 25, 2013 [19 favorites]
Service means citizenship! WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
posted by entropicamericana at 9:57 AM on August 25, 2013 [19 favorites]
Well, those marines probably didn't account for sea salt coffee, which is very popular in East Asia. 85 degrees also has a few California branches, and judging by their constant crowds, it's popular here too.
posted by FJT at 10:03 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by FJT at 10:03 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I've gotten the best results by just dumping a few tablespoons of coffee in a pot of water, bringing it to a rolling boil, taking it off the heat and giving it about two minutes to let the grounds settle before serving. I'll use my percolator if I have to make a whole gallon, but for some reason the flavor seems better just boiled.
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 10:21 AM on August 25, 2013
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 10:21 AM on August 25, 2013
One of my old gurus had this formula for making a good cup of coffee:
"Put some in."
I have never known this to fail.
posted by beagle at 10:31 AM on August 25, 2013 [5 favorites]
"Put some in."
I have never known this to fail.
posted by beagle at 10:31 AM on August 25, 2013 [5 favorites]
Third wave barista here. That means that I work in a coffee shop that caters to people like the guys in the article. I get a lot of questions, usually from guys who spend the day coding on their laptops in the shop, about which brew method is appropriate for which coffee, the best methods for an aeropress, pour over technique, etc. Many of them have elaborate home setups.
One thing of note is that, in my part of the coffee world at least, strong coffee isn't what is emphasized. I think that the desire for really dark coffee comes from an era when when most coffee was so mistreated that dark roasts and heavy brews were the only ways you could get it to taste like anything at all. A dark roast really is like a burned steak. I mean, it'll work, but you're missing out. It covers up defects in bad coffee, making it an easy expedient, but it also covers up a potentially amazing experience if the beans were really good.
posted by no mind at 10:38 AM on August 25, 2013 [16 favorites]
One thing of note is that, in my part of the coffee world at least, strong coffee isn't what is emphasized. I think that the desire for really dark coffee comes from an era when when most coffee was so mistreated that dark roasts and heavy brews were the only ways you could get it to taste like anything at all. A dark roast really is like a burned steak. I mean, it'll work, but you're missing out. It covers up defects in bad coffee, making it an easy expedient, but it also covers up a potentially amazing experience if the beans were really good.
posted by no mind at 10:38 AM on August 25, 2013 [16 favorites]
I have never known this to fail.
That depends, do you want something that tastes good or just some caffeine?
posted by no mind at 10:40 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
That depends, do you want something that tastes good or just some caffeine?
posted by no mind at 10:40 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's just effing coffee.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:47 AM on August 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 10:47 AM on August 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
Amusingly enough, earlier this week I realize I had somehow perfected making shitty diner coffee in my French press!
posted by vespabelle at 10:49 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by vespabelle at 10:49 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
Like any foodstuff, the making of coffee can be taken to snobbish extremes. But a properly made cup of quality coffee, well-roasted and well-brewed, does taste better than the tar-like substance that some folks make.
Is "just coffee" perfectly fine if you're stumbling around the kitchen in a haze at 6 AM, trying not to pour grounds on the counter instead of in the coffeemaker? Sure. But that doesn't mean you can't do better if you've got the time and inclination.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:52 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Is "just coffee" perfectly fine if you're stumbling around the kitchen in a haze at 6 AM, trying not to pour grounds on the counter instead of in the coffeemaker? Sure. But that doesn't mean you can't do better if you've got the time and inclination.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:52 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I got given a bag of Starbucks' espresso roast beans the other day by someone who'd bought whole bean by mistake and didn't own a grinder.
It was then that I realized I've become a coffee snob somehow, by accident. I used to like these. I know I did.
But even I'm not going this far. Yet. I guess check back in ten years.
posted by Sequence at 11:05 AM on August 25, 2013
It was then that I realized I've become a coffee snob somehow, by accident. I used to like these. I know I did.
But even I'm not going this far. Yet. I guess check back in ten years.
posted by Sequence at 11:05 AM on August 25, 2013
MetaFilter: you're doing something wrong.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:09 AM on August 25, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:09 AM on August 25, 2013 [7 favorites]
They use the "golden ratio" like it actually means something. If I used 1oz of ground coffee to ~18oz water, I'd have coffee that is so weak it's not even coffee.
The old Melitta rule of thumb was 1 heaping tablespoon for the cup, 1 more for the pot, so to speak. They used to give away a "Melitta Measure" with every filter cone, I just measured it, it's 0.5oz, a tablespoon is 0.5oz. If you make a cup of coffee, that's .5oz plus another .5 for the pot, 1oz total. If you were making 8 cups of coffee, you'd put in 4 oz of coffee plus .5oz for the pot, 4.5oz total. That is too weak. Note that I mean one cup measure, not a coffee cup. My coffee cup is 1.5 cups, 12oz, this is fairly typical.
I have a metal 1oz measuring cup, it is stamped "one standard coffee measure" inside. That is more typical. By their 1/18th rule, I would use 2/3 of an ounce of coffee for my oversize coffee mug. That is ridiculous. I use a little under 1/4 cup of raw beans tossed into the grinder to make one cup of coffee. I just went to grind some coffee and make another cup, I was surprised to see that the medium grind produces almost exactly the same volume of grounds as raw beans, it filled my measuring cup to the same line as the raw beans. So that's a little under 2oz, triple their recommended proportions. I like my coffee a little strong, but my tastes aren't triple the strength of typical cup.
These rules are ridiculous. They talk about the refractometer and don't tell you how to use it. They just give you a chart and no way to get your results into the zone. Some of the recommendations are obvious. Buy good coffee beans? You don't say. Yeah, grind just before brewing, that's why people buy whole bean instead of ground coffee. Store your coffee properly? No, the proper way to store coffee is in a vacuum pack, there's no practical way to do that at home. Instead, buy just enough coffee so it doesn't get stale before you use it. Use the right proportions? Yeah, but they don't know what it is. Focus on technique? No, focus on consistency, so you can vary extraction and optimize. Use quality tools? No, you can make great coffee with a $3 filter cone.
So here are my tips.
1. Use good water. If you have poor quality tap water, using filtered water will improve your coffee more than any other factor.
2. Coffee should be hot. Boil your water in an open pan, using a thermometer. Take it off heat at 205F maximum. Don't let it boil, that will boil off the dissolved air in the water, it will be flat. Keep your water at the right temperature plus or minus 5F. This depends on your beans, I like to keep it about 195F. Put your burner on low to reheat if the temperature drops. If your water is too hot, the coffee is bitter. If your water is not hot enough, your coffee is weak. Preheat your coffee mug by filling it with hot water while you set the water to boil, and pour an ounce of heated water through your filter cone before you add the coffee grounds. If the cup and cone are cold, it will draw heat out of the coffee, and your coffee turns out cold.
3. Coffee should be clean, not chewy. There should be no stray grounds in the coffee, and no solids that would precipitate. Use a filter cone or some similar method. Even the Bialetti espresso maker, on the high-solids end of their scale, doesn't produce espresso with enough solids to precipitate. If you want coffee thick as mud, just make Turkish Coffee or something that boils the grounds and doesn't filter them out, you have to let the grounds precipitate before you drink it.
3. Get the right grind. Use a burr grinder, set around medium. Experiment with the exact grind. Too fine and the water doesn't flow through fast enough, it overextracts. Too coarse and the water flows through too fast and the coffee is too weak. You know you get the flow right if your filter cone takes about 4 minutes for your cup (not a measured cup, your typical cup like my 12 oz cup).
4. Use the pour over technique. Don't drown the grounds. I ladle water over the grounds with my 1oz measure, one ounce at a time. I drop the water from a couple of inches high, so it agitates the grounds somewhat. Don't add too much water, it should be a slurry. If you add too much water, like grounds on the bottom and water on the top, you're just pushing water through the sides of the filter cone, not through the grounds. Don't let the grounds go dry, not even at the end, coffee should still be flowing when you finish.
Jeez, I reread the last half of that article and my points are basically their last four points, except they don't have any detail or any useful instructions at all. My methods are simple and produces consistent results, even if you have to practice a little to get it just right. And even that isn't very hard.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:50 AM on August 25, 2013 [9 favorites]
The old Melitta rule of thumb was 1 heaping tablespoon for the cup, 1 more for the pot, so to speak. They used to give away a "Melitta Measure" with every filter cone, I just measured it, it's 0.5oz, a tablespoon is 0.5oz. If you make a cup of coffee, that's .5oz plus another .5 for the pot, 1oz total. If you were making 8 cups of coffee, you'd put in 4 oz of coffee plus .5oz for the pot, 4.5oz total. That is too weak. Note that I mean one cup measure, not a coffee cup. My coffee cup is 1.5 cups, 12oz, this is fairly typical.
I have a metal 1oz measuring cup, it is stamped "one standard coffee measure" inside. That is more typical. By their 1/18th rule, I would use 2/3 of an ounce of coffee for my oversize coffee mug. That is ridiculous. I use a little under 1/4 cup of raw beans tossed into the grinder to make one cup of coffee. I just went to grind some coffee and make another cup, I was surprised to see that the medium grind produces almost exactly the same volume of grounds as raw beans, it filled my measuring cup to the same line as the raw beans. So that's a little under 2oz, triple their recommended proportions. I like my coffee a little strong, but my tastes aren't triple the strength of typical cup.
These rules are ridiculous. They talk about the refractometer and don't tell you how to use it. They just give you a chart and no way to get your results into the zone. Some of the recommendations are obvious. Buy good coffee beans? You don't say. Yeah, grind just before brewing, that's why people buy whole bean instead of ground coffee. Store your coffee properly? No, the proper way to store coffee is in a vacuum pack, there's no practical way to do that at home. Instead, buy just enough coffee so it doesn't get stale before you use it. Use the right proportions? Yeah, but they don't know what it is. Focus on technique? No, focus on consistency, so you can vary extraction and optimize. Use quality tools? No, you can make great coffee with a $3 filter cone.
So here are my tips.
1. Use good water. If you have poor quality tap water, using filtered water will improve your coffee more than any other factor.
2. Coffee should be hot. Boil your water in an open pan, using a thermometer. Take it off heat at 205F maximum. Don't let it boil, that will boil off the dissolved air in the water, it will be flat. Keep your water at the right temperature plus or minus 5F. This depends on your beans, I like to keep it about 195F. Put your burner on low to reheat if the temperature drops. If your water is too hot, the coffee is bitter. If your water is not hot enough, your coffee is weak. Preheat your coffee mug by filling it with hot water while you set the water to boil, and pour an ounce of heated water through your filter cone before you add the coffee grounds. If the cup and cone are cold, it will draw heat out of the coffee, and your coffee turns out cold.
3. Coffee should be clean, not chewy. There should be no stray grounds in the coffee, and no solids that would precipitate. Use a filter cone or some similar method. Even the Bialetti espresso maker, on the high-solids end of their scale, doesn't produce espresso with enough solids to precipitate. If you want coffee thick as mud, just make Turkish Coffee or something that boils the grounds and doesn't filter them out, you have to let the grounds precipitate before you drink it.
3. Get the right grind. Use a burr grinder, set around medium. Experiment with the exact grind. Too fine and the water doesn't flow through fast enough, it overextracts. Too coarse and the water flows through too fast and the coffee is too weak. You know you get the flow right if your filter cone takes about 4 minutes for your cup (not a measured cup, your typical cup like my 12 oz cup).
4. Use the pour over technique. Don't drown the grounds. I ladle water over the grounds with my 1oz measure, one ounce at a time. I drop the water from a couple of inches high, so it agitates the grounds somewhat. Don't add too much water, it should be a slurry. If you add too much water, like grounds on the bottom and water on the top, you're just pushing water through the sides of the filter cone, not through the grounds. Don't let the grounds go dry, not even at the end, coffee should still be flowing when you finish.
Jeez, I reread the last half of that article and my points are basically their last four points, except they don't have any detail or any useful instructions at all. My methods are simple and produces consistent results, even if you have to practice a little to get it just right. And even that isn't very hard.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:50 AM on August 25, 2013 [9 favorites]
I'm no Gale Boetticher, but I think the single greatest feature of the Chemex is that all surfaces that come in contact with the coffee are glass, so you don't wind up with that terrible rancid stale coffee oil funk that you get from plastic filter baskets after a while.
Good point, the apparatus has to be clean. My biggest problem with the Chemex is that you can't get your hand into the lower beaker so you can't scrub it out easily.
If you rinse a filter cone in hot water immediately, the oils don't build up. I usually scrub my filter cone with an old toothbrush once in a while, to scrub off the minerals and any oil. Yes, I run my toothbrush through the dishwasher to sterilize it, before I'd use it on apparatus I'd use to serve coffee to guests.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:59 AM on August 25, 2013
Good point, the apparatus has to be clean. My biggest problem with the Chemex is that you can't get your hand into the lower beaker so you can't scrub it out easily.
If you rinse a filter cone in hot water immediately, the oils don't build up. I usually scrub my filter cone with an old toothbrush once in a while, to scrub off the minerals and any oil. Yes, I run my toothbrush through the dishwasher to sterilize it, before I'd use it on apparatus I'd use to serve coffee to guests.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:59 AM on August 25, 2013
Chemex filters are a little different, but is that enough to demand a different grind? The Technivorm Moccamaster uses regular ol' #4 cones.
The deal with the chemex grind setting is only partly related to the filter; yeah, it's thicker, but mostly it's that the shape restricts the flow of water and slows it down quite a bit. If the water hangs out on finer grinds for a longe period of time, you get a bitter, tannic extraction. Bigger grinds help level this out in a chemex.
posted by furnace.heart at 11:59 AM on August 25, 2013
The deal with the chemex grind setting is only partly related to the filter; yeah, it's thicker, but mostly it's that the shape restricts the flow of water and slows it down quite a bit. If the water hangs out on finer grinds for a longe period of time, you get a bitter, tannic extraction. Bigger grinds help level this out in a chemex.
posted by furnace.heart at 11:59 AM on August 25, 2013
I mean, it's the shape of the chemex, and how the filter seals mostly around it that restricts the water flow, not the shape of the filter alone.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:00 PM on August 25, 2013
posted by furnace.heart at 12:00 PM on August 25, 2013
Also, very opinion from "I hate coffee" to "black cowboy coffee" to "single origin fresh roasted notes of notes" are all correct, and you're all doing it right.
Some of us like complicated coffee and some of us can taste the difference. Some if us do this for a living, and without staying stoked on it and focusing on nerdy aspects of our career, we do things like spit in your food.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:17 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Some of us like complicated coffee and some of us can taste the difference. Some if us do this for a living, and without staying stoked on it and focusing on nerdy aspects of our career, we do things like spit in your food.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:17 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
The standard issue trioxane heat tabs heat too slowly and the smoke will burn your eyes out, so instead, cut a small piece of C-4 and light it on fire. Even if it's raining you have to do this outside, otherwise the burning C-4 will stink up the hooch and you'll have to go outside anyway, and who wants to drink coffee in the rain? Fill a number-ten can three-quarters of the way with water, then rest the can on the burning C-4. When the water boils dump several envelopes (to taste) of powdered C-ration coffee into the boiling water. Serve in empty fruit cocktail cans.
Drink it quick, don't you have somewhere to be, marine?
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 12:18 PM on August 25, 2013 [11 favorites]
Drink it quick, don't you have somewhere to be, marine?
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 12:18 PM on August 25, 2013 [11 favorites]
So I just spent some time in Ethiopia, where everyone drinks awesome coffee all the time, everywhere. A great contrast to Kenya, where you're either drinking Nescafe or paying through the nose for stuff that was meant to be exported.
In Ethiopia, the traditional way to make coffee is to roast it directly before brewing, in a pan over a fire, with a little dish of incense burning alongside. It's a fantastic process, even before the coffee gets in touch with the water.... You put the grounds in the clay pot, pour in the water, and then wait a few minutes and pour shot glasses of super strong coffee for everyone. But then you reuse the same grounds three times, so your first cup is hella strong, the second cup is sane, and the third cup is a nice reminder of the taste of coffee before going on with your day.
One day in Addis, the city water went out, and so there was no water in the hotel I was staying at, meaning no coffee. I offered to buy a big bottle of water for coffee, which ended up making coffee for the entire staff of the (small) hotel; we all gathered down in the lobby for about an hour of chat and deliciousness. I think that's about the only time in my year in Africa where having a little money actually made me into a local hero.
Also:
new project idea: Use a Raspberry Pi to run a big multi-variable coffee-making experiment. Should be able to control thickness of grind, temperature of water, and ratio of water to grounds. Probably with some kind of a french press set-up, since that's my favorite.... (Though I do love my indestructible aeropress, too.) Then design a machine learning algorithm to optimize the variables for the operator...
posted by kaibutsu at 12:45 PM on August 25, 2013 [6 favorites]
In Ethiopia, the traditional way to make coffee is to roast it directly before brewing, in a pan over a fire, with a little dish of incense burning alongside. It's a fantastic process, even before the coffee gets in touch with the water.... You put the grounds in the clay pot, pour in the water, and then wait a few minutes and pour shot glasses of super strong coffee for everyone. But then you reuse the same grounds three times, so your first cup is hella strong, the second cup is sane, and the third cup is a nice reminder of the taste of coffee before going on with your day.
One day in Addis, the city water went out, and so there was no water in the hotel I was staying at, meaning no coffee. I offered to buy a big bottle of water for coffee, which ended up making coffee for the entire staff of the (small) hotel; we all gathered down in the lobby for about an hour of chat and deliciousness. I think that's about the only time in my year in Africa where having a little money actually made me into a local hero.
Also:
new project idea: Use a Raspberry Pi to run a big multi-variable coffee-making experiment. Should be able to control thickness of grind, temperature of water, and ratio of water to grounds. Probably with some kind of a french press set-up, since that's my favorite.... (Though I do love my indestructible aeropress, too.) Then design a machine learning algorithm to optimize the variables for the operator...
posted by kaibutsu at 12:45 PM on August 25, 2013 [6 favorites]
Ice Cream Socialist:
My standard method for brewing on hiking trips is to save a bean can from the night before and poke a hole in the bottom. Maybe use a filter if you don't mind the extra weight, otherwise have it (slightly) cowboy style....
posted by kaibutsu at 12:49 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
My standard method for brewing on hiking trips is to save a bean can from the night before and poke a hole in the bottom. Maybe use a filter if you don't mind the extra weight, otherwise have it (slightly) cowboy style....
posted by kaibutsu at 12:49 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
My tips: (FWIW)
Consistency is my goal. Chock-Full O Nuts, Original Roast. Shop Rite has cans for 1.88 every so often.
Bottom of the line Mr. Coffee ( no timer )
9 grams/5 oz water == 90g/50 oz water ( 10 'cups' )
Turn the damned thing off as soon as it's done brewing, remove basket and discard grounds.
Enjoy.
( optional , 100ml Old Weller Antique Bourbon / 12 ounce cup )
posted by mikelieman at 12:58 PM on August 25, 2013
Consistency is my goal. Chock-Full O Nuts, Original Roast. Shop Rite has cans for 1.88 every so often.
Bottom of the line Mr. Coffee ( no timer )
9 grams/5 oz water == 90g/50 oz water ( 10 'cups' )
Turn the damned thing off as soon as it's done brewing, remove basket and discard grounds.
Enjoy.
( optional , 100ml Old Weller Antique Bourbon / 12 ounce cup )
posted by mikelieman at 12:58 PM on August 25, 2013
What does their being Marines have to do with anything?
Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door
Use a burr grinder and shout MARINE CORPS!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:11 PM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door
Use a burr grinder and shout MARINE CORPS!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:11 PM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
I've gotten excellent results from the Kone filter, which can be fitted on top of a Chemex and used in lieu of the paper filters. It's distinguishable from Chemex coffee; it produces a distinct cup that is rich, complex and smooth. Some say it's like the best of both the french press and pour over worlds. I constantly need to work on my pouring technique and everything else when it comes to this stuff, but there've been times when I accidentally made something that sent me into heights of religious ecstacy.
posted by naju at 1:35 PM on August 25, 2013
posted by naju at 1:35 PM on August 25, 2013
I tried metal filters similar to the Kone, I had terrible results. Even the best burr grinder will produce some dust, and that pours right through the holes, producing a ton of sediment. But if that's what you like..
BTW, I was looking at the European and Norwegian standards and it reminded me of something I always wondered about. I watched the Swedish trilogy of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and noticed there were a lot of coffee-making scenes. And they all seem to have huge, expensive, elaborate professional espresso machines and pro grinders in their homes and offices. Even when The Girl moves into an empty apartment, there's a pro espresso rig set up like it's the most important thing to set up first. Is this a typical Nordic thing, or just product placement by coffee machine makers?
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:04 PM on August 25, 2013
BTW, I was looking at the European and Norwegian standards and it reminded me of something I always wondered about. I watched the Swedish trilogy of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and noticed there were a lot of coffee-making scenes. And they all seem to have huge, expensive, elaborate professional espresso machines and pro grinders in their homes and offices. Even when The Girl moves into an empty apartment, there's a pro espresso rig set up like it's the most important thing to set up first. Is this a typical Nordic thing, or just product placement by coffee machine makers?
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:04 PM on August 25, 2013
I tried metal filters similar to the Kone
'Similar' brig the key word here. I use my Kone just about everyday (paper filters other times) and with a medium grind there's very little sediment that will pass through.
Method of pour contributes to those fines as well. Able Brewing recommends a straight pour, not a circular one.
posted by furnace.heart at 2:19 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
'Similar' brig the key word here. I use my Kone just about everyday (paper filters other times) and with a medium grind there's very little sediment that will pass through.
Method of pour contributes to those fines as well. Able Brewing recommends a straight pour, not a circular one.
posted by furnace.heart at 2:19 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Charlie: My wife and I were visiting my family in The Netherlands earlier this summer. It seems like everyone there has a "Senseo" device or some variation thereof. Amazing coffee, without all the plastic trash from those Keurig machines. First thing I did when I got back stateside was snatch one up on eBay. Sure, I guess it's "cheating" compared to what these guys are into, but in my mind it makes perfect sense that in this day and age, we have the technology to make that perfect cup.
posted by monospace at 2:30 PM on August 25, 2013
posted by monospace at 2:30 PM on August 25, 2013
Wait, what, there's a specific pour I'm supposed to be doing? I'm just happy if I remember to put the grounds in the apparatus before I start pouring water.
We try to buy whole beans from local coffee growers. Kona is the most famous growing district in the Hawaiian islands, but I like Kau district's beans better. Partly cuz I think they taste better, partly cuz Kau is just more country, and partly because I have fond memories of buying a pound from a backyard roaster in Kau who kept zebras, pigs, and watusis in his front yard.
Unrelatedly, if someone can explain to me why Koreans of my parents' generation love hazelnut coffee I would be grateful. Is that also a "let's cover up the taste of inferior coffee" move? For a while I was running a hazelnut coffee suitcase import courier service back to Korea every winter holidays... Nowadays, young Koreans (and my mom) have gotten into Bialetti moka pots and other coffee paraphernalia. I think anything that can make teeny cups of coffee for your guests is much appreciated.
posted by spamandkimchi at 2:51 PM on August 25, 2013
We try to buy whole beans from local coffee growers. Kona is the most famous growing district in the Hawaiian islands, but I like Kau district's beans better. Partly cuz I think they taste better, partly cuz Kau is just more country, and partly because I have fond memories of buying a pound from a backyard roaster in Kau who kept zebras, pigs, and watusis in his front yard.
Unrelatedly, if someone can explain to me why Koreans of my parents' generation love hazelnut coffee I would be grateful. Is that also a "let's cover up the taste of inferior coffee" move? For a while I was running a hazelnut coffee suitcase import courier service back to Korea every winter holidays... Nowadays, young Koreans (and my mom) have gotten into Bialetti moka pots and other coffee paraphernalia. I think anything that can make teeny cups of coffee for your guests is much appreciated.
posted by spamandkimchi at 2:51 PM on August 25, 2013
What does their being Marines have to do with anything?
Makes it easier to shoehorn in some pictures of guns and some noise about gun control?
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:59 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Makes it easier to shoehorn in some pictures of guns and some noise about gun control?
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:59 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I like my Aeropress a lot and so does this guy.
posted by A dead Quaker at 3:54 PM on August 25, 2013
posted by A dead Quaker at 3:54 PM on August 25, 2013
Sure. But that doesn't mean you can't do better if you've got the time and inclination.
And money to, um, roast.
posted by FJT at 4:12 PM on August 25, 2013
And money to, um, roast.
posted by FJT at 4:12 PM on August 25, 2013
I'm a little disappointed that this isn't about trying to make good coffee while being deployed to some god-forsaken place, since this cartoon won't be as relevant: http://img288.imageshack.us/img288/504/mauldin051qe.jpg
posted by King Sky Prawn at 4:54 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by King Sky Prawn at 4:54 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
People drink coffee for taste?
posted by Smedleyman at 5:34 PM on August 25, 2013
posted by Smedleyman at 5:34 PM on August 25, 2013
What does their being Marines have to do with anything?
It's to let you know that these aren't a couple of fussy, intricately bearded hipsters obsessing over cooking. These are Real American Manly Men intricately fussing over their coffee with the latest gear.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 5:46 PM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
It's to let you know that these aren't a couple of fussy, intricately bearded hipsters obsessing over cooking. These are Real American Manly Men intricately fussing over their coffee with the latest gear.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 5:46 PM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
It's obvious from this thread that the manufacture of a perfect cup of coffee is simply beyond the cognitive capacity of humanity. This then, it's why we need strong AI, to create an intelligence that can make a perfect cup of coffee. Of course the extinction of humanity will be a necessary side effect, but damn that's a good cup of coffee.
posted by happyroach at 6:08 PM on August 25, 2013
posted by happyroach at 6:08 PM on August 25, 2013
I'll give Skynet this- she brews a fantastic cup of coffee.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:21 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:21 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I am a minor coffee nerd, but also lazy. I cannot make coffee properly at 6:30am, I tried vainly to do it with an aeropress, but its just beyond me at that hour. Too fiddly for a pre-caffeinated state. So I gave up and bought a super-automatic espresso machine. Its fantastic. Real coffee nerds snort in disgust at it, the same way I snort at people who drive automatic gearbox cars and then claim they enjoy driving. But I love my super-automatic. I buy great quality beans from a vendor who roasts and mails them to me every two weeks. I get something different every two weeks, which adds to the fun. The machine has a built in burr grinder, so I just chuck beans in the top every few days. I have the settings the way I like them. Each morning all I have to do is turn the machine on, wait a minute for it to heat up, stick a mug underneath and press one button. Done. And 100x better than that Keurig shit they serve at my office.
posted by Joh at 9:04 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Joh at 9:04 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
This then, it's why we need strong AI, to create an intelligence that can make a perfect cup of coffee. Of course the extinction of humanity will be a necessary side effect, but damn that's a good cup of coffee.
That sounds infinitely improbable.
I am a minor coffee nerd, but also lazy. I cannot make coffee properly at 6:30am, I tried vainly to do it with an aeropress, but its just beyond me at that hour.
I make coffee at 5:30AM. There are some mornings I get up to make coffee, I fumble around and I think, "Damn I need a cup of coffee." Sometimes I feel like I need a cup of coffee just to be alert enough to make coffee.
But that 3rd degree burn that sent me to the emergency room, happened at noon, at the office. They are not adequately provisioned to even boil water. So I bought a thermos. That is an inferior solution.
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:27 PM on August 25, 2013
That sounds infinitely improbable.
I am a minor coffee nerd, but also lazy. I cannot make coffee properly at 6:30am, I tried vainly to do it with an aeropress, but its just beyond me at that hour.
I make coffee at 5:30AM. There are some mornings I get up to make coffee, I fumble around and I think, "Damn I need a cup of coffee." Sometimes I feel like I need a cup of coffee just to be alert enough to make coffee.
But that 3rd degree burn that sent me to the emergency room, happened at noon, at the office. They are not adequately provisioned to even boil water. So I bought a thermos. That is an inferior solution.
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:27 PM on August 25, 2013
Fistful of folgers + red solo cup half filled with milk + oven at 350 + 30 minutes of your time = best kept secret in the biz. Everyone knows that baking totally rules with buttermilk, so maybe I'll try that out for comparison.
posted by oceanjesse at 10:02 PM on August 25, 2013
posted by oceanjesse at 10:02 PM on August 25, 2013
I use a Cory gasketless glass vacuum pot.
Only glass comes in contact with the water or coffee at any stage, and the grounds in the brewed coffee are about a tenth of what I was ever able to achieve with a French press.
And there are tricks that allow you to brew your coffee at any temperature you choose and still have the final product be piping hot.
The reason French press coffee has so many fines is that the larger particles of ground coffee fall to the bottom of the pot, and the very fine particles remain suspended in the water, so that when you push the plunger down, the very fine particles just go right through the filter.
In the vacuum pot, by contrast, water flows into the brewing chamber from below, and the coarser particles settle nearest the filter rod once all the air is driven out of the lower vessel; then when you turn off the heat, and flow begins to reverse, the big particles will get into the filter gaps first, then the somewhat smaller particles, and so on, and the net effect is that the coffee largely filters itself by forming a stratified plug around the glass rod, with the larger particles at the bottom and the very fine ones at the top, and pore size decreasing as you go up in the plug.
You could achieve essentially the same stratified 'self-filtering' effect with a French press if you pulled the filter screen up from the bottom rather than pressing it down from the top.
The increasing efficiency of the filter as you pulled it up would mean greater resistance, of course, so it would probably be necessary to have a threaded shaft, a squarish filter and matching vessel so that the fllter could not turn, and a winged nut mounted so as to rotate freely in the lid and threaded onto the shaft so that you could 'screw' the filter up from the bottom-- but I don't think all that would be too hard to do, really.
posted by jamjam at 10:13 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Only glass comes in contact with the water or coffee at any stage, and the grounds in the brewed coffee are about a tenth of what I was ever able to achieve with a French press.
And there are tricks that allow you to brew your coffee at any temperature you choose and still have the final product be piping hot.
The reason French press coffee has so many fines is that the larger particles of ground coffee fall to the bottom of the pot, and the very fine particles remain suspended in the water, so that when you push the plunger down, the very fine particles just go right through the filter.
In the vacuum pot, by contrast, water flows into the brewing chamber from below, and the coarser particles settle nearest the filter rod once all the air is driven out of the lower vessel; then when you turn off the heat, and flow begins to reverse, the big particles will get into the filter gaps first, then the somewhat smaller particles, and so on, and the net effect is that the coffee largely filters itself by forming a stratified plug around the glass rod, with the larger particles at the bottom and the very fine ones at the top, and pore size decreasing as you go up in the plug.
You could achieve essentially the same stratified 'self-filtering' effect with a French press if you pulled the filter screen up from the bottom rather than pressing it down from the top.
The increasing efficiency of the filter as you pulled it up would mean greater resistance, of course, so it would probably be necessary to have a threaded shaft, a squarish filter and matching vessel so that the fllter could not turn, and a winged nut mounted so as to rotate freely in the lid and threaded onto the shaft so that you could 'screw' the filter up from the bottom-- but I don't think all that would be too hard to do, really.
posted by jamjam at 10:13 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I am a minor coffee nerd, but also lazy. I cannot make coffee properly at 6:30am, I tried vainly to do it with an aeropress, but its just beyond me at that hour.
Same here. I got a Jura Capresso super automatic espresso machine & I love it. When I get up in the morning, after the machine warms up and self-cleans, I just have to press one button for a shot of espresso.
We also have one of their machines in the office.
posted by mike3k at 10:25 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Same here. I got a Jura Capresso super automatic espresso machine & I love it. When I get up in the morning, after the machine warms up and self-cleans, I just have to press one button for a shot of espresso.
We also have one of their machines in the office.
posted by mike3k at 10:25 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm a caffeine based human, but damn, y'all... I'm wrestling with creatures large and small, making lunches, checking backpacks for snakes and frogs and sticks and making sure people are wearing underwear...I swear before all that is holy, if I had to deal with some sort of coffee ritual before I had coffee, my middle aged angst would have a body count.
posted by dejah420 at 7:22 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by dejah420 at 7:22 AM on August 26, 2013
I'm so glad to see this! My brother in law is the illustrator for their book and I'm happy it's getting recognition.
He and his wife stayed with my family for the summer and I was able to taste some truly amazing coffee he brewed for us. I had never paid much attention to various brewing methods but I realized this summer that coffee is a lot like alcohol in that you can drink it to appreciate the flavor or you can drink it because of the effect it has on your body. And neither way is right or wrong.
A cup of coffee that has been correctly brewed is incredible. It is also not the kind of coffee I drink first thing in the morning. My brother in law left me some of his equipment (burr grinder, scale, goose-neck kettle, pour-over contraption) so I could make my own coffee and I have found that making a nice, 8oz cup of coffee after dinner around 6:30 PM is a nice way to kick off the evening. If it were my only method of getting coffee at 6:30 AM I would probably kill myself.
Selecting my roast, adjusting the burr, weighing out the beans, trying to time my pour-over just right - it's work, sure, but it's ... meditative. Like any kind of cooking there's a part of your mind that sort of shuts off and lets your hands do the work and when it's all over, hey, you have something I (sort of) have something I made with my own hands! And I love my coffee when I make it right.
But dammit I also love my crappy 'work coffee' at when I stumble into work at 7AM. And there's room in my life for both.
posted by Tevin at 8:56 AM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
He and his wife stayed with my family for the summer and I was able to taste some truly amazing coffee he brewed for us. I had never paid much attention to various brewing methods but I realized this summer that coffee is a lot like alcohol in that you can drink it to appreciate the flavor or you can drink it because of the effect it has on your body. And neither way is right or wrong.
A cup of coffee that has been correctly brewed is incredible. It is also not the kind of coffee I drink first thing in the morning. My brother in law left me some of his equipment (burr grinder, scale, goose-neck kettle, pour-over contraption) so I could make my own coffee and I have found that making a nice, 8oz cup of coffee after dinner around 6:30 PM is a nice way to kick off the evening. If it were my only method of getting coffee at 6:30 AM I would probably kill myself.
Selecting my roast, adjusting the burr, weighing out the beans, trying to time my pour-over just right - it's work, sure, but it's ... meditative. Like any kind of cooking there's a part of your mind that sort of shuts off and lets your hands do the work and when it's all over, hey, you have something I (sort of) have something I made with my own hands! And I love my coffee when I make it right.
But dammit I also love my crappy 'work coffee' at when I stumble into work at 7AM. And there's room in my life for both.
posted by Tevin at 8:56 AM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
Of course the extinction of humanity will be a necessary side effect, but damn that's a good cup of coffee.
That sounds infinitely improbable.
When the 'Drink' button is pressed it makes an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism, and then sends tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centres of the subject's brain to see what is likely to be well received. However, no-one knows quite why it does this because it then invariably delivers a cupful of liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee[1]
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:37 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
That sounds infinitely improbable.
When the 'Drink' button is pressed it makes an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism, and then sends tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centres of the subject's brain to see what is likely to be well received. However, no-one knows quite why it does this because it then invariably delivers a cupful of liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee[1]
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:37 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
no_mind: One thing of note is that, in my part of the coffee world at least, strong coffee isn't what is emphasized.
For me, I prefer strong, dark coffee because my nose is damaged and my sense of smell (and thus taste) is unreliable. But just as much, it's what I grew up drinking as a Boy Scout and in the home of Strong Coffee Drinkers and hanging around college coffee shops as a teen. *shrug* It's what's in me, you know?
When I now get to sample some of the small-lot, shade-grown, hand-rosted treasures that my pal Rik brings up to Rhode Island, I know that I am doing it -- and him -- a disservice....but often I really can't taste the stuff.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:46 AM on August 26, 2013
For me, I prefer strong, dark coffee because my nose is damaged and my sense of smell (and thus taste) is unreliable. But just as much, it's what I grew up drinking as a Boy Scout and in the home of Strong Coffee Drinkers and hanging around college coffee shops as a teen. *shrug* It's what's in me, you know?
When I now get to sample some of the small-lot, shade-grown, hand-rosted treasures that my pal Rik brings up to Rhode Island, I know that I am doing it -- and him -- a disservice....but often I really can't taste the stuff.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:46 AM on August 26, 2013
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Chemex filters are a little different, but is that enough to demand a different grind? The Technivorm Moccamaster uses regular ol' #4 cones.
posted by morganw at 8:35 AM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]