Coffee help

[Amulet]

Recently given a Moka pot and electric grinder and have fallen in love with fresh coffee. Now thinking I would like to make it afloat. Can anyone suggest a good manual coffee grinder? Read opposing views of those mills on top of a wooden box. Any opinions or suggestions most welcome.

I agree with your method. No-one ever made a decent cup of coffee with a filter. Brief hot water contact with the grounds is crucial.

However, fresh ground doesn't have to be in the last few minutes. I believe you could grind a few days worth when you are on shore power and scarcely notice the difference. Indeed, although I'm a confirmed home grinder, I believe you'd be fine with some good quality vacuum packed preground. Your Moka pot is your secret weapon, not your fresh ground.

 

[yachtorion]

No-one ever made a decent cup of coffee with a filter.

Perhaps it depends what you mean by coffee. If you're really only after the intense thick (but wonderful) goo of Moka then yes filter is a very different beast. But one of the strengths of coffee is how different it can be depending on how you make it.

Moka pot coffee tends to be a lot more like Perc coffee... as both methods break several of the so called "rules" of coffee making.

Filter - especially Vac Pot such as the Cona - doesn't. It lets you get a much more subtle softer flavour with more complexity - but still with an often surprising caffeine kick. When people drink properly made filter for the first time they're usually surprised at how delicate it is - how they don't need any milk or sugar - and what a kick it contains.

The coffee I am talking about here is NOTHING like what you find in the average office drip machine and hot plate which is a truly appalling way to kill coffee.

I believe you could grind a few days worth when you are on shore power and scarcely notice the difference. Indeed, although I'm a confirmed home grinder, I believe you'd be fine with some good quality vacuum packed preground. Your Moka pot is your secret weapon, not your fresh ground.

I disagree. Perhaps it is a little less crucial with a Moka than with filter, but anything more than a couple of hours does introduce a little flatness.

The problem with the vacuum packed preground is it tends to be a long time since it was roasted - and that doesn't help either.

On a small boat that isn't plugged in I think you'll struggle to get fresh ground coffee fine enough for the Moka... but you'll easily be able to grind some fresh roast and use it with a quality gold filter - and with a little practice the result can easily be better than anything you've had in almost any cafe.

 

[Iliade]

What you *need* is something like this:

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/251065579592?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla

Sadly I tend to use coffee bags on the boat, because I don't carry enough fresh water to waste it washing out the paraphenalia of good coffee and it means I get to spend more time watching where I am going.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Moka pot coffee tends to be a lot more like Perc coffee... as both methods break several of the so called "rules" of coffee making.

I was (still am) under the impression that coffee in an American style percolator is boiled whereas that in a Moka is only heated to just below boiling point - around 95 Celsius IIRC. The taste is totally different.

 

[yachtorion]

I was (still am) under the impression that coffee in an American style percolator is boiled whereas that in a Moka is only heated to just below boiling point - around 95 Celsius IIRC. The taste is totally different.

I agree perc is an inferior method.

I stand by the all be it subjective statement that moka is a lot more like perc than it is like filter. I wouldn't and didn't say it is the same. What I mean by this (and I should have been more specific) is that both methods produce a strong bodied brew with a more, for me, generic coffee flavour.. that in my subjective opinion lacks some of the more complex flavour you can capture with filter or vac (or even proper espresso though I've never managed it myself).

 

[NickTrevethan]

Pre ground illy in a steel can and we have a German made stainless steel stove top espresso maker, like mokpot. Ran it on a parafin stove and worked great while berthed.

At home we have a Jura. Beans in the top, espresso out the bottom. Hot water a steam out the side.

 

[boguing]

I'm having to give up coffee - years of abuse have done for my heart.

So I'm going to do it properly.

#1 cost centre has brought home some Civet-processed coffee from Sumatra.

I'll let you know.