Alright, Veeky Forums

any paper filter will retain more oil than french press

FP was cool in the 1990s when most people had never heard of anything other than stale maxwell house run through a cheap electric drip

when you've gotten over that, you realize that it's a shitty mutant half-breed offspring of espresso and real coffee. all of the disadvantages of espresso (oil and silt), all of the disadvantages of drip (weak, watery), none of the advantages of either. shit coffee for shit people with shit taste

honestly unless you're cosplaying as the cast of Seinfeld to fulfill some Veeky Forumsntasy about a glorious time that happened before you were born (looking at you, teenagers from Toronto), there is literally no reason to drink french press coffee, at all. I seriously hope no one actually does this

V60 is probably the best way to make drip coffee because of the control it gives you (tons of hipster nerds who worked at high end shops for a year have those Chemex ones) but it's the physical act of slowly plunging the beans that emulsifies the oils enough to keep them suspended in the water on the way to your lips which makes the french press better

Also I don't know enough about cold brew to say if it is better or worse

youtube.com/watch?v=l6MJe5wKT7Y

Listen m8 I know what you are getting at but what I'm saying is it was invented in part to prevent workers from taking super long coffee breaks by limiting the volume of liquid. Standing bars were even tax subsidized to further encourage quick consumption so they would get back to work

Cold-brew isn't necessarily better or worse, but it it's the only other method that brings out the "signature" aromas of each variety to the same extent as pour-over (and apparently FP), but in a different way.

It needs to be done with good equipment though, I made the mistake of buying the Hario Mizudashi and it's okay but the result is far inferior that of the big tower ones that my local coffee shop uses.

>Also I don't know enough about cold brew to say if it is better or worse

It's better for taste normally, but won't give you as much profile of the bean, if that makes sense. Certain volatiles, both desired and undesired, only extract with hot solvent.

>Everyone in the world is aware of this fact
kys sperglord.

Yeah, I always felt like it was quite a watery brew. By the way espresso doesn't have much silt at all. Maybe a tiny bit in the bottom.

>OP makes pretentious claim to be controversial
>Claim isn't controversial
>sperglord

That's crazy I didn't know that. Espresso is a tool of a capitalist oppression.

>Everything I don't like is pretentious
>Everyone knows the same things I do
Seek help

>I've spent a lot of time perfecting my technique, using top quality equipment, beans etc

While we are on the subject capitalism is also the reason Scottish kilts were invented. Before they were around highlanders wore big elaborate tartans that more closely resembled togas but they kept getting caught in the machinery of the industrial revolution so some dude invented the modern kilt so clansmen could retain their identity and not fuck up the production line or get killed

>Paying attention to the sole three things that are important for a good espresso
I know man, so fucking pretentious right?

>paying attention to sole things
>not knowing how coffee tastings are done

This isn't some rare illuminati knowledge. You can arrange a tasting at any roaster and most coffee shops.

FP or pour over is the way to go. Cold brew is hipster garbage that can't properly extract some of the compounds in your beans. imo espresso is also too strong to properly enjoy straight, better make it an Americano. If you like it strong stick to it but the fact that it is an expensive way to drink coffee isn't really because it is better. It's more about Italian coffee bar culture and Anglo obsession with continentals

The difference between FP and pour over involves 2 things, oil and silt. Because pour over uses a finer strainer there is less fine silt which is better, but FP gets more of the essential oils out of the beans which is better. So ultimately my advice is when you are trying new varieties of bean make it how you plan on making it at home because the two methods produce different tastes from the same variety. But all of this only really matters if you can actually taste the difference and a lot of people can't. Buying better beans is more important than anything

I'm a FP user btw please don't hit on me boys :^)

It's possible that you're extracting different oils form the coffee using those two techniques because your espresso machine has a filter in the water tank to soften the water but when pouring water out of a kettle to make pour-over you're using unfiltered water.

I've noticed that when I run my espresso machine without the water filter I get the fruity oils with less crema and when I use the filter I get the chocolately notes with lots of crema.

So basically I'm saying that the variation that you've identified by using different techniques may have as much to do with the water you're using as is it does with the different techniques.
I hope that makes sense.

'Best' is probably subjective but I love my espresso so for me that's the best.

...

I think a really truly great shot of espresso highlights the notes of a coffee better than any pourover. But it's quite the learning curve (though imo not difficult once you've learned) and takes quite the investment in equipment. Especially the grinder.

If you want to stay under $2,500 (and don't want to be restoring vintage levers), then pourover is the way to go. I have a pretty nice espresso setup and I still make pourover from time to time since it is still better for something to sit and enjoy for a while.

>pour-over (v60, chemex)

Also, do boldly try some really light before first crack roasts for maximum flavour, like cinnamon / half city or what have you.

Your typical medium roast is best for percolator, with no dissing of percolator.

Greek*

Turkish coffee is the ultimate meme

You might not be doing it right, I think drip coffee is superior to espresso.

Espresso is a very powerful extraction while drip is more selective, which makes for different flavor profiles. I think you're not wrong that sometimes more subtle notes can be picked out of drip where they couldn't in spro, but there's also flavors you can get from the spro you could never get from pourover or FP

apples and oranges basically. I want to find a method that makes low quality non-specialty beans taste really good, too much of coffee is focused on pulling the perfect flavor out of specialty beans.

What does Veeky Forums order to discern the quality of a coffeeshop? What's the most ideal single-sitting order that shows the depth and range of skill?

I always order a macchiato and a 12 oz drip, black. Macchiato shows off their espresso and milk skills, drip shows off all the other skills.

espresso is easy. despite their paletes being numbed from decades of sugar and salt, amerifats have attempted to raise it to the level of wine and create 'connoisseurs' . the fact that the only other country that attempts the same scam is australia says everything about the memeification of coffee.

Don't bother with non speciality beans. You aren't going to pull out flavors that aren't there. Garbage in garbage out.

Personally I just order a single origin espresso shot. It's pretty damn rare that I do any milk drinks so I really don't give a fuck how good they are at texturing milk as long as the shots are fantastic. Sometimes I'll get a brew too if I feel like staying a bit longer.

my favorite flavor is ant.

If you're not familiar with this image just look up coffee tasting wheel, it provides a nice little formal language for people to communicate flavors to each other.

Portland Roasting Coffee makes a damn fine espresso with a single origin Guatemala bean. I personally prefer crafted espresso blends as the flavors are rounder but it's fun to taste single origins I agree.

I just don't think there's much art in using a nice bean to make a nice cup. Like it's delicious, I love drinking really good coffee, but I'd like someone to tackle the challenge of pushing the quality of low-end beans. Maybe the slow suspension brew with sugar.

I fucking love Greek coffee.

>Like it's delicious, I love drinking really good coffee, but I'd like someone to tackle the challenge of pushing the quality of low-end beans.
Despite what the Italians of Veeky Forums will claim, that's exactly what Italian roasters do. They need to keep prices low enough to cater to the vast domestic and export Espresso market, so they can't compete with specialty single-origin roasters, but produce excellent results. Same with their baristas, they're full of tricks that have to do with making cheaper coffee delicious.

how do Cubans make their coffee so strong?

The rounder more balanced taste of blends is exactly why I'm a SOE fan. My favorites are the way over the top intense shots where it's like an attack of various acidities. A balanced chocolatey shot can be nice, but it's not as much my thing.

The secret is communism.

I know what you mean. I'd sooner order a blend for my morning drink or whatever but if I really want to taste some crazy shit I'll SO it all day baby.

Any methods you'd care to share user?

I know that Italian Aroma Coffee (which belongs to Danessi) is okay and quite cheap. Lavazza and Illy (only Illy's good range) are good mainstream firms too and on the more obscure but still mainstream categories Caffe del Doge and Cafe Circi are excellent. The latter will probably cost around 2/3 to 3/4 the price of your local specialty roaster's SO but are fantastic. In terms of tricks the only one I know is the hot cups and that technically masks flavours rather than enhances them, so I'm afraid I can't help with that. With some digging around on the interwebs you could find them maybe.