Feline Follies

Grind, steep, filter ... regardless of extraction technique, all three steps are necessary. my interest in grinders might have peaked when i bought an old KitchenAid grinder to discover how well it worked. it was quite primitive and fell short of Hobart's usual standard. i have also owned grinders made by Braun, Bunn, Geska, and Gaggia, have used others, e.g. Zassenhaus, and read countless reviews. they can be useless. Grind in my opinion, Mazzer's Super Jolly is the gold standard. it isn't their best, and i doubt that Mazzer is the best grinder manufacturer. on the other hand, gold isn't the most precious metal. the Super Jolly's burrs are larger than the ones most people use for paper-filtered coffee, and its motor is powerful enough to turn them without hesitation. Yes, Virginia, size...

After mistakenly buying a large bag of ground coffee, i decided to learn the cold brew process. in the same way that pickleball is similar to badminton, cold steeping resembles espresso and pour over coffee. even though there are obvious differences, some things never change. Grind grind size usually affects extraction, but it has no effect here. on the other hand, it always affects filtration and i get very different results without reconfiguring my grinder (Orphan Espresso Lido 2). for various reasons, i steep in a medium saucepan. first, i add crumbled star anise (because i own too much of it). then, i grind coffee directly into the saucepan. Pour i pour water around the perimeter of the saucepan to prevent ground cof...