My significant other doesn’t care nearly as much about coffee as I do, so we always have pre-ground supermarket coffee at home. Tastewise, it’s usually rather dull and bitter because apparently, that‘s what people expect coffee to taste like around here.
I wonder if there is a method/recipe that can compensate for those flaws. The Aeropress is pretty versatile, so going for lower temperatures and/or shorter extraction times comes to me as a natural first step in this investigation. Doing a pour over with this stuff feels like I‘m wasting precious V60 filter papers though tbh 😄
Any further suggestions? I own a V60, an Aeropress, a cheap drip coffee machine and the (in-) famous IKEA french press. My kettle only allows for adjustments in 10°C steps, but features a temperature display, so I can go reasonably precise on that end.
Cheers! ✌️
French press or a steep and release cone like the Clever Dripper or Hario Switch.
French press as stated and aeropress will give you the most consistency across grind sizes. But a burr grinder is the most important piece of equipment for coffee. I was sceptical uuntil i got one. Surely the difference isn’t that big? Boy was I wrong.
Consider a hand grinder, even something cheap like a Harrio annoying as it is to use, it is passable at like 20 bucks. It was my first grinder, it did the job, but adjusting the settings is limited and annoying and it took forever to grind a cup, I quickly bought a Mignon Chrono.
If this isn’t an option, then maybe consider buying preground in smaller batches from a local place? The place I order my beans from offers to send them ground in a couple of generic preset sizes.
But the problem is not only the quality of supermarket coffee, and the preset grind size, it is also that ground beans will oxidise much more quickly and even when vacuum sealed, the moment you open the bag it will start to deteriorate and quickly. I would possibly even consider a blade grinder over buying pre-ground coffee, especially supermarket coffee.
I do own a hand grinder and make nice pour overs and such most of the time. Thing is that the rest of my family hasn’t found the same joy in coffee as I have (yet), so they continue to buy the awful stuf. For many reasons, I’d like to make the best of that sort of raw material.
If you have a grinder, why not just order separate beans for yourself? Or even supermarket beans? Beans are always higher quality and don’t deteriorate as quickly as ground coffee.
If you must use pre-ground, do either of the immersion brew methods. And all you can do then is tune your brew temperature, experiment with coffee to water ratio and brew times to taste, you can google generic advice on how to do so.
If you want to do pour-over, you just have to find a brand that comes in the magic grind size for your filters and do the same as above.
There is a video from Lance Hedrick for the aeropress on making old coffee taste passable. I know you can’t control the grind size, but try it out if you already have the aeropress handy.
Pinch of salt in your brew will do wonders. It even helps improve instant nescafe (to a point of course)
My parents drink mediocre pre-ground coffee. I left a single-cup French press at their house so I can have better tasting coffee whenever I visit. It doesn’t require advanced prep like cold brew.
