![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Why can coffee-related suppliers not understand that "cup" is a fixed and standard measurement? My first coffee machine said to use one scoop of coffee per 6 ounce cup. The second coffee machine said to use 2 scoops per 8 cup pot and the fine print said the cups were 5 ounces each. (The scoops came with the coffee machines.)
My French press says it makes 8 cups, but it holds about 30 ounces of liquid (if you've added enough coffee to turn the water into coffee, officially it holds 32 ounces of liquid) I don't know anyone who considers a 4 ounce cup of brewed coffee to be a single serving! I consider it a "4 cup" carafe and usually make about half if it's just me drinking.
The coffee I buy (from Longbottom Coffee. I am still really happy with their products and service, and prices.) The coffee I buy says to use 1-2 Tablespoons of coarse ground coffee per 10 ounce cup.
I went back and measured. My newest "ultra special" coffee scoop was holding exactly a tablespoon. Since I have a fancy French press with a finer mesh strainer, I use medium grind coffee. I like my coffee deathly strong because I mix it 50/50 with milk. So I wanted to be using about 1.5T per 8 ounce cup. (I measure off 8 ounce cups because I am not an irritating buffoon--- and because my electric kettle uses real units.) Recently I did the math to check... mostly because I had started trying to conserve coffee by using less and was getting progressively more and more unhappy with the results.
There would be about 6T of coffee in a full pot of very strong coffee (2T per 10oz, means in 32oz there would be 6.4T, but remember I said you had to leave room for the coffee to take up volume, so usually 30 ounces is all I can get in a full pot.) I was using a scanted 2T in a half pot and it was okay but thin. I went up to 2.5 or 3T per half-pot (by using rounded scoops) and am much happier with the resulting coffee after milk blending.
I think part of why people think coffee making is hard is because the whole thing ends up being like a "story problem" in math class. No one is using the same units for anything. Between the coffee machines and their proprietary scoops, the differing sizes of "cup", and the variability of coffee in strength and grind... it's hard to imagine anyone being able to make a decent cup of coffee anywhere outside of their own routine. It would get to be this ritualistic behavior. I am somewhat surprised it doesn't seem like voodoo. Maybe because most people make coffee when they're too tired to shake rattles and dance energetically?
I know people who insist that the coffee is better if you don't watch it brew. Or who insist that the coffee is better in some mugs than others. Or that you have to add the sugar in last. My mother used to say that coffee is stronger if you drink it standing up.
I personally find that coffee is stronger if it brews while I'm not watching. But that's because I have an insulated carafe and usually let it go 10-15 minutes if I've left the room compared to the 5 if I'm standing in the kitchen waiting. I think standing adds more wakefulness than sitting does. If I add the sugar in last, I get a better result... but I think that's because I always short the sugar if it goes in first because it looks like "too much". Plus thorough stirring is required to homogenize the sweetness. I prefer to add the sugar second. Half the coffee, sugar, milk, then as much more coffee as fits. Which probably supports that bit about the mugs making the difference since all mine are different sizes.
I like my coffee, but I don't like how it's some sort of religious sacrifice. I hate how making good coffee has become some sort of mystical skill that you have to be initiated before receiving tuition. But mostly I don't like how all this has been deliberately inflicted because no one can freaking measure.
My French press says it makes 8 cups, but it holds about 30 ounces of liquid (if you've added enough coffee to turn the water into coffee, officially it holds 32 ounces of liquid) I don't know anyone who considers a 4 ounce cup of brewed coffee to be a single serving! I consider it a "4 cup" carafe and usually make about half if it's just me drinking.
The coffee I buy (from Longbottom Coffee. I am still really happy with their products and service, and prices.) The coffee I buy says to use 1-2 Tablespoons of coarse ground coffee per 10 ounce cup.
I went back and measured. My newest "ultra special" coffee scoop was holding exactly a tablespoon. Since I have a fancy French press with a finer mesh strainer, I use medium grind coffee. I like my coffee deathly strong because I mix it 50/50 with milk. So I wanted to be using about 1.5T per 8 ounce cup. (I measure off 8 ounce cups because I am not an irritating buffoon--- and because my electric kettle uses real units.) Recently I did the math to check... mostly because I had started trying to conserve coffee by using less and was getting progressively more and more unhappy with the results.
There would be about 6T of coffee in a full pot of very strong coffee (2T per 10oz, means in 32oz there would be 6.4T, but remember I said you had to leave room for the coffee to take up volume, so usually 30 ounces is all I can get in a full pot.) I was using a scanted 2T in a half pot and it was okay but thin. I went up to 2.5 or 3T per half-pot (by using rounded scoops) and am much happier with the resulting coffee after milk blending.
I think part of why people think coffee making is hard is because the whole thing ends up being like a "story problem" in math class. No one is using the same units for anything. Between the coffee machines and their proprietary scoops, the differing sizes of "cup", and the variability of coffee in strength and grind... it's hard to imagine anyone being able to make a decent cup of coffee anywhere outside of their own routine. It would get to be this ritualistic behavior. I am somewhat surprised it doesn't seem like voodoo. Maybe because most people make coffee when they're too tired to shake rattles and dance energetically?
I know people who insist that the coffee is better if you don't watch it brew. Or who insist that the coffee is better in some mugs than others. Or that you have to add the sugar in last. My mother used to say that coffee is stronger if you drink it standing up.
I personally find that coffee is stronger if it brews while I'm not watching. But that's because I have an insulated carafe and usually let it go 10-15 minutes if I've left the room compared to the 5 if I'm standing in the kitchen waiting. I think standing adds more wakefulness than sitting does. If I add the sugar in last, I get a better result... but I think that's because I always short the sugar if it goes in first because it looks like "too much". Plus thorough stirring is required to homogenize the sweetness. I prefer to add the sugar second. Half the coffee, sugar, milk, then as much more coffee as fits. Which probably supports that bit about the mugs making the difference since all mine are different sizes.
I like my coffee, but I don't like how it's some sort of religious sacrifice. I hate how making good coffee has become some sort of mystical skill that you have to be initiated before receiving tuition. But mostly I don't like how all this has been deliberately inflicted because no one can freaking measure.
