Not sure, if we have a thread for this. I couldn’t find. This is one of my favourite brews. It’s faster, easier and always give a lovely cup - be it @"MWJB"#139’s or Hoffman’s method. Mostly, I use Mark’s as I find the cup is a little cleaner than Hoffman’s. Yesterday, I opened the [Ethiopian Haru Washed](https://www.thomsonscoffee.com/products/ethiopia-haru?_pos=2&_sid=4420db8ae&_ss=r&variant=39311835398231). Pulled a few shots and brewed on Clever. The cups were ok. I wasn’t impressed, given the cup score of 87.25. I bought this as a light roast. It’s a medium light for me. I am drinking a cup from V60 now after brewing this. The dosage details are: 3.9 Jx Pro rotations, 16.3g powder, 272g water and got 237g liquid. I used Mark’s method, 30g every 30s pouring in circles. The each pour lasted 8-11s. The last pour was at the centre. The total time was 5:01 mins. The cup was very clean, light, very smooth, full of citrus flavours and sweet citrus notes, which are Bergamot orange. As a result, there is a little bit of fruity bitterness, which also creeps in disturbing what is otherwise a good bag. I am therefore not a great fan of this bag. If one is brewing this exclusively or drinking it as a long black, it is good as long as one is aware of the tiny fruity bitter aftertaste. It won’t cut with milk! We buy beans, which can be a very good milk-based coffee and also pull a nice brew. I don’t think I will buy this bag again. It is not for us. It was good buy considering I paid about £23 for a KG vs the full price of £33 and has a cup score of 87.25. If you want to buy, please try a smaller bag and see if this is for you.

I do enjoy a V60 from time to time as well.

@"DavecUK"#p15221 How clean, easy and very good the cup has become, thanks to a lot of hard work and contributions by @"MWJB"#139 and Hoffman. I don’t even have to wonder what my grind size is. Just start with the same settings and a few clicks change are all required.

Blackcat El Salvador Los Luchadores with a cup score of 86.5 Mark’s method. 16.4g, 275g water, 4:44 mins, 242g liquid. Cranberry and chocolate after taste for me. Very nice black coffee.

@"MWJB"#139 Thanks to all your research work on various brew types and Hoffman’s on V60, the pour overs have become easier. It’s very difficult to get the brews wrong. Many thanks mate!

Thanks & you're most welcome :-) It warms my heart to see folk getting pleasing brews. When I first started making brewed coffee, pour over seemed seemed unfathomable, driven by luck/beneficial spirits and I, like many others, sought 'safety' in immersion brews, where you could at least dictate brew time & not be reliant on things outside of your control like flow rate. But, as I built a better understanding, I realised that pour over is certainly as predictable & repeatable as any brew method, reasonably quick too. Of course, I still enjoy immersions, but 95% (just a guess) of my brews are pour overs. Sure, I come a little unstuck every now & then, but usually due to trying a new regime/brew weight/grinder or setting.

Can imagine how hard the journey to where you are now would have been. May have taken you months, if not years, of dedicated research and hard work to achieve the expected outcome. Minions like us can now use your template and make a damn good coffee. The beauty is I haven’t seen the need to change my grind settings for different beans. 😊 It hardly requires any major adjustments except a click or two on either side. > @"MWJB"#p16943 Of course, I still enjoy immersions, but 95% (just a guess) of my brews are pour overs. Sure, I come a little unstuck every now & then, but usually due to trying a new regime/brew weight/grinder or setting. We hardly take out our Indian (immersion filter), unless some one gifts a bag of ground coffee. 😂 Many thanks and best of luck for keep pushing the boundaries. Please do post regularly so that we get to read and learn from your brewings. I also think you may want to consider sharing your journey so far on this forum. 😊 Cheers mate!

Blackcat’s Ethiopian medium 20.1g, 335g water, Mark’s method, 284g liquid and 6:02 mins in total. Another balanced, fruity and sweet cup; had a tiny lingering orange bitterness after taste, which I think is the impact of the orange peel. I am grinding coarser than I normally would. I brewed this coffee for the first time. Perhaps, I will grind a tad coarser next time. Clever would be interesting, although I doubt it would make a difference to the cup. https://i.imgur.com/aCaNR9W.jpg Edit : Please ignore the espresso shot.

**Django Santa Ana** Brewed 16g on 270g of boiling water using Marks method. Got 231.3g liquid. The blueberry, mild sweet blackberry and vanilla taste come out clearly. Considering I ground this at the lower end of the pour over range at 3.6 turns on my grinder, it did produce a slight raw fruit bitter after taste; the cup was very good though. There were no silts, although the mild bitterness call for a coarse grind; I wondered if the water was too hot >100C that resulted in bitterness. Perhaps, I will grind at the normal setting of 3.8-3.9 and see. https://imgur.com/a/c4uOhlz

@"MWJB"#139 Given the tasting notes (blueberry, blackberry, vanilla), I thought the bitterness seeps through the grind size. Considering the other person also got it but only at the first sip, could you explain how does it creep in? I can understand notes like Rhubarb, fruit peel, dark chocolate, etc., producing the (sweet) bitterness. I wonder if Anaerobic natural process is contributing to the tiny bitterness. It is tiny sweet bitter. I felt it in the espresso as well. IMO, it doesn’t alter the taste profile, although does brighten up the coffee a bit. Thx mate!

If it's around the first 2 sips and a generic bitterness, it's likely fine particles suspended at the surface of the brew. Sometimes this just comes with the territory and I don't worry too much if the rest of the cup tastes OK. If it isdtracting from your enjoyment & happening all the time, grind a tad coarser and/or tray and agitate less. To me sweet & bitter tend to be poles apart, I understand a mix, but I'm not sure I grasp sweet bitterness?

V60

MWJB

LMSC 15g, 226g water and 3:16 mins total brew time. Given the intensity of acidity, I would either dilute it to 60g/l or tighten the grind size and see. 6.5-7 out of 9.

Tightening the grind size at the same ratio & weights would increase concentration & extraction, the opposite of diluting. If the extraction was low, causing excessive brightness, diluting it won’t help much.

Oddly, slightly low extractions can be more intense perception wise, and higher, more balanced extractions smoother, despite being more concentrated.

LMSC

MWJB Tightening the grind size at the same ratio & weights would increase concentration & extraction, the opposite of diluting. I

I haven’t explained it well, tbh. I wanted to weaken the strength a little; going to 60g/L should do. However, although a tight grind would increase the concentration / extraction, it would also mute the sharp acidity (no?); I won’t know how this would taste - better or otherwise; and, based on the outcome, I could dilute it, if necessary. Does it work ? :-)

Today’s was the first dial of this bag for filter.

Edit:

I hope Dave would sell his’ Kruve sifter at a good price! 🤣🤔😉

MWJB

LMSC I could dilute it, if necessary. Does it work ? :-)

If you brew at a constant ratio, your concentration is going to swing by about +/- 0.15% TDS and 60g/L or 65g/L are going to overlap significantly. If all your cups are too intense, whether balanced, or not, then reduce the coffee to water ratio.

If cups have another malfunction, sort that first.

Dilution might work for you, but there’s few things I dislike more than weak under-extracted coffee. Surely, your Clever brews around 1:10 ratio must be more concentrated than a 65g/L brew?

Have you got a new grinder?

LMSC

MWJB If cups have another malfunction, sort that first.

It was a good cup, except that it was on the stronger side. The sharpness especially at the finish was expected in this coffee. I wouldn’t say there is any brew malfunction! :-)

MWJB If all your cups are too intense, whether balanced, or not, then reduce the coffee to water ratio.

This isn’t the case for every brew. I can say funky beans brew have elevated strength and acidity. This is normal, IMO.

MWJB Have you got a new grinder?

The Niche Duo is on a pre-order for July delivery!

Thx

LMSC

Brewed the Foundry Colombia Amaya again

15.1g, 227g water, and 3:1 mins. Tightened the grind by 4 micro clicks. It helped mute the elevated acidity resulting in a very nice cup. I would give 7-7.5 out of 9.

Kruve was not easy to use. Had used 400 (bottom) and 1000 (top). The top sieve did not stay in place. Perhaps, it was my first-time user error.

Watched a couple of YTs. Gently sieved for 2 mins with occasional taps on sides.

The fines under 400 um was 7.28%. The rest were above 400 um as the 1000 did not stay in place. :-)

MWJB

7.28% at 400 still sounds pretty coarse?

You don’t need to be particularly gentle, I shake side to side for a few shakes, up & down then a couple of side taps, then downward taps & repeat.

How are you getting to 2 decimal places on the %?

If the 1000 won’t stay in place & you’re sure it is locating properly, use the next nearest size (900 or 1100)…or just leave the top sieve out.

LMSC

MWJB How are you getting to 2 decimal places on the %?

This made me question how you get the percentage of fines under 400 um.

The total weight of fines was 1.1g using the 0.1 accuracy weighing scale. So, that would be 7.28 or rounded to 7.3% of the total coffee weight!

I don’t think we need a scale to 0.01 accuracy, do we?

MWJB 7.28% at 400 still sounds pretty coarse?

Correct. Do I need to get to 9%? It doesn’t mean the coffee would taste better than at 7.3%, does it? Thx

LMSC

MWJB 7.28% at 400 still sounds pretty coarse?

This is what I like about Kruve as a common reference point, although I still don’t know what it means to the cup as varying % of fines — say, 5% to 15% under 400; and, what’s the optimal % of fines for a filter like V60.

MWJB

LMSC OK, fair enough, it just seemed a bit odd going to the 2nd decimal place as if you used, for example, 10g of coffee 0.01g scales only relate to one decimal place of a % (10.01g, or 1% with 0.1g scales = 10.1g). I do use 0.01g scales, because I have them. If you are using 0.1g resolution scales check they actually change reading in increments of 0.1g.

If your 0.1g scales are only 0.3g precision you can’t get readings to a % of grounds weight.

If the coffee tastes good, extracts well and brew method is repeatable, you don’t need to change anything. Unless going finer improves things, then you would select the optimum grind setting by taste & sift a reference after a few brews.

MWJB

LMSC Depends on the pour regime & results in the cup/repeatability, there’s no optimum and sub 400Kruve aren’t really “fines” anyway, they could be 25%-30% of a fine grind for immersion, which makes them part of the ‘fillet’ of the grind.

LMSC

@MWJB I am going to have to look at your spreadsheets to see where they are for various pour regimes. I mostly brew V60 and Clever and rarely French Press. The latter broke anyway!

I remember you saying Kruve is difficult for clever as the grind size is (above) coarse espresso.

That just leaves V60.

MWJB

LMSC Clever is open to a bunch of regimes, there are 2 or 3 where the grind is coarse enough to be measured with a Kruve, it’s just the long steeps that are on the finest end. I’ll link to the Kruve sifting I have done to date in this thread:

https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/1249-sifting-brewed-coffee-grinds/12

LMSC

Made a filter this morning using the same bag tightening the grind further by another 4 micro clicks.

The 1000 is the max on mine. I used the 900.

400 um 7.5% up from 7.3%

400 and 900 19%

above 900 74.5%

I terms of taste, I prefer the 400 7.3% reference than 7.5%. The taste difference was definitely noticeable. This is probably due to the coffee’s expected notes itself as this was meant to give a sharp acidity. I recognise the 7.3% is far away from the standardised 9%. I had just started using it and get a fair idea after a period of use.

I am not sure my scale consistently increases by 0.1g. Will have to get the 0.01g scale to make this exercise relevant.

MWJB

LMSC Until you can ascertain whether your scales are 0.1g precision, you can’t make readings to a single % of ground weight.

9% at 400 Kruve is a recommendation of grind setting for specific pour regimes & brew weights, as any grind recommendation is. It is not “standardised”.

If 7.3% is working best for you, stick to it and see how it works out over a range of coffees, then adjust based on that. I don’t make a recommendation until I have run 10 different coffees through the same grind setting & brew parameters.

LMSC

MWJB I will get another scale 0.01g. I can see the current scale is no good for Kruve sifting.

I have hardly moved from the default grind size, which is my sweet spot for V60, during the last two years except on a few occasions.

Agree, I will continue sifting when I open new bags and see what the pattern is. It’s all going to be temporary until the Niche Duo is delivered and seasoned. 😊

LMSC

New scales are in and is fit for sifting purpose!

At default grind size, for the same Foundry Amaya, the Kruve under 400 is 6%. It is indeed too coarse.

Just brewed their Rwandan Mutovu - 24 minor clicks tighter from the default grind settings on JX pro.

It is a lovely cup. It is smooth, sweet like plums, and choc + sugar at finish / after taste. The score is 7 out of 9!

However, at the finish, I sense a very mild bitterness. There is a mention of chocolate. Not sure, if this is dark chocolate. I understand from Foundry’s earlier discussions here, they don’t expect the usual earthiness of Rwandan coffee in theirs’ except on a very milder side depending on the brew method. This was absent in espresso. I am therefore thinking either I need to loosen my grind a little or keep experimenting by tightening further to see what happens to the taste. In a nutshell, this is the first dial and I may dial a couple more and see.

The grind ref for Rwandan Mutovu V60 is 8.6% sifting under 400 um.

The usual brew parameter are : 15g, 229g water (a few more grams) and dry bed at 3:50 mins.

PortafilterProcrastinator

LMSC Which scales did you go for?

LMSC

PortafilterProcrastinator

As recommended by @MediumRoastSteam iirc!

Criacr Digital Pocket Scales, (500g/ 0.01g) High-precision Kitchen Food Scales, Jewelry Scales with Back-Lit LCD Display, Tare and PCS Features, Stainless Steel, Christmas Gift, Batteries Included https://amzn.eu/d/3A4iD60

LMSC

@MWJB

If it’s not too much trouble, is there a video of how you use the Kruve sifter please? You might say, if may say so, it is not a rocket science. I think there is a method to this madness! 😂

MWJB

LMSC

MWJB

Could you share your thoughts on the following two questions please?

Do you sift every brew ?
Do you mix the fines under 400 um and brew or do you add them on top of the coffee powder?

I have tried mix and brew, and brew after adding the fines (< 400) on top of the coffee powder (> 400) a few times. Each time, the coffee tasted a lot better in the case of latter than former.

Thx!

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