Kleiner
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Perfect Coffee / Tea
I thought id make a relatively fun first post.
Has anyone tried to make the perfect coffee using glassware a la breaking bad?
If so... can we see some pictures?
How would you folks make the perfect coffee with lab glass?
/discuss
[Edited on 7-7-2010 by Kleiner]
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gardenvariety
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For those of us who haven't seen that show, what are you talking about?
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Kleiner
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There is a character that makes coffee in the lab in a fancy rig made up of laboratory glassware.
I thought that was clear from the post...
Never mind!
/rolls eyes.
Lab Coffee.
[Edited on 7-7-2010 by Kleiner]
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not_important
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This is how you make good coffee
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070618
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JohnWW
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What about the caffeine in it? Do you want to extract it?
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Kleiner
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Yeh why not. Ill give it a shot.
[Edited on 7-7-2010 by Kleiner]
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not_important
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The thing is lab extractors are generally targeted at exhaustive extraction, while good coffee aims for the proper balance of extracted components. A
percolator isn't that much different from a Soxhlet. But simple extraction like that often doesn't give the best coffee, thus the various devices
designed to force hot water through the grounds in a more controllable fashion, the common coffee maker boiling the water for a once-through pass,
vacuum brewers, the сafetière à piston which places extraction time more directly under control, espresso machines and moka pots, and slow
cold extraction which reduces the amount of acidic components. The brewing devices that do not use paper or cloth filters let more oils through,
giving a different flavour.
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Kleiner
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I have another question. When making a cup of tea, i normally add hot water to the cup with the bag already in. I let this sit and brew for 5 minutes
then squeeze the bag dry and add milk.
If i add milk then let it soak... will the tea be weaker. What i mean to say is does adding milk to the tea make it harder for the tea to leech into
the water/solution?
I have often wondered this and i guess it falls under chemical physics.
Feel free to correct my terminology here.
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watson.fawkes
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Quote: Originally posted by Kleiner  | | If i add milk then let it soak... will the tea be weaker. What i mean to say is does adding milk to the tea make it harder for the tea to leech into
the water/solution? |
I have an experiment for you. Add the milk first as you describe, but make one cup with
whole milk and another with skim milk. I would guess that not only is the pre-milk method weaker, but that it also shifts the taste and isn't
just weaker.
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Kleiner
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Because the solution is cooler... when the water is added second less 'xanthines' will be liberated into the brew.
But does the milk first change any kind of 'density' in the solution? Im sure im shooting at fundamental chemical property here but lack of knowledge
means im just using unguided intuition.
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psychokinetic
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Milk isn't a very good solvent, nor is it warm. Well, not for tea anyway.
“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found
the object of his search.
I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.”
-Tesla
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gardenvariety
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I'll add a guess that maybe the fats in the milk form a partial layer on the tea bag, inhibiting water flow through it and thus tea extraction. Much
like a paper coffee filter trapping oils.
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psychokinetic
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If this were true, then cream would be even worse. Which it likely is. Not being a tea drinker however, I don't have any experience with either of
them 
“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found
the object of his search.
I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.”
-Tesla
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Kleiner
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Im sorry to hear that.
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watson.fawkes
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| Quote: Originally posted by Kleiner | Because the solution is cooler... when the water is added second less 'xanthines' will be liberated into the brew.
But does the milk first change any kind of 'density' in the solution? Im sure im shooting at fundamental chemical property here but lack of knowledge
means im just using unguided intuition. |
As to the temperature, pre-warm the milk to the same temperature as
the water and do the experiment. Perhaps you might heat the milk and water in the correct proportion and try. That may be different from adding
over-hot water to under-hot milk to arrive at the same temperature. (Milk scalds, after all, and there might be something time-sensitive.)
Really, though, I'm suggesting that you use your tongue, after all a rather sensitive chemical detector, and taste what differences you can discern.
As for the tea bag issue, you can do both steeping in a tea bag (essentially pre-filtering) and steeping with loose tea and straining afterward.
There's also not filtering, but instead decanting.
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Sedit
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Im in coffee for the most caffeine so alot of times I just put a shit load of grounds in a measuring cup fill with H2O . Put in the MW for 2 minutes
and pure thru a filter and drink.
Truely a bitter brew but uplifting in more then one way. Not only does the caffeine punch but the super strong aroma and bitter taste wakes your
sences up quickly.... for me thats the goal in the first place else it takes hours to wind up thru the day.
Knowledge is useless to useless people...
"I see a lot of patterns in our behavior as a nation that parallel a lot of other historical processes. The fall of Rome, the fall of Germany — the
fall of the ruling country, the people who think they can do whatever they want without anybody else's consent. I've seen this story
before."~Maynard James Keenan
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psychokinetic
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| Quote: Originally posted by Sedit | Im in coffee for the most caffeine so alot of times I just put a shit load of grounds in a measuring cup fill with H2O . Put in the MW for 2 minutes
and pure thru a filter and drink.
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But what is the perfect number of MegaWobbles?
“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found
the object of his search.
I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.”
-Tesla
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zed
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Perfect cup of coffee?
Sounds familiar. Fact is, I know this person.
http://new.music.yahoo.com/amanda-richards/tracks/perfect-cu...
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stevevb
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I am new here ( name is Stephen ) and as a tea freak I thought I would weigh in. Speaking of weighing the best way to ensure a perfect cup is to weigh
out the correct amount of tea leaves ( I like about 2g per cup but this is a preference ) use boiling water for black tea, drop the temperature for
oolong or green teas a digital thermometer is helpful here.
The most important part is to use a high grade loose tea...this does not mean it has to be a fancy grade like TFGBOP, I like CTC ( crush tear curl )
as it has a stronger flavor.
If anyone wants I can share a cheap place to get great teas.
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franklyn
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Scene from The Wild Bunch , the classic Sam Peckinpah western film
Dutch - Ernest Borgnine
Pike - William Holden
Sykes - Edmond O'Brien
Sykes hands Dutch and Pike a fireside brew
Dutch exclaims to Pike " now he does his killing with coffee "
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