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Before the whole civet-poo coffee thing blew up, a friend got me a pound of the stuff. It was beyond amazing. It had a really creamy quality, without the bitter

by alexqgb 13y ago

Before the whole civet-poo coffee thing blew up, a friend got me a pound of the stuff. It was beyond amazing. It had a really creamy quality, without the bitter or acidic qualities. And while it was clearly coffee, it didn't taste like any coffee I'd had before. Like coffee from a not-quite parallel universe, perhaps. I truly loved the stuff, but I can't imagine getting it again. Due to the insane prices, it's likely to be heavily cut with regular beans. Worse, the limited number of beans that are real are likely to come from abused animals, which, no way. Locking them in cages and force feeding them beans not of their own choosing has clearly ruined both the creatures and the product. Fucking humans.

dsr_ 13y ago
Have you tried cold-brewing coffee? It extracts flavors without much acid and no bitterness. Good beans become excellent; mediocre beans become nice.
- alexqgb 13y ago
  At one point, yes, but the caffeine content was off the charts, presumably because of the extended soak that the method required. One large cup of that and I needed an even bigger spatula, just to scrape myself off the ceiling.
  - peterwwillis 13y ago
    You can adjust things like using a more coarse grind, lower temperature and shorter brewing times to affect bitterness. Chlorine in your water can also make for more bitter coffee. If all else fails, add a tiny, tiny amount of salt or saline solution.
  - ValentineC 13y ago
    > At one point, yes, but the caffeine content was off the charts, presumably because of the extended soak that the method required. I've heard this anecdotally, went ahead and searched [1], but I haven't found conclusive proof that cold brewing extracts more caffeine than normal brewing. I'd love to see someone measure the levels and write about it somewhere. [1] http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1859/caffeine-content-of-cold-brewed-coffee-higher-or-lower-than-hot-brewed http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1859/caffeine-con...

by alexqgb 13y ago

dsr_ 13y ago

Have you tried cold-brewing coffee? It extracts flavors without much acid and no bitterness. Good beans become excellent; mediocre beans become nice.

alexqgb 13y ago
At one point, yes, but the caffeine content was off the charts, presumably because of the extended soak that the method required. One large cup of that and I needed an even bigger spatula, just to scrape myself off the ceiling.
- peterwwillis 13y ago
  You can adjust things like using a more coarse grind, lower temperature and shorter brewing times to affect bitterness. Chlorine in your water can also make for more bitter coffee. If all else fails, add a tiny, tiny amount of salt or saline solution.
- ValentineC 13y ago
  > At one point, yes, but the caffeine content was off the charts, presumably because of the extended soak that the method required. I've heard this anecdotally, went ahead and searched [1], but I haven't found conclusive proof that cold brewing extracts more caffeine than normal brewing. I'd love to see someone measure the levels and write about it somewhere. [1] http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1859/caffeine-content-of-cold-brewed-coffee-higher-or-lower-than-hot-brewed http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1859/caffeine-con...