this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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Coffee
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The Magical Fruit
The Oromo people would customarily plant a coffee tree on the graves of powerful sorcerers. They believed that the first coffee bush sprang up from the tears that the god of heaven shed over the corpse of a dead sorcerer.
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I'd suggest you a good grinder, AeroPress and scales. AeroPress is forgiving and versatile, it can brew both light and medium roasts. As to grinder, it's up to your budget, but if you're planning to upgrade your setup later, it's cheaper to start with better but more expensive grinder than buying cheap one and later more expensive one. Scales allow to keep exact water to coffee ratio and get consistent results. Scoops and water marks on AeroPress are not that accurate.
Thanks! Does the accuracy matter a lot? Otherwise I'll get aeropress and grinder and if I like it I'll get scales
Accuracy (and particularly, consistency/reliability) in scales matters, but you don't need an expensive scale. It just needs to be accurate to a gram (tenth of a gram is better but not necessary) and able to measure up to the weight of your largest batch+brewer+mug/carafe. (1kg should do)
Lots of kitchen scales will work. Coffee-oriented scales also have a timer function which is very handy. Some have more sophisticated functions as well.
Accuracy defines the final coffee taste. Coffee grounds amount contributes to coffee strength, and water amount contributes to extraction. The more water you add, the more bitter your coffee becomes for the same time period. So, if you want to get the taste you like every time, you need to measure both coffee grounds and water precisely.
Accuracy is fairly important, you can do it other ways than with a scale though. For example the aeropress comes with a coffee scoop you can use for measuring beans and numbers on the side for measuring water.
You can always get a scale later, and it doesn't need to be a fancy coffee scale, a normal kitchen one works.
P.S. If you do get an aeropress, check out this video from James Hoffman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6VlT_jUVPc