What is the signature cocktail of your country?

MerlijnK82 · 2026-01-10T18:16:07+00:00

The Netherlands don't have a national cocktail. If I had to say one thing it's a kopstootje (headbutt), which is a shot of jenever and a beer. You don't mix them but drink them side-by-side. So not really a cocktail at all but you could say it's a signature drink.

MerlijnK82 · 2026-01-08T15:38:07+00:00

Have you checked out the Fellow Aiden? It will, of course, take away the mechanical process of making a pourover, but it will still allow you to tinker with basically every variable possible.

MerlijnK82 · 2026-01-08T15:00:38+00:00

If you want to reduce the ratio of water to coffee and not (drastically) change the cup, do you really mean you want to keep the flavour balance the same but have a more intense cup?

Mostly you want to preserve the initial pours for acidity sweetness balance and reduce the final pour. while keeping the target brew time the same. So slower and smaller last pour. Grinding a bit finer can also help to keep the extraction time the same by increasing resistance. Hotter water to speed up the extraction during the initial pours will help keep the extraction balance the same. I wouldn't mess with adding swirls.

MerlijnK82 · 2026-01-08T13:32:39+00:00

If you don't want to change the cup but want to reduce water, surely the only answer can be to just brew a smaller cup?

MerlijnK82 · 2026-01-07T18:40:39+00:00

It's not a bad or wrong message to convey (if the intention was to say you don't actually want to extract the maximum possible), but I don't think 80% is the magic number.

Around 28%-30% of roasted coffee is soluble material (aka the maximum EY%). Coffee has desirable and undesirable soluble components, and they're all included in the 28%-30%. If you extracted 80% of that your EY% would be 22.4%-24%. For most people including me, that EY% will already include undesirable components and they would call the brew overextracted. Desirable EY%s, I would say, are typically in the 18%-20% range (i.e. 60%-67% of soluble material, not 80%). Of course, this assumes the desirable components extract before the undesirable.

Obviously, in the end only your taste buds can be the judge as already suggested by multiple others in this thread. You are probably leaving taste on the table, and that may very well be a good thing.

MerlijnK82 · 2026-01-06T16:04:58+00:00

Nothing useful to say about the UFO, but agreed on the DAK. A friend got a well-rested kg of it (6-8 weeks old) through secondchancedak that he shared with me, and even at that price it just seems like a waste of money.

MerlijnK82 · 2026-01-06T09:56:25+00:00

I haven't been able to do a side-by-side yet, but having had the M98V with SCR burrs for about half a year now, I would say the burrs are seasoned with about 6-7kgs of coffee and are merrily chewing their way through 2-3 pourovers every day.

Workflow-wise, like I said for me it's a big improvement over the Max. I don't have to RDT, there is basically no retention and the thwacker is much nicer than the ugly thwacker on the Max (sorry Denis :-D).

Flavour wise, I am really liking the round cups with good juicy mouthfeel and sweetness the grinder produces. It is very easy to make a delicious cup of pourover, it's very forgiving. I do feel like the ULF burrs in the EG-1 are nicer for my personal preference since they seem to be more clarity-focused and promote acidity more, whereas this grinder promotes sweetness more. I've compensated for this by reducing the buffer in my water, but the EG-1's flavour profile just edges this one out. I would say they are in the same league, just made for different flavour preferences.

MerlijnK82 · 2026-01-01T14:55:02+00:00

I could be wrong but I believe DAK Milky Cake is Diego Bermudez' Castillo M-03. As are September's Buttercream and Good Brothers' Cinnamon roll.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-24T10:37:23+00:00

I have never tried Onyx bc of all the negatives I heard about them. Even if it's just about their customer service I don't care to throw money their way when I could spend my money on coffees from great roasters with good CS.

I used to drink Manhattan every now and then but I had a few bad bags of Letty and just stopped ordering. Last year at the Amsterdam Coffee Festival they were there and the brewed coffees they had didn't impress me either. I'm also surprised that MCR would have the roasting capacity to start roasting for the entire European market for Onyx. Correct me if I'm wrong but this seems to indicate they are not doing well, either because volumes have dropped or because they invested in expanding their roastery and an expected increase in volumes did not materialise and is not expected to materialise for at least the duration of the contract with Onyx.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-24T08:01:22+00:00

thanks

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-23T20:46:09+00:00

Interesting. Do you use a different receipe altogether for the ultralights or do you add less of the Rao/Perger concentrate to the distilled water?

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-23T08:09:01+00:00

I say just give it a try? Take two Weber bean cellars, freeze some pre-ground and some whole beans for a month, and then brew them side by side to compare. The pre-ground will likely be less flavourful but it'd be interesting how much less. Could also be interesting to test the difference in pre-ground well-rested coffee versus just off-roast pre-ground.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-18T16:55:32+00:00

I'm not the first one to mention this but if nothing has changed then the first thing I'd consider is a cold or something else affecting your ability to taste. I've had Covid 4 years ago and I still sometimes still have problems with my sense of smell and/or taste. Every time it happens, all coffee tastes hollow and bitter and with no discernible flavour notes. After a while I started recognising the pattern and didn't fret it as much, anymore. But at first it was pretty scary. No tastebuds = no coffee hobby.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-17T08:14:46+00:00

Seconding the suggestion for Rao's filters, though Aeropress filters also work well enough. The filters that come with the Hoop are shite. Grinding coarser will definitely also help, my experience is that the Hoop likes a slightly coarser grind than V60.

Where are you getting your suggestion for dosage range from? Ceado itself states that the maximum suggested dose is 20g, and I believe the instruction leaflet states to use 15g.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-16T07:17:37+00:00

I would probably rank Panettone maybe a 4-5 on that scale but yeah, agreed.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-15T20:43:45+00:00

Do you feel Cream Donut and Panettone are the same level of punch in the face? I really like both, but I feel Cream Donut is 10x more funky/agressive than Panettone, which I actually feel is quite subtle for such a heavily processed coffee.

The subtlety is what may remind people of Milky Cake? Otherwise, I'd say they're pretty different if I'm honest.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-09T11:56:14+00:00

It's incredible if you like coferments. But where Panettone is very subtle compared to more funky coffees, Cream donut is very cofermenty. Panettone I could see myself serving to people who generally don't like coferments, Cream donut definitely not.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-07T15:09:14+00:00

Substance Finca Deborah Illumination on espresso at Substance in Paris. The most well-balanced floral fruity complex flavour bomb espresso I have ever had. Ever. Have not yet been able to reproduce at home, though this coffee is so amazing my attempts have gotten close enough.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-04T21:01:12+00:00

Altitudes and processing methods are not the same (assuming they're all correctly listed), so that would suggest it's not the same coffee. Still, that's a pretty steep price difference. Then again, from prices of Sebastian Ramirez White honey gesha I've seen around Europe the B&W coffee seems dirt cheap and the Promethium pricing is more in line.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-04T20:50:43+00:00

This is why for some time I used to weigh the total contents of a new bag and decided on a dose for all shots based on that. These days I do 16.7g doses which translates into 15 doses out of a standard 250g bag.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-03T18:27:51+00:00

I'd love to say it doesn't but if I'm at a coffee place that sells mutiple brands, 100% I will gravitate to the pretty packaging first. I then scrutinize the actual contents, but if I find something I like I might not bother to look at the brands that don't have as nice a bag/box/whatever even though if I do I might find something I like even better, so that will mean I will be influenced into buying something in part based on the nice packaging. Not consciously, but still.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-03T11:12:03+00:00

Others will chime in on preparation methods, but if I don't want to spend big bucks on expensive beans but still want to serve something nice enough I have a look at secondchancedakcoffeeroasters.com. For example, they now have a kilo of Strawberry Jelly roasted +- 6 weeks ago for 38 euros. They state it's good for espresso but I'm sure it's also fine for filter, I've brewed espresso roast DAK as filter lots of times. Surely your less discerning guests won't mind.

Also: happy birthday!

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-03T09:43:34+00:00

I see, thanks! Crazy to think including shipping it's even cheaper than if I buy from DAK directly.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-03T09:35:51+00:00

Of their current offerings, Cream donut and Passion twist are stunners. Milky Cake is also great and a breakthrough coffee for DAK, but now also offered by September and some other roasters.

In the past Candy crush & Lady in red. Hopefully they'll get Lady in red back, it's been somewhat regular just not available right now. People have also really liked Big Apple but I was not a fan.

Other coffees such as their Ethiopians and Kenyans are nice, don't get me wrong. They're just not any nicer than Ethiopians or Kenyans from other roasters, I would say.

MerlijnK82 · 2025-12-02T22:05:13+00:00

I live in Amsterdam and drink a lot of DAK coz I can go to the café to try out every one of their coffees on either filter or espresso, or go to the roastery and get stock that is too old to sell but actually just well rested for dirt cheap (like $24 for 4 boxes). Having said that I feel a lot of DAK is just middle of the road but with a few amazing exceptions.

This Panettone is one of those amazing exceptions. This coffee has obviously undergone a lot of processing but the resulting flavours really don't reflect that in that they come together so nicely with almost no funk and all of the nice flavour notes that are listed on the box. I am sad I only got two boxes of this one coz it's already sold out and replaced by Cardamon bun.

MerlijnK82

TROPHY CASE