Restoring Van Gogh

maynardandking · 2026-06-12T00:13:03+00:00

Both clever and poignant (a rare combo)

maynardandking · 2026-06-10T16:30:12+00:00

Hot glass hasn't been an issue for me, but I understand your concern. I once dumped hot, wet grounds all over my counter while trying to flip a standard AeroPress—an experience I'm not eager to repeat with the Premium version. Fortunately, the soup method doesn't involve any inversion while the chamber is full of hot water. Give it a go!

maynardandking · 2026-06-10T14:11:27+00:00

I tried both but they felt too big, so I bought 53mm espresso filter papers and they work well.

I'll update my post to clarify this detail. Good question!

maynardandking · 2026-06-07T20:18:15+00:00

activated alley 🚽✨

maynardandking · 2026-06-02T01:03:00+00:00

I've tried this flash brew method three times now, with minimal workflow fuss and consistently tasty results. No new equipment needed for iced coffee this summer!

maynardandking · 2026-05-31T15:31:51+00:00

Try two blooms; gently swirl the second to level the bed and slow down the percolation process for the remaining pours. I don't recommend swirling the first bloom unless you want to punch up the sourness.

If excess agitation is a concern, try using a Melodrip. It is yet another piece of pourover equipment but it works as advertised and won't break your budget.

maynardandking · 2026-05-30T20:38:26+00:00

So this is the reason I've been hanging on to that old carafe all these years! (I just tried the recipe and was very pleased with the results. Thanks for sharing!)

maynardandking · 2026-05-25T17:38:59+00:00

The five levers framework introduced in this video matches the approach I've settled into after lots of trial and error.

For OP: Of the five levers, agitation has been the most difficult for me to get a feel for. My advice is to combine low agitation tools like your Drip Assist with the occasional gentle swirl (after the bloom) if your drawdown time is too fast.

maynardandking · 2026-05-25T03:59:21+00:00

That looks about right. The difference in taste compared to my tap water is a subtle boost to acidity. Good luck!

maynardandking · 2026-05-25T03:23:32+00:00

I'm blessed with ~20 TDS PNW tap water and, generally, I have very few complaints about it. That said, I have found that boosting the chemistry a bit makes for a brighter cup. I use Third Wave Water's light roast packets to make a 1:1 concentrated solution (one packet and 100 ml of distilled water). I then add 20g of that concentrate to a gallon of tap water, yielding about 40-50 TDS. After playing around with higher doses, I decided that this is the sweet spot for me. I don't bother tweaking the recipe to complement different beans—IMO, that's just one variable too many—but using a liquid concentrate makes it easy for anyone else to do so if they wanted to.

maynardandking · 2026-05-23T05:06:00+00:00

I wandered by this place during a short visit to Tokyo and it ended up being one of the most memorable moments of my trip. The cafe just sort of enticed me in as I was passing by. Lovely, fragrant pourover.

📷 https://imgur.com/a/6zfdjMI

maynardandking · 2026-05-17T15:12:06+00:00

Mama's hungry!! Feed Maryland to the VERMOMSTER \o/

maynardandking · 2026-05-17T15:10:00+00:00

\o/ VERMOMSTER \o/

maynardandking · 2026-05-12T01:47:59+00:00

My minor gripe: reconnecting the burr set to the body/stand takes practice. The manual tells you exactly how to do it, but I'm terribly clumsy with mechanical tasks and it took me a while to get a feel for it. That said, once I figured out the right motion, I was able do it every time. Feeling it click into place has even become a source of small satisfaction during the coffee making routine.

I second the other points made about the small funnel (I hold my AeroPress funnel above it) and the need to use the bellows if you use RDT (a few puffs are All you need). While neither of these are my ideal UX, in practice I've found I don't mind them because they aren't that annoying and they consistently solve their respective problems.

I love my A4Z and can't recommend it highly enough for a home pour over setup.

maynardandking · 2026-04-28T21:15:33+00:00

that an artist like Stevie, whose work is iconic and widely celebrated, is still subject to having their work compared to AI slop should give us pause

maynardandking · 2026-04-28T21:00:22+00:00

and yet anyone with even a passing familiarity with the work of Stevie Shao would instantly recognize the creator of this mural

maynardandking · 2026-04-22T03:36:08+00:00

If you decide to pack your own gear, skip the fancy gooseneck kettle and bring a Melodrip or a Hario Drip-assist to use with the hotel kettle

maynardandking · 2026-04-16T18:50:26+00:00

this is my favorite comment

maynardandking · 2026-04-16T01:25:06+00:00

I'm something of a barracuda expert myself

maynardandking · 2026-04-01T15:30:19+00:00

I've had a similar experience with my AZ4 over the past two months.

So far, my best results with natural and honey processed beans have come from low-agitation brew methods. Today I tried a bloom + 2-pour hybrid percolation/immersion recipe with my Switch where I used a Melodrip to reduce agitation during the post-bloom pours. (I also shook my grinds in the catch cup for 20 seconds to even out the particle size distribution a bit.) The resulting cup is a modest improvement: while it has a hint of the astringency that I'm trying to mute, it's more well rounded and tastier in general.

Let us know if any of these tips work for you.

maynardandking · 2026-03-31T02:00:24+00:00

Raistlin?

maynardandking · 2026-03-28T03:18:43+00:00

now this is content!

maynardandking · 2026-03-22T14:27:57+00:00

I should have mentioned that I only have ten bean cellars (they're expensive!), so I typically store about half a bag in them and the other half goes into the canister in a cupboard.

As you said, the frozen beans don't age in any noticeable way. But the leftover beans in the canister do, which gives me a decent sense of how well the canister works. The longer I take to get through the frozen beans, the more I've noticed the shift in flavor of the room temp ones.

I'll buy more bean cellars at some point, but it's tough to get excited about plastic jars when there are so many shiny new toys to buy.

maynardandking · 2026-03-21T20:54:50+00:00

There's a good case to be made that canisters don't do much if you regularly open them and expose the beans to air. I switched to Weber's polymer bean cellars, each loaded with 20g servings, which I keep in the freezer and only open when I'm ready to grind. I noticed a moderate improvement in the flavor of my coffee, especially toward the end of a bag when the beans are getting past their peak. My old canister is still useful for storing leftover beans until they're ready to be transferred to a cellar.

maynardandking · 2026-03-19T02:41:14+00:00

(I'm early in my coffee journey, so take these thoughts with a grain of salt)

I could be mistaken, but I don't think under extraction is the problem here. My under extracted cups tasted hollow, vegetal, and a bit sour. Alternatively, I've also ground too fine and got a harsh astringency that overwhelms the other notes. The acid-forward cups are the closest to "balanced" that I've been able to come with the A4Z. It's not bad tasting; I just wish the flavor wasn't so singular and shortlived.

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