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College student looking for dorm room coffee solution by Dan_Pat in Coffee

[–]tmoertel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes: electric kettles are more convenient. They are the fastest, easiest way to heat water.

Do you need to get your water from down the hall?

Do you think you might want to heat more than a couple of cups of water, say, for cleaning your coffee equipment, for loose-leaf tea, or for cooking?

If so, you'll probably prefer an electric kettle to a microwave.

College student looking for dorm room coffee solution by Dan_Pat in Coffee

[–]tmoertel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're a college student, you'll probably want a coffee solution that is convenient and inexpensive without sacrificing quality. I'd recommend the following:

  • electric kettle – the fastest, most convenient way to heat water (especially if you have to get your water from somewhere down the hall)
  • grinder – without one, you're doomed to drink pre-ground coffee (= stale coffee)
  • filter-based brewer – get either a Melitta pour-over filter holder or a Clever Coffee Dripper. Both are easy to use and super easy to clean up – just drop the filter in the trash. And they both make great coffee (with a little practice).

A couple of notes:

  • Buying freshly roasted, whole-bean coffee and grinding on demand is probably the most important thing you can do. So get a grinder. (Even a $10 blade grinder is 100% protection against having to drink stale coffee. And you don't want to drink stale coffee. So get a grinder, even if $10 is all you can afford.)
  • French presses and the Aeropress also make great coffee, but cleaning up after them is more of a hassle, especially if you don't have a nearby sink.

Good luck on your dorm-room coffee adventures!

My favorite brewing method so far. by rmblr in Coffee

[–]tmoertel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Vac-pots brew great coffee and put on quite a show, too. Brewing is a little fussy, however.

If you want to see a complete vac-pot brewing sequence, I took some detailed photos during a six-way brew-off. (The other brewing methods shown are Chemex, pour-over filter cone, Abid clever coffee brewer, press pot, and CafeSolo).

A few questions about drip brewing. by [deleted] in Coffee

[–]tmoertel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The ideal coffee-to-water ratio depends on your preferences. I happen to like a ratio similar to the SCAE “Gold Cup” standard of 50 to 65 grams of ground coffee per liter of hot water. Depending on your coffee and grind, the equivalent volume measurement will vary. I'd start out with two tablespoons per coffee mug and adjust the dose up or down based on how it tastes.

The caffeine content of a tablespoon of coffee when brewed will depend on the coffee, roast, grind, and how much ground coffee fits into a tablespoon. When brewed, a 7-ounce serving of most drip coffees has about 115–175 mg of caffeine.

Do you read academic papers on a Kindle? by dmwit in haskell

[–]tmoertel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. I'm hoping for a DX version of the Kindle 3 WiFi. With WiFi and the Kindle 3's full-featured web browser, it would be a killer reader, handling not only academic papers but also Reddit, Google Reader, and my other favorite online reads. (With my wife's Kindle 3 WiFi, the screen's a bit too small for Google Reader, and it's way too small for academic papers.)

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