
The Complexity of Coffee (2002) [pdf] - sridca
http://poplab.stanford.edu/pdfs/Illy-ComplexityCoffee-sciam02.pdf
======
crispyambulance
Coffee is indeed complex. Although a great cup can be had with aeropress,
drip, pour-over or even a percolator, Espresso is the ultimate form of the
beverage. By "espresso" I mean the process of forcing 200F water through a
properly ground dose of fresh coffee at 9 bar of pressure for about 25 seconds
for a doubleshot. Anything that DOESN'T do that may very well make a fine cup
of coffee, but it ain't espresso.

Making espresso at home, however, continues to be elusive if you have high
standards. The nespresso capsule machines do an OK job but the consumable cost
is high and you can't do much to customize it. "prosumer" espresso machines
can be hit-or-miss (mostly miss). You really have to tweak stuff to get it
right and this includes spending more money than you would think on the proper
grinder. Some folks resort to hacking their modest Gaggia's into something
greater than the sum of its parts by using PID temperature control
([http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/almost-done-
ha...](http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/almost-done-hacking-this-
old-gaggia-t22181.html)). I have a Gaggia and hope to mod it someday when the
wife is on a long work trip.

A while back there was an INFAMOUS kickstarter campaign for an attractive,
easily hackable PID controlled espresso machine (the ZPM, I think,
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zpmespresso/pid-
control...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zpmespresso/pid-controlled-
espresso-machine)). It never delivered and pissed a lot of people off (see NYT
article, [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/magazine/zpm-espresso-
and-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/magazine/zpm-espresso-and-the-rage-
of-the-jilted-crowdfunder.html)).

I think there's room in the market for a home espresso machine that
outperforms current prosumer models... but it is a difficult project!

~~~
zaroth
> The nespresso capsule machines do an OK job

You sound like an expert, but I was very surprised to read this. I bought a
Nespresso on Amazon and ended up returning it because the liquid it put out
tasted, to me anyway, to be anything but espresso. I tried all the capsules in
the sampler pack and disliked all of them quite strongly. I think the biggest
turn-off was the fake crema which the machine whipped into existence somehow,
but wasn't actually anything like real crema, and ruined the shot in my
opinion. There was a front-page post yesterday about the science behind crema,
possibly what prompted this post.

I encountered my favorite machine in a house I rented for a couple years which
had a built-in/plumbed-in Miele CVA6401, and it consistently produced the best
single-touch espresso I've had, with no maintenance except descaling. It
didn't compare to a very good coffee shop, but for _at home_ espresso, I'm
saving up to get one in my kitchen.

~~~
emanuelev
I've got both a Nespresso and a simple manual Gaggia at home. The Nespresso is
just accumulating dust. No matter what capsules you buy it doesn't get any
closer to the taste of just average coffee (that would be Lavazza Oro) on the
Gaggia machine.

------
pimeys
Doesn't go into further details about drip brewing methods. Timing and
measuring is important. 55 grams of coffee for one litre of water. At home I'm
grinding our coffee every morning and using a Hario V60 filter with a goose-
neck kettle and a scale. Works every single time and I'd say the result is
better than any espresso I've ever had.

~~~
vixen99
For our simple drip brew (paper filter) we use 66g per liter but that's
because the water is cooler - around 85 degrees. This makes for a rich smooth
coffee though it might not have the kick most folk enjoy. Be interesting to
check which components are absent at this lower temperature. It does seem that
the flavor is much more sensitive to the quality of the coffee used if 100
degree water is used.

------
dpflan
For all you coffee drinkers: Espresso was discussed thoroughly yesterday; here
is the HN submission:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12489523](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12489523)
for a Food Biophysics Paper on Espresso Crema
([http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3140933/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3140933/)).
Stay caffeinated!

------
aporetics
Another mark of the (delightful) complexity of coffee are the different
"waves" of modern coffee culture (I'm not counting 17th century coffee house
culture in Vienna).

One way to interpret this phenomenon is that our taste is changing as we
discover new things coffee can do.

I used to like dark roasted coffee, traditional Italian espresso blends. Now I
can't get enough of the single origin lighter roasts, which express just as
well (if still differently) with pour-overs as with espresso.

But, buyer beware, with the soaring popularity of boutique coffee there's more
"bad' boutique coffee than good. Take your time to try a lot of different
roasters. That's the fun of it anyway.

------
6stringmerc
This is a detailed at times but quite worth following through to read
overview. Certainly adds context to why I favor Costa Rican coffee over
several others that I've tried over the years. Lots of factors to consider.

------
savara
I was expecting Big-Oh notation.

------
visarga
I thought it was going to be about CoffeeScript or Cafe (deep learning
framework).

