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Good approximate Mazzer grind setting for espresso/French press - Page 2

Postby HB on Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:57 pm

MarkJames wrote:That wouldn't hurt quite as badly.... how much coffee for a single cup?

The standard SCAA brewing ratio for coffee (55 grams / liter) comes out to 13 grams for an 8 ounce cup.
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Postby MarkJames on Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:21 pm

Thank you all for your help with this.

I just made a couple of cups (the wife and I) of a nice Ethiopian Harrar that I roasted to Full City+ a couple of days ago. I used the ratio HB posted (thank you!) which worked out to almost exactly 2 tbsp of ground coffee for each 8oz cup of water. I set the mazzer to 4 (whatever that corresponds to) and let it steep 2 minutes then stirred then another 2:30 before pressing. The result was a very nice cup indeed.

The only thing that's a pain is that I have to take all my espresso beans out of the hopper and the burr chamber, clear out the coffee in the dispensing area, put the espresso beans in a container, put the FP beans in the hopper, grind them, transfer all the ground coffee to another container, clean it all back out again and then replace the espresso beans... it's a bit of a hassle. I may just take it into the store and grind it there in future.

I'm not giving up on my Espresso - not by a long shot! I've just been drinking nothing but Americanos - 4 doubles a day - for the last 9 or 10 years... I needed something to add a little variety to my life. This will also give me a little more play time with my roaster as the different beans take on such widely different characters at different roast levels.

Thanks again!

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Postby HB on Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:38 pm

MarkJames wrote:I may just take it into the store and grind it there in future.

That would be a mistake. Preground coffee = stale coffee. Instead, try pressing in that little tab on the hopper as you're nearing the last espresso or two of the previous session. That will leave only the beans in the throat. Then you can lift off the hopper and grind for French press.

It saves a couple steps. Alternatively, get a second grinder (I know, I know... when does it stop? :roll:)
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Postby Psyd on Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:01 pm

another_jim wrote:For FP, try a half turn coarser than whatever you're using for espresso


So, on a Mazzer, the collar adjustment pin does a 180 degree rotation to get to FP? That should make going back and forth fairly easy.
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Postby another_jim on Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:01 pm

Psyd wrote:So, on a Mazzer, the collar adjustment pin does a 180 degree rotation to get to FP? That should make going back and forth fairly easy.


Yep. The only hassle is that the pin can block access to the doser if it's set, like mine, to point at around 1:30 when in espresso mode.
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Postby Psyd on Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:08 pm

another_jim wrote:Yep. The only hassle is that the pin can block access to the doser if it's set, like mine, to point at around 1:30 when in espresso mode.


My collar has four (three?) threaded holes in the outside of the adjustment collar. Couldn't you just use another hole?
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Postby Ozark_61 on Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:03 pm

Yo - have a tip for you. When you find your setting, put some blank file folder labels along the edge of the top of the grind adjustment ring (you'll have to cut to match the curve). I then pencil in markings for moka and press. On the finer end, I just mark 0 - 4 or so for espresso. I know that redline I grind at 1.5 and so forth etc etc yadda yadda. I don't think moka and press are as tedious, but since it's in pencil, you'll easily be able to adjust.
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Postby Psyd on Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:29 pm

Ozark_61 wrote:Yo - have a tip for you. When you find your setting, put some blank file folder labels along the edge of the top of the grind adjustment ring


Great idea, and I use it, but the OP's question was where to start trying for FP, not how to get there from espresso. Starting at espresso you might find a lot of grinds in your FP cup, and starting a rocks and twigs you'd get some pretty weak coffee flavored tea. Having a clue where espresso is on his Mazzer, he wanted to know where he'd go from there to get a good setting for French Press.
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Postby MarkJames on Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:23 pm

Psyd wrote:Great idea, and I use it, but the OP's question was where to start trying for FP, not how to get there from espresso. Starting at espresso you might find a lot of grinds in your FP cup, and starting a rocks and twigs you'd get some pretty weak coffee flavored tea. Having a clue where espresso is on his Mazzer, he wanted to know where he'd go from there to get a good setting for French Press.


Exactly right...

And yet after a couple of weeks I'm back in confoozdomland.... it's all good - just in different ways. 4 or so is quite coarse and works fine/tastes great - but 3 or so is also good, with more developed flavor, but with more sediment..... as I approach 2 it gets a bit difficult to plunge (particularly if I stir right before plunging) but this also tastes pretty decent. I like the simplicity of my espresso better - if I get a 20-25 second extraction at 8.5-10bar I feel like I've hit a winner... French Press seems to be 'good' in many forms.

On a different note, though, I've found that FP is a fair bit easier on my gut. I didn't realize that the 'force majeur' that seemed to always follow a good cup of espresso wasn't 'typical' lol

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