Coffee Cabal: Bonmac vs. V60

We've been wanting to get the coffee cabal going more regularly, and with a larger base of participants, for a while now.  Finally making some headway on that!


Wednesday's meeting was mainly to lay out some ideas for future cabals, including:

• Getting everybody familiar with basic cupping protocol.
• Sensory training with wine/beer etc. tastings, "cupping" chocolates, fruits, etc.
• Brewing jams to learn different methods.
• Coffee benders in Buffalo and other cities
• Organizing some throw-downs, maybe a bigger jam late in the spring or early summer.

A big concern I'm having is finding a good space.  Once we get beyond 6 people or so at a meet, holding it at somebody's apartment gets problematic.  Right now my three top ideas are the Unitarian Universalist church, Sugar City, and Sweetness_7, which closes early so we might be able to use that space if their baristas are involved.  Or...we'll find some other space that works.

But! For this meeting, we did a little brew-off to compare the Bonmac brewer against the Hario v60.  Coffees were a decaf Mexican by Spot, and El Salvador Finca Alaska by Social Coffee.

The Bonmac and the v60 are very similar drippers.  I got a plastic Bonmac a while back just to bump my Sweet Maria's order into the minimum order, and it has since become my go-to brewing method of choice.  They're both v-shaped drippers with relatively large drip apertures, and grooves on the inside.  The Bonmac filter, which fits either V dripper (and I'd guess would work in a chemex as well), seems pretty nice.  The only major difference seems to be that the v60 grooves are much more pronounced and move in a swirling pattern, while the ridges in the Bonmac are vertical and much more shallow.

At this cabal we started talking about brewing variables, getting scientific about trying to replicate or test brews.  So: the main variable we wanted to test here was if and how the cups from these brewers taste different, where the only real difference seems to be groove pattern.  However, Michael's v60 is ceramic, giving it better heat retention.  Also, our pouring patterns were slightly different, though we tried to match up after realizing that.  Also also, I didn't have my good gram scale or an accurate thermometer, so we may have had some small variances in dosing and brew temperature as well.

All that said, it was interesting to taste the difference.  My Bonmac + pour method seemed to really nail it on the Mexican, bringing out more brightness and a little more interesting flavor.  On the El Salvador, though, the v60 got the general thumbs-up: Michael's batch seemed to have more pleasing fruitiness.

I may have said it before, I'll say it again: I love brewing by mass ratios instead of worrying about volume.  Brewing onto an accurate scale and using a 1:17 coffee:water ratio makes hitting delicious brews really easy, and also allows repeatable pouring techniques if you're keeping an eye on the timer.

Closed the meeting by doling out some samples of KA-POW! from Sahagun Chocolate.  This. Stuff. Is amazing.  "The world's first single-origin coffee bar", it's coffee processed like chocolate.  The flavor and texture are amazing, incredibly rich and flavorful.  I'm really hoping some more chocolatiers get on this.

Good meeting!  What we need for next time is a bigger space.  We also need more baristas to start home-brewing!  These meetings will get really rocking when everyone can bring a kettle and a brewer of some kind.

I'm off to Florida this week to help set up shop, I'll keep you posted!