Amulet's Coffee

Aha... the first post is the crucial one. And then I had added a video in #25 to show how the coffee beans levitate in the roasting well of a hotair popcorn maker. And then there is a photo of what the sheen on the roasted beans looks like (#29)

There are suggestions for where one may buy coffee beans online, and how one may formulate to get to that "Holy Grail" taste of coffee from "home". All this is useful for people living away from "home", say in a wilderness away from coffee-civilized world. Like Wahpeton, North Dakota.

Since I like the Madras Coffee Filter design for how well it works to give a good decoction, I buy such filter contraptions for comparisons. The vietnamese filter, is simple, and works rather well. This is what I would recommend to anyone making an attempt at filter-coffee... before moving to an actual Madras Filter with tight-fitting decoction receptacle.

One other foreign location (Naples, Italy) has a design that is a little fancier in a "Madras Coffee Filter". It has a separate coffee powder compartment that is between the top and the bottom beaker of a Madras Coffee Filter design. And it looks quite beautiful on a kitchen counter. Here is a picture of the stainless steel version. The aluminium version does not look so nice, especially after a couple of uses.


This coffee maker is called "Cafe Neopolitano". Much cheaper to buy in Europe, when on a holiday.

 

Some coffee shops specialize in specific ways they make their coffee. I know one where they do only siphon coffee.

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On the counter one would see water in gentle simmer in the round-bottomed lower flask. The infra-red lamp that is below the flask is providing the heat. The top flask-funnel would be loosely placed on it. Like you see in the picture above.

When the customer orders come in (what kind of coffee, how strong), the barista would grind, and place the coffee in the upper flask-funnel, and press it tight over the lower flask. The lower flask gets pressurized, hot water goes up the funnel and meets the coffee beyond the ceramic-filter in the middle. The IR lamp is switched off. When the lower flask cools a bit, the pressure drops, and the brewed coffee is filtered to come down into it.

The coffee is usually ready in about five minutes. Hot milk, sugar, etc..are provided separately. The decoction is thin or dark depending on the amount of coffee-grounds that was put in the funnel, and when the IR lamp (heat source) goes off to cool down the lower flask.

My contraption at home has an Erlenmeyer Flask (also known as a Conical Flask) on the bottom, and can sit directly on a hot plate or gas flame.

 

@Viswamitra
Here is a good starting point to get to that Madras Filter Coffee powder mix from the 1960's, 1970's Madras:

I have used Colombian Exelso Arabica beans, Tanzanian Peaberry beans, and Medium roasted Chicory granutes. These are mixed in the 20g, 20g, 10g ( 20% chicory, 80% coffee in the same mix that the TUCS ration shops used to allocate).



Arabica and Peaberry Coffees are separately roasted. And mixed on a weigh scale in that 80:20 ratio on a paper boat. Then the mix is transferred into a coffee grinder, and a fine grain powder is made. Typical coffee/spice grinders would accommodate up to 60 grams. Then using either a Madras filter, or a Vietnamese filter one would go on to the decoction making step.

After the decoction is made, one would take decoction in a cup, and pour piping hot milk:water mix into the decoction until the colour is "right". Some like it dark, and other like it milky.

Good luck.

 

You get these in Amazon.india
Do you get these in America also ?

I was intrigued by some "stove top filter" from Amazon that @Laks09 mentioned. Is this an espresso maker ?

Coffee roasted & ground for filter coffee makers would be unsuitable for any high extraction procedures -- like siphon or espresso. These methods tend to suck too much acidic components (people with access to Lab' equipment can try using a pH meter to measure the decoction's pH) and the coffee would taste weird.

 

Even though you started with "the way you filter it", @jskls had immediately suggested a new coffee powder.
That is what I also think. A Madras filter would work to produce a dark decoction, if the coffee powder is not too old, came out of a vacuum packed bag, and was made from beans that are roasted to that first-oily-sheen-darkness I had mentioned earlier. Such a lot of variables is what makes me buy green coffee, and roast my own beans.

Oh?! Wow.

If you are not getting strong coffee decoction from the espresso maker, there is definitely something the matter with the coffee powder you are using.
Go with @jskls' recommendations. Going my way is just too long a road, albeit a better option.