This was our first Stumptown coffee experience!
Basically I am not a coffee drinker. I have coffee occasionally but prefer tea. However, I suddenly developed my interest in mastering the art of French press coffee since I just bought a new French press pot. More precisely, I was obligated to buy a new pot because I accidentally broke our old one. I read several online articles and instructions about how to make French press coffee. Each source said more or less different from others, but there seems to be a consensus. First of all, however, I thought fresh and fine coffee beans are critical to make a nice cup of coffee no matter how to make, including French press. Since I haven't tried any brands of so-called "third wave" coffee, it would be a good opportunity to introduce one of them to our home. I chose Stumptown. Their customer supporter recommended me Hair Bender and Guatemala Finca El Injerto Bourbon. I simply followed their suggestion.
Since our coffee beans were Stumptown's, I followed their way to make French press coffee - the amount of beans and water, brewing time, timing to stir, and etc. Now time to grind beans. Among French press users, apparently a burr grinder is more popular than a blade grinder. So, I bought a little hand burr grinder with a special attachment tool for steady coarse grind!
Fill the top with beans and rotate a handle...
Done! All whole beans were coarsely ground.
Brewing time was total four minutes.
We tried Guatemala Finca El Injerto Bourbon first and Hair Bender next day. Both tasted supurb. Clean, fresh, aromatic; not wrongly bitter, muddy, oily or flat at all. If I had to pick one, that would be Guatemala. It was more complex than Hair, I thought. It had a hint of citrus. Acidic coffee taste is not usually my favorite, but in this case, the slight sour tone was nicely balanced with other flavors, and I actually thought it was very pleasant. We quickly finished both beans within two weeks - the time that the beans were still fresh! Now I would love to try other beans of Stumptown as well as other third wave brands. Am I converting to a coffee lover?
