Weird Coffee maker "issue"


 
Well, I checked with OXO. seems I have to jump through a lot of hoops with them. Due to the fact of how I bought it through Amazon (not through the normal "retail" channel"). So since it has a 30 day return policy I am electing to simply send it back. I then went directly to OXO's own site and guess what? I find I can repurchase one (with an OXO coffee bean canister very nice one) for nearly $100 LESS than Amazon! With free shipping to boot! So, I put in an order that way and and when I get the new one, I'll ship the old one back. Though mean time I am unsure if maybe I'll resort to the Breville until the new OXO arrives and is set up or not.
I like using the OXO because it's a little more convenient to use than the Breville because of how it "fits" on the counter next to the low overhang cabinet.
 
Glad its resolved! I wish Sams would carry cone filters instead of only those baskets. Only need them for a spare HB which hardly gets used
 
BobH-SCW said:
Glad its resolved! I wish Sams would carry cone filters instead of only those baskets. Only need them for a spare HB which hardly gets used
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They do carry the If You Care brand cone filters. Got a huge box of them there. Funny thing too. I decided not to use the OXO this am because I've just been a little too preoccupied and yesterday scared me pretty badly as it was getting awfully damn hot.
In any case as good as the Breville is I noticed something. The coffee this AM from the Breville was noticeably lighter bodied and not as aromatic as what I was getting out of the OXO. Same coffee, same grind, same amount/ratios. I think though the OXO brews at a higher temp. Tomorrow I'll use the Breville again but a higher temp closer to OXO's temps
 
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Larry -- I've been following your journey on here.

Was wondering if a french press might be your ticket to getting a tasty pot of coffee relatively quick and easy. After years of tinkering with various automatic machines, I went very low tech FP and have never looked back.

I use a 1.5 liter size -- good for making just a few cups or a whole large pot. So long as you have a good burr grinder, the coffee output is way better than I ever got from any auto machine. Very simple to do and only takes 5 minutes. Although if you want to tinker, you can play around with the FP in more complicated ways. I'm partial to the James Hoffman method myself (which takes 10 vs. 5 minutes) when I have the time.

Personally, I like my coffee chewy and so roll with just the metal screen filter. But if you like paper filtered, there's plenty of ways to do that too with a FP.

I find an FP to be much easier to produce a good coffee in volume than an aeropress or pourover.
 

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Jim C in Denver said:
Larry -- I've been following your journey on here.

Was wondering if a french press might be your ticket to getting a tasty pot of coffee relatively quick and easy. After years of tinkering with various automatic machines, I went very low tech FP and have never looked back.

I use a 1.5 liter size -- good for making just a few cups or a whole large pot. So long as you have a good burr grinder, the coffee output is way better than I ever got from any auto machine. Very simple to do and only takes 5 minutes. Although if you want to tinker, you can play around with the FP in more complicated ways. I'm partial to the James Hoffman method myself (which takes 10 vs. 5 minutes) when I have the time.

Personally, I like my coffee chewy and so roll with just the metal screen filter. But if you like paper filtered, there's plenty of ways to do that too with a FP.

I find an FP to be much easier to produce a good coffee in volume than an aeropress or pourover.
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I have one. (a small one) but I honestly don't care for using it. I can't grind coarse enough so my coffee always turns out "muddy". And I own 5 grinders so I definitely don't want to buy another for that purpose :D
 
Maybe you just don't like FP style coffee. For me, it is by far the best ROI bundle of all the methods I've tried -- tasty coffee (sorry auto drip machines), brewed in quantity (sorry aero-press) with a fast/easy method (sorry pour over).

I'm sure one of your grinders would be more than ok to give you a good FP grind. The coffee cognescenti (including James Hoffman) advise more of a medium grind than a very coarse one. Since the big chunks are more likely to under-extract. I grind only slightly coarser for FP than for auto drip.

And plenty of ways to reduce the muddy factor -- which is often the reason cited for going very coarse. Many next gen FPs (like the Espro) have significantly finer filtering built in. You can also easily add a paper filter to a standard Bodum type FP.
 
I like the taste just not the "debris?". I'm not sure how to describe it. Don't get me wrong, I think it tastes good, I even have a couple of French presses. There is just something about it. It's good but not my favorite way to enjoy. Actually espresso is top notch for me, but, I have no patience for standing over the machine for multiple cups to fill my mug :D So, "good" drip is my preferred brew. Fast, (when the brewer works right and I have good beans), it's as good as it gets (best of all worlds) for me
 
Well I bought 1 of the reusable filters for my B&D because I was getting some splatter or grounds over the top of the filter, sometimes it would leave a few grounds in the pot, the new 1 is close to 1/2" taller and no more problems, was running low and looked for taller filters when I seen it and compared. Now I would bet all of the oils that were being trapped by the paper filter are making it into my cup. I do know it was slowing down the brew. It might make a big difference to you folks with the fine taste buds :ROFLMAO: $6-$7 test worked out well for me. just thought I would pass it along.
 
Oddly the Breville comes with one of those for the commercial 12 cup basket (so when making over 8 cups). I've never used it. But oddly the OXO only uses the commercial 12 cup baskets and does not come with one of those reusable ones. For giggles and grins I may try the Breville one in the OXO. But the new OXO arrived 3 days ago and so far working well
 
Well I bought 1 of the reusable filters for my B&D because I was getting some splatter or grounds over the top of the filter, sometimes it would leave a few grounds in the pot, the new 1 is close to 1/2" taller and no more problems, was running low and looked for taller filters when I seen it and compared.

FYI, Bunn paper filters are taller than most filters. They market them as "towering" above the rest.

Before I switched over to full time french pressing, I thought that the Bunn pour-o-matic (with the hot water reservoir) made really good auto drip coffee. Especially with the lower flow spray head.
 
So - I've noticed the grounds in the Breville not being properly wetted on a few occasions. Once I remove and reseat the showerhead, problem solved. So my long term solution is to proactively reseat it every couple of weeks.
 
GreggP said:
So - I've noticed the grounds in the Breville not being properly wetted on a few occasions. Once I remove and reseat the showerhead, problem solved. So my long term solution is to proactively reseat it every couple of weeks.
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I had been, but, I noticed after the latest "issue" I'd had that I decided to literally turn the whole machine over. Then remove the spray head. I then took dampened paper towels and cleaned the entire area inside and around and was amazed at how much coffee debris gets up inside there you don't see or reach unless you actually flip it over and look carefully at what you're doing and really clean down in there.
I think Breville's idea to fully saturate is not just dispersion as the OXO uses and many others with much larger heads, but displacement. I think with the force of that pump pushing the hot water out it's supposed to really stir up the bed. But then of course you have scattering of debris off the bed to an extent.
I have been amazed at how much collects up in the spray area. And yes BTW when I did all this and retested the unit the bed was once again fully agitated and saturated
 
Thanks JC, will look for some Bunn filters, the reusable is fine at home but prefer disposable in the camper to keep down water usage/ect.
 
MikeCantell said:
Thanks JC, will look for some Bunn filters, the reusable is fine at home but prefer disposable in the camper to keep down water usage/ect.
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Beware, if you have a machine that calls for "Commercial" size 12 cup filters, i.e. the Breville large basket, or the OXO I have, Bunn (even Bunn branded) filters will over flow, if making anything more than 8 cups (40 oz) of coffee. Yes I found out the hard way on both machines.
The Breville though has the advantage of using cones for 8 cups or less, while the only time the OXO can use a small cone is 2-4 cups. Anything over 4 requires the large flat bottom basket filter though through experimentation I've found my Bunn filters work fine at 40 oz (8 cups) or less (assuming you're using the "gold cup" measurements i.e. 40 oz water is 64 grams coffee. Sometimes I like to go over that and 66 grams or so seems to be the upper limit for the Bunn filters in a large bottom basket
 
LMichaels said:
Beware, if you have a machine that calls for "Commercial" size 12 cup filters, i.e. the Breville large basket, or the OXO I have, Bunn (even Bunn branded) filters will over flow, if making anything more than 8 cups (40 oz) of coffee.
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Oddly enough, the Bunn filters work pretty well in my Technivorm GDT 15 cup model. I did pick up a stack of 8-12 cup filters at Costco Business a couple of weeks ago (a whole $4,) and they are too small, both diameter and height.
 
JKalchik said:
Oddly enough, the Bunn filters work pretty well in my Technivorm GDT 15 cup model. I did pick up a stack of 8-12 cup filters at Costco Business a couple of weeks ago (a whole $4,) and they are too small, both diameter and height.
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Yeah, I can't speak to a Technivorm. But, the large basket of the Breville and the OXO are quite a lot larger than the basket of a Bunn machine in diameter. So, if you use a Bunn filter in these larger diameter baskets it loses close to 5/8" in height over using it in an actual Bunn basket. So it's that loss of height from spreading out to the larger OXO and Breville baskets that cause the overflow issue. Years ago I had a Bunn 10 cup machine. And no matter what brand of filter I tried (even name brands like Melitta) did not work in a Bunn machine. They all overflowed. Bunn was very shrewd in preventing generic branded filters from working properly in their machines. Kind of like the old Gillette razors. Sell the razors cheap and nail em with the blades
 
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