Thick, oily coffee

[alexanderkmoore]

Hello All,

While in college I had to pick up a full time job so needless to say it was crunch time. I started drinking coffee. I have always found commercial coffee shops around here to be watered down and of poor quality. I'd always have to hide the taste with a sugar and a cream.

Eventually I started experimenting with different brands at my grocery store and again I only found them to be mediocre at best. Eventually I found this brand called Kicking Horse and it appears they have available (to my geographic area at least) four flavours. I have tried 454 Horsepower and Three Sisters. Not too bad I must say. I definitely think it's an improvement over what I have been drinking.

One day at school, I made a pot of Melitta (medium roast grade 3/5) that had been lying around and I must have had just the right temperature of water and ratio of grinds to water because it was the most epic coffee I had ever had. Normally I think this brand is of low quality, but this came out as a really thick coffee and there was so much oil on the surface it looked like gasoline. I have never been able to recreate this again.

Any ideas on what happened here? What I really want is to find a brand or find a way to make a strong, thick, super oily coffee. If I have a cup like that I can hit the books for hours on end!

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Very interesting.... So you do not like Espresso? I am still trying to find what do you mean by Thick and oily.... Poor quality meant mild taste? More sophisticated over Dark and heavy? What do you think about double espresso?

 

[alexanderkmoore]

Hello CoffeJunky, I've had no complaints for espresso but I've only had espresso a few times but only from the same company (Starbucks). When I say thick, I mean a full-bodied coffee that doesn't feel/taste watery. As in your could probably have poured it into a clear cup and put a flashlight on the other side and not have seen it haha...the liquid actually felt very slightly more syrupy. And by oily, I mean the surface of the drink looked like a puddle of gasoline. I just can't bring myself to thoroughly enjoy coffee when it feels watered down. I've been trying each batch with different amounts of water and different times in the coffee grinder but so far have not had any luck. The local coffee company here called Old Rock that roasts their own imports (they have a selection of about 30 beans) suggested I try French roasts as they are darker. More experimenting to be done. I shouldn't say that poor quality meant mild taste, because I have tried a brand called Kicking Horse and it has a lot better taste but I still can't get the consistency I was looking for. I'm wondering if it was just the coffee machine I was using at college. It was just a generic machine, probably not super high quality or anything.

 

[catbutler]

I have found much success adding an additional filter rather than more coffee to slow down the brewing process. This makes the coffee a lot stronger and is certainly cheaper than using too much coffee.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Normally, I wouldn't recommend slow brewing process. But some people actually love dark and thic flavor of coffee.... If so, ground the coffee to medium and use the french press for brewing. Instead of brewing for 1-3 mins, Brew for about 4-5 mins. make sure the ground is little finer then typical french press ground. You will get more darker and rich flavor out of the coffee..

Do have very oily beans, you should try Espresso Blend. I don't think Starbucks espresso is tasty. They are just bitter but if you get Espresso beans, most likely you will get the Dark oily beans...

Good Luck.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Or actually you can ask some of the micro roasters on this site to Roast some for you.....

 

[alexanderkmoore]

I tried various levels of coffee grinds...I tend to prefer a darker, fuller taste, so I found that the hotter the water was and the finer the ground, the more it seemed to work for me. I eventually tried Nabob coffee (pre-ground), and added an extra filter and actually boiled water in a pot and then poured it directly onto the grounds I thought it would totally destroy the taste but it turned out pretty good!