Why Does My Coffee Smell Like a Skunk ?

[Nusailr]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i grind mine every day..... smells like french roast .. or espresso roast... coffee..LOL.. .goood luck!! ye can always come down to mazatlan for coffee......

Be right over.

[Lancerbye]

You have to quit recycling the water you use for washing your undergarments in. It makes lousy coffee.

[Astrid]

The aforementioned Zassenhaus brand uses conical burs in most of its hand grinders. I am not sure about the Turkish mill model, but I would not be surprised if it did too. Most hand grinders use either wheel or conical burs, with the latter being the better of the two.

[callmecrazy]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

yeha...im trying to find a good model. that one you have is awesome...but wow 75 $!

I've been using this Hario Ceramic Grinder (Kyocera also has the exact same model) that is a bit cheaper than the bodum. I've been using it for about 4 months now and couldn't be happier. Before this one I had a cheap version of the zassenhaus that worked very well, but I was worried it would eventually start to rust on the boat, so I went ceramic... worth every penny

Also as far as the smell goes, check the smell of your water (both the tanks or the faucet/hose it comes from). When I lived in New Orleans the tap water would occasionally smell terrible (no idea what it was!). the smell would then permeate everything it touched, including food you cooked and clothes and you washed...

[farotherside]

Originally Posted by High Heels

So Drew you really like your Bodum handpowered coffee grinder??? I am going to be in the market when we are closer to moving onboard full time and need to ween myself from the electric coffee grinder. I use my Aeropress which is a hand press coffee maker everywhere I go now but need to figure out the coffee grinder part of the equation...

I really do. It takes a while - like a good solid three minutes of cranking - to get enough coffee grinds for my six-cup espresso maker, but because it is a 'burr'-style grinder and not a spinning-blade type the grind is uniform and perfect. It took a few tries to adjust the grind to the perfect coarseness, but once that's locked in it works great every time. Brushed stainless steel and plastic; perfect for a boat.

www.bodumusa.com - the Bodum online shop

I like electric burr grinders just fine, but they tend to take much longer than blade-type grinders. I don't mind the extra time to grind by hand.

Honestly though, upgrading from a blade-type to a burr-type grinder is the single best thing you can do to increase the quality of your home coffee brewing! Blades chop up the beans indiscriminately, so that you have a mix of larger chunks and fine powder; burr grinders make a uniform grind that brews much cleaner. It is very difficult to go back to a blade-type!

I found my grinder for $20 at a yard sale. So far it has lasted me a year of daily use without the slightest hiccup, and an unknown amount of use before me.

[farotherside]

The morning ritual... stainless coffee bean tin not shown, as it was otherwise occupied at the time. Fresh-ground moka pot coffee (strong and rich), and steel-cut oatmeal w/quinoa, canahua, dried cherries and coconut.

[Astrid]

Coffee beans contain minute amounts of a chemical, furfuryl mercaptan, that is very similar to one of the primary chemicals a skunk uses so effectively in self defence. In normal coffee concentrations this chemical is hardly detectable by sense of smell, but it does serve the function of combining with other coffee smells to give the pleasent aroma one normally associates with freshly ground coffee. Some coffee merchants, however add more to the coffee grounds to ehance the aroma, but as the coffee becomes stale after the can has been opened, one loses the normal coffee aroma and the skunk like odor prevails. Switching brands and/or keeping the grounds in as air tight a container as possible to prolong freshness will help.

[senormechanico]

Drew,
Just for fun, it would be interesting to have a side by side taste test sometime rafted up in an anchorage either in the SJ's or Canadian Gulf Islands.

My Spectra watermaker water and electric grinder run for about 20 seconds vs. your obviously well thought out and produced coffee.
Is it a date?

[farotherside]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Drew,
Just for fun, it would be interesting to have a side by side taste test sometime rafted up in an anchorage either in the SJ's or Canadian Gulf Islands.

My Spectra watermaker water and electric grinder run for about 20 seconds vs. your obviously well thought out and produced coffee.
Is it a date?

I would love to! It'll have to be in the next couple of months tho, I'm hoping to head south at the end of the summer.

I'm currently shopping for a Spectra myself! Vancouver city water is the best in the world, but I don't want to be lugging jerry cans of water around in the tropics if I can help it.

[Kiwi.]

Originally Posted by svcambria

It's just fighting the symptoms and not the cause, but if you have dockside electricity and stay on board the small HEPA filtered fans are useful; if you are not on board, small open containers of household bleach, placed around the boat, evaporating into the air help...

Michael

I haven't heard of the evaporating bleach idea before. Does it help stop mould forming is is it just for the smell? Any downside that anyone can think off?

[zeehag]

ROFL....i use cheepie plastic grinder i got somewhere a long time ago -- grinds coffee like a pepper mill grinds pepper-- no need to pay lotsadough on a fancy dancy one-- i aint a yuppie nor a snotty yottie--i can do whatever with cheapie and love the hail out of it.. and i use a cheapo cone coffee filter holder for making my yummmmy brew--is sooogoood and sooo cheep-- i LOVE it!!!!
oh yes, and i have kept beans, whole, on board for almost a year without problems... still tastes great....
i refuse to use bleach inmy boat-- is dangerous to cat....and boat....hard on the rubber bits in boats and gaskets and such items if importance. they spill while under sail....LOL

[SaltyMonkey]

Gazookies zeezee. cones! no cones! French press only for saltymonkey. monkey uses cones only for cleaning out french press so grounds dont go down the drain.

not sure about the bleechie idea. love bleech but aerolating it makes me quite ill thinking.

[zeehag]

i find french press makes crunchy coffee--i dontlike that-- so i use cheeeepo one cup plastic cones...LOL.. from asian markets.

[callmecrazy]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i find french press makes crunchy coffee--i dontlike that-- so i use cheeeepo one cup plastic cones...LOL.. from asian markets.

This is where a proper grinder becomes important The one I have can grind anything from a proper espresso, to a perfectly consistent coarse ground that doesn't make it through the French Press screen.

I usually find French presses and Moka pots at the thrift stores all day, but I waited almost a year before I finally broke down and bought a real grinder. Money well spent IMO

[SaltyMonkey]

Yes, here is how I prepare

Boil water...
Grind beans on coarse while water boiling
Put grinds in press
Allow water to simmer for 45 seconds after boil
Pour water over grinds evenly and slowely
Allow to stand for 1 minute
Stir and place cover over press. Put opening away from spout. Do not press down.
Wait 3 more minutes.
Press slowely and pour into cup.

Some instructions allow for stirring right away, or for lowering the press 1/2 way down in the wait stage.

To clean the press, I use a mini colander and put mini coffee filters in it, then rinse the grains into the filter and let it drain.

I would like to find a place to buy replacement screens, but I have had no luck.