How To Brew Better Dark Roasts

[@maxpower8460]

Love how James needs to put more time into defending the concept of drinking dark roasts than drinking donuts in coffee.

[@ondank]

Does James think we are coffee snobs? James thinks we're coffee snobs who laugh at dark roasts doesn't he !? I mean I am. But I'm also an addict so I'll drink anything.

[@danielsoukup5734]

XD XD XD

[@ophelianervosa]

@@ondank I think anyone who looks into improving their coffee skills has looked down on a dark roast, at least once in their life. Also, the coffee James used would seem light to the average person, buying coffee from the supermarket

[@slothc]

@@ondank if taste is subjective and so many "peasants" prefer the taste of dark roast, why would it be fine to look down on dark roast? Just because nerds discovered the complexity of various coffee beans doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the straightforwardness of dark roasts.

[@ondank]

@@slothc it's entirely a joke mate. I love dark roast. I love light roast. Loosen up.

[@ashleyjholding6350]

Hi James - I'm a chemist and I do a lot of work on extraction and solubility. If I were to hypothesise, the reason this works is because you will first extract more of the low molecular weight compounds: the carboxylic acids, esters which give the bright, fruity and sweet flavours, which are "easier" to extract, because they are smaller. With more heat you will extract more of these initially. With increasing time, you will be extracting more of the bitter, high molecular weight compounds formed, and reducing the temperature here means you will slow the extraction of the more undesirable compounds.

[@Heroniak]

This is extremely fascinating. Thank you

[@chaquator]

this lines up with a lot of the research going over tea, mainly originating from china where the culture of tea is bigger. teas are more finicky with temperature because certain compounds are extracted faster at higher temps so the game is to get the temperature and steep time right to avoid too much bitterness

[@gwynethsoria8807]

Got into coffee because of James and I am constantly amazed he never runs out of coffee knowledge to share!

[@TeodorOlteanu]

Maybe read his books then ;)

[@mihirpotnis7933]

Ifkr

[@sup2320]

Same, I was drinking nescafe everyday until the KZbin algorithm led me here.

[@toasterboy708]

He just invents new shït to wow you with.

[@kivzzzz]

Welcome! 🎉

[@wizendwizard]

James: "You really wanna be using it within 2-3 weeks." Me: *cries with my 3-month old dark roast beans*

[@vijfenhalfhoek]

I've still got a bag from March I don't want to throw away.. God help me

[@sourdoughhome2571]

In another video James has started supporting freezing beans, or at least has stopped condemning the practice. Freezing extends the shelf life dramatically. (The video where he talk about liquid nitrogen and super-cooling beans.)

[@ropro9817]

I just bought a 2.5 lbs bag of French Roast from Costco yesterday and I live alone... 😭

[@ropro9817]

@Account number 7 lol Ummm, what? 😆

[@paul_om4822]

@@ropro9817 hemm I brought a 1kg bag from Lidl and threw it in the bin ... After tasting it I must add

[@christianelbertbudiman5247]

I really appreciate what James done for coffee. His experiment, his eagerness, his explanation is superb, even for the type of coffee he personally said does not prefer (this time, about darker roasted coffee). I salute you James! Hope this video really broadens the view of many people around the world.

[@danielleanderson6371]

He's also kind to people who put cream and sugar in their coffee, which is really appreciated in stark contrast to a lot of coffee snobs who have a superiority complex over people who add stuff to their drinks.

[@gino7460]

@@danielleanderson6371 Yeah and I believe they have a term for it. They call it "tainting" lmao

[@danielleanderson6371]

@@gino7460 It definitely does mask the flavor of the coffee, in the same sense that adding garlic butter to a steak masks the taste of beef. What those people miss is that the mask also tastes good and pairs well with the thing it's masking, so it's more of a lateral shift in flavor where you can argue for either side. And just like steaks, I wouldn't buy a super expensive specialty coffee just to make pumpkin spice lattes. Specialty coffee would definitely taste better than cheaper coffee in that context, but if I'm buying something expensive it's because I want to taste that expensive thing. Mid-grade coffee, on the other hand, is great for making milk drinks and other fun stuff because you aren't paying for that extra complexity you're covering up.

[@Mark13376]

No kidding. I've learned alot about what to look for when I'm trying to make myself a cup of joe. Everyone knows Folgers is bad, but to know WHY, and how to do it better, is why I keep coming back to James. That being said, his palette is much more finely tuned than mine. I did his Aeropress method, along with one of the most aggressive methods, and could barely taste the difference.

[@komkwam]

@@danielleanderson6371 Isn't that just normal behaviour, to accept and respect other peoples preferences and taste in foods and drinks? Imo that should always be the way to go anyway. I can't take people who are telling me how i should eat or drink my food/drinks really serious.

[@humphreychiu]

I think what you call darker roast in the video is more like a medium roast for common supermarket beans. The ones labelled ‘french style’ or ‘Italian style’ are scarily shiny black beans. Those are expected to be served with dairy. Really appreciate the video, we consume a lot of coffee and a lot of the time we just have to buy from supermarket which tends to be the darker roast. I notice the boiling water bloom, it is exactly like when I bloom with just boiled water! I’ll definitely try 80C brew with my v60!

[@lucasmunoz7413]

These intros are seriously KZbin hall of fame.

[@matthewweaver1123]

I will say this, getting a good dark roast from a local roaster is completely different than getting a cheap dark roast from the supermarket. I thought I didn't like dark roast, but I got a dark roast Sumatra from a local roaster, and holy moly is it good. As I brewed it, I was met with scents of chocolate and caramel, and it had a depth that I didn't think coffee had. Zero acidity, but not really that bitter either. Because of your 'ultimate aeropress method', I went from someone who didn't like coffee to someone who can't wait to taste it in the morning in about a month.

[@beforedawn]

Sumatran beans when done well are absolute bangers. They can be outstanding.

[@TrizzaW]

Thanks for sending some love to those of us that prefer the dark side! I'm one of those that *hates* acidic coffee. Less about the flavour and more because it feels very unpleasant in my stomach. The roasty, toasty flavours of dark coffee are very warm and comforting too.

[@TheAkANIMAL907]

Never really thought why I prefer darker roasts until this comment. I can remember light/blonde roasts giving me a very unpleasant and uncomfortable stomach feeling afterwards too

[@TrizzaW]

@@TheAkANIMAL907 yes! I had a similar moment some years back. I find that light roasts of the type heavily consumed here in Finland give me a painful stomach, and far more of the coffee induced bathroom visits than dark roasts do. I'm originally from Australia so I'm more accustomed to darker roasts and espresso drinks, so the ultra light roast filter coffee here was a real shock to my system.

[@omersiddiqui4371]

@@TheAkANIMAL907 could be due to the higher caffeine content in lighter roasts

[@TrizzaW]

As far as technique goes, when dialing in my V60 brews I found that I had to go to a very coarse grind to get a good result. I must test out the ratio and temperature tweaks :) I still usually prefer a splash of milk/oat milk but thats mostly because I enjoy the thicker mouthfeel it gives.

[@jamesrael9557]

Ironically, I’m the opposite. I love dark roast for the flavor rather than the difference in acidity with lighter roasts. But I definitely agree that our pour dark roast community are the wallflowers of the coffee-nerddom dance. I’m glad to see us get some attention, too.

[@DaveCalx]

I am often impressed by the depth of James' knowledge and how he consistently articulates the concepts in an interesting and compelling manor without sounding pompous.

[@danielsoukup5734]

I love that you’re super into specially coffee but you want to help people enjoy what they like. You don’t try to convince people that your preferences are the correct way to brew coffee.

[@mattzechman4408]

Exactly. He’s not a typical coffee snob, which is what we love about him.

[@aclonymous]

he doesn’t try to, but he does

[@PippetWhippet]

@@mattzechman4408 I find most "snobs" in any walk of life are "snobby" to hide a lack of true expertise. They know only one way to make - in this instance a great cup of coffee, and will not brook that they don't know something that someone they believe they should know more than, knows. So they use snobbishness to cover their insecurity. James on the other had is a true expert, it comes across in every video that he genuinely understands and has a great desire to improve his understanding. He doesn't need to hide anything, but I bet if you asked him, when he was learning in his earlier years, he had a snobbish reaction to certain subjects.

[@Tastewithnewdrinks]

Me too🥰🥰

[@BruceWalkerPhotography]

I really like dark roasts for a change and to get that special rich, chocolatey, syrupy combination of flavours and body that seems to come only with something like a dark roasted quality Brazilian bean. But one additional technique for getting the best from dark roasts that I feel you missed mentioning here is to pour gently. After the bloom pour while starting each additional pour I use the bowl of a long handled spoon held under the kettle spout, and close to the coffee surface, to moderate the agitation of the grounds. I remove the spoon after there's enough hot water on the grounds bed. I also pour from closer to the water surface then I do for light/medium roasts. By doing this I avoid a lot of bitterness and a kind of nasty stridency or harshness I'd get otherwise. Thank you for all the great tips and research you do, James!

[@cl5619]

Dark roast coffee taste like charcoal

[@desertrainfrog1691]

I have a feeling you're talking about over-roasted coffee, not a proper dark roast from a quality company. But tastes vary, drink what you like.

[@lisakaramba3251]

I never considered myself as a nerd. Then I discoverd James Hoffmann's KZbin-Channel... well, here we are.

[@MelvinHughesatp]

James, your video inspired me to experiment with two dark roast today. First, I do not care at all for acidity or bitterness. At 70, I've had too much bad coffee in my life to want more. So I am one of those you describe as using sweetener (in my case, honey,) to mask bitterness. So trying out your formula, 35 grams of coarser ground coffee for 500 ml of water, doing a 100 degree C bloom, followed by 80 degrees C for the remainder, I used a blend this morning. Peet's Major Dickason was indeed much less bitter and completely drinkable without anything added. But adding a little less than a teaspoon of honey made it superb for me. This afternoon, I repeated the experiment with a single-source Columbian coffee which had been problematic for me before with its higher rates of acidity. The coarser grind, 100 degree/80 degree C brewing did tame some of the acidity as well as the bitterness. For me, it was drinkable without anything but I didn't love it. Again, a bit less than a teaspoon of honey made it much more palatable for my tastes. The only two downsides for me are juggling the temperatures of the water and the fact that you end up with a much cooler cup of coffee. Even served in a pre-warmed Yeti cup, it seems (my perception is?) that the cup cools down from 80 degrees C much faster. Will I continue? I do like the the Major Dickason and will probably do it this way occasionally. I think the acidity of the Columbian doomed it from the beginning. That said, it is much better done in this fashion for me.

[@defeqel6537]

I despise sweeteners as a principle, but I do admit that a lot of the time my coffee is missing a "front" taste which a dash of sweet could rectify

[@mdc47]

This is so interesting Melvin! Thank you!

[@stewartesmith]

I've found that the Ember mug is an essential for me when drinking brewed coffee that was brewed at a lower temperature. Since it keeps the drink warm with a heating element (rather than just insulation), I can enjoy the drink at the optimal temperature over a leisurely amount of time. Yes, the Ember mug seems like possibly the silliest thing ever. An expensive mug with bluetooth and an app. But honestly it's possibly one of the best things I've ever bought. Bought one (after James' video), lent it to my (rather skeptical) wife the next day, next morning, we had two.

[@MrApex-se1qe]

James: My Ultimate AeroPress recipe is so simple a child can do it. Also James: Today we'll be brewing a V60 with water at 2 different temperatures.

[@val26874]

Set some boiled water aside in a jug before you bloom. Then bloom with water from the kettle, and brew with water from the jug. The water in the jug should be cooler by the time it gets to the coffee, because it's been poured twice instead of once.

[@daveculturegames7819]

Tasting V60 paper was more hardcore

[@oussamasaidi5836]

"because i want everyone to enjoy coffee a little bit more" thank you James ^_^ how sweet of you

[@TZerot0]

"the coffee we are using today is dark" shows a pleasant medium, medium-dark roast 🤣

[@djentlover]

The camera exposure is pretty high

[@seedubhuntx]

"real" dark roasts vs supermarket/starbucks dark lol

[@deluxgaming6742]

Thought the same thing... it's really not that dark xD

[@andrewwdouglas]

light/medium/dark are relative terms and In the world of specialty, it is focused on the development of the bean between first and second crack. James looks like he's using a full city roast (just before second crack) thus a dark roast. many will claim medium roasts that are beyond second crack like grocery store coffee or SB but in a specialty vacuum, this has gone too far and is likely from a lower grade of coffee.

[@lfish21.]

Medium dark is pretty dark in specialty coffee though.

[@spud1300]

And here I've been brewing dark roasts at 100C like a pleb all this time, choking down bitter, over-extracted mud. Smiling, going about my life, hating existence like the rest of us..... only to now.... this very weekend, take my brewing down 20C to 80C and I've seen the light. Wow what a wonderful few cups of coffee I've had this weekend. Thanks James.... thanks for saving humanity from themselves.

[@srikaran1306]

Dark roasts are criminally underrated. I've followed the exact trajectory that James described, I began my coffee journey with darker roasts since I wasn't used to the acidity. Today my daily is always a medium/light, but I always have a dark roast packet in my kitchen. I'll make a cup once in a while and the palette change ALWAYS blows my mind. Just get a good dark roast obviously lol

[@na2718]

They are only underrated in third wave circles.

[@WesternRay]

I'm a Vietnamese native. In my country, we have a huge coffee culture, and the most common coffee beans are dark roast Robusta. Although specialty coffee is becoming much more popular, the regular way to brew it is a type of immersion drip, with hot boiling water and coffee beans grind as fine as possible. However, the coffee roasting process is a bit different - there are many addicitives put into the coffee, including butter, fish sauce and even egg sometime. The resulting cup is rich, heavy body and has an earthly taste, and we often drink it with a lot of condensed milk. Of course, there are tons of variants, but that result is usual. I'm experimenting with dark roast Robusta on Aeropress, using Fellow Prismo attachment and additional paper filter to get rid of the oil. Thank you for making these videos, it's very informative.

[@willcarlson2520]

The paper filter will help your cholesterol levels as well!

[@hikuwai]

Really appreciate this, thank you! I'm a medium/dark roast fiend, because I prefer deeper coffee flavors to acidity, but I often feel snobbed-out (is that a word? It's a word now) for it. Thanks for giving us plebes some support. :)

[@TrizzaW]

Yep. I've been sneered at mockingly by more than one coffee snob/hipster for saying that I prefer darker roasts. "Might as well just drink instant", apparently...

[@spirit__fox]

@@TrizzaW Same, which is really not fun.

[@sebaba001]

@@TrizzaW I can't stomach dark roasts (or at least very dark roasts, when they start feeling ashy) but I can definitely understand why some people like them. Snobbery sucks.

[@Keykey70]

@@TrizzaW retort with "if you like your coffee so bright and dainty you might as well drink tea" lmao I'm fine with whatever people's preferences are, but biting back at snobbery feels good

[@Juleszzzzz]

@@Keykey70Hmm.. that might not work. That light roast snob is very likely a tea snob too (example: me) lol

[@briangray851]

Single origin Sumatra is my favorite coffee. I love it because it has a full body with low acidity and when you get that chocolate and earthy flavors from the Sumatra beans, I don't know how it gets much better in a cup of coffee. I exclusively use the Aeropress to make those amazing cups of Sumatra.

[@nbougeard]

"I want everyone to enjoy coffee a little bit more." Not a haiku but still

[@ollie6563]

Add "drinking" to the second line and we're all the way there :)

[@davidmarshall2399]

Is damn close: I want every (e-ver-y) One to enjoy coffee a Little bit more...... (Just need one more syllable)

[@trzynasty909]

I want everyone To enjoy coffee a bit More than they do now

[@franekwojciechowicz3167]

Let's take a moment to appreciate how good James looks in the black sweater in that black, white and silver background

[@yumyumhungry]

Thanks for making this, people snob over this saying dark roasts are like a well-done steak. There are some wonderful earthy chocolaty notes in something like a nice Sumatra.

[@landenew]

just don't get starbucks Sumatra

[@broado1]

@@landenew just don't get Starbucks anything. 🤢 Actually that's not quite true, astonishingly they brew quite reasonable tea these days. (well, reasonable for a teabag tea in a motorway service station.)

[@nycbearff]

I love dark roasts, and I have no patience with people who claim that they have superior tastes and that everyone should like the same things. One of James' big attractions is that he's clear that his preferences are just his preferences, and that everyone should experiment and find what they like.

[@ggarethoy]

James, I recently found your channel and have been enjoying it immensely. I'm one of those dark roast devotees thanks to meeting Alfred Peet in his original shop in 1969. I've been drinking Peets dark roast coffees for more than 50 years now and as an old timer, I haven't changed much but I have evolved a bit and now use a Hario scale, Fellow EKG, and Ode Grinder. Your ideas for brewing dark roasts proved to be very helpful. I just got a V60 Switch, V60 filters and have been using 96 degrees for a bloom (to hang my nose over), then refill the kettle with cold water to bring it down to 90 degrees for the slurry. I use 18 grams of grounds with 220 grams water. I pour 40 grams for the bloom, wait 45 seconds, then add 180 grams for the slurry and stir/swirl the mix. I let it sit for 2:00 minutes including the bloom and then break the crust with a spoon, and at 2:15 flip the switch and swirl it as it drains in about 1:15. This results in 180 grams (6 oz.) of coffee. It’s sweeter now, a more mellow but still full bodied and satisfying. Now I'm going to start toying with the grind size, dialing the Ode down from 3 to a little finer and see what happens. Who knows maybe I’ll even try a lighter roast.

[@saamenerve1869]

James' all black sweater is just too suiting to today's video

[@arthurb8436]

@@svgPhoenix my first thoughts haha

[@aanmaaklimonade]

My mom used to do pour over coffee on our boat with a melita pour over filter over a thermos, lots of people with fancy automatic coffee machines would frown upon that style of coffee as it was so old fashioned. Right now, i know why i loved her coffee so much... and she was basically pouring as a 2021 hipster 25 year ago. The roasts were quite dark, but this is something common in the Netherlands where we would drink fairly strong coffee. I personally love a bit of bitterness in the cup, and if it’s well balanced it goes a long way. Not with milk or sugar though.. Thanks for also including darker roasts in your videos :)

[@morgandrinkscoffee]

You might just convince me to go try another dark roast with this video...

[@mrperson5443]

Nice seeing you here, Morgan!

[@michaelkartman3543]

Well hello, Ms. SpillsCoffee :)

[@rajrishiparmar1362]

Wait a minute morgan, you use light roast in milk based drinks? I have never tried that...damn

[@HerSrd]

@@rajrishiparmar1362 You should try!

[@fargoflagrant7796]

collab when

[@benmoore8723]

TL;DR: James, you have done it again. I really appreciate this video, you've helped me improve the quality of my coffee experience. Longer story for those who want to follow my experience: My coffee journey started many years ago and I preferred darker roasts. As I began enjoying exploring different coffees from different locations and different methods of brewing, I found myself appreciating lighter roasts coffee much more. This was accentuated by a particular trend in some coffee shops that seem to roast their beans frankly too dark (while still selling at a premium price) roasting the region out of the coffee. Almost as a personal statement, I've intentionally stayed away from darker roasts since. I've been roasting my own beans at home for quite a while too. This started from an thrift store air popper, moving to some Frankensteined abomination of a convection oven and a flatbed popcorn popper, to now using a much more efficient yet affordable drum roaster...my roasting habits reflected my flavor interests and definitely grew more on the light end of the spectrum. Literally 3 weeks ago I began trying to roast more dark to explore my "roots". I've tried 3 different kinds of coffee and kept my brew process consistent with the lighter roast profiles and while not bad, I thought: "why would I do this over a lighter roast"? I found myself putting creamer back in my coffee (though I did make some homemade Irish Cream and that didn't disappoint). I had just a little bit left (enough for 3 cups) as I watched this yesterday and followed the process (all of it) and that 'meh' coffee came to life (my wife agreed). I went out and roasted a Costa Rican coffee (one of my favorites) and took it a good bit darker than usual. I sit here typing this drinking it (I should have let it rest longer, but I'm weak and couldn't wait), again following the process as you've indicated - dang if it isn't a terrific cup of coffee. Again, I thank you!

[@fluidparadigms6719]

It feels like the specialty coffee community as a whole has adopted a sort of "Dark roasts are for plebs and if you like them, you should feel bad" mentality. I hope we see a shift to something more like "Light roasts and dark roasts are just different - neither is inherently better or worse."

[@jeancaldwell5391]

Beautifully said!

[@mwiz100]

I'd agree but I think a lot of that has come from that the large portion of mass produced darker roasts are, terrible. So the end result of saying "ALL dark roasts are bad" wherein it's more just that mass produced coffee is kinda crap. Specialty dark roasts are excellent too!

[@vladtepes9614]

@@mwiz100 Counter Culture's dark roast (Gradient) is pretty good. Classic flavors you would expect while maintaining slight hints of fruit-like acidity.

[@PippetWhippet]

It's just fashion, these things are highly cyclical! I guarantee you now, in 25 years time, most people will think light roasts are for plebs and people will be drinking such bitter brews, as dark as possible as the in thing, with flat white quantities of milk to blend it all together. I still remember when all the foodies used to scoff at the idea of eating rare steak, laughing at the "plebs" who can't keep a well done steak moist, so they have to cheat. Then the French fashion took over, and it reversed. Except now in France, the real steak loving foodies are cooking their steaks for as much as 50 hours plus to get the juiciest, most well done properly rendered steak. Even when you think a particular stance is so endemic to the subject - say politics. How could a right wing believer think capitalism is a problem, or a left wing not believe in social health care.... 40 years ago, both these stances were reversed. It's all just fashion.

[@fluidparadigms6719]

@@PippetWhippet That makes a lot of sense. I only been a "coffee enthusiast" for about 10 years, so I didn't really see the whole "second wave" thing that people talk about.

[@sunayanib]

I've been a fan of darker roasts for a long time, and it's great to see James talking about them here! And so much yes to lower brew temps for darker roasts!

[@MrLiguinii]

We are having a glimpse on the mid range espresso machine review in the background. I can't wait!

[@jack_mitchell01]

1000$ Espresso machine range is next

[@shoppster300]

This actually shines a light on an interesting phenomena I've been noticing about the bloom and specifically agitation in the bloom. I feel that this 45 second part of coffee brewing in a pour over has much more impact on the flavour profile than the remaining 2 minutes or so. I feel there's definitely some interesting science lurking in this phase. Especially that instant 100c water hits the coffee, and the swirl is made. There's some complex extraction taking place in this moment that has a drastic affect on the end result. In doing my own experimentation I've noticed that even milliseconds in swirl time with 100c water can make a big difference the final brew. An even bigger difference than grind size with all other variables kept the same. There's a thing happening here that no one has actually scienced yet.

[@desertrainfrog1691]

I have a feeling this could very well be a placebo effect, but I hope James looks into it regardless.

[@__a_4444]

Me, drinking Nescafé gold using water straight from the tap: Hmm, yes, indeed

[@xc43t]

Lidl Barista Origins here, instant goodness. A person needs to broaden his or her horizons. How else does a person know how much pain is still possible to live through?

[@michaelkartman3543]

I don’t know how you can watch his videos and not get the basic tools to brew real coffee! I can’t even bring myself to drink pre found coffee these days.

[@zomerkoninkjes]

Me drinking Douwe Egberts pre-ground coffee that’s actually half milk: hmmm yes I definitely agree

[@xc43t]

@@michaelkartman3543 I actually have a good coffee shop around the corner that is supplied by Square Mile. I have been using aeropress for ages but there are mornings when I am too lazy. Also, instant coffee makes you appreciate good stuff more... well, it makes me appreciate it anyway.

[@Krytern]

@@michaelkartman3543 You should watch James's video about what they don't tell about about learning to taste.. He talks about how limiting yourself to ONLY top quality is counter productive and just a bad thing to do

[@danika6540]

As someone who has been enticed by a lot of people towards light roasts, I realized they're not for me. Acidity in coffee is something I have an extreme dislike for, and I like the intense, strong aromas of dark roasted coffee in the style of blended italian espresso coffees. I found that using a Moka pot I can get very consistent (and very good) results, even after the "ideal" time of consumption. Thank you for making a video that actually pertains to people who like quality, high-grade coffee, but don't really want it to be just single-origin acid bombs.

[@MrArmlicker1]

It's like every new video is exactly what I want to know. Christmas comes every week

[@lachlanhoughton9501]

Your production quality has just gone through the roof in the last 12 months. So glad to have been along for the ride for all of this

[@XxxxJammyxxxX]

Perfect timing! I mostly drink decaf, as I don't like the feeling I get from too much caffeine, and I have found that it's not nearly as easy to get good light roasted decaf as it is to find good dark roast decaf. So recently I've been trying to get the best out of the dark roasted beans that I've been buying, and I couldn't be happier to see this video! I have tried to adapt the famous JH Aeropress technique to a darker roast, and have had some success doing pretty much all the things you mentioned in this video. I don't have a temperature controlled kettle, so I have been boiling the water then pouring it into a pyrex jug, and taking the temperature with a digital cooking thermometer. Usually the temperature is around 85c in the jug straight away which seems to be about right. Grinding a LOT coarser, almost to the lower limit of my grinder, and steeping for less time helped a great deal with taking out the bitterness. With regards to decaf; I am very much looking forward to the, hopefully still planned, video on the subject in the future. There are a lot of conflicting opinions on the various methods of decaffeination, and I would love to see someone dive into the subject with a more comparative view.

[@usngunr]

OK. I know I'm late to the party, but......... I tried this today. Holy cow does it work great. So, I kicked my dose up 5g and ground it coarse medium in my 1Zpresso K-Max. First, I did my normal at a boil pour over. Bloom 30 seconds, dose in stages up to my 400g total pour. about a 2:30 brew time. It was a good cup of coffee. Then I went with Jame's method. I bloomed at a boil. Dropped the temp down to 175f and did my pour over. Other than the cooler temperature, everything else I did exactly the same as that first cup. The difference was immediately noticeable and significant. Holy cow folks, what a great cup of coffee. Far more nuance, less bitter, and far superior to my previous efforts. James, we are not worthy. ;) I can't wait to get the new book. Thank you for all you do sir. V

[@godithdadrag]

I literally converted my wife to being a coffee drinker because of little tips and tricks from videos like this. I have some fresh darker roast I wasn't excited to try but this is going to make me to load it up in my grinder once I'm home

[@etatsopa]

I love both light and dark roasts, but to me a really excellent dark roast espresso is almost like a different drink entirely to a light roast espresso, the flavours are just so different.

[@panmicrotones]

yes this is my experience as well.

[@Greenkrieg]

Its very nice seeing some love for dark roasts. I hate the sour flavor that tends to come with specialty light roast coffee. I like the bitterness of dark roasts and I usually put a small amount of cream in just for texture. I tried this method and I think it came out better. But I think next time I have some time on my hands I'll have to do a side by side comparison of my usual method and this one.

[@agabrielhegartygaby9203]

I suspect from the 14 other replies here that we are not alone.

[@javirebeld]

Did you compare both methods?

[@PhantomPhoton]

Thank you for finally covering dark roasts! Please continue to include dark roasts in your reviews and guides!

[@hgld]

Just tried it at 80C and the difference is night and day. I enjoy decaf in the afternoon but find the beans fit the same profile as these darker roasts and seem to be very porous too. The change in the way the coffee blooms at 80C is so different. Very grateful for learning about this. I had previously always held the belief that water temp for pour over was just not something to fiddle with and routinely used water that had just come off the boil.

[@Bjuffs]

I'm a light roast drinker but I care about my dark roast friends. Thank you James for helping me contribute slightly less to their suffering when they're visiting.

[@ropro9817]

Wow, this totally works! Following these instructions, I was able to brew some French Roast which was much smoother and less bitter. Thanks, James!

[@pshing0304]

I have tried from a barista who used 3 different set of temperature. His explanation was that different temperature extracts different favours from the same beans better. In addition, in a commercial setup, deliver the drink with lower temperature help faster turnover. So it’s win-win for the shop and the customer.

[@bitsandbytes16]

This is excellent, since I'm currently in Japan and they love their dark roast filter coffee. I've been struggling to achieve a good brew like the traditional cafes do over here, and James' tips may just be what I need to crack the code on this one.

[@Agos226]

Same! I’ve never liked acidic coffee which was all the cafes over seemed to serve. When I moved to Japan I fell in love with the dark roast filter coffee the serve at fancy cafes but still was unable to replicate it at home

[@Gabu_Dono]

As a meteorologist my first guess about the quicker degassing would be: hotter water evaporates more quickly and more heat usually accelerates chemical reactions => more degassing. Thanks for the video, I look forward to trying this out.

[@lukastreuer8121]

There's just nothing quite as relaxing as a nice cup of coffee and a James Hoffmann video on a sunny Saturday morning

[@ishmael4489]

Indeed. Or a Sunday morning in my case. I'm on my second cup!

[@lukastreuer8121]

@@ishmael4489 Nice! Enjoy!

[@ssstbc]

First, a thanks for all your KZbin content... you're the reason I've become obsessed with coffee! I'm sure you'll get questions like this all the time, so I'll not be surprised if I don't get an answer...but, I'd be really interested in your opinion (and your subscribers) on the V60 recipe I've been using recently. I've not seen anybody else use it and the results are really good (in my opinion, anyway). Thanks for reading, and look forward to more on your channel, cheers Lawrence 15g coffee - Finer side of course 250g water - Just off the boil to start with 1. Pre-rinse filter paper etc. 2. Coffee in filter, ensure bed is flat 3. Start timer, saturate with 15g of boiling water, slowly so as not to disturb the bed too much 4. At 45 secs, add 5g of water to ensure full saturation 5. At 1 min 15 secs, slowly pour the rest of the water, disturb the bed as little as possible. Start pouring from the outside in circles until there is enough water on the top of the bed so pouring in the middle in circles won't disturb it. This pour should take 1 min in total 6. 2 min 15 secs, all the water is now in, lift V60 slightly and tap on cup 3 times to encourage any free floating coffee to fall back down to the bed, leave to draw down 7. Draw down should be completed between 3 min and 3 min 30 secs and leave a flat bed with minimal residue on the sides

[@alexgoforth3684]

Really helpful for us decaficionados, as decaf tends to 'appear' more darkly roasted (which surely means it is). It certainly tends towards tasting that way so I'm excited to mod my filter brewing approach.

[@DenisLevchenko]

a roaster told me that decaf coffee looks a lot darker even before the roasting, just something to do with the decaf process itself. So when they say it just appears more darkly roasted but actually isn't, they mean it

[@mightyvoovoo]

For most of my life I added cream and sugar. Also never cared if it was light or dark roast. But since this year I've wanted to understand coffee more. I've found that I like dark roast the most as long as it's freshly roasted. I use a French press and don't even use cream or sugar anymore. It's my new favorite hobby.

[@FlashGeiger]

I wanted the background music for this to be Leonard Cohen's "You Want It Darker"

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

We'll kill the flame

[@TheErazar]

@@skeetsmcgrew3282 tu tu du du

[@edoardofrezza9950]

So I tried this method. It revitalized my older dark roast. It tastes similar to when I first got it. The initial extraction with boiling water helped bring out the flavor of the beans and the remainder of the brew blended it out. Before it would be very "heavy," difficult to drink a full cup or without something to offset the bitterness. I tried 25grams to ~360ml of water. Thank you James!

[@daeotlyit]

Being at high elevation, I've shifted more to medium and dark roasts since the lower boiling point here makes light roasts very difficult to extract unless you're brewing with pressure.

[@timhuddle7393]

Went a solid 6 clicks coarser on my hario mini hand grinder, dont have a fancy temperature controlled kettle, so just added cold water to the boiled kettle before continuing onward, and holy carp did that make a difference. Praise be the algorithm for recommending this channel.

[@winterflea8483]

Context: I got into coffee via my first job at Starbucks. I cut my teeth with French presses of their dark roasts with no milk or sugar. I may be a bizarre abhuman that loves bitter things. (I do like 90%+ dark chocolate, so there is a theme here.) Anyway, I tried the method in the video, specifically focusing on the coarser grind and only using boiling water for the bloom. I used a darker roast and my haario woodneck with a cloth filter and, in my opinion, produced one of the loveliest cups of coffee that I have ever made. Going to play around with feeding the grinds slowly next, but overall, cheers for the advice, it makes some delicious coffee! (I went on to become a black apron at Starbucks and then moved on career wise, and began enjoying the wider world of coffee. I try to enjoy the full coffee spectrum and all it has to offer. But dark roasts I think will always be my comfort roasts and my daily drivers. Light roasts feel very “special occasion” to me. And yes, from time to time I do still just take the darkest Starbucks roast I can find and brew it up in an oily French press. Somethings never change.)

[@katscafe]

❤

[@joyfuljaj]

The first big brand coffee I ventured into ( after the basic store brands like Folgers, etc) was Starbucks Sumatra. I like dark coffee as well as dark chocolate too. It was in a cheap drop machine. Since learning more about technique, I haven't tried that one again.

[@adammarcello9797]

Yes. Bloom with just off the boil…Take off the lid of the kettle and let that water cool down as you are brewing the rest of the cup. I do this with all coffees and I really like the results.

[@Yupppi]

This channel definitely taught me how to make coffee "the right way" and as a result I found out that even the coffee I regularly drank as ready ground and made by a moccamaster, didn't necessarily ask for sugar and milk or cream when it was ground and brewed right. I still use them because that's how I like it, but as they say, when you get the base right, it's easier to build on top of that and get even greater results.

[@ChristinaSwaters]

I tried this today and WOW, what a difference. I don't have the greatest grinder in the world (a Cuisinart) so even the finest setting is still pretty course. I left my grind size the same (one click from as fine as it goes) and left my water temp procedure the same (pour bloom right off the boil then let the kettle rest during bloom) but upped the dose by 5 grams. The increased dose definitely made a difference in flavor in coffee that I already loved. Great video!

[@BradyPatterson]

I endlessly appreciate your love of coffee James and seemingly unending content you generate. Your methodical approach to all things coffee is amazing and thanks for sharing your wisdom with the interwebs!

[@UrbanPanic]

Mokka pot brewer here, and I accidentally bought a bag of beans that was too dark for my preference. After this video I tried grinding coarser and not preheating the water in the bottom pot before assembling. Result: rich fruit and dark chocolate notes rather than unpleasant bitterness. Didn’t need to add the pinch of sugar I had been using to make it palatable. Thanks!

[@CraigBrideau]

It's interesting how some coffees can give a great cup at various roast levels, while others really need to be either lighter or darker to give the best taste.

[@1pashok]

video suggestion. hope it gets your attention, James. modern or fast, efficient way to make Turkish inspired style coffee. here is how i do it. tea kettle to boil or 90C coffee in cezve hot water in, stir on stove, lowest take of heat when volume increased 1/4, no boil, stir let cool and settle 3min+ at an angle on towel carefully and slowly pour in cup on side, stop when coffee goes darker done, perfect temp to enjoy. *dark roasts works better for me. small grind size seems to settle better. this is the cheapest way to enjoy next to espresso kind of vibe with next to nothing. a lot of folks may have a cezve lying around and no filters needed. this is how I got interested in specialty coffee and still do it on occasion. would like to see you try this with experiments and new insights =)

[@FlorinBalanescu]

Mr. Hoffmann! It's evening here and I wouldn't normally drink coffee at this time, but now, after this video, I HAVE TO! For coffee, for science! Update: it's 10:40 PM, aaaannnd I think we really have something here! ☕🤓🙌🏻

[@alyciavanbeusekom8999]

Same! 9:12pm MUST try!!! It’s SO much better

[@HollandHillSpies]

Seen so many useful videos from JH and wondered how I missed this. Never liked dark roast till I tried this 100C bloom-85C pour over and was shocked at how much more enjoyable the cup was. Immediately the aromas was clearer, bitterness reduced significantly, unmasking the sweet notes. What a treat! Thanks James!

[@charlestwoo]

James dipping his toes into the Dark side, love it.

[@ximono]

Come… come to the Dark side. We have cookies.

[@stevemb0]

Tried this on a Gevi 4 in 1. Set up a recipe with 5 pulse pours at 1:14.3 ratio set at 85c. The bloom stage was not in the program. Instead poured the bloom water from a Stagg just off boil. The Gevi preheats to 80c so only takes about 30 secs to get to 85 which ties in well with end of bloom time. Just place the carafe under and it works seamlessly. Has reduced the bitterness and a much smoother cup. Roast level was 20 seconds into 2nd crack but no visible oils. 8 days post roast.

[@Lucy-io7pt]

I love both dark and lighter roasts, but I feel they have their own moments. Nothing beats a beautiful, rich, chocolatey dark roast with a generous splash of milk and maybe even as a mocha on a cold day shopping or at a nice restaurant with a cooked breakfast. But also nothing beats a light roast brewed with a V60 as you nibble some toast with some avocado, mushrooms and a poached egg and wash it down with a punchy vibrant light roast that wakes you up whilst refreshing you in a very tea like way, but with an extra kick to get you off to work, or on a warm day chilled down whilst reading a book on a hammock whilst sat in the sun. Dark roasts to me feel like a hug, they're comforting and often nostalgic in flavour. Whereas light roasts feel like a pat on the back, a well done or a you can do it. And both have a take a moment quality that really draws me to speciality coffee in particular, sure, you can still get speciality fairly fast, but the taste itself, their individual depth really draws you into taking a breath and stopping for literally just a moment. And that's why speciality is- special from a consumer point of view.

[@MrRockso99]

James- today I am word for word the second group you described. Thank you.

[@TheAkANIMAL907]

James: Talking about dark roasts. Me: Where's the aeropress?

[@casperandhobbes]

I usually have a dark roast in the house for when i make a french press for my mum. I usually go for light roasts but i was outand had to try get a good chemex out of the remaining dark roast in the cupboard. Previous attempts had been too bitter. After watching the video, i tried again. 350 ml tot 24,5 grams of water. Bloom with boiling and the rest of the brew with water around 82 degrees. I could finally smell the chocolate taste profile promised on the label. The coffee itself was finally something i enjoyed drinking. Thank you so much for the video. I will try this again!

[@doctormoobbc]

I see James Hoffmann, I click.

[@merP.-YT]

A truly cultured individual.

[@Nic-tg2ei]

Tried this. Aeropress, bloomed with boiling water, poured another cup of water and let it cool to 80-83 before adding it. Much better flavours, soft, rounded.

[@harrywhitby7144]

I usually prefer darker roasts when im out getting a coffe with friends or by myself but whenever i tried to do it at home it wasnt quite right. Did what was said in the video and had a little celebration. Thank you James, youre absolutely awesome

[@leeroy6481]

I have started over 3 years ago drinking coffee. I always added milk, and started with 3 teaspoons of sugar. I learned to drink it because of my interest in coffee, and started subtracting milk and sugars. Tomorrow is my first day as a coffee and tea salesmen and deliverer, and I enjoy a dark roasted espresso in its pureness. Enjoying a much more rich flavor is something to be learned in my opinion. I thoroughly enjoy watching your videos, as I get to learn tons of interesting techniques and details which should help me along the journey of becoming a true passionate expert. And my boss told me one thing; “once you get into coffee, you never leave”

[@abhayverma5314]

My guy is getting too comfy with the regular uploads.

[@ZainKhalid02]

Well we're not complaining

[@adamconkey2771]

I've always enjoyed straight black coffee, and that's evolved into bitter black dark roast from a french press. I recognize I'm missing a lot of nuance (based on watching your channel), but it's always consistently good to me.

[@jameskenny3716]

I'm really looking forward to trying this technique when I get home on Monday. I have always preferred darker roasts because I'm not big on acidity in my coffee. I'm interested in seeing a separate walk through on lighter roasts, and perhaps how a dark roast drinker may bridge over to the lighter side, given what they look for in a cup of coffee. I know you mentioned most of your brewing videos are light-roast centric (which I noticed, and why I was particularly excited for this video!) But if you are continuing to break down roast specific methods, I'm excited to see if there are brewing tips for lighter roasts that may convert me!

[@jubnx2781]

I’m the opposite I really like that acidity like if I was drinking a lemonade and so the dark bitter notes are weird for me

[@rlopez14021]

I recommend you to cold brew your medium roast. Legend says you can also warm it up for a hot cup. Acidity is at the lowest with cold brewing

[@thebeemd1470]

I was getting interested in drinking coffee, had tried a few good brews....but didn't find anything I liked made at home. Then I found James' KZbin channel. I now enjoy delicious coffee every day. Thank you, James. .....I use "The Hoffman Method" in the French Press with dark roast - delicious.

[@austinonion]

As someone who really only drinks dark coffee for the flavors, and can't quite get used to the higher acidity of lighter roasts, I really appreciate this video. I have sort of built my methods for different brewing techniques off your videos, so I now have some new things to try. I already brew a little more coarse and at around 190F, but I need to try the 70g/1L since I have been doing 60g. Also the hotter bloom is intriguing to me as well. Thank you, James, as always.

[@mattnagler5521]

I'm convinced. What an incredible difference it makes using two different temperatures between the initial bloom and main pour. More complexity, great body and mouthfeel, less bitterness.... Great technique!

[@DziamxD]

I already bought fresh coffe which I hate because is too dark for my taste, now I’m saved, because of you Mister Hoffmann

[@aminkazemi4579]

I tried for long and my favorite coffee is dark robusta Vietnam coffee which for me has a chocolate note and I like it so much, I use mokapot and recently thanks to dear James ultimate French press which tastes light and really enjoyable. Right now I use the same coffee mix with the lighter roast with the ratio of 60% dark with 40% light and I'm pretty happy with both moka pot and French press. Once again thanks to dear Mr Hoffman. I really love to taste a cup that you make for the reference of my taste for my life 👌

[@simweimin3422]

U missed out the third group who just want to learn more about coffee! Thanks for teaching me so much! 🤎

[@maxshenkwrites]

Thanks for these videos, which are giving me easy tweaks to all aspects of my coffee prep and have definitely resulted in better coffee, not only for me as an aeropress user, but for my mother, who stubbornly uses a Mr. Coffee ("Oh, it tastes fine to me." Ohhhh... kay, Mom.). Re the bloom and the steps here you describe here (boil water, pour into the grounds for the bloom, then cool the water in the kettle and reheat to 80 degrees)... Easier method that saves steps: Heat water in the kettle per normal procedure. Pour a little of that 80 degree water (enough for the bloom) into a small pyrex cup and microwave it for 30 seconds or so (which should bring it to a boil) Pour that boiling water over the grounds for the bloom. Use the 80 degree water to proceed as you suggest. Many thanks for your videos! :) m

[@fergusmgraham]

Love the videos.... I come from a beer brewing background and find it interesting how many parallels there are between coffee and beer brewing. I was interested to note your technique here of using a high temp (i.e. boiling) for your bloom (in mashing that would be the strike water) and the lower temp for the main brew phase. From a beer brewing perspective the effect of a higher strike temperature is that you would require lower temperature (or volume) additions to hit the desired mash temperature. It therefore struck me that perhaps the difference you perceive from using high temp bloom is that the overall brew temperature is slightly higher given that the addition is the same volume and temperature for both. Just a thought.

[@sc51153826]

James, thank you so much for all your videos. I've tried your techniques several times. In general, they work very well for all kinds of coffees. The trick is to find a way to have hot waters at 2 different temperatures. I heat up a little more water than I need so the temp of the water doesn't drop very much as I take some of the brew-temp water to heat it up to boil either in the microwave or in another small pot for blooming. I tried this on some commercially pre-grounded dark roast coffee, it almost eliminated the bitterness. On freshly grounded dark or medium roasts, the hotter bloom does help to bring out more aromas and flavours. I must confess, I used to drink "over-roasted" or French roast (I didn't even add milk). I've switched to drinking Medium to Medium-Dark roasts since. It was truly a revelation to me, there are so many more nuances and notes to enjoy.

[@alantspray]

@james - how about a video about how to get the best results when you're stuck with bad coffee?! I'm here looking at a bag of pre ground supermarket coffee that's been open for a while and wondering if there's any way to get something nice out of it!

[@Rickybhz]

I used to drink creamer and sugar and add coffee haha, then i found your channel trying to figure out how to make a better cup of coffee with out using a keurig. Now i enjoy my coffee black or with abit of milk or creamer with no sugar. I enjoy dark roast but i gave some some light and medium roasted coffee from a few local roasters and i have learned to like different styles i try a different bean every week i have my favorite but i do enjoy having different styles and changing it up alot. I also grind my own beans now and use a V60 a french press and mokapot, and my collection is still growing am waiting on my aeropress and still growing my collection... keep up the great work and thank you for opening up ny eyes to world of coffee...

[@george_collins_17]

It’s always a good day when James posts a video!

[@raebuilds4586]

Test #2: 42g Coffee / 600g Water Medium grind, Hario #2 V60 papers Boil Temp: 100C / 212F Brew time: 2:15 mins 200g cold water (1 ice cube (in my case 30g) + topped off with water while the kettle boils) Taste notes: still essentially 1 flavor note. A *bit* more complexity, definitely less overall burnt / bitterness in the cup. But… missing my light roast this morning.

[@fastenova]

Finally, you've come over to the dark side... even if just for a moment.

[@JohnClulow]

I've been roasting all our coffee for several years (80/20 Brazilian Arabica/Uganda just into 2nd crack for my wife's espresso's and African Lt - Med for filtered immersions), and I frequently run into the situation where I'm out of coffee but there's a lot of hers on hand. I've tried brewing it before without acceptable results (way too much bitterness), but was persuaded by your rationale to try your suggested parameter values, and I'll be damned if it doesn't seem to work! The result was quite drinkable and this was just the first shot at it; I'm sure I can improve results by fiddling with ratios etc. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful coffee videos: I've learned more in the past month than in the previous five years and my wife says her espresso's have improved dramatically too. :-)

[@megajig]

Would love to see you try a sequential Sifted brew. Basically starting with the boulders and letting them brew for 45 seconds, then the main Sifted coffee for your desired 2-3 minutes and adding in the fines at the draw down. No waste and each particle size range is brewed to optimize sweetness 👍🏼

[@TheAkANIMAL907]

Are there videos out in yt land that demonstrate this? I have never heard of this technique

[@megajig]

@@TheAkANIMAL907 I think KRUVE might have one on their channel. I've been meaning to make one for a while so maybe I'll do that in the next few days.

[@LooiWanLin]

Tried!!!!! LOVE IT!!! it brings up the full bodied texture of dark roasted beans n yet not that bitter!!!!

[@J86745]

Its midnight right now where I am, but James, you've just convinced me to brew a cuppa - 12:46. can't tell if it was a better brew or its just the caffeine kick at this ungodly hour.

[@danielwheeler8257]

My 4 year old has been a fan of James Hoffmann (along with me and my wife) for over a year. These videos (and the resulting amazing coffee at home) helped get us through the worst of 2020. He would love it if you made a video about “milk steamers,”/steamed milk. I have had many a “great day” as a result of this channel. Thank you!