Work Continues: The perfect cup of coffee

I had a constructive conversation with one of the "cashiers" at Rodger's today.  Rodger's makes the best coffee in the city as far as I'm concerned; it's one-cup-at-a-time ala Philz but a noticeable notch higher in my book (fyi: there is some history between the two shops and their namesakes).  

In any case, Sanny and I have been trying to get our coffee at home to approach something like the flavor and fullness we find at Rodger's.  In this (so far) vain attempt, we have moved away from using our french press to using individual ceramic cones with disposable filters which in theory are very similar to the system utilized by one-cup-at-a-time shops. We've also moved to using brown sugar as a sweetner instead of white (sorry -- I still can't drink straight black) and a rich dairy cream (whipping cream, or half and half).  

But our coffee still doesn't compare.

So today, while my coffee was being prepared I asked the hostess if her coffee tastes like "this" when she makes it at home.  She looked at me and slowly shook her head "no" in a disappointed fashion.  She said, "it comes out weak, right?" noticing I must be asking because I've had similar experience.  So I asked her what happens, why is it so different?

She thinks it's the grinds:
  • Rodger's uses really really finely ground beans
  • Rodger's uses 1/2 cup of beans for a single large cup of coffee (in comparison, this same amount would be used to make an entire pot of coffee in a Mr. Coffee)
One of Rodger's sons also provided me info on the temperature of their water which was awesome since reading other sources online cite anything between 185 and 203 degrees as being the temperature for a perfect cup.  Rodger's water is 206 degrees but "it would be better if it were boiling."

Before I left, the girl who made my coffee showed me what the grinds they use look like.  Unlike the sandy, flaky grinds our grinder produces, theirs are almost cocoa powder smooth.  

Here's the dose of Heavy Rescue I walked away from this experience with (not shown is the bag of whole beans I purchased to restock from our last visit).

*Note: I'm following this post up with the purchase of new grinder.
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Well, I have heard that the most important part of making coffee is how you grind it. I mean, besides using good beans that aren't burned to death.

Do you at least try the coffee before you add sugar and cream?

— eirkeirkeirk
From time to time -- either because we're out of sugar or cream or both.  I'm ok with liking good coffee and liking it with cream and sugar.
The grind part was interesting to me because researching how to make coffee with our ceramic cones we came upon information that suggested a medium coarse grind was best suited for this method -- calling for a texture of sand.  I'm more apt to trust the info had from Rodger's.

— Mark Rampton