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August Coffee Diary

Coffee diary for the month of August 2026

A New Coffee Beginning

We recently decided to upgrade our coffee setup from an Aeropress + Timemore C3 ESP to a HiBrew H13 + Mokkom 64 grinder. Didn’t think to start a coffee journal from the start but here we are.

Dialing in the “perfect” shot wasn’t as straight forward as it initially seemed, what with the numerous videos I’ve been watching on the topic. I was trying to establish a coffee workflow, and it only stabilised around the 10th cup of coffee. I also didn’t have all the accessories since the beginning, so it was a bit of a mess the first few cups.

The additional stuff I bought were:

  • Tamping station/box thingy

    Just get one to keep things organised.

  • Spring tamper

    This thing is probably only good for ensuring I tamp straight. It doesn’t really help with force calibration. For that I’ll need something called an “impact tamper”. I think I’m good for now, coz apparently ground coffee doesn’t compact further once you’ve maxed it out?

  • WDT

    I’ve noticed clumps since day 1 of using the new electric grinder, and I tried to use a chopstick to loosen the clumps. Nope. Just get a WDT since the beginning.

  • Funnel

    I keep forgetting to use this when transferring ground coffee from the grinder to the filter basket. Definitely a Day 0 item. Though I’d prefer if the magnets on these things are stronger. Apparently they are all weak stuff no matter where you buy them from?

  • Puck screen

    Debate online about its usefulness in water distribution, but I’m using it to keep the grouphead clean. Quite annoyed since day 1 that coffee grounds get stuck to the grouphead after brewing. Without it, I’d have to run through a double-shot of water else the water will still have coffee bits; with a puck screen, a single-shot of water sometimes already is devoid of coffee bits. Day 0 stuff.

  • Blower thingy to blow pucks out of the portafilter Waste of money if you’re going to be using the spout most of the time.

Sol Roastery - El Salvador - Medium Dark

Date Grind Setting Temp Input (g) Output (g) Time (s) Remarks
24/8 19 93 18 50 33 -
25/8 20 93 18 50 30 -

Remarks: Standard stuff.

I’ve found that we both like Brazil dark roast. The more fruity varietals (Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, any medium roast), the fruityness kinda presents itself as a weird sour taste. Maybe tasty for iced americano, but doesn’t taste nice hot. Also doesn’t do well with milk.

Nexus Coffee - Brazil - Medium - Decaf

Date Grind Setting Temp Input (g) Output (g) Time (s) Remarks
23/8 22 95 18 40 30 -
27/8 20 95 18 50 30 -
27/8 21 95 18 50 30 -

Remarks: More acidic than Sol Roastery. Perhaps need to run a longer shot? Remarks2: I’m forgoing tracking pressure, coz it doesn’t seem to correlate with puck resistance. Like, I’m seeing higher pressure when my flow rate increase. Wtf?

Sozofeine Coffee - Brazil - Medium Dark (looks pale though)

Date Grind Setting Temp Input (g) Output (g) Time (s) Remarks
28/8 20 93 18 50 22 Sour
28/8 15 93 18 53 30 Less sour, but still sour
29/8 12 95 18 50 37 Only a hint of sour left
29/8 10 95 18 56 50 Start to have some astringency
30/8 12 93 17 34 30 Sour
30/8 12 95 17 34 30 Sour
30/8 12 95 17 34 30 Sour. No puck screen.
30/8 15 95 17 34 23 Sour
30/8 9 95 17 34 42 Not so sour
30/8 12 95 17 55 40 less sour
30/8 12 93 17 55 40 less sour but astringent?
30/8 12 93 17 34 25 still sour
31/8 12 95 17 85 ? botched brew, ran out of water half way through. Treat this as accidental pre-infusion shot? 18s 20g, extra time to refill water,followed by ~20s ~60g. not as sour, tiny bit astringent?
31/8 12 95 17 100 60 very much less sour, tiny bit astringent?
31/8 12 95 17 84 54 very much less sour, tiny bit astringent?
31/8 12 93 17 86 49 very much less sour, tiny bit astringent? Try 76g out next

Remarks: Looks like a medium roast, tastes like a medium roast, is it actually medium roast? Remarks2: I’m giving up on this bag. Always a lingering sourness. I’ve inspected every puck and there were no obvious signs of channeling, with or without a puck screen. Remarks3: Got ’em.

Updated 20260828: added Sozofeine Coffee Updated 20260830: added more Sozofeine Coffee Updated 20260831: finally got a drinkable shot out of Sozofeine Coffee