r/OXORapidBrewer

Ok I have been making coffee at home daily for about 3 years, the first half of that was mostly espresso, but eventually I switched to filter coffee, particularly the aeropress as my day to day. With the aeropress, I make a concentrated "shot" and dilute with about 150g of water for an americano style drink.

After hearing about the ORB, I had to try it based on the fact that it uses that bypass brew style I quite like, so I got one today and did a soup style shot, and WOW.

I don't think I've ever had as good of coffee before with as little effort, this is the first time ive been able to drink the concentrated shot without having to dilute it and the mouth feel is just insane. Im well aware that I can get very tasty coffee with other brew styles, and I have, but not without a lot of trail and error.

The coffee was so good in fact, that my wife, who typically only drinks iced sugary milky coffees, even enjoyed a cup of hot black coffee today.

Do you guys have any other tips for me to get an even better experience?

I am new. Just got my rapid brewer yesterday. Not sure if I’m using it correctly, but the water from the upper chamber keeps dripping through. there does not seem to be any vacuum or any type of pressure to keep the water from dripping through.

I assume my grind size is too coarse but it doesn't seem like an issue for the videos I've watched. I also don't have any filters yet. It's a brand new machine and I'm concerned if there's any pressure defect lol. Thanks

This includes me.
New to speciality I tried lots of what I am sure were great beans in skilled cafes but rarely “got” the flavour notes on the pack.
Sure, I realise that these are cupping notes generally from very experienced tasters. So, OK, they are subtle.

Then I tasted DAK Cinnamon bun and Cream Donut and others like People Possession and YAY there was the flavour. Right there - to MY tastebuds (and nose).
So, those flavour forward beans flattered me whilst satisfying my caffeine addiction.
What I’d been finding in achievable was, all of a sudden, right there - eventually even in my home OXO RB & Timemore B75 brews.
I still find it hard to be consistent with the V60.

So, I’m comparing this to my kinda 10 year craft beer journey. Lemon forward brews seduced me. Double citra. Wow. Some imperial stouts with funky road tar aftertaste please me too.

Then I realised some were simply flavoured. Not achieved by hopping etc. and covering up pretty mediocre beer. And clean proper German style lager appealed once more. Even Brewdog make one.

I’m guessing this journey is not just me - and I feel myself eventually moving towards even version free which is more tea like, geshas, Ethiopian etc.

It was a Rwanda Bwishaza on batch at Bond St Coffee Brighton (that was pretty subtle) that opened the speciality rabbit hole for me a little over a year ago. So different to the long blacks I’d been drinking.

I’m not giving up on funky beans, yet, but I guess the “added flavour / infused” chat on here has got me thinking.
Co-ferments. Yeast inoculation. Thermal shock. All good. Chemical flavours added, not for me.
For sure more transparency about this is needed - and it’s been very well debated on this forum, so I’m not wanting to inspire a new thread on that.

Rather I’m discussing taste preferences and wondering “why” flavour forward beans are so enthralling. For me, I think I worked it out above.

How about you people?

https://preview.redd.it/szf31foogtyg1.png?width=1026&format=png&auto=webp&s=5dfd667603fe2a7149736934f04f6b9449045150

Hi guys!

Just wanted to make this post for those not aware, like myself until today, but I recognize it may be obvious to a lot of you with the ORB.

Summary:

Why does an uneven bed happen? It happens when the water flows from the kettle cleanly right through the floor of the water chamber and onto the coffee bed, as if flowing through a sieve. So if you don't see the chamber filling up with water instantly you know you poured it right onto your nicely tamped bed like a meteor strike.

Method of prevention: You can put a top paper filter which mitigates the impact of the water or you can instead do a super light pour at the start from a low height and then gradually increase the flow while gently waving the kettle so the water begins to pile in the chamber nicely and begins flowing onto the bed and dripping from the little holes instead. I had been doing this now like maybe 20 brews in a row without knowing it was why I was getting great beds like the photo even without the top filter.

(no need to read this below it's just story time):

Lately I prepare a 10:160 (with only bottom filter) every day, and I kept getting 1 in 10 brews have a horrendous bed with a sort of crater. I had naively thought it was CO2 releasing, or not tamping hard enough, but it had always stumped me because those wouldn't explain why with the same coffee and prep I was getting occasionally different beds. Until, the one time I got the worst bed I've ever seen and I instantly discovered why.

I brought my gear to my friends' place to share some coffee and borrowed his kettle (which he had fully filled so it was super heavy) and I poured from it and the water came crashing down and directly in the center of the water chamber, when it happened I also noticed oddly enough the water chamber wasn't filling up like it normally does with my kettle; rather the water seemed to be going straight through.

After I finished the brew, I opened up the bottom chamber to discover even though I'd done the exact same normal prep I always do, that water had clearly crashed onto my nicely tamped bed and absolutely destroyed it like a meteor strike in the middle.

I can't believe I just discovered this after brewing over like 80 times on the ORB. I had always thought that bottom of the chamber protected the bed or something.