Still more in The Quest For Coffee... A Product Review

[K Frame]

"What does allowing the water to settle after boiling accomplish?"

It allows the water to stop its rolling boil -- in essence, cool slightly.

I never let my coffee water boil when I french press. I use a probe thermometer to heat the water to between 195 and 200 deg. F -- a perfect brewing temperature.

If you attempt to brew with the water too hot, you'l end up liberating a lot of nasty, bitter compounds.

With the water below about 185, you won't liberate the good tasting compounds, and the coffee will taste flat.

[roo_ster]

"What does allowing the water to settle after boiling accomplish?"

What Mike Irwin said.

I do it for the same reason, but with less precision than Mike.  Boiling water will turn good beans into liquid paint stripper.

I usually use an eletric hot-pot-carafe* to boil hte water.

You want the dog-nastiest cup of coffee brewed with the world's greatest beans?  Use one of those boiler-on-the-bottom type of coffee makers you place directly on the stovetop.  The water in the bottom chamber boils & creates enough pressure to force the water up through the grounds and then on into the pot. A sure way to give folks with cast-iron stomachs heartburn.

* BTW, these are wonderful for spot-killing weeds in your yard.  Pour the boiling water directly onto, say, the bunch of Dallas grass in the midst of your bermuda/zoysia/bluegrass/floritam and it will die-die-die without overspray.  And if you walk on it later, you won't leave "footprints of death" across your yard as you would if you had sprayed the clump with Roundup. 

[charby]

"What does allowing the water to settle after boiling accomplish?"

What Mike Irwin said.

I do it for the same reason, but with less precision than Mike.  Boiling water will turn good beans into liquid paint stripper.

I usually use an eletric hot-pot-carafe* to boil hte water.

You want the dog-nastiest cup of coffee brewed with the world's greatest beans?  Use one of those boiler-on-the-bottom type of coffee makers you place directly on the stovetop.  The water in the bottom chamber boils & creates enough pressure to force the water up through the grounds and then on into the pot. A sure way to give folks with cast-iron stomachs heartburn.

* BTW, these are wonderful for spot-killing weeds in your yard.  Pour the boiling water directly onto, say, the bunch of Dallas grass in the midst of your bermuda/zoysia/bluegrass/floritam and it will die-die-die without overspray.  And if you walk on it later, you won't leave "footprints of death" across your yard as you would if you had sprayed the clump with Roundup. 

Have a stove top expresso pot that works in the same way, it makes pretty good coffee.

Also don't expresso machines use boiling hot water to make expresso? Can't get steam unless its at a boil.

-C

[AmbulanceDriver]

Rather than bore you with a lot of details about vapor pressure and boiling points, lets just say that you can get plenty of steam with out the water actually being at a boil.

That being said, there is a world of difference between a quality espresso machine and a cheap espresso machine.

Cheap machines use a boiler to generate steam pressure to force the (boiling) water through the coffee at pressure.  These have the heavy, screw on pressure lids for their water chamber.  The higher quality machines use a mechanical pump to pump the heated water through the coffee.  Some of these have a separate heater for producing steam to avoid overheating the water for the brew.

[charby]

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That makes sense.

-C

[K Frame]

"Rather than bore you with a lot of details about vapor pressure and boiling points, lets just say that you can get plenty of steam with out the water actually being at a boil."

Yes, you can, but that doesn't really have anything to do with making a cup of expresso.

The roast, type of beans selected, and the amount of time the steam and water are in contact (VERY short compared to regular coffee) with the grounds are far more important to the process of making expresso.

Were you to try to make regular coffee with expresso beans/grind, you'd get a very, very rude surprise.