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My family bought me a Bonavita 1900 TS for Father's day. Unfortunately after burning through 3/4 of a bag of coffee, I still haven't produced a good tasting carafe of coffee. Every time, it comes out (varying levels, but still) bitter and dry.

I tried grinding (with my Capresso Infinity) in the exact middle setting and worked my way all the way to the most coarse setting under coarse. Can still go further, but I have a feeling I'm missing something.

I'm using BJ's Kona blend Arabica, medium roast. Yeah, not the highest grade stuff. But I like it good enough from my old 12 cup Cuisinart at 6 scoops with 12 cups of water (per the coffeemaker measurement).

I've tried anywhere from 55-65g of grounds with 1L of water in the Bonavita. Which is way more grounds than I used to use in my old Cuisinart, but I'm trying to follow recommendations I've found online.

Any ideas?

JJJ
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Phil Figgins
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    Hi Phil, weılcome to Coffee SE, please feel free to take the tour.

    From your question, I cannot understand the point what bad flavor means? Is you cup tastes bitter/lighter than normal or maybe more acidic than you used to?

    Another fuzzy part is your previous brewer. Was it also include an automatic grinder? Or did you use ground coffee with that brewer?

    Otherwise, there will be so many answers and ideas for just one question. Please clarify.

     – MTSan Jun 22 '16 at 09:34
  • Thanks for the help. I'm new to this level of brewing. The old maker is a Cuisinart 12cup with grinder. I've used it with whole bean and with ground coffee with the same results. The Bonavita is always bitter and dry. I ground on the middle of the coarse setting and used 65g of coffee with 1L of water (I've used the same amt of water each time) today and its super dry and bitter. With the Cuisinart, I could use 6 scoops of coffee for 12 cups and it tasted great. I'm just totally puzzled what I'm doing wrong to get such bad results with a way better machine. – Phil Figgins Jun 22 '16 at 14:46
  • So, as you clarify your previous machine also had a grinder, we prune off the degassing issues. I think your problem is very probably is related to the grind settings. It may not be the same scale on each machine. So, if it is possible, try to visually check ground coffee on both machines. If you still cannot manage, your best shot is trial and error with scaled down amounts of coffee and water. – MTSan Jun 22 '16 at 22:50
  • Just want to clarify, the Bonavita does not have a grinder. I'm using my Capresso Infinity with it. – Phil Figgins Jun 23 '16 at 00:57
  • Chances are that you are used to weaker (as in lower coffee to water ratio) coffee and that the higher dose just isn't for you. Have you tried reducing the dose? It should really not be a big issue. It's a simple machine. Maybe try a different coffee as well, your old cuisine art machine likely brewed it very differently (likely on lower temperature towards the end of the brew, thus slight underextracting). Try any light roast from a local roaster, grind on medium setting (go slightly coarser than kosher salt particle size) and use a ratio of 60g of coffee per litre of water. Also:weigh>scoops – avocado1 Sep 24 '21 at 10:15

7 Answers7

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I recently purchased the Bonavita as well. After years of using basic automatic drip coffee makers this was an adjustment. I still haven't perfected the art of the cup using the Bonavita. The problem is that the Bonavita brews at the correct temperature, so I think you really need to be a little more precise when brewing (at least that's what I discovered).

First of all, the Bonavita brews only 8 cups--and each cup is only 5 oz. I use a scale to get as close as I can to the correct water-coffee ratio. I no longer use a scoop: a scale is the way to go.

I have found that with the Bonavita a medium course grind is best. I also found that lighter roasts are less likely to produce the bitter flavor you are experiencing.

I usually brew at a water ratio of 1:14. So that means that I use about 84 grams of coffee for a full pot. I know, seems like a lot of coffee. i never used that much with my Mr. Coffee. But, once you figure out the correct grind and amount, the Bonavita produces a great cup of coffee.

Go to https://baristahustle.com/the-coffee-compass/ and read the article. The "Coffee Compass" really helped me out in trying to get that great cup. Just the other day, I ground up some coffee at a slightly higher setting and the coffee was weak. So now, using that setting, I had to up the amount of coffee by a couple of grams and it was perfect. And that was thanks to the Coffee Compass.

It is so trial and error, I have to say.

Here are the basic ratios to use with the Bonavita. I have found that the 1:14 produces the better cup in my opinion. Also, lighter roasts tend to not be as bitter as the darker roasts.

Bonavita cup = 5 oz. (147.87 grams = 1 Bonavita cup or 29.574 grams an ounce) Each cup = 5.215 ounces

4 Bonavita Cups = 20 oz = 591.47 g (Ratios: 1:14=42 g; 1:15=39 g; 1:16=37 g) Note: Finer grind

5 Bonavita Cups = 25 oz = 739.33 g (Ratios: 1:14=53 g; 1:15=49 g; 1:16=46 g)

6 Bonavita Cups = 30 oz = 887.20 g (Ratios: 1:14=63 g; 1:15=59 g; 1:16=55.45 g) Note: Medium grind

8 Bonavita Cups = 40 oz =1182.94 g (Ratios: 1:14=84.5 g; 1:15=79 g; 1:16=74 g) Note: Courser grind

Hope this helps. Happy brewing.

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Bruce Janu
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I asked a similar question and got back use a coarser grind to slow the extraction. I have a Capresso too and I am set in the middle of the Course section up to the right.

I got a Bonavita 5-cup a week ago and I'm still playing around with it. I'm a big fan of metal reusable filters because I swear coffee made with paper filters had an odd taste.

user2609404
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  • Paper filters could be adding a taste to your coffee if you don't rinse them first. Check out this Stumptown article: https://www.stumptowncoffee.com/blog/the-facts-about-filters – Better Coffee Jul 25 '17 at 18:52
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I have the Bonavita BV1900TS brewer with a Baratza Preciso grinder. I actually have two sets, one for work and one for home. I have pre-infusion enabled, if that matters in this case.

I also have a VST refractometer that can measure the brewed coffee to determine its strength and also derive if it is too bitter or not. I have been able to get good results out of the Bonavita.

I can only say that once I started measuring the coffee I have moved to coarser grind that what was originally recommended. You have said you have tried coarse so I'm not sure what the issue might be. I would maybe try to readjust your grinder by adjusting while it is running and empty. Turn it all the way to fine and then open it back up to as coarse as you can make it, while the grinder is running.

I have been using 40g of coffee with 700ml of water in, so maybe give that a try with the coarse grounds just to see if you can make it not taste bitter. You might also try one other type of fresh beans as another data point.

My friend had the Capresso Infinity and it left a lot of grinds in it, so you might want to tilt it and tap out some of the old grinds before you adjust it.

Eric Nadler
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I purchased one of the Bonavita 1900 TS brewers for my Dad for his birthday, while I still use a 12 cup Cuisinart with thermal carafe at home. We have identical grinders for home use. What I have found is that he uses significantly less grounds to make a pot of coffee. While I will use 8-8.5 scoops in an 8 cup pot on the cuisinart (about 7.5g per scoop) ground at very slightly finer than medium, on the Bonavita, he uses 5 scoops ground at the same level. Personally this produces coffee a bit too thin for me, but the entire family things it is great. When I am visiting I bump it up to closer to 6-7 scoops and it comes out good.

Couple things. Bitter coffee is due to over extraction. This could be grind level, amount of coffee being used or water temperature. Let's presume for now that water temp is ok since it is a nearly new, high quality machine.

Since you have already been working with the grind level, I would suggest you back off the amount of coffee you are using and see if that produces any positive results. This machine definitely brews 'stronger' given the same input parameters.

Some posts have indicated that your grinder cannot grind coarse enough for a true coarse grind. I'm unfortunately not familiar with your particular grinder so this also may be the case. Regardless, if you are getting bitter coffee and you have ground as coarse as you can, then backing off the amount of grounds should net some improvement. If you get to the point that your coffee is both thin, and bitter, then I would probably start thinking about replacing the grinder, although I hate to recommend purchasing new equipment when it appears you should already be set up for success.

Nate M.
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I have a new Bonavita 1900 and I had a devil of a time dialing it in. However, I'm now getting good coffee so I'll explain what I've done. My problem, like yours, was bitterness so my first step was to increase the weight of the coffee grounds to 85gms (for 8 cups) to reduce the extraction. This helped a little but it was still bitter, so at that point I knew I had to increase the grind size. Unfortunately my Capresso Infinity grinder wouldn't go any coarser so I bought a Baratza Encore grinder, worked up to a 30 grind setting (quite coarse), and the bitterness was gone. Then I reduced the coffee weight to 80gms per Bonavita's recommendation and things are good.

Jerry
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It could be your grinder, grind settings make a huge difference in flavor. You would be surprised what a notch or two on your grinder will do.

Or it could also be your beans. You mentioned they are a medium roast.The darker in roast you go the more it adds "roast" flavors to the beans. Maybe try going for a lighter roast?

Better Coffee
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I don't have that specific machine, but I have worked with drip brewers that use a thermos rather than a glass carafe on a heating plate. In my experience, an overly bitter and off taste may be imparted by the thermos rather than the actual brewing process.

To check if this is the issue, you could fill the thermos with boiling water, let it sit for a few hours and then taste the water after it has cooled down. If the water has a weird coffee taste then it's clear that the thermos wasn't cleaned well enough.

JJJ
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