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The Coffagmite Challenge

I brew coffee by putting two 8g scoops (22.5ml) of decaffeinated ground coffee into a one litre flask. Usually it’s all been drunk by the end of the day. To empty away the grouts, I add a random amount of water and filter the grouts using a fine mesh tea strainer. Then I dump them into the compost caddy, not down the sink. Coffee grouts and tea leaves reduce the efficiency of sewage works but they compost beautifully.

My irritating, always working, brain has observed the coffagmites that sometimes pile up during dreg-staining process. What factors produce a large coffagmite? Would hot dregs produce a larger one than cold dregs? Leave some coffee or use rinsing water? More liquid or less?

This morning’s coffagmite was a fine specimen, 10.5 cm high (allowing for parallax and the ’end bit’ of the ruler) so I thought I’d throw out a challenge.

These are the rules:

• Only 16g max. of ground coffee of any kind may be used.
• Any amount of water can be used or
• Any amount of coffee liquid may be left in the coffee making apparatus.
• No additives eg detergents, glycerol, egg whites may be added.
• Any design of strainer or filter paper can be used.
• ONLY ONE continuous pouring event maybe used to create the coffagmite.
  Single drips are excusable but not repeated pouring or repeated rinsings.
  

Do give it a try. Send your photos to me via Instagram or email to captainpegglegg@btinternet.com . Photograph your coffagmite with a ruler for scale. Please state the base-to-peak height in centimetres. I’d like to know the kind of coffee and the type of coffee maker used (flask, caffatiere, jug). Was there any knack to the method of pouring? I look forward to seeing the results of a rewarding citizen science project.

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