Brew tips and recipes
Here you'll find tips and recipes to make a great cup of coffee at home, every time. Try them out and make adjustments to fit your tastes.
Coffee basics
The grind level greatly affects the quality of your brew. Once coffee is ground, it ages much faster. Grinding just before you brew and at the right level prolongs the life of your beans, and offers a delicious cup!
Weighing out your coffee beans and water to keep a consistent ratio is key to brewing a delicious cup every time. The easiest way to do this is to use a kitchen scale. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it, and will LOVE the results.
Which brewer you use can offer different flavors in a cup. We find it fun to explore and see how different coffees taste in different brew methods! Choose the right brew for your tastes, your kitchen, and your schedule.
Manual Pour Over
A manual pour over brewer offers great control on flavor in your cup through your ability to adjust the ratio, water temperature, grind, and agitation method. There are many different pour over brewers as well. Two of our favorites are the V60, and the Chemex. For the tinkerer, the opportunity to really "dial in" your favorite brew is endless.
To start, we recommend a 1:15 ratio (for one cup that would be 20g of ground coffee and 300 g of water). You can adjust this based on your taste, and the coffee.
Method for v60 Brewer
1. While you heat up your water to 200-205 F, weigh out your beans and grind to medium-fine (approx. #10 on Baratza Encore).
2. Wet the filter, and heat your mug/caraffe with some of the hot water.
3. First pour around 20% of total water to wet the beans and allow them to bloom for 30-45 seconds. (around 50g for a single serving)
Note: Fresh beans will bubble more prominately.
4. Second pour, in a spiral motion pour about 1/2of the remaining water, let that brew. (150g for a single serving)
5. Last pour, finish the water once enough of the previous pour has filtered through, being careful to not let the grounds sit without water too long.
Target total brew time: 3-4min.
French Press
The french press is a classic brew method that offers a delicious, bold cup. Here you can play with the ratio, grind size, and time to perfect your brew to your preference!
We recommend starting with a 1:12 ratio - so for one cup that would be 25g of ground coffee and 300 g of water. Adjust this ratio to fit your taste.
Method for French Press
1. Grind your coffee while you heat water to 200-205 F. The grind should be a bit more course, looking more like sea salt vs. salt shaker salt.
2. Let the coffee bloom–set your french press caraf on a scale and add the ground coffee. Zero the scale, and pour some of the water in to wet the beans, around 20%. Let the coffee bloom 30-45 seconds.
3. Brew–pour the rest of your water in slowly, pouring in a cirular motion so the water mixes the beans as you fill. Once you've hit the target weight in water, let the coffee brew 3-4 min. You can stir with a clean spoon or stir stick as well to ensure all the coffee is submerged.
4. Press and pour! Press down the plunge to push all the coffee grounds to the bottom. Here is where you can note how easy or hard the press is - too easy, the grind might be too course, hard and it might be too fine. Taste and adjust for the next brew.
Espresso
The espresso is the sought after brew method that delivers a rich, full body, strong shot of coffee. This brew creates a condensed cup, or shot, of coffee that packs the same amount of caffeine in a fraction of the size. It also is very versatile drink recipes.
Tip! Traditionally people buy an "espresso blend" for their espresso maker, but you can actually brew any type of coffee in your machine! The trick is to get the right grind as different roast levels will handle the extraction differently, but if you get it right, you can achieve a delicious single origin espresso, or a bean at any roast level.
Method for Espresso
1. Grind your coffee fresh–this is very important for a delicious cup! Getting the right grind is key for good extraction. We recommend to start with about 18g of coffee in your portafilter(for 1 shot), and adjust from there.
2. Don't pack too tight–lightly compact your coffee into the portafilter, but if you press it too hard the water wont be able to extract and move through the coffee well. This is one element to play around with to get it just right. Be sure to take notes!
3. Brew–the total brew time should take approx 25 seconds (end when the stream color turns blond). Taste and assess. If the coffee takes longer to brew, either the grind is too fine, or the coffee is too tightly packed in. If it comes out too fast, the grind is too coarse, or its not packed enough!
4. Recipes! Espresso is fun to try out different flavor combinations with different recipes! A classic is paired with frothed milk, but you can also pair with a tonic in the summer, and various simple syrups for a little sweetness. It is also delicious poured over vanilla ice cream for an Affogato!
Automatic drip machine
The easiest and most common way to brew coffee is with the automatic coffee machine. These machines come in a variety of price ranges, and have come a long way! They achieve a great cup of coffee, with a bit of attention.
Tips! We highly recommend grinding fresh beans for best results. One trick we use is grinding coffee the night before and storing just what you need in an air-tight jar so its ready for an early morning brew. We also recommend cleaning the filter gasket regularly, as build up can occur here that will affect the flavor of your coffee.
Method for Automatic Brewer
1. Grind your coffee fresh–either right before you brew(best!), or the night before (and store in an airtight jar), grinding fresh will greatly improve your cup!
2. Weigh your beans–even in an autodrip machine, tracking your water to coffee ratio is important to achieve consistent results. We weigh out the target amount of water we want to brew, then weigh out the coffee. Keeping with a starting ratio of 1:15 and making adjustments from there.
3. Filtered water–another trick for improving your flavor is using filtered water. Sometimes tap water can have elements that affect the flavor in the coffee, and using filtered water will eliminate unknown intruders.
Grind guide
The grind should look more like fresh ground pepper or sea salt.
BREWER: French press, cold brew
The grind ranges from table salt to .......even a little more fine for pour-over and moka pot methods.
BREWER: Pour-over, auto-drip, moka pot/biletti, aeropress
The grind should look more like pre-ground spices like cinnamon, and should clump easily if you pinch the grounds together.
BREWER: Espresso, aeropress
Not all grinders are made equal
The goal of grinding coffee is to break down the coffee into smaller sizes depending on how you plan to brew. There are two main types of grinders for coffee.
Blade grinders are probably the most popular. They are small and inexpensive. They consist of a blade spinning around to 'chop' up the beans. They are great to have around so you can freshly brew your coffee, but they don't offer uniform shape in ground beans, or control over how fine the grind.
Burr grinders are the standard for coffee professional and enthusiasts. They actually 'grind' the coffee into pretty uniform shapes and sizes. They are more expensive, but there are options at a lower pricepoint. You'll get exeptional control to grind for your brew method.
Recommended grinders for home
A veteran in the home coffee and espresso machine market is Baratza. Their machines last long, and are fix-able incase you need (there are lots of youtube videos teaching you tricks and fixes for just about anything needed). Their base model, Encore, is very good quality without breaking the bank – but if you have an espresso machine, get the Encore ESP. Photo from baratza.com
Another grinder we've grown to love is the Oxo Conical Burr Coffee Grinder. Its been growing in popularity, and is a very economical option to get a burr grinder at home. It is easy to use and clean as well. We haven't tested as long as the Baratza Encore, but so far it hasn't failed. Photo from oxo.com