BREWING GUIDES

 

Much like roasting coffee, brewing coffee is the perfect blend of art and science. Presuming you start with well roasted, premium green coffee, turning your beans into a delicious beverage is really quite easy! Here’s the science:

 Water - it’s all about temperature. For espresso 94 degrees is the ideal extraction temp. For filter or plunger coffee, make sure your water is boiled, and then aim for a similar temp of 94 degrees.*

 Ratio - this is simply how much flavour coffee can produce. Too much or too little water will impact our flavour. For espresso, its a 1:2 ratio, for example 20gms of coffee in your basket, 40gms of coffee in your cup. For filter or plunger coffee it’s 7.5-8.5gms of coffee per 100mls of water.

 Time - once again, time will differ depending on the brewing method. For espresso, 25-30 seconds is the perfect extraction time. For pour over style filter coffee, 2-3 minutes is a good brewing time. For both these methods it’s the same principal, too much time will create over-brewed and unpleasant coffee, too little time will deliver tepid and weak coffee. 

For a plunger style or immersion brew, 3-4 minutes is ideal. This time can also be relative to your grind setting, a finer grind brews quicker, while a coarse grind needs the full 4 minutes. We like to brew plungers for 3 minutes with a grind setting between the plunger and pour over setting on the grinder.

 Grinding - most grinders will have some kind of scale attached to them that advises the grind settings. This can be a good starting point but ultimately your grind setting is going to come back to your time. If your espresso or pour over runs too fast, make it finer. If it runs too slow,, make it coarser. It’s important not to get overwhelmed. Sometimes finding the perfect grind setting takes time, but once you know your equipment you’ll probably find it becomes relatively predictable and consistent.

Equipment - Scales ensure you’re always consistent with your doses and is the easiest way to create consistency and repeatability. Get used to making coffee with scales and you’ll always have a good brew.

*there is also the matter of water quality. For the most part, tap water is perfectly fine. Filtered water is great too. There are many guides online for creating the perfect water using additives, but this is only really necessary if your tap water is extremely hard.