How do you make your coffee in the morning?
Do you like classic and traditional or do you prefer an adventure?
Coffee is something we need to get through the day, but many times we want to stop and really enjoy our coffee. It’s nice to really understand and appreciate our coffee routine. Before we get to my actual tips we must talk about WATER. Water is the single most important element you need to control. Make sure you are, at minimum, using filtered water. You may find you like even a bottled water, although I find that a little fussy.
Let’s focus on the traditional. We are talking French press. How many cups are we making? How much coffee do we need? Strength is determined by the ratio of water to coffee. When we adjust these metrics by increasing the amount of coffee, we increase the strength.
This handy calculator does the math for us!
1 is a 1:10 ratio that will produce bold, thick and heavy flavors
7 is a 1:16 ratio that will produce lighter, subtle and tea like flavors.
Strength comes down to a matter of personal taste. Replace the 4 in "Strength = 4" in the calculator below with your strength setting.
French Press
The Grind: Coarse (This also works for cold brew)
The Water: 190 degrees, pre boil
The Extraction: Agitate the water and grind, stir. Let brew 4 minutes.
Feeling adventurous? Try a Chemex If you want to up your coffee game, but keep it simple, you need a Chemex available in your daily routine. This method is beautiful and very hands on. You will find that the more control over the extraction you have the more amazingly you can craft your perfect cup. Start by placing the filter and wetting/rinsing it, this also warms up the glass for better heat retention. The perfect ratio to start with is 38 grams of coffee to 500 grams of water.
The Grind: regular, medium, drip texture
The Water: 190-200 degrees
The Extraction: Add water to the center to completely saturate the coffee. Pause to allow the coffee to bloom and then begin your pour once the water has begun to drip. I like to split my pours in half, but many prefer to do a full pour. In the first pour I am circling the water slowly and encouraging extraction. After the water level has dropped, I begin my second pour. Knocking down the coffee on the sides with my pour and really evening out the coffee in the filter.
Enjoy the journey, we as coffee makers are always evolving our brew in search of the perfect cup.
TXPO Nick