How I prepare coffee at home
I love coffee, and living in the Pacific Northwest means I drink a lot
of it. Over the years I've perfected my home brewing methods and love the
ritual of making a delicious cup each morning. Although there are plenty
of tutorials on how to make a great cup of coffee, I thought I'd share
with you how I like to make mine. (Photo below is my home coffee bar.)
My favorite beans
Coffee sourced from Ethiopia tends to be my favorite. Ethiopian coffees
tend to be fruitier and brighter than other coffees. To me, they have the
most pronounced flavor profile. Of course, that's a personal preference
and I encourage you to find the beans you like.
Here in Portland, we're spoiled with amazing coffee roasters all over
town. My favorite roasters are Heart and
Coava.
Coffee for one: Aeropress
The Aeropress is my favorite way to brew
a single cup of coffee. Because of its unique vacuum brew method, it's
fast and easy to clean up afterwards.
To start, I weigh out 16g of beans and dump them in the hopper of my
Barazta Encore grinder. I use a fine-medium grind at approximately the
'10' setting on the Encore grinder.
Then, I heat 500ml water to a boil. While it's boiling, I place the
Aeropress base atop a plain white mug I bought for a dollar at a thrift
store in Eugene a couple years back.
Once the water is heated, I flip the switch on the grinder and pour
a splash of hot water into the Aeropress to heat the mug. This is
important to make sure your coffee maintains temperature as soon as it
hits your mug!
Once the coffee is ground, I turn off the grinder, dump the water in the
mug down the sink, and dump the ground coffee into the Aeropress. I fill
the Aeropress to the '4' line with water, gently agitating the grounds.
Then, I use the Aeropress stirrer to stir the mixture gently for about 10
seconds.
Once the mixture is stirred, I wedge the Aeropress plunger inside the
base, and pull up to create suction so the coffee stays in the Aeropress
for the duration of the brew. I have a timer preset to 1m30s on my coffee
bar so I can press the 'Start' button without setting the timer.
After 1m30s have passed, I plunge the plunger and force the sweet, sweet
coffee nectar into the mug.
Coffee for two: Chemex
When my girlfriend is staying over, I like to jolt out of bed and prepare
us a batch of coffee from my Chemex.
First, I weigh out 42g of beans and dump them in the grinder hopper. I use
a medium grind at approximately the '15' setting on the Encore grinder.
Then, I heat a full gooseneck kettle of water. While it's boiling, I place
the Chemex on top of my kitchen scale (I use the Jennings
CJ-4000)
with a square Chemex paper filter opened and the "folded" side toward the
spout.
After the water is heated, I pour boiling water all over the filter. This
both removes the papery taste from the filter, as well as heats the Chemex
to provide a better brew. In addition, I also pour a splash of water in
our two mugs to heat them as well.
Once the water has found its way through the filter and into the base of
the Chemex, I turn on the grinder and dump the water in the sink.
After pouring the ground coffee into the now-wet paper filter, I begin the
bloom process. I slowly pour water from the outside of the grounds inward
in concentric circles, trying to only hit the dry grounds with the stream
of water. Once I've poured about 100g of water into the Chemex, I pause to
let the coffee "bloom". After a few seconds, I stir the mixture carefully
with a spoon.
Finally, I continue pouring water in, trying to hit the darkest spots with
the stream. If there are no dark spots, I usually aim for the center,
letting the Chemex fill until I've poured 700g of water. Once I have,
I turn off the scale and let the brew run its course.
After the dripping has stopped, I dump the used filter, swirl the coffee
a bit to make sure it's even, and pour it evenly into each mug. The 42g
grounds to 700g water ratio should yield about two mugs of coffee.
I hope this inspires you to prepare your own delicious cup of coffee at
home!
