How To Make Good Coffee At Home?
Making a good cup of coffee at home or at the office doesn’t have to be hard. Here are some tips for several common brew methods we have learned over the years. We are not suggesting that they are gospel. There is a way to do it better, find it. Once you have worked out how you like your coffee, you brew it your way.
ESPRESSO
The finely ground coffee is tightly tamped into a “portafilter”, high-pressure hot water is then forced through the grounds and extracted in small, concentrated coffee called espresso. It is also the base for other drinks such as a Flat White and Long Black etc. Read more...? Here is where we will be documenting everything that goes on in our coffee world. Welcome to the Dairy Beanz Journal.
PLUNGER
Plunger, also known as French Press, is perhaps the most vulnerable to over-extraction. To achieve a full expression of the coffee, decant it immediately after brewing, as the coffee will grow bitter if left too long in the plunger.
Brewing Tips:
1. Place the fresh coffee grounds into the plunger and pour twice the amount of hot water around 92°c onto your grounds.
2.Give the grounds a gentle stir and let the coffee bloom for 30 seconds.
3. Add remaining water, let grounds steep for 4 minutes, then plunge down slightly.
4. Finished pressing, serve the coffee IMMEDIATELY.
*We recommend a ratio of 30g of coffee grounds for every 500ml water and the pressure-wise is 15-20 pounds. Heat plunger with hot water before brewing.
FILTER MACHINE
An automatic drip coffee maker usually comes with a carafe. It's easy to serve brewed coffee for the family or for a group. A pouch of Dairy Beanz perfectly ground with the right amount of fresh coffee at the right grind, will give you a more delicious cup.
Brewing Tips:
1. Fill the reservoir with cold filtered water to the desired watermark.
2. Weigh coffee to desired strength and grind.
3. Place filter in the cone, rinse with hot water and add coffee, shake to level the coffee bed.
4. Place the carafe, with a cone on top, into the brewer and turn on.
5. The machine will begin to brew. When done, turn off brewer and remove cone. Serve.
* When placing the filter in the cone, be sure to have the folds facing away from the drain hole. After rinsing the filter, pour the rinse water out of the side opposite the spout. Check to make sure the filter is still suctioned to the wall of the cone, with no air pockets.
* Due to a shorter brew time, a smaller cup brew will require a slightly finer grind than a big one.
* All grinders will produce a mix of course and fine particles – none are perfect, however, burr grinders produce far more uniformity. If your resulting cup is too strong and/or bitter, adjust your grind slightly coarser. If it is too weak and/or sour, adjust slightly finer.
CONE FILTER
A pour-over cone made of plastic, ceramic, metal, or glass. Water seeps through the ground coffee, the paper filter, and is then collected in a serving jug placed below a holder used for drip brewing. Produces clear, light-bodied coffee.
V60 Brewing Tips:
1. Put a paper filter in the V60 cone, and place on top of a server.
2. Pre-heat V60 cone by pouring hot water and rinse the paper filter, discard water from both.
3. Weigh coffee to desired strength (30g for 500ml) and grind.
4. Place the V60 with the server on a scale. Add coffee, shake to level the coffee bed, zero the scale.
5. Start timer and your pour at the same time, pour twice the amount of hot water onto the grounds and let the coffee bloom for 30 seconds.
6. Start pouring in the center, work your way out and then back to the center, in concentric circles.
7. Coffee should finish draining around 2:30, Serve.
* To get a complex cup, give the coffee a few minutes to cool.
* If your resulting cup is too strong and/or bitter, adjust your grind slightly coarser. If it is too weak and/or sour, adjust slightly finer.
STOVETOP
A simple, Italian-made little brewer. Moka Pot produces a viscous, appropriately dense espresso with no electricity or fancy equipment.
Brewing Tips:
1. Get Fresh Roasted coffee beans, Grind about a little bit coarser than flour.
2. Unscrew the Moka pot and fill the bottom chamber with your heated water, just to where the little ridges start on the inside of the pot.
3. Fill with ground coffee and level the filter off without tamping down. And place it into the base.
4. Place over medium heat on your stove. Caution!!! The bottom chamber will be hot.
5. When you start to see coffee coming out of the spout, CLOSE the lid and listen carefully, As soon as the pot starts gurgling, take it off the heat and wait for the noise to stop.
6. Pour and blow on the cup a little first(HOT!), then Enjoy.
*DANGER!
If you fill ground coffee too less/coarse, it will spurt wildly out of thetop of the pot. (Stand back!)
Similarly, if fill ground coffee too many/fine, the water will not be able to pass through the filter, and you run the risk of building up too much pressure in the pot, take it off the heat, DO NOT OPEN the lid and DO NOT UNSCREW the base, until it has cooled.
SYPHON
A vacuum coffee brewing device. Brews coffee using two chambers where vapor pressure and vacuum produce coffee. An amalgamation of immersion and filter brewing methods, it was invented by Loeff of Berlin in the 1830s. It produces a delicate, tea-like cup of coffee.
Brewing Tips:
1. Soaking the filter in a warm water bath for 1 minute, drop it into the top component-'hopper', and hook to the glass tubing.
2. Fill the bottom component-bulb', with 300g of hot water.
3. Insert the hopper, filter and all, into the bulb, Position the entire assembly above the heat source.
4. Soon, the water in the bulb will begin boiling and rise up into the hopper.
5. Once the water has moved into the hopper, turn your heat source down so that the water is between 85-90°c.
6. Add your coffee, gently and thoroughly submerge it with a bamboo paddle or butter knife.
7. Let the coffee brew, undisturbed, for one minute and 10 seconds.
8. Remove your siphon from the heat source and give it ten stirs with a bamboo paddle.
9. Your coffee should take another minute or so to draw downward and finally rest in the bulb.
10. Remove the hopper and serve.
* To get a complex cup, give the coffee a few minutes to cool.
* Coffee ground just a little bit finer than regular drip coffee.
* For some physics related reason, a little bit water will stay in the bottom. Don’t worry about this little bit.
CHEMEX
A manual, pour-over style glass-container coffeemaker, which employs a dense filter paper, resulting in a clean, articulate cup.
Brewing Tips:
1. Place filter in Chemex, rinse the filter with hot water until the glass is heated, discard water from both.
2. Weigh coffee to desired strength ( 30g for 500ml ) and grind.
3. Place the Chemex on a scale, add coffee, shake to level the coffee bed, zero the scale.
4. Start the timer and pour twice the amount of hot water ( about 60g ) onto the grounds and let the coffee bloom for 30 seconds.
5. Start pouring in the center, work your way out and then back to the center, in concentric circles.
6. Coffee should drain at around 4 mins, remove the filter. Serve.
GOLD FILTER
A single serve coffee brewer which comes with 3 components: 23 karat gold plated filter, water regulator (insert with perforated base), and lid. The filter is placed directly on a coffee mug and partially filled with ground coffee. Hot water is then poured over the top resulting in freshly brewed coffee dripping into the cup below.
Brewing Tips:
1. Place Gold Filter on a coffee mug, heat filter and mug with hot water, discard water from both.
2. Weigh coffee to desired strength with 15 grams for a 250ml cup. Increase the coffee dose or use less water to achieve your preferred taste.
3. Place the GFilter with a mug on a scale. Add coffee, shake to level the coffee bed, Place water regulator inside the filter, zero the scale.
4. Start timer and your pour at the same time, fill hot water(90-96°c) into the regulator all the way to the top, or until your scale reads 250g.
5. Coffee should finish draining around 2:30 mins, remove the filter. Serve.
*Play with the grind size to adjust this time and you should be able to achieve reasonable consistency with your brews.
AEROPRESS
A device for brewing coffee. Coffee is steeped for 10–50 seconds and then forced through a filter by pressing the plunger through the tube. Its most frequent use is more in the filter brew strength.
Brewing Tips:
1. Heat your water to 92°c and weigh out your whole bean coffee and grind it (15g).
2. Insert a paper filter into the cap, heat filter and cap with hot water, discard the rinse water.
3. Assemble AeroPress, make sure it is clean and completely dry, or else the plunger tip may not be able to form a perfect seal inside the chamber.
4. Place it on your scale in the “inverted” position with the cap off, zero the weight, add your ground coffee.
5. Add twice the weight of hot water (about 92°c) evenly over the grounds, let the coffee bloom for 30 seconds.
6. Fill the Aeropress all the way to the top, or until your scale reads 250g.
7. Stir gently for 5 seconds, then attach the cap with the paper filter securely to the top of the chamber.
8. Once your timer reads 1:30, carefully flip the entire AeroPress over and place it on top of your mug.
9. Press the plunger down slowly but steadily for about 20 seconds. Remove the cap and discard the grounds and filter. Serve.
*You will experience about 30 pounds of resistance here. If the pushing feels too easy, your grind is likely too coarse; if it’s very hard to push, chances are the grind is too fine. Your coffee is fully brewed once it begins to make a hissing sound. This means there is no more water to push through the device.
WHOLE BEANS
We always recommend buying whole beans to preserve freshness and taste. Grinding your coffee fresh for each serve is the best way to enjoy coffee. An investment in a grinder won't be regretted.