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Brewing coffee is an interesting phenomenon. There is no single brew device, or sole brewing method that is the end all. With elements of scientific process as the framework for pure artful design, brewing coffee is the only means to unlock the essence of fresh-roasted coffee beans and to fill your cup with pure heaven.
One cannot deny the simple truth that no two palates are created alike. For the same reason one person swears by the French Press, another person refuses to drink anything but pour-over drip coffee. Whether pressure extracted or drip brewed, fine ground or course, there are many ways to alter the brew so that it suits the simplest or most demanding and complex palates it comes in contact with. Below are some factors that could affect the flavor of brewed coffee for better or for worse:
The Four Most Important Brewing Principles
- Start with clean filtered or purified water-Coffee is over 99% water, so bad tasting water is a sure way to ruin your brew.
- Proper brew temperature – In order to extract all of the fabulous origin flavors from the ground coffee, brew water temperature needs to be between 195 and 205 degrees. Most all consumer brewers, with a few exceptions, are incapable of reaching these high temperatures. This is why the pour-over brew is popular amongst coffee enthusiasts. The best home brewing system is made by Technivorm and is certified by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. The only drawback is its price and you will likely have to order it online if there is not a specialty coffee house nearby that stocks this wonderful piece of mechanical wizardry.
- The Right Grind for the Selected Brew Method – Grind has a profound effect on the taste of your brewed coffee. If the coffee tastes to thin or watery, there is a chance that it is under-extracted due to the grind being too course. If the coffee tastes too strong or perhaps bitter, it could be that the grind is too fine and the bitter compounds were pulled from the beans exterior and entered your cup. Grind fineness is directly proportional to the total dissolved solids, or TDS, in your coffee. TDS is the industry standard method used to measure coffee strength. So, it makes sense that finer coffee granules are better able to evade the pores in the filter and pass through into the final brew product. This is especially true if you are using a metal mesh filter like the reusable gold tone filters. These filters tend to allow more solids and flavor oils to pass through. This makes for a very rich cup with a heavier mouthfeel.
- French Press – A very popular brew method amongst connoisseurs of fine coffee. French press coffee is characterized by its heavy body and richness, which is attributed to the porous press screen and long steep time. Because of this long steep time - four minutes, along with the rather pourous press screen, it is necessary to grind the coffee a little courser than you would normally use for drip coffee. This is necessary to prevent over-extraction and too strong a brew with a heavy a TDS count.
- Auto Drip – This is one of the more difficult ones to nail down simply due to the variances in equipment available on the market. Unlike pour over or French press where there are not many variables, auto drip machines are all over the map in terms of features and quality. Our advice is to experiment with the grind fineness, from a medium grind working your way up to a fine grind. There is no need to use a course grind in an auto drip machine since there is no chance of over-extraction. As a matter of fact, the biggest problem with the majority of auto drip machines is under-extraction. I suggest taking it as fine as you can without adding bitterness or producing a brew strength beyond an acceptable range for you individual palate. The two most common issues with most auto drip machines is too low of a brew temperature and too fast of an extraction time. Both are guilty of producing a brew that lacks flavor depth and intensity.
- Pour Over Drip – The same principles apply to pour over as with auto drip. In other words, start with a medium grind and experiment by incrementally increasing the fineness until you find your ideal setting. Do not get caught up in trying to find the “perfect” setting since it really is a matter of personal preference much like selecting a fine wine. You may like Cabernet Sauvignons while you spouse swears by Pinot Noirs. Two completely different taste profiles but both equally delicious in their own unique ways. A word of caution, many pour over cups come out tasting weak because the grind is too course allowing the water to pass too quickly over the grounds. With a finer grind, the water collects and stays in the filter longer, which allows for better flavor extraction.
- Espresso – While all the previous brew methods allowed for a decent amount of wiggle room in terms of grind fineness, espresso is much more unforgiving. Because a great deal of physics come into play with pulling espresso shots through pressure, the fineness of the grind is ever so critical. For the consumer, this typically amounts to investing in a reputable burr grinder capable of espresso fineness. Trying to select the right grinder can be daunting and we are yet to find one under $100 that can properly grind espresso. Calibrating espresso grind fineness can be challenging since there are other factors involved such as tamping pressure and dosing. A properly pulled shot should fall within a 20-25 second extraction time frame. This starts from the second you press the button to start the machine to the point in which you either manually stop the machine or it automatically stops. It generally takes anywhere from 3-5 seconds before you see the espresso dispense from the portafilter. Espresso grounds should have a consistency that in between salt granules and baby powder. If it feels like salt it is too course and if it feels like baby powder it is too fine.
- Dosing – This is the amount of coffee grounds used in the brew process. For drip coffee, the recommended starting point is (2) tablespoons of grounds to 6 oz. of filtered water. Keep in mind that cups of coffee are not measured in 8 oz. increments. Generally speaking, most coffee carafe graduations are between 5 and 6 oz., so it is best to measure out the water as opposed to using the marks on the coffee carafe. Portola coffee is not bitter so the most common mistake when brewing our quality fresh roasted coffee is under dosing which really does not allow for all the flavor nuances to come through in large enough quantities to be tasted. From the general starting point, dose up or down depending on the coffee strength until you reach a volume of coffee grounds that produces the brew that is right for you.
While much of this may seem complicated or too scientific, it really isn’t as long as you know that there are ways to adjust the variables that play a part in the brew process to customize the flavor of your coffee according to your individual palate. This concept is of utmost importance and what we like to call, the “Art of Brewing.” We encourage experimentation and creativity because when all the grounds settle, it is you who is the ultimate judge of what tastes best.
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