Coffee Brewing
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[edit] Coffee Brewer
[edit] AeroPress
The instructions manual on how to use the AeroPress can be downloaded here.
Additional notes: After reading through the instructions manual, you may want to tweak the following variables to suit your taste:
- Brew temperature - the recommended brew temperature in the manual is 80 degrees Celsius, try using around 93 degrees Celsius (normal brewing temperature for other brewing equipment is between 90 to 96). Alternatively, the brewing cylinder could be pre-heated by running hot water through it.
- Grind size - the recommended grind is between espresso and drip. Grinding finer will produce more flavor using less coffee. When there is a sign of over extraction (bitterness), adjust your grinder towards coarser grind.
- Steeping, stirring, plunge time - the times recommended in the manual are a good start. Longer times may cause over-extraction. Conversely, shorter time may cause under-extraction.
With the normal use of AeroPress (as described in the instructions manual above), a lot of the coffee oils are lost in the puck.
One way to get most of those coffee oil into you brew is by using the inverted AeroPress method. This method is, I believe, pionerred by Scott Marquardt. His webpage which describes this method is here.
I would very much like to try Inverted AeroPress method. However, I do not know where to find a 5 micron polyester felt filtering media (preferably, food grade quality) here in Australia. Please let me know if you know of any (my email is 'ronald at avacuppa.com.au).
[edit] Filter Cone
How To Brew Coffee Using Filter Cones (aka Manual Pour-Over Drip Brewing (Method)
To make filter coffee for one person you will need the following:
- Filter cone
- Paper filter
- A mug or cup
- 25g of coffee
- 0.5 liter of water
[edit] Steps
- Heat the water to 93 degrees centigrade. If you do not have a thermometer, bring the water to a boil then let it cool away from the flame for a couple of minutes.
- Optionally and preferably (for fresher coffee), if you have roasted whole beans now is the time to grind it. The grind is coarser than for an espresso but finer than for a French press. You can experiment and find the grind that suits your taste. A good guide is that the brewing time in step 7 should be between 3 to 4 minutes.
- Pre-heat the filter cone and cup by pouring hot water into them.
- Place the filter cone on top of the cup (either directly on top of the cup or just above it as shown in the picture in step 5 below).
- Put the ground beans into the paper filter and then place them into the filter cone.
- Pour in just enough water to wet all the coffee. Let it soak for 15 to 20 seconds.
- Pour the water in circular motion until the filter is full then wait until the water drain through to about halfway of the filter, then top up with water. Repeat the process until your cup is full. Try to pour only in the center for an even extraction of the coffee.
- Remove the filter cone and put it in the sink. Note that you should use new paper filter and coffee the next time you brew so now is a good time to throw them both away; also, both are of organic origin and would be good compost material for the gardeners in us.
- Optionally, add milk and water to your taste.
[edit] Coffee Grinder
A good grinder is necessary in the process of brewing coffee.
A good grinder would produce uniformly-sized coffee grounds (as per the selected grind setting) with minimal or no dust. Uniformly-sized ground is important because the finer grounds will become over-extracted (contributing bitterness, etc)and the coarser grounds will become under-extracted.
[edit] Mazzer
Here is some dial settings you can start up with. It is of course best to experiment with change the settings a little adjustment at a time to find out what you liked best.
From you factory 'zero setting', add the following increments:
- 2.0 - espresso
- 5.0 - drip
- 6.0 - plunger, French Press
If you need to verify where is you factory 'zero setting', you can do the following:
- make sure the grinder is empty
- turn on the grinder to have the burr moving (this makes the adjustment ring easier to move)
- turn the adjustment ring towards finer settings until you hear the sound of the metallic burr touching, that will be your factory 'zero setting'.
