Not a pro?...... You Don't Need To Be
You get up, you stretch, you scratch, you stumble into the kitchen. You forgot to put on pants. You turn around, put on your pants, then come back to the kitchen. Well, that wasn't your best moment but the excuse is that you haven't had your morning cup yet. With your one fully functioning eye you grab your coffee, your filter, and brew a fresh cup 'o joe. Your first sip is supposed to be luxurious, rich and comforting, but instead you're greeted with the sour, watery, dishwater you've always made. You drink it anyway and fall to the same excuses....."I need the caffeine", "I'm not awake yet anyway", "My brand of coffee sucks", "My Mr. Coffee machine sucks". Well, all are true but all can be fixed..... easily.
Nobody NEEDS pro coffee gear at home to make good coffee. Nobody NEEDS an in-home barista to make them a perfect cappuccino. What you NEED is a little tip and/or trick to help make that coffee a little nicer. It's the middle of a pandemic, what else are you going to do anyway? Let me open your mind a little bit to help make that first experience of your day a better one.
Coffee is all about two simple rules: Grind size and immersion time. Playing with these two very basic ideas, you can manipulate any coffee (I would start with good stuff or it's an uphill battle) into the flavour profile you might be looking for.
Rule #1 - Grind Size
Coffee beans are always best purchased whole bean and ground fresh just before brewing. This ensures that a minimal amount of oxidization attacks the complexity of the profile. If you buy pre-ground coffee, well.... shrug. Hint: Bean Scene will grind coffee for you at the counter and suggest the best grind size for your type of brewer.
Finer Grinds (Needs short immersion time): Grinding your coffee to a finer setting will increase the surface area available for water to extract and will increase the depth of flavour. This is a cheater to get more flavour out of your coffee but BE CAREFUL as this will also increase the risk of your coffee becoming bitter. The mouthfeel of the coffee will be thicker as microfine particles can bypass the fibers of the filter itself. This isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're looking to mimic the flavour notes produced by a moka pot. Microfines in coffee can be especially nice with cream and sugar and can create a few more cocoa notes in the cup. You will however, also reduce the amount of brightness (sparkle) in the coffee so be aware of this.
Coarser Grinds (Needs longer immersion time): Generally, modern third-wave coffee is ground a little coarser and left to sit in the water a little longer. This is due to modern coffee theory striving to pull out complexity through time. The longer a coffee is immersed in water, the more flavour will be pulled out. As mentioned previously, grinds can tend to get bitter if left in water for too long, and all of the sparkle will disappear. A general rule is that acids (sparkle, brightness) are extracted in the first part of the brew cycle and sugars in the last part. (note to coffee nerds: GENERALLY!). For this reason, coarse coffee will have immersion times of up to 5 minutes, while finer grinds like immersion times under 3 minutes. You'll find that coarse coffees work better straight up without cream and sugar, and have a cleaner mouthfeel.
Rule #2 - Immersion Time
The longer coffee sits in water, the more flavour is extracted. If it sits in the water for too long, it may become bitter. If coffee sits in the water for too little time (or water not hot enough) the coffee may taste weak and sour. Most residential coffee machines do not heat the water enough, and most inexpensive coffee filters are too porous and won't hold water well enough to extract enough depth. If you're stuck using both a cheap machine and cheap filters, then maybe grind your coffee a little finer to squeeze out some of that flavour. It's a cheat but it will work. There's rarely a machine that will heat the water too much so let's forget about that concept for now.
So, here's the dealio:
1. If you want your coffee deeper, to have more cocoa notes, and to go well with cream and sugar.... make the grind finer and maybe add a bit more coffee to water ratio. Don't let the water sit on the grinds for more than 3 minutes or it may get bitter.
2. If you want coffee to be cleaner, fruitier, brighter.... use coarse grinds and immerse for between 4-5 minutes max. If it gets bitter, reduce the immersion time. If you want it stronger, add more coffee to water ratio. Simple.
Now, this is just a blog not a book, so please keep in mind that there are a million reasons why your coffee might taste bad. There are a million more on how to manipulate flavour including water temperature, filter type, or machine type. What you had for breakfast will effect your impression of coffee!
Promise me to use hot water just off the boil (note to coffee nerds.. "Generally"), use Bean Scene Coffee, and make your first cup count! It's a pandemic.... what else are you going to do?!