Brewing Guides

An evolving habit

We're always arguing about our favourite recipes, from one week to another we find a new way of brewing that changes everything we thought we knew the week before. Between us, we've made thousands of pourovers, dialled countless espressos and poured a silly amount of silky flat whites.

This guide isn't intended to make you a world champion barista, it's intended to provide you with a clear and simple starting point for our coffee.

From here, the world is yours. Tweak, learn, drink and enjoy.

For Sunday mornings

French Press | Cafetière

Recipe

This recipe is for a 500ml French Press (2 cups) and can be scaled accordingly.

  • Input: 32g of coffee grounds
  • Output: 500g (ml) of brewed coffee
  • Ratio: 1:15.6 (coffee grounds to water)
  • Water temperature: 95°C
  • Grind size: Coarse-medium
  • Brew time: Approximately 8 minutes

French Press is one of the simplest and most enjoyable ways to brew and drink coffee. It's super accessible and easy to master with a few tips. We brew this method similar to how we brew cupping bowls when doing quality control.

Method
  • Heat water: Boil enough water to fill your French Press.
  • Prepare grounds: Grind coffee to coarse-medium consistency.
  • Add ground coffee: Add 32g ground coffee to the French Press.
  • Pour: In one go, pour 500g (ml) of hot water quickly and from a height over the grounds, aiming the pour to one side of the jug to achieve a whirlpool motion, evenly saturating all the grounds.
  • Wait: Leave the French Press uncovered for 4 minutes.
  • Break grounds: After 4 minutes, give the coffee a shallow stir, breaking up any clumps of grounds that have formed. (Optional: Use a spoon to remove any floating coffee grounds while trying not to disturb the liquid too much.)
  • Add lid: Place plunger on the French Press, but don't plunge it yet.
  • Wait: Leave the coffee to brew for an additional 4 minutes, for a total of 8 minutes.
  • Plunge: Slowly press the plunger down to about a couple of centimeters above the grounds, trying not to disturb them.
  • Serve: Pour the coffee out into a cup or serving container, trying not to swish it back and forth and keeping the grounds as still as possible. Leave a good bit of liquid in the bottom by the grounds.
Tips: Pour the coffee into a larger server in one motion, swirl and serve.
The original and best, until it wasn't.

Pourover: V60

Recipe
  • Input: 18g of coffee grounds
  • Output: 300g (ml) of brewed coffee
  • Ratio: 1:16.5 (coffee grounds to water)
  • Water temperature: 94°C
  • Grind size: Medium-fine
  • Brew time: 3-3.5 minutes

This is a basic starting recipe. Recently, we've been enjoying a slightly tighter ratio (1:15.5) with many of our lighter roast coffees.

Method
  • Heat water: Fill your goose-neck kettle with at least 600ml of water and boil.
  • Rinse paper and heat brewer: Place paper filter in brewer and rinse by pouring lots of hot water through (250g). Discard the rinse water.
  • Add ground coffee: Add 18g of ground coffee to the bottom of the brewing cone, shake gently to even and use a small implement (like chopsticks) to dig a shallow well in the center of the grounds.
  • Bloom: Quickly pour 65g of water over the grounds, starting in the center of the well. Once the grounds are wet, swirl the brewer in a circular motion and use a teaspoon to dig the bed out, ensuring all the grounds are saturated.
  • Pour: After 30-40 seconds (depending on the freshness of the coffee), begin pouring the remaining water (235g) over the grounds, starting in the center and using concentric circles. Try not to touch the paper. Aim to finish pouring the water between 1:30-1:45.
  • Agitate and wait: Swirl the brewer again, lift it a couple of centimetres off the server and give it a tap. Allow the coffee to drip through the filter and into your cup or server.
Tips: swirl, tap, flatbed.
Our new favourite

Pourover: Flat-bottom brewers

Recipe
  • Input: 17g of coffee grounds
  • Output: 260g of brewed coffee
  • Ratio: 1:15.3 (coffee grounds to water)
  • Water temperature: 94°C
  • Grind size: Medium (slightly coarser than V60)
  • Brew time: 2.40-3 minutes

We've really got into the April brewer recently, it's kind of magical in it's simplicity. As a team we went through phases of enjoy Kalita brews but always reverted back to the V60. The April brewer, however, makes all our coffees pop and seems to leave everything with a silky texture.

This is a basic starting recipe we use with the April Brewer and can be used with the Kalita 185 or 155 (grind slightly finer for 155).

Method
  • Heat water: Fill a goose-neck kettle with at least 600ml of water and boil.
  • Rinse paper and heat brewer: Place paper filter in brewer and rinse by pouring lots of hot water through (250g). Discard the rinse water.
  • Add ground coffee: Add 17g of ground coffee to the brewing cone, shake gently to even.
  • Bloom: Quickly pour 50g of hot water over the grounds starting in the centre. Swirl the brewer in a circular motion to ensure even saturation.
  • First pour: After 40 seconds, slowly pour water from a height of about 6-10cm in a circular motion, starting in the centre and working your way outwards. Pour up to 110g of water, ensuring you don't touch the sides of the brewer or the filter paper. Finish pouring in the centre, and give the brewer a small swirl to ensure even extraction.
  • Second pour: When the brew time hits 1:20, start pouring again from the centre of the brewer, pouring slowly up to 200g of water using the same method as before.
  • Final pour: When the brew time reaches 1:50, pour the remaining water using the same method, aiming to finish pouring in the middle of the brewer from a height of 6-10cm.
  • Agitate and wait: Give the brewer a final swirl to ensure even extraction. The total brew time should be between 2:10-2:20. Wait until the brew finishes dripping, which should take around 30 seconds.
Tips: pour from a height
Quick and expensive

Espresso

Recipe
  • Input: 17.5g of coffee grounds
  • Output: 40g of brewed espresso
  • Ratio: 1:2 to 1:3 (coffee grounds to water)
  • Water temperature: 94°C
  • Pump pressure: 6 bar
  • Tamp pressure: 16-18kg
  • Brew time: 27 seconds
  • Recommended ratio: 1:2.3 (for best taste)

From here, we suggest adjusting the output to begin fine tuning. Output is the easiest variable to adjust. In general, longer shots will soften the acidity and sacrifice body, shorter shots will be zinger and punchier with more body.

Tips: Run shorter shots when pairing with milk

Glossary | Terms

  • Brew Time: The total amount of time required to brew the coffee or espresso recipe, starting from the moment when the water and coffee grounds come into contact, and finishing when the brewing process is complete.
  • Dialing In: The process of adjusting various brewing parameters to find the ideal combination that extracts the best possible flavor from a particular coffee.
  • Grind Size: The size of the coffee grounds used for a specific brewing method, typically classified on a scale of fine to coarse.
  • Grounds: The roasted and ground beans that are used to brew coffee.
  • Input: The amount of dry coffee grounds used in a recipe.
  • Output: The amount of wet coffee produced by the recipe.
  • Pump Pressure: The amount of pressure generated by the pump in an espresso machine, typically measured in bars (1 bar = 14.5 pounds per square inch or psi).
  • Ratio: The comparison between two quantities or amounts. In coffee brewing, the ratio refers to the amount of coffee used in proportion to the amount of water used. For example, a ratio of 1:16 means using one unit of coffee to sixteen units of water. So if you're using 20g of coffee, you'll need 320g of water to make coffee with a 1:16 ratio.
  • Tamp Pressure: The amount of pressure used to compact coffee grounds into a dense puck using a tamp, typically measured in pounds or kilograms of force.
  • Water Temperature: The temperature of the water used to brew coffee.