The Nitty Gritty of Your Morning Cup
Coffee is one of life’s simplest pleasures and luxuries. It’s enjoyed across the globe and the beginning of many morning rituals. As William Thackery once said, “whatever you are, try and be a good one,” so it goes with your morning cup. Those coffee beans have made an incredible journey to your kitchen; so listen up, here’s how to make a great, no-fuss cup of coffee. You don’t need to have a timer running every time you make coffee, I recommend using the times below as a guideline.
Whole beans on the left, coarsely ground coffee in the middle and sea salt on the right. Your ground coffee should resemble the size of sea salt.
Getting Started
Two things I want to talk about before we get started are grind and extraction. Grind: when, how and what size? Freshly ground coffee is unparalleled. If you don’t do anything else right, at least do this. CO2 is the main agent that transfers your coffee beans’ oils into your coffee, the moment you grind your beans you are creating more surface area for CO2 to escape, thus losing flavor in your cup of joe. Don’t grind it the night before or even 15 minutes before. Grind your coffee after you put a kettle of water on the stove. If you don’t have a grinder, tell your barista what method your using and have them grind it and keep your ground coffee in an air-tight container in a dark cabinet, not your freezer (that’s a myth). If your grinder has settings, it will usually fall around the coarse or french press option. If your grinder does not have settings, grind a tablespoon of coffee and place it on a white piece of paper. You want your ground coffee to resemble sea salt. It’s much easier to examine and a good reference if you want to make changes in the future.
Everything you need to get started: kettle, carafe, filter, pour over, your favorite coffee, scale, and a mug.
If you do want to make changes to your coffee, everything will make sense when you understand extraction. Extraction refers to the surface area of coffee. The smaller particles will have more contact with water, thus extract more quickly. Generally this over extraction is an indication of too fine a grind or brewing for too long and will leave a salty, bitter, aspirin-like taste in your mouth. Oppositely, under extraction is an indication of too coarse a grind or brewing for too little and will leave a sour, flat, vinegar-like taste in your mouth. It’s fun to make small changes to your grind and experiment with different recipes. Typically, the lighter the roast, the less coffee you can get away with using.
Step 1
Bring at least 600 g (20 oz) of water to a boil.
Step 2
Grind 30 g of coffee (3 tbsp) to a coarseness resembling sea salt.
Step 3
Before you brew, place filter (#2) in pour over (brewer) and rinse with boiling water. Dump out water. This rinses out any flavor you may get from the filter and heats up your brewer.
You want the stream of water from the kettle to be small and steady.
Step 4
Add ground coffee to the filter and tap so its level. Place the brewer on a cup or carafe and place the entire set-up on a digital scale, and tare the scale.
Step 5
The first pour is known as the bloom pour. The bloom saturates all the grounds and will helps with even extraction. Pour about twice the amount of water to coffee (60 g). Pour steady spirals starting on the outside and moving inward. Keep things even (avoid light spots and go towards the dark, dry spots). This pour should last about 15 seconds, then wait an additional 30 seconds.
Ending total is 350 g of water in about 3 minutes.
Step 6
Add roughly 90 g of water on the second pour, bringing the total on the scale to 150g. Steady spirals like before. The goal during this pour is to sink all the coffee on the surface of the bed, which stirs the coffee and leads to an even extraction. This pour should take about a minute. You may need to pause at times to allow the coffee to settle and to make room for more water.
Step 7
Pour an additional 100g of water in steady spirals. This will bring your total to 250g and should take about 20 seconds.
Step 8
When the water and coffee from the third pour reaches the bottom of the filter, begin your fourth and final pour. Add 100g of water, bringing your total to 350g in about 20 seconds. The whole process should be about three minutes. Enjoy!
Artist Biography
Krista working in her studio at Rat City Studios in Seattle, Washington.
Krista graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2011 with a BFA in Sculpture under the advisory of Spencer Ebbinga. In July of 2019 she began an assistantship to Deborah Schwartzkopf at Rat City Studios in Seattle, Washington. Her mission is to bring you unique, thoughtful and durable products to connect you with the world around you. She also works as a barista part time and enjoys the craft behind a great cup of coffee.