Mariposa Coffee Roastery

Awhile back, we mentioned in a blog post the 5 most important things to coffee brewing. We feel strongly that it is an integral part to brewing good coffee, so we’re making it a permanent addition to our “coffee library.” A couple things to remember: coffee brewing is all about technique, so it gets better with the proper practice; coffee brewing doesn’t need to be done with fancy equipment, only the right ones (and they’re not the expensive ones either).

The five most important components in coffee brewing are (in no particular order):

1. Water (okay, so fresh and filtered water is crucial)
2. Water temperature
3. Coffee volume
4. Grind size
5. Steeping time

These five things are arguably the most important in ensuring that you have really quality brewed coffee. And as we mentioned, water is critical. Coffee is 98% to 99% water. If you use the shady, arsenic-friendly, Chromium-6 rich Norman tap water, you may be getting some heavy notes of metallic flavor. At minimum, your water will be freshly filtered (and cold). Reverse osmosis is good, but not always necessary. Despite what many people may say, bottled water is not always best. In short, you don’t know how long the water’s been sitting in the plastic, and you don’t know what other chemicals from the bottle have leeched into the water.

Right next to water is water temperature. In order to obtain optimum coffee extraction, you need water temperature to be just below boiling (about 200 degrees F). Almost all automatic home coffee brewers are nowhere near the 200 degree point when your coffee is brewing. 175 to 182 degrees is more like it. There are very few that will brew at the optimal temperature. Ultimately, we recommend sticking with manual brew methods such as pour-over drip, the Clever, French press, Chemex, Aeropress, and vacuum pot. We never recommend the percolator (sorry to disappoint).

Coffee volume is best measured in grams. Partially because it’s more accurate than ounce, and well, the rest of the world uses grams. Therefore, we recommend a digital home scale for about $30. Our recommended amount is anywhere between 7-9 grams per every 4-6 ounces of water. Personally, we use 8-9 grams per every 4 ounces of water for brewing devices.

Grind size can be the difference between making your coffee look and taste like tea, or an enjoyable, balanced, and good bodied coffee. In honesty, a blade-style grinder ($20-$30 at the store) will be more than sufficient for most home needs. Heck, you can even use a blade-style grinder to pull espresso at home (never professionally). The reason why? Most of the time, you’ll be the one drinking the coffee, or a significant other. Our recommended burr grinders start anywhere between $200-$250 each.  We generally grind our coffee finer than the norm. Our grind for French press is particularly fine (considering the brewing style). This is all about taste. We do think that a finer grinder will give you better extraction; just make sure it’s not too fine to start brewing the coffee bitterly. Use common sense when grinding.  Grind size is something that just takes practice.

Just like grind size, if you steep too early, you’re wasting that speciality coffee. Then again, if you steep too late, you may not want to drink the coffee anymore because it’s so over-extracted and bitter. On average, a 4 minute steep time before extraction on the Clever or French press is enough. The thing to keep in mind with these two systems is that the coffee is still brewing until it is poured out because it still maintains contact with the coffee.

Just by incorporating these 5 simple and easy steps in your brewing technique will make tremendous difference in how your coffee tastes. Just remember, automatic is not always better. The more control you have in brewing coffee, the better it will taste.

Happy brewing!