Coffee Basics
Before discussing the different brewing methods, there are some factors that need to be considered in order to get a good cup of coffee. You could even use this if you ever feel that you are going wrong somewhere in brewing. These factors are often termed as "variables". Most of these can be easily mended without any hassle. And as someone who started from making coffee without a proper ratio, I can assure you that the change is quite noticeable. So here's troubleshooting that you could use to make a better cup.
1) Freshness of Coffee
As I had mentioned earlier, the freshness of coffee plays an important role in the taste. The ideal time for consumption begins 3 - 4 days after roasting the beans. Consuming the coffee before this time period won't bring a drastic change, but you might not be able to detect the characteristic notes of the bean. This is because the roasted beans have a lot of carbon dioxide and are being released slowly. So it will take some time to develop the flavours. Once you have tested your patience for 4 days, you are in the sweet spot and ready to brew some lip-smacking coffee. From here, the ideal time to consume would be between 1-3 weeks. After this, the coffee starts to get stale and starts losing some of the flavours. And from what I have experienced, you stop getting the aroma after 2 weeks. So it's ideal to get coffee in small proportions, say 250 gems if your daily consumption is 1-2 cups.
As I had mentioned earlier, the freshness of coffee plays an important role in the taste. The ideal time for consumption begins 3 - 4 days after roasting the beans. Consuming the coffee before this time period won't bring a drastic change, but you might not be able to detect the characteristic notes of the bean. This is because the roasted beans have a lot of carbon dioxide and are being released slowly. So it will take some time to develop the flavours. Once you have tested your patience for 4 days, you are in the sweet spot and ready to brew some lip-smacking coffee. From here, the ideal time to consume would be between 1-3 weeks. After this, the coffee starts to get stale and starts losing some of the flavours. And from what I have experienced, you stop getting the aroma after 2 weeks. So it's ideal to get coffee in small proportions, say 250 gems if your daily consumption is 1-2 cups.
Now, most roasters offer the option of pre-ground coffee and there's nothing wrong in buying it. But if you are ready to pitch in a few more bucks, you can get a decent hand grinder. This might give you some extra days in the ideal consumption zone. The main reason here too is oxidation. If you go for a pre-ground pack, the beans are subjected to a lot of oxygen after roasting which speeds up the oxidation process. This decreases the quality (over time and not instantly) and affects the taste a little bit earlier. The only catch is that grinding coffee beans for a cup will easily take more than a minute. So if you are the kind of person who needs a cup of coffee on a hectic morning, this might not be the right choice.
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| Photo Credits -Falcon Coffee |
2) Brewing Ratio
This ratio is simply the ratio between the amounts of ground coffee to the amount of water used. The notes you wish to extract from the beans depends on the brewing ratio, as well as the brewing time. Different brewing methods have different brewing ratios so it's recommended to check online first without brewing. Now, this might sound a little fancy and I completely agree that over time you'll start to brew perfectly with approximations only. But if possible, you should get a digital weighing scale. These range from approx. 260 bucks for the basic scale to scales precisely made for coffee brewing that cost a few thousands. These are the two extremities of scales. So if you are just an amateur there's no need to spend this much. Even the cheap one works perfectly fine, it's just that these scales aren't as fast as a coffee specific scale and might not be that accurate. And that's completely okay as an error of few grams won't drastically affect your manual brew.
3) Temperature of Water
this is one of those factors that can be easily controlled and doesn't have any rocket science behind it. For a French press, temperature around 100 degrees Celsius is ideal. To put it in more simple terms the water should be near boil. The only thing that needs to be ensured is that the temperature remains around boiling and not too far from it. If it's too less, the coffee won't be extracted properly and gets quite cold by the time you consume it. Take the temperature higher and you might burn the characteristic flavours. If you are using a regular pan to boil the water, there's an easy trick on wikiHow. The link provided below.
this is one of those factors that can be easily controlled and doesn't have any rocket science behind it. For a French press, temperature around 100 degrees Celsius is ideal. To put it in more simple terms the water should be near boil. The only thing that needs to be ensured is that the temperature remains around boiling and not too far from it. If it's too less, the coffee won't be extracted properly and gets quite cold by the time you consume it. Take the temperature higher and you might burn the characteristic flavours. If you are using a regular pan to boil the water, there's an easy trick on wikiHow. The link provided below.
4) Sedimentation
If I had to be honest, this is the most irritating parts of coffee. There are countless events when the last sip filled with sediments ruined a perfectly fine cup of brew. This could either be due to the size of pores in filter mesh or due to the grind size being too fine for the filter. If it's due to the grind size, a secondary filter could be used to filter out the sediments. This can be easily done by passing the brew through a filter paper (not the one that you steal from chemistry lab) or a tea strainer (channi).
If I had to be honest, this is the most irritating parts of coffee. There are countless events when the last sip filled with sediments ruined a perfectly fine cup of brew. This could either be due to the size of pores in filter mesh or due to the grind size being too fine for the filter. If it's due to the grind size, a secondary filter could be used to filter out the sediments. This can be easily done by passing the brew through a filter paper (not the one that you steal from chemistry lab) or a tea strainer (channi).
5) Total Brewing Time
Brewing time is the time for which the coffee powder was brewed. It includes the agitation time and the remaining time before which the brew is extracted. This varies from machine to machine. While a cold brew can take as much as 24 hours to brew, an Aeropress brew is ready to serve in 3-4 minutes. The only thing to be taken care of is brewing it for the right amount of time. Anything less or more would result in under or over extraction. These bring some undesirable traits like acidity and bitterness.
Now, these are the few factors that I could think have, which can be easily solved at home without spending more. If you want to go a bit more on the fancy side, use bottled mineral water instead of the RO filter you have at home. But again, this is not something that will bring a noticeable change in the taste. And it will burn a hole in your pocket if your consumption is high.
There are obviously lots of other factors that tend to change the notes extracted and the overall taste and feel of a cup. But most of these aren't required at the beginning stage. And some factors aren't observed that frequently but they do affect your taste in some way. A perfect example would be cleaning your instrument. If you brew more than one type of bean, use boiling water to clean the instrument before brewing the second coffee. It's highly possible that the two characteristics might mix to create a weird amalgam of flavours.
Now some of these factors I've mentioned can be subjective. The brewing machine you use might have a slightly finer filter, decreasing the sedimentation. And some of you might prefer the bitter notes and for that, you could surely go for a different brewing ratio. So even though there are multiple sites that suggest the same ratio and the same brewing time, the end product is to be consumed by you. So keep on experimenting with your setup until you find that one perfect cup.
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