Drinking coffee is an everyday occurrence for many people. However, coffee can often be poorly brewed and therefore not well balanced. The good news is that it is possible to brew a better, well extracted and balanced cup of coffee with just a few minor adjustments. This article discusses how to brew a well extracted coffee, using the main coffee brewing techniques.
Steps
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Choose your coffee brewing method. You may choose to use an espresso machine, a drip coffee maker, French press, or pour-over, for example. Each type of coffee preparation requires a different technique. This is due to the presence or absence of certain brewing factors, such as pressure in espresso and a filter in drip coffee. The main elements in a coffee brewing recipe are:
- Brew temperature
- Grind size
- Coffee to water ratio
- Brew time
- Type of coffee bean and roast
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Prepare your brewer. Most coffee brewers require some sort of preparation before brewing.- With espresso, the machine needs have completely warmed up. If the machine was recently cleaned, water will need to be flushed through the machine to wash out any cleaning chemicals which were used.
- For drip coffee makers and pour-over coffee makers, the paper filter will need to be rinsed. Otherwise, tastes and properties from the paper can make their way into the brewed coffee.
- For pour-over coffee makers and French pots, the brewer needs to be pre-heated. This is so that the brewer doesn't rapidly cool the coffee when it is being brewed.
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Heat your water, if necessary. Espresso and drip coffee machines heat the water automatically. For pour-over coffee and French press, water needs to be heated manually. This can be done with a kettle or on a stovetop. Brewing temperature varies from method to method, but it should fall between 195 and 205 degrees F.
- For espresso, 195-200 degrees F is optimum brewing temperature. Nearly all espresso machines have a built-in thermometer that shows the user the brewing temperature. If the temperature is regularly exceeding the optimum temperature during brewing, the machine could be faulty and need to be serviced.
- Drip coffee is brewed at temperatures of up to 205 degrees F. If your machine is brewing at hotter temperatures than this, the brewer is faulty and needs to be serviced or replaced.
- French press coffee is optimally brewed at 195 degrees F.
- The best pour-over coffee brewing temperature is around 200 degrees F.
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Grind your coffee beans. It is very important to grind coffee beans just before brewing. As soon as coffee is ground, the ground coffee comes into contact with the air and starts to oxidize, or decay. It is not possible to make well extracted coffee if the coffee beans have not been freshly ground.
- Espresso brewing requires a fine coffee grind size. Most domestic coffee grinders will have an espresso or fine grind setting.
- Drip coffee and other types of filter brewed coffee are brewed using a medium grind size
- French press coffee is traditionally brewed using a course coffee grind.
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Measure out the correct amount of ground coffee and heated water, if applicable. With espresso, the water is usually dosed automatically. The ratio for ground coffee to water is generally 1 part coffee to 16 parts water. This translates to 16 grams of coffee to 256 ml of water, which is roughly a standard, 8 oz cup of coffee. However, if this is a little technical and you don't have a weighing scales, the "Golden Ratio" for coffee measuring is one coffee scoop or two tablespoons of ground coffee per cup of water.
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Start brewing and pre-infuse your coffee grinds, if applicable. Pre-infusing is a step in coffee brewing which aids further in extraction. It consists of soaking the coffee grinds in a small amount of the heated water for roughly 30 seconds before continuing to add the water to the ground coffee.
- Automatic or semi-automatic coffee makers such as espresso and drip coffee machines carry out the pre-infusion step automatically.
- Pour-over and French Press coffee makers require a manual pre-infusion, as described above.
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Monitor the brew time for optimum extraction.
- Standard espresso brewing time should be between 20 and 30 seconds.
- Optimum brewing time for drip coffee makers is between 2 and 4 minutes. This process is automatic.
- Most pour-over coffee makers that use standard coffee filters take between 2.5 and 4 minutes to brew.
- Standard French press brewing time is 4 minutes, prior to plunging.
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Enjoy delicious, perfectly extracted coffee in your favorite coffee cup.Advertisement
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Tips
- If you don't have a thermometer to measure water temperature, boil the water then allow it to cool for one minute.Thanks
- Always use a burr grinder to grind your coffee for a more even and accurate grind. If you are on a budget, manual mill grinders are affordable and produce well ground coffee.Thanks
- Regularly clean your coffee equipment. Otherwise, brewed coffee will not taste nice regardless of the brewing method or technique. Refer to the individual device manual for instructions on cleaning.Thanks
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Warnings
- Be careful of any moving parts and keep your fingers away from any automatic coffee maker or grinder when it is in use. Always make sure the machine is unplugged from the power supply before attempting to clean, unblock or adjust the equipment.Thanks
- The brewing methods discussed require the use of hot water. Be careful when brewing to avoid skin contact with hot water in order not to burn yourself.Thanks
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References
- https://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/How-to-Brew-Coffee#:~:text=Coffee%2Dto%2DWater%20Ratio,every%20six%20ounces%20of%20water .
- https://www.ncausa.org/about-coffee/how-to-store-coffee#:~:text=Exposure%20to%20air%20is%20bad,in%20an%20air%2Dtight%20container .
- https://coffee-brewing-methods.com/coffee-brewing/coffee-brewing-extraction/
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