Recipes & Brew Methods

There are so many ways to go about making a cup of coffee on the internet in this day and age I have decided to jump on and put in my 2-cents worth! What has been so cool is that the idea of how to go about making a cup with any given brewing methods is going through a revolution and reevaluation of many of the “givens” that were so prevalent use a few years ago! Coffee making is on an experiment with everything stage that I have found very enjoyable and tasty! Be it roasting methods, ratios, water temperatures , the water itself, extraction levels, draw down times, pour methods, dosing amounts, puck preparation, the list goes on and I’m right in the mix of it and will share what works for me and my taste and how much I like to play around with making coffee! Enjoy!

The Pour Over

My 1st venture into home brewing as it probably is with most. Tons of products to choose from and it still is to this day a nice ritual to make a good cup of coffee! Just taking the time to set up the dripper with a washed paper filter, weight and grind the beans, giving them a deep inhale to get the aroma in your brain, wait a bit on the kettle, watch the grounds bloom, do your pours, trying to end right on the mark to that day’s recipe, a quick swirl before the end and watching the draw down to see how flat of bed you have achieved! A quick clean up and then the 1st taste of the wake-up brew! Taking the time for doing a pour over puts me into that glad I took a few minutes for myself! Our days are busy, and I tend to want to get right too it…I’m glad I’ve been able to incorporate taking the time for a pour over…it reminds me to slow down and plan a bit, reflect a bit, pray a bit, and a bunch of other bits that helps me start my day on a different set of terms then just…
GO>GO>GO
Right now, I’m doing smaller cups then I used too as I have many varieties of beans going on at every given moment (see my roasting section for details!) So, it’s a 15gram dose, dumped into the fellows Ode grinder…sometimes ill use the Fellows Shimmy for the fines removal…drop the grinds in the hario V-60 Dripper ,stand and scale…give it a shake to flatten, poke the middle with my finger…or if im feeling it do the chop stick thing to make the divot! @ 45 gram bloom with a healthy swirl for about 30 secs …3 pours to bring to it 250 with a little bit of wait between each one…a swirl after the last one and wa-la I have coffee…in 3 minutes or so!

pour over

The Clever Dripper

It took me a bit to get the immersion version of a pour over as I was trying to perfect my V-60 technique… bought the Clever dripper when I was visiting a new coffee shop opening in Buena Park, CA saw the grand opening sign while driving on Beach Blvd… made a hard right then another down the alley to park behind the shop! Hardly ever pass up a chance to stop at a new coffee place that has Now Open, Beans and Roasters on the signage…
Pacific Beans & Coffee if you are in the area stop by and enjoy a cup or buy some beans freshly roasted or green! Run by mom, pop & son is what I have gathered…all very nice people that I enjoy doing business with…more on them and their shop on this post!
With my purchases in hand I followed up with the Clever the next morning with some 7 day old Ethiopian I had also purchased…
Expecting a cross between a French Press and a V-60 I was pleasantly surprised to find it had a taste all its own, at least in my case! I now do a bit different technique than when I first started and I’m sure I’ll play around a bit more…
20 grams of fine (not too) to medium grind (just a bit)
Rinsed filter paper (I’m using the white Melita # 4 now but I think the filters that came with the Clever produced a better cup but they could very well be the same filter I have done the research as of yet!)
Pour into the Clever about 175 grams of full temp water (212°)wait a few seconds and dump in the grounds give a mighty stirring to get all the grounds a brewing (I use a small plastic paddle I got from one of my many cooking gadgets) start the timer…top off with water to bring it to your brew ratio you are wanting to try ( I go to 300 grams on the first go around with new beans) at the 2 minute mark, stir a bit, to settle the crust, give a swirl or two and set on your cup on a decanter for the draw-down…if it goes longer than a minute or so ill grind a bit coarser for the following cup(s)!!!
Now I’ve gotten phone calls or a text during my coffee ritual(s) Hate when that happens! Before I know it as many as 5 minutes has past and still had a pretty good cup…mostly do the bean variety I would guess…but for my taste and the lighter roasts that I prefer 2-2-7 day old 1/2 minutes or so seems to hit the sweet spot!
This little bit of earlier morning coffee ballet has been my Go Too right out the gate for a couple of months now and is the second cup also if my schedule won’t allow me to flip on the espresso machine for warm up and go for a dial in or already have dialed in and want a tasty shot, long black, or an americano …I always seem to have some new beans that I have just roasted or have set just long enough to brew at just the most delicious! Ohhh I haven’t mentioned that I Roast?
Check out this link if you would care to see what I have going on and how being a coffee nerd is a never-ending exploration into discovering how much coffee fun there can be!
By the way…my Hario Switch has arrived! More fun!!!!