Brew the Perfect Cup

TOPICS

I. Factors that affect a cup of coffee

II. Suggested Dosing

III. Changing the Intensity of your brew

Factors That Effect a Cup of Coffee:

1. Water Temp
- Water Temperature for brewing coffee should be at just boiling. Note: Over boiling can reduce the amount of oxygen the water and result in decreased aroma and flavor in the cup.

2. Volume / Weight of Coffee Dose
- The amount of coffee used in dosing is determined by the number of servings and the volume of water per serving. Note: See "Suggested Dosing" below.

3. Grind level / Coffee Particle Size
- Grind level (course or fine) in largely determined by the chosen preparation method. For example a very course grind works best for French press preparation where as a very fine grind would be used in preparing an espresso or Turkish style of coffee.

4. Brew / Steep Time
- Brewing or Steep time is also very dependent on the method of preparation. For example, an espresso shot is ideally extract between 25 and 30sec where as drip brewing or using the French press will take much longer (between 3-4 minutes).

5. Water Dose Volume
- Water dose volume is determined by the final volume of brewed coffee you wish to prepare (1 cup, 2 cups, or 12 cups). It is important to note that most home brewing systems do not use a standard 8 ounce cup when distinguishing cup size in carafe. See instructions below for water volume and coffee dosing preparation for home brewing systems.

6. Preparation Method
- There are many different ways to prepare coffee. It is important to note that no one way is better than the other. Drinking coffee is about pleasing the palate and since no two people share the exact same palate there exist different coffee and different methods of preparation to suit the individual taste.

Suggested Dosing:

We have been increasingly asked by customers and friends on how to better prepare their coffee in order to maximize its potential. In response we have put together a few simple steps that you can take in order to determine the best dosing and preparation for your taste.

1. Determining the volume/capacity of your HOME BREWER in cups.

A standard measuring cup's volume is equal to 8 fluid ounces. You will find that a typical coffee brewer's carafe is not equal to 8 fluid ounces per marked cup on the outside of the carafe. "Coffee cups" range greatly depending on the brand of brewer.

TO MEASURE YOUR HOME BREWER VOLUME CAPACITY:
a. Fill an 8 ounce standard measuring cup to the 1 cup line and pour into your brewer's carafe.
b. Repeat and count the number of cups it takes to fill your craft to the maximum cup level line.
c. Record, remember, tell a friend

2. Determining how much ground coffee to use.
a. We recommend .5 ounces of coffee or ABOUT 2 Level Tablespoons (Tbsp) per 8 fluid ounces of water.  

Changing the Intensity of Your Brew: If you think your brewed coffee is too strong or too weak.

1. Define strong vs. weak: If you're talking about the mouth feel of the coffee, we call this body, try experiencing a different bodied coffee. This may be all you need.

2. We strongly recommend adjusting the grind of your coffee in stead of dosing more or less coffee.

Why? Coffee brewing is an extraction process. Meaning? When hot water comes in contact with the coffee grounds, all the flavors and characteristics of that coffee that you experience, in the cup, latch onto the water molecules and get extracted from the grounds. It just so happens that most of what are considered the "good" characteristics of coffee are extracted before the bitters and "bad" characteristics of coffee. BY INCREASING THE DOSING AMOUNT without increasing the amount of water volume you are not allowing all the "good" characteristics of the coffee to be extracted. BY DECREASING THE DOSING AMOUNT without decreasing the amount of water volume you are allowing more of the "bad" characteristics of the coffee to be extracted into your cup.
By changing the particle size of the coffee through grind differences you are increasing or decreasing the soluble level thus increasing or decreasing the intensity of the final cup. SMALL ADJUSTMENTS are all it takes.