The New World of Pourover Brewing

When I went to the Coffee Fest trade show in New York a few weeks ago, one of the classes I attended was on pourover brewing techniques.  The class was led by the 2011 World Brewers Cup champion Andy Sprenger of Ceremony Coffee Roasters. 

Way back when (probably in high school, actually), my first experiences in making my own coffee made use of a funky yellow plastic Melitta filtercone, along with preground coffee from the grocery store and tap water poured from a teakettle heated on an electric stove.  I measured my coffee using one of those annoying plastic scoops that came with all coffee back then as a “free gift”.

I knew that times had changed, as I was starting to see pourover bars in more cafes, and The Royal Bean has been working with the Clever drippers since shortly after they opened four years ago. 

But, as Andy’s presentation showed, we have now advanced to a new era for this seemingly simple technique.  The simplicity of the Melitta method (which they claim to have invented, though those around the world who brew in chorreadores might take exception to that) has now given way to an astonishing array of new variations on the theme.  Materials essentially remain the same, glass, plastic and ceramic), but now new shapes for the funnels, vane patterns, hole variations and depth are leading to a cascade of exciting new possibilities.  All the rage now are brewers from Hario, Bee House and Bonmac, but the classic Chemex brewer (who used to wrap these in macramé back in the day?) is making a comeback, often in conjunction with the gorgeous Coava Kone filter. 

Then, of course is the matter of water.  Water, you see, is not just water.  It must be targeted accurately and precisely to exact regions of the bed of ground coffee to ensure the optimum cup.  And (you guessed it), old school kettles just won’t do.  Check these out from Hario, Bonavita and (if you won Megabucks last week) Takahiro. 

And the brewing water must pass through household air, which contains all kinds of toxins and adulterants, so we must control this!  The solution is a set of mid-air filters (one before the water hits the coffee and one between the filter and the cup).  These tri-phase neuro-osmosis filters ensure that the EPA will bless the air quality of your cup. 

Not really. 

Andy also gave us an interesting demonstration of how the taste of paper filters affects the flavor of your coffee.  He made two batches of what was essentially “paper filter tea”, one using standard white filters, the other unbleached filters (those made of bamboo and hemp were not included).  Each person in the room was given two blinded samples and asked to compare the tastes.  Sadly, both tasted A LOT like paper, but the stronger taste definitely came from the unbleached variation. The lesson here is to rinse your filters in hot water before you brew.

So, I came back from the show with a Bonavita kettle and a Bee House brewer, and shown at left is the rig that is now needed for me to perform the simple act of making my first cup of coffee in the morning.  I weigh the dose of coffee, then grind it to precision.  The kettle (with filtered water), boils, then rests for thirty seconds.  I place the cup with the Bee House (and the properly rinsed filter) on the scale, then start the stopwatch.  I prewet the bed of coffee for thirty seconds, then pour water in a swirling patter outward from the center, striving to maintain the crust and achieve a brew time of exactly three minutes. 

What a geek, huh?

10 Tips for Improving Your Coffee at Home

Good morning, friends,

A funny morning here in Maine. We often have “snow days” in winter, where the schools are closed because of too much snow, but this morning we are having a flood day. A night of pounding rain and howling winds has left trees down, roads washed out and creeks high enough to cover roads. Mother Nature reminding us of who is in charge again.

I’ll be roasting this Sunday (February 28), then delivering and shipping on Monday. The coffees this week are on the website.

A reminder for those of you who live locally – I’ll deliver at no charge to your house (in Freeport or Yarmouth) if you order two pounds or more. Pick the Local’s Club option on the website when you order, or just send me an email.

Oh, and would you like your coffee free? Here’s how . . .

Go collect orders for five pounds from your friends and neighbors, and you are now a Coffee Czar! Then, send us an order for six pounds or more (to one address, please) and as the Czar, you’ll get your pound for free! Enter the coupon code CoffeeCzar at checkout.

This morning, I’d like to share ten quick tips on how to improve your daily coffee experience:

1. Grind your coffee just before brewing (yes, we know it is convenient to do it the night before, but the coffee will really taste better this way).

2. Use good water . . . if the water from your tap tastes funky, no amount of good coffee will make that taste go away.

3. If you use a brewing method with paper filters, rinse the filters first – makes your coffee taste like coffee rather than paper!

4. Be courteous to the one who follows. If you make the coffee first in your house at say, 5:30 and the next coffee drinker gets up at 7:00, do them a favor and throw out all the remaining coffee after you drink yours so they can make a freshy. Coffee is at its best in the ten minutes after brewing. The one exception here is if you use a thermal carafe . . . these help a lot.

5. Don’t use boiling water. 212F is a bit too hot for brewing, and it can overextract the coffee. Either let the water boil and then rest for a minute, or take the water off the stove when it starts to make some noise just before boiling. Ideally you’d like the water coming off the stove to be about 208.

6. If your brewing method allows it, stir the coffee as you add water to it (as in French Press or pourover methods). This ensures that all the grounds are wet and the agitation helps with the extraction.

7. Buy a good grinder. Buy a good grinder. Buy a good grinder. (Remember the concept of “subliminal seduction,” where it was said that theatre owners inserted individual frames into films that said “Eat tasty popcorn”?) Buy a good grinder.

8. Don’t ever store your coffee in the fridge. If you get your coffee from us and it was just roasted (the date is on the bottom of the bag), and you will drink your pound in a week, its OK to wrap the bag up tightly and leave it on the counter. If it will take you longer than this, leave the bag out for a few days (the coffee will improve in taste up to about the fourth day after roasting) and then freeze it. Going in and out of the fridge causes a lot of moisture to flush into your bag every time you open it, and this will make your coffee go stale sooner. Buy a good grinder.

9. At the store (if you are one of the very few readers here who don’t get their coffee from us – hint hint), pick your coffee from the back so you get the freshest roasted beans.

10. And last, if you buy espresso-based drinks from cafes, try to watch them make your drink, and get a sense if they are doing it properly. The shots themselves should take about 25 seconds to come out of the machine, and the milk should be gently and controllably frothed to about 150-160F. If you see a milk pitcher exploding with foam in the manner of a Mentos-Coke science class experiment, they have burned and overstretched your milk. Good espresso-based drinks are worth double what you paid and bad ones are just a rip off. The Royal Bean has an awesome espresso bar set up so you can watch your drink being prepared, and their friendly staff will happy to explain what they are doing to you.

In closing, I have a bonus suggestion, applicable to any brewing method or setting. Take a moment to taste your coffee and savor the experience. Close your eyes. Smell it. Wrap your hands around the warmth of the cup. Taste a little, then some more. What does it remind you of? Is it too hot, too cold, too milky or too sweet? Is it perfect?

Its funny as I move around the neighborhood in the mornings how much coffee is being consumed on auto-pilot as cars go by, as though it was an IV of caffeine rather than a food product.
Taking that special moment for the coffee is both an opportunity to taste the coffee and an opportunity for you to just relax in the simplicity of the moment.

Thanks for your support folks – enjoy the weekend!

Kent

Coffee Brewer Bender

Hi Friends,

Well, according to the weather outside, we are now a good six hours into the beautiful Maine summer, and what a summer it is.

Sitting on the veranda, sipping a cold Caipirinha, watching the surfers glide across the waves . . .

Washing off my muddy mountain bike, drying out my winter socks, shivering in front of the fire, bemoaning the rain delays in Sox games . . .

Hard to tell where summer starts and the winter ends this year, but there is of course always good coffee.

This week, I'll be roasting on Sunday, July 12, then delivering and shipping the next day. Send your orders in by noon Saturday to be included in this week's roasts.

Coffees for this week include the following:

> Brazil Mogiana Fazenda Cachoeira
> Burundi Bwayi Lot 8
> El Salvador San Emilio Pulped Natural (espresso fans - try this one as an SO shot; niiiiiiice!)
> Sumatra Gayo Mountain (Fair Trade Organic)
> Giddy Goats Espresso
> Indo Limbo French
> Medianoche Decaf Espresso (Water Process)
> Brazil Mogiana Yellow Bourbon Decaf (Water Process)
> Sumatra Lintong Triple Pick Decaf (Water Process)

I've been on a bit of a bender over the past few months, in a mad rampage of collecting alternative ways of brewing coffee . . .

Last night on eBay, it was a traditional Vietnamese brewer, an odd variation on a tin cup in which a verrrrry slow drip brew comes to rest on a bed of sweetened condensed milk in a clear glass (picture the tequila sunrise effect in sepia tone).

Somewhere en route in the transportation network out there in the hinterland is an antique ibrik like device from the collection of a WWII soldier. I'll be putting some effort into figuring out exactly what to call it - it could be an ibrik, but it could just as easily be a cezve, a briki or a kanaka.

There's the Bonjour Smart Brewer, one of several new drip devices that combine the best of French Press and filter brewing. I'm not satisfied with this one, as it seems inclined to pour coffee all over our counter when I am not looking, so I've also ordered it's kissin' cousin, the Clever Coffee Dripper, from Sweet Maria's. Its a real bargain at $13.50, and you can order one here. Follow the links to see more on how to use this.

The Aerobie Aeropress (ironically made by a Frisbee company), with its hypodermic like operation, gives new meaning to the term "coffee junkie." I like this one because I can prepare an "Aerocano" in under a minute and coffee is really, really good.

We have an ibrik, used for making Turkish style coffee with cardomom and sugar.

And then, the creme de la creme of brewers, the exotic and wonderful two chamber blown glass syphon pot, part theatre, part brewer for a crowd.

To our growing collection of mostly unused moka pots, there's the see-through cheeseball plastic model, which from a distance at the garage sale looked like an awesome find but wasn't, but I bought it anyway (for a quarter) because its a cool way to demonstrate the method.

Sitting there, unused since two days after we brought it back from Costa, Rica is the Chorreador de café, looking something like a gym sock suspended from a tie rack. Here's a nice picture of an old one.

And what coffee geek's collection would be without a set of French Presses - though I confess that the reason we have a "set" is that we break them a lot.

These all compete for space with a pretty blue enameled cowboy coffee pot, several pourover drippers, the strange little infusion thing I take when I travel (now sort of broken), a funky camping mini espresso maker that makes a "serving" of just over two tablespoons at a time, the espresso machine and some grinders.

The real trouble here is that I only can handle 2-3 cups of coffee at a sitting, so I begin each day turning in circles in the kitchen trying to figure out which one to use. Maybe I should just chuck them all - I heard there's this new stuff called "instant coffee" that only needs a teaspoon for brewing.

Or not.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Kent

Myths and Habits in Coffee

Good morning, everyone,

I am now back from the road, and the roasting schedule should be back to normal for a while. I'll be roasting this Sunday (August 16) and shipping and delivering on Monday. Please send your orders by the end of the day Saturday. We also have a few bags from this week's roasting if anyone needs coffee before Monday. Have a look at the website to see what is available this week (www.freeportcoffee.com).

Someone I work with asked me yesterday if I had enjoyed a relaxing two week vacation. Not really, I replied - I am not a relaxing vacation kind of guy. Tanji and I covered over a thousand miles in New Brunswick and Quebec (yes, with some R&R along the way) and my annual mountain bike trip with one of my sons took me through all the states of New England.

When I travel, I always have an eye on coffee. Are there small cafes that serve well-prepared drip coffee and espresso drinks? Are there regional roasters? What is available in the grocery stores? And what is the coffee experience of those who live in a place?

My wish for the world is that there would be more knowledge of good coffee - leading to a better coffee experience for those who drink it and more demand for the coffees grown by small farmers outside the commodity markets. But this is hard in the heartland, where coffee is one of many product offerings in stores and an important profit center in restaurants. And this trip was no exception. We saw just one local roasting business (La Brûlerie du quai in Carlton, Quebec), some grocery store offerings from the larger Van Houtte roaster and a smattering of espresso drinks on cafe menus.

Long drives offer one more opportunities to think than usual, and in the endless forests of northern Maine and New Brunswick, I considered some ideas of how to gently increase the knowledge of coffee and therefore the experience of the coffee drinker.

Coffee education comes in several forms; one is to know more about where these beans come from (and the differences in taste between different origins), how they are processed and the best ways of preparing coffee. But another is unlearning some misinformation and habits that are relics of our parent's generation. I'd like to share some perspectives on these.

Myths

Coffee is "fresh" if it is in packaging: False. Good quality packaging (we use a three layer bag) and nitrogen flushing will delay staling, but it doesn't stop it. And older coffee in the best package will go stale very quickly once the bag is open. Try to purchase coffee that is within one month of roasting.

Dark roast has more caffeine: Yes and no. Coffee swells a lot when it is roasted dark (that's why the bags of dark are so big), so if you measure your coffee by volume (as most people would at home) and use the same amount as you would for a lighter roast, then your cup will have relatively less caffeine. If you measure by weight, you'll likely have more.

Oily beans are better: Almost always false. All coffee beans have oil in them and when your beans are shiny, it just means the oil has come to the surface. Oil emerges when coffee is roasted dark - and also as coffee ages. And, when the oil comes to the outside of the bean, it goes rancid faster (the smell you associate with stale coffee). Especially beware very oily beans sold in bulk in a store with low turnover.

Espresso is a type of bean: False. Coffee comes from countries, not from "espresso." When you buy a shot of espresso or a drink made with espresso, the coffee is usually a blend that has been developed to work well when prepared in an espresso machine.

Espresso is a roast level: Again, false. There is out there in coffee land beans sold as "espresso roast," and sadly this often means a very dark roast level. This is done in large part so that the coffee taste can be detected when it is drowned in large quantities of milk. (Our Giddy Goats is roasted medium, and you won't see any oil on it unless it gets old.)

If it comes out of an espresso machine and it is brown, it is good espresso: Don't get me started on this one. Far and away the greatest misuse of coffee is the business that jams out its espresso in five second shots, adds a bunch of oversteamed milk and then charges the big bucks for a "cappuccino" or "latte." I see this happen far too often on $10,000 espresso machines and I want to cry. A good shot of espresso takes 25-30 seconds.

Decaf has no caffeine: False. By standard, decaf can have 3% caffeine. And in practice, it seems to sometimes have more than that.

It is too expensive to change the way I am doing things: False. I can improve your coffee experience for far under $10 (write me back if you want specifics). If you spend too much time on CoffeeGeek and other websites (as I have), you can believe that you need the swanky gear to make good coffee. What you really need, more than anything else, is a desire to make good coffee.

Caffeine is bad for you: I would never tell you this, but then I am not a doctor. Here's some more information for you: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20187977/ns/today_health/

Habits

At some point, I talk with almost everyone I encounter about coffee - and the habits of coffee consumption repeat themselves with amazing regularity. I'd swear there was an addiction at play here! :)

Drinking the same coffee: I hear this one expressed as "we always buy . . .". I'd guess this has a lot to do with a confidence in a certain brand, origin or roast style - perhaps with some bad experiences that made someone regret experimentation. Here, I'd say if you feel the urge to tiptoe beyond your comfort zone, stay in reach of what you are used to; try a less dark roast, another coffee from the same part of the world or coffee from another origin that is roasted the same way as what you usually drink. I'll be happy to offer some suggestions or send some samples with your next order if you'd like to give this a try.

Brewing the same way: This is the most common habit of all, and the brewer of choice is usually an automatic drip coffee maker. If that coffee tastes great to you, then by no means change it. But, if you have a feeling something isn't right, then try some experiments. Use more coffee. Use less coffee. Grind finer or more coarse. Take the coffee off the burner when the brewing is done and put it in a thermos or carafe. Taste the water you are using to brew - does it taste funny in the same way the coffee does? Change the water source or filter it. Change brewing methods.

Storing the same way: Try to get a sense of what stale coffee smells like, and then pay some attention to how you store your coffee - including what you use to store it, how tightly you seal the bag or vessel, whether it is kept at room temperature and if you are storing it around other foods with strong smells. There's an article in the preparation section of our site with some more suggestions.

Grinding the same way: Yes, the grinder police are back - but just for a moment. Make sure you match your grind size to the brewing method you are using. Use a coarser grind when the coffee will be in contact with water for a long time (as with a French press) and a finer grind when the contact is shorter (as in espresso).

Accepting office coffee: Coffee fuels the productivity of the modern worker. Feed the worker bad coffee, get bad work. Good coffee equals good work. If your workplace still has one of those dreaded machines where someone makes coffee first thing in the morning and others reluctantly drink the increasingly concentrated dregs throughout the day, fight back! Start an office coffee club. Make your own. Go out on strike unless they buy you all a Keurig. Go to the Royal Bean before and during work.

Obsessing over coffee quality while traveling: I had a conversation with some people about this one yesterday, and I realized that I had only snapped out of this habit less than a year ago. Here, you end up in a hotel somewhere and the only available coffee is awful. You then get up earlier than you should and drive or walk endlessly looking for a great cafe that isn't there, then settle for Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or something worse. I did this for so long, and some of the successful adventures were awesome. But too many were not. My solution was to get a funky little camping grinder and tea infuser and make my own. But don't give up on the searching; doing some research in advance of your trip can help you know whether the killer cafe pulling SO shots of DP Ethiopian Ademe Bedane on a vintage manual piston La Marzocco is there to be found.

Thanks as always for your support, folks. Enjoy the dog days of summer!

Kent