Step 4: Choosing Your At Home Craft Coffee Brewing Method
When brewing coffee at home, there are several different options you can choose from. If you’re new to craft coffee, you’ve likely been using something like a Mr. Coffee or Bunn coffee pot to brew your coffee up to this point. And there’s nothing wrong with this!
In this article, we’ll explain what situations a coffee pot is best utilized. We’ll also introduce two other at home brewing methods to consider based on your household’s consumption amounts.
3 Methods For Brewing Coffee At Home
- Automatic Drip Brewer
- French Press
- Pour Over
Automatic Coffee Brewer
As mentioned above, an automatic coffee brewer is what you’d traditionally see in a cafe, restaurant, or home for brewing coffee. It’s your Mr. Coffee or Bunn coffee pot. These are best used at home when the household contains 3 or more coffee drinkers.
Benefits:
- -Most people have prior experience using this method
- -Makes a large amount of coffee for multiple coffee drinkers
Downsides:
- -Least flavorful cup of coffee in comparison to the following 2 methods
- -Coffee can sometimes taste burnt
How To Grind Coffee Beans For Drip Brewer
Grind on a medium setting. Your grinds should look like sand when it’s ground properly.
Automatic Brewer Coffee / Water Ratio
(Grams) 1:17 - Use 1 gram of ground coffee for every 17 ounces of water.
(Tablespoons) 1:4 - Add 1 tablespoon of coffee grounds per 4 oz. of water.
Optimize Your Automatic Coffee Brewer
For a standard Bunn coffee pot, use the following inputs:
- -1/2 pot of coffee - use 32 oz of water and 8 tablespoons of ground coffee.
- -Full pot of coffee - use 64 oz of water and 16 tablespoons of ground coffee.
French Press
The French Press method makes the most full-bodied cup of coffee out of the 3 methods. This method is easy to make and produces a much better cup of coffee than a drip coffee brewer. Ideal for households with 2 coffee drinkers.
Coffee is brewed by allowing grounds to soak in hot water for 4-5 minutes within the glass beaker. Due to the fact that the water never “passes through” the grounds as in other methods, the end product of a french press will produce a bold cup of joe.
Benefits:
- -Makes a bold cup of coffee full of flavor
- -Makes enough coffee in the morning for 2 people
- -Least expensive brewing method
Downsides:
- -Compounds never “pass through” so your cup of coffee will sometimes end up with “silt” in the bottom if your grind size is too fine
How To Grind Coffee Beans For French Press
Grind on a coarse setting. Your grinds should be roughly the size of pretzel salt.
French Press Coffee / Water Ratio
1:15: Use 1 gram of ground coffee for every 15 ounces of water.
Optimize Your French Press
For a standard 28 oz pour over use the following inputs:
- -Coffee - 60 grams
- -Water - 900 grams
Pour Over
The pour over is our favorite way of preparing coffee. It allows for the most flavorful coffee experience between the 3 a home brewing methods. There are several different styles of pour overs. We use Kalita Waves in our retail shop to deliver sweet, clean cups of coffee. We’re also fans of Chemex for in home use as it’s easier to brew a double portion for 2 people in a Chemex.
Pour overs are a fantastic way to experience the unique flavors of different coffee beans. They’re also the most labor intensive. These are suited best for coffee connoisseurs. Combining the use of a beaker, cone, filter, scale, and grinder allows for complete customization and the ability to calibrate variables to produce the exact coffee flavor you want.
Benefits:
- -Produces the most flavorful cup of coffee out of the 3 different methods
- -You have the ability to control many different variables to affect taste
- -The end product brings fulfillment due to the amount of detail and craft that goes into making a pour over
Downsides:
- -Takes the most time and effort
- -There’s a learning curve for beginners
How To Grind Coffee Beans For A Pour Over
A medium to medium-fine grind is recommended as a starting point for pour overs. As you practice your pour over, you’ll be able to experiment with different grind sizes to tweak the flavors of the coffee. In our experience, Chemex likes a medium grind similar to sand. Other pour over methods like the Kalita wave prefer a medium-fine grind, which is slightly finer than sand but not quite powder like.
Pour Over Coffee / Water Ratio
1:16: Use 1 gram of ground coffee for every 16 ounces of water.
Optimize Your Pour Over
For a single serve pour over use the following ratio:
- 24 grams of ground coffee
- 384 grams of water
Conclusion
We mentioned three different types of at home brewing methods above. Each brewing method has its benefits for specific situations. Once you’ve identified which brewing method you’d like to use in your home, there’s variables for each method that we can help you optimize. This lesson is meant to be an overview, but we’ll be diving deeper into each specific brewing method in future articles. If you have any questions about choosing your brewing method, don’t hesitate to send us an email :)
