twenty-three

Along with a more relaxed schedule, this summer is lending itself to more time spent honing some of my favorite little habits, specifically, coffee brewing. I generally go between the French Press and a small percolator for my morning brew. My goal is to figure out the perfect conditions for the perfect cup.

Right now, I’m rotating through a few different blends each morning, including the Peruvian blend from Guadalupe’s Coffee Rosters and Grounds for Change’s Agate Pass blend. Both are very good and work well for how I like to brew my coffee…very strong. But I’m wondering if I’m missing out on some of the better flavors by some of my technique being off.

Brewing a good cup of coffee has a lot of parallels (at least in my mind) to steeping grain in the beer brewing process. The temperature, coarseness of grind, and selection of the right grains/beans is very important for both. I think my problem arises in that I’m a) not too sure what the exact settings should be at, b) not too good at keeping accurate records of my coffee brewing methods over time and c) too groggy most mornings to care about the "how" of coffee.

This morning, however I did take a little extra time to investigate a proper technique for my french press. I found a website that suggested I use more grounds per ounce than I had been using (something like 2 tbs for every 6 oz.) and also recommended a shorter steeping time (from 1-2 minutes, instead of my regular pour it, go read my email, get dressed, comeback to lukewarm coffee and then press).

While the results may be subject to my own optimism and may not be repeated, it made a pretty dang good cup of coffee, better than normal.

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