How We Brew at Home
Recipes, ratios, and a few small habits that turn a good bag of coffee into a great cup.
The basic ratio
If you remember nothing else, remember this: 1 gram of coffee for every 16 grams of water. A standard 12-ounce mug needs roughly 22 grams of beans, ground medium, brewed with 350 grams of just-off-boil water (about 200°F).
Pour-over (V60, Kalita, Chemex)
| Step | What to do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rinse the filter, dump the rinse water | 0:00 |
| 2 | Add 22g medium-fine grounds, level the bed | 0:15 |
| 3 | Bloom with 50g water, swirl gently | 0:30 |
| 4 | Pour to 150g in slow concentric circles | 1:15 |
| 5 | Pour to 350g, stop, let it drain | 2:30 |
| 6 | Total brew time should land between 3:00 and 3:30 | 3:15 |
French press
30g of coarse-ground coffee, 500g of 200°F water. Stir at 0:30, lid on, plunge at 4:00. Pour everything out — coffee left in a French press over-extracts within minutes.
AeroPress (inverted)
18g of medium-fine coffee, 220g water at 195°F, steep 90 seconds, stir, flip, press for 30 seconds. Dilute with 80g hot water for a long cup.
Cold brew
For a 1-liter batch, coarse-grind 100g of coffee, combine with 1 liter of filtered room-temperature water, steep covered for 14-18 hours, strain through a paper filter. Keeps refrigerated for one week.
Storage
- Keep beans in the bag we shipped them in — the one-way valve is doing real work.
- Store at room temperature, away from sunlight. Never refrigerate or freeze unopened bags for daily use.
- Grind right before brewing. Ground coffee loses most of its aromatics within an hour.
- Use beans within 4 weeks of the roast date stamped on the bag.
Water matters more than gear
Coffee is 98% water. A $40 grinder and good filtered water will out-brew a $400 grinder and tap water every time. If your tap water tastes off, your coffee will too.