Water
Probably the most important factor in brewing is using clean water, of an appropriate mineral
content. Water makes up the vast majority of our coffee, so makes a huge difference to all
aspects of the final character of the brew. Off-flavours in water (such as chlorine) can make it
into the cup, but even more importantly, the balance and level of water’s mineral content
dictate what we are able to extract from a coffee. Dissolved minerals in water exist as charged
ions, which bind to the flavour compounds in coffee, extracting them into the cup. Each type of
mineral has a different influence on the cup, so a balanced mineral content will lead to
balanced final cups. For home brewing we recommend the Peak Water filter. The precision with
which it is able to create clean water with an ideal mineral balance for coffee makes it one of
the most vital pieces of equipment for home brewing that we know of.
Peak Water filter
Resting
We also recommend resting your coffee after roasting. When coffee is roasted, chemical changes
in the beans take place, and one of the by-products of these changes is carbon dioxide gas. This
gas becomes trapped in the bean cell structure, and slowly seeps out over time. This makes it
difficult to brew clean cups, by fizzing out as you attempt to brew coffee, and by dissolving
into carbonic acid during brewing, causing off-flavours in the cup. As a general guide, we
wouldn’t even try to brew a coffee that’s less than 7-10 days from roast, and we’d strongly
recommend keeping some coffee and experimenting with how much coffees open up at 6 weeks and
beyond. This is true especially with very high quality raw material such as that from Gesha
Village.
learn more
Grind
Grinding the coffee correctly for the chosen brew method and contact time is important in order
to control the amount that we extract from the coffee. Grinding finer will extract more, while
grinding coarser will extract less. As a general rule, if you extract too much from a coffee, it
will taste dry and bitter, and if you extract too little, the coffee will taste thin and sour.
By tasting every cup you brew with a critical palette, and changing the grind size accordingly,
you’ll make sure to brew transparent and delicious brews.
learn more
