Best Recipe!! said no one ever
Making coffee is very much like cooking! In cooking, there are lots of variables so following a recipe from a cookbook might not always turn out as delicious as they say it would be. Variables like the differences in tools, the quality of your fresh produce, the specific sizes of that piece of meat you're using and the type of heat from your stove will determine how long you need to cook that piece of meat to perfection.
Same with coffee, there are so many factors in one bag of roasted coffee to consider when it comes to choosing the right recipe. All coffees are roasted differently, different tools/roasting technology, different green bean quality, different roast profiles and even different preferences in taste from different roasters. Sticking to one recipe might not be a good idea if you like to explore all different coffees around the world and tasting different varieties of coffee roasters.
While coffee-making involves extracting flavor (and caffeine) from coffee grounds, choosing the right recipe for the selected coffee as your starting point really helps you minimise waste and set you one step closer to your perfect cup of coffee.
The two most important factors in brewings are grind size and contact time. Adjusting grind size finer means decreasing the grind particle size and increasing the surface area which drags out the contact time and increase extraction.
Using extremely fresh roasted coffee can also distort the extraction, freshly roasted coffee releases lots of carbon dioxide, which prevents proper contact between coffee and water. Light roasted coffee is best to be brewed after 7 days, the lighter the roast the longer time needed to rest and degas.
Choosing a recipe for different roast degrees.
Darker roasted coffee beans are more soluble and more brittle. This means the darker the coffee is roasted the less contact time you need and need to be ground at a much coarser setting as the coffee is more brittle, the particle breaks down to a much smaller sizes compared to the lighter roast coffee that are much denser. Meanwhile lighter roasted coffee needs more contact time, generally higher temperature brewing water as most compounds become more soluble at higher temperatures.
Recommended recipe for light roast :
starting point 1:16.5 coffee to water ratio
temperature : 95 -98 C
brew time : 2:30 - 3.00 Minute ( bigger batch size will need longer brewing time )
Recommended recipe for medium roast :
Starting point 1:14.5 coffee to water ratio temperature : 91 -93 C brew time : 1:45 - 2:30 Minute ( bigger batch size will need longer brewing time )
*if coffee is tasting watery, slightly dry finish try shorten the water ratio OR try using higher temperature water Or grind finer
*if coffee is tasting unpleasantly / astringent sour, bitter, intense but not as sweet try longer water ratio OR using lower water temperature OR grind courser
Brew coffee the way you can replicate each time. Log your recipes and the results so you can adjust accordingly, one variable at the time and most importantly enjoy the process!
Take care and enjoy brewing :)
Rowena of ickle
