The drip coffee brewer and the single serve K-Cup style brewers are by far the most popular ways of brewing coffee, every home and office has one. However, if you want to venture a little more into serious coffee enjoyment, there are a few other methods for brewing. Most of these are more labour intensive methods, but the equipment can be much more simple. Let's take a look.
Probably the most popular alternative brewer would be the French press (or Bodum, this is a brand name for a commonly available French press.). This one may be a good choice: https://harmonyhillstore.ca/products/stainless-steel-french-press-double-layered-various-sizes
This method relies on immersion instead of percolation as used on a drip brewer. The grinds are immersed in hot water for a set period of time to extract the perfect amount of flavour. The advantage of the French press is that there are no paper or metal filters between the brewing coffee and your cup. This allows all of the oils and flavour to end up in your cup and not left in a filter. The flavours are typically much more pronounced and true to the coffee being used.
Although this method will give you a far better cup of coffee, there are a few extra manual steps required. This is all part of your new and enjoyable coffee journey. One of the main components that is highly recommended is a good quality coffee scale. This one may be a good option: https://harmonyhillstore.ca/products/electronic-weighing-coffee-scale-black
The scale will be used to accurately weigh out your preferred ground coffee. You can buy pre-ground coffee or grind your own. If you prefer, you can also use the scale to weigh out the amount of water or just use a measuring device to ensure consistency.
Now the process; this could not be more simple.
1) Add your medium grind coffee (some recipes will require a coarse grind. We find that this is not sufficient to extract the best from your coffee) to the pre-warmed French press carafe. Remember the ratio of 15:1, water to coffee
2) Add about one third of the water to the carafe and let it sit for about 30 seconds. This is called "blooming." This will open up the grinds and let any gases begin to escape.
3) Add the remaining water, preferably in a circular, swirling motion.
4) Stir the grinds into the water for about 10 seconds and place the plunger/lid assembly on top, just touching the grind level
5) Let the coffee "draw" for 4 minutes
6) Slowly (very slowly) push the plunger down to concentrate all of the grinds to the bottom of the carafe
7) Pour and enjoy! Depending on the grind size and the quality of your plunger screen, you may have some sediment at the bottom of the cup. This is normal.
The richness and character that this method will produce will rival most other methods available as it is a simple process with very few elements that can fluctuate.
There are a few drawbacks to this method.
- There is no built-in method for keeping remaining coffee hot, but as this method is normally used for single or double servings, keeping the temperature up for any length of time is not an issue
- This method is not ideal for making large quantities of coffee. There are very large units available with capacities of up to one litre, but this is still not ideal for large get togethers.
For a very small investment, this rewarding brewing method will produce coffee flavours that will give you that rich, full coffee experience that will have you coming back for more.
Stay tuned for our next post in this series on Home Coffee as we look at even more options for great coffee brewing.
Stay Well, stay Balanced. Make each day your own!