Posted Fri Jun 29, 2012, 12:23pm Subject: Recipes that seem to work - for me.
Thought I'd share some go-to recipes that have worked for me.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Posted Fri Jun 29, 2012, 12:49pm Subject: Re: Recipes that seem to work - for me.
AeroPress
Goal: Make a 350-370g cup of coffee at 1.20-1.30% strength.
Wb = 243g C = 27g
(9g water per g of coffee, or 11.1% brew ratio)
Grind: about medium, but recipe seems to be fairly insensitive to grind level.
Brew inverted. Set the plunger just proud of the outer press sleeve length. In my aeropress, if I put a scale from the filter end to the plunger rubber, this will be around 115mm.
If new coffee, then pre-infuse with about 25-30g of room temperature water to make a grounds paste.
This recipe maxes out the capacity of the inverted aeropress, use caution.
Begin timer and add 200°F water (not much more, I find it tends to increase the chances of bitter notes).
For my setup I boil water in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave (about 400g of it), and then remove and stir it for 15 seconds, let sit for total of 1 minute, and it's pretty much at 200°F for me. If you use distilled water or have water with very low TDS, use caution when boiling water, and SLOWLY insert the stirrer, or you could initiate significant and sudden boil from superheated water.
Target is a total of 243g of Wb, which will basically top off the whole inverted aeropress minus a few mm - it's okay to stir while adding. I haven't found a big effect from agitation.
Contact time 3:00 to press. I recommend capping, press just a touch through and then flip the shebang at around 2:15, and begin a slow steady press at 3:00.
Press all you can press out of the coffee at the end.
Top off with hot water to 350-370g total.
For me, this recipe typically produces:
205-210g of coffee between 1.90% and 2.3%, rarely higher. Strength is adjusted by changing grind level, finer is stronger (and more extracted, with a higher chance of bitter notes).
When topped to 350g, serving strength is 1.17% to 1.38%, rarely higher, and can be further adjusted by adding +/- a dollop of water - just an extra 20g of dilution will change the strength lower by 0.05% or so.
Enjoy!
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Posted Fri Jun 29, 2012, 1:07pm Subject: Re: Recipes that seem to work - for me.
Clever Coffee Dripper:
Goal: 350g-370g mug of coffee 1.2%-1.3%
Wb=425g C = 28g
Grind - medium, the final draindown seems to be affected by excessively fine grind.
Water temp ~200°F. You may pre-rinse the filter (if you are sensitive to residual tastes - personally, I can't find much of a difference, so YMMV).
Pour a dollop (about 45 g) of hot water into the coffee to start the bloom, and start timer.
After about 15 seconds, pour about 150-200g more into the dripper, and "submerge" any floating grounds as best you can. Feel free to agitate, but avoid getting too many grounds up on the drier parts of the filter.
By ~45 seconds or a minute, finish pouring the rest of the brew water and cover.
Total Contact Time ~3:00. At 2:45, remove the lid and stir (gently - don't poke the bottom of the filter!) and make sure there are no floating grounds, if there are (which might happen if you have some boulders in the grind), wait another half minute and stir again.
Set the dripper on your cup, and allow to drain, and gently stir about the first third to first half of the draindown. If you did this right, the grounds will be fairly flat or even slightly domed, but should NOT be adhering to the walls of the filter or severely depressed in the middle.
On average, this recipe produces:
about 360-370g of coffee at 1.18% to 1.35% strength.
If too strong, then sip a bit and add a dollop - every 20g will reduce the strength around 0.05% or so.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Posted Fri Jun 29, 2012, 1:22pm Subject: Re: Recipes that seem to work - for me.
Press Pot (aka French Press)
Mine is a Bodum Shin Bistro, they say 34oz, I call it around 900g or so.
Goal: maximum capacity (about two mugs) decent coffee at ~1.2 - 1.3% strength.
Wb=900g C = 56.25g, or ~56.3
You may elect to preheat or not, I don't find much difference at all, but again YMMV.
Grind: As close to true French Press grind as possible - setting 9 on a Ditting. Minimal fines if at all possible.
Add coffee. Add ~100g of 200°F water and start timer. Agitate immediately, making sure the grounds have started to bloom and are fully saturated. In 15 seconds, add about 300g to the press pot. Agitate, and make sure to saturate all grounds and incorporate as much foam as possible.
At about 1 minute, pour in the rest of the brew water, stir once again, and pat down or incorporate any floating grounds, then install the screen/plunger and push it to submerge (but do not press) any floating grounds.
DO NOT agitate from here until press. This step is necessary to allow as much of the fines and grounds particles to absorb water, lose their bouyancy, and settle to the bottom. The more the grounds settle, the less fines you will end up with in the cup.
At ~5:30, press gently. At this point, you may serve, but I have been going a step further to clarify the brew. If you don't mind the mud/dregs, enjoy as is, or you can do my alternate clarification:
Prepare a basket-brewer filter (the fluted type) and cut excess off so there is only about 15mm when put over the screen/plunger.
I press about half the coffee, when the resistance starts to build with the metal screen. Then, I remove the plunger/screen, wrap the basket brewer filter on the end, replace and press to the end of the press.
YOU MUST BE CAREFUL IF YOU DO THIS!
The press force increases significantly, and there is no centering guidance for the plunger (unlike an aeropress), so you must concentrate on pushing along the axis as accurately as you can. If you press really hard and you happen to have some debris under your press pot, you can shatter it. If you press crooked, it may cause the whole screen to turn sideways. Just be patient.
I find this has slightly better clarity than running the results through a drip filter - I think any fines trapped in the paper filter will increase the filtering effectiveness (hence the increase in resistance).
Alternately, as I've stated, you can pour this through a drip filter, but that means getting your pourover out...
Anyways, this recipe for my press pot produces:
695 - 720g of coffee at nearly 1.21% every time for me. If I use a finer grind, it will get stronger and if the strength for this recipe gets much above 1.31% I start to get significant bitters starting to creep in.
Edit: Some things I learned from observation:
*if you watch the side of the carafe, you can see the brewing process going on. At first, over half of the grounds are floating against the screen. In a minute, you'll see the grounds particles raining down. This is exactly what you want to happen. Wait about 45 seconds to 1 minute after the grounds have sunk, and then gently press the screen down. Depending on your average grind size, this might happen around the 4 minute mark, or it might happen as early as 2:30 - it all depends on your grind. I find with a Ditting set at 9, the grounds have waterlogged by about 4:30, and I start pressing at 5:30, but if I use something closer to drip, I might be pressing as early as 3:45.
*Give yourself a little leeway and stretch the extraction out by using 195°F strike temperature. This tends to temper any bitterness, and increases the time for the grounds to waterlog and sink.
*If you have some bitterness that won't go away, try adding some crushed eggshells to the coffee before adding the brew water.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Posted Fri Jun 29, 2012, 6:23pm Subject: Re: Recipes that seem to work - for me.
Thanks for sharing your recipes. My clever recipe is very close to yours except I bloom and then pour remaining water. I'll try pouring your way in the morning.
redkiosk Senior Member Joined: 13 May 2012 Posts: 156 Location: Chicago Metro Area Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Illy Francis-Francis X1 Grinder: Baratza Preciso w/ Esatto... Vac Pot: Someday, very intriguing Drip: Bunn Trifecta MB Roaster: A sure path to divorce!
Posted Fri Jun 29, 2012, 7:08pm Subject: Re: Recipes that seem to work - for me.
Thanks for posting your French Press recipe. We're taking our Nissan 34 oz stainless french press with us for a weekend camping trip. I going to give the additional filter optional try. Looks interesting and less fines makes everyone happier. Take care!
Jim
The pathologically precise are annoying, but right!
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