THE CIRELLI BREW GUIDE
We commonly get questions about how much coffee to use.
With all the different devices, this can get confusing and slightly complicated. For some it’s a territory they’d like to avoid. So, we’ve put in the hard yards for you and come up with this neat little brewing guide. It’s made for you to print off and stick on your bar or place into your purse or wallet.
But before you start there are some HOT tips to keep in mind.
- Grind on demand before you brew.
- Find your grind. A finer grind means more surface area of the bean is exposed to the water. For a brew method that uses a longer steeping time such as French Press, a coarser grind is necessary.
- Use a burr grinder in order to produces a consistent grind.
- Weight your grind. Too much extraction (too fine grind, too long brew time, too hot water, and too much ground coffee) and the brew tastes bitter. On the other hand, under-extraction results in a thin, weak, sour cup.
- Use fresh, clean water.
- Pre-rinse your paper filter. This removes any loose fibres and cleanses the filter so that your coffee doesn’t taste papery.
- Pre-heat your devices.
- The ideal water temperature is 90-96C. Water is a better solvent at near-boiling temperature and hedging off boiling won’t burn your coffee.
- Every machine is different, so you’ll want to think of these parameters more as guidelines than law.
- Don’t let it sit any more than 10 minutes will spoil your brew.
- Don’t let coffee sit on a hot plate or in a French Press transfer to a thermal carafe to avoid overcooking and over-extraction.
- Store your beans in a cool place
- Clean your coffee maker
- Don’t re-heat your coffee. So just make what you will drink and avoid storing.
Here are some ideal coffee/water/time ratios for different brewing methods:
