If you are willing to spend a little bit of money and want to completely upgrade your coffee experience - a good Chemex® setup is all you need. This lets you control all the variables so that you can dial in that perfect cup, and more importantly - be able to re-create it. Things like grind size, bloom time, water temp, coffee-to-water ratio, etc.
What you will need:
A Chemex® - A 6 Cup Chemex® is great for making coffee for 1-2 people. An 8 Cup is better for 3.
An electric kettle - I've had good luck with this one.
A Scale: This can be a higher end one that gives you great accuracy and flow rate tracking - or just a simple kitchen scale will get the job done.
A Burr Grinder: For those who buy whole bean.
Mid Level Grinder - Good for espresso too
Lets get into it
With brewing coffee using a Chemex®, you can use three different coffee-to-water ratios.
1:15 - Going to be a bold cup
1:16 - Going to be a medium cup
1:17 - Going to be a more mild cup
Now these are the main ones. If you want to go down to 14:1 or up to 18:1, you most certainly can.
So what does "coffee-to-water" ratio mean? It's simply how much coffee you put in the filter vs. how much water you will add to it. For example: My everyday cup is 20g of coffee and 320g (20*16=320) of 196 degree water.
Speaking of water temperature. Typically you want to keep the temperature of the water between 195-205 degrees F. This allows for good extraction on the low end, and not burning the ground on the high end.
Lets now talk coffee ground size. A good medium-coarse grind will work best for pour-overs. Most grinders allow you to adjust this - so play around the medium-coarse setting area and find what best fits your taste. If the grind is too fine, the water might take too long to pass through, leading to over-extraction. If it's too coarse, the water will pass through too quickly, resulting in under-extraction and a weaker brew.
Last thing to talk about is bloom time and overall brew time. What's bloom time? During the bloom phase, the coffee grounds release carbon dioxide (CO₂) that was trapped during the roasting process. This release causes the coffee grounds to expand or "bloom," which helps to ensure even extraction when the rest of the water is added. This usually lasts about 30-45 seconds. You will actually see the CO₂ bubbles surfacing. As an initial pour for the bloom - I usually pour just enough to get all the ground wet.
Brew time. This is where you can get creative. Make the overall brew time 3-4 minutes long and just pour small to medium increments at a time until you reach your final water weight. Then simply let it finish dripping.
Here is a step by step guide to brew coffee using a Chemex®.
- Fill up the electric kettle with filtered water and set to 196 degrees.
- Grind 20g of Zone 2 Tri-Blend.
- Place a new filter in the Chemex®. The box will show you how to do this.
- Wait until the water is at 196 degrees.
- Pour some hot water from your kettle over the filter to rinse it.
- Swirl the hot water around in the Chemex® to warm up the glass
- Remove the now pre-wet filter, and pour out the water.
- Place the Chemex® with the pre-wet filter on the scale.
- Zero the scale and then add 20g of coffee.
- Zero the scale again after confirming you have 20g of coffee.
- Do an initial bloom pour and wait 30-45 seconds while it blooms.
- After it is finished blooming. Slowly break up small to medium pours over the next 3-4 minutes. Pours should be directed onto the coffee ground and you should avoid pouring directly on the filter medium. Pour in a circular, smooth pattern.
- Pour until the scale hits 320g.
- Let the Coffee finish dripping, and then remove the filter and discard it.
- Swirl the coffee in the Chemex®. As coffee is extracted different characteristics appear throughout this extraction cycle - so it's important to homogenize it
- Enjoy!
*Enjoy with any of our single origin or blended offerings.