Home Brewing: Where to Start
Whether you’re a regular at Starbucks (Dunkin for my east coast folks), your local coffee shop, or your office breakroom drip coffee, making coffee at home offers a cost effective opportunity to get your caffeine fix at your own pace and with your own touch. But starting from scratch can be intimidating, so start simple — with accessible equipment and straightforward coffee brewing methods (e.g. French press and cold brew). The goal is to make a consistently decent cup of coffee by understanding the variables that contribute to your output and learning your own coffee-tasting preferences. Click below to jump straight to the French press and cold brew recipes or read on for the basics of extraction, how to choose a coffee, and what kind of basic equipment is needed to start brewing.
Basics of Extraction
I referenced French press and cold brew as good starting points because they are both full immersion coffee brewing methods. That is, the ground coffee is fully immersed in water for a certain period of time to allow for extraction of flavor. Partial immersion (e.g. drip or pour over) brewing has more variables and room for human error, which makes learning the basics of extraction more difficult. Extraction refers to how much “stuff” is pulled from ground coffee beans when introduced to water, similar to how tea is extracted when a tea bag is placed in hot water. The “stuff” extracted from coffee includes caffeine, oils, acids, sugars and a wide range of flavor compounds (from light-fruity to dark-chocolatey flavors) all dependent on the roast level, geography, and farming process of your coffee. But extraction is a delicate process – too little extraction and your coffee feels thin and sour (acids are the first compounds to be extracted with heat, then sugars, then bitters), and too much extraction results in coffee that tastes burnt and bitter. Luckily, baristas and home brewers have developed tried and true methods to hone in on a well balanced-extracted cup of coffee. The perfect cup of coffee is also subjective – some people appreciate a more tart taste, others prefer a deeper roast flavor. The recipes and guidance herein provide a template starting point to be refined based on personal preferences. With each iteration, you can adjust time, coffee-water ratio, and coffee and roast-level selection to achieve your desired cup.
Choosing a Coffee
Two easy places to start: the grocery store coffee aisle or your local coffee shop/roaster. I vouch for the latter as it’s usually a small business with tender love and care for the coffees they put on their shelves. At the very least, you can strike up a conversation with the barista or register operator to get recommendations on their favorite coffee-on-hand, preferred brewing method, and maybe even background on where the coffee came from if they’re sharp on their product offering. If you go the grocery store aisle option, then GOOD LUCK! Kidding, I’d start with whatever sounds interesting based on the description or whatever smells good (e.g. hazelnut or chestnut roasted coffees). For roast level, without diving in too deeply, a lighter roast will generally be more acidic (fruitier notes) and have a lighter mouthfeel, and a dark roast will have more caramelized and chocolatey notes with a heavier mouthfeel.
The French Press
— is a coffee brewing vessel that was first widely manufactured in (you guessed it) France. To use, add coarsely ground coffee into the container, add hot water, cover and steep for 3-5 minutes before plunging and pouring. Coarsely ground coffee is recommended because it’s harder to over extract the coffee and yields a cleaner cup, free of small coffee particles that may make it through the mesh during plunging.
Relevant tangent – some French press recipes guide for a more fine coffee grind, but a smaller grind size equates to more extraction for the same period of time compared to a larger-coarse grind size. The science behind it is that a smaller grind has more surface area of the coffee particle exposed, which means the hot water can effectively touch more of the coffee surface and extract more stuff in a set period of time. Grind size is merely another variable, and if you’re just getting started, it makes sense to limit the variables you’re juggling to as few as possible to master the basics.
Last but not least, is your coffee-to-water ratio (e.g. 10g of coffee and 100g of water would equate to a 1:10 ratio). I’ve read anywhere between 1:10 and 1:16 on professional coffee company or roasting websites for a French press. For a beginner, I’d recommend starting on the less concentrated end at 1:16. A 1:10 ratio is for seasoned coffee drinkers who enjoy an intense-concentrated cup of coffee or novices who plan to dilute generously with milk and sugar. A 1:16 ratio is where I can appreciate the coffee flavor, without getting overwhelmed by the intensity; also, this ratio still allows room for a bit of milk and sugar without taking away from the intrinsic coffee flavor. Note, even when accidentally going beyond 1:16 to say 1:16.5 or 1:17, I’ve found the coffee still tasted fine and not too diluted yet. It’s really up to your preferences, so begin, adjust, and repeat as needed.
Equipment
~$33 total on Amazon (after-tax), which is about the cost of six $5.50 lattes
French press ($20 on Amazon)
Scale + Timer ($11 on amazon)
Timer (Free phone apps)
Ingredients
2 cups (480g) of water — you won’t use it all, but we’re providing cushion to account for evaporation during the boil
22g of coarsely ground coffee
Recipe
This French press recipe makes ~ 1 cup of a 1:16 ratio coffee.
Bring water to a boil, turn off heat, and let sit for a minute, during which time;
Place coffee in French press
Add 44g of hot water for bloom, start timer, and wait 30 seconds
At 30 second mark, add another 308g of hot water (for a total of 352g of water), watch timer until 3:50
Begin plunge at 3:50, should be a light-effort plunge
Pour at 4 minute mark, allow to cool to desired temperature. and enjoy!
Optional: milk (a few ounces) and sugar (1-2 tsp) to taste
Cold Brew
— is a full immersion method of brewing that leans on time instead of hot water for coffee flavor extraction. It originated in Japan in the 1600’s, but was popularized in the 2000’s by specialty coffee shops (Blue Bottle and Stumptown) before being picked up by the mainstreams (Starbucks and Dunkin’) in the 2010’s. The premise is simple: add water to coarsely ground coffee and steep for 12-24 hours in the refrigerator. Similar to the French press, the coffee-water ratio and steep time impact the coffee concentration, but, by leveraging time instead of heat in the cold brew process, you’re able to produce a less acidic coffee output while retaining the roast and sweetness characteristics of the coffee. Also, cold brew is arguably less maintenance than other coffee brewing methods because you kind of just “set it and forget it” until your time period is up, versus needing to constantly tend to a contraption like a french press or a pour over. Personally, I also prefer cold brew because of how well it works with milk alternatives – since there’s no heat, there’s no weird milk curdling, which results in a smoother-delicious cup of coffee. The recipe below is a starting point that can be adjusted per preference. If you want more flavor and caffeine, increase the coffee:water ratio. If you want a less concentrated brew, decrease the refrigerator steep time down to as little as 12 hours.
Equipment
~$18.43 after tax on Amazon, which is about three $5.50 lattes
Mason Jar ($12.40 on Amazon)
Cold Brew Coffee Bag ($4.78 on Amazon)
Ingredients
37g of coarsely ground coffee
703g of water (a tad under 3 cups)
Recipe
This cold brew recipe makes about 3-4 servings of cold brew (actual serving size depends on amount of ice and milk added). Implied coffee:water ratio is 1:19, brewed for 24 hours.
Place coffee bag in mason jar
Add coffee to coffee bag
Add water
Stir coffee grounds with a utensil to get grounds fully soaked
Place in refrigerator for 24 hours
After 24 hours, take coffee bag out of mason jar and hold above jar to let drip for about a minute (the coffee grounds absorb some of the water so you want to make sure you’re getting as much cold brew out as possible)
Discard by inverting coffee bag into compost bin or trash can, then wiping remaining grounds with a paper towel; rinse under running sink water to finish cleaning, and hang dry.
Recommended add-ins (unless you’re a straight cold brew fiend): a splash or two of your preferred milk or milk alternative (1-2 ounces) and a drizzle of your preferred sweetener (simple syrup, maple syrup, or agave work great !)
