How To Brew
You wouldn’t buy our beans unless you had a plan. We admire the coffee geeks of the world and admit that we are among the obsessive. But while we enjoy the detailed process, you may not find the same comfort in a detailed morning ritual. Craft coffee can be a bit cliché, we get it.
However, your coffee (and ours) can improve. Coffee has more nuanced flavor notes than red wine. Coaxing them into your mug will reward you and your tastebuds. A sense of satisfaction and a flavorful cup are possible. So, no matter where you are on the coffee learning curve or the gear in your coffee station, pay attention to a few things that pay flavor dividends:
BUY FRESH BEANS
Know the roast date of your coffee. For the first few days after roasting, coffee beans will still be degassing from the process. That’s why there is a vent built into most coffee bags allowing CO2 to escape. Coffee beans are at peak flavor about five days after the roast date and then will start a gentle glide down the freshness slope. By sixty days (and we can’t imagine a bag of El Padre Coffee lasting that long in your kitchen!) it's time for the beans to be mulch. Unfortunately, that’s about the time most coffee beans arrive on the grocery store shelf.
Buying fresh checks the quality box. If the roast date is written on the bag, it's more likely that the beans were specifically selected and tested by a master roaster who take pride in the final product. It's a message of quality. It's a signal of care.
DIAL IN THE GRIND
Perhaps it's axiomatic but grind your beans for use in real time. A fresh grind is a fundamental step in making great coffee. We aren’t trying to send you down a timer rabbit hole so just try to use the ground coffee within a half hour or so.
Dialing in the grind size to fit your preparation method matters. And getting the grind right on the first try is unlikely. Plan on fine tuning the grinder and dialing the grind in just right. This is about avoiding under extraction and over extraction and finding sweet spot. Too little extraction and the result will lean to sour and thin. Too much extraction and the coffee becomes bitter and muddy. Get it just right and you are rewarded with complexity and nuance that take center stage.
A pour over preparation (Chemex, Hario V60, Kalita Wave) is a good example. You can watch the extraction in real time. Four minutes is the sweet spot for a great pour over cup. Faster than that and you might be under extracting. Slower and you might be making mud. And the difference is the grind. If it's too fast, you might try a finer grind on the next cup. Too slow suggests that you should go a click courser.
Your French press wants more extraction time, but the concept is the same. An overly fine grind and the muddy mess is reflected in your cup. Too course and the coffee is thin and lacks interest. Most grinders will give you a starting point for various coffee preparations, but this might chart might help you dial it in:
TRY GOOD GEAR
Not everyone needs a coffee lab in their kitchen (well, maybe they do but we’re going to refrain from saying so) and your tried-and-true preparation works great for sure. But there is something to be said for the adventurous soul, even in coffee. And the adventurous will be rewarded with a more expansive experience. No doubt.
We love expensive machines and use them constantly in the El Padre Coffee Lab. But this isn’t about big investment. It's about trying something just different enough to make a difference. Exploring the different results is part of the coffee adventure. If you love a French press, maybe master the pour over. The convenience of a drip coffee maker is fantastic, but a moka pot can do something quite different. Maybe that bladed spice grinder has become inconsistent, and you want to explore the finetuning capability of a burr. It might be possible to hold a good circular pour with a tea kettle, but maybe it's time to try a goose neck. Good gear will up your game. Good does not always mean expensive.
WATER QUALITY AND TEMPERATURE MATTER
We don’t want to get up on a soap box. We know that you know this. Tap water in most homes leaves a lot to be desired. Leaving the toxicity conversation to others, let’s just talk about taste. Even if you aren’t widely traveled, you know how different a glass of water is from state to state and town to town. Good coffee can’t overcome bad water. Level your playing field by using filtered water whenever possible. High-quality water is another small, fundamental, and rewarding step.
The temperature of water used in coffee extraction matters, too. Peak extraction performance is a bit below the boiling point at about 204° Fahrenheit. The preparation process itself is an exercise in cooling, so be sure that you start on point.
Water temperature will also affect your coffee drinking experience. Too hot and your coffee’s complexity and flavor nuances will be much less discernable. And lukewarm is just, well, lukewarm. The flavor experience peaks as your coffee cup cools toward your body temperature. Personal preference is key here but give your coffee a chance to perform by paying attention to temperature.
TUTORIALS
The web abounds with highly detailed coffee making tutorials. Here are some links to a few tutorials that we admire.