Great Coffee at Home Made Easy
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Great Coffee at Home Made Easy The Art of Coffee Brewing 1 About the Author Shlomo Krudo Home Brewer An Artist, Designer, coffee lover, and a who has heard it all from the coffee professionals and has 30+ years of experience as a home coffee brewer. 2 Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Why Should You Be A Home Barista What’s In A Perfect Cup Of Coffee Chapter 2: Quality Coffee Beans What Influences Quality? Robusta vs. Arabica Processing the Beans Storing Coffee Chapter 3: Freshly Ground Coffee Beans Roasting Beans How Fresh is Your Coffee Chapter 4: The Degree of Grind Type of Grinds Blade Grinders vs Burr Grinders Hand Grinders Chapter 5: The Water Coffee is Mostly Water Hard Water vs. Soft Water Chapter 6: Quality Brewing What's brewing Conclusion 3 3 Introduction Is your goal to recreate that one coffee that you can never forget? Are you on a journey to discover your perfect cup? This eBook is to start you off on your journey to find your ideal cup of joe. It's written from my perspective of a coffee lover who has heard it all from the coffee professionals and has 30+ years of experience as a home coffee brewer. I don't know about your coffee knowledge, budget, or level of passion. I realize though that you are a coffee enthusiast, and that you will need to figure out what stage you are at and make coffee decisions that reflect that. This eBook explores the coffee knowledge you will need to start your journey as a home barista and offers guidance, perspective, practical advice, and a healthy dose of my opinion to make those decisions and develop your personal preferences. My goal is to provide you with the baseline of knowledge you will need to discover your own Coffee Cherries perfect, delicious cup. There is no one right way for any of it; just remain curious and enthusiastic. We all enjoy good coffee, but we don't have to appreciate it in the same way. 4 5 Chapter 1 Why Should You Be A Home Brewer? Discover your perfect cup of joe and craft a great coffee that is adjusted to be just right for you. Why? I can think of at least 5 reasons. 4 5 Reasons to Become Home Brewer 1. Brew Quality Coffee When you start brewing a great coffee Using old coffee grounds does not cup at home, you will find that you can enhance the flavor of the coffee. control the quality of your cup. Now you can grind your beans right You can get the beans and the gear of before brewing, and get the freshest your choice anywhere these days without coffee. spending an arm and a leg, or order them online. 4. Have More Variety Unlike at a coffee shop, where you can You can control the entire process to choose from a limited range of coffee, at make great coffee every time. home, you can make many different kinds of coffee. 2. Pay Less for a Cup of Coffee At a coffee shop, the cost of a cup of If you create custom blends, you can also coffee is not cheap. adjust your brew's strength to be perfect for your taste. You can make great coffee at home for a fraction of the cost. So start making 5. Make it More Convenient coffee at home. Going to a coffee shop once in a while is fun, but if you do it daily as part of your You'll be glad you did because you will routine, it consumes a lot of time. learn to make your coffee just the way you like it, it will be your perfect coffee You have to drive to the coffee shop, cup. order, pay, pick up your coffee, drink at the shop, or take it to go. 3. Drink Fresher Coffee You can make the coffee as fresh as Once you can brew at home, you will possible, right before you drink it. make a great coffee and impress your family and friends. I have noticed that coffee shops grind beans in batches, which means the grounds are sitting around for a while- maybe even a day or more. 6 6 What’s in A Perfect Cup of Coffee? A great cup of coffee is one that is tuned perfectly for your senses. It has great, complex flavors; it is fresh and served at just the right temperature, it smells great, it is just right. You know great coffee right away when you have it. Characteristics of Great Coffee • Quality coffee Beans • Freshly ground coffee beans • The perfect degree of grind • The water • Quality brewing 7 7 Chapter 2 Quality Coffee Beans Even high-quality beans will produce low-quality coffee when brewed in a reduced- quality coffeemaker. Quality Coffee Beans Quality Coffee Beans Even high-quality beans will produce low- Another way to look at this is to realize quality coffee when brewed in a reduced- that there are limits to what a great quality automatic coffeemaker. roaster and a great brewer can do to improve the bean's quality, if the quality is It's crucial to start with great beans. not there. Espresso machines of the best quality and proper techniques can only do so much. Robusta vs. Arabica The variety of coffee tree and the No matter how much you perfect your conditions where it is growing also make a technique, you won't be able to improve big difference in the flavor of the coffee. the quality that much if you're starting with low-quality beans. There are only two important species of coffee trees that produce coffee beans In fact, coffee scientist Christopher H. that are widely sold: Hendon suggests that the outcome of any Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora (also given cup is dependent on four key known as Coffea Robusta). variables: the quality of the green (unroasted) coffee beans, the roast, the Arabica beans have a better, sweeter water, and the brewing technique. flavor and are the way to go for making great coffee. However, he doesn't give each of these equal weight. Robusta coffee is easier to produce and has more caffeine, but Robusta is bitterer What influences cup quality? than Arabica. Hendon says the quality of the green You may be able to tell the difference coffee beans has the most significant between Arabica beans and Robusta beans influence on the brew (50%). by looking at them- Robusta beans are more round, and Arabica beans are more Its impact is enormous compared with elliptical in shape. those of the roast (20%), water (20%), and brewing technique (10%) to emphasize, this is assuming that the brewer uses the best methods. 9 Quality Coffee Beans Processing the Beans Coffee processing is the stage after a crop When buying coffee beans, you should of coffee cherries is harvested, and the find on the label or listed on the website coffee seeds or coffee beans are extracted what process the coffee is. But if from the coffee cherry and can significantly you don't, leave and buy from someone affect the taste of the beans. else. Here are some of the conventional methods Storing Beans of processing coffee and how they affect By storing your coffee beans correctly, you flavor. can keep it fresh for up to a couple of weeks from the time it was roasted, but There are several processing methods. not more than that. The main ones are natural or dry process, pulped natural or honey process, or washed To freeze or not freeze? or wet process. There is a debate in the coffee industry regarding freezing coffee. Each processing method will have an effect on the flavor of your coffee. Some say you should and some say not to freeze. When brewed, natural process coffee tends to have robust fruity notes and full body I go by what my roaster tells me, just buy texture. enough for a couple of weeks at most, and keep it in a dark cool place. Pulp natural coffees will lack the natural process coffees' fruity notes, but it will have The enemies of coffee are oxygen, a very similar body texture. moisture, heat, and light. It will have the sweetness and the acidity So the best way to store it is in airtight, similar to washed process coffee. opaque canisters in a dark, cool, and dry place. Wash process coffee tends to be juicy as far as texture and will have delightful bright One right way to store coffee is to divide it flavors and good acidity. into smaller portions. Keep about half of it in one container and the rest in another. This way, you can use one container for one week, and the other half of the coffee won't be exposed to air every time you open the can. 10 CHAPTER 3 Freshly Ground Beans You found the perfect blend of coffee beans roasted correctly, but if you don't get the grind right, you can ruin the cup of coffee you are about to make. Freshly Ground Beans Roasting Beans Coffee beans, not roasted, would be Because coffee is freshest immediately unpalatable, and will remain no more upon roasting, if you happen to live close than the light green seeds of coffee. to one of the many small artisan coffee roasting companies can easily purchase A roaster decides at what temperature the freshest of coffee beans. and for how long the beans should roast to achieve the sensory profile required.