How to brew a cup of specialty coffee at home

On a cold winter afternoon, a fine-mouthed kettle, a piece of filter paper, a filter cup, a favorite coffee, and three or two coffee lovers will gently extract the coffee and enjoy this concentration. Today we will talk about how to brew a cup of specialty coffee at home.

First, let’s talk about the utensils needed to brew gourmet coffee at home: hand grinder, fine-mouthed pot, sharing pot, filter bowl, and filter paper.

The next step is to choose coffee beans.

If you want to brew a cup of specialty coffee by hand, you must choose freshly roasted coffee beans.

Roasting coffee beans determines the quality of a cup of coffee. If you want to brew a cup of gourmet coffee at home, you must start by choosing coffee beans.

Some friends may ask, how old should the coffee beans be? The best taste is within two weeks, three weeks is barely acceptable, and four weeks is really the limit. It should be noted here that deeply roasted coffee beans should be consumed within ten days, and it is not recommended to drink them after three weeks.

There are many types of coffee beans. Some of you may not know much about them and don’t know which one to choose. Below I will recommend a few to you based on my own experience.

The first to be affected is definitely the well-known Ethiopian coffee beans.

Yirgacheffe has a strong orange, lemon, and sweet fruit aroma. Some sun-dried Yirgacheffe have a stronger fruit aroma and a strong red wine aroma. Sidamo has a citrus flavor with a slight berry aroma, a soft sour taste, and a chocolate aftertaste.

And Panamanian coffee beans.

Gesha is similar to Yirgacheffe, but the fruit acidity is softer than Yirgacheffe. Panama's honey-processed beans are also unique, with high sweetness, cocoa and honey aromas, and strong aftertaste.

And Indonesian coffee beans.

Lindong Mandheling has obvious herbal and earthy flavors, and its flavor tends to be dull and low in acid. Lindong Mandheling's carefully selected Gold Mandheling has a clean flavor spectrum, with almost no herbal and earthy flavors, a stronger caramel aroma, and brighter fruit acidity. Aceh Gold has a soft fruit acidity, a sweet fruity aroma, a slight woody aroma, a high body, and a viscosity similar to juice.

As for other small coffees, I will not go into details one by one. Coffee lovers can choose according to their own preferences.

Then the second step is: the choice of hand brewing equipment.

The necessary equipment includes a grinder, a hand-pour kettle, a filter cup and filter paper. It is recommended to buy an electronic scale and a thermometer, or you can buy a hand-pour kettle with a thermometer on the lid, which saves the trouble of buying a thermometer separately. If you drink alone, you don’t need to buy a sharing kettle, otherwise it is more convenient to buy one.

There are two types of grinders: manual and electric. Manual grinders are cheap and easy to clean. Electric grinders produce more uniform powder with less fine powder. The grinds are even and the brewed coffee tastes cleaner. If conditions permit, try to use an electric grinder.

Hand brewing kettles can be divided into crane-mouth kettles and narrow-mouth kettles according to the spout. Beginners should start with narrow-mouth kettles. The water flow of narrow-mouth kettles is easy to control, and there will not be excessive water flow, which can greatly improve the success rate of brewing. Crane-mouth kettles require higher control of water flow, and the corresponding degree of freedom is also greater, so they can be used as advanced equipment.

Filter cup and filter paper. There are many types of filter cups. The most commonly used ones are trapezoidal filter cups and conical filter cups (also called V60 filter cups). Trapezoidal filter cups are divided into single-hole, double-hole and three-hole. The water flow rate of V60 is faster, while the water flow rate of trapezoidal filter cups is slower. The fewer the holes, the slower. For novices who are not good at controlling the water injection speed, trapezoidal filter cups are easier to brew good coffee. You can choose the appropriate filter paper according to the shape and size of the filter cup.

Finally, the third step: hand pouring technique.

There are three factors that affect the taste of brewed coffee: grinding size, water temperature, and brewing time.

There are three corresponding rules: as the grinding degree becomes finer, the bitterness becomes stronger and the acidity becomes weaker; as the water temperature rises, the bitterness becomes stronger and the acidity becomes weaker; as the brewing time increases, the bitterness becomes stronger and the acidity becomes weaker. Keep these three rules in mind and constantly adjust the three elements in practice, and you will definitely be able to brew coffee that suits your taste.

Hand-brewing a cup of coffee at home is really a pleasure. That’s all I have to say about how to hand-brew a cup of coffee at home. Coffee lovers can try it at home and share their experiences in the comment section.