Daily Working from Home calls for mixing things up a bit. New pairings of pajamas on the bottom and professional shirts on top. New ways of conducting meetings with someone’s kids in the background. New routes on your afternoon walks outside with your family, for those who can get outside.
Ready for a new Brew from Home coffee ritual? If you are looking to expand your brewing techniques beyond your classic automatic drip coffee maker, check out three of our favorite methods below.
Consider all of these recipes a starting point. We highly encourage experimenting by adding more or less coffee grounds and tweaking the grind size until you’ve hit on your perfect brew for each of your favorite coffees.
And we can’t recommend enough trying out these brew methods with Savorista low caf or craft decaf coffees to avoid adding the jitters to an already uneasy situation.
French Press
One of our favorite easy “set it up and let your mind wander ” brewing methods is the French Press. French Press is an immersion style brew method where the grounds are surrounded by water throughout the brew period. This is especially fantastic for brewing dark, rich, heavy bodied coffees because the coffee oils don’t get filtered out through a paper filter.
- [Pro-tip]: To ensure you brew your coffee at the right temperature, make sure to preheat your press by rinsing with hot water before you put in your grounds and boiling water
- Measure: Weigh out 30 g of coffee for every 450 grams of water you plan to use. If you don’t have scale, go with about 6 level tbs of coffee for 16 oz of water
- Grind: Grind on a coarse setting
- Water Temp: Heat water to 205 degrees or bring to a boil and let it cool for about 30 seconds
- Bloom: Put coffee grounds in press and cover grounds with hot water, stir and let bloom for 30-45 seconds to release the carbon dioxide
- Pour: Pour in remaining hot water and put on the lid
- Wait: Let the grounds steep for 4 minutes (now’s your cue to take a breath and relax)
- Plunge: Slowly push the plunger down, pushing all of the grounds to the bottom of the press
- Serve: Pour all coffee immediately and enjoy! Don’t let the remaining coffee continue to steep in grounds because it will be over extracted (fancy coffee speak for taste bitter and too strong)
Need gear? You can find the ESPRO and Bodum Brazil French Presses on our website.
Pour Over
Our favorite methodical “get lost in the moment” brew method is the Pour Over, hands down! Pour Overs are also fantastic for bringing out subtle bright and fruity flavor notes in light and medium roasts.
There is a wide variety of incredible pour over tools, one of our favorites is the Chemex. It is a unique and fun brewing experience and always delivers a delicious cup of coffee!
- Grind: Grind on a medium coarse setting
- Coffee Filter: Open a coffee filter into a cone shape so that one side of the cone has three layers, and place it into the top of the Chemex brewer. The thick (three-layer) portion should cover the pouring spout. Wet the filter with hot water, then dump out the water before adding coffee
- Measure: Weigh out 30 g of coffee for every 500 grams of water. If you don’t have scale, go with about 6 level tbs of coffee for 20 oz of water
- Water Temp: Heat water to 205 degrees or bring to a boil and let it cool for about 30 seconds
- Bloom: Pour a small amount of water over the coffee grounds to wet them, and wait for about 30 seconds for them to “bloom”
- Pour: After the grounds bloom, slowly pour the brewing water over the grounds while keeping the water level well below the top of the Chemex (quarter inch or more)
- Remove: Remove filter
- Serve: Pour and enjoy
Excited to try the Chemex Pour Over? Grab one from our website before they’re gone!
Aeropress
For a fun, science experiment-like brew method to show your kids, we love the Aeropress. It’s a relatively new method that has taken the coffee world by storm. There are even Aeropress Brewing Championships! Aeropresses are extremely versatile and create delicious cups of coffee in a variety of different ways! The recipe below is for an espresso-style brew.
- Water Temp: Heat water to about 175 degrees or bring to a boil, and let it cool for 1 minute
- Grind: Ground your coffee beans on a fine setting
- Coffee Filter: Next, take the Aeropress coffee filter and put it into the cap of the press, screw the cap onto the press and place it on the top of a coffee mug
- Measure Coffee: Pour one rounded scoop of coffee into the chamber (the scoop comes with the press) and shake to make sure the coffee is level in the chamber
- Pour Water: Pour in your hot water over the coffee grounds until it reaches the Level 1 line on the press
- Stir: Stir the coffee grounds and water together for 10 seconds
- Plunge: Firmly push in the plunger until you hear a long hiss
- Serve: To drink espresso style, enjoy as is. Add hot milk for an at-home latte or more water for an Americano. Enjoy!
To really feel like a pro, try the inverted method which will brew a richer cup by exposing the coffee grounds to the water for longer.
