Brewing Methods
Green Grinds Suggested Brewing Methods and Guides
Why is it important to measure your coffee and water when brewing?
When brewing coffee, small differences in the amount of coffee, water, and coarseness of the grind can affect the taste of the brew. The coffee-to-water ratio is a vital aspect to producing repeatable results for your perfect cup of coffee.
Everyone's "heaping tablespoon" is not the same and you can't guarantee that your own "heaping tablespoons" are consistent from measurement to measurement. Being exact helps to ensure that you are consistently brewing the perfect cup of fresh roasted coffee! Using a scale and measuring the weight of your coffee and water will allow you to accurately reproduce the aficionado's recommended ratio of 16/1 consistently. Consistency in your brew will allow you to experience and enjoy repeatable, fresh, flavorful drinking results.
Most folks prefer a 16/1 water to coffee ratio, but whatever your palate preference, accuracy and consistency is the key for guaranteeing you continually achieve your perfect cup of fresh roasted coffee.
Ratio by Weight: 9 grams of coffee to 150 grams (5 ounces) of water. This is the preferred and recommended method for achieving the 16/1 ratio, as it delivers accuracy and consistency in the brew method to deliver the Perfect Cup.
Hint: We measure grams on a small kitchen scale purchased at Target.
Helpful Definitions
Filtered Water - water that is filtered by one of several methods such as: Activated Carbon, Aeration, Distillation, Reverse Osmosis or UV. A filtering process will purify your water of impurities and help eliminate tastes like chlorine or sulfur. Filtering can clear out many safety concerns also, like bacteria, heavy metals and pesticides, which will all cause our coffee to taste bad. A little homework and you can easily filter your water at home to help you brew that perfect cup of coffee each time.
Bonded Coffee Filter - a heavier weight, strong and durable paper filter.
Extraction - Hot water is mixed with coffee grounds transferring taste and flavors from solid to liquid form. The quality of the brew is directly related to the quantity of the extraction. Extraction quantity is measured and controlled by the rate of extraction and amount of time the water and coffee grounds are in contact.
If you have any Coffee Brewing questions, please send an email to info@greengrinds.com and we'll be happy to answer your questions.
French Press
Chemex
Clever Coffee Dripper
EVO SOLO (CAFE SOLO)
AeroPress
Grinding your Fresh Roasted Coffee Beans
When to Grind: To ensure you are experiencing and enjoying the freshest cup of coffee, you should always grind your beans just before brewing. The tantalizing aroma from grinding fresh roasted coffee is a sure fire way to spice up your kitchen any time of the day.
Why grind right before each brew? Because fresh roasted coffee beans begin to gradually fade in freshness, due to oxidation, after roughly 10-14 days. The beans don't expire or spoil at this time, but after about 2 weeks you are now at the point of defeating the purpose of purchasing fresh roasted coffee beans and obtaining the absolute best cup of coffee for yourself, your family and friends.
How to Grind: The Grinding of fresh roasted coffee is a simple process, provided you have the right tool. The tool you need is a Grinder. There are three basic designs you can procure - Blade, Burr, or Hand grinder.
Blade Grinders:
Simple, less expensive, less effective grinding method compared to Burr grinders, however, they are functional (chopping vs. grinding the beans) for more course grinding of coffee beans. Achieving the various grind textures is based on length of time grinding the beans with the blades. Inconsistency in the grind is the issue with the Blades. By having inconsistency with variable size pieces of the coffee beans being chopped in the grind, the extraction will be inconsistent and the flavor will be telling. The goal is to achieve uniformity in all the coffee particles within the grind to create a consistent and uniform extraction from the coffee to produce the perfect smooth cup.
Grinding with a Blade is based on Time. The more time you spin the blades through the coffee beans the finer the texture. When grinding with a Blade, use short bursts to grind the beans. Try to avoid long continuous revolutions of the blades on the beans as this creates an inconsistent grind with the blades. Continuous grinding with blades also creates friction heat in the beans, which will damage the grind and the taste of the brew.
Burr Grinders:
Conical Burr grinders are the best grinders. Grinding with a Burr Grinder crushes the beans vice chopping as with blades. Burr Grinder provide more consistent, uniform and precise grinds by use of manually setting the gap of the metal burrs. They deliver more range in grind texture of the coffee beans and are generally more expensive compared to blades. However, Burr Grinders are the more all-purpose grinder.
There are Wheel Burr and Conical Burr grinders. Wheel Burrs are less expensive of the two and quite a bit noisy and messy compared to the Conical Burr. You can use a conical burr for oily or flavored coffees and it’s not likely to clog on you like the other grinders.
Grinding with a Burr is based on texture settings on the machine; Course – Super Fine.
Hand Grinders:
Hand grinders have the ability to achieve a more consistent grind utilizing conical burrs that remain sharp for a good period of time. Cheaper, as they don’t have a motor. Easy to adjust, but can be a bit challenging with coarser grinds. They are very suitable for pour over brewing. Hand grinders are also great for the road warrior who likes to grind his fresh roasted coffee on the road.
The "Secret" for grinding coffee beans is the Grind must correspond to your brewing method.
Below are some general guidelines for Grind textures to correspond with your chosen brewing method. Please experiment to get the best flavor results to suit your palate.
Extra Coarse Grind = largest flakes and chunks of bean
Brewing Method = Cold Brewing
Medium Coarse Grind = Medium large flakes and pieces of beans
Brewing Methods = Cafe Solo and Chemex
Coarse Grind = flakes and pieces of beans throughout
Brewing Methods = French Press, Vacuum and Percolators
Medium Grind = Texture and granularity of salt
Brewing Methods = Automatic Drippers
Medium Fine Grind = Between sugar and salt texture
Brewing Methods = Pourovers (i.e. Clever Coffee Dripper), Vacuum and Siphon Brewers
Fine Grind = Smooth grit, resembling that of sugar
Brewing Methods = Espresso, stovetop Espresso, Moka Pot
Super/Extra Fine (Turkish) Grind = Very Powder like, resembling that of sugar
Brewing Methods = Turkish
“Coffee Grind Chart” by Chris Arnold at www.ineedcofffee.com: https://ineedcoffee.com/coffee-grind-chart
If you’d like more information regarding Grinding your coffee for that perfect cup, please email us at info@greengrinds.com and we’ll be happy to help you achieve the best grind for your brewing method.
