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8/10/2019 0 Comments

Espresso Basics: What to look for when buying home espresso machines

Are you a big fan of lattes and don’t want to spend $5 every time you want one? A lot of people are in the same boat with you, but it’s confusing, as a home barista, to know where to start. Everybody on the forums are saying different things, so let me just cut through the noise for you.
These are the 3 major things you need to look for in a home espresso machine:

Pressure
1. If you have read our “What is Espresso” blog, you know that espresso needs to be brewed at a pressure of 9-10 bars in order to be truly fantastic. While it might seem like a good idea to buy a $40 espresso machine at Walmart, you might want to check to see if it actually gets up to that pressure.
Temperature Stability
1. Whenever brewing coffee, it is of paramount importance that you have a consistent brew temperature of 195-205. If the machine isn’t known for that, don’t get it. A good start would be to check for Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) certifications.
Price
1. A common conundrum with both commercial and home espresso machines is how much to spend. Should you get the $500 Breville, or the $4,300 La Marzocco? The truth is, the more you spend, the better the experience. Take the La Marzocco Linea Mini ($4,300) for example. It’s beautiful, well made, and is dual-boiler (so you can steam milk and pull a shot at the same time). However, a lot of the price comes with the name and aesthetic. You can get just as good espresso, and the same features, with a Rocket R58 ($3,000). It’s not as pretty, but it does a good job and we use it at the CDR Roastery. When you go to a lower price point like the Breville Barista Express ($500) or the Breville Barista Pro ($800-1,000), you can get good espresso! However, the catch is you can’t multitask, and there are a lot of moving, plastic pieces that can easily break. My advice is to spend more and get a great set-up rather than spending less and wishing you had a better one, because it’s easy to outgrow a cheap espresso machine.

In the end, it’s up to you. I will note that if you don’t really want to spend money on the equipment, you should probably just get it in a coffee shop.

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6/8/2019 1 Comment

How To: Japanese-Style Iced Coffee

As we have just introduced Iced Coffee, we thought we would put our recipe on how to make it online so you can try it out at home. Wondering about how Iced Coffee compares to Cold Brew? Read all about The Cold Brew Controversy in our last blog post.
What you will need:

V60 Dripper (we recommend plastic, as it is a better insulator of heat, however ceramic/glass is just fine)
V60 #02 paper filters
- Do NOT use 'Natural' brown filters, it will taste like you are brewing through wet cardboard.
Carafe or mug
Digital Scale
Timer
Gooseneck Kettle
Coffee grinder
Clean, filtered water
Iced (made with clean, unfiltered water)

The steps:

Heat your water. Start off by heating up your water. Coffee likes to be brewed between 195-205°F. If you don't have a variable temperature electric kettle, you can heat up your water to boiling, then let it sit for 45s-1 minute to allow it to get down to temperature. If you brew it at boiling (212°F) you will scorch your coffee.
Grind your coffee. While you wait for your water to heat up, you can grind your coffee. Coffee is always best freshly ground, and can actually stale just 15min after grinding. We highly recommend you invest in a good grinder, and you can read all about why here. For the V60, use a medium-coarse grind setting, similar to kosher salt.
Pre-wet your filter. This will get rid of any papery taste you might get from the filter, however, make sure not to pre-heat your carafe with this water. We want to keep that cold!
Coffee-to-water ratio. It is time for some math! To ensure you get some good coffee, you need to have a good coffee-to-water ratio. For a pour over method, we use a 1/16 ratio, meaning that for every 1 gram of coffee, we will be adding 16 grams of water (This is where the scale comes in). When making iced coffee, use 60% water and 40% ice. So, that will be 25g coffee/240g water/160 ice!
Zero out your scale. Now, put your V60 with your coffee and your carafe on your scale, and zero it out. Grab your hot water and your timer, and get ready to pour. Remember, start your timer right when you start pouring.
Bloom. Slowly pour in 50g of water to saturate all your coffee and wait for 45s. This is called the bloom. During the roasting process, gasses are built up in the bean, and once you saturate them with water, they start to release. This blooming period gets rid of a lot of gas, and it makes your coffee taste less...gassy (sour). This also can indicate the freshness of the coffee; more bloom = fresh coffee.
Slow-Pour. This is your last step, but it is the hardest. The goal is to pour your water in slow, concentric circles without hitting the sides of the dripper (just like the game Operation). If you hit the sides, the water can slide down and miss the coffee entirely. We recommend pouring in a series of pulses. Here is a guide based off of the recipe we gave you;

  Time Action Total
0:00s 50g    50g
0:45s     50g    100g
1:00s     50g    150g
1:15s     25g    175g
1:30s 25g 200g
1:45s 40g 240g

8. Drain & Enjoy. Stop your pour at 1:50s, and if it drains out between 2:30-2:45s, you should have some great coffee. If it takes longer, or shorter, adjust your grind setting accordingly. (Coarser makes it drain quicker, finer makes it drain slower).

DISCLAIMER: There are countless ways to brew iced coffee. This is not the only way, however we get great results using this process. Taste is subjective, so play with it until you find what you like!