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Working From Home? Brew This New Hobby
Are you feeling miserable because you’re stuck indoors and cannot go to your favourite coffee shop? We’ve got your back. Introducing you to the world of Coffee brewing. Coffee brewing is an enjoyable experience that has the potential to take your regular coffee to a whole new level. And what better time to explore the ritual than when we are in the comforts of our home, limited in movement but not in spirit.
As more and more people are increasingly working from home, and staying indoors, the one thing you need to keep your energy up is delicious & powerful coffee. Coffee not only keeps your energy up but is also an excellent stress-buster and brings positivity into your routine. In this blog, we will share some basic techniques on how to quickly brew from home as you work.
Basic steps to brewing coffee for the Novice.
1) You will need:
Get Freshly roasted coffee beans delivered to your door through an e-commerce portal. If you’re in India, you can place an order for freshly roasted coffee beans & powder at www.arakucoffee.in and it’ll be delivered to you completely free of any shipping cost. Be sure to check the roast date on the package as coffee is at its best at the two-week roast date. You should always look for one-way value deals which ensure your coffee is roasted and packaged fresh.
2) The perfect brewing equipment for brewing at home:
There is a range of coffee brewing equipment you can choose from. Here is how you brew delicious cups of coffee in each one of them.
French Press
A French Press is found in many homes and is a purist way of home brewing. The only requirements to brew coffee in a French Press are coffee and water. Buying a French Press is a one time cost as it requires no additional materials like paper filters and is thus quite cost-effective that way.
Using the ratio of 1:15, an 8 cup French Press takes about 35 grams of coarsely ground coffee and 8 cups of water. Be sure to alter the coffee to water ratio as per your requirements.
Procedure:
- Preheat the vessel with a small amount of hot water and discard.
- Weigh 35 grams beans (or as required), grind coarse (if powder not available)
- Fill the coarse grounds into the vessel up to roughly two fingers.
- Pour hot water to dampen all the grounds up until the top of the metal band. Stir with a spoon to break the crust and allow the gas to escape. Place filter press in the vessel without touching grounds or pressing.
- Set a timer to 4 minutes.
- At 4 minutes, plunge the filter to the bottom of the vessel. Brewed coffee will be separated from grounds by the filter.
- Pour into preheated cups, and enjoy.
When your coffee brewing is complete, and you are left with used coffee grounds, empty the press in your garden. The soil is enriched through coffee waste and guess what, worms love coffee too!
Pour Over, such as V-60 and Chemex
Pour-over brewing involves pouring hot water over ground coffee to extract nuanced flavours. Ground coffee, a filter, and a filter holder are the principal elements involved in the process. Two of the most popular choices of a Pro Over are a Chemex and a V60. Both of these have specific design features that create a consistent flow of water and extraction of coffee.
Procedure:
- Dampen the paper filter with hot water as you preheat the brewing vessel. This allows the wet paper filter to release all coffee oils, which contain flavour, to pass through into the vessel while brewing. The hot water preheats the brewing vessel for better brewing. Discard the water.
- Fill the filter with medium grind coffee according to your preference or in a 1:15 ratio of coffee to water.
- Using a gooseneck or spouted kettle, carefully pour water to dampen all the grounds. Wait for 30 seconds.
- Pour hot water once again in a circular motion, wetting all grounds. Fill it to the rim of the filter cone, and not to the edge of the paper.
- Do this once more till the coffee volume is as per the brew pot (vessel). Or until the brewed volume has reached the “glass “button” on a Chemex.
- Serve in preheated cups or in preheated travel mugs for optimum heat retention.
Filter Notes:
If using pre-folded paper filters for Chemex, be sure to place a triple layer on the spouted side so that the air can flow freely and not create a vacuum while brewing. If using a paper filter for V-60, fold the filter along the sealed edge before placing it in the filter cone, so that the filter rests in a pour-over filter cone fully without air gaps between paper and cone.
Moka Pot
The Moka pot is one of the most popular coffee brewing equipment used in homes across the world. It is a stove-top coffee maker that brews coffee by passing boiling water pressurized by steam through ground coffee. Like a French Press, a Moka point is a one-time investment and requires no additional materials such as a filter paper etc. It’s easy to use, quick and very compact thus making it a great travel partner too. At Araku, we have a range of stunning Moka Pots designed exclusively for us by Norwegian designer-duo Anderssen & Voll.
Procedure:
- Separate the upper and lower chamber of the Moka pot by twisting.
- Pour preheated water into the lower chamber up to the valve.
- Insert metal filter into the lower chamber.
- Using a small spoon, dose finely ground coffee to the rim of the filter. Do not pack it too tightly.
- Attach the upper part of Moka Pot to the lower part
- Place the Moka Pot on a gas stove or an induction burner. If you’re using a gas stove, be careful as to keep the flame low.
- As the water boils and passes through the filter, brewed coffee will be collected in the upper pot.
- Once all the water has passed through grounds and Moka Pot starts to make sputtering sounds, know that your coffee is ready.
- Do not lift the lid when the coffee is brewing as it may splatter.
Pour into a cup and enjoy!
Cold Brews
Come summer and Cold Brews are the number one brew of choice in a rapidly growing coffee market. They are very simple to make and now that summer is just around the corner, brewing this refreshing & delightful drink is a must! Hario’s Cold Brew Flask is the perfect equipment to make a cold brew at home as it is not just very easy to use but can be used for storage of the cold brew as well.
Procedure:
- Use a Hario Cold Brew Flask
- Fill the filter to 2/3’s full of coarse ground coffee
- Insert the filter into the rubber top of the cold brew flask, twist to secure the top.
- Close the top with the filter attached to the cold brew bottle firmly.
- Remove the rubber stopper from the top
- Pour filtered water through the spout into the bottle to fill
- Replace the stopper, and gently shake the bottle.
- Place on a shelf at room temperature for 8 – 10 hours.
- After 8 – 10 hours, remove the filter insert.
The Cold Brew bottle should be placed in a refrigerator and can be served with or without ice. The cold brew stays fresh for 3 – 4 days in the flask itself.
3) Storing Coffee Properly
Ever been to a perfumery and been offered a tray of coffee grounds to sniff first? This is done to cleanse your nasal cavity, which by the way, is the body’s first introduction to any sensory experience.
Coffee’s biggest enemies are heat, light and moisture. Whole Bean and Ground coffee act like a sponge to its surroundings and so refrigerators are like coffins for coffee as much as they recirculate moisture-laden air. As the moisture swirls around the beans, the beans absorb everything in the air. At one time, freezers used to be touted as the best place to store coffee. But research pointed out that the moisture freezes and crystalizes, the molecules in the beans expand creating hairline fractures in the cell walls. These fissures allow oxygen to enter and turn the coffee stale.
In the case of coffee storage, staying simple works out the best. Ideally, coffee should be stored in a clean airtight container away from heat, (not near the stove), light, (no windows or direct sunlight) and moisture. Mylar bags, coffee tins or a clean airtight ceramic container work just fine to store coffee well. If you store your coffee (beans or ground) in a reusable container, be sure to wipe clean any residual coffee oils or grounds from the previous lot before you refill. Coffee oils and old coffee grounds tend to get stale and may contaminate fresh beans or grounds.
Now that you have all the information you need, stock up on your coffee and keep em cups coming. In anxious & worrying times like these, there’s nothing more comforting than to have a coffee by your side.
Happy Brewing!