Even with the most casual filter coffee we make during the day, our attention to detail and persistent measuring of every individual aspect is not disregarded. Putting extraneous amounts of effort into exact consistency is intrinsic to our ability to replicate a properly brewed coffee. Something that we have noticed in brew methods is the ambiguity between Input and Output variables involved in the brew methods we gravitate towards. These differences are very important to our brewing philosophy, and we would like to clarify our interpretation of them.
Input Variables: These are the starting points of brewing, their interaction leads to the extraction of the compounds within the coffee beans.
-Coffee Weight: The amount of coffee grounds that are added to the specific brew method.
-Grind Size: The size of the particles that make up the coffee grounds.
-Water Weight: The amount of liquid that interacts with the grounds and extracts the soluble compounds.
Output Variables: These will show how all of the input variables came together, and if they properly extracted the coffee or not. They give indicators towards what is necessary to be changed in the input, and therefore are just for the purpose of knowing exactly how to fix or replicate an extraction.
-Time: The amount of time it takes for the water to extract the flavour in the coffee is necessary for any kind of consistency within a brew recipe.
-Brew Strength: The amount of solubles dissolved within the coffee. This is impossible to measure without scientific equipment such as refractometers. Its measurement is irrelevant to most home coffee brewers who do not have access to this technology.
While it may seem logical to aim for the reproduction of the output variables to get the same flavour collaboration in the coffee, there is one specific previously un-mentioned input variable that argues against this. The coffee beans themselves. Because every varietal and region will produce a unique chemistry within a coffee bean, it must be assumed that not every bean will be similar in the way it behaves while extracting. Therefore, this is the variable that everything else should stem from. Every flavour that has the possibility to making it into a cup of coffee is present within the bean regardless of if it is extracted or not, and the goal is to find an optimal way to bring out the flavour. Sometimes this will not be possible while maintaining any kind of strict standardized procedure; it might be necessary to slightly increase the time or make the particle size smaller to get a proper extraction from a certain coffee.
To reference our V60 Method, we have found that for that apparatus 22 grams of coffee to 350 grams of water is the ideal ratio for a good extraction. Not that anything more or less than this is un-approachable, but because of the angling of the sides and the opening size of the bottom hole, this amount of coffee grounds interacts best with the water passing through it. We have also found that 3'30" is an generally good brew time to aim for; for us this time usually falls directly between over-extraction and under-extraction (therefore a good extraction). This is our entire reasoning for any specification we make within each of our brew recipes, and is how we approach creating new recipes for each coffee we try.
Written by,
Tyson
To reference our V60 Method, we have found that for that apparatus 22 grams of coffee to 350 grams of water is the ideal ratio for a good extraction. Not that anything more or less than this is un-approachable, but because of the angling of the sides and the opening size of the bottom hole, this amount of coffee grounds interacts best with the water passing through it. We have also found that 3'30" is an generally good brew time to aim for; for us this time usually falls directly between over-extraction and under-extraction (therefore a good extraction). This is our entire reasoning for any specification we make within each of our brew recipes, and is how we approach creating new recipes for each coffee we try.
Written by,
Tyson