nourish team Our coffee columnists Gee Gallant from The Yard in Norwich is back. In this issue, she shares her tips for how to brew the perfect cup of coffee at home.
In this article, I want to give you a guide on how to make coffee at home from those lovely beans you have bought from your local coffee shop. Not everyone has an espresso machine but fear not – there are a variety of affordable ways to brew coffee at home with equipment that is a lot cheaper, but the outcome is still just as awesome! This is the first of a series, and there will be more recipes in my next article for nourish.
There is lots of equipment you can invest in for home brewing coffee, but a great place to start is a grinder. Coffee tastes best just after it’s been ground, so for the best flavours, freshly grinding whole beans as you want them is where it is at! If you want to splash out, there are some really great grinders out there, but Hario has a great and affordable range of hand grinders. Alternatively, you can get your beans ground when you buy them at the coffee shop or roastery. You can invest in a fancy set of brewing scales or a pouring kettle for when you become a coffee expert, but this article is all about accessible coffee at home and so a kettle and scales from your kitchen work just fine.
The method I am going to look a here is the cafetière, also called a French press. Despite the name, an Italian actually invented it!
A cafetière is really affordable – I have seen them for sale for around £8 in some shops, so have a look and find one that will suit your needs.
The coffee needs to be ground coarsely, and the ratio of coffee to water you are looking for is 18g of coffee to 300ml of water. If you have a larger cafetière, then just work off that ratio to size up!
Here are my tips for making your perfect cafetière cup of coffee:
1. Put your kettle on and heat your water to a temperature of 90 to 96°C.
2. Place the cafetière on top of your scale and weigh out the desired amount of coffee.
3. Gently pour half the water into the cafetière over the coffee. Let it sit for a minute, then add the rest of the water.
4. Put the lid on and set your kitchen timer for three minutes. Once three minutes are up, push down on the plunger until the filter compresses the grounds at the bottom.
5. Give the coffee a minute or two to settle, then pour it into your cup and enjoy.
- The Yard is owned by Gee with Shane Blake and Tait Pollack. You can find them in Pivotal House, Red Lion Street.
- www.theyardcoffee.co.uk
