Making filtered coffee at home

What kind of coffee should you use? Lighter roasted coffee is best for the filter. Ideally fresh, meaning 1 week to 2 months from the roasting date. Store the beans in the original resealable bag or in a vacuum jar, dry and out of direct light.

Recommendation: The more often you open the container or bag, the more the coffee will degrade. After opening, it is advisable to consume it within a week. If you want to keep the coffee longer, it is best to divide it into portions in separate containers or bags.

Although it may not seem important, water makes up 98% of the beverage. Therefore, attention should be paid to its selection. Ordinary tap water has different mineral values, they are not always in the same ratio and the quality of the water fluctuates over time. In addition, it often contains other substances that will negatively affect our preparation. Therefore, it is better to use filtered or bottled water. If you are not sure, “Good Water” is a decent compromise for making coffee at home.

For hand brew, we recommend using the April brewer. It ensures fast and even extraction thanks to its flat bottom and large opening. The plastic design does not absorb heat during the entire brewing process and the resulting cup is sweet and retains its sparkle. It also makes it easier to steep all the coffee, unlike, for example, the classic V60.

• 15g coffee
• 250g water
• Water temperature: 90-98°C
• Preparation time: 2:00-3:00 minutes

First, pour hot water over the filter to remove the papery taste. Grind the coffee to medium coarseness and then make two infusions. We recommend using a scale and a stopwatch to measure the parameters.

The procedure depends on the specific coffee. You can find inspiration on our website. For each coffee in our roastery, we look for a unique recipe that best suits the coffee.

Procedure for natural Ethiopia:

• 1. Infusion 100g (time: 0:00 – 0:10)
  • Pour 50 g of water in a circular motion
  • 50 g to the center
• 2. Infusion 150g (time: 0:50 – 1:00)
  • 100 g in a circular motion
  • 50 g to the center

If the result doesn't taste like the coffee's character, there are a few steps you can take. The coffee is probably poorly extracted.

You can recognize underextracted coffee by:

• without sweets,
• intense but quickly disappearing taste,
• drying.

In this case, try a finer grind, longer time, or higher temperature.

You can recognize overextracted coffee by:

• bitter,
• dusty,
• woody

In this case, try a coarser grind, a shorter time, or a lower temperature.

If the water has been flowing for more than 3 minutes or the coffee tastes bitter, it means that the coarseness of the particles is too fine and the water cannot flow out in the required time. If, on the other hand, it has flowed quickly and the drink is empty, has a shallow or watery taste, the coffee is ground coarsely.

Natural coffee is best prepared at a lower temperature, washed coffee at a higher temperature. Increasing the water temperature will increase the extraction, which is desirable if the coffee is underextracted and vice versa. To notice the difference, just change the temperature by 2 degrees. If you cannot adjust the water temperature, simply boil water in a kettle, wait 1 minute and then start pouring.

You can also try changing the ratio of input (amount of coffee) to output (amount of water). If the drink is too weak, you can add more grams of coffee or reduce the amount of water. If the drink is too strong, use less coffee or a larger volume of water. If the coffee has been roasted for a long time, it may be appropriate to increase the input to compensate for the loss of aromas and flavors.

Our tip: Always change just one parameter. This way you will know exactly how the change has affected you and will find it easier to figure out what works best for a particular coffee.

Filter coffee is simple to make but complex to fine-tune. But once you understand the impact of each variable – coffee, water, grind, temperature, ratios – a world of rich flavors and countless possibilities for trying different recipes and experimenting opens up.

And if you are more interested in the topic of filtered coffee, ask our baristas anything, come for cupping, or sign up for our coffee course.