We have a deep focus on sourcing, whether it globally through fostering equity through our coffees or through supporting our local agricultural and maker community with our food and baked goods. We believe that by investing in quality ingredients and people, we’re able to deliver exceptional quality to our customers and help to create communities we want to live in.
Typical coffee, the type you buy at a grocery or convenience store (or your favorite chain), is purchased by a green coffee buyer. Their job is to secure favorable contracts, locking in their pricing while the market dips. This means that regardless of the costs to farmers and producers, they’re locked into the contracted price agreed upon with the green coffee buyer.
We only purchase from traders who provide full pricing transparency, which includes shipping and warehousing costs as well as the actual amount payed to farmers. In most cases we pay well over C-Market value because we’re buying high quality coffees, which are of higher value. We feel that this encourages farming for quality and allows farmers to further invest in their farms and practices.
A good burr grinder – a grinder allows for an even grind size, which reduced the amount of fine and coarse grinds in the mix. This creates an even extraction across the coffee bed. They vary greatly in price, but a basic manual grinder might be $40 and a top of the line domestic grinder might be $250.
A kitchen scale – generally, we throw scoops that come with brewers away. A scale is critical for consistently making a good cup of coffee. Roasting coffee and the level of roast (light to dark) and the country of origin dramatically affects the density (size and weight) of the beans. A scoop of a Brazilian and an Ethiopian coffee would vary significantly in weight and therefor create coffees of significantly different strengths. That’s why a scale removes this variability and allows for consistency in your coffee. Once you have it, you’ll use it all the time in the kitchen as well.
A gooseneck kettle – A gooseneck kettle (either electric or stovetop) allows for a consistent flow of water over the coffee bed. There are very technical books and papers about the kinetics of coffee extraction, but an easy rule of thumb is that you want to control the flow of water in to be slightly higher than the flow of coffee out to allow for proper extraction.
Good Quality Water – Coffee is mostly water (around 98%). Good quality water, the kind you would drink makes good tasting coffee. There are a whole lot of technical qualities, including minerality, pH and presence of chlorine that all impact how coffee tastes, with some people (including our shop) optimizing these qualities with treatment or filtration for the best coffee possible.
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We like coffee makers with a thermal carafe but if you have a glass coffee pot, don’t let it sit on the warming plate. This slowly cooks the coffee making it unpleasant.
Keep your machine clean by running descaler periodically and using coffee machine cleaner in the urn.
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Start with a bloom pour of near boiling water (this should be 2-3x the amount of coffee). Allow the coffee bed to set for 30-45 seconds before adding brew water.
Pour brew water slowly in concentric circles over the coffee bed. Avoid pouring at the sides of the brewer.
Spin gently to level the coffee bed, allowing for an even extraction throughout.
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Begin with a bloom pour of boiling water in the amount of 2x the coffee grinds. Stir to disperse.
Add remaining brew water and place lid on brewer.
After 4 minutes, gently press half way down and pour coffee into cups.
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It’s tricky to make great espresso at home but consistency is key.
Begin with proper grind size and puck prep. The puck should be level and equally packed throughout.
Use a scale and timer to ensure you’re hitting your volume and brew time.
Make only one change (grind size, temperature, dosage) at once until you find your ideal espresso.
Brew ratios are used as a way to easily communicate and scale recipes. They’re communicated as a ratio of water to coffee, so in the example of espresso you’d use 2 grams of water for every gram of coffee. A basic pour over recipe would be 20 grams of coffee and 300 grams of water or 15 (water) to 1 (coffee). Since it’s expressed as a ratio, you can easily scale it up and down.
