There are so many different factors that go into brewing incredible coffee at home that it can be overbearing at times, at least as far as my own coffee education has gone, it’s like the more I learn the more complicated everything gets.
And yet, what is project vvlgar all about? It’s about making incredible tasting coffee at home, it’s about finding and using the coolest coffee gadgets we can afford to get our hands on and using them to create massive extraction. Oh yes.
So I started outlining this little primer on making the best coffee at home – just the guidelines, the variables that we the home baristas can adjust and calibrate to improve the potential of the java that we drink. I like primers and outlines, because they help me gain perspective on things – which is why you see so many of them here at project vvlgar.
Side Note: our resident cat, Cicero, does not care for outlines. He knows the inner workings of the coffee bean through pure intuition, and just tweaks everything from the roast profile to the grind without any need for empirical data. If you are anything like Cicero, consider yourself lucky.
What Makes Good Coffee
- The Roast – I could break this down further and go into the actual green coffee beans selected, but at this point in our coffee education I think that would be too much. Eventually we will talk about selecting green coffees, and at which point, this part of our wikipedia of home coffee madness will of course be updated.
- The Grind – First and foremost is what we use to grind the coffee. Nothing but a conical burr grinder will suffice for this task. We want high quality coffee and that means grinding whole beans with conical burrs. No exceptions. Equally important is that you are grinding on the right setting: when you are trying to find the right one, I strongly recommend experimenting even if you think that you have already found the perfect spot. Sometimes extra tweaking can bring you extra extraction as we have discovered and rediscovered with our Hario Skerton (we kind of have to ‘rediscover’ grind settings since the poor guy doesn’t have any markings whatsoever).
- The Brew Method – read what we have to say about the pour over brew method both with the v60 as well as the Chemex, the french press method, the Bialetti moka pot, and the percolator if you have not already. There is no objective science to finding the right brew method to make the best coffee – there is only what you like the best. Actually, I recommend you try them all to see what you think.
Drink it.
I like to think that all that goes into excellent coffee fits into those three categories: the roast, the grind, and the brew method. Like I said – if you are roasting your own green beans then selecting the right bean from the right region and applying the right grind to it is something to focus on, but here at project vvlgar we aren’t really there yet.
So How Do You Make the Best Coffee?
- Either roast it yourself or find a local roaster so that you can ensure you are getting freshly roasted whole bean coffee. In the coming months Cicero and I are going to learn how to roast our own coffee and will be starting a series to document our adventures in roasting madness.
- Get a conical burr grinder. Either start out small with a Hario Skerton or similar manual hand grinder or check out our hardboiled reviews of conical burr grinders and get set up with something excellent to start grinding like a pro.
- Try out new and fun brew methods – brew with anything other than a drip coffee maker. Taste the difference
If you have additional thoughts on what makes the best coffee and would like to contribute let us know in the comments, we appreciate your input.
