Brew Bar Method
Every weekend at the shop we do something we call Brew Bar, in which we take one coffee and explore a slower brewing method. The results are a brew that is really quite awesome, and – even better – can easily be done at home.
The History
I love the press pot for it’s simplicity. Water + Coffee, filter, drink. Yum. However, there are some issues with press pot brewing method that can compromise the final brew: non-complete filtering and heat loss which affects extraction yield.
In order to address these negatives, I came up with the following process:
1.)Weigh out 28 grams of coffee and grind it a bit finer than you would for a paper drip filter; the finer grind will allow for a short steep time, and thus the brew temperature will stay within a proper range.
2.) Add 500 mL (or 500 grams) of water at 204ºF (just off the boil) and stir.
3.)Cover the press pot (in this case a tea cosy) to insulate and prevent heat loss, then steep the coffee for between 3-4 minutes depending on taste.
4.) Press
5.) Pour through pre-wetted paper filter.
6.) And serve!
7.) Enjoy!
Andrew Kopplin creates some of the most brilliant coffees, tasty teas and delicious hot chocolate in the Midwest. His café, Kopplin\'s Coffee, has a comfortable and modern aesthetic make for a popular meeting spot in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul, attracting a micro-culture of friendly people from all over the Twin Cities. 
Why bother pressing? It would be slow given the fine grind. Maybe it would be easier to just let the filter do the work.
Pressing is admittedly not totally necessary however, I if you don’t press it’s necessary to shorten the steep time as the coffee will continue to extract during filtering. I like to press to stop most of the extraction it just makes repeatability easier.