There is an art to brewing a good cup of coffee. Choosing the proper equipment and ingredients is easy. The method, however, can be complex. This guide, created by Kopplin’s owner Andrew Kopplin, will help you master the art of brewing the perfect cup. DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE GUIDE

Equipment

Press Pot

Choose a press pot made out of high-quality materials. I like the look and performance of a glass press pot with a stainless steel mesh filter.

Grinder

Grinding fresh is the single most important factor in brewing good coffee. Cheap grinders make for an uneven grind, resulting in astringent and bitter notes along with sour and grassy ones—not exactly a “Yum” experience.

Cup
Don’t go to the trouble of making great coffee only to pour it into a crappy cup (or worse, disposable). Porcelain or glass are best for enjoying a coffee’s flavor, and the moment. One of my favorites is a double wall porcelain cup by Bodum, available at Kopplin’s.

Ingredients

Coffee

Coffee should be sweet with complex acidity. If your coffee needs massive amounts of cream and sugar to be “perfect,” you may want to use different beans. The flavor of coffee is determined by how it is roasted. Bitter, ashy flavors occur when beans have been over-roasted, a method often used to cover up off-flavors. A well-grown, properly cared for bean can support a lighter roast, drawing out its innate flavors. When a skilled roaster finds a bean of such pedigree, the results are magical.

Water

A brewed cup of coffee is over 98% water. If the water tastes bad so will the coffee. Carbon filtered tap water (Brita or PUR) should work fine. Excessively softened water will not extract flavor as well as harder water that has minerals that aid the process.

Press Pot Method

Ingredients

Coffee beans, filtered water

Equipment

Clean press pot, grinder, water kettle, timer, spoon, measuring cup or scale

Measurement

14-16 grams of coffee for every 8 fl oz is a good rule of thumb, however, note that the dose of the coffee will depend on brewing amount and grind coarseness.

You can use a pre-heated measuring cup to measure the water, but my favorite method is to measure by weight. Pour the freshly ground coffee into the press pot, place it on the scale and zero it out. (Key: 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram.)

Method

1.) Start heating the water while you grind the coffee beans. Press pots require a coarse grind. Rubbing the ground coffee between your fingers should feel like sand, or a little coarser. Set the ground coffee aside.

2.) Pour a little boiling water into the press pot to heat it. Coffee is very sensitive, and temperature shocks bring out bitter flavors. Dump the heating water out and add the ground coffee to the press pot. Slowly pour the hot water (which should have cooled to about 200º) so all grounds are wetted and clump-free. The ground coffee should form a dome on top of the brew. Start your timer for 2 minutes.

3.) At 2 minutes, use your spoon to agitate the “dome.” Excessive agitation can lead to over-extraction and astringency, so don’t stir too much. Put the lid on the pot and continue brewing.

4.) At 3 1/2 to 4 minutes, begin slowing pressing down on the filter using only the weight of your hand, until the plunger is as far down as it will go.

5.) Decant the coffee into cups or an other pot. Do not leave the brew in the pot as extraction will continue, developing off-flavors.

6.) Enjoy!!!

The best way to tell if you brewed your coffee right is simply by tasting it. Learning how to tweak your brew is the best way to find your way to the perfect cup of coffee.

Note: Most actions have more than one effect when adjusting the brew. For example, if the coffee tastes weak, you’ll need to increase coffee dosage and use a finer grind to account for the slower extraction of using more coffee.