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Makin' Coffee
October 24th, 2018
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The main point of making coffee at the start of the day (beyond the obvious
chemical benefits) is that it is the one thing I know I will be able to
control that day.

Most mornings, I saunter into the office and unceremoniously dump my laptop bag
in a corner. I'm in a full-on stupor. My eyes are half-closed, I can't speak in
intelligible sentences. This is pre-coffee state.

Making coffee is a ritual designed to counteract the above pre-coffee symptoms.
Be warned: making pre-coffee coffee is prone to a comedy of errors, including
but not limited to tossing freshly ground coffee directly into the rubbish bin.
Yes, I have done this.

The exact steps of my personal coffee ritual? I used to be more anal about
these but now look at them more as... guidelines. You should too. You should
also know that none of this is proprietary information; I actually use most of
Scott Rao's V60 method from YouTube[1].

Note: a kitchen scale is essential for easy reproduction of steps.

1. Get enough water for the amount of coffee you intend to make. A typical mug
   will hold ~300ml of water. I tend to make enough for two mugs (I often
   share), so in this case I would fetch 600ml+ of water in a goose-neck
   electric kettle.

2. Set the water to heat to ~87C. This is approximate and should be adjusted
   to taste. Just don't go near 100C or below 79C. My kettle has a temp
   control, and I highly recommend it if you want a consistent process. If I
   didn't have that feature on my kettle, I would use a kitchen thermometer to
   keep me honest.

3. While the water heats, weigh a ~7/100 ratio of coffee beans to the volume of
   water. Again, this is a personal measure that is easy to remember. For the
   600ml example, I'll weigh up 42g of beans.

NOTE: While I care about my process, there is one single factor that determines
whether or not the coffee will taste good: the freshness of the beans. Please
use FRESH coffee beans. The fresher the better. I definitely notice a decline
in the taste of coffee that is older than two weeks. No matter how you make
coffee, you will always be better off using fresh beans.

4. Grind the beans to a medium coarseness. The only important point here is
   that a burr grinder must be used, not one with blades. The beans must be
   ground, not sliced. I tend to use a Hario hand grinder at the office because
   I don't feel like investing in or maintaining an electric one. It amuses my
   co-workers.

5. Pour the ground coffee into a conical paper filter. Place filter inside a
   Hario V60 cone. Place V60 atop a mug or carafe, which is sitting on a scale.
   Tare the scale.

6. Bloom the coffee; that is, slowly pour water onto the grounds, about 3x the
   weight of the coffee in the filter, creating a slurry.

7. Stir the slurry 5-6 times to uniformly wet the grounds, and to help release
   carbon dioxide gas.

8. Evenly pour the remainder of the water over the grounds over the next minute
   or so, until reaching the targeted volume.

9. While the coffee filters through, give it 1-2 full stirs. Allow the coffee
   to finish draining. Discard the filter and used grounds.

I usually let my mug cool for a brief period before drinking.

Enjoy!

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Qe_ASxfNM