Coffee Tips & Techniques
Like everything at Finch’s we start with the question:
What is the best way we can do this?
Coffee Best Practices
Best for the planet – organic
Best for farmers – fair/direct trade (direct trade goes above and beyond fair trade to make sure farmers/workers are getting a fair shake).
Best beans – arabica ☕
Store room temperature airtight. Mason jars work well and look nice.
Clean container, grinder, pot…coffee oils go off & make bad flavour.
Freshly roasted beans – buy fresh. Finch’s coffee is ground fresh the week we sell it, locally in Vancouver. Scale matters…smaller businesses are more nimble and can shorten the field-to-table scenario, which means fresher & more flavour. Grind right before using.
For french press:
If coffee grounds float on top, stir them in before putting the lid on so you get the most flavour.
Espresso is the finest common grind, french press the coarsest, and drip coffee is in the middle.
💦 Hot water around 93 Celsius / 200 Fahrenheit is generally best – boil then wait about thirty seconds. There are different schools of thought on this, but the idea is that water at a full boil ‘burns’ the coffee & doesn’t produce ideal flavour.
Coffee beans tend to extract differently depending on the roasting and growing conditions. More dense coffees are more difficult to extract, and require a more efficient solvent (eg. hotter water).
- Light roasts: I tend to use water close to a boil when brewing very light roast coffees. They are difficult to extract, often you need some additional firepower by using almost boiling or near-boiling water.
- Dark or Medium: I will take the temperature down a notch to 200 °F/93 or even lower. There’s a risk of extracting bitter flavors with a dark roast if you use water close to a rolling boil.
Cold brew is a whole other approach, usually done in cold water overnight. Takes more coffee to brew, and produces a range of flavours that differ from hot water brewing.
Experiment with what roast and grind you prefer – each machine or method benefits from finer / coarser grind and water temp and is up to personal preference.
Espresso, french press, pour-over, drip, percolate..mmmmm…coffee.