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Four recipes, no mysticism

Every recipe here is a ratio, a grind and a clock. Start with these numbers, taste, then move one thing at a time.

V60 · 15g to 250g

  1. 01

    Rinse and dose

    Rinse the paper, discard the water. 15g of coffee ground like table salt.

    15 g
  2. 02

    Bloom

    50g of water at 94°C. Swirl once so the whole bed is wet.

    0:00 – 0:40
  3. 03

    Build

    Pour in circles to 150g, let the bed drop, then finish at 250g.

    0:40 – 1:50
  4. 04

    Drawdown

    Dry bed by 3:00. Sour and fast means grind finer. Bitter and slow means coarser.

    2:30 – 3:00

AeroPress · inverted

  1. 01

    Load it inverted

    Plunger in about a centimetre, 15g of coffee at a medium grind.

    15 g
  2. 02

    Pour and stir

    220g of water at 90°C, one gentle stir to break the crust.

    220 g
  3. 03

    Steep

    Cap it with a rinsed filter and leave it alone.

    1:30
  4. 04

    Flip and press

    Thirty seconds of steady pressure. Stop when it hisses.

    0:30

French press · 1 to 16

  1. 01

    Coarse and generous

    22g of coffee ground like sea salt into a warmed press.

    22 g
  2. 02

    All the water at once

    350g at 95°C, poured fast enough to churn the grounds.

    350 g
  3. 03

    Break the crust

    At four minutes, stir the raft down and skim the foam off the top.

    4:00
  4. 04

    Press gently

    At eight minutes push the plunger just below the surface and pour it all out.

    8:00

Moka pot · low and slow

  1. 01

    Hot water in the base

    Fill to just under the valve with water off the boil. It stops the coffee stewing.

    ~150 ml
  2. 02

    Level, do not tamp

    Fill the basket, level it with a finger, wipe the rim clean.

    Fine-medium
  3. 03

    Low heat, lid open

    Watch for a slow honey-coloured stream, not a sputtering jet.

    4 – 5 min
  4. 04

    Kill it early

    The moment it goes pale and loud, take it off and cool the base under a tap.

    Stop at pale

When it tastes wrong

It tastes sour and thin

Under-extracted. Grind finer, pour slower, or push the water a couple of degrees hotter. Change one at a time.

It tastes bitter and drying

Over-extracted. Grind coarser or cut the contact time. If the bed is taking four minutes on a V60, the grind is the problem.

It tastes flat and papery

Usually stale coffee or an unrinsed filter. Check the roast date and always rinse the paper.

What water should I use?

Filtered, around 80 to 120 ppm total hardness. Straight tap water in Cairo will mute almost any coffee.