These are my notes on how I brew coffee on different devices with various coffee beans I commonly use. Personal taste, bean flavour and technique have a strong effect on the the result, so none of them will immediately meet your expectation. I recommend to use the following information as a starting point or comparison basis for your approach. Only you can make the perfect coffee.
From the many coffee experts out there, in general, I can say that James Hoffman was likely to be the most influencial to me. And the 4:6 method of Tetsu Kasuya with a slight adaption for lazy people restored my faith in the filter coffee. All the years before, I was using a ceramic Melitta Dripper, and I wasn’t that far off perfection. All I had to do was to purchase a proper Espresso Machine to come to that conclusion 🙄
Espresso-based brews
I use a Bezzera Magica S enhanced with an IMS shower strainer, a bottomless portafilter and an IMS 14-16g basket.
Note, that I can do an espresso and a ristretto in the same basket without touching the grinder dial of the Eureka Mignon using only the two timers. A little proud on that one.
Espresso Doppio
| Coffee | 14g Mokkaflor red |
| Result | 30g Espresso |
| Coarsity | Eureka Mignon: 0.7 on dial, 7.4 seconds +/- 0.1s Commandante: around 14 red clix (todo verify) |
| Duration | 30 seconds (start counting right after pulling up lever) |
Ristretto Doppio
| Coffee | 16g Mokkaflor red |
| Result | 16g Ristretto |
| Coarsity | Eureka Mignon: 0.7 on dial, 8.4 seconds +/- 0.1s Commandante: around 14 red clix (todo verify) |
| Duration | 25 seconds (start counting right after pulling up lever) |
For a Cappuccino: 30g espresso and 200ml regular frothed milk.
For a Flat White: 16g ristretto and 150ml regular frothed milk.
For an Americano: 30g espresso and „steam“ 200ml cold water to bring to an adequate temperature
Dripper-based brews
In my opinion, this method gets most out of a coffee bean. I usually go for a filter coffee with premium products. It also serves many easily with a solid result that is most people can agree with.
Melitta ceramic dripper
Makes a lot of coffee, fast. Add sugar, milk, any flavours to taste.
A pot of filter coffee
| Coffee | 65g Plums Festtagsmischung, grinded |
| Result | 1000ml filter coffee |
| Coarsity | Mid |
| Duration | Roughly 4 minutes seconds |
Hario V60 copper dripper
Finest filter coffee. Enjoy black, if possible.
5th-based filter coffee
| Coffee | 21g d’Anastassio Finca Luisa Strawberry |
| Result | 250ml filter coffee |
| Coarsity | 24 red clix |
| Duration | Aim for about 3 min, adjust coarsity if not met. |
| Water | 94° C, 300ml |
| Process | 1st poor: 40ml 2nd poor: 80ml 3rd to 5th: 60ml |
Some notes on the process.
If you poor boiling water from a regular kettle immediately into the Hario buono copper kettle, water comes down to the perfect brewing temperature. So convenient.
If you want to adjust the resulting volume, say for a large mug or two cups, this is the formula. Break down the amount of coffee needed based on a coffee-to-water ratio of 65g per 1000ml. The first poor should wet the coffee, it usually comes out at double the amount of grinded coffee. The second poor fills up to 2/5 of the result, the residual 3 poors each add a 5th to the scale. I believe this is not exactly as Tetsu Kasuya defines it, but it is inspired by his 4:6 method. I find it easier to handle the numbers like this, and I don’t believe I would be able to tell the difference from the result.
| Resulting volume | Coffee | Water | 5th |
| 220ml | 16g | 250ml | 50ml |
| 250ml | 21g | 300ml | 60ml |
| 440ml | 32g | 500ml | 100ml |
Infusion-based brew
AeroPress
Simplest and cleanest way to make a coffee. Only requires boiling hot water, which is why I use the AeroPress at work and on a hike.
Plain coffee
| Coffee | 16g d’Anastassio Finca Luisa Strawberry |
| Result | 200ml filter coffee |
| Coarsity | 16 clix on Commandante x25 Trailmaster |
| Duration | 90s |
Process: todo
French Press
Nor for me.
Mokka-based brews
With a Bialetti or variants. Todo