As simple as it may seem to brew a cup of delicious black coffee, understanding the nuances of the quality of your brew can be overwhelming. The idea behind this post is to compliment your understanding of coffee by explaining the coffee brewing control chart published by the SCAA.
In a previous blog post written on Medium – GETTING THE BEST OUT OF YOUR ROASTED COFFEE BEANS – I discuss a blueprint on how we can optimize the flavours of our favourite roasted coffee beans. The blog post examined brewing using a single coffee-to-water ratio, which did not go into detail about making delicious coffee at various concentrations using multiple ratios. We are not constrained to a single dose of coffee per volume of water, and, in my opinion, understanding this idea is the key to grasping the complete nature of coffee brewing – I say this because it allows you to focus on the big picture of coffee brewing and not on a single aspect of it.
The Specialty Coffee Association of America has published the following coffee brewing control chart:
This graph charts a variety of coffee doses per liter of water used in the brewing process, with resulting strengths and extraction yields, as well as suggesting an optimum balance. The ideal range after brewing is between 18% - 22% extraction, with strength between 1.15% - 1.35%. Extraction is the percentage of the dry coffee dose that finds its way into the final beverage, while the strength is the concentration of the dissolved coffee in the mixture. Extraction is the result of the variables controlled during the brewing process, such as the coffee-to-water ratio; quality and size of ground coffee; and the temperature and quality of your brewing water, to name a few. Extraction affects brew time, and vice-versa, which is a very important indicator of the quality of your brew. The concentration will influence your perception of the final cup profile.
Before we dive into manipulating the control chart, a quick example will help you understand how the chart is used. Consider the following brew:
Holding the 60 grams per liter ratio as a constant, you can manipulate the extraction percentage by manipulating some of the other variables explained earlier, for example, the grind size. This manipulation will allow you to move along any brewing ratio line, which will not only alter the extraction percentage, it will also affect the strength of your beverage, and ultimately your experience of a particular coffee.
Let us take this concept one step further and look at the brewing chart in a slightly different way:
The Coffee Brewing Control Chart is an overview of all possible profiles for your delicious bag of roasted coffee. Each area will manifest slightly different perceived characteristics within the cup. The intensity at which you perceive these profiles depends on the starting coffee-to-water ratio and the extraction. We want to stay away from the under and over extracted areas of the chart, which is done by controlling the time of your brew – see GETTING THE BEST OUT OF YOUR ROASTED COFFEE BEANS.
Directly above and below the area of optimum balance shows ideal extraction, however, it is probable that you view these areas as being too strong or too weak. Unless you enjoy a stronger beverage as I do, you can dilute coffee that falls in the area directly above the optimum balance, allowing you to obtain your desired strength – this is the point. We define this as a bypass, as you are bypassing extraction and only affecting the strength of your beverage. The concept of a bypass is valuable as it empowers brewers with knowledge of the entire scope of coffee brewing. We are not limited to a single recipe, and this knowledge allows us to brew with purpose. As one of many examples, this knowledge allows you to craft larger batches on your equipment, by creating a highly concentrated beverage and using a bypass.
As a final example, I typically use a starting ratio of 16.5 grams of coffee to 250 grams of quality brewing water. This starting ratio falls on the coffee-to-water ratio line of 66 grams per liter. With ideal extraction, we are looking at an area of high strength. For customers that are more sensitive to the strength of the beverage, adding the desired amount of hot water to the coffee will create the desired balance without altering the flavours of the beverage, just the perception of these flavours. Effectively, the bypass will achieve the same extraction at a weaker dose.
Some Added Perspective:
How do we obtain ideal extraction without owning a fancy refractometer?
Let’s take the following set-up:
Ratio: 16.5 grams of coffee to 250 grams of quality brewing water
Method: Hario V60 Pour-Over
Filter: White Paper
With the above set-up and my brewing technique, I usually find, on average, that I enjoy my brews most when they end at 2 minutes and 45 seconds. If you know your brew is going to run longer than your ideal time, you can stop your brew prematurely at your ideal time and use a bypass to return to optimal strength.
The ratio is very important, and it is very useful to use the control chart when developing your coffee recipes. Most importantly, as coffee brewers, I believe that if we view brewing from a bird’s-eye view, it will facilitate in understanding the interactions within our system. I believe that it is then that we can truly master the art of brewing great coffee.
If you have any questions or feedback you can write to us at info@morningroast.ca or comment on this post.
]]>We made some ribs this past weekend using coffee as a key flavour enhancer. Probably some of the tastiest ribs we've ever had. We wanted to share the recipe with you. Visit our collection page to check out the flavours of each coffee we offer.
Ribs:
1. Remove thin membrane from bone side of ribs
2. Add a coffee rub to both the meat and bone side of the ribs. Thoroughly rub into every part of each side
3. Use enough foil paper for each rack to create a tight seal after wrapping, ensuring you cover the entire rack
4. Before wrapping each rack of ribs, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water at the sides of the rack.
5. Preheat oven to 300F on bake setting
6. Place ribs on baking tray bone side up and cook for 1 hour 45 minutes. Remove ribs and brush on bbq sauce on both sides
7. Cook bone side up for another 15 minutes on the same setting
8. Set oven to broil. Unwrap foil, and cook meat side up for 3-5 min
9. Remove. Serve. Enjoy.
]]>Do you like burgers? Do you like coffee? What happens when you put the two together to create a coffee-rubbed burger? An explosion of flavours is what!
Cook it on your charcoal grill for an unforgettable mouthwatering experience :)
Here is what you see in the picture:
We loved this recipe so much, we wanted to share. Enjoy!
]]>Below I am going to share with you a coffee rub and BBQ sauce recipe that I have modified over that last year in my pursuit to master the grill, with freshly roasted coffee as my sidekick. WARNING: these amazing flavours will surely rock the palates of your close amigos this summer.
Before I get started, I want to add that the basis for any good recipe is fresh, high-quality ingredients. Having great coffee, freshly ground and brewed, to use in your recipes is no different. The quality of the coffee beans that gets placed inside our bags is very important to us. Don't settle for poorly roasted or stale coffee beans that will leave you with unappealing flavours. The interesting thing is that coffee offers a wide range of flavours when roasted properly, so look to experiment with different coffee beans for a taste that you crave.
Coffee Rub
Have a little fun with your choice of coffee here. I decided to use our single origin Peru Cajamarca whole bean to create this rub recipe for its sweet toffee and pecan notes, with citric undertones.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Spicy Coffee BBQ Sauce
With this particular BBQ sauce, I went with a bolder profile for my coffee of choice. I used our Brazil Minas Gerais single origin whole coffee beans for the brewed coffee portion of the recipe for its dominant bolder flavours of dark chocolate. Our Papua New Guinea works great as well with its raw sugar like profile.
Ingredients:
Directions:
There you have it. Eat well, drink amazing coffee and enjoy the sun. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can send us a facebook message through our website or email us at info@morningroast.ca
]]>One factor that appears to play the biggest role in influencing a customer’s decision to purchase roasted coffee is the roast degree. Understandably, this information is used by most companies to give customers a quick idea of which coffees available may be suitable for them. However, when customers ask us for our darkest, lightest or a medium roast, we will typically explain to them that we do not classify our roasts in this traditional fashion. Instead, our style is to find that point in every coffee that we believe brings out the best characteristics of that coffee.
The thing is, we never approach roasting coffee with a specific roast degree in mind. We don’t tell the coffee how it should be roasted but rather let the coffee speak to us. Obviously, to be great coffee roasters, a certain process needs to be followed, and consistency maintained. Throughout the coffee roasting process, we ensure that we hit certain designed benchmarks that allow us to develop the flavour profiles as intended. However, as far as how much energy to apply throughout the roasting cycle and when to remove the coffee from the roaster, taste tells us what to do.
We believe our value lies in making our customers satisfied with each experience they have when purchasing one of our freshly roasted single origin coffees. It all begins with sourcing high-quality green coffees, as well as the right coffees for our customers. It is our job to treat these coffees with respect and craft them to highlight its most favourable qualities. The ultimate goal with every one of our single origin coffees is to create a product that is naturally delicious, giving our customers a sweet and healthier beverage.
Tell us how we can help make your morning coffee routine more enjoyable at info@morningroast.ca
Also, stop by our Toronto based roastery for a coffee on us!
]]>For most people, life moves quickly and there is this continuous search to find solutions that speed up daily routines. At the forefront of many peoples’ morning routine is a sweet cup of coffee. A great cup of coffee can be attainable by anyone seeking it and it can even be quicker than one thinks. Below is a simple blueprint that can potentially be less time-consuming than walking or driving to the local coffee shop and can even earn you enough money to make your next big purchase... possibly even that well-deserved vacation you dream of! One thing is certain, the coffee will be at least as great, if not much more delicious, than your current daily dose!
What you will need:
Brewing Procedure:
Read “Getting the best out of your roasted coffee” in our blog posts, to learn more on adjusting your grind and ratio
Total Brew Time: 1.5 minutes – then plunge coffee liquids into your cup, applying gradual pressure.
Question: how long does it currently take you to travel to the local coffee shop to buy a cup of coffee? If you answered “more than 5 minutes”, then you could be freeing up some of your valuable time by brewing your own coffee. The best part is that you will not only be enjoying a high quality, quickly brewed beverage but you can even add more money to your pocket.
Below is a cost breakdown for your own professional coffee set-up versus buying at a local, quality focused coffee shop - an average of 10 quality focused shops.
That is only for 1 cup of coffee. Adding an additional cup of coffee per day to the equation, including additional replacement water and AeroPress filters, and you will have earned just under $1900! I don't know about you but I am flying to Bali :)
If you have any questions or comments please email us at info@morningroast.ca
]]>When it comes to coffee, many variables will have an effect on the overall taste of the beverage. My intentions with this post are to give you an easy to use blueprint on how to troubleshoot your coffee at home by only tweaking your coffee grind size and potentially dosage. The majority of the time, a grind adjustment will give you the results you are looking for.
I believe that most people have a consistent morning coffee routine. Therefore, I am going to leave many variables constant such as the type of brewer used, the water quality, the type of filter, the brewing vessel, agitation, water temperature, etc, as I would guess that this is stable in a person’s day-to-day routine. However, below are a number of variables that I believe change quite often and I will provide you with a summary of how it affects your beverage and the adjustments necessary. My assumption is that you are looking for a well-balanced, sweet coffee with a pleasant aftertaste that continues to linger.
Before I get into the grind adjustments, I would like to describe, on a very basic level, how coffee extraction works because it is important in understanding why changes are necessary. Simply speaking, all the acids and sugars from the coffee extract first and at some point during the brewing process, the bitter compounds in the coffee start making its way into the beverage. The bitterness I am referring to is inherent in the coffee itself and is not the by-product of the roast (in which case your coffee might always be bitter). Therefore, if you are looking for a naturally sweet coffee, you need to stop the brewing process just before the bitterness hits the cup and you need a coffee that will allow for this sweet profile.
The simple blueprint
In your daily routine, always keep these two things consistent when considering the variables below:
For example, based on my set of parameters for a particular coffee using a Hario V60, a well-extracted, sweet tasting coffee takes approximately 2 minutes and 45 seconds (+/- 15 seconds) when I pass 250g of water through my bed of coffee. At a brew time above 3 minutes, the beverage begins to manifest bitter qualities to it. At a brew time below 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the beverage may be slightly sour or lacking the sweetness that I desire. For the example above, the following two photos show a full and close-up view of three grind sizes that make up the difference between being in an acceptable range for brewing time and not; the middle grinds producing a beverage that is sweet and flavourful. You can see that it does not take much to alter the taste of your beverage.
Note that a general solution to bitter coffee is to add more coffee and/or grind coarser so that the same amount of water passes through more grinds and/or extracts a bit less from the ground coffee.
Finally, the following are the changing variables and the grind adjustments that are necessary for these changing variables – When I write about coarser or finer adjustments, I mean small changes within a certain brewing method (such as using a Hario V60):
You need to consider the age of the coffee because as coffee ages it becomes more soluble; the release of carbon dioxide from the roasted coffee makes it easier for water to penetrate its structure. Therefore, with no grind adjustment and the same coffee-to-water ratio, the water will begin to extract more from the coffee and you will find that the flow rate of the brew will begin to slow down (i.e. the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee will slowly increase). This will eventually cause over-extraction and bitterness in your cup.
Solution: Adjust the grind setting coarser to speed up the flow rate, so that the brew time reverts to that of your ideal beverage.
I always adjust my grinder setting coarser or finer depending on whether the new coffee I place inside my grinder’s hopper is darker or lighter. Sometimes the colour of two coffees will look the same but these two, identical to the naked eye, coffees could actually have slightly different roast degrees. All else being equal, two coffees that differ in the degree of roast will require two different grind sizes. The longer coffee roasts, the more soluble it becomes and the same idea behind flow rate exists as described above with the aging coffee.
Solution: Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether a coffee is lighter or darker than a previous bag you had purchased. Always remember your acceptable range for brewing time. Adjust finer if your brew finished too fast and adjust coarser if your brew finished too slow.
Different coffees could be of a different variety and have different growing and processing conditions, which could result in different roasted bean densities. A denser bean will make it more difficult for water to penetrate it and would require a relatively finer grind setting.
Solution: If you have just purchased a new coffee to try and you get a perfect brew the first time around, good job! Otherwise, adjust grind setting and potentially dosage to calibrate a brew time range for the new coffee used (try calibrating for one of your other acceptable ranges and adjust slightly if necessary).
When you are brewing more cups of coffee, your brew ratio will scale accordingly. If you pass more water through the same size coffee particles, thus not changing the grind setting, each particle will have more extracted from it. This will cause each particle to be over-extracted and thus an over-extracted final beverage. Therefore, the more cups you brew, the coarser you want your relative grind setting to be.
Solution: Here I start by multiplying my coffee-to-water ratio by the number of cups I am brewing. For each additional cup I brew, I adjust the grinder to a coarser setting. Your brew time will increase as well for each additional cup you brew. Therefore, I typically come up with a variety of recipes that sets a brew time to a particular multiple of my coffee-to-water ratio.
Remember that taste prevails all! So taste all brews and adjust accordingly. I hope this post helps you consistently brew great tasting coffee! :)
]]>Now that your whole coffee is fresh, don’t make the mistake of grinding those beans weeks, days, or even hours before you are ready to brew. To ensure the most flavourful tasting beverage, grind your coffee just prior to brewing. It is a quick and easy process and the fresh aromas will enhance your coffee making experience.
Like most foods, oxygen will have a deteriorating effect on the quality and flavour of coffee. Grinding coffee too early will expedite the staling process. In fact, we have been able to perceive stale notes in coffee in as little as three minutes after grinding!
To further illustrate this point, consider the following two images of a cut apple:
Freshly Cut Apple. Yummy!
Cut Apple After 5 Minutes. Yuk!
You will notice that the cut apple becomes partially rot after just 5 minutes of oxidization! The same occurs to your coffee (can you image purchasing a bag of pre-ground coffee and keeping it in your cupboard for a few weeks?). Keeping your coffee whole for as long as possible will limit the oxygen surrounding it from penetrating its strong cell structure, resulting in a longer shelf life.
On a side note, if you don’t already have one, investing in a quality burr grinder will allow you to maximize the potential of your ground coffee. It also has the added benefit of allowing you to quickly fine tune the size of your grinds so that you can adjust the taste of your coffee beverage as needed (more on this in a future post).
Make sure you only use fresh whole coffee and grind the coffee when you are ready to brew a cup. Doing this will place you on the path of great tasting coffee for the rest of your life.
If you have any questions regarding this post or would like additional information on how you can improve your coffee, email us at info@morningroast.ca.
]]>If you don't already own a grinder, do your taste buds a favour and buy one. If you love coffee, then a coffee grinder should be the backbone of your morning brew. In terms of importance, place the grinder ahead of your actual brewing device.
Grinding coffee is quick and easy. It can be a great addition to your household appliances. Most importantly, it will have the biggest impact on the taste of your coffee. There are many affordable options when choosing a grinder. Stick with a quality burr grinder and you can be a barista too.
2. Use filtered water
This may come as a surprise but water does matter. In Canada, we have the luxury of a good source of tap water; and actually filtering this water is a great place to start when looking to brew a great cup of coffee. Your favourite spring water, due to the way it interacts with the coffee during the brewing process, may not produce the best results.
So, you are doing everything right – such as buying good quality freshly roasted coffee, grinding fresh before every brew and performing a spectacular pour-over – and you’re still not getting the results you are hoping for; try looking at your brewing water as the possible culprit!
To make it easy on you, if you are looking for an awesome filtering system then consider BWT; a system designed to also add magnesium to your filtered water, which is a mineral that facilitates the brewing process.
3. Extraction
To keep things simple, this is everything your water takes from your coffee grinds. A recommended starting point ratio is 17 g of coffee to 250 g of filtered water (ratio for drip, french press and pour-over). Don't settle for a single coffee to water ratio. Ask yourself the question: How does my coffee taste? Everyone's system for brewing coffee is different. What works for you might not work for someone else. Slightly adjust the coffee weight according to your taste buds. For you coffee enthusiasts, we can dive deeper into this concept another time or send us an email with any questions you might have.
Bottom line, coffee is a subjective taste experience. Following these critical tips will bring you closer to barista status and more importantly, to a delicious cup of coffee.
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