There’s a lot of hype and confusion about making coffee. It is one of the most consumed drink in the world and many don’t have big budget or specific knowledge about brewing coffee, and they are still able to make a good cup.
The basic principle of making coffee is mixing ground coffee with hot water and remove the ground coffee. If you like cold coffee, you don’t even need access to a kettle, you can use cold water, we’ll get back to this later with another post.
So all you need is ground coffee, water and some tool/equipment to strain the ground coffee.
I used fine ground coffee, and removed the filter after 2 minutes. The result is surprisingly good!
Ground coffee:
The coarseness (size of the particles) depends on how long the coffee gets contact with the water. The shorter the time, the finer the ground. It is quicker to extract the flavours from small particles than from bigger particles.
For example, while making espresso or using aeropress, the water is in contact with the coffee for a very short time (about 30 seconds). It must be a fine ground (small particles) to extract the flavours quickly from the coffee.
While using a cafetiere, the water is in contact with the coffee for long time (about 4 minutes), we need a course ground (big particles) to extract only the nice flavours and leave the unpleasant flavours in the ground coffee.
Water:
Do not use boiling water! Boiling water burns the coffee and ruining the delicate fruity flavours, resulting in a bitter, unpleasant coffee.
The maximum temperature is 92 Celsius. You can achieve this by leaving the kettle for about a minute to cool down before pouring it on the coffee.
Lower temperature can give quite a different result. A few degree lower temperature and more acidity (delicate fruity flavours) are extracted from the coffee. It’s worth experimenting. My favourite is about 85-88 Celsius.
Equipment:
You can fashion something to strain the ground coffee, just need a fine filter to remove the really small particles. But it easier to get something designed to do that.
Let’s see some of the cheapest and simplest tools:
Cafetiere: most households have one, cost from €10 to €40 depending on the size and material. Choose a stainless steel and you set for a lifetime. And it can be used to foam milk too.
Filter: you can buy just a strainer or a carafe with built in strainer. Filter can be paper or stainless steel. Paper filters cost about 6-7 cents, comes in a box of 80-100 pieces.
Aeropress: looks a bit complicated, but it is simple to use, affordable, made of durable plastic. You need a small paper filter which cost less than 2 cents, a box of 350 costs €6.50.
Moka pot or Stove pot: costs under, depending on size and material. The cheapest ones are made of aluminium. Stainless steel cost a bit more, but it is healthier (non-reactive to the foods) and makes a smoother, better coffee.
