Freshness and Storage
Coffees are ready for consumption after allowing time for some off gassing of CO2 produced in roasting. Medium roasts require less off gassing (24 hours) and also keep well for a longer time. Dark roasts require a couple / few days for off gassing, and due to surface oils they do not stay fresh as long. Stoke Roasted Coffee Co. works hard to get fresh coffee to your market, and we recommend consuming coffee within a couple of weeks of opening the package. We consider the shelf life for great tasting coffee to be no more than a couple / few months. If you are a very occasional coffee user, consider using zip lock freezer bags to store serving-size doses individually in the freezer, then allow the beans to thaw to room temperature before cracking open the baggie. For espresso, you'll want to use beans that are fresher than 3 weeks from the roaster to get the best flavour and crema (CO2 gas content is crucial for slowing the water passing through the coffee); using older beans will require an extremely fine grind, which will still not produce a great shot.
Preparing Your Coffee
I hate to be that guy telling you how to make your coffee, everyone has their own tastes and preferences for the coffee they drink.... but, honestly, many people don't know all the ways to make coffee 'better'; there are a lot of small details that separate a bad cup of coffee from a great one. So consider the following suggestions that may help you prepare better coffee...
Grind - It's highly recommended that you grind your own coffee, to the degree required by your preparation method, at the time you're ready to prepare the coffee. Grinding earlier allows much greater off gassing and oxidation, which result in poorer flavour. Grind quality is also important for great coffee; using a burr grinder will produce a uniform grind which results in an even extraction, allowing you to brew coffee with clean, balanced flavour. Maintaing the sharpness of the burrs is also important for continued quality over time.
Water - Filtered water, free of odours, is a very basic requirement for brewing coffee. If you want to get serious about brewing the best coffee you can, water can get a bit more complicated. Neutral pH, 120-130 ppm total dissolved solids, 70-80 mg/L hardness, and 50 mg/L alkalinity are ideal targets for all preparation methods, and this is especially important for espresso machines. Attaining these levels may take a combination of treatment methods, depending on the water supply you start with.
Common Methods of Preparation
French Press - its a good idea to pre warm the press with hot water, and discard that water. Then add the fresh, coarsely ground coffee to your taste (try starting with ~55g / litre) and add water that's just come down off the boil (if you're at sea level you should give it a minute off the boil... or use a thermometer to target 92 - 95 degC). Give the brew half a minute to bloom and then stir it down so all the grounds get submerged. Put the lid on and press the filter down just enough to keep the grounds under the water's surface. After another three minutes, plunge the filter and pour your coffee! If you have coffee left in the press, consider transferring it to a thermal carafe so it doesn't over extract... unless you like a bitter brew. If you do like bitter coffee you might try letting it brew longer than the 3.5 mins suggested.
Drip Coffee - It's another good idea to run a hot rinse though the paper filter in the brew basket of a drip machine, especially if the filters have been chlorine bleached and / or stored in an odorous place.The grind for drip coffee should be fine like sand, but not powdery, and the ground coffee should be evenly and levelly distributed in the flushed filter. Again, 55g / L is a good starting point for dosage, which can be adjusted to your taste, and again, 92 - 95degC water will do the trick. If using a brewing machine you may not have many options for adjustment of the brew cycle. If hand pouring a drip brew, you might give the grounds a gentle stir early in the pour and again at the end, to maximize an even extraction. Again, a sealed thermal container is recommended if the coffee is not all consumed immediately.
Moka Pot (aka Stovetop Espresso) - This method can make a fine, strong, clean cup of coffee if done well. The grind required is a bit finer than drip, like quite fine sand, but still not powdery. It is quite important fill the bottom reservoir to just below the pressure relief valve with clean cool water, and to make sure the filter basket is clean and dry before adding the ground coffee.
Distribute the coffee evenly in the basket, and you can slightly overfill the basket and lightly press the coffee down, so the surface is flat and level with the sides of the basket. Make sure the rim and seal are clean, then screw the top on firmly and pour a bit of cold water in the upper reservoir, so the metal doesn't get too hot and scald the coffee when it boils out. Use a medium high heat and remove the moka pot from the stove when the sound of the extraction slows down. Dilute with hot water if you like, or not.
***Be aware that there is a rate of failure of the pressure relief valves on these devices!! If the basket isn't kept dry to start, and / or the grind is too fine, and / or too much coffee is packed into the basket, and / or the temperature is too hot, and the valve fails to relieve excessive pressure... the results will be spectacular, messy and hazardous!!! If the pot takes much longer than expected and is not boiling out, turn it off and try again rather than putting your head in the blast zone to peer into the pot.
espresso >
Coffees are ready for consumption after allowing time for some off gassing of CO2 produced in roasting. Medium roasts require less off gassing (24 hours) and also keep well for a longer time. Dark roasts require a couple / few days for off gassing, and due to surface oils they do not stay fresh as long. Stoke Roasted Coffee Co. works hard to get fresh coffee to your market, and we recommend consuming coffee within a couple of weeks of opening the package. We consider the shelf life for great tasting coffee to be no more than a couple / few months. If you are a very occasional coffee user, consider using zip lock freezer bags to store serving-size doses individually in the freezer, then allow the beans to thaw to room temperature before cracking open the baggie. For espresso, you'll want to use beans that are fresher than 3 weeks from the roaster to get the best flavour and crema (CO2 gas content is crucial for slowing the water passing through the coffee); using older beans will require an extremely fine grind, which will still not produce a great shot.
Preparing Your Coffee
I hate to be that guy telling you how to make your coffee, everyone has their own tastes and preferences for the coffee they drink.... but, honestly, many people don't know all the ways to make coffee 'better'; there are a lot of small details that separate a bad cup of coffee from a great one. So consider the following suggestions that may help you prepare better coffee...
Grind - It's highly recommended that you grind your own coffee, to the degree required by your preparation method, at the time you're ready to prepare the coffee. Grinding earlier allows much greater off gassing and oxidation, which result in poorer flavour. Grind quality is also important for great coffee; using a burr grinder will produce a uniform grind which results in an even extraction, allowing you to brew coffee with clean, balanced flavour. Maintaing the sharpness of the burrs is also important for continued quality over time.
Water - Filtered water, free of odours, is a very basic requirement for brewing coffee. If you want to get serious about brewing the best coffee you can, water can get a bit more complicated. Neutral pH, 120-130 ppm total dissolved solids, 70-80 mg/L hardness, and 50 mg/L alkalinity are ideal targets for all preparation methods, and this is especially important for espresso machines. Attaining these levels may take a combination of treatment methods, depending on the water supply you start with.
Common Methods of Preparation
French Press - its a good idea to pre warm the press with hot water, and discard that water. Then add the fresh, coarsely ground coffee to your taste (try starting with ~55g / litre) and add water that's just come down off the boil (if you're at sea level you should give it a minute off the boil... or use a thermometer to target 92 - 95 degC). Give the brew half a minute to bloom and then stir it down so all the grounds get submerged. Put the lid on and press the filter down just enough to keep the grounds under the water's surface. After another three minutes, plunge the filter and pour your coffee! If you have coffee left in the press, consider transferring it to a thermal carafe so it doesn't over extract... unless you like a bitter brew. If you do like bitter coffee you might try letting it brew longer than the 3.5 mins suggested.
Drip Coffee - It's another good idea to run a hot rinse though the paper filter in the brew basket of a drip machine, especially if the filters have been chlorine bleached and / or stored in an odorous place.The grind for drip coffee should be fine like sand, but not powdery, and the ground coffee should be evenly and levelly distributed in the flushed filter. Again, 55g / L is a good starting point for dosage, which can be adjusted to your taste, and again, 92 - 95degC water will do the trick. If using a brewing machine you may not have many options for adjustment of the brew cycle. If hand pouring a drip brew, you might give the grounds a gentle stir early in the pour and again at the end, to maximize an even extraction. Again, a sealed thermal container is recommended if the coffee is not all consumed immediately.
Moka Pot (aka Stovetop Espresso) - This method can make a fine, strong, clean cup of coffee if done well. The grind required is a bit finer than drip, like quite fine sand, but still not powdery. It is quite important fill the bottom reservoir to just below the pressure relief valve with clean cool water, and to make sure the filter basket is clean and dry before adding the ground coffee.
Distribute the coffee evenly in the basket, and you can slightly overfill the basket and lightly press the coffee down, so the surface is flat and level with the sides of the basket. Make sure the rim and seal are clean, then screw the top on firmly and pour a bit of cold water in the upper reservoir, so the metal doesn't get too hot and scald the coffee when it boils out. Use a medium high heat and remove the moka pot from the stove when the sound of the extraction slows down. Dilute with hot water if you like, or not.
***Be aware that there is a rate of failure of the pressure relief valves on these devices!! If the basket isn't kept dry to start, and / or the grind is too fine, and / or too much coffee is packed into the basket, and / or the temperature is too hot, and the valve fails to relieve excessive pressure... the results will be spectacular, messy and hazardous!!! If the pot takes much longer than expected and is not boiling out, turn it off and try again rather than putting your head in the blast zone to peer into the pot.
espresso >