Brew it like us
Four recipes we use every day at the cupping bar. Nothing fancy — exact doses, real temperatures, timings that work. Scales help. Good water helps more.
- Rinse the paper with hot water, bin the rinse water, add 15g of medium-fine coffee and level the bed.
- Start the timer and pour 45g of water, wetting everything. Gentle swirl, wait 30 seconds.
- Pour in slow circles to 150g by 1:00, pause, then top up to 250g by 1:45. Kettle low and steady.
- Swirl once, let it draw down. Flat, dry bed around 3:00. Drink it before it’s cold enough to be polite about.
TipBitter? Grind coarser or drop to 92°C. Sour and thin? Grind finer. Change one thing at a time.
- Coarse grind — like sea salt. 30g in, pour all 500g of water in one go, start the timer.
- At 4:00, stir the crust three times and skim the foam and floating bits off with a spoon.
- Wait another 4 minutes. Patience here is the whole trick — the grounds settle and the cup gets cleaner.
- Press the plunger just below the surface — don’t drive it to the bottom — and pour every cup now.
TipMuddy cups come from plunging hard and leaving the brew sat on the grounds. Pour it all out, even into a spare mug.
- Grind fine, 18g into the basket. Distribute with a few taps or a tool, then tamp firm and dead level.
- Lock in and start the shot immediately — a hot, empty portafilter sat waiting cooks the puck.
- Aim for 36g in the cup in 27–30 seconds. It should pour like warm honey, not drip and not gush.
- Taste before you touch anything. Then adjust the grind only — dose and ratio stay put.
TipFor the Arch Blend, start two clicks finer than your last coffee and expect the shot to run slightly slower. It likes it.
- Rinse the paper, fit the cap, and stand the AeroPress on the mug the normal way up. 14g, medium-fine.
- Pour all 220g of water in the first 20 seconds, then stir gently three times.
- Fit the plunger to seal it — this stops the drip — and leave it alone until 2:00.
- Press steadily for about 30 seconds, stopping at the hiss. Total brew: 2:30.
TipTravelling? The AeroPress forgives bad grinders better than anything else we sell coffee to. Take it camping.
Stuck? Bring it in.
If a coffee isn’t behaving, bring your kit to the cupping bar on a Saturday and we’ll dial it in together. Genuinely — people do this every week and nobody has ever minded.
Or start with something forgiving: the Chiapas Finca Toledo tastes good brewed almost any way, which is why it’s the cheapest thing on the list, not because it’s worse.
Pick a coffee