Your coffee is only as good as your water! While tap water in your area may be fine to drink, the mineral content and general hardness may not brew the tastiest coffee. Use freshly filtered water when brewing for the best taste. If using bottled water, make sure the pH is neutral, or between 6.5 and 7.5. Distilled water is not recommended. When brewing, aim for a water temperature between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
Freshly ground coffee will yield the most nuanced aromatics and flavors once brewed. If you’re in the market for a grinder, don’t settle for one with blades like a blender. Instead, opt for a burr grinder, which is designed to grind coffee to a uniform particle size.
When finding the right grind for your brew method, you may need a finer or coarser grind to achieve a good flavor balance. Use our references as a guide and adjust to your taste.
Making craft coffee is one part science, one part art. A gooseneck kettle is specifically designed to allow the user to intimately control the flow of the water as it cascades onto the coffee, much like a painter with a brush. Pouring with a gooseneck kettle will better allow you to ensure that the coffee is brewed evenly and to hit your target water amounts for a perfect brewing ratio.
Most of the recipes here can be scaled up or down depending on how much coffee you’d like to brew. A ratio of 1:15, for instance, means one part coffee to fifteen parts water. You can use more or less coffee to control the strength of your final brew.
