To brew delicious coffee, it's crucial to understand various elements.
At BASE COFFEE, you can easily brew delicious coffee by keeping just three points in mind.
Know your preferences
Coffee has different roast levels.
The roasting time of green coffee beans determines whether it's medium roast, medium-dark roast, or dark roast. (I'll write a separate column about detailed roast levels.)
Even with the exact same green coffee beans, the flavor changes completely with different roast levels. Comparing medium roast and dark roast, the presence or absence of acidity and bitterness is completely opposite, with medium roast resulting in a lighter coffee and dark roast in a bitter flavor.
So, I have a question for all of you: what kind of coffee do you usually prefer?
If you can answer this question immediately, you've already mastered the first point of enjoying delicious coffee, so you can skip ahead.
For example, let's say someone who likes bitter and rich coffee is given a refreshing, light medium roast coffee. How would that person feel?
"This coffee is light. I can drink it, but it's not my preference."
That's what they would think.
Conversely, if someone who prefers light and refreshing coffee is served a strong, bitter dark roast coffee,
"The flavor is too strong and bitter. It's tough to finish."
This is likely how they would feel.
I'm stating the obvious, but understanding this, knowing your own preferences, and then checking the roast level when buying coffee beans is truly important.
Coffee is a luxury item. Preferences vary from person to person. At BASE COFFEE, we are confident in providing high-quality coffee, but
no matter how good the quality, if it doesn't suit a person's preference, it cannot be "delicious coffee."
Know about coffee storage
The second point is about coffee storage.
The best recommended method is to purchase coffee "as whole beans," grind them into powder just before brewing, and then brew the coffee.
There is an even more important point when purchasing whole coffee beans.
That is "the date the coffee was roasted."
About the coffee roast date
Roasteries like BASE COFFEE purchase green coffee beans (unroasted coffee beans), roast them in a roaster, and sell them. Therefore,
they can sell the product on the day it was roasted, and they also stamp the roast date.
However, there are few ways to find out this roast date.
Since there is no obligation to display the roast date, it is often seen that only the expiration date is displayed. I think this is a bad habit in the industry. Although it is known that freshness is important for drinking more delicious coffee, considering distribution such as packing, shipping, and sales period at stores after roasting, coffee sold in supermarkets often ignores freshness. As a countermeasure, nitrogen is filled to prevent oxidation from progressing. However, this also absorbs the gas emitted from the coffee, eliminating delicious elements. The industry's answer is that when selling widely in supermarkets, there is no choice but to give up on freshness.
Comparing fresh coffee with stale coffee, the amount of aroma is clearly different.
Also, with fresh coffee beans, when brewing coffee,
the coffee powder swells up nicely.
This also affects extraction efficiency, which in turn affects coffee concentration. Using fresh coffee allows you to experience more flavor with less quantity.
First-time BASE COFFEE customers often tell us,
"When I brewed coffee with the same amount as my usual coffee (purchased at a supermarket, etc.), the taste became too strong. So I'm now using less coffee grounds than before."
This is because the coffee is fresh, resulting in a higher extraction concentration and a greater amount of flavor components in the coffee.
The freshness of coffee continuously declines from the moment it is roasted.
It is important to buy coffee as close to the roast date as possible, even before considering storage methods.
About storage
Having learned about the coffee roast date, I would now like to write about coffee storage.
The biggest enemy that degrades coffee freshness is air. Since coffee oxidizes when exposed to air, it is crucial to store it with as little air contact as possible.
Recommended storage methods are:
◆ When storing whole beans
Store at room temperature in a coffee-specific bag
Store at room temperature in an airtight jar
◆ When storing ground coffee
Store in the freezer in a coffee-specific bag
With the above storage methods, we recommend
finishing the coffee within 1 month from the roast date.
For those who take longer than a month to drink their coffee, refrigerator storage is generally recommended.
Key points for freezer storage:
Do not let air into the bag
Return to the freezer immediately after taking it out
Please refer to this if you have accumulated gifts or tend to stock up on coffee.
Know how to brew
There's no single "correct" way to brew coffee, but there are important points to consider.
First,
use water at 90 degrees Celsius or higher.
Extracting at high temperatures allows you to maximize the components inherent in the coffee grounds.
High temperature → higher concentration, allowing you to enjoy the original taste of coffee
Low temperature → lower concentration, resulting in an overall lighter feel
Next, the recipe.
Making a mistake with the amount of coffee grounds can lead to disaster.
Similarly, pouring an appropriate amount of hot water is crucial.
By finding your preferred recipe and
extracting exactly according to that recipe, you can consistently enjoy delicious coffee every time.
And there are two key points for brewing:
Allow sufficient blooming time
Allowing sufficient blooming time prepares the coffee for extraction.
The longer the blooming time, the richer the taste; a shorter time results in a lighter taste.
Do not pour hot water on the rim of the coffee dripper (pour hot water in the center of the dripper)
While brewing coffee, you will likely see a "wall" of coffee grounds forming inside the dripper (a donut shape).
Many people intentionally break this wall (because they feel the wall hasn't been extracted), but by doing so, you are making the coffee weaker.
Pouring hot water directly on the rim of the dripper means that water that hasn't touched the coffee grounds will simply fall through. If you pour into the center of the dripper instead of the rim, the water will touch the coffee grounds, coffee will be extracted, and the resulting coffee liquid will fall into the server below, preventing it from being weak.
Coffee extraction is entirely determined by how long and how much water touches the coffee grounds.
This also depends on the speed at which you pour the water, and the taste changes depending on how you pour, meaning the taste will vary depending on the person brewing the coffee.
Pouring water as if imagining a 500-yen coin is recommended as it prevents pouring water on the rim of the dripper.
This time, we focused on important points for hand-drip coffee, but for those who usually use a coffee maker, please consider this as general knowledge, as you cannot control these aspects yourself.
We plan to write a column about how to choose a coffee maker as well, so please check that out too!
