Three minutes.
All you need is three minutes to head into a coffee shop, order your cup of coffee, and get out of there. Three minutes, and the end result is expected to be a glorious elixir of caffeination. How do you really harness the beauty of the bean in three minutes?
Now, I get it. There is a level of service and expediency that is expected from your go-to shop. There is merit in slowing down, however. Take your time, get to know your coffee inside and out. Relax and enjoy the process. There will be plenty of time to rush afterward, when the caffeine kicks in.
The pour over method harnesses just that: a slower, more nuanced coffee-at-home experience. Our latest release, Holiday Vintage 2015, lends itself quite well to the Chemex pour over. Bust out your gear and slow down with a cup of this new bean.
Here's the breakdown of what you'll need:
- Trusty Chemex
- 54 grams of Holiday Vintage 2015, ground medium fine
- 918 grams of filtered water
The scale betrayed me!
A little bit about grind. What does medium fine mean to you? Ideally you'd be looking at something around the consistency of table salt. I didn't have any table salt, so I had to improvise below:
Somewhere between Kosher Salt Island and Sea Salt Island lies the perfect Chemex grind.
Depending on the filter you are using, you may need to pre-wet it. Doing so removes some of the paper flavor that the filter may pass on to the coffee.
- Dispense the ground coffee into the filter.
- With water just off the boil, pour 108 grams over the grounds in a circular motion, insuring that all grounds are wet.
- Wait 1 minute.
- Resume pouring water over the grounds, slowly. The entire pouring process should take about two minutes. When pouring, maintain a circular motion, starting in the middle of the filter, and gradually moving outward. The goal is to create a flat and even bed of grounds. Continuing with the theme: slower pouring is the name of the game.
Steady. STEADY!
- Once the filter has dripped out, the coffee is ready to enjoy.
Take the time to slow down and savor each sip of this exclusive Colombian bean. Everything else can wait.