Coffee is a drink made the world over. Becoming a tradition in some countries, with family rituals handed down through the generations. As well as being commonplace, there have been a number of studies over the years, which proclaim that the rich brown stuff as being good for you. These studies suggest anything from drinking coffee regularly improves mental concentration levels and quadruple one’s brain functionality to coffee drinkers having up to a 65% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
There is no getting away from the fact that a single cup of coffee contains: Riboflavin (vitamin B2) (11% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)), Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) (6% of the RDI), Manganese and potassium (3% of the RDI) and Magnesium and niacin (vitamin B3) (2% of the RDI). These are all good things to be taking on a daily basis. The numbers seem low, but most people enjoy several cups per day — allowing these numbers to quickly get bigger and more significant.
The beauty of cafetiere coffee is that it combines simplicity in preparation with a great outcome.
Making coffee correctly though, is very important. Getting this wrong can be a taste disaster – no one likes bitter burnt coffee (you don’t do you?)! The beauty of cafetiere coffee is that it combines simplicity in preparation with a great outcome. The cafetiere is loved by both the coffee oficionado and energetic amateur alike. Coffee which is brewed in a cafetiere is infused, much like tea (which is why you can make tea in a cafetiere too), rather than having high pressure forcing through it, like in an espresso. This means, for the best results, the beans should be more coarsely ground. The flavours created with a cafetiere tend to be slightly milder and more evenly balanced than say in espresso.
So how do you make great coffee in a cafetiere?
First is where every coffee decision should be made: your choice of coffee. You can opt for a pre-ground coffee or grind your own beans (we’ll talk about the benefits of grinding at a later date); the choice is yours. But it is important that a medium coarse to coarse ground coffee is selected. Not only is a fine ground coffee not going to give you the best flavour, but it is also likely to result in coffee with sediment, as some of this is likely to get past the mesh filter.
Second is the amount of coffee. This is a choice according to the style of coffee preferred, strength and personal taste. As a rough guide, for a full 8 cup cafetiere (standard 1 litre size) try 4 rounded coffee spoons for a full flavoured coffee (10.6g coffee spoons are supplied with most cafetieres). If this is too strong or weak, adjust quantities of the coffee, don’t adjust the brewing time! The exact amounts and ratios of coffee can become a complex topic (we’ll discuss this in another post) but basically, the choice is yours!
Preparation is simple, following the steps below will give you the perfect coffee brew:
Boil water in the kettle, but never use it straight from boiling. Leave the boiled water to cool by a couple degrees (30 seconds to a couple of minutes should do it). Leaving it to cool ensures you won’t scorch the ground coffee. Good practice is to use the 30 seconds of cooling time to warm the cafetiere. Just add a small amount of the boiled water into the cafetiere, swill it around and tip out into the sink. Warming the cafetiere will help ensure that the steep temperature remains at between 90-97ºC (97ºC is the perfect temperature – just in case you have a thermometer handy) during the entire brewing cycle. It honestly helps!
Add your preferred amount of coarse ground coffee to the standard 1L/8 cup cafetiere (adjust quantities to taste/ size of cafetiere). If you want a stronger or weaker coffee, add half a scoop of coffee more or use level spoons. For other sizes you could try: Small 350ml/3 cup cafetieres, try 1½ coffee scoops. For a large 1½ litre/12 cup cafetieres, try 6 coffee scoops.
leaving it to cool a degree or three significantly opens up the flavours and ensures that the coffee isn’t scorched.
Pour on hot water. Remember, leaving it to cool a degree or three significantly opens up the flavours and ensures that the coffee isn’t scorched. Now stir – This is where Scoof shines. Stirring the coffee makes sure all the grounds are well soaked, this allows the full flavour of ALL the ground coffee in your cafetiere to create a great tasting coffee.The unique double blade design of Scoof works in a similar way to a propeller, to create a coffee vortex. This coffee vortex mixes the coffee and water perfectly.
Some say stir the coffee for up to 30 seconds, but this could just allow the coffee to cool. With Scoof, it should only take a few moments to stir the coffee and water completely. If you want to keep the coffee near the preferred 97ºC for as long as possible, you could place the plunger gently on top of the cafetiere to keep the warmth in a little more or even wrap a tea towel round the cafetiere. Do these make a signifcant difference, maybe that’s a post for later!
Now wait…
Leave the coffee for 3-4 minutes depending on your taste. This, like the amount of coffee you use, will be something you’ll figure out over time. How you like your coffee is a personal thing. Probably best not to let it steep for more than five minutes. Then place plunger in cafetiere jar and depress, slowly but surely. Take care not to compact the grounds at the bottom of the jug as this can release a bitter taste.
The final step is to pour yourself some delicious coffee, sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labours! If you made more coffee than needed, store some in a thermos to keep it warm. Don’t let the coffee sit in the pot as it will continue brewing and can lead to some unwanted flavours developing.
To see the whole video, click the link below. How to make great cafetiere coffee.
Scoof is especially designed to stir the coffee in the cafetiere and clean your cafetiere easily. Scoof – Makes cafetiere coffee better
