The coffee world is a massive world, full of ever-changing, ever-developing ideas, methods and theories on how to improve the way we make coffee. With coffee professionals such as James Hoffman, Lance Hedrick, Scott Rao and Kyle Rowsell, to name a few, offering their thoughts, ideas and advice through their various social platforms, it's never been easier for new-comers to specialty coffee to learn what it's all about and how to "do it right."
The beauty of coffee is that it's completely subjective! The characteristics that I love to get out of my brews might be completely different from those that you love to get out of your own brews, and that's absolutely ok! We're allowed to like different things to those around us and that's what makes the coffee world such a fascinating place, because we can always learn from other people and their views, theories and practices, whether we agree with them or not.
I regard myself as a coffee nerd. That's not to say I think I know everything or believe the way I make coffee is the best way (although I might say that...). In being a coffee nerd it just means that I'm always wanting to learn and experiment with new ways of brewing, new ratios and recipes to try out. That's where the brewers come into play.
I currently own six different coffee brewers: Orea V3, April Brewer, Hario V60, AeroPress, French Press & Bialetti Mokapot. Of these brewers I use the Orea V3 and the AeroPress the most and I have a lot of fun brewing with these two methods. I want to offer my thoughts on some of these brewers a little bit more as I untangle my way through this thread.
First up, let's talk about the Orea V3. What a brewer it is! The flat-bottomed, un-cloggable, quick brewer that I love! This was the first brewer I actively went out and purchased for myself after watching countless videos of it being reviewed by Lance Hedrick, Patrik Rolf and multiple other coffee influencers on Youtube sharing their thoughts on it! This brewer is arguably the one I have the most fun with. It's my QC for any new coffee I buy, my daily-driver whenever I need a reliable, banging cup of coffee and it always produces a beautifully balanced, clean cup! I typically stick with the 18g/300g recipe @ 93ºC with 2x 75g blooms for 35s each, a 50g slow circle pour, topped off with a 100g slow centre pour until roughly 1:50 with a drawdown somewhere in the region of 2:30.
Next up, the AeroPress. If I'm being honest, I brewed sparingly with the AeroPress until I entered the Ni AeroPress championship this past year. The process of practising for that competition and the countless brews I made with the AeroPress allowed me to experiment with it a lot and showcased how versatile it can be as a brewer! Through this process I have really developed a fondness of the AeroPress and thoroughly enjoy changing various variables within a brew, whether that be varying the temperature anywhere from 70ºC up to 95ºC, grinding super coarse to super fine, or switching up between the traditional, inverted and bypass methods, it's a great brewer to experiment with. In terms of the cups it produces, the AeroPress has produced some of the fullest bodied coffees I've tasted, of which I'm a big fan! The main recipe I gravitate back to is the inverted method with 14g/200g @ 90ºC. I pour all my water in and stir three times by 20s, leave it to steep for 1min and at 1:20 I stir three times, attach the cap, flip the brewer and plunge for 30-40s until I hear the hiss.
The April brewer is the most recent brewer I've acquired. Watching Patrik Rolf's videos, I had to bite the bullet and try it for myself. I have the plastic version of the brewer and so far have been enjoying it. Although it's a flat bottomed brewer, it's very different to how I brew on the Orea. I use a much coarser grind size and have a slower brew time - in the region of 2:45/3 minutes. From the brews I've had with it it has brought out the sweetness and clarity within the cup of the coffee, whilst providing a juicy mouthfeel. The recipe I've been using is 15g/250g @ 93ºC. The recipe I use is a 50g pulse every 30s until you hit 250g and then let it drawdown.
Finally, the Hario V60. Arguably the most well-known brewer around the world, the conical V60 brewer is most people's first step into filter coffee at home, and I am no different. It's probably the most forgiving brewer of the four, but it is still capable of producing a fantastic cup of coffee. Where it lacks the clarity of the flat bottomed brewers, it makes up for it in the level of acidity within the cup. The conical nature of the cup promotes a higher level of acidity within the final cup which can be a very pleasant experience depending on your taste preferences. In comparison to these other brewers, the final cup can be deemed to be muddier, but it packs a bit more of an initial punch due to the added acidity. The recipe I've adopted for the V60 is the recipe we use in the cafe I work in and uses a larger dose than most would use at home. I use 20g/310g @ 93ºC typically with a 60g bloom for 30s, pour to 160g by 50s, at 1min pour to 220g and at 1:20 pour quickly to 310g aiming for a drawdown between 2:30-3:00.
Overall, brewing coffee is such a fascinating rabbit hole that is so easy to fall down. Exploring the endless ways of improving your coffee is a joy and a great skill to develop for yourself as you brew at home. Personally, I thoroughly enjoy rotating between each of these brewers and exploring the various cups that they produce and this is only a snippet of what's out there in the coffee world. Try out as many recipes, brewers and coffees as you can and experiment always!
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