Welcome to our Blog!
Welcome to a journey for a clean cup of coffee. Free of defects, harsh notes, and bad acidity. My passion to source good quality coffee beans and roast them to perfection is your shortcut to brewing a cup of coffee at home that you’ll look forward making each morning.
This is not a top down, take it or leave it approach. Each person tastes coffee differently. Even professional Q Graders (the sommeliers of the coffee world) differ in their opinions on the same batch of coffee.
Step 1: Buy any of my coffees. They’re all great.
Step 2: Brew as you normally do. Don’t brew at home? Then the fun begins!
How did you like it?
Tastes great!? Wonderful! Buy more. Maybe try a bean from another region.
Not so good? Ok. Let’s figure out why:
Components of coffee making (assuming you’re using my tasty beans):
1. Water quality - If your water is unusually hard or soft, or highly chlorinated use bottled water.
2. Grind
Grind just before use
Blade grinders are fine, burr grinders will change your world
You will need to experiment on grind size. Starting suggestions for specific brewing techniques are below.
3. Method of brewing in general:
Immersion brewers - water and coffee steep together using a medium to large grind size.
French Press - ground are filtered using metal mesh, so get more of the oils and some coffee grinds in the resulting cup. You get a lot of the flavors of the roast, but don’t drink the grinds!
Clever - a paper filter is used to filter the immersion. Full of flavor without the residue. One of my favorites.
Aeropress - a combination of the above. The immersion is plunged thru a paper filter. A delicious cup results worthy of international competitions.
Percolation - Water is poured thru the very course sized coffee grinds
Percolator - Water percolates up and over onto bed of coffee. Over and over and over. Coffee enthusiasts poo poo this method, but whom am I to judge what tastes delicious to another person? We all enjoy different experiences. I guarantee this method tastes better with a specialty grade coffee versus industrialized farmed coffee.
Pour Over - There are several methods: Hario V60, Cone, the bee, kalita wave…and different methods of filtering such as paper, cloth or metal filters that give you different results in the cup. Don’t know where to start? I suggest the Hario V60 and a medium grind and gauge your tastes from there.
4. Extraction
How much coffee are you using for a specific amount of water?
Under extraction- not enough coffee. Makes weak, sour cup of coffee.
Over extraction- too much coffee. Makes a bitter, harsh cup of coffee.
Start with 60g coffee/Liter water (2 ounces/quart) and adjust from there to fit your tastes. I make it like this, then add 30% more water for a happy wife! I call it an American Americano😀
5. Roast
You tried the Timor Medium Roast, but want it darker? Just select a roast level, and it will be custom roasted for you!
Enjoy! Mark Gilbert
Coffee aficionados would “roast” me on my lack of detail in this approach. Believe me, I can (and have) gone down the rabbit holes in brewing the best cup of coffee possible. This page is not for an experienced coffee drinker, hopefully they enjoy Somethin’s Brewing already, and want to join me in experimenting with different flavor profiles and brewing methods for different coffees. Suggestions welcome!