How to jump on the plug-free brewing bandwagon at home
By STEVE HOLT | October 19, 2012
Aficionados call it coffee's "third wave." Bostonians might call it the backlash against Dunkies. A growing number of connoisseurs are demanding real coffee, ground and brewed the right way. They approach it "less like a cup o' Joe and more like a pinot grigio," says Cabell Tice, head barista at Thinking Cup, one of a crop of gourmet coffee shops that have opened in recent years. At Thinking Cup, java is brewed in a number of peculiar ways, all more exciting than the drip machine. Here, Tice shares his secrets for making non-drip coffee at home. Snobs claim these methods produce a superior cup. You decide whether they're just blowing steam.
#1. FRENCH PRESS
Effort Index: 4
The Gear: A French press ($30), a grinder ($30–$150), and a timer ($5), available at prima-coffee.com or most
department stores.
The Method: Use 7 g (1 tbs.) coarsely ground coffee for every 4 oz. water. (A 34 oz. French press uses 8 tbs. coffee.) Pour hot water over the grounds until full. Let sit for one minute. Stir grounds in pot. Let sit for four minutes. Push press slowly into the pot to force all grounds to bottom. Pour and enjoy.
Barista Notes: “A slightly better way of brewing coffee. You can extract sweetness and acidity, but there will be sediment because the French press doesn’t use paper filters.”
VIEW: See our expert's 5 homebrew-coffee methods on one page [PDF]
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Topics:
Food Features
, Coffee, brewing, Thinking Cup
