Want to learn how to brew whole bean coffee at home?

You're in for a treat! There's just one extra step on top of pre-ground coffee, but the result is incomparable!

Everyone has their own preference so feel free to adjust to your tastes. Oh, and having a reliabe kitchen scale will help you brew the perfect coffee every time. For us this is a must and we reccomend this AWS 2kg Coffee Scale. And a good grinder. For a durable, portable manual grinder we reccomend the Hario Mini-Slim Plus Grinder.

 Now let's get into brewing!

Smoking Gun Coffee's Standard Whole Bean Coffee Brewing Procedure

This procedure applies to pretty much any whole bean coffee, but we're using 50g of Show Pony Espresso for this guide.

Our prefered ratio is 16:1, 16 parts water to 1 part ground coffee so the following recipes call for 50g coffee and 800g of water. Feel free to adjust each time you brew to find your perfect ratio!

 

FILTER (AUTO DRIPPER)

Total Brew Time: machine dependant

1) Figure out ratio - I like a 16:1 ratio for most drippers. The easiest way is to multiply your coffee dose by 15 to get your total grams of water. For 50 g coffee, weigh out 800 g of water and add to reservoir of the drip machine. You can also work backwards - weigh your "full pot" of water, divide by 16, and that will determine how much coffee to add.

Note: because SG coffee is FRESH, it will naturally "bloom," expanding in the filter as the CO2 is released after contact with water. Because of this, I don't recommend filling to capacity (ie. if your brew pot is 12-cup, try 10). This way you won't have coffee overflowing out of the filter basket and making a heck of a mess!

2) Grind coffee - try a medium-coarse grind, something that resembles table salt. Use your grind to adjust for flavour/strength (not the amount of coffee you add!). If you find your pot to be too strong, grind a bit coarser. If it doesn't pack enough punch, grind a bit finer!

3) Brew - press start!

4) Enjoy every sip!

POUR OVER

Total Brew Time: 2.5-3 minutes

1) Boil water - (Rolling boil, then remove lid and let sit for about 30 seconds) If you have a thermometer, I suggest 200-205 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) Weigh & grind coffee - (I like a 16:1 ratio - try 50 grams of coffee and 800 grams of water, ground medium-coarse)

3) Insert filter & rinse - Discard excess water

4) Add ground coffee to filter

5) Bloom - Start timer and add about 100 grams of water slowly and saturate all coffee grounds, letting sit for about 30 seconds.

6) Dose - Add water until just below the top edge of the filter, let water drip through, then top up until you get 800 grams of water total.

7) Brew - Allow all water to filter down, aiming for a total brew time of 2.5-3 minutes. *If brew time is too long, try grinding the coffee slightly coarser. If brew time is too short, try grinding the coffee slightly finer.

8) Enjoy every sip!



FRENCH PRESS

Total Brew Time: 4-5 minutes

1) Boil water - (Rolling boil, then remove lid and let sit for about 30 seconds) If you have a thermometer, I suggest 200-205 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) Weigh & grind coffee - (I like a 16:1 ratio - For a couple of cups, try 50 grams of coffee, 800 grams of water) * Try grinding coarse for French Press (coarse salt).

3) Add ground coffee to French Press.

4) Start timer and add water slowly, saturating all coffee grounds.

5) Give it a quick stir to agitate grounds.

6) Put on French Press lid, pressing down filter until just touching coffee (don't plunge yet).

7) Brew until 4 minutes total time.

8) Slowly press until filter bottoms out.

9) Enjoy every sip!

 

That's it! Now you're ready to brew whole bean coffee at home!