About Coffee
Coffee’s Mythic Beginnings
According to legend, the birth of coffee may be credited to a few enthusiastic goats and an Ethiopian shepherd almost fourteen hundred years ago. One day, the story goes, Kaldi, a young goatherd, sounded his horn to summon his herd grazing goats. When the goats didn’t respond, our young hero began searching. Kaldi found them in the vast forest of the nearby Ethiopian highland joyfully frolicking, bucking, and dancing. Surprised with this uncharacteristic behavior, Kaldi soon noticed the goats were rapidly consuming the red berries of a bizarre tree. Bravely, young Kaldi ingested some of the mysterious berries and soon found himself dancing with his herd while reciting poetry and song. That night, the young boy and his goats didn’t want to sleep. Kaldi thought he would never be cranky again. Dutifully, he reported the usual incidents to the local abbot. After making a drink from the mysterious berries, the abbot found he could stay alert in prayer for long hours into the night. The abbot told a few monks, who told a few more monks and the benefits of coffee spread.
The Art of Coffee Making
Albert Einstein once said “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” So, we have followed Einstein’s advice to create a simple guide to the Art of Coffee Making. All you will need is the right ingredients, the proper equipment, and a little time.
The Right Ingredients
In its unadulterated form, coffee consists of two simple ingredients, coffee beans and water.
Begin with Pure Water
To make a great cup of coffee, you must start with pure, filtered water. Tap water containing impurities will alter the taste of your coffee. Even if you don’t have an expensive water filtration system, a simple charcoal filter will make your coffee taste better and make your drinking water safer in general.
Use the Freshest Whole Beans
Since you’re here at Chronos Coffee, you must already know only freshly roasted beans make great coffee. Our beans are carefully selected and our precise coffee roasting process has been perfected for each type of bean we roast. Coffee beans are best about 24-48 hours after roasting. If stored properly, the beans should remain fresh for up to two weeks.
Grind the Beans as You Need Them
Now that you have pure water and the highest quality Chronos Coffee beans, you are ready for one of the most important steps in the Art of Coffee Making: grinding the bean. We recommend you purchase your own burr grinder which will uniformly grind the beans and give your coffee a rich, smooth taste. The texture of the grind is determined by the method you use to make your coffee.
The Proper Equipment
All you will need is a good burr grinder and any type of coffee maker.
Automatic Drip Coffee Maker
The automatic drip maker is the most common in the United States. For this type of coffee maker, you should use a medium grind setting. If you grind the beans much larger, you will not experience all the flavor your Chronos Coffee has to offer. If you grind the beans too fine, your coffee will taste bitter.
Be sure to use enough freshly ground coffee. We recommend you use 1 tablespoon of ground coffee for every 4-5 ounces of water. Or, to make things simpler, we like to use 2 tablespoons for coffee for every cup.
French Press Pot or Cafetière
According to tradition, a Frenchman first discovered this method for making coffee in the 1850s. However, the French Press Pot was first patented by Italian designer Attilio Calimani in 1931.
Although this method can produce an excellent cup of coffee, it is a little more labor intensive than the automatic drip machine. For this type of coffee maker, you should use a medium to slightly coarse grind setting.
Simply place the ground beans (2T per cup) into the bottom of the French Press Pot. Boil the appropriate amount of water. Once the water reaches the boiling point, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool slightly to around 205-208° F (96-98° C). After you have slowly poured the water over the coffee, stir it gently to ensure all the coffee is wet. (We avoid stirring with a metal utensil since this will lower the water temperature and possibly crack the fragile glass press pot.) Gently replace the plunger lid on the pot but do not press it down. Allow the coffee to infuse into the hot water for 3 minutes. Then, carefully lower the lid to trap all the grounds at the bottom of the pot.
Serve the coffee immediately. If you allow it to sit in the French Press, the coffee will become bitter. This method tends to produce a richer, stronger cup of coffee than the automatic drip method.
Moka Pot or Stove-Top Espresso
The Moka Pot, sometimes ungracious called “the poor man espresso,” uses steam pressurized water to extract the coffee. Like the French Press, but more like an Espresso Machine, the Moka Pot produces a rich, strong cup of coffee. Since the water tends to reach over 212° F (100° C), more caffeine and flavors are extracted from the grounds. For this type of coffee maker, you should use a fine grind setting.
Fill the bottom of the Moka Pot with pure, cold water. Place the funnel on top of the water and fill it with the appropriate amount of ground coffee. (We still prefer about 2T per cup). Tightly screw the upper portion of the pot onto the bottom. Place on the stove. When the water in the lower chamber reaches the boiling point, it creates steam. Once enough pressure builds up in the lower chamber, the boiling water is gradually forced up the funnel, through the coffee grounds and into the upper chamber. You’ll hear a gurgling sound as steam bubbles mix with water entering the upper chambers. Try to remove the Moka Pot from the heat source right before you hear this gurgling sound and wait until the top chamber completely fills with your fresh coffee. As with any method, the coffee should never be allowed to boil.
Automatic Espresso Machine
You can certainly buy a fancy automatic espresso machine which will consistently produce rich espresso with the touch of a button. Simply fill one chamber with fresh whole Chronos coffee beans and fill the other chamber with pure cold water. The machine will automatically combine the correct amount of properly ground beans with the correct amount of water to produce a perfect cup of espresso every time. It will automatically try to compress ('tamp') the necessary amount of ground coffee for a good crema extraction. Although we like the consistency and ease of an automatic espresso machine, it does not deserve our full admiration. Because we don't have full control over the tamping process, we can't give each cup our 'best quality' seal of approval.
Manual Espresso Machine
When you want full control over all the aspects of the process, we suggest you buy a nice manual espresso machine. If you are a true coffee geek, pay attention to the following:- Dual boiler: one for milk steaming, and one for the coffee itself. Because both processes use different temperatures, it is more difficult to work with one boiler only.
- Water temperature: some coffees ask for a slightly different temperature.
- Water pressure: Depending on the roast and grind, experimenting with the temperature can also have a noticeable effect.
Now that we have all the variables to look after, its time to grind the coffee. Depending on the roast you will likely want a finer grind for a dryer (usually darker) bean. Don't grind too much, because you'll only want to grind just enough for the current action.
Immediately after the grinding is ready, put the ground coffee in the piston and tamp it (with a tamper), using around 30 to 40 pounds of pressure. Make sure that you flatten the coffee correctly, so that it sits evenly to the water source once the piston is attached. You want an evenly distributed water pressure throughout the whole piston, so that the water can extract the optimal amount of flavour and oil.
You are almost ready to start extraction, but first make sure that you have the coffee cup handy. Because when you attach the piston for extraction, it is necessary to start the waterflow immediately, or the top layer of the coffee will get burnt. Place the cup under the piston as soon as possible to make sure you don't miss any of the extracted coffee. But don't worry, you'll probably have 3 to 4 seconds before the coffee comes out :)
If you want steamed milk in your espresso (i.e. for a cappucino or a caffè macchiato), and didn't already prepare some steamed milk before, prepare some now. It's debatable wether to steam the milk up front or after the coffee is ready.
We don't care much for fancy figures that some barista's like to create, because the coffee usually ends up with too much milk in it.
Here at Chronos Coffee, we don’t all agree on the best method for making coffee. But, we do all agree that you must use the freshest coffee beans, the purest water, and the cleanest equipment. When in doubt, refer to The Seven Cardinal Rules of Coffee Making.
The Seven Cardinal Rules
Rule 1
Always use freshly roasted beans.
Rule 2
Only grind beans as you need them.
Rule 3
Always use pure, filtered water.
Rule 4
Always use clean equipment. The oils in coffee can build up in your equipment, become rancid, and alter the taste of your coffee.
Rule 5
Use enough ground coffee.
We prefer 2 tablespoons per 6 oz. cup for dripfilter or french press coffee, but you may need to alter these proportions.
Rule 6
Never pour boiling water over your coffee grounds. The water temperature should be just off boiling or around 205-208° F (96-98° C).
Rule 7
Make sure you fully extract your ground coffee. Never attempt to brew already brewed coffee a second time by adding more ground coffee.
