Random Brew Recipe:  63g coffee / 1 kg water, 2 minute brew time.

Brew Method: Aeropress (inverted)
Actual Recipe: 13g coffee, 200g water at 198F
Coffee: Tonx Burundi

Notes notes notes: This recipe is not far off of my usual specs for a general brew, though I admittedly usually updose a bit for my Aeropress consumption (closer to 72g / L). The 2 minute brew time was about right, and in keeping the brew as scientific as possible, I messed around with it as little as possible – which is tough! For whatever reason, I recognize now that I have really added a lot of little steps to my Aeropress routine (pour 100g, stir, wait 10 seconds, pour 120g, etc etc) – so this pared-down version was nice.

Random Brew Recipe:  71g coffee / 1 kg water, 5 minute brew time.

Brew Method: French Press
Actual Recipe: 36g coffee, 500g water at 198F
Coffee: New Harvest Coffee Roasters’ Ethiopia Gera Jimma

Notes notes notes: These settings provided an interesting cup for me.

Aroma-wise, there is a subtle brown sugar sweetness, which is light and pleasant. The coffee itself has that very present body you would expect from a French Press, but the flavor is thin and relatively simple. It is a quick flavor experience, with some simple acidity leading into a sweet, quick finish. It’s a fine coffee, but it’s surprisingly unsatisfying. Here’s why:

– These settings are quite close to a brew last week that was very good, albeit with a different coffee.
– The combination of a relatively high does and relatively long brew time in a French Press challenges my assumptions about coffee extraction and flavor notes.

When I consider how the spectrum of coffee extraction affects the flavor of the resulting brew, I usually associate thinness and astringent finish with overextraction, whereas a quick flavor experience, sour initial flavors, and oily body with underextraction. These general rules seem to work pretty well with espresso and drip brewing, but full-immersion brewing is more challenging for me. That is, a drip brew’s later extraction is necessarily associated with the passage of additional water – meaning that the thin body may be caused by the additional water rather than by drawing out thinning agents (thinning agents?)  from the bean itself.

With immersion brewing, I need to adjust my thinking, and consider perhaps surface area more. Time to revisit Everything But Espresso again!

I’d give this brew a 6 / 10.

Random Brew Recipe:  52g coffee / 1 kg water, 2 minute brew time.

Brew Method: French Press
Actual Recipe: 26g coffee, 500g water at 198F
Coffee: New Harvest Coffee Roasters’ El Salvador Santa Rita Chalatenango

Notes notes notes: This random recipe is only a bit smaller in dosage than I’d usually use (about 10% less) and the brew time is half what I would usually go with (though yesterday’s brew has me considering a longer brew time as default). To move the brew toward what I’d expect to be a more pleasant extraction, I tightened the grind slightly, to the 12 o’clock position on the ol’ Bunn bulk grinder. The nature of a French Press doesn’t always reward grinding finer, so I hedged my bets for sure.

As with many of these lighter-dosed recipes, the aroma was very subtle, more a sensation of heat and steam than any actual notable aromas. The coffee liquor was very light-bodied, even thin, surprisingly so for a press pot. The flavors were mostly lacking; the sensations were mostly tactile, heat, thicker than water but still quite thin, with a slight round sweetness toward the end, reminiscent of an herbal tea. This became more pronounced as it cooled, though with the thin body and uninteresting flavor, it wasn’t enough to make what I’d think of as a good cup. It also wasn’t a bad cup, just thin and kind of boring. It did not demonstrate any of what I think of as poor extraction off-flavors.

I’d give it a 5/10. It’s coffee-flavored coffee.

Random Brew Recipe:  65g coffee / 1 kg water, 6 minute brew time.

Brew Method: French Press
Actual Recipe: 33g coffee, 500g water at 198F
Coffee: New Harvest Coffee Roasters’ El Salvador Santa Rita Chalatenango

Notes notes notes: This cup was not super aromatic – it smelled very nice, a bit fruity, but not intense or aggressive. A very nice nose (if you say things like that).

This is the first of the random brews of this coffee that really shows off the natural process without barging into intense and obvious underextraction. It’s round and sweet and exhibits a clean stonefruit through the finish that is surprising from a French Press cup. I’m really enjoying this cup!

I’d give this recipe a 9 /10. I’m surprised, as the addition of a little more coffee and 2 minutes of steep time had me suspicious of an overextracted brew – my usual press pot recipe is straight 60g/L, 4:00 – but I think this may be my new default setting. The extra dwell time also lead to a much cooler final cup, which I would have probably scowled at (heat loss! boo!), but it doesn’t seem to have impacted the taste in any negative way – which is a little surprising.

Random Brew Recipe:  78g coffee / 1 kg water at 1:00 brew time

Brew Method: Hario V60 using an American Coffee Trader cloth filter
Actual Recipe: 23g coffee, 300g water @ 198F
Coffee: New Harvest Coffee Roasters’ El Salvador Santa Rita Chalatenango

Notes notes notes: Using the V60, I applied the total brew time to my pour time. This doesn’t leave time for my usual bloom & wait technique, or much of anything except not overfilling the cone. I used the cloth filter knowing that it generally nudged dwell time up a bit, as well as grinding a bit finer than I usually would for this brew method (Big Espresso on a BUNN bulk grinder). 1:00 pour time, draw down finished by 1:28.