Our priority is to extract each coffee’s full potential, it’s our way of honoring the producers’ work and their terroirs. It’s also why we are always searching for and trying new techniques to get the best in-cup result. Each day we question our own way of doing things; experimenting again and again in order to push the limits ! Come find out the techniques we’re currently working with, nothing is held secret. Share your opinions and ideas so we can help each other progress !
We are absolutely not sponsored by any of these brands below although we work with several of them (we would love to be their beta users though – subliminal message sent !). Our choices are and will always be tastewise.
Joachim
V60
You need :
- Hario V60-01 ceramic dripper
- Comandante (22-24 clicks) or EK43 grinder with SSP low uniformity burrs
- Abaca CAFEC filters (the best I have tried so far)
- Water with a ratio of 2GH/1KH (see the water section of this page if you want to know more about water)
- Bonavita electric kettle (good inertia and neck).
- A good scale with weight and time like Acaia Lunar
- Duralex Picardie glass 22cl (enhances the acidity)
My recipe is always 12g of coffee for 200g of water with 5 pours at a precise timing. Usually my water temperature is around 91°C (but it depends on the coffee). I am looking for an extraction time of 3 minutes-3 minutes 15. I rinse my filter first with about 100g of water. I put the coffee in the filter, then I put 30g of water for the bloom, then I reach 70g at 30s, 110g at 1min, 160g at 1min30, finally 200g at 2min. I put a lot of agitation with the flow of the kettle. Each pour is quite fast and lasts for around 3-4 seconds. I also do big spirals on the horizontal axis, until I reach the limits of the coffee bed, so I can really avoid having a big hole at the end. I remove the dripper 10 seconds after all the water has disappeared from the upper part of the coffee bed. That’s it !
For the French speakers, I did a funny video with Moka dance showing this recipe in action.
Espresso
You need :
- Slayer Espresso machine (or any other good espresso machine, but pre-wetting is really an asset)
- EK43 grinder with SSP high uniformity burrs
- Water with a ratio of 2GH/1KH or less is good. At the shop, we use Brita Proguard giving us 120ppm 1GH/1KH.
- VST basket 20g
- Hog, a puck irrigator invented by Matt Perger and Michael Cameron. It helps irrigate the puck homogeneously, creating a lot of channels intentionally. I pull every single shot with it, it gives a more complex and tense espresso. From time to time we offer our own version, that we produce ourselves, handmade.
- Tamper (personnaly I really like the one from Barista Hustle)
- Loveramics Dale Harris espresso cups. I love them because they have no handle, a round bottom, a perfect drinking feel.
My average recipe uses 20g in and 44g out. First, grind the coffee beans, then put into the clean basket, palm taping distribution. I put the hog in and out once, then I tamp. I flush and make sure the shower is perfectly clean (careful not to develop an obsessive-compulsive disorder). I place the portafilter in the group and start the shot. My Slayer is configured so it does a 20 seconds pre-wetting (1,33ml water/second). After that it will send the water “for real” 9 bar pressure, I look for an average 15 seconds extraction.
Cold portafilters technique from Berg Wu
For the competition-kind coffees, I always use this technique from Berg Wu, where you put the portafilter in the fridge, without the basket. When I need to use it, I take it out from the fridge, replace the basket and pull my shot like usual. This technique helps keeping the volatile aromas and flavors from coffee in the cup.
Water
Caring about water, completely took me to another level in coffee, thanks to the book “Water for Coffee” from Christopher H. Hendon and Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood and also the help from my friend Stéphanie R. I really suggest reading this book. I also made some videos (with english subtitles) about water during the 2020 lockdown.
At the shop, for espressos, I use Brita Proguard system as is. For the filter coffee, I have another Brita water system that provides water with fewer minerals (less than 20ppm), so I can add my own. I want to reach 90GH (70% calcium 30% magnesium) and 40KH. Wonder what I use at home ? Every week I bring a 5L container full of this water to my house (with my bare hands travelling in the metro).
At home, in France, I would suggest going for the spring water Grand Barbier, easily found in Carrefour supermarkets (this water is from the region my family comes from). I know it is not very ecological, but I am also afraid drinking coffee is not really green compliant. If you are willing to go a little further, you can also mix two waters (4700mL of Grand Barbier with 300mL of Contrex).
Cascara
We have two recipes we use to enjoy cascara :
- Hot cascara : for 10g of cascara, add 300g of water at 90 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes. Filter with a tea filter and enjoy !
- Cold cascara : for 30g of cascara, add 1000g of water to leave in the fridge for one night. Filter with a tea filter and enjoy ! After filtering you can leave it for one night more in the fridge, should be even better.