Not everyone is ready to dive headfirst into the world of advanced coffee brewing equipment. Whether it is time, money, or desire for simplicity, many people would like to get the most out of the coffee maker they have at home. If you have a classic drip coffee maker at home, here are some tips and tricks to getting the best flavor out of your tried and true set up.
Common Brewing Ratios
1-Serving
Dose: 17g / 3tbsp coffee beans
Total Water Used: 10oz
3-Serving
Dose: 42g / 8tbsp coffee beans
Total Water Used: 25oz
4-Serving
Dose: 67g / 13tbsp coffee beans
Total Water Used: 40oz
While you may not have the tools to determine if you are using exactly a 15:1 vs. 16:1 brewing ratio, you can still use the amount of water you brew with to your advantage.
If you normally measure a certain amount of water when brewing coffee (for example, 4 cups of water), you can use this to establish a baseline for your brewing ratio. Taste your coffee with the usual amount of water.
How does it feel and taste? Is it thick, like a syrup, with flavors that are too intense and overwhelming? Try using more water next time, as your brewing ratio could be too low, resulting in relatively stronger coffee. Not allowing enough water to pass through your grounds can prevent flavors from developing properly.
If your coffee feels thin, like tea or even water, is unsatisfying, tasting earthy or dark, you might try using less water next time. Your brewing ratio, in this instance, would be too high, resulting in relatively weaker coffee. Passing too much water through your grounds can cause your flavors to become drowned out and weak as the mixture in your pot and cup is so high is water content and not coffee solids.
Grind Size
Many people are not aware that the fineness of your coffee grounds has a great effect on your coffee flavor. By breaking coffee up into smaller pieces, we can “unlock” or gain access to more flavor from our coffee. We must ride a fine line (pun intended) because if our coffee grounds are too fine, our coffee may become bitter, watery, and dry.
Our suggestion is, if you have a grinder, pay attention to what setting you are using. Is your coffee weak, salty, sour? Does it lack flavor? Does it leave you desiring more?
This may mean your coffee is under-extracted, and you need to make your coffee grounds finer.
Alternatively, if your coffee is bitter, leaves your mouth feeling dry, does not deliver on the fruity, fun notes you read on the bag, this may mean our coffee is over-extracted, and you need to make your coffee grounds more coarse.