Want to achieve coffee zen? Rob Butterworth, of Butterworth and Son in Bury St Edmunds, shows us how to get the best out of our coffee
As lockdown restrictions ease and more of us head in to town to support our independent shops, the passion and enjoyment for great coffee at home still continues. It’s hard to go back to bad coffee once we’ve found something we like. The appetite for understanding the process from bean to cup never fades and forming a great connection with your local roastery seems all the more important. The kitchen becomes filled with more ‘coffee equipment’, and brewing coffee forms part of a daily ritual. Brew a flavoursome cup of coffee and your coffee zen moment is worth the effort.
I’m going to help you with your coffee zen.
I’ve written about the V60 brewing method before, it’s relatively quick and for a basic set-up is cheap. Most importantly, even with an entry level set-up, can really help bring out the best from your coffee.
Here’s my version of how to:
ENTRY LEVEL
So you unpacked your new V60 and filter papers, should be a scoop in there somewhere, too. Not bought a grinder yet? That’s okay because you’ve bought a bag of delicious coffee ground specifically for pour over.
Fold filter paper along crimped edge, open and place inside V60 filter cone.
Boil a kettle, place V60 cone on top of your favourite mug, then pour some of the water around the filter paper to pre-wet the paper and minimise flavour loss in to the filter. The hot water will drip in to your mug to heat. Once complete dispose of hot water in mug and then replace V60 and pre-wet filter on top.
Take two level scoops of coffee and dispense in to filter paper.
Pour just enough hot water from kettle to cover coffee, ensuring all grounds are saturated and allow the coffee to bloom. Wait around 30 seconds then add water slowly until sufficient to fill cone. Keep adding water until mug is full, try not to have any water left in cone as mug becomes full, so there is no excess remaining once mug is full.
Equipment required:
A kettle (upgrade to Hario Buono for the perfect pour)
Hario 02 V60 Pour Over
INTERMEDIATE
Okay, so we’ve got the hang of pouring water over coffee, let’s step it up a notch or two.
Now we’ve acquired a fancy pouring kettle, good ones can heat water on a gas or electric hob. Now might be time to invest in a quality hand grinder.
As steps 1 and 2 from entry level.
Weigh out 20g of ground coffee and put dispense in to V60.
Put server or mug, V60 cone complete with pre-wet filter and 20g of ground coffee, on top of scales. Reset scales to read zero.
Pour just enough hot water from kettle to cover coffee, ensuring all grounds are saturated and allow the coffee to bloom (around 50g). Wait around 30 secs then add water slowly only adding enough water to cover coffee + 2cm. Using a pouring kettle helps pour the water with accuracy, try to pour water in circular motion to continuously saturate all coffee grounds and move coffee away from the edge of the filter paper.
Once the weighing scales read 300g stop pouring and allow water to drip through completely.
Equipment required:
Weighing scales (0.1g readout if possible).
Hario 02 V60 Pour Over Kit (upgrade to one with a server)
Hario Buono Kettle
Once you have the hang of these two skill levels of pour over, head to our website or Google page to find the Home Barista level which includes information on water, brew recipes, timing your V60 for the perfect grind.
Happy brewing.
Rob owns Butterworth & Son coffee roasters and tea smiths, based on Moreton Hall, and Guat’s Up! café in Guildhall Street.
His job takes him around the world visiting coffee farms to source great coffees.
butterworthandson.co.uk
guatsup.coffee
