Ahh, the venerable home automatic drip coffee maker. This gadget is probably the most commonly used brewing method at home, but are we brewing it right? Here's a quick and easy recipe for brewing delicious drip coffee at home, every time.
Who's it for?
Automatic drip coffee makers are great for coffee drinkers who like to brew a large volume of coffee at a time or prefer a hands-off approach to brewing. With the proper grind size and water-to-coffee ratio, automatic coffee brewers can make a great cup, but if you're interested in maximizing the flavor potential of your coffee (and learning a new, fun craft), we recommend trying a more manual brewing method when you're ready.
Drip coffee brewers are suitable for just about any roast level, but we recommend starting with with medium to dark roasts and blends before diving into lighter roasts and single origin coffees.
Gather the Goods:
- Freshly Roasted FreeForm Coffee
- Automatic Coffee Brewer (We're partial to this one, but any will do)
- Burr Grinder
- Gram Scale (a tablespoon for measuring will work in a pinch)
- Filtered Water
- Paper Filter
Brewing Instructions:
- Place paper filter into brewing basket
- Fill brewer reservoir with ~1000g of filtered water. That's right, weighing the water is the best practice in coffee brewing. If you don't have a scale, fill to the 6 cup line. (Each cup in an automatic drip coffee maker typically translates as 6 fluid ounces. Weird, right?)
- Grind 66g of coffee on a medium fineness setting and place ground coffee in paper filter. If you don't have a scale, use 12 tablespoons of ground coffee. (Each tablespoon weighs approximately 5-6 grams)
- Start brew cycle and enjoy!
Notes:
- This recipe is based on a 6 cup brew, typically enough coffee for two full mugs at home. If you'd like to brew more or less, simply adjust the water and coffee as desired, but be sure to maintain the same ratio of water to coffee. For this recipe we are using a 15:1 ratio, meaning 15 grams (or milliliters) of water to 1 gram of coffee. Simply divide your water weight by 15.5 to determine your coffee weight. For example: a 9 cup batch would call for approximately 1500 grams of water and 100 grams of coffee (or 18-20 Tbsp of ground coffee).
- While many people use volume to brew at home (cups of water and scoops of coffee), a small investment in a gram scale will do wonders for the consistency of your coffee. You may already have a kitchen scale at home you can use, or a simple affordable coffee scale such as the OXO 6lb Precision Scale is well worth the investment and will be useful for all of your future brewing adventures.
- Lastly, if you're intent on keeping things simple and your costs down (or are traveling and don't have access to a scale), simply remember to use 2 level scoops of ground coffee for each "cup" of water in your brewer.
Happy sipping!