RE: Brew Methods.

I read an interesting blog yesterday that has been mulling over in my head for a day now and it just won't escape. It was this Blog about Brew Methods at Jimseven; http://www.jimseven.com/2012/01/28/discussing-brew-methods/

I would suggest giving it a good read, as there is a lot of information there to chew over especially for those like myself that are not totally engaged in coffee at all moments of the day.

I am not sure there is a clear point that James is trying to make with his blog other than perhaps that brewing methods are a little tricky and that for a lot of devices while they may favor one approach are not tied to it.

The blog however was not that really got me thinking, it was a comment that was posted on the blog by Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Roasters and his take on brewing/roasting for maximum sweetness.

"Why sweetness? Because acidity is easy to extract, sweetness is more challenging. Short extraction times produce sour cups not because they produce comparatively high acidity, but because the acidity is not supported by sweetness, which takes longer to extract. It’s more challenging because in the effort to extract more sweetness, we begin to encounter the unpleasant flavor constituents."

and then this...

"I’ll throw this idea into the mix: in filter brewing, you should always grind as coarse as you can get away with"

I like the last statement and it makes a lot of sense to me, I am not sure about others but I have heard other people say the complete opposite that you should be brewing with as fine a grind as you can get away with. However, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to brew that way from my point of thinking.

By grinding as coarse as you can get away with it should allow you to be able to brew for a longer period of time getting out those sweet tastes, which should in turn help soften the acidity in the coffee and by being larger hopefully not get out the bitters.

It just affirms what I have been doing, especially with something like the Clever Dripper where you are advised to use a drip or fine drip grind for the device, but as of late have found myself using a coarser grind. This is going to need a little bit more experimentation on my part. And I think it will need some applications to my espresso pulling. I think I am going to want to try something akin to Bear Pond's technique of pulling espresso, .5 ounce from 23 grams, however that will require a triple basket and bottomless portafilter... how convienent.