We have been brewing coffee for many years, and we believe that coffee's potential is best realised by roasting it in one specific way: lighter, which enhances the coffee's natural flavour and quality. This approach means we often have to experiment and not necessarily follow brewing instructions exactly. Here, we provide an overview of brewing using filter coffee and espresso brewing methods.
Managing the balance in the cup
To brew good coffee, it's essential to understand the concept of extraction. Simply put, it's about how much we extract from the coffee beans during brewing. If we took the used coffee grounds and dried them completely, they would weigh approximately 80% of the original amount. This means that about 20% of the coffee's soluble solids have ended up in the cup – this is what we call the extraction percentage.
But more is not always better. The flavours in coffee are not extracted in one smooth motion. First, the bright, fresh acids are extracted, then the sweetness from the sugars, and finally – if we continue for too long – the heavy, bitter compounds.
Therefore, control over extraction is crucial to achieve balance in the cup. If you extract too little, you end up with an underdeveloped coffee – often too sour because the acidity dominates without being balanced by sweetness. If you extract too much, you get too many bitter substances, which results in a dry and bitter aftertaste.
Finding the right point in extraction is key to bringing out the coffee's full flavour potential – with freshness, sweetness, and complexity in harmony.
