Splitrail Gear

Great Beans are a Must, But the Grind Matters Also

Grinder

Part of being able to make the best coffee possible is getting a proper grind of your coffee beans. Not only should you brew the coffee right after you grind it (never have a store grind your coffee beans for you, they lose flavor within 48 hours), but you should also make sure the beans are ground in a consistent manner and with the appropriate grind size for your particular brewing method. The best type of grinder is a burr grinder. A burr grinder provides a consistent grind size, which results in the same particulate, or granule of coffee. That consistency helps to match your brewing method to get the flavor compounds out of the coffee. Burr grinders are typically electrical appliances for your kitchen, however serious coffee aficionados also will want to own a hand burr grinder to take with them to hotels, camping, to the in-laws, lol. We sell some grinders and describe them below:

COFFEE KETTLES & BREWERS

There are multiple types of brewing methods, but they all require water and ground coffee beans. While cold brewing is a more recent method, similar to how sun tea is brewed, hot water brewing methods are the more traditional and our preferred methods to maximize the best flavor. Our Within the category of hot water kettles is our preferred “gooseneck kettle”, though french presses are also popular, and then there are other popular but less sophisticated and flavorful methods of automated coffee makers (these attempt to do the pourover method in an express, less effective manner), as well as Keurig machines. To truly get the best flavor we only believe in selling gooseneck kettles and French press carafes.

Pourover method - this employs a gooseneck kettle. The pourover method allows for the hot water to come out at a slower, measured rate, so you can start with wetting your grounds in a more consistent fashion. It allows you to apply the hot water at a slower pace to extract the most and best flavor compounds, by allowing the proper amount of time for the water to be in contact with the ground beans. Too little time with the water and the beans equals weaker flavor and too much time equals a bitter flavor.

The French Press method works by having the ground coffee placed at the bottom of the decanter, with water steeped over the coffee for a certain amount of time. French press coffee involves a certain amount of coffee being placed at the bottom of the carafe, and then a proper amount of water added to the top….a stir stick is used to mix the water and ground coffee. There is a wire mesh filter at the end of the stick, which is used to allow the water to be pushed through the filter to create the coffee without letting any coffee particulates or grounds to come through with it. French press coffee can be a little more bitter than pourover coffee, however many people love the French press method, and it is particularly popular in parts of Europe.

In addition to the brewing methods, the actual water temperature is also critical. We recommend a tight range of 195-205 degrees when brewing coffee. You do not want to use boiling water, as that brings out bitterness in your coffee, but if water is below 195, it can bring out the sours in coffee, also called lemon or citrus flavors. A good quality kettle can help ensure a stable and precise temperature.