Pour Over Guide: Chemex + paper filter

 

 In my last post I wrote about making pour over coffee with a Chemex and Kone filter.  However, the more common way you'll see pour over coffee being made is with paper filter.  Since I'm still using the Chemex, I elected to go with a filter made by and designed for Chemex.  I chose the Unbleached version because it's got less paper taste and therefore less chance of ruining your coffee!  After the jump, I'll detail my method using paper filters and compare it to using the Kone.

Pour Over Guide with Kone & Chemex

With the popularity of pour over coffee at 3rd wave coffee shops ever increasing, I thought it'd be a good idea to write up a guide for anyone wanted to try it themselves.  For this guide, I'll be using the Chemex and Kone filter.  I will writeup a guide later using a paper filter.  While the general idea of pour over is similar to you automatic coffee machines, pour over provide much greater control over flow of water, brew time and temperature, and it allows a preinfusion stage. Join my after the jump to get started!

New Arrival: Black Cat Classic Espresso

Black Cat Classic Espresso is a classic

Today, I received the Black Cat Classic Espresso coffee blend from Intelligentsia Coffee online coffee store. I have heard about this espresso for longer than I can remember yet this is the first time I bought some.  For some reason, I really like the packaging for this coffee.  The red and black and the SMELL when I first took it out the box is really enticing.  I could talk about how good it smell all day, but let's get to how it tastes!

Rancilio Rocky pour over

111 was totally an coincidence

First morning with my new rocky grinder, I made some pour over in the Chemex V60 with a Kone metal filter per daily routine.  I find that the pour over (or drip if you will) brew method gives me a cleaner and smoother cup than french press, making it the preferred morning coffee routine.  What you see there is the initial pour, where the coffee should bloom to around the 1 minute mark.  I was supposed to pour to 100g... but wasn't really awake yet so.. we got 111.  After bloom, pour in rest of water (I used 24 g coffee with 400 g of water) which should take you to the 2 minute mark and let coffee flow through til 2:45 -  3:00.

Presso manual espresso machine pt2

With my Rocky in hand, it's time for part 2 of my Presso trial.  Using the same equipment aside from grinder and same coffee as before, I dialed in the grinder.  I few tries later, here's what I got

Rancilio Rocky Arrival and Initial Impressions!

There she is!

My finally arrived!! There it is sitting on the counter top awaiting its maiden voyage. First impressions of the machine: it is bigger and heavier than it looks in the pictures! but feel really solid and well made.  There were some coffee grounds on the unit but this is NORMAL! These grinders are tested by manufacturer so if yours comes like that, don't fret.  As you can see the default setting is at a 10, which seems like a common starting point for espresso.  The unit comes with nice quality user manual in different languages.  The packaging was very secure, so much so i had to spend some time just to take it out. There is a switch for main power, switch for turning on grinding (you have to hold this button down), and a button you hold down to adjust grind setting. Last thing I want to note about this grinder is it's stepped, meaning the grind settings are discreet step and not continuous.  This means if your dialing in you shot, you may get stuck between two grind setting and although this can me remedied with changing tamping strength it's not ideal.  Personally, I chose stepped since it'll be an all purpose grinder, I wanted to be able to change between drip, press, espresso easily.  I didn't jump to the Presso next to it immediately since I wanted to just try out the grinder first.  Found out what it's first usage was after the break...