Starting a new post for these beans, because this is a significant change from my original recipe.

• Beans: “Market Blend” (Ethiopia/Guatemala)
  • Medium roast (5/8)
  • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
  • Roast date: 10/2/2023
• 18g coffee / 250g water (1:13.9)
• JX: 2 rotations + 9 clicks (23 on the grind chart / 69 total clicks)
• Bloom water at 99°C, brew water between 81°C and 85°C
• Recipe: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique (see below)

1. Heat water; preheat V60 and mug
2. Pre-moisten filter, add coffee, and tare scale
3. Shake V60 to level coffee bed; make small indentation in center of grounds
4. Start timer and do the following, finishing between 0:45 and 1:15:
   • Pour 50g of water to bloom
   • Return kettle to base
   • Lower kettle temperature by 20° or so by adding room temperature water
   • Bring kettle water back up to 81°-85°C
5. Reset timer
6. 0:00 – 0:10: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
   • Hold kettle for the remainder of the brewing process
7. 0:20 – 0:30: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
8. 0:40 – 0:50: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
9. 1:00 – 1:10: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
10. Wait for drawdown (30-60 seconds)

As with my last bag of medium roasted beans, I had been trying to brew these using a pourover recipe that works well for me with lighter roasts, with unspectacular results: the cups were occasionally bitter, occasionally weak/watery, and generally lacking in sweetness/complexity. I couldn’t quite get things figured out with my last bag, so I ended up brewing most of my cups in the French press.

Visually, these beans look pretty dark, and they are also coated with oil, which makes me think maybe I should try to brew them like a dark roast. The problem is, I had never tried a pourover with a dark roast. I found yet another James Hoffmann video where he covers this topic. The main takeaways I got were:

• Bloom with near-boiling water, but brew with cooler water
• Grind coarser, because we actually want to extract less from the beans than with a light roast
• Corollary: extracting less at the same ratio as a lighter roast will result in a weaker-tasting cup, so use more coffee to compensate.

In practice: I started with a 1:14 ratio, and decided to shoot for a brew temperature of 85°, but I added a little bit too much cool water after the initial pour. As a result, the water took longer than the appointed 45 seconds to warm back up. I ended up blooming for an extra 30 seconds, at which point the water was at about 82°-83°. That, of course, pushed back the times for all of my subsequent pours, as well.

This cup was definitely a step in the right direction. It was better than any of the previous pourovers I’ve made using these beans. It had a nice flavor with no bitter aftertaste, and it seemed like a good strength as well. Next time, I’ll work on my water-cooling technique, and see how the next cup turns out.

10/23: After brewing several cups, I’ve found that this recipe works well with bloom times anywhere from 0:45 to 1:15 and water temperature between 81° and 85° (inclusive). Since the bloom time can vary depending on how long it takes to bring the water back up to temperature, I added a step to zero the timer after the bloom, to make it easier to keep the timing straight during the subsequent pours. I am hoping this will be a good starting recipe for medium to darker roasts.

10/28: Decided to try a slightly stronger cup this afternoon. I used 260g water and 20g coffee (1:13), which is the ratio I usually use for medium roasts with the French press. I poured 5 “pulses” of 52g each. It turned out great! I think that 1:13 to 1:14 is about the perfect range for these beans.

11/2: Used up the last of these today, exactly one month after roast date and a little over three weeks after I bought them. The last few cups were still good, but I think the beans were getting a little bit past their prime, as there was a small, but noticeable, drop-off in taste/complexity with the last few cups. I’ll definitely buy these again at some point, though. Just need to plan to use them up within a month of roast date.

• Beans: “Market Blend” (Ethiopia/Guatemala)
  • Medium roast (5/8)
  • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
  • Roast date: 10/2/2023
• 17g coffee / 250g water (1:14.7)
• JX: 2 rotations (20 on the grind chart / 60 total clicks)
• Water at 95°C
• Recipe: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique (see below)

1. Preheat V60, pre-moisten filter, add coffee, and tare scale
2. Make small indentation in center of coffee grounds
3. 0:00: Pour 50g to 60g of water to bloom, then return kettle to base
   • 16g coffee → 50-55g water; 17g coffee → 55-60g water
4. 0:10 – 0:15: Gently Swirl
5. 0:45 – 1:00: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
   • Hold kettle for the remainder of the brewing process
6. 1:10 – 1:20: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
7. 1:30 – 1:40: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
8. 1:50 – 2:00: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
9. 2:00 – 2:05: Gently swirl
10. Drawdown finished around 2:55

I picked this bag up last night at the grocery store, after using up the last of the beans I bought in Minneapolis. I brewed my first cup with what has become my go-to starting pourover recipe for medium roasts. It turned out pretty good. It probably helps that I really like dark chocolate, as that was the most prominent flavor I noticed. If the cups consistently turn out like this, I don’t think I need to spend much time tweaking the recipe. As the weather gets cooler, I might want to start thinking about preheating my mug (or switching to an insulated mug) when brewing with water below boiling, so the coffee stays hot a little longer, and I’m not tempted to drink it too quickly.

I noticed that the grocery store also carries beans from Rise Up Coffee Roasters, which is based on the Eastern Shore. I may try one of theirs after I finish my other bag of Zeke’s, which is getting pretty low.

10/12: The same recipe tasted a little bitter this morning. This afternoon, I made another cup using a coarser grind (JX setting 25, or 2.5 rotations), and it was better, but a little bit watery tasting. So, maybe the ideal grind setting is somewhere in between 20 and 25.

10/13: Brewed at grind setting 22 (2 rotations + 6 clicks). Maybe a little better than yesterday’s cup, but still a little bit under-extracted.

10/14: Brewed at grind setting 21 (2 rotations + 3 clicks) and also increased starting water temperature to 99°C. Not perfect yet, but moving in the right direction. Could be that medium roasts need a higher starting temperature with pourover than with immersion? I always preheat the dripper, but I’m sure the water still loses a fair amount of heat while sitting in there percolating. This will be even more noticeable when the air temperature in the room is cooler (e.g. winter).

Epilogue: I eventually figured out a recipe that produces consistently good cups. Synopsis: grind setting 23 (2 rotations + 9 clicks), ratio 1:13 to 1:14, 99°C water to bloom, and 81°C-85°C water to brew. So, my 10/14 hypothesis was wrong — cooler brew water, and a slightly stronger ratio, turned out to be the difference makers.

I’m back home from Minneapolis with a new 12-ounce bag of coffee beans. This was the first time I flew with a bag of beans in my carry-on, and when I unpacked, all of the air had been sucked out of the bag through the little plastic valve, almost like the beans had been vacuum packed. When I opened the bag, air rushed in and everything went back to “normal”. I was worried that this phenomenon might spoil the beans or otherwise negatively affect things, but it did not seem to. It did inspire me to do some reading and learn why the bags have those one-way valves. It’s to let the beans out-gas after roasting, while keeping air out so they stay fresh. I’m learning more every day!

This morning’s cup:

• Beans: “Brazil Yellow Bourbon” medium roast
  • Roaster: Vitality Roasting (Minneapolis, MN)
  • Roast date: 9/20/2023
• 18g coffee / 250g water (1:14)
• JX: 2 rotations (20 on the grind chart / 60 total clicks)
• Water at 95°C
• Recipe: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique (see below)

1. Preheat V60, pre-moisten filter, add coffee, and tare scale
2. Make small indentation in center of coffee grounds
3. 0:00: Pour 55g of water to bloom, then return kettle to base
4. 0:10 – 0:15: Gently Swirl
5. 0:45 – 1:00: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
   • Hold kettle for the remainder of the brewing process
6. 1:10 – 1:20: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
7. 1:30 – 1:40: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
8. 1:50 – 2:00: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
9. 2:00 – 2:05: Gently swirl
10. Drawdown finished around 2:45

The only brewing note is that (once again) I forgot the initial swirl at step 4. I remembered around the end of step 5, and gave it a half-hearted swirl then. I made sure to level the bed before I started pouring (I’m pretty good with that) and I ended up with a mostly-level bed of spent grounds at the end. I’m not sure how much the swirling actually matters in most cases, but I’ll keep doing it when I remember.

This cup tasted excellent. The beans are very fresh, which I’m sure didn’t hurt. I’d been drinking mediocre conference coffee for the past week, so the bar was admittedly low, but I’d rank this among the better cups I’ve had since I’ve been brewing with the V60.

9/24: Second cup today. Did the swirl at step 4. Overshot the final pour and ended up with 252-253 grams of water. It seemed like the water percolated more slowly than yesterday. The level in the V60 was higher than usual after steps 7 and 8. Drawdown took several seconds longer, finishing at roughly 3:00. Maybe I swirled a little too aggressively? The initial sips tasted slightly thin, but the rest of the cup was very good. If yesterday’s cup was a 10, I’d call this a 9.

9/26: Accidentally ground finer today (setting 18) and also used 17g coffee instead of 18g. Did not like the results. Body was OK, but flavor was bitter.

9/27: Tried a little bit coarser today at grind setting 22, and 18g coffee. The first thing I noticed was that the drawdown was faster, finishing at 2:40-2:45. Definitely a better cup than yesterday’s, with decent body and no bitterness, but room for improvement. I think I’ll keep this grind setting tomorrow and try nudging the water temperature a little closer to boiling. While (with the exception of yesterday) all of the cups I’ve brewed have been good, none of the subsequent cups have been quite as good as the first one, which tells me that bean freshness (and possibly how they are stored) makes a big difference.

9/28: Brewed exactly the same as yesterday, except I nudged the water from 95°C to 97°C. I did not notice any discernible difference from yesterday’s cup. Probably should have gone straight to 99 or boiling. Not sure if I’ll tweak further next time, or just keep brewing it like this.

9/29: Brewed at 99 and grind setting 22 today and the result was bitter and lacked flavor. This is definitely moving in the wrong direction, so I will adjust the temperature back downward next time.

I’m not sure why the first two pourovers I made were really good, but subsequent cups didn’t quite measure up. I wonder if it had something to do with bean freshness. I probably could have gotten it dialed back in, but ended up brewing the rest of the beans in the French press, which worked out pretty well.

Trying to reset my pourover recipe for my current bag of coffee beans, as the past couple of cups have been a little bitter.

• Beans: “Cold Brew Blend” medium roast (Guatemala/Colombia) from Local Coffee Roasting Co. in Roxana, DE
• 17g coffee / 250g water (1:14.7)
• JX: 2 rotations (20 on the grind chart / 60 total clicks)
• Water at 94°C
• Recipe: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique (see below)

1. Make small indentation in center of coffee grounds
2. 0:00: Pour 55g of water to bloom
3. 0:10 – 0:15: Gently Swirl
4. 0:45 – 1:00: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
5. 1:10 – 1:20: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
6. 1:30 – 1:40: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
7. 1:50 – 2:00: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
8. 2:00 – 2:05: Gently swirl
9. Drawdown finished around 2:45

A few notes: I’m back to the original grind setting that I used the first time I brewed the beans. I also used 17 grams of coffee (vs 18), and started out with the water a degree or so cooler. Last night, I rewatched the Hoffmann video linked above, and the only thing he did that I haven’t been doing was to make a small indentation in the center of the grounds, so I added that step. During the brew, I had previously been putting the kettle back on the base in between all of the pours, but today, with the exception of the longer pause after the initial bloom, I just held on to the kettle the entire time. This seemed to make the process more smooth and fluid. Lastly, I skipped the final “swirl”, but not intentionally — I just forgot. These tweaks all seem very minor, but collectively, who knows?

The cup turned out just fine. Nothing mind-blowing, but very drinkable. The first couple of sips tasted bitter, but then it mellowed out. I’ve noticed this phenomenon a lot, particularly with pourovers. For some reason, it seems even more pronounced with these beans. Not sure what causes it, but maybe it’s something to do with my palate. Anyhow, I’ll stick with this methodology for my next few cups, and see how it goes. I do want to try brewing these beans with the AeroPress some time in the next couple of days.