The author has taken care in preparation of this book but assumes no responsibility

for errors or inaccuracies.

Copyright 2010, 2014 by Scott Rao

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permis-
sion, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or
reviews.

Printed in Canada

ISBN 978-1-4507-0870-8

Text and photographs copyright 2008, 2009 by Scott Rao

Photography by Alex Dubois

Cover photo by Liz Clayton

Book design by Rebecca S. Neimark, Twenty-Six Letters

www.twentysixletters.com

Please visit www.scottrao.com for information about purchasing this book.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

. Introduction to Coffee Extraction

Extraction Rate and Quantity
Extraction Quality
Temperature
Turbulence: Agitation and Outgassing

. Grinding
Grind Size and Contact Tim
Particle Size Distribution
Fines

. Filters, Fines, and Flavor Clarity

. The Coffee Brewing Control Chart

The Original Chart
ExtractMoJo™
How to Fine-Tune Your Coffee Making
How to Calculate Extraction Without a Chart
Numbers Obsessed?
Extraction Yield and Taste
Updosing
What is the Ideal Extraction Yield?
Extraction Uniformity

. Reading the Shape of Spent Grounds

How to Determine Ideal Bed Shape
High-and-Dry Grounds
Percolation Methods and Their Ideal Bed Shapes
Freshness and Bed Shape

Automatic Drip
Equipment Evaluation
Brewing Decisions
How to Program an Automatic Drip Brewer

Manual Drip
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Manual Drip
How to Make a Great 1-Cup Pourover
Pourover Principles

French Press and Eva Solo Café Solo

How to Make French Press and Café Solo Coffees

Steep-and-Release Brewing
Choosing a Grind Setting and Immersion Time
How to Use a Steep-and-Release Brewer

10. Vacuum Pot (Siphon) Coffee

Siphon Superstition
How Vac Pots Work
How to Make Consistently Excellent Vac Pot Coffee
Using a Non-adjustable Heater
Troubleshooting |
Vac Pot Filters

11. Water Chemistry

Alkaline, Alkalinity, and Hardness
Brewing Water Standards
Scale
Water Treatment

12. Bean Storage

Appendix
Potential Errors When Using the Coffee Brewing Control Chart
Brewing Ratios Chart
Fahrenheit/C elsius Conversion Table

References

Glossary

Index

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Jean Zimmer, Alex Dubois, and Rebecca Neimark for your feedback,
competence, and contributions to this work. It’s a pleasure and an honor to work
with
the three of you.

To Andy Schecter, Anthony Benda, and Mark Winick, thank you for your advice
and support. I also wish to express my appreciation to Daniel Ephraim, of grinder
manufacturer MPE Chicago, for sharing your printed material and expertise about
coffee grinding.

Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to Vince Fedele. Vince invented ExtractMo]o,

discovered and fixed the glitches in the Coffee Brewing Control Chart, improved my
understanding of how to program an automatic drip brewer, and taught me count-
less technical details about how to properly measure coffee extraction. Vince's
contri-
butions to the coffee industry have encountered much resistance from the specialty
coffee establishment. I hope this book increases coffee professionals’ awareness
and
appreciation of Vince's work.

EEOTRERSEo RprE iHRE ST

IE—— LS a_—_

Preface

The ideas on these pages are the distillation of 16 years of researching,

reasoning,
tasting, and testing while trying to maintain an open mind. I believe that the
result,
while not perfect, offers essential information that can improve anyone's coffee-
making knowledge and skill.

One of a coffee professional’s most frustrating experiences is to make a “perfect”

cup of coffee and then be unable to replicate that experience. Given the number of
variables that influence the flavor of a cup of coffee, it is perhaps impossible to
replicate
any cup exactly. My goals in writing this book are to identify the key variables,
explain
how they affect coffee flavor, and teach you to optimize those variables to make
the
best possible coffee.

The day will never come when every cup we produce is ideal. My goal is to help
you to prepare coffee as close to ideal as you can, as often as you can.

COLL UCUCOOCO0OCo000CO0O000000DVOUIUUID

Introduction

This book is a guide to non-pressurized coffee brewing techniques. I have chosen to

not discuss espresso in this book because the dynamics of espresso preparation and
extraction are different from those of any other brewing process. For an in-depth
dis-
cussion of espresso science and preparation, please refer to The Professional
Barista’s
Handbook*

This book is divided into four parts:

- Chapters 1 through 5 introduce coffee extraction and measurement and describe

methods to improve coffee flavor by manipulating extraction parameters.

- Chapters 6 through 10 offer detailed instructions on how to optimize various

coffee brewing methods.

- Chapters 11 and 12 explain proper water chemistry and coffee bean storage, two
essential but often neglected determinants of coffee quality.

- For the more obsessive coffee lovers among us, the appendix offers technical
details related to extraction measurement, the bibliography references several
informative scientific publications about coffee, and the glossary provides defini-
tions of technical terms used in the text.

CLL CLUlULUUUOUOCLOO0O0LULUUOUU0UVLUUVV OUYLUUIYVWLY

Everythibnugt Espresso

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Coffee Extraction

Extraction Rate and Quantity

Coffee extraction occurs in two stages. Inthe first stage, the hot water contacts
the grounds,
displaces gases, and rapidly washes away most of the coffee solids on the exposed
sur-
faces of the grounds. In the second stage, the bean fibers absorb water and swell,
the hot
water drives off carbon dioxide (CO,) and volatile aromatics trapped within the
grounds,
and coffee solids dissolve and migrate into the surrounding liquid by diffusion.?

Extraction begins rapidly and progressively slows as solids are removed from the
grounds. Figure 1 describes the development of a typical extraction.

The rate of extraction is determined by coffee ground particle size, slurry

tempera-
ture, concentration gradient in the slurry, agitation of the slurry, and brewing
ratio, in no
particular order(The use of a finer grind, higher temperature, more agitation, or
lower
brewing ratio will increase the rate of extraction y*” The total quantity extracted
is a
function of extraction rate and contact time.

Extraction Quality

While the factors above influence the rate of solids extraction from coffee
grounds, the
quality and balance of flavors extracted from coffee is determined by extraction
tem-
perature, ground particle size distribution, water chemistry, and contact time. In
addi-
tion, the uniformity of extraction from different areas of the coffee bed has a
dramatic |
impact on the flavor. This book will discuss these topics in detail.

In summary, the following factors affect extraction rate:

. Slurry temperature
- Ground particle size*
- Concentration gradient in the slurry
- Agitation
- Brewing ratio

The following factors affect extraction quality (for a given extraction

percentage):

- Slurry temperature
- Ground particle size distribution™
- Water chemistry
- Contact time
- Uniformity of extraction

Temperature

Higher extraction temperatures result in faster extraction rates because most com-

pounds are more soluble at higher temperatures. Temperature affects flavor as well
because the relative solubility of various compounds changes at different tempera-
tures.” I recommend brewing coffee with water hot enough to achieve a slurry
temper-
ature’ of 195°F-202°F (91°C-94°C). It is important to measure the temperature in

Ebina oe ’
fi

the slurry, and not simply the temperature of the water before it contacts the
grounds,
because various factors can lead to brewing temperatures well below the water's
ini-
tial temperature. For instance, manual drip cones and Chemex brewers lose a lot of
heat to the atmosphere during brewing. As well, grounds and brewing vessels (unless
preheated to the brewing water temperature) act as heat sinks and absorb heat from
the brewing water, decreasing temperatures in the slurry. Slurry temperatures below
the 195°F -202°F (91°C-94°C) range may result in sour-tasting coffee'’, while tem-
peratures above this range may produce coffee that is bitter, astringent, acrid, or
too
sharp. 4,17
Turbulence: Agitation and Outgassing

Turbulence is the chaotic mixing of grounds, gases, and hot water during coffee
brew-
ing. Two distinct sources produce turbulence: agitation of the brewing slurry by an
external force and release of gases from coffee grounds. While turbulence caused by
agitation alurags:accelerates extraction and usually improves the uniformity of
extrac-
bm — aa Saati PER

extraction rate and uniformity.

Agitation

A simple experiment demonstrates the effects of agitation on extraction:

Fill a tempered glass with near-boiling water and gently place a bag of black tea
into

the water. Note how the water in the local area surrounding the tea bag slowly
turns
a darker color than the water farther away from the tea bag. Dunk and raise the tea
bag several times and observe how the water throughout the cup quickly darkens and
becomes more uniform in color. This demonstrates how agitation accelerates
extraction
and disperses the concentration of dissolved solids throughout the brewing liquid.

Agitation accelerates extraction by increasing the concentration gradient in the

area immediately surrounding the solute, whether coffee grounds or tea leaves. When
agitating, use a simple, easy-to-replicate motion at the same moment in the process
of
every brew to ensure consistency. For example, a slow stir of one revolution is
easier
to replicate than three rapid revolutions. If agitation is inconsistent in timing
or mag-
nitude, it can have unpredictable effects on extraction.

All of the following causes of agitation accelerate extraction:

1. Stirring of the slurry

2. The impact of brewing water falling onto a bed of grounds from a spray head or
pouring vessel

2. The partial plunging and raising of a French press filter screen

4. The rise of air bubbles from the lower chamber into the upper chamber during

the immersion phase of vacuum pot brewing

Properly controlled, agitation can improve the uniformity of extraction. The

following
list describes some common means of using agitation to improve extraction unifor-

1. Dunking the bloom of an immersion brew such as a French press or vacuum pot.
This ensures that all the grounds get submerged in the slurry, rather than leaving
. some grounds floating at the top of the bloom where they may have less contact
with the brewing liquid.

2. Stirring the slurry of a manual pourover or Chemex to prevent grounds from

sticking “high and dry” on the wall of the filter. High-and-dry grounds extract
less than grounds sited lower in the filter because they experience less turbu-

lence during the drawdown and less contact time with the liquid.
3. Stirring as soon as sufficient water (2-3 grams of water per gram of grounds)

“wets the grounds of a manual pourover or Chemex. This “preinfusion” stir helps
wet all of the grounds at nearly the same moment, causing all areas of the coffee
bed to begin extracting (almost) simultaneously.

4. Stirring the slurry of an automatic drip brew midway through the brewing cycle.
This stir rebalances the concentration gradient within the slurry, preventing the
grounds high in the coffee bed from extracting more than the grounds lower in
the bed. |

S. Stirring a vacuum pot or steep-and-release brewer just before the drawdown

begins. This stir can improve the uniformity of resistance to the drawdown and
help prevent channeling.

Agitating the slurry of a manual pourover or other open vessel rapidlyc ools the
slurry.
Aggressive stirring can decrease slurry temperature by as much as-1°F (0.5°C) per
sec-
ond. Therefore, agitate judiciously, and consider its cooling effect when choosing
brew-
ing water temperature. To produce a given slurry temperature, use hotter brewing
water
when applying more agitation, and use cooler brewing water when using less
agitation.

Outgassing
A coffee bean’ structure is a porous, honeycomb-like matrix of irregularly shaped
chambers.” The chambers’ walls are made of cellulose fiber coated with soluble sol-
ids and oils. These chambers trap carbon dioxide (CO,) and volatile aromatics under
pressure.”

Grinding fractures some, but not all, of the chambers, releasing much of their aro-
matics and CO, Researchers have estimated that almost 50% of the CO, trapped in
coffee beans is released within § minutes of grinding] When hot water contacts
coffee

grounds, much of the remaining CO, is driven from the grounds because CO, is not
soluble in very hot water at atmospheric pressure. The released CO, mixes with the
brewing liquid and coffee grounds, creating turbulence and the bloom seen on top of
a brewing slurry. |

In a percolation process such as automatic drip brewing, the turbulence of outgas-

sing improves the evenness of extraction by:

- Lifting and separating coffee particles.*

- Providing a moving target for the spray head, thus preventing the spray head
from favoring, and overextracting from, certain areas of the coffee bed.
- Creating a more uniform concentration gradient throughout the coffee bed.

In an immersion brew such as a French press, outgassing of CO, potentially makes

extraction less uniform. If enough CO, is present and creates a very large bloom on
top of the brew, the grounds at the top of the bloom will have less contact with
the
brewing liquid and will extract more slowly than the grounds located lower in the
bloom or the grounds that have sunk to the bottom of the brew. (This assumes no
agitation of the bloom.)

CHAPTER 2

Grinding

Grinding is the fracturing of coffee beans into many smaller particles. The primary
purpose of grinding is to facilitate the extraction of soluble solids by exposing
more
particle surface to the brewing liquid.

Grind Size and Contact Time

A finer grind creates smaller particles with more specific surface area, causing
coffee
solids to extract more quickly. Therefore, in order to achieve a given extraction
quantity, a finer grind requires less contact time with the brewing liquid than
does a
coarser grind.

Particle Size Distribution

Due to the irregular structure of coffee beans and the unequal distribution of
forces
on the structure during grinding, coffee does not shear into equally sized or
identically
shaped pieces. In a typical particle size distribution, most of the coffee mass is
of a nar-
row range of sizes clustered around the “grind setting” size. In addition, a
distribution
contains a small number, but moderate mass, of larger particles called boulders and
a
large number, but tiny mass, of very small particles called fines.

The narrower the particle size distribution, the more equally the particles will
extract. If the distribution of particle sizes is too dispersed, with too many very
small
and very large particles, the resulting brew will have too many overextracted
(bitter)
and underextracted (sharp, peanutty, and grassy) tastes.
A narrower particle size distribution is created by grinders with:

- Sharper burrs.
- Longer burr grinding paths.
- Less heat generation during grinding.
- Multiple grinding stages (such as a roller mill with two or three pairs of
succes-
sively closer rollers.)
Fines

Fines are tiny cell wall fragments (i.e., particles with no intact cells) produced
dur-
ing grinding. Given that roasted coffee bean cells average 20-50 microns in
diameter
and cell walls average 5-10 microns in thickness®, particles smaller than 50
microns in
diameter rarely, if ever, contain intact cells. Therefore, as a reasonable
standard, I will
consider particles smaller than 50 microns in diameter to be fines.

Fines play a significant role in determining extraction yield, percolation flow

rate,
and body during espresso preparation. In addition, if the brewing liquid drags
enough
fines to the bottom of the coffee bed (known as fines migration), the fines can
disrupt
flow by forming a dense layer and clogging the filter basket holes.

In drip and other non-pressurized brews, fines are important contributors of body
but trivial contributors of solubles. As in espresso percolation, fines influence,
and can
disrupt, non-pressurized percolation. If too many fines are present and migrate to
the
bottom of the coffee bed, they can clog the filter’s pores and slow the flow of
extract
from the coffee bed. Because dull burrs produce a higher proportion of fines, auto-
matic drip contact times get progressively longer as a grinder’s burrs dull with
use.

Many coffee professionals believe that the presence of too many fines results in
very
bitter drip and French press coffee. Although fines contribute easily perceived
bitterness

to espresso, they may not have a significant effect on the taste of non-pressurized
brews.
At the medium and coarse grind settings used for non-pressurized brewing methods,

~ fines make up perhaps 2% to 4% of the ground coffee mass. Given this small mass,
the
bitterness blamed on fines is most likely due to wide particle size distribution,
assuming
the overall extraction yield is not too high.

CHAPTER 3

Filters, Fines, and Flavor Clarity

The taste, aroma, and body of a cup of coffee derive from different types of com-
pounds:
- Dissolved solids determine coffee’s taste.
- Volatile aromatics provide coffee’s aroma.
. The insoluble material (fines and oils) suspended in coffee creates the
sensations
of body and mouthfeel.*

. Coffee oils play a secondary role, providing flavor and decreasing the perception
of acidity.

The fines and oils in brewed coffee bind to form brew colloids. The higher the
concen-
tration of brew colloids, the less flavor clarity coffee has. Therefore, for a
given coffee
there is a trade-off between flavor clarity and body.

Four factors determine brewed coffee’s balance of flavor clarity and body:

|. The proportion of fines in the grounds

In most cases, the higher the proportion of fines in a coffee bed, the greater the
brewed
coftee’s body.*

2. The brewing method

Different brewing methods tend to trap different proportions of insolubles in the
cof-
fee bed. When more insolubles are trapped in the coffee bed, fewer make it into the
cup, producing a brew with more clarity and less body. Here are three examples: y

Vacuum pot brewing, also known as vac pot brewing or siphon brewing, traps |
a high proportion of insqlubles i n the coffee bed. Insolubles remain in the coffee
bed
because most of the insolubles floati n the bloom at the top of the slurry while
the

slurry drains from the bottom. This “clarifies” the brew and lessens, but does not
elimi-
nate, the importance of the type of filter used.

During drip brewing the coffee bed traps a modest proportion of the fines and
oils as the brewing liquid percolates through the bed.

An immersion brew such as a French press allows the greatest amount of oils and
fines to make it into the cup.” This is because a large proportion of the
insolubles come
in contact with, and pass through, the very porous filter.

3. Brew strength

Generally, the lower the brew strength, the less body and more flavor clarity a
coffee
will have. However, if a brew is too dilute (weak), flavor diminishes and becomes
more
difficult to perceive.

4.The porosity of the filter used

In most cases, the porosity of the filter is the dominant factor in determining a
cof-

fee’s balance of flavor clarity versus body. The larger a filter’s pores, the
greater the
proportion of insolubles that will make it into the cup. Figure 4 illustrates where
vari-
ous combinations of brewing methods and filters fall on the spectrum of flavor
clarity
versus body.

The following experiment demonstrates how both brewing method and filter type
contribute to a coffee’s balance of flavor clarity versus body:

1. Brew coffee using a French press. Use the same grind setting and brewing ratio
to produce automatic drip coffee with identical extraction percentage and brew
strength.

2. Decant the French press coffee.

3. Stir the decanted French press coffee and pour half through a paper filter
placed |

in a brew basket.
4. Taste the paper-filter automatic drip, French press, and filtered French press

results.

The unfiltered French press will have the least flavor clarity and most body. The
filtered
French press will have moderate flavor clarity and body because the paper filter
trapped
some insolubles. The paper-filter automatic drip coffee will have the most flavor
clarity
and least body because the coffee bed and paper filter each trapped insolubles.

CHAPTER 4

The Coffee Brewing Control Chart

In the 1960s the Coffee Brewing Institute (later known as the Coffee Brewing
Center)
published the Coffee Brewing Control Chart.*

The Original Chart

The original chart was based on research performed under the direction of chemist
Ernest E. Lockhart and tests conducted by the brewing committee of the National
Coffee Association. The researchers surveyed the American publics preferences for
coffee flavor and brew strength (the percentage of total dissolved solids, or TDS,
in
brewed coffee). The Midwest Research Institute later modified the chart, and the
Spe-
cialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) still uses the modified version.

The vast majority of those tested preferred coffee with brew strength of 1.15%-
1.35% produced by extracting 18%-22% of the ground coffee mass. Similar ranges
are recommended by other coffee industry associations; for instance, the Norwegian
Coffee Association recommends the same 18%-22% extraction but brew strength of
1.30%-1.55%"%, while the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) recom-
mends 18%-22% extraction and 1.2%-1.45% brew strength."

Once targets for extraction percentage and brew strength had been established, it
became possible to derive the range of brewing formulas (brewing ratios) that could
satisfy both criteria simultaneously. The Coffee Brewing Control Chart is a graphi-
cal representation of the relationships among brewing formula, extraction
percentage,
and brew strength.

ExtractMojo

For many years, coffee professionals have used conductivity meters to measure
brewed
coffee strength. Unfortunately, recent tests have shown conductivity meters to be
less
accurate than previously believed for measuring dissolved coffee solids.
A revolution in measuring extractions occurred in 2008 with the invention of

ExtractMoJo by Vince Fedele. ExtractMoJo is a combination of a Universal Coffee

13

Brewing Control Chart and a refractometer calibrated to measure coffee brew

strength.
With ExtractMoJo, Mr. Fedele elegantly solved the problems of inaccurate measuring
devices, potential errors resulting from converting units of measurement (see
appen-
dix), and the need to have different charts for the various batch sizes, brewing
formulas,
and units of measurement.” |

At this point in time, any café owner who has invested a lot of money in high-
quality coffee equipment and expensive beans would be wise to use ExtractMoJo to
establish and maintain brewing protocols. At my café we use the refractometer every
week to measure the brew strengths and, by implication, the extraction levels of
all
of our brewing methods. Regularly measuring brew strength to determine extraction
yield offers many secondary benefits beyond ensuring optimal coffee flavor and con-
sistency. For example, these measurements have allowed us to:

1. Rapidly calibrate our grinder after removing or replacing the burrs.

2. Quantify the effects of different temperatures and agitation techniques on

extraction levels.
3. Quickly realize when our automatic drip brewer was gradually dispensing more
and more water per batch.
4. Estimate the condition of our grinder burrs and periodically recalibrate the

grinders settings as the burrs dull.

S. Ensure that our entire staff produces consistent extractions with all brewing

methods.

How to Fine-Tune Your Coffee Making

I suggest beginning with a brewing ratio of 1:17, measuring both the grounds and
water by mass. In other words, use 1 gram of grounds per 17 grams of water. Brew
the
coffee in such a way that you are confident you are extracting evenly from all
areas of
the coffee bed while maintaining a slurry temperature of 195°F —202°F (91°C-94°C)
throughout extraction. Adjust the grind and contact time to achieve brew strength
of 1.25%-1.30% and an extraction yield of 19%-20%.* Taste the coffee and use this
result as a benchmark. You may later find you prefer a different extraction level
or brew
strength, but these results should be nearly optimal for most coffees and palates.

Next, attempt to consistently produce numbers within these ranges, every brew.
You mabye surprised at how difficult this is, especially with any 1-cup brewing
method.
Baristi would benefit from becoming familiar with these established standards for
extraction and brew strength before experimenting to produce different results (for
example, using higher brewing ratios to produce strong, underextracted coffee.)

How to Calculate Extraction Without a Chart

You need three values to calculate extraction percentage:

. brew strength (TDS)

. dry coffee mass

. brewed coffee mass

Once you know these values, you can determine extraction percentage in two easy
steps, illustrated in Figure 7.

For example, if I brew a 1-cup pourover using 22 g of grounds, the brewed coffee
weighs 322 g, and the TDS is 1.3%, the extraction yield is 19%, as shown in Figure
8.

Numbers Obsessed?

I have no doubt many coffee professionals will recoil from the idea of diligent,
objec-
tive measurement of coffee extraction. Anytime something as subjective as taste is
evaluated objectively, some people will protest. For that reason, I'd like to
emphasize
that objective measurement is a tool meant to supplement, not substitute for,
taste.
Every coffee professional can and will learn a lot by measuring extractions.
Further-
more, every barista who tracks extraction percentages and brew strengths will
improve
his or her beverage consistency, if not quality (though it is hard to imagine how
this
information wouldnt help improve quality.) Finally, there are established correla-
tions between extraction percentage and flavor; whatever coffee flavor you prefer,
it is
not possible to consistently reproduce that flavor if the extraction percentage
varies.
I hope anyone who is inclined to dismiss the value of such a measurement system
will
be open-minded and professional enough to try it. |

Extraction Yield and Taste

~ Smaller soluble compounds dissolve faster than larger compounds. Therefore, cof-
fee made with low extraction yields emphasizes the flavor contribution of smaller

compounds. As extraction continues, the relative contribution of larger compounds

increases. This progression is the primary reason different extraction yields
correlate
with different flavors:

. Lower extraction yields highlight sharp, fruity, peanutty, and grassy tastes.
. As extraction progresses, mellower tones, riper fruit notes, and caramel sweet-
ness develop.

. When extraction yield passes 21%-22% (or less if the bed is unevenly extracted),
bitterness and astringency increase dramatically.

Updosing

Until the late 1990s, automatic drip and French press were the only non-espresso
brewing methods commonly used in North American cafés. Not coincidentally, better-
quality cafés almost always used brewing ratios of 1:16-1:18. The recent rise in
popu-
larity of the Clover® machine, manual pourovers, and vacuum pots has corresponded
with a trend toward much higher brewing ratios (i.e., using more grounds relative
to
water.) Use of such ratios is known as updosing.

Baristi have drifted toward using extra grounds because, while automatic drip
machines and French presses share the virtue of being able to produce impressively
uniform extractions with minimal barista skill, these newly popular manual methods
require more skill to achieve uniform extractions. Baristi have been compensating
for
uneven extractions by using higher brewing ratios to produce reasonable brew
strength
and very low extraction yields. This works because in an unevenly extracted bed,
some
areas are more extracted than the average and some areas less. By decreasing the
aver-
age extraction, a barista produces fewer overextracted tastes and more
underextracted
tastes. Favoring underextraction is “safer” because most people find the bitterness
of
overextraction more offensive than the grassy, sharp, and peanutty tastes of under-
extraction. The more uniform an extraction is, the higher the extraction yield can
be
without resulting in excessive bitterness and astringency caused by overextraction.

Underextracting does have at the least one virtue: it can partially compensate for
some roasting flaws. For example, underextraction can enhance the acidity of flat
or
over-roasted coffee or tone down the vegetal tastes of underdeveloped roasts (i.e.,
beans with undercooked centers.) Although updosing and underextracting may at
times compensate for poor-quality roasting or extraction, I recommend addressing
these problems at their source rather than wasting grounds.

What is the Ideal Extraction Yield?

Various coffee industry associations recommend extraction yield of 18%-22% for

brewed coffee. I personally prefer coffee produced by a 19%-20% extraction.
Although

my personal taste happens to coincide with industry standards I do not want readers
to think “Scott Rao says I have to brew coffee at an extraction yield of 19%-20%.”

Taste is subjective; we all have unique preferences for coffee flavor. As well,
brew-
ing temperature, ground particle size distribution, roast quality, extraction
uniformity,
and other factors may influence one’s preferred extraction yield for a given
coffee.

My goals are to introduce the accepted industry standards, provide methodol-

ogy capable of producing consistent, uniform extractions, and teach readers how to
measure and adjust extraction yield. I hope this information helps readers to
produce
exactly the coffee they desire.

Extraction Uniformity

Some coffee professionals have argued in favor of uneven extraction as a means of

enhancing the “complexity” of a coffee. Although uneven extraction may (debatably)
enhance complexity, this potential benefit is almost always trumped by the side
effects
of increased bitterness and decreased sweetness. |

Grinding always produces particles in a spectrum of sizes, and those different-

sized
particles extract to different degrees. Therefore, the complexity created by a
variety of
extraction levels is inherent in every brew. Given that extraction is already
uneven on
a micro (particle) level, I recommend optimizing uniformity on a macro (coffee bed)
|
level.* This approach, combined with a 19%-20% extraction, will maximize sweetness
|
and minimize bitterness.
CHAPTER $§

Reading the Shape of Spent Grounds

In every percolation brewing method (drip, siphon, etc.) the shape of the spent
coffee
bed is a significant indicator of the uniformity of flow during the drawdown. The
shape
betrays the presence of channels or favored flow paths during the drawdown.” Note
that a well-formed spent bed does not guarantee a uniform extraction; it indicates
only
the best-possible extraction during the drawdown. A brew with a well-formed spent
bed may have extracted unevenly due to a problem earlier in the brewing process.
Causal factors include unequally distributed turbulence; concentration gradients;
or
initial wetting.

The best-known example of reading the shape of a spent coffee bed is examining
the puck in a portafilter after making an espresso. Many baristi know that moist or

depressed areas around the perimeter of a puck indicate channeling around the
coffee
bed. Likewise, depressed areas in the spent coffee bed of any percolation brew
indicate
channels.

Baristi and consumers might like the taste of a brew from a channeled bed. But the
point is not whether they enjoyed a channeled brew; the point is that for a given
extrac-
tion level, the coffee would have been better had the extraction been more uniform.

How to Determine ldeal Bed Shape

The universal, ideal spent bed shape is the one in which every flow path, from the
sur-
face of the bed to that path’s terminus at the filter, is equidistant. Compare the
draw-
ings of ideal bed shapes in Figure 9.

High-and-Dry Grounds

The most common example of a poorly formed spent bed is a concave bed with the
grounds adhering high and dry on the filter wall (see photo on previous page).

Every 1-cup pourover and Chemex brew I have ever purchased at a café has had a
concave bed. When grounds stick high on the filter midway through the drawdown,
the high-and-dry grounds extract less than the grounds lower in the coffee bed.
Baristi
inevitably updose, sometimes dramatically, to compensate for the lower brew
strength
produced by a concave coffee bed. The result of updosed manual pourovers is
brighter,
imbalanced coffee and a lot of wasted coffee grounds.

Percolation Methods and Their Ideal Bed Shapes

The following are examples of ideal bed shapes, flawed bed shapes, and how to
improve
flawed bed shapes.

Flatbottom drip

Flatbottom drip

Cone and truncated-cone drip

Vac pot (siphon)

The shape of the outlet at the bottom of the upper chamber varies among different
siphon designs. The most common design is a flat, disk-shaped filter at the bottom
of
a tapered cylinder. The following scenarios are based on that design.

Freshness and Bed Shape

Fresher coffee releases more gas and forms a larger bloom during brewing. The
extent
to which a coffee degasses during brewing affects percolation flow paths and the
final
bed shape. The amount of degassing does not change the ideal bed shape for a given
brewing method, however.

When making a steep-and-release brew or vac pot, to compensate for additional

degassing, spend more time patting down the bloom, and stir more aggressively dur-
ing the drawdown. (See “How to Use a Steep-and-Release Brewer” in Chapter 9.)

CHAPTER 6

Automatic Drip

More than 90% of the cups of drip coffee I've purchased in cafés have been
unsatisfac-
tory. Given that I have thrown out all of those unsatisfactory cups, and those cups
typi-
cally cost US$2, I have been effectively spending more than US$20 per enjoyable cup
of coffee. I offer this chapter in an effort to decrease my per-cup spending.

Equipment Evaluation

Evaluating your equipment’s installation and performance is the first step to

brewing
great automatic drip coffee. If any of the following parameters are not adjusted
prop-
erly, coffee quality may be compromised.

I. Level your machine.

It may seem obvious, but a level machine is critical; unfortunately, the leveling
process
is often misunderstood. Your countertop may be level and the top of your machine
may be level, but it is more important that the spray head and floor of the filter
basket
are level. An unlevel spray head or coffee bed will cause more extraction from one
side of the bed than the other; check that they are level in all orientations. If
it is not
possible to verify that the spray head is level, brew coffee and check that any
froth is
centered on the surface of the spent coffee bed.

2. Measure your temperature.

I recommend the temperature of the water as it leaves the spray head be 200°F -
202°F
(93°C-94°C). More importantly, the temperature in the slurry during the entire
brewing cycle should be between 195°F —202°F (91°C-94°C) once the grounds are
saturated with liquid.

3. Measure the quantity of water dispensed per batch.

In my experience, the most common cause of automatic drip extraction problems has
been machines dispensing the wrong amount of water. Please do not trust the
quantity

your machine indicates it is dispensing; instead, measure the dispensed water,

prefer-
ably by mass, at least once per month. Buildup of scale, changes in water chemistry
or pressure, or computer malfunction can cause the amount of water your machine
dispenses to change. As well, if you turn off your drip machine at night, the
machine
may dispense too much water during the first brew cycle in the morning. Discard
that
first brew cycle of hot water and brew coffee with the second cycle.

4. Evaluate your grinder burrs.

Take note of your grinder burrs’ recommended lifespan. Once the burrs are halfway
through their lifespan, evaluate grind quality weekly. Objective indicators of worn
burrs include excessive production of fines and boulders, increased percolation
times,
and slower grinding speeds. Burr longevity varies based on size, material, fineness
of the grind settings typically used, and subjective assessment of extraction
quality.
Replace burrs when their performance is no longer satisfactory.

5. Bed depth

Your brew basket and batch size should combine to create a bed depth of 2-5 cm. A
shallower bed will almost certainly lead to excessive channeling; a bed deeper than
§
cm can yield reasonable extraction and brew strength, but will probably require
using
the bypass valve.
Brewing Decisions

Before brewing automatic drip coffee, a barista should choose the desired batch
size,
extraction level, and brew strength.

|. Batch size
Almost every café I have been to brews too much coffee per batch. The result is
that
most customers purchase coffee that is more than 30 minutes old. Serving fresher
cof-
fee is the easiest and most effective way most cafés can improve coffee quality.
The
time and inconvenience of brewing more frequent batches are small prices to pay to
be able to serve much fresher coffee.

The ideal automatic drip batch size is the smallest quantity you can brew without
running out too frequently, provided the bed depth is at least 2 cm. Brewing larger
batches than that will either increase waste or compromise freshness.

2. Extraction and brew strength goals

If you do not have a target extraction percentage and brew strength, you cannot
know
what brewing formula to use. In such a case I recommend experimenting to find your
preferred parameters. My suggested starting pointisa 1:17 ratio to produce 19%-20%
extraction and 1.25%-1.3% brew strength.

How to Program an Automatic Drip Brewer

Each brand of automatic drip machine offers a different set of programmable param-
eters. If your machine does not allow adjustment of all of the following
parameters,
use these principles to guide your programming decisions:

- Total contact time for all batches should be 5:00-6:00.

. After completion of the prewet cycle, if one is used, the machine should maintain
a shallow slurry until the spray head finishes dispensing water.

- The spent coffee bed should be flat, with no pronounced indentations from the
spray head and no ridge of high-and-dry grounds on the filter wall.

Brew Volume
Brew volume is the amount of water dispensed per batch. As discussed earlier in
this
chapter, set the brew volume to yield the smallest practical batches in order to
optimize
freshness.

Prewet Percentage and Prewet Delay

The prewet is the spraying of a small proportion of the brewing water onto the
grounds
at the beginning of a brew cycle. The prewet delay is the pause in the dispensing
of
water from the spray head after the prewet.

Proper prewetting improves the uniformity of extraction in two ways. First, during
the prewet delay, liquid from wetter areas of the coffee bed migrates into drier
areas via
capillary action. Moistening all areas of the coffee bed before the onset of
extraction
improves its uniformity.

The second benefit of the prewet cycle is that it drives off some CO, before the
percolation phase begins in earnest. Normally this isn’t an important
consideration,
but when a café brews freshly ground coffee within a few days of roasting, the
prewet
cycle tames excessive blooming of the grounds. (Fresher coffee releases more gas
dur-
ing brewing, creating a larger bloom.) Moderate blooming is not usually a problem,
but blooming is excessive and interferes with extraction quality when:

- The bloom gets too close to the spray head, touches the spray head, or causes the
slurry to overflow the top of the filter.

- Blooming causes the slurry to rise high and deposit grounds high and dry on the
filter wall. During the drawdown, high-and-dry grounds cease extracting while
grounds lower in the coffee bed continue to extract. This results in the high-and-
dry grounds extracting less than the grounds lower in the coffee bed.

How to Program the Prewet Percentage and Prewet Delay

I recommend setting the prewet quantity to 2 ml of water per gram of ground coffee.
(2 ml/g represents approximately how much water the grounds will absorb during

brewing.) For most standard brewing formulas (1:18-1:16) this equals 11%-13% ¢”
the brew volume. With a prewet greater than 2 ml/g, the additional liquid will pas-
through the coffee bed. (Even at 2 ml/g some may pass through, but this is unavoid-
able.) The prewet delay should be 30-60 seconds, depending on bed depth; deeper
beds require longer delays.

The prewet and delay are beneficial only if they wet all of the grounds. If the
prewe.
cycle does not moisten the entire bed, possible reasons include uneven distribution
¢
grounds in the filter, clumped grounds, an unlevel machine, a too-short prewet
delay
or a spray head that does not distribute water evenly over the entire coffee bed.

Brew Time
Brew time is the total time it takes to dispense one batch of brewing water; it
doe!
not include the time of the prewet delay. Almost all cafés operate under the
mistaker
belief that larger batches require longer brew times and coarser grind settings
than
do smaller batches. (I harbored the same belief until Vince Fedele set me
straight.)
The truth is that all batch sizes, within reason, can produce the same extraction
level
and brew strength using the same brewing ratio and grind setting. If done properly,
1
believe no professional can tell the difference between a 0.5-gallon (1.9-L) batch
and a
1.5-gallon (S5.7-L) batch of the same coffee. To accomplish this, with a given
machine
and brew basket, one must use shorter brew times for larger batches. Figure 10
illustrates
a hypothetical example of how to adjust the brew time for different batch sizes.

It is interesting to note that the spray head flow rate of the 4-L batch is more
than
double the flow rate of the 2-L batch. The larger batch requires a shorter brew
time,
because it takes the brewing liquid longer to percolate through the taller coffee
bed.
The shorter brew time counteracts the extra lag time of the liquid in the bed,
resulting
in the same total contact time for both batches (see Figure 11). |

If brew time is too long or too short, extraction will be less uniform. The brew
time
is too short if the slurry rises too high and deposits grounds high and dry on the
wall
of the filter. The brew time is too long if a slurry is not maintained. If a slurry
is not
maintained, the grounds near the top of the bed will extract more than the grounds:
lower in the bed. In addition, the spray head may favor, and overextract from,
localized

areas at the top of the bed. The ideal brew time is one that maintains a shallow
slurry,
achieves the desired extraction level, and results in a flat spent coffee bed with
no ridge
of grounds adhering to the filter wall.

If your machine’s brew time is not programmable (i.e., if brew time is proportional
to brew volume) then each batch size will require a unique grind setting, with
smaller
batches requiring finer grinds. Such a machine will produce high-quality
extractions
over a very small range of batch sizes, if at all.

Bypass |

Each combination of drip machine and brew basket works best for a unique range
of batch sizes. The smallest batch size in that range is limited by the requirement
of a
minimum bed depth of 2 cm. With increasing batch size one can coarsen the grind or
shorten the brew time to maintain a given extraction percentage. If no grind is
coarse
enough to prevent the slurry from rising too high in the filter or fine enough to
provide
the necessary extraction, the upper limit of the batch size range has been
exceeded.

Successfully brewing very large batch sizes (those larger than the upper limit)
requires using the bypass valve. The bypass valve routes a proportion of the
brewing
water around the filter, diluting the brew. In layman's terms, using the bypass
brews
very strong coffee that is then diluted with hot water in the pot, analogous to the
pro-
cess a barista uses to prepare an americano. Proper use of the bypass produces
coffee
indistinguishable from that brewed without the bypass.

The bypass percentage is the proportion of water dispensed through the bypass
valve. The ExtractMo]Jo software can calculate the proper bypass setting. If you do
not
have the software, follow these steps to find the appropriate bypass percentage:

1. Prepare a regular batch with the flavor and brew strength you would like to rep-
licate in a larger batch using the bypass. Lets call this regular batch the “model
batch.”

2. Calculate how much larger than the model batch the bypass batch will be. For

example, if the model batch was 100 oz and the bypass batch will be 150 oz,
then the bypass batch is 50% larger.

3. Set the bypass to 33% of the percentage increase in the brew volume. Using the
example, 33% of 50% is 16.7%. (.33x.50=.167)

4. Brew the larger batch with a 17% (16.7% rounded up) bypass using the same
brewing ratio and grind used for the model batch.

5S. Measure the brew strength and taste the coffee.

6. If the brew strength is too high, increase the bypass percentage. If the brew

strength is too low, decrease the bypass percentage. If you do not have a way.
to measure brew strength, such as ExtractMojo, sip the batches side by side to,
determine which is stronger.

7. Repeat step 6 until you achieve the desired brew strength.

Drip Delay |

The drip delay is a safety feature to prevent removal of the brew basket during
brewing;
it does not affect brew quality. Simply program the drip delay to comfortably
exceed
the time it takes for all of the coffee to flow from the brew basket. |

Comprehensive Programming Guidelines

The recommendations in Figure 12 should work well with any commercial brewer
ranging in size from 0.5 gallon (1.9 L) to 1.5 gallons (5.7 L).

CHAPTER 7

Manual Drip

Manual, or pourover, drip has become quite popular in recent years. Although the
new
emphasis on made-to-order coffee is overdue and welcome, to this day I have never
purchased a delicious 1-cup pourover or Chemex brew in a café. The reason is that
manual drip is extremely challenging to make well.

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Manual Drip

Manual drip has the virtue of providing fresh coffee, quickly, but has several
faults:

|. Manual drip is hypersensitive to barista error or inconsistency.

When brewing such a small batch, what may seem like a trivial inconsistency in the
amount of grounds, water, or stirring has a magnified effect in the cup. For
instance, if

you put 20 g of beans in a grinder and only 19 g of grounds come out of the
grinder”,
5% of the dry coffee mass has been lost; that 5% will cause a noticeable difference
in
taste and brew strength.

2. The high-and-dry problem

Every manual drip coffee ever served to me in a café has had the high-and-dry
problem.
The only way to prevent high-and-dry grounds is to either not allow the slurry to
rise
too high in the filter or to agitate the slurry frequently during the drawdown
phase.

3. It is difficult to maintain proper or constant extraction temperature.

To initiate extraction at a given slurry temperature requires the water temperature

in
the pouring vessel to be approximately 6°F-8°F (3°C—4°C) higher than the desired
slurry temperature. In addition, an open-top pourover loses heat so quickly that it
is
impossible to maintain a constant slurry temperature. Therefore, a barista has to
set-
tle for a range of slurry temperatures, with the temperature increasing when water
is
added to the slurry and decreasing slowly until the next addition of water. Figure
13
is a typical example of the temperature instability of a 1-cup pourover using 22 g
of
grounds and 13 oz (382 ml) of water".

Normally, I wouldn't pour all of the water at once, but I wanted to illustrate the
best-case scenario. Pouring water more slowly, which is necessary for uniform
extrac-
tion, results in even lower slurry temperatures early in the extraction. Figure 14
is a
typical example of slurry temperatures when brewing the same 1-cup pourover using
a 40-ml preinfusion pour plus four equal, short pours”.

How to Make a Great |-Cup Pourover

1. Choose a brewing ratio between 1:16-1:18, using no more than 16 oz (473 ml)
of water.

2. Weigh and grind the coffee. Re-weigh the coffee after grinding to ensure the
ground mass is accurate to a fraction of a gram.

3. Set the filter basket on the cup and the filter in the basket. Pour hot water
through
the filter to rinse and warm the whole system. Dump the rinse water.

4. Put the grounds in the filter and shake the brew basket back and forth to level
the bed of grounds.

5. Measure the chosen amount of hot water, preferably in a preheated container

that will conserve heat well.* The water in the pouring vessel should be 6°F-8°F
(3°C-4°C) hotter than the upper end of your target slurry temperature range.

6. Stir as soon as 10%-15% of the water has contacted the coffee bed. This stir is
essential to break up any clumped grounds and to ensure that all of the grounds
begin extracting almost simultaneously.

7. Pour in several small stages in order to maintain a constant, shallow slurry. Do

not pour at the very edge of the coffee bed, or the water may channel around the
grounds. Instead, pour from a height that will create enough turbulence in the
coffee bed to churn the grounds and improve the uniformity of extraction.

8. Stir gently after the final pour. If done properly, after all the liquid has
percolated
through the grounds, the coffee bed should be flat or subtly domed.

Pouraover Principles

When making any form of manual drip, adhere to these principles, every brew:

1. Within the first few seconds of wetting, moisten the entire coffee bed and
elimi-
nate all dry clumps.

2. Maintain a slurry temperature of 195°F-202°F (91°C-94°C) throughout extrac-

tion.

3. Keep all of the grounds immersed in a liquid slurry until the final few seconds
of
the drawdown.

4. Produce a flat or mildly domed spent bed.

CHAPTER 3

French Press and Eva Solo Café Solo

French press and Café Solo are immersion brewing methods that produce coffee with
very heavy body and poor flavor clarity. Most French presses make coffee with more
body than that produced by the Café Solo, although a few French presses have more
tightly woven filter screens and produce moderately clarified brews.

An important, but often neglected, step in making a French press or Café Solo is to
keep the bloom moist. If a large bloom is allowed to float undisturbed, the grounds
at;
the top of the bloom will extract less than the grounds at the bottom of the bloom
or
the grounds floating lower in the slurry. The grounds at the top of a large,
undisturbed
bloom extract more slowly because they have less contact with the brewing liquid;
in
addition, the brewing liquid temperature is lower in the upper bloom.

To improve extraction uniformity, keep the bloom moist by patting down each

area of the bloom repeatedly until the bloom is free of gases. If the bloom is
patted
down gently with a spoon, the effect on the aggregate extraction level will be
predict-
able and repeatable. If, however, the bloom is agitated aggressively by stirring or
other
means, the increase in the extraction rate may be unpredictable.

The following are two less labor-intensive, but perhaps less effective, ways to sub
merge the bloom:

- Set the screen of a French press in a partially plunged position, just low enougl
to keep the bloom submerged.

- When making a French press or Café Solo, pour about half of the brewing liquid
onto the grounds, stir just enough to break up any clumps, and wait about 30 sec-
onds before pouring the remaining water. The second pour will drive off much ot
the gas remaining in the bloom.

How to Make French Press and Café Solo Coffees

L Fill the brewer with hot water to preheat.

2. Weigh and grind the coffee. Re-weigh the coffee after grinding to ensure dive

ground mass is accurate to a fraction of a gram.

. Pour out the water and put the grounds in the brewer.

. Measure water of the desired quantity and temperature. The water temperature
before pouring should be about 6°F-8°F (3°C-4°C) higher than the top of the
target slurry temperature range.

. Pour the water and set a timer for 3-5 minutes.

. Gently dunk the bloom with a spoon or paddle to deflate the bloom, rotating
among its different areas without agitating the rest of the slurry.

. Put the filter and cover on the brewer. In the case of a French press, set the
screen just low enough to submerge the bloom.
. When the timer sounds, plunge and pour the French press, or pour the Café
Solo. When pouring from a Café Solo, continually rotate the Café Solo around
its radial axis. This prevents the grounds from blocking the brewed coffee’s pas;
sage through the filter.

(ON

CHAPTER J

Steep-and-Release Brewing |

4
5

As of this writing, steep-and-release brewers that extract via an immersion phase

fol-
lowed by a drawdown (percolation) phase are exploding in popularity. These devices
deserve their popularity because they produce high-quality, uniform extractions mo.
easily than do manual pourovers.

To use a steep-and-release brewer a barista puts ground coffee in the filter, pot .
water over the grounds, and lets the water and grounds steep. At a predetermined
tir
the barista sets the brewer on a cup to open the valve at the bottom of the brew -
(some devices have a switch to open the valve). Opening the valve drains the coffe~
changing the process from immersion to percolation.

Choosing a Grind Setting and Immersion Time :

When you use traditional brewing ratios, a limited range of coffee bean grind
settings
will produce a high-quality steep-and-release brew. The grindi s too fine if the
draw-
down is so slow that even with no immersion time grounds overextract during the
drawdown. The grindi s too coarse if the brewer cannot achieve a 19%-20% extracti¢
yield in less than 5-6 minutes. One may even consider a grind capable of yielding
19
in 4-S minutes “too coarse” if the heat loss during a S-minute extraction is
excessive

Between these two extremes is a small range of relatively fine grinds capable C

producing 19%-20% extraction yields in 2-4 minutes. In layman's terms, this

range ;-
from a “stovetop espresso” grind to a typical “automatic drip” grind setting.

{
How to Use a Steep-and-Release Brewer

1. Set a paper filteri n the brewer. Fill with hot water to rinse the filter and
prehept
the device.

2. Weigh and grind coffee. Re-weigh the coffee after grinding to ensure the groun.
mass is accurate to a fraction of a gram.

3. Drain the preheat water.

4. Pour the grounds into the filter.

S. Measure water of the desired quantity and temperature. The water temperature

should be 6°F-8°F (3°C—-4°C) hotter than the upper end of the range of desired
slurry temperatures.

6. Set a timer for 1-4 minutes as soon as the first grounds are wet.
7. While pouring, agitate the slurry with a spoon to break up any clumps.
8. Dunk the bloom for about 30 seconds, or until it becomes merely a thin, moist

layer. (‘This step may be impractical in a café setting.)

9. Cover the device when finished pouring.

10. When the timer sounds, agitate the slurry to unstick any grounds that have

adhered to the wall of the filter.

11. Set the brewer onto the cup toapen the valve. Briefly agitate the slurry again

as the drawdown commences.”

12. Cover the brewer during the drawdown.
13. When brewingi s complete, the spent coffee bed should be sadlially symmetri-

cal and either flat or mildly domed, depending on the shape of the brewer.

CHAPTER 10

Vacuum Pot (Siphon) Coffee

The vacuum pot process, like steep-and-release brewing, begins with an immersion
phase that is followed by a drawdown, or percolation, phase. The principles of
making
vac pot coffee are the same as those for steep-and-release brewing, but vac pots
require
more attention and finesse.

Siphon Superstition

Many coffee professionals are confused about how to properly make vacuum pot cof-
fee. I've yet to see a barista use a method that could consistently produce high-
quality
results without relying on a great deal of luck. Until now there has been an almost
superstitious approach to making vac pot brews. For instance, in an often-cited
2008
New York Times article, the owner of a well-known coffee company was quoted as say-
ing, “The goal is to create a deep whirlpool in no more than four turns without
touch-
ing the glass. Posture is important.” One upstart roastery claims some of their
coffees
are “roasted for siphon.” Even the “Japanese siphonista champion” I observed at a
trade
show demonstration produced terribly erratic extractions.

How Vac Pots Work

The physics of vac pot coffee may be complicated, but the process is not magic, and
the coffee does not care about your posture, hand-carved bamboo paddle, or voodoo
stirring techniques. As with any brewing method, a good vac pot results from a
reason-
able amount of extraction, derived uniformly from all areas of the bed at
appropriate
temperatures.

When the upper chamber is mounted on the lower chamber, it forms a closed
system. The lower chamber contains water, air, and water vapor. As the lower cham-
ber heats up, the pressure of the air and water vapor increase. Pressure in excess
of 1
atmosphere in the lower chamber forces the water up the tube into the upper cham-
ber. Note that the water does not have to be boiling for the total pressure in the
lower
chamber to exceed 1 atmosphere.

Once the water level in the lower chamber drops below the bottom of the funnel
tube, the system is no longer closed. At this point, air and water vapor escape
from the
lower chamber, and the water may begin to boil.’ As the air and water vapor escape,
more water vapor is created, and the ratio of water vapor to air in the lower
chamber
increases. The water vapor—to-air ratio must reach a critical value to form
sufficient
vacuum for an effective drawdown.'® The lower the initial water level relative to
the
capacity of the lower chamber, the longer the immersion phase must be to reach the
critical ratio of water vapor to air. |

When the heat source is removed, the water vapor in the lower chamber cools and
condenses, decreasing the total internal pressure. When the total internal pressure
is
less than the external pressure, liquid is forced down into the lower chamber.

The wall of the upper chamber provides friction during the drawdown. Because
the liquid seeks the path of least resistance, the friction at the perimeter of the
cham-
ber causes the liquid to favor a path down the middle area of the chamber. I recom-
mend a light stir at the onset of the drawdown to pull some ground mass toward the
middle of the chamber and away from the wall of the upper chamber. A well-executed
stir will rebalance the resistance to the drawdown and improve extraction
uniformity.

How to Make Consistently ExcellenVatc Pot Coffee

As of this writing, most baristi updose significantly when making vac pots. They
are
under the mistaken assumption that a high brewing ratio (i.e., a high ratio of
grounds
to water) is necessary to produce adequate brew strength without the bitterness and
astringency of overextraction. These baristi usually produce very sour vac pot
coffee.
By following the instructions below, you can easily produce delicious vac pot
coffee
without updosing. These instructions assume you have access to a digital thermome-
ter and an adjustable heat source. The subsequent section provides alternative
instruc-
tions, for preparing vac pot coffee using a non-adjustable heat source.

1. Weigh and grind the coffee. After grinding, weigh the coffee again to ensure the
ground mass is accurate to a fraction of a gram.

2. Preheat the lower chamber by filling it with boiling water.

3. Pour out the preheat water and refill the lower chamber with the desired amount

of brewing water.” Freshly boiled water is best.

4. Set the lower chamber over the heat source, and turn the heat on. Determining

the optimal heater setting will require experimentation.

S. Set the filter in the upper chamber. Ensure that the filter is level and
centered.

6. When the water in the lower chamber reaches a predetermined temperature

(the mounting temperature), mount the upper chamber. Ensure that the upper
chamber is level and mounted just firmly enough to seal the system. The water
should immediately begin to rise into the upper chamber. At typical ambi-
ent temperatures, the mounting temperature needs to be boiling, or nearly
boiling, in order to stabilize the water in the upper chamber at 200°F -202°F
(93°C-94°C).

. Allow the water temperature in the upper chamber to stabilize at 1°F (0.5°C)
higher than your target slurry temperature. I recommend choosing a tem-
perature between 195°F -202°F (91°C-94°C). With a little practice, you will
be able to determine the combination of heater setting and mounting tem-
perature that will quickly stabilize the water at the desired temperature in the
upper chamber. Using only this one heater setting throughout the heating and
brewing process will facilitate consistent results.

. Set a timer for 1-3 minutes, pour the grounds into the water, and immedi-
ately begin to dunk the grounds with a paddle or spoon. Aim to wet all of the
grounds as soon as possible without aggressively agitating them.

. Continually pat down the bloom until it has shrunk to a thin, moist layer. This
should take no more than 30-40 seconds. The goal is to efficiently shrink the
bloom without creating undue turbulence in the upper chamber.
10. Carefully remove the vac pot from the heat source when the timer sounds.
11. Wait until coffee appears in the lower tube before stirring the slurry in the

upper chamber. Stir just enough such that when the drawdown is complete,
the spent grounds have a subtle dome shape and no grounds stick to the side
of the upper chamber.

12. Time the drawdown. If you followed the previous steps carefully, the draw-
down time should vary by no more than a few seconds, each brew.

Using a Non-adjustable Heater

If your heater is not adjustable, such as is the case when using a simple oil lamp
and
wick system, you can adjust the heat prior to lighting by changing the length of
the |
wick; a longer wick will produce more heat. The distance from the wick to the
bottom |
of the lower chamber can also be adjusted to alter the amount of heat transferred
to
the vac pot. With trial and error you will be able to manipulate a non-adjustable
heater
to provide the desired mounting temperature and a stable immersion temperature in
the upper chamber.

Troubleshooting

The following are some common siphon brewing problems and their remedies:

Problem The water in upper chamber never gets hot enough.

Solution Begin again, and increase the mounting temperature and/or the heater set-
ting. |

Problem The water in the upper chamber stays too hot.

Solution Begin again, and decrease the mounting temperature or heater setting.
Alter-
natively, stir the water to cool it.

Problem The drawdown begins prematurely.

Solution Check that the system is sealed; if it is, begin again, and increase the
heater
setting.

Problem Insufficient vacuum.

Solution Lengthen the immersion time or brew larger batches (relative to the vac
pot’s
capacity.)

Vac Pot Filters

The many types of vac pot filters available include those made of metal, paper,
cloth,
and etched glass. Despite this variety, the type of filter used has less impact on
the qual-
ity of vac pot coffee than it does on the quality of perhaps any other brewing
method.
Cloth filters are the most popular type, but cloth filters pose the greatest risk
of
tainting coffee with “oft” flavors. Cloth filters also require the most effort to
keep clean,
and they eventually wear out and need replacing. I recommend using paper filters
with
vac pots, especially for use in a busy café. Paper vac pot filters are very thin
and inex-
pensive, require no cleaning, and pose virtually no risk of tainting coffee.

CHAPTER 11

Water Chemistry

Before we begin a discussion of brewing water chemistry, we should review some

basic
terminology:

. Total dissolved solids (TDS) The combined content of all substances smaller than
2 microns in any dimension dissolved in a volume of water. Measured in parts per
million (ppm) or mg/L.

- pH A measure of acidity derived from the concentration of hydrogen ions; 7.0 is

neutral.

. Acid A solution with a pH lower than 7.0.

. Alkaline A solution with a pH higher than 7.0.

. Hardness A measure of dissolved calcium and magnesium cations (positively

charged ions). Measured in mg/L or grains per gallon.

. Alkalinity The ability of a solution to buffer an acid. Measured in mg/L.

Alkaline, Alkalinity, and Hardness

The terms alkaline and alkalinity refer to different qualities and are often
confused.
“Alkaline” refers to a solution with a pH above 7.0. “Alkalinity” is a solution’s
ability
to resist becoming more acidic upon the addition of an acid. A solution can be very
alkaline but have low alkalinity, and vice versa.

The terms “alkalinity” and “hardness” are also frequently confused. I use the term
hardness only to refer to hardness created by calcium and magnesium ions. Such
hard-
ness is also known as “temporary hardness” because heating hard water can cause
calcium and magnesium to precipitate, decreasing the water’s hardness. Alkalinity
is
derived from carbonate and bicarbonate anions (negatively charged ions). Alkalinity
is sometimes called “permanent hardness.”

Brewing Vater Standards

I recommend the brewing water standards in Figure 15.

Scale

Calcium carbonate (CaCO, ) in water can precipitate as scale when water is heated.
Scal-
ing is of greater concern with espresso machines than with other coffee makers
because
the pressurized environment in a steam boiler allows water to be heated beyond
212°F
(100°C), decreasing the water's ability to dissolve calcium carbonate and thus
increas-
ing the risk of scaling. However, scaling is still a risk in non-pressurized
brewers.

Whether scale will precipitate depends on the chemistry and temperature of the
water. Determining scaling potential requires calculating the Langelier Saturation
Index
(LSI). The LSI uses the inputs of TDS, hardness, alkalinity, pH, and temperature to
determine the degree of CaCO, saturation in water.

If the LSI is: |

>0: CaCO, will precipitate as scale.

0: CaCO, will neither dissolve nor precipitate.
<0: CaCO, will dissolve.

Explaining the LSI is beyond the scope of this book, but the Internet offers
numerous
fun, free LSI calculators.

Water Treatment

Various methods exist to filter and treat water to change its chemistry. Rather
than
detail the numerous options here, I recommend consulting at least three water
treat-
ment companies to understand the options available to you. It is best to let the
compa-
nies know the exact water chemistry you seek; too often, water treatment companies
recommend making water “too clean” to be optimal for coftee brewing. These com-
panies are probably aware of the need to protect machines by preventing scale but
unaware of the ideal water chemistry for coffee brewing. Every company should offer
to test your water, and most will do it at no charge. They should discuss the
results
with you and advise what technologies can provide the water chemistry you have
requested.

CHAPTER 12

Bean Storage

Everyone in the coffee business has heard a recommendation such as “store your cof-
fee beans in a cool, dark, dry place.” This is good advice, as heat, light, and
moisture can
all accelerate the oxidation and staling of beans."

More controversial, but equally true, is that it is best to freeze* any coffee
beans
to be used later than 1-2 weeks after roasting." Freezing is a fantastic long-term
stor-
age method because it dramatically slows oxidation and loss of volatiles." Contrary
to popular belief, the moisture in roasted coffee beans is not freezable because it
is
chemically bound to the cellulose matrix.

To freeze beans properly, store them in a sealed plastic bag and squeeze out as
much air as possible before freezing. Remove beans from the freezer only when they
are to be brewed, and never defrost and re-freeze beans. (Even better, pre-portion
the
beans into one-pot or one-cup doses in small bags before freezing.)

Appendix

Potential Errors When Using the Coffee Brewing Control Chart

Many versions of the Coffee Brewing Control Chart, some of which are flawed, are
available in the print and online media. Unfortunately, some of these versions have
led to errors in calculating extraction yield and brew strength. The following are
three
causes of potential errors:

|. Converting units of mass and volume

Most charts use volumetric measurements (gallons, fluid ounces, and liters) for
water
and units of mass (grams and avoirdupois ounces) for the ground coffee. Mixing
units of
mass and volume can lead to problems because the density of water varies with
temper-
ature. Cold water out of the tap is almost 4% denser than 200°F (93°C) brewing
water;

therefore, measuring a given volume of cold water and pouring it into a drip
machine
(or heating it in a kettle) will result in more extraction and less brew strength
than will
measuring the same volume of hot water to be poured directly onto the grounds.

2. Converting metric and U.S. customary units

Converting metric and U.S. units of volume and mass is not as straightforward as it
may seem; the metric and U.S. measurement systems are calibrated using different
temperatures. In the metric system, a 1:1 relationship of water mass to volume (1 g
=
1 ml) applies at cold water temperatures but not at typical brewing temperatures.
In
the U.S. system, a 1:1 relationship of mass to volume (1 avoirdupois ounce = 1
fluid
ounce) applies at very hot temperatures only. (See Figure 16.)
Because of these unit-conversion relationships, a given Coffee Brewing Control
Chart is accurate only when the brewing water is the same temperature that the
chart
reflects. I recommend always weighing both the water and grounds to avoid problems
arising from mixing units.

3.TDS Confusion

In the 1990s the SCAA “updated” the brewing chart with a mislabeled vertical (ordi-

nate) axis. Along the vertical axis someone incorrectly converted the brew strength
readings of 1.1%, 1.2%, and 1.3% to 1100 parts per million TDS, 1200 ppm, 1300
ppm, and so on. This was a serious error; 1.1% strength equals 11,000 parts per
mil-
lion TDS, not 1100 ppm. Likewise, 1.2% equals 12,000, 1.3% equals 13,000, and so
on. The effect of this error was magnified when the SCAA taught “Golden Cup Certi-
fication” classes, in which they instructed students to subtract the original brew
water
TDS from the brewed coffee TDS to calculate the dissolved coffee solids in the
brew.

For example:

Coffee TDS = 1250

- Water TDS = -150

= Extracted TDS = 1100 (point A in Figure 17)

Let’s say a student had evaluated this brew using the chart referencing SS g of
grounds
per liter of water. The student was led to believe the extraction had been 17.6%,
which
is underextracted by most standards. The student would be taught to use a finer
grind
to achieve a brewed coffee TDS of 1400, which, after subtracting the water TDS,
appeared to put the coffee in the “sweet spot” in the center of the chart at 20%
extrac-
tion and 1250 TDS (point B in Figure 17).

In reality, the original brew was already at the center of the chart:
Coffee TDS = 12,500

- Water TDS -150

= Extracted TDS 12,350 (point C in Figure 18)

A ———

a aa

AT ryey sii
At an extracted TDS of 12,350 the extraction percentage was approximately 19.8%. In
this example, the student would have been taught to reject a well-extracted coffee
in
favor of an overextracted (22.2%) brew (point D in Figure 18).

For years I had been guilty of a similar mistake because I had trusted the
industry-
standard guidelines. However, once I began oven-drying brewed coffee (to measure
TDS) for my own research, I realized something didn’t add up. I have since
corrected

the mistake in my first book, and I hope the various industry associations will
publicly
set the record straight for the benefit of their members and students. Late edit:
The
SCAA has recently addressed this error; in 2009 they reprinted the brewing control
charts sold through their website, and they licensed an SCAA version of
ExtractMoJo.

References

. Sivetz, M.; Desrosier, NW. (1979) Coffee Technology. Avi Pub., Westport, CT.

. Cammenga, HK; Eggers, R.; Hinz, T.; Steer, A.; Waldmann, C. (1997) Extraction in
coffee-
processing and brewing. 17th ASIC Colloquium.

. Ephraim, D. (2003) Coffee grinding and its impact on brewed coffee quality. Tea
and Coffee
Trade Journal. 177 (11).

. Lingle, T. (1996) The Coffee Brewing Handbook. Specialty Coffee Association of

America,
Long Beach, CA.

. Mateus, M.-L.; Champion, D.; Liardon, R.; Voilley, A. (2007) Characterization of

water
mobility in dry and wetted roasted coffee using low-field proton nuclear magnetic
resonance.
Journal of Food Engineering. 81, 572-579.

6. Clarke, R J.; Macrae, R. (1987) Coffee. Volume 2: Technology. Elsevier Applied

Science, New
York, NY.

. Heiss, R.; Radtke, R.; Robinson, L. (1977) Packaging and marketing of roasted
coffee. 8th
ASIC Colloquium.

. Schwaner-Albright, Oliver. (2008) At last, a $20,000 cup of coffee. New York

Times (Jan. 23).

. Peters, A. (1991) Brewing Makes the Difference. 14th ASIC Colloquium.

10. Schulman, Jim. http: //www.big-rick.com/ coffee /waterfaq.html

11. Labuza, T.P; Cardelli, C.; Anderson, B.; Shimoni, E. (2001) Physical chemistry
of roasted
and ground coffee: shelf life improvement for flexible packaging. 19th ASIC
Colloquium.

12, Smith, A.; Thomas, D. (2003) The infusion of coffee solubles into water: effect
of particle size
and temperature. Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, UK.

13. Anderson, B.; Shimoni, E.; Liardon, R.; Labuza, T. (2003) The diffusion
kinetics of CO, in
fresh roasted and ground coffee. Journal of Food Engineering. 59, 71-78.

14. Mateus, M.L.; Rouvet, M.; Gumy, J.C.; Liardon, R. (2007) Interactions of water
with roasted
and ground coffee in the wetting process investigated by a combination of physical
determi-
nations. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 55 (8), 2979-2984.

1S. Schenker, S.; Handschin, S.; Frey, B.; Perren, R.; Escher, F. (2000) Pore
structure of coffee
beans affected by roasting conditions. Journal of Food Science. 65 (3), 452-457.

16. Harris, Brian. http: //www.baharris.org/ coffee /Physics.htm

17. Measurements taken by the author 2008-2009.

18. Norwegian Coffee Association website: http: //www.kafte.no/?1=31&Is=138&h=344

19. Specialty Coffee Association of Europe website: http:

//www.scae.com/goldcup/downloads/
Coffee Brewing Control.pdf

20. Personal communications with Vince Fedele.

Glossary

Acid A solution having a pH lower than 7.0.

Acidity The sharpness, snap, sourness, or liveliness of brewed coffee.

Agitation The act of physically disturbing or setting in motion.

Alkaline A solution having a pH greater than 7.0.

Alkalinity The ability of a solution to buffer an acid.

Astringent The tactile experience of coffee causing dryness of the mouth, usually
due to tannins.

Aroma A quality that can be detected by the olfactory system.

Automatic drip A percolation brewing process in which a machine dispenses near-

boiling water,
via gravity, over a bed of coffee grounds.

Bloom A mixture of grounds, gases, and liquid coffee created when hot water drives
gases out of
coffee grounds during brewing,

Body A beverages weight or fullness as perceived on the tongue.

Boulders Grounds much larger than the average in a particle size distribution.

Brew colloids Materials smaller than one micron in any dimension suspended in a
coffee. Made
up of a combination of oils and cell wall fragments.

Brewing formula See: brewing ratio

Brewing ratio The ratio of dry grounds to water used to make a coffee.

Brew strength The concentration of solubles in brewed coffee.

Brew time The time it takes for an automatic drip machine to dispense one batch of
brewing
water; does not include the prewet delay time.

Brew volume The amount of water dispensed per batch by an automatic drip machine.

Bypass percentage The proportion of brewing water dispensed through the bypass
valve.

Bypass valve A valve used to divert a predetermined proportion of the brewing water
around
the grounds during drip brewing.

Café Solo An immersion brewing device that separates the brewed coffee from the
grounds via
a coarse-mesh metal filter.

Capillary action The movement of a liquid in the interstices of a porous material.

Channel An area of high-velocity flow through a coffee bed.

Chemex A hourglass-shaped manual-drip brewing device that uses a thick, proprietary

paper
filter to produce refined, light-bodied coffee.

Concentration gradient The difference in concentration of coffee solids from within

the grounds
to the surrounding liquid.

Contact time The amount of time grounds and brewing water remain in contact.

Degassing (outgassing) The release of gases, particularly CO, by roasted coffee

beans.

Diffusion The movement of a fluid from an area of higher concentration to an area

of lower
concentration.

Drawdown The drainage phase of a percolation brew.

Drip delay A safety feature to prevent removal of the brew basket during drip
brewing.

Extraction The removal of mass from coffee grounds.

Extraction percentage The proportion of mass removed from coffee grounds and
dissolved in
brewed coffee.

Fines Tiny coffee bean cell wall fragments produced by grinding.

Fines migration The transport of fines by brewing liquid as it percolates through a

coffee bed.

Flavor The combined sensation of a substance’s taste and aroma.

Flavor clarity The ease with which the subtleties of a coffee’s flavor can be
distinguished.

French press An immersion brewing device that separates the brewing liquid from the
grounds
by means of plunging a filter screen.

Hardness A measure of calcium and magnesium ions dissolved in water.

Heat sink A structure or media that absorbs heat.

High-and-dry grounds Grounds that adhere to the sides of a filter during a

percolation brew
before drawdown is complete.

Immersion Any brewing process that consists of submerging the grounds and brewing
liquid
for a length of time before separating the two.

Insoluble Unable to dissolve in water.

Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) An indicator of the degree of calcium carbonate

saturation
in water.

Manual drip (pourover) Any percolation brewing method that requires the person
making the
coffee to pour the hot water directly onto the bed of grounds.

Mounting temperature The water temperature, in the lower chamber of a vac pot, at
which the
upper chamber is to be mounted.

Mouthfeel The in-mouth tactile sensations produced by a beverage.

Outgassing See: degassing

Overextraction The removal of more than the desired amount of mass from the grounds
when

making a coffee or tea.

Particle size distribution An arrangement of ground coffee particle sizes showing

their frequency
by mass or quantity.

Percolation The passing of water through a porous medium.

pH A measure of how acid or alkaline a solution is.

Pourover See: manual drip

Prewet delay An interruption in water flow from the spray head after a prewetting
cycle.

Prewet The spraying of a small proportion of the brewing water onto the grounds at
the begin-
ning of a drip brewing cycle.

Refractive index (nD) How much a beam of light bends, or refracts, upon entering a
substance.
A solution's refractive index is directly related to its density and concentration.

Refractometer A device used to measure the refractive index of a solution.

Scale Deposits of calcium carbonate precipitated from water.

Slurry A mixture of coffee grounds, gases, and brewing liquid.

Soluble Able to dissolve in water.

Specific surface area Surface area per unit mass or volume.

Steep and release A brewing method consisting of an immersion phase followed by a

percola-
tion phase. The percolation phase is initiated by opening a valve at the bottom of
the brewer.

Taste The components of flavor perceived by the tongue.

Total dissolved solids (TDS) The combined content of all substances smaller than 2
microns in
any dimension dissolved in a volume of water; measured in mg/L or parts per million
(ppm).

Turbulence The chaotic mixing of grounds, gases, and hot water during coffee
brewing.

Underextraction The removal of less than the desired amount of mass from the
grounds when

making a coffee or tea.

Updosing The use of a higher-than-standard (more grounds relative to water) brewing

ratio.
Vacuum pot (also known as vac pot or siphon) A brewing device consisting of an
upper and
lower chamber separated by a filter. A heating device heats the water in the lower
chamber until
the increase in pressure within the lower chamber forces the water to rise into the
upper cham-
ber. The grounds and water mix in the upper chamber until the heat source is
removed from

the lower chamber. As the lower chamber cools, its water vapor condenses and a
vacuum forms
The siphoning action of the vacuum pulls the brewed coffee through the filter and
into the lowe;
chamber, separating the grounds from the liquid.

Volatile aromatics Soluble gases that contribute to coffee’s aroma.

Index

A coffee, vacuum pot. See filters, coffee, 11-12, S1

automatic drip, 27-32 vacuum pot coffee fines

brew time, 30-31 contact time, total, 29-30 effects of, 8

brew volume, 29 migration of, 8

D

bypass, 31-32 flavor clarity, 10-12

drip, automatic. See

drip delay, 32 French press coffee, 6, 11-

automatic drip

prewet percentage and 12,19, 38-41

drip, manual. See manual

delay, 29-30
drip G

programming, 29-32
grinding, 5-9

E
B burrs, 7-9

Eva Solo Cafe Solo, 38-41

brew strength, 11, 13-19, fines, 7-9, 10-11

28, 58-61 extraction

particle size distribution,

effects of agitation on,

standards. See standards, 7,9

3-5, 39
brew strength

how to calculate, 14-18 M

brewing ratio, 2, 13-15,

17-281, 958-,61 quality, factors affecting, manual drip, 33-37

2-3,5-6 temperature of, 34-46

brew time 24, 30-32

rate, factors affecting, 2—4

R
C uniformity, 3, §, 19, 20,

ratio, brewing. See

Chemex coffee, 3, 11, 21, 21-23, 29-30, 35,

brewing ratio
23,33 38-39, 42,47

refractometer, 16
coffee bed shape yield and taste, 13-20

high-and-dry grounds, §, standards. See standards, 5

23, 34 extraction yield siphon brewing. See vacuum

ideal bed shape, 22-26 ExtractMojo, 13-16, 31, pot brewing

Coffee Brewing Control 60, 62 steep-and-release brewing,

Chart, 13-16, 57-62

F 26, 42-45

coffee, French press. See storage, coffee bean, 54

Fedele, Vince, 13, 15-16,

French press coffee

30, 58

69

standards turbulence, 3-6 mounting temperature, S(

brew strength 13-15, 17, agitation, 3-5, 39 troubleshooting, 51

19,28, 58-61 outgassing, 5-7

AA

extraction yield 13-15,

U water, 53-54

17,19, 28, 58-61

updosing, 19, 23 Langelier Saturation

water chemistry 52-54

Index, §3

N \%
scaling and hardness, 53
vac pot brewing. See vacuum
temperature standards, S53

pot brewing
conversion chart, 62 terminology, 52

vacuum pot brewing, 10,

effect on flavor, 2-3 treatment, 54

46-51
effects of agitation on, § standards. See standards,

filters, S1
total contact time. See water chemistry

how vacuum pots work,

contact time, total

46-47

70 Index

Scott Rao authored The Professional Barista’s Handbook,

co-owns Café Myriade in Montreal, and works as a free-
lance advisor to the specialty coffee industry. He has 17
years of experience as a barista, coffee roaster, and consul-
tant. Scott secretly likes tea more than coffee.