When my parents come from Pinsk via Vilnius for their two weeks, the pour-over goes back in the cupboard and the big cafetière comes out. This is the method I use for those breakfasts. It needs a spoon, a timer and some patience. It makes coffee as clean as a filter without anybody standing over a kettle.
The ratio
Use 60 grams of coffee to 1,000 grams of water just off the boil, about 94 degrees. That fills a big eight-cup cafetière and makes six generous mugs. For four people, use 40 grams and 670 grams of water. The ratio stays at 1 to 16 whatever the size.
Grind coarse, about the size of breadcrumbs. Pour all the water in at once and check that every grain is wet. A fine grind sinks badly and clogs the mesh, so err coarse.
Four minutes, then the crust
Leave it alone for four minutes. A crust of grounds forms on top.
At four minutes, stir the crust gently with a big spoon so the grounds fall to the bottom. A little foam stays on the surface. Lift it off with two spoons and throw it away. Most of the bitterness people blame on the cafetière lives in that foam.
The wait everyone skips
Now put the lid on and wait five more minutes. Go and lay the table. While you wait, the fine particles that make cafetière coffee muddy sink slowly to the bottom.
I tested this on a Sunday in August with a refractometer and two pots. The pot that waited five minutes had about half the sediment of the one plunged straight away. Both measured the same strength, 1.35% dissolved solids, and the patient one tasted noticeably sweeter.
Wait five more minutes, then press only to the surface.
Press, then pour into a second jug
Push the plunger down only until it touches the surface of the coffee, and stop. Pressing to the bottom stirs up everything you just waited for.
Then pour the whole pot into a second jug, slowly, and leave the last centimetre behind. In the jug the coffee stops brewing, so the last mug tastes like the first, even after half an hour. A warmed vacuum flask works too.
Pick up a bag of the Huila from Finca La Esperanza for the weekend. Ask at the bar and we will grind it coarse for your cafetière while you wait.
Maksim, from the roaster
3 comments