Month: March 2018

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Which way would be your preferred way to use the amazing AeroPress coffee maker?

AeroPress coffee maker Series 5

The AeroPress is a brilliant coffee maker which can produce consistently good results, with a couple of different options for how you use it.

The classic method is the quickest which is simply..

coffee – water – stir – press.

The AeroPress packaging still says stir for 10 seconds and push for 20 seconds – it really can be that easy to make great coffee. You can watch a video of Artistry’s Sarah demonstrating this method.

Then there’s the inverted method which is a little slower and more intricate, but the favoured method of baristas worldwide.

This involves pouring the ground coffee and the water into an inverted AeroPress, stirring and then letting the coffee brew for a few minutes.

Then adding the filter and mesh cap and quickly turning over to press the coffee through into a mug below.

This allows for lots of experimentation with different grinds on the coffee and different brew timings.

So you can decide if you want a quick well-made coffee that beats instant coffee hands down – or to take more time over the coffee and the experimentation to perfect your own brew technique!

There’s now a Series 5 version of the AeroPress, which has shiny gold lettering and a cloudy brown look to it.

Colours and materials used have changed over the years as the design has been adjusted from the original clear with blue guide marks.

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The baby of PourOver makers has a good style

Cafe Stal coffee maker

The Cafe Stal is a lovely little coffee maker and really good value too. It has almost 600ml capacity in the brewing and serving vessel which also features a stainless steel removable pourover filter. The heat resistant glassware is really simple and a delightful compact size. It has an acrylic neck for helping with your serving.

You simply add your ground coffee to the mesh filter which sits in the top section of the pourover vessel. Slowly wet the coffee grounds and let the coffee ‘bloom’ for 30s to 45s, then pour hot water very slowly in spiral or zig-zag motions over the ground coffee for a couple of minutes or so.

The coffee grounds will release their flavour as both aroma while your making the coffee and as the coffee itself which collects in the lower part of the vessel.

Once you’re done, remove the steel mesh, and sit down with a friend to enjoy your coffee – or on your own for a double dose of caffeine! You can later discard the grounds for compost, rinse the steel mesh and the vessel well and it’s ready for use again.

As an introduction to PourOver coffee making this device would serve really well – as it already has a steel mesh filter and is like a tiny version of a Chemex which feels like the granddaddy of pourover makers!

See more about the Café Stal from Rayware here.

Cafe Stal from Rayware
Cafe Stal showing mesh filter and glass chamber
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A simple solution to having great coffee wherever you go.

Kalita Kantan

Do you ever go a way for a few days and get really disappointed with the quality of coffee that you can make for yourself to start your day? Our new stock of Kalita Kantan single cup filters could provide an answer!

There’s 30 in a pack and they’re easily transportable so you can have a way to rely on your coffee wherever you go. They come folded flat – you just pop them into the shape below and put them on top of your mug – scoop some ground coffee into the filter area and pour water slowly through the coffee grounds. They will fit most mugs, but not the very largest. Simple, quick and compact.

Perhaps you want a fun way for guests at and event to enjoy their coffee – how about a sample coffee pack and a Kantan filter to let them enjoy a bit of handbrew coffee making in their places.

Kalita Kantan on top of a mug
Ready for use – Kalita Kantan in situ atop a coffee mug

 

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The Hario V60 Ceramic set a PourOver standard

Hario V60 Ceramic Dripper

To be fair, most of our products are favourite in some way or other – we love handbrew coffee techniques and like to keep trying all the different methods we can get our hands on.

One of the simple, relaxing, first ways that we embraced handbrew coffee was with the Hario V60 – it’s a ceramic conical device that sits atop a mug or jug. Into it you place a paper filter (which you can wet to remove any paper taste that you might otherwise detect). Into the paper filter you place ground coffee to a medium coarse grind.

Simply pour a small amount (perhaps 40g) of hot water onto the coffee grounds and let them swell, or ‘bloom’ for half a minute or so. This gives the coffee grounds the chance to wet through and ensures more coffee flavour is extracted.

Then in slow swirls continue pouring water onto the coffee and allow it to drip through to the mug or vessel below – take your time in this and enjoy the process.

You’ll achieve a more delicate flavour of coffee and slow down a little while you’re at it!

V60 from Hariohttp://www.artistrycoffee.co.uk/shop/proddetail.php?prod=D0021 is synonymous with handbrew coffee making and this simple well-designed piece of coffee making kit is a standard – literally setting the standard against which other pour-over devices have to measure up to gain worthy credentials.