These are starting points, not rules. Every bag has the recipe for that coffee on the back label, and where the two disagree, the bag wins. Whatever you brew with, let the coffee rest a few days from the roast date first, then keep it sealed and away from air, or freeze it. If your tap water is hard, and in London it is, filtered water makes a bigger difference than any piece of kit. All of these make one large cup or two small ones; the ratio stays the same, so double everything for two.
Filter
A V60, a Kalita, a Chemex or anything with a paper. Rinse the paper with hot water first so the cup does not taste of it, and tip that water away. Fifteen grams of coffee to 250 grams of water, just off the boil at about 94°C. Grind it medium, like coarse sand. Pour 50 grams of water and wait while it swells. At 0:30 pour slowly to 150 grams. At 1:00 pour the rest, to 250. It should have drained by about three minutes. If it tastes thin and sharp, grind finer. If it tastes heavy and bitter, grind coarser.
Aeropress
Rinse the paper. Fifteen grams of coffee to 230 grams of water at about 91°C, ground a touch finer than for filter. Pour, stir once, and steep until 1:30. Then press gently, taking about thirty seconds. About two minutes all told.
Espresso
Eighteen grams in, 36 grams out, in about 28 seconds. That is the starting point; each coffee’s label gives its own numbers, and some run longer. If the shot runs fast and tastes sour, grind finer. If it runs slow and tastes bitter, grind coarser. Change one thing at a time.
Cafetière
Thirty grams of coffee to 500 grams of water, ground coarse. Pour, wait four minutes, break the crust with a spoon, then press slowly and pour straight away so it stops brewing.
Whole bean or ground
Whole bean keeps better, and a grinder is the one piece of kit that changes everything. If you have chosen ground, I grind it for your method on the day it is roasted, so say which method when you order.
If none of this matches your kit, email me at hello@lostangles.co.uk and I’ll work it out with you.
Declan