Brew guide
Cafetière brew guide
Our guide to the perfect cafetière, and the coffee we'd brew in one: Brazil Santa Lucia, with its milk chocolate, hazelnut and almond.
The recipe
- Coffee
- 30g
- Water
- 350g
- Ratio
- About 1:12
- Grind
- Coarse
- Water temp
- Just off the boil
- Time
- 4 minutes
Scale it up or down, keeping roughly 1g of coffee to 12g of water.
You will need
- Cafetière
- Kettle
- Scales and a timer
- Spoon for stirring
- Freshly ground coffee
Step by step
-
Boil the kettle
Boil enough water for your cafetière, plus a little extra to warm it up first.
-
Grind
While the water heats, weigh 30g of coffee for 350g of water and grind it coarse and even.
-
Bloom
Pour 60g of water onto the grounds (twice the weight of the coffee), give it a gentle stir and leave it for 30 seconds.
-
Steep
Add the rest of the water and rest the lid on top, without plunging. Leave it to steep for four minutes.
-
Plunge
Press the plunger down slowly and steadily. If it's hard to press, your grind is too fine. If it drops straight to the bottom, it's too coarse.
-
Pour straight away
Serve all the coffee as soon as you've plunged. Left sitting on the grounds, it keeps brewing and turns bitter.
Cafetière troubleshooting
Why does my cafetière coffee taste bitter?
Usually it's been left too long, or the grind is too fine. Pour everything as soon as you've plunged, because coffee left sitting on the grounds keeps brewing. If it's still bitter, grind a little coarser.
Why is my coffee weak or sour?
The grind is probably too coarse, or it didn't steep long enough. Try a slightly finer grind, and make sure you're using about 30g of coffee for 350g of water.
How do I stop sludge at the bottom of my cup?
A little sediment is normal with a cafetière. To reduce it, plunge slowly, leave the last centimetre in the pot, and use a coarse, even grind. Pre-ground supermarket coffee is often too fine.
How much coffee do I need for a big cafetière?
Keep the ratio at roughly 1g of coffee to 12g of water. An 8-cup cafetière, about 1 litre, needs around 80g of coffee.
What's the best coffee for a cafetière?
A sweet, rounded coffee with plenty of body works beautifully. We'd start with Brazil Santa Lucia, with its milk chocolate, hazelnut and almond.
Kit and reading
