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We hope this is an excellent tool for you to achieve great results using a cafetière. This guide ties in with our Bean Grind guide. We want you to enjoy coffee in the best way possible. We're not just saying this, we are committed to building the guides.
When grinding your coffee to a medium course grind, you must aim for a particle size of 0.70 to 0.85mm. The coffee should have a rough sand texture or sea salt. For immersive brewing, the grounds should be reasonably coarse to avoid over-extraction.
You need a teaspoon, a cafetière, a kettle, and the ingredients. Ensure the mesh is undamaged and creates a seal inside the cafetière. The amount of coffee per serving will depend on taste, though a solid rule of thumb would be 15g of coffee for every 250ml of water.
If you want to go a little extra on your morning cafetière, grab yourself a quality Burr grinder. The grind size will have the most significant impact on the outcome of the brew. Getting the surface area of the grind correct will significantly aid extraction.
Like many things in coffee, this could be subjective, though we recommend leaving a short moment for the boiled water to cool, aiming to keep it at around 93°C. This will reduce the chance of the coffee burning. The water will cool rapidly in the cafetière, so don't leave the kettle too long before pouring.
Once the water is around 93°C, pour the water slowly into the cafetière, gently covering the coffee grounds evenly until around 250ml has been poured (if using 15g of coffee per cup).
You could go further with this and use filtered water; the water quality is essential and will affect the overall taste. You could use a thermometer or a special kettle that informs you of the exact temperature of the water.
Once you've added the water to the cafetière and the mesh plunger is loosely added to the top (like a lid), you will have to wait for the brewing process. The reason we recommend adding the plunger as a lid is to reduce the rapid temperature decrease, depending on your enviroment this could be pretty quick.
At this point there isn't much that you can do here, perhaps prepare the fine china or our Brown Bear Mug ready to recieve the brew. The wait should be for 4 minutes.
Brew time is important and recording more data on every coffee you brew is an excellent way to better understand the kind of coffee that you enjoy, we recommend getting a timer and recording the brew time, you could then experiment with the timings and the flavours that are produced.
Once you've added the water to the cafetière and the mesh plunger is loosely added to the top (like a lid), wait for the brewing process. We recommend adding the plunger as a lid to reduce the rapid temperature decrease; depending on your environment, this could be pretty quick.
Once 4 minutes have passed, use the teaspoon to break the formed coffee crust. This will release the trapped gasses and allow for more even coffee extraction. Then, stir the coffee to move the water. Place the plunger lid back on top of the cafeteria and leave for another 4 minutes.
After the full 8 minutes from adding the water, you can now slowly press down on the plunger. If you broke the initial crust, the resistance on the plunger should be smaller. Depress until the mesh stops.
Pour your cafetière coffee into the mug, and keep an eye out for any grounds that may have been pushed through the mesh, as this will indicate how well your grinding process was or if you have a damaged mesh. It's good to know when making the coffee again.
Now you've just used a Cafetière and made yourself an excellent coffee. The Brown Bear pre-ground coffee suits Filter or Cafetière. We encourage experimentation on brewing time and coffee choices; some coffees will do better depending on the brewing method. Why not try mixing coffee, too?
A little extra for you: why not grab yourself a Brown Bear Mug? Once received, get in touch; every mug purchase will give you a 25% discount on a subscription order that lasts three orders.
