Edition 1

August 21, 2023

A warm welcome to The Brew Journal! The summer holidays are coming to an end and the realisation that the summer soon is over is setting in. Time to break out the pumpkin spice 🎃

In today’s edition:
• Whacky or Wonderful - getting rid of that pesky static
• Barista School - To Swirl or Not to Swirl
• Brew Guide - a juicy V60

— Håkan Sävlind, Pierre Tymms

What’s Brewing

☕️ Today we have a wonderful and vibrant Kenyan coffee bursting with blackberry and rhubarb, is there a better way to start the day?

The coffee is grown at Wathenge, Kenya and is a washed processed SL28 variety, known for its high content of phosphoric acid making those rhubarb notes POP in the cup!

It’s from Morgon Coffee Roasters, get your bag here

Now, please let me keep sipping on this coffee before it gets cold…

Keen on how we brewed the coffee? You’ll find out later in today’s edition… 👇

Whacky or Wonderful
Exploring the Ross Droplet Technique

Many of us know that spraying water onto coffee beans before grinding reduces static, but do you know the origins of the technique? In today’s edition of Whacky or Wonderful, we are exploring the Ross Droplet Technique!

Static can be a big problem when grinding coffee. No matter the grinder, whether it’s brew coffee or espresso, static that sends coffee chaff all over your kitchen bench is just a fact of coffee life that plagues us all (unless you want to fork out $150 for this gadget that sounds like it’s straight from Star Wars).

Enter the Ross Droplet Technique (RDT). By adding water droplets to coffee beans before grinding you can reduce the static significantly!

The origins of this method are shrouded in mystery. Who is Ross? Where is he today? And most importantly, what was he doing sticking his wet fingers into the coffee beans? Well, the technique was originally proposed by a David Ross on a little-known coffee blog alt.coffee in 2005. Unfortunately for us, that blog has since been shut down. Fortunately for us - the idea resurfaced many years later on the home-barista.com blog for home brewing enthusiasts and has become a well-known method for reducing static when grinding coffee.

There are 3 main techniques for the RDT that we will explore today. They are the spray method, the finger method, and the spoon method.

🍾 The Spray Method
The Spray method is likely the most common way the RDT is implemented. Take a small spray bottle and spray the coffee beans before grinding. This works especially well when single-dosing coffee. Make sure you only use a light mist - too much water can damage your grinder.

☝️ The Finger Method
To do the Finger Method of the RTD, take your finger and either dip in it water or run it under a stream of water to wet your finger. Then dip your finger into the coffee beans and stir around so they get damp. For you baristas out there, I would avoid doing this at work - no one wants to get a mouthful of barista finger in their coffee.
Quick note: Do NOT stick your fingers into an electric grinder. Get a little tin for single dosing and apply the finger method before dosing into the grinder.

🥄 The Spoon Method
Finally the spoon method. Similar to the finger method, wet a spoon with water and stir the spoon into the coffee beans. This method is the least practical since the water doesn’t get evenly spread across the beans. Doing this also risks putting too much water into the hopper and damaging the burrs of the grinder, which can be a costly repair…

Well Mr. Ross, whoever you are, we at The Brew Journal HQ thank you for your wonderful contribution. This is a simple way to reduce static when brewing coffee. No more coffee mess all over the counter!

— P.T.

Brew Guide
V60

In today’s Brew Guide, we’re going to have a look at how we made today’s fire V60 brew! 🔥

Brewer: V60 porcelain brewer

1. Grind 15g of coffee beans to a medium-fine grind

2. Pour 50 g of hot water over the coffee grounds to bloom

3. At 0:30 start the first pour by pouring 100g of water over the coffee grounds in a circular motion, starting from the center and moving outward.

4. At 1:00 do the second pour by adding another 100 g of water to the coffee in a circular motion

5. Wait for the water to run through the coffee completely

6. Remove the V60 dripper and enjoy your coffee!

   Target Brew Time: 2:30

Barista School
To swirl or not to swirl?

Today we are going to dive DEEP into the fundamentals of pour-over coffee! You see, regardless of whether you’re a barista or home brewer, you’re probably familiar with swirling your brew!

The question arises: Does swirling elevate or DESTROY your brew?

Let’s explore why most people swirl their brew:

✅ Even saturation: swirling ensures that all coffee gets saturated with water in the blooming phase

✅ Flat coffee bed: Swirling is a very effective way of ensuring a flat and even coffee bed

In theory, this sounds like a good idea, but is it really suitable for all scenarios? You see, the end result of your brew will be heavily affected by how aggressively you agitate your coffee in the beginning, so brewer BEWARE - because overly aggressive swirling can cause:

❌ Bad flavours: If you swirl too aggressively you create excessive agitation that will give bitterness and astringency to your brew

❌ Clogging your brew: Too aggressive swirling can actually clog your brew and make it stall - messing up your brew completely! Clogging is the number one reason a brew has unbearable high amounts of bitterness, making it undrinkable.

I am personally not an advocate for stirring or swirling, but I am going to give you the secrets to successfully implement it in your brewing... because I know 99% of you will love to see a flat coffee bed by the end of your brew 😉

So, how do we swirl ‘‘correctly’’?

First of all (you most likely have heard this before) but start by adding at least twice the amount of water to coffee in your bloom phase. This is to make sure that there’s enough water to evenly saturate your entire coffee bed. If you add less water than that, you risk ending up with a semi-wet/dry coffee bed which then leads to aggressive swirling - this is futile because it will cause more damage to your brew than good!

When you swirl your brew excessively, you cause the fine particles of your brew to migrate to the bottom of your coffee filter - this can cause clogging 😤

How to do it RIGHT 👌

Swirl the same way every time. I recommend one gentle spin. Spinning the slurry at the beginning of the brew is not a new concept, and there are a few different approaches to how to do it - the most common one being ‘’The Rao Spin’’. You can read more about the Rao Spin here

A gentle swirl will be enough to saturate the entire coffee bed and also give you a flat coffee bed, but the key here is that you always use the same amount of force when swirling to be able to make it repeatable and consistent.

After blooming and swirling your coffee continue with your recipe as usual - but when you’ve done your last pour, let the water draw down slightly and once again do a very gentle swirl.

Swirling at the end of the brew has very little impact on the final result compared to doing it at the beginning, but regardless it is a satisfying feeling to see a completely flat coffee bed after ending your brew ;)

To swirl or not to swirl?

Let’s be honest, we can brew incredibly delicious coffee with or without swirling, as there are many other factors involved in brewing a great cup of coffee

If you find that swirling gives you the result you're looking for then go for it!

Beware of swirling when dealing with high-altitude coffees, for example, a washed Ethiopian, Colombian or Kenyan coffee, as the density of these beans creates significantly higher amounts of fine particles compared to other coffees when ground, which in turn increases the risk of clogging your brew.

Now, it is ultimately up to you to decide if you want to swirl or not. If you’ve never tried it before I recommend you give it a go and see how it affects your brew!

— H.S

Quiz
Back to the roots

You order coffee every day, but have you ever stopped to think about what the words you’re saying actually mean? Today’s quiz section will test your knowledge of the origins of coffee drinks. Below you have 3 common beverages, do you know what the words mean in their original language?

1. Macchiato

2. Latte

3. Cortado

- Find the answer below

Answer

1. Stained (Italian)

2. Milk (Italian)

3. To Cut (Spanish)