We have been making many changes to The Coffeevine over the past few weeks and months and still have a long way to go before we’re even close to where we want to be, but today we’re happy to share another new initiative with you that we are excited to be rolling out.
Previously, we published a summary brew guide for each coffee box edition that we shipped using the recipes provided by the roasters. From now on, we will take our monthly selection of coffees to three different baristas every month and ask them to brew the coffees for us. The result will be an unbiasted take on each one of our delicious coffees from people who have a deep understanding and love for coffee.
Today, we are introducing our second guest barista/roaster Woytek Bialczak from Five Elephant in Berlin who had a go at The Underdog’s Ethiopia, Yria natural from our recently shipped [1/18] coffee box.
Basic setup:
As in any good kitchen or bar, you want to be sure to have a few key items at your disposal that will aid you in preparing a delicious cup of coffee.
These include:
- Scales (with or without timer)
- A good quality burr grinder such as the Commandante Grinder
- Your favourite brew method (Kalita Wave, V60, Aeropress etc)
- A clean vessel for brewing and decanting
- A timer (can be in your phone)
- Filtered water
- A pouring kettle but a regular kettle will also do, however it requires more precision
When working with whole beans, it’s crucial to make sure to always freshly grind your coffee just before preparation because it quickly loses its aroma and old coffee ends up tasting stale and hollow.
Now, ready? Let’s brew!
“This coffee definitely smells very promising. Let’s see if it tastes good too,” Woytek said before measuring out 16g of coffee and then consequently throwing the beans into his Comandante grinder.
After grinding the coffee for the first attempt to get the recipe right, Woytek wet the filter with freshly boiled water and the loaded the V60 with coffee that was ground medium fine. He said of the Comandante that he was using: “This is the Ironheart version, you know the one with nitro burrs. It was mainly made for the Asian market but now they’re also rolling it out here. Essentially, the burrs are made from the strongest kind of metal and they don’t react with the coffee thereby giving it a better acidity.”
He then did something unusual citing a new recipe he wanted to use. Instead of blooming the coffee with the usual 30g for 30 seconds he bloomed with 60g and then went up to 120g before swiveling the v60 around slightly to agitate the grounds. From then onwards it was a slow continous pour for approximately 2:30 minutes to reach 250g.
After careful consideration of the results, he said: “I think we need to go just a tad finer. I want to have less acidity in the cup.” He turned the grinder’s finess dial by one click to get a slightly finer result and repeated the same procedure as before, except this time blooming with 64g. “Technically speaking, I am supposed to use 4x the amount of water to bloom. I don’t know if it really works but we’ll see.”
After finishing the brewing process and passing a cup to Julius and myself, he concluded: “Yes. This is what I wanted. A clean and sweet cup with a mellow acidity. This coffee is really good man. It’s a great example of this processing method.”
Woytek’s recipe for filter:
V60: 16g of freshly ground coffee (medium-fine). Bloom coffee with 64g of filtered water at 93°C for 30 seconds, then add more water to reach 120g before swiveling the V60 around to agitate the grounds. Resume pouring water to reach 250g in one continous pour. Total brew time: 2:20 minutes.
The Underdog’s recipe for filter:
V60 dripper with square Chemex filter: 19g of freshly coffee ground coffee (medium-fine) and pour in one go 210g of filtered water at 95° and let steep for 2 minutes. Brew directly into the vessel of your choice.
The Underdog’s recipe for espresso:
20.8g of freshly ground coffee (fine). Extraction time: 36-40 seconds. Yield: 42g.
Did you also receive this coffee from our box? Add your recipe below and let others know how you like to prepare this stunning coffee from The Underdog.
